No, I would never need to doubt his heart.

And I walk tall with my head high becuase I know that I am loved and can depend on the people around me.

HOME: page 4

When you need to apologise for you apology, I think it's time to start pulling out the dusty resume.

You have revealed the attitude and ideology that is held by you, your family, your boss and your social class. Why do we put up with you?

My Prophet

There is only one person I know out there who can speak my heart on God, the World and Love: Bono.

I want a trip inside your head, spend the day there. To hear the things you haven't said and see what you might see. I want to hear you when you call. Do you feel anything at all? I want to see your thoughts take shape, and walk right out.

Freedom has a scent like the top of a new born baby's head.

The songs are in your eyes I see them when you smile. I've seen enough I'm not giving up on a miracle drug.

Of science and the human heart, there is no limit. There is no failure here sweetheart, just when you quit. I am you and you are mine. Love makes no sense of space and time...will disappear, love and logic keep us clear. Reason is on our side, love.

The songs are in your eyes, I see them when you smile. I've had enough of romantic love I'd give it up, yeah, I'd give it up, for a miracle drug

God I need your help tonight

Beneath the noise, below the din, I hear your voice. It's whispering in science and in medicine: "I was a stranger, You took me in"

Miracle drug ~ U2

"Look, if you don't want to go out with me, I'd totally understand."
"No, I'd totally want to go out with you."
"Are you asking me out?"
"... Well, I have two free tickets for a movie on Monday..."

Nice. I think we started off well. With laughter.

But as I have always prayed dear Lord, bless it or break it.
Only with your heart, and to the ends of the earth.

For those who didn't catch on to what was happening in my previous post (esp those of your outside Singapore), here's the orginal comments posted by the daughter of a Minister of Parliment (at least he's still there). For those of you who are not in Singapore, remember, we love foreign talent, please come.

From Ms Wee’s blog:

http://www.suchvividnothing.blogspot.com/

Thursday, October 19, 2006

mom’s friend sent her some blog post by some bleeding stupid 40-year old singaporean called derek wee (WHY do all the idiots have my surname why?!) whining about how singapore is such an insecure place, how old ppl (ie, 40 and above) fear for their jobs, how the pool of foreign “talent” (dismissively chucked between inverted commas) is really a tsunami that will consume us all (no actually he didn’t say that, he probably said Fouren Talern Bery Bad.), how the reason why no one wants kids is that they’re a liability in this world of fragile ricebowls, how the government really needs to save us from inevitable doom but they aren’t because they are stick-shoved-up-ass elites who have no idea how the world works, yadayadayadayada.

i am inclined - too much, perhaps - to dismiss such people as crackpots. stupid crackpots. the sadder class. too often singaporeans - both the neighborhood poor and the red-taloned socialites - kid themselves into believing that our society, like most others, is compartmentalized by breeding. ridiculous. we are a tyranny of the capable and the clever, and the only other class is the complement.

sad derek attracted more than 50 comments praising him for his poignant views, joining him in a chorus of complaints that climax at the accusation of lack of press freedom because his all-too-true views had been rejected by the straits times forum. while i tend to gripe about how we only have one functioning newspaper too, i think the main reason for its lack of publication was that his incensed diatribe was written in pathetic little scraps that passed off as sentences, with poor spelling and no grammar.

derek, derek, derek darling, how can you expect to have an iron ricebowl or a solid future if you cannot spell?

if you’re not good enough, life will kick you in the balls. that’s just how things go. there’s no point in lambasting the government for making our society one that is, i quote, “far too survival of fittest”. it’s the same everywhere. yes discrimination exists, and it is sad, but most of the time if people would prefer hiring other people over you, it’s because they’re better. it’s so sad when people like old derek lament the kind of world that singapore will be if we make it so uncertain. go be friggin communist, if uncertainty of success offends you so much - you will certainly be poor and miserable. unless you are an arm-twisting commie bully, which, given your whiny middle-class undereducated penchant, i doubt.

then again, it’s easy for me to say. my future isn’t certain but i guess right now it’s a lot brighter than most people’s. derek will read this and brand me as an 18-year old elite, one of the sinners who will inherit the country and run his stock to the gutter. go ahead. the world is about winners and losers. it’s only sad when people who could be winners are marginalised and oppressed. is dear derek starving? has dear derek been denied an education? has dear derek been forced into child prostitution? has dear derek had his clan massacred by the government?

i should think not. dear derek is one of many wretched, undermotivated, overassuming leeches in our country, and in this world. one of those who would prefer to be unemployed and wax lyrical about how his myriad talents are being abandoned for the foreigner’s, instead of earning a decent, stable living as a sales assistant. it’s not even about being a road sweeper. these shitbags don’t want anything without “manager” and a name card.

please, get out of my elite uncaring face.

posted at 12:08 PM

***************************************************
The Original Post by Derek Wee.

By Derek Wee
Oct 12, 2006

When I read the Straits Times article (dated 24 Sep) on PM Lee calling the young to be committed and make a difference to Singapore, I have so much thought about the issue.

I am 35 years old, graduated from University and gainfully employed in a multinational company. But I cannot help but feel insecure over the future of Singapore. Lets face it, it’s not uncommon to hear, “when you are above 40, you are over the hill”.

The government has been stressing on re-training, skills upgrading and re-adapt. The fact is, no matter how well qualified or adaptable one is, once you hit the magical 40, employers will say, “you are simply too old”.

We have been focusing our resources and problem solving on low unskilled labour. But in reality, our managerial positions and skilled labour force are actually fast losing its competitiveness.

I travel around the region frequently for the past 10 years. It didn’t take me long to realise how far our neighbours have come over the past decade.

They have quality skilled workers, and are less expensive. When I work with them, their analytical skills are equally good, if not better than us.

It’s not new anymore. Taxi drivers are fast becoming “too early to retire, too old to work” segment of the society. I like to talk to taxi drivers whenever I am heading for the airport.

There was this driver. Eloquent and well read. He was an export manager for 12 years with an MNC. Retrenched at 40 years old. He had been searching for a job since his retrenchment.

Although he was willing to lower his pay expectations, employers were not willing to lower their prejudice. He was deemed too old. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have another No. 1; having the most highly educated taxi drivers in the world.

On PM Lee calling the young to be committed and make a difference. Look around us. How dedicated can we be to Singapore when we can visualise what’s in store for us after we turned 40? Then again, how committed are employers to us? But we can’t blame them. They have bottom lines & shareholders’ gain to answer to.

Onus is really on the government to revamp the society. A society that is not a pressure cooker. A society that does not mirror so perfectly, what survival of the fittest is.

But a society, where it’s people can be committed, do their best and not having to fear whether they will still wake up employed tomorrow. Sadly, Singapore does not offer such luxuries and security anymore.

On the issue of babies. The government encourages us to pro-create. The next generation is essential in sustaining our competitive edge. Then again, the current market condition is such that our future has become uncertain. There is no more joy in having babies anymore; they have become more of a liability. It’s really a chicken and egg issue.

Many of my peers, bright and well educated have packed up and left. It’s what MM Goh called “quitters”. It’s sad but true, Singapore no longer is a place where one can hope to work hard their lives and retire graciously. It’s really the push factor.

A future is something we sweat it out, build and call our own. Unfortunately, people like me, mid 30’s going on 40’s, staying put by choice or otherwise, we can’t help but feel what lies ahead is really a gamble.

To PM Lee and the Ministers, we are on a different platform. Until you truly understand our insecurity, the future of Singapore to me remains a question mark.

**************************************************

*

Posts courtesy of Lamerooze

Some people cannot take the brutal truth
~Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Wee Siew Kim, in response to his daughter's controversial blogpost.

I'm quite the postmodernist, but it would be pointless aruging about what the 'truth' is. I am not a Singaporean, and hence ought not to be bothered about the misinformed and parochial rantings of a high-school student. Besides, given the colour of my passport, chances are I'll be what the folks here call 'foreign talent' (although I seriously doubt that day will ever come). But Singapore is nonetheless my home, and I choose to have an emotional stake in this nation.

Reading RJ student Wee Shu Min's thoughts on Derek's Wee lament about the state of Singapore's society, I have two things to say:

1) She is absolutely right.
2) She is absolutely distressing

She represents the elite that are uncompassionate, materialistic and uncultured. If being a gracious society means keeping left on the escalators (while elites get chauffered around), then I'd say that we are narrow-minded. In fact that is my opinion of Wee Shu Min.

Reading her post, I could not but feel anger toward her, has she seen so little of the world, is she so ill-informed that she has no empathy? What has this society become, that our young reduce others into their perceived 'classes' while maintaining an us-and-them attitude to the world?

And this is not confined within Singapore. We look to our neighbours in ASEAN as nothing more then huge shopping centers with perpatual sales. We slide over borders, look at cute trinkets and funky clothing, sleep in 5 star hotels and turn our noses up at the desperate tuk-tuk mongers and dirty children on the streets.

I just cannot but feel like Singapore has groomed us to be cogs and wheels in a big machine. We don't matter, and what's the point of anything, if people don't matter? And worst, it has turned the people against themselves. We no longer care for each other as Ms Wee's callous comments have clearly shown. And let's not excuse her for being a foolish 18 year old. If this is how society inculcates our young, then this is how we are. Some will think that the world owes them a living, others grapple with issues of self-esteem and self-worth.

As for Mr Wee, if children are a chip off the old block...well... I wonder if he's rethinking his parenting style. But he has his reasons i'm sure. Yes don't gag her, let her be lynched by the 'HDB poor' and the 'red-taloned socialites'. These are her society too. She will learn the hard way, with people flaming her on blogs and putting her photo up. These are their personal blogs, set up so that people might 'invade their privacy' and read their rants amongst their circle of friends. They haev every right to make their opinions about Ms Wee heard, as much as Ms Wee took the liberty to air hers.

No, they have every right to feel the way that they do, as I have every right to feel the way I do. During my interview with NUS law, one of the interviewers said:

Young lady, you are the cream of Singapore's crop. You are the top 20% and should stop associating yourself with the other 80%

I left in anger, how could an esteemed, intellectual woman in her 60s hold such myopic opinions. Then I realise, she isn't alone. And that I am blessed with the social mobility to pack up and leave.

I think I will go to Cambodia in the future. At least there, I'd be free from these soulless brats, and elk out a living beyond material survival. But I would want to come back here, to the nation that bred me. Let no one say that I am a quitter. I love here.

-----------------------------------------------------

The Manic Street Preachers are wise:

A Slave starts by demanding justice, and ends by wanting to wear a crown.

Be careful. Hubris knocks. We are only 40 years old as a nation, are we already jaded? Yes, the brutal truth is hard to swallow. Perhaps we are a self-centered, bigoted and blind society. And all we have to show for ourselves is how we smile fervently at the foreigners who use our safe little island to reinforce the unfair state of the international system.

"Did you always know?"
"Know? Oh no, I never knew. But I always believed"

~ Dialogue between Oracle and the Architect in the Matrix III

Let us be aware of where we stand in this world, that while knowledge implies authority and power, and ultimately trust in the self and its aquired knowledge, belief entails humble faith and depends on the existance of external factors and beings.

And in my world (as I am starting to note that my world isn't necessarily congruent with the world at large), without the power of institutional mass to back you up on conventional religious opinion, you'd have no choice but to live according to conviction Then you'll start to question what's worth being convicted by (and in my opinion, there are a lot other things more pertinent in the world today then issues of creationism, homosexuality and swearing. Things like, apathy, isolation and hunger to name a few).

No, you don't bloody know that God created the world in 6 days, you can only resign yourself to believing it. And while you do, remember that it is but the mere product of your own historicity and social context, and that truth is measured and experienced in infinitely different ways. As God is infinite. So let's not be arrogant, and live with conviction and self-awareness in what we believe. And let's try not to piss of the rest of the world while we're at it.

In other news, I suddenly want to be a hippie.
Bring on the reusable sanitary products.

Cool:

1) Traversing thoughout town with Angie as she finds cool finds. Pastry and Tea at some attas bakery (not breadtalk), dinner and ice-cream with Belmont. Laughing with her all the way.

2) Such Great Heights done by Iron and Wine.

Uncool:

1) Delusional dream-chasing.

2) The annoying survey guy who not only insisted on me doing a survey 2 days ago at Jurong East station (trailing me halfway through the MRT station) despite me incessantly pushing him away, who had the nerve to chirp his pathetic friendly banter as I furiously filled in the stupid form, who messages me at 11.30, asking me how my weekend was. Not only was that the most harrassing survey ever, it came along with the most harassing surveyer.

I want to harass him back and make him nervous and uncomfortable.