I’m No Pessimist

I am greatly flattered that blogger Victor thinks that I am a ‘thinking blogger’; more so when I didn’t even know that he reads my articles. I feel even more flattered that he actually likens me to the famous blogger Mr Wang. I don’t think there is any other blogger who thinks that it is a worthy comparison. No need to elaborate.

Victor also thinks that I am probably a pessimist. Well he isn’t the first one. Some time ago, one reader expressed the same opinion when he read my article opposing the nomination of Mr S. R. Nathan as the next president of Singapore. I argued that it wasn’t pessimistic to speculate that an 80-over year old man like Mr Nathan may be forced to step down for health reasons mid-way through his term of office. It that happened, more tax payers’ money would be spent to hold another election to find a replacement. Anyway, once it became clear that Mr Nathan would win the election, I took down the article. I felt that it wasn’t helpful to keep that sort of argument on the internet any more. Now that we could all see that Mr Nathan is happily performing that role, I feel relieved and glad to be proven wrong.

And then it occurred to me that that reader, like Victor thought of me as a pessimist because of the title of my blog – Bad News on the Doorstep. I had never taken the trouble to explain why I chose such a ‘pessimistic’ name because there is a religious consideration behind my choice; and because I thought, since so few people read this blog, why bother. But out of respect for Victor, I think I should.

A very long time ago, at the dawn of earth’s history, there lived a man by the name of Lamech. He lived at a time when the society was full of violence and iniquity and moral decay. It so troubled him that when his son was born, he decided to name him ‘Rest’, or ‘Comfort’, saying; “This same shall comfort us.” The Hebrew name for it is Noah.

As I look at the world around me in 21st Century Singapore, and scan the news daily, I am convinced that we are living in times exactly like those of Lamech and Noah. (Just this morning I read the news of a man who raped his own daughter and posted the video on the internet. A couple of weeks ago, a young man, with a bright future ahead of him, took two guns and short dead 32 innocent bystanders before taking his own life). Since it is too late for me to go back and rename my son, I thought I would name my blog to reflect the times. And so I chose a line from the Don McLean classic, American Pie, to be the name of this blog.

Jesus Christ, before he left this earth warned us, through his disciples, to look out for the signs of the second coming. He specifically mentioned that the society at that time would “as in the days of Noah” – something I intend to blog about shortly. As I do not wish to mix religion with social and political commentaries, I have decided to blog about that topic (we call it Eschatology) in the separate blog called Parable of the Fig Tree. All bible-believing Christians look forward to a day when our saviour will return to this crippled earth to establish his millennial kingdom. Far from being pessimistic, we have a glorious hope.

You too can, if you will.

Revising History is No Torture

It’s that time of the year again when our children have to revise for their mid-year exams. I am not sure about kids these days, but for me revising for the History paper was always sheer torture. I remember mugging into the wee hours of the morning trying to memorize all those dates and events and names.

But apparently, revising history is no sweat for the folks at the Japanese Ministry of Education. Each year, around this time they will revise their history books. In 2005, the focused on the Nanjing Massacre (or Incident as they prefer to call it). In 2006, they turned their attention to the sex slaves (or 'comfort women' as they prefer to call it) issue. This year, they come closer home to the Japanese islands of Okinawa. Japanese textbooks are being revised to modify references to soldiers ordering civilians to kill themselves to avoid capture in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa.

This battle, in which up to one-third of the island’s inhabitants died, has previously been described as a futile sacrifice ordered by Japan’s military leaders to delay a US invasion of the Japanese mainland. The history books have always recorded that fanatical Japanese soldiers ordered thousands of civilians to commit suicide rather than surrender to the Americans.

“We were told that if women were taken prisoner, we would be raped and that we should not allow ourselves to be captured,” recalls one survivor, Ms Sumie Oshiro.

Mr Masahide Ota, a former governor of Okinawa who was one of the local students mobilized to defend the island, says soldiers gave civilians two hand grenades – “one to throw at the enemy and one to use on themselves”.

But now, Japanese rightists have re-asserted that such civilian suicides were voluntary acts of patriotism.

But it is not just the Japanese educators who are adept at revising history. The Japanese prime minister too had demonstrated this ability last month when he declared that Japanese troops did not directly coerce thousands of so-called ‘comfort women’ from China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and the Netherlands to serve as sex slaves in Japanese army brothels. But being the magnanimous person that he is, PM Shinzo Abe continued to offer his apologies to these unfortunate women. The BBC article above, quoted Abe-san as saying,

"As I frequently say, I feel sympathy for the people who underwent hardships, and I apologise for the fact that they were placed in this situation at the time," he said.

Since the Japanese prime minister is so fond of making apologies, may I suggest that he also apologise to the hundreds of thousands who suffered from the great 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. Although Japan was not responsible for that disaster, other than contributing the name, like the comfort women, these people too “underwent hardships”.

Strange Sort of Integrity

Actress Cynthia Lee MacQuarrie, who plays the role of Annabel Chong in the play, 251, about the infamous porn star's life was reported in Today (March 29, 2007) to have said:

"I see her as a woman who made a choice and stood by it. And there was integrity in that.... It's not up to me to judge whether it was a good or a bad choice, but she believed in something and stuck by it to the end."

In that case, Ms MacQuarrie probably also sees integrity in the acts of these 2 men, who also made choices and stuck with them to the end.

Everyone’s Hopping Onto the Casino Bandwagon

Most Singaporeans remember the luo-han fish and bubble tea debacle of a few years ago. Initial success followed by a mushrooming of outlets, led to over-supply and finally disaster.

I fear that it will happen to the casino industry. As you can see from the above news items, everybody is jumping on the casino band wagon.

I really do not know what to hope for.

I would hate to see our two casino projects fail because we are pumping in so much of our scarce resources into them; and Singaporeans will suffer the consequences. But, I suppose those big-time casino operators who are investing millions into these projects have done their homework and know what they are doing. But on the other hand, you never know. Greed often clouds our judgment. And the world economy is volatile and unpredictable.

At the same time, I also do not like to see these projects become a booming success and turn my beloved Singapore into a vice capital.

Anyway, the closing paragraph of the last BBC article is worth noting:

One country that already has a reputation for being a popular destination for Asian gamblers is Australia. However the promised windfall in tax revenues and jobs has not always materialised, according to Jan McMillen (director of the Center for Gambling Research at the Australian National University).

Concerns have also risen over the number of Australian gambling addicts and in recent years casinos have been forced to cut back.

"We're in shutdown mode. It's fascinating to look at the rest of the world and wonder if they've learned from our experience," said Ms McMillen. (BBC; 20 April, 2005)

Nation of Emigrants

Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan said in parliament that we are a nation of immigrants. As such we should welcome more immigrants to our tiny country.

What kind of stupid logic is that?

Dear sir, do you know what was the population density of Singapore, a British colony, before the 2nd World War and what is the population density of Singapore today?

The minister also promised that Singapore had “sufficient land” to cater to current and future needs, provided the space was used “judiciously and wisely”.

Demonstrating typical Singaporean-style creativity and innovation, he elaborated what he meant by ‘judicious and wise use of space’ by saying, “We need to optimise land use … through reclamation, building upwards, or using subterranean space.” Sir, haven’t we been doing that for the past 40 years?

He also said, “We will also need to invest in necessary infrastructure such as roads and rail networks, and power and utilities.” Sir, haven’t we been doing that for the past 40 years?

In that case, I also can be creative and innovative. Let me give our government a suggestion. We need to optimise use of human resources. We should educate and train our people to the fullest so that we can have a highly productive workforce that generate more wealth without having to resort to bringing in so many foreign talents.

Earlier this month he promised that Singapore would not be bursting at the seams. I say we are already bursting at the seams. Now he promises that Singapore had “sufficient land”. I say our ‘little red dot’ already have insufficient land. I challenge anyone prove me wrong.

Our government has always boasted that it is pragmatic and do not make empty promises. I hope I live long enough to see Mr Mah and his colleagues deliver on the above promises.

Personally, I think that at the rate we are going, Singapore is going to become a nation of emigrants. With a “planning figure” (playing with words as usual) of 6.5 million, I see many of our children going where their parents refused to go – leave our beloved country for ‘greener pastures’. With prices of properties sky-rocketing, my children will be sorely tempted to sell the house I bequeath to them, and just leave this place that their parents slogged so hard to build to the immigrants. And what makes the government so sure that today’s immigrants will not become emigrants as well when they see Singapore turning into the very sardine cans that they left behind in the first place?

Does Customer Service Training Work?

In today’s edition of TODAY (the newspaper), there’s an article on customer service. I believe it is part of a regular column by Liang Dingzi called Serve Us Right.

In today’s story, the writer narrated two cases of poor customer service. The first was from a hotel and the second, from a bank. From the first she concluded with this cardinal rule of customer service; “When in doubt, decide in the customer’s favour“, and from the second; “Never make an issue of doing the customer a favour“.

This article got me pondering. Certainly in the hotel and banking industry, the frontline staff have gone through extensive training in customer service. So whilst the article makes interesting reading for a layman like me, it wouldn’t be teaching those people to whom her story is directed anything they don’t already know.

I am reminded of an interesting post by a blogger called Victor who narrated his somewhat unpleasant encounter with a bank officer at a reputable bank. He then contrasted this with a much happier encounter with a hawker. Comparing these two service providers, the former, the bank officer is probably much better educated and have attended numerous hours of customer service training. Yet, in the words of this blogger, “JY (the bank officer), looks like you could learn something from Helen, the coffee lady. She only sold me a cup of tea that cost a mere 60 cents and yet she took pride in providing good service. On the other hand, you know that my dealings with your bank run into several hundred thousand dollars and are worth several thousand dollars in annual earnings to your bank, part of which pays your salary.”

So what conclusion can we draw from these two articles? My own conclusion is that what we have here is not a problem of knowledge or skill. What we have is what my children like to call, AP, or Attitude Problem.

Can such an attitude problem be addressed by sending the staff for more customer service training? I very much doubt so. Unlike lack of knowledge or skill, poor attitude is much more complex a problem, and its causes don’t always lie with the individual. It is influenced by a variety of factors like work environment and culture, staff relations, staff welfare, work overload and so on, and often points back to the individual’s boss. Hence, the boss who simply sends his staff for training without taking a good hard look at himself, is like the man who lost a coin in a dark alley and searched for it under a lamp post.

And the results are all around for us to see.

Related posts:
1) Interesting Encounters with Rude Cashiers
2) Consciously Rude

6.5 Million?

It was reported yesterday that our government is aiming to increase the population on our little island to 6.5 million by the year 2020. Making the announcement, minister for National Development, Mah Bow Tan promised that our country will not 'burst at the seams'.

Dear Mr Mah. Where have you been? Don't you travel on our roads and occasionally try out our public transport? Or visit our parks and popular places like Sentosa, not as a VIP, but as a private citizen? Worse still, try to cross over and return from neighbouring Johor Bahru via the causeway during festive season? Haven't you seen the long queues of lorries and goods vehicles waiting at the causeway and emphathized with the drivers? I can continue for another 5 paragraphs but every Singaporean knows what I am talking about.

Sir, we are already bursting at the seams! Isn't life here stressful enough. Please have some pity on poor Singaporeans who have to escape to neighbouring Malaysia and put up with the insults of people like Mahathir.

Please, please I beg you. Don't do this to our children.

Politicians Say the Darndest Things (2)

We all sympathize with the people of Johor who have suffered terribly from the massive floods that recently affected the southern part of peninsular Malaysia. Even as the government sets up a committee to investigate the causes of the massive flooding, the Mentri Besar of Johor, Datuk Abdul Ghani has gone public and alleged that it was our land reclamation projects at Pulau Tekong that have contributed to these floods.

There is a well-known Chinese proverb that says:

冰冻三尺 非一日之寒; or A three –feet layer of ice did not result from one day of chill.

It teaches us that the visible effects of a problem are often the consequence of prolonged period of neglect. In analyzing a problem, we must therefore invest the time to probe deep into the root causes. We must be thorough in uncovering all the factors that may contribute to the problem. Failure to do this may lead us to implement measures that merely remove the symptoms without preventing the recurrence of the problem. Even a production operator or bus driver who has undergone QCC (quality control circle) training would know this. Strange that as learned a man as the menteri besar does not know this simple principle.

I suspect that the datuk must have been inspired by the accusations of the Thai generals that Singapore eavesdrops on their secret telephone conversations. It’s simply another ‘Napoleonic’ tactic to divert the attention of the suffering citizens away from his own ineptness.
Personally, I believe the root cause of the floods is the prolonged period of neglect by the government of that part of Malaysia. In the words of Tortrakul Yomnak, the structural engineer who heads the team investigating problems with Thailand’s new Suvarnabhumi International Airport, it’s “systemic failure”. I estimate it goes back at least 22 years. Maybe the big boss was too preoccupied with ‘mega-projects’ and multi-million dollar ‘scenic bridges’ to bother with something as trivial and unglamorous as drainage and rubbish disposal.

That of course brings me back to my favourite Malaysian politician, Mahathir Mohammad, the man who ruled Malaysia for 22 years. We have not heard from the ‘loose cannon’ for a long time. The poor guy suffered a heart attack last year and consequently the guns had gone silent. But thankfully, he has recovered and thus I can continue to look forward to more additions to my collection of Mahathir gems.

Here is his latest salvo.

• Singapore does not really care about the opinion of its neighbours.



• Singapore believes the most important thing is what profits Singapore.



• You will get nowhere with them either being nice or being tough; they only think of themselves.”