Friday, March 25, 2011

Local Sg News: A ridiculous call to "warn off" heartlanders to Holland Village.

OMG! OMG! Did you by any chance get to listen to this Samantha airhead going on air, blasting fellow Singapore heartlanders for being too uncultured to go to Holland Village?!!!! Unbelieveable!

http://soundcloud.com/radio913/the-married-men-samanthas

To begin with, her English sounds terrible, not the worst Singlish but nonetheless smack of local accent. Should other people mock her "fake" wannabe accent while she had her short airtime to blast other people's dressing, which she in turn associate with "Low Class" and "Not Cultured"? Why does she have such a superficial mentality?

To begin with, talking loudly is more of bad manners than culture. Talking loudly may be a culture in China, but if u want to critic such behavior in Singapore, its simply refered to as inconsiderate bad manners. Dressing down is also not associated with "Low Class". Have u seen how some celebs been dressing in states? Even worse than some locals I have seen. If Lady Gaga with her outlandish outfit happened to be in HV, will Samantha dearest please go up to her and ask her to leave immediately since her dressing are too provacatively low-class and trashy.

So what exactly are the "crimes" of the locals hanging out at HV by your illogical standard? A bad hairdo? T-shirts and flip-flops? Incidentally, someone ought to correct you. "Slippers" are by definition generally meant for indoor footwear, while we know you meant to say flip flops/ sandals/ thongs. So can I mock you as "lowly educated" as such by your own yardstick of measurement?

Advocating wearing appropriate clothings to appropriate functions is fine but not in the unconstructive, unsubstantiated way Samantha had presented her points please. Seriously, do u expect someone to dress up with makeup and all just to stroll to HV Cold Storage or dine at the over-priced- bad service causal fare Horfun place? Give me a break. Where is the reasoning? There is no context at all. Did someone forget to mention to her that Holland Village is a public place free for all, and the location isnt a restaurant or indoor venue where dress code and approperiate "rules" must be observed?

Samantha must have assumed the higher proportion of expats hanging out @ HV to equate to her natural "Ah-tas" assumption of the area being more posh and cultured? To begin with, how on earth would she know the so-called "better dressers" are definitely Holland villagers? Do they wear a tag or a sign over their neck declaring where they live? For all she know, the better-dressers might actually be someone living further away and the more causal dressed are the "accused" low-class people. Seriously...is Samantha only hanging out in the pubs surrounded by pretentious people with the same idea as she? How sad...

While I do concede that on most days, the general people who throng the cafes and shops @HV are generally friendlier than some other heartland malls (with lesser maninlanders to be talking loudly into my ears to start off), yet people here do not dress anymore differently than say Siglap or Tampines Mall or AMK, or as she claimed "high class". She sounded stupid from the first 10 secs she opened her mouth. My friend commented that she is one of those youths just shooting off her mouth and there is a growing sentiment that more youths are becoming like that... I dont know if its true. I can only say I hope not. 

I love one comment left on the website for her.
"A drop of Yakult has more culture than her."

That's a true blue insult, with much appreciated cultured wit and humor.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Afterthought after Japanese Tsunami and Earthquake

The throng of expats rushing to leave Japan due to the nuclear incident comes as no surprise. Who isnt fearful of impending potential death?

I applaud my friend's decision to stay on in Japan despite the incident and assured us that things isnt as seemingly bad as it appeared where she is in Saitama. She remarked that it was more stressful to cope with the concerned well intended requests for her to head back to Singapore, than actually being in the midst of all the "action" in Japan.

Seeing the people wanting to leave, with people wailing in despair at the airport etc, it brings to mind one important thought. If Singapore was to face any major calamity, how many of the existing population of almost 5million people, consisting of estimated 36% foreigners will react to the situation? Assuming the 36% of foreigners will also rush to leave the small island, what is left is about 64% of local citizens and perm residents (which are again of foreign birth); out of which assuming 1/4 will choose to leave as well. We dont really have alot of people left remaining do we?

In the midst of calamity, will we also have our own version of 50 selfless self sacrificial heroes? Japan being a homogeneous populated country with a "samurai heritage" and where a common identity & culture is grounded upon, it is easily understandable their sense of patriotism to guard the well being of the rest of the nation. Singapore, a small island of many identities without a single identity to fall back on, can we count on the hope for our own "band of brothers" to depend on in the dire straits moments?

I remember a friends's husband use to hate going back to NSmen reservist because he thought it was an utter waste of time and pointless exercises. This was before all the debate of the sudden influx of mainlanders or Foreign Talent into Singapore. His reason was simply in the sign of first trouble, he would be fleeing the country. Why on earth should he be wasting his time on training to protect the country? So it leaves me pondering even more, how many more will stay to help the community if many thinks like him? How will the world react to Singaporeans fleeing their own soil instead of staying to defend or protect it?

While the expats leaving Japan are returning home without guilt or sense of betrayal, how will Singaporeans who say survive from running to a host country as a second class citizen- will feel if their own country was wiped out? Will there be a sense of sorrow? A sense of guilt? Or a tinge of loss and sadness? A sense of I could have done more perhaps?

I watched the Japanese news and it was interestingly that all the old folks are urging the younger families with kids esp, to head for safety while the older folks are willing to stay behind to aid the ailing old people in homes etc. I suppose they wish for the younger generation to survive the crisis and  pass on their Japanese heritage and culture.

However if Singapore is wiped out, what heritage and culture that is unique to us do we pass on? I couldnt think of any in particular that belongs to us. Speaking as a chinese, we have mainly lost our dialect "mother tongue", not to mention we even have a new Chinese generation struggling to speak and write mandarin. Whatever Chinese tradition remaining (I can barely think of anything more than a handful even) is even barely passed down from our parents no thanks to the hectic work schedule, heavy western influences and idolism, or the parents' upbringing of "dont do anything but study" due to the intensively pressuring rat-race/ paper chase.

Despite whatever people may think of the war crimes Japanese had committed back then, or the criticism about the eccentricity of Japanese culture or the protective nature of their country against foreigners,  the modern Japan has definitely shown the world a thing or two about their self-sacrificial values, unity and calmness of nation on the whole in face of adversity.

Ignorant people round the world who are rushing to snatch up salt or seaweed to "prolong" their lives, take a leaf from people of the rising sun, who has truly shown us the light to a enviable nation where the community come together as one in face of calamity. Even a Japanese dog has something to teach us about not leaving its companion behind...

Local SG News: Chinese national "not terribly frightened" after cabby’s death

SINGAPORE: A Chinese national on trial for the murder of a taxi driver, told the High Court on Wednesday he was "not terribly frightened" when he tried to remove evidence after allegedly killing the man.

Wang Wenfeng, 32, had originally claimed that he was very frightened after the alleged murder of taxi driver Yuen Swee Hong, 58, in April 2009 following a botched robbery attempt.

Wang then allegedly dumped the body on a hill.

When questioning Wang, Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Lee noted that Wang, despite being frightened, was still able to wipe off blood from the taxi and even snipped off wires from a card reader to avoid being detected.

Wang said he was "not terribly frightened".

He had wanted to look for the taxi’s Global Positioning System (GPS) machine but mistook the card reader for it.

He later demanded S$150,000 from Mr Yuen’s wife as ransom.

DPP Lee asked Wang about his intention for bringing a knife out that day.

In response, Wang said: "To commit robbery, you have to bring a knife don’t tell me you want me to bring a banana?"

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When I read the end of the article of the Chinese National murdering a local Sg cab driver, my reaction  was "Unremorseful Arrogant China Prick!!" Dont waste taxpayer money on jailtime and free repatriation flight home. Just hang this unremorseful bastard!

Ok, I'm just feeling mean today.