Things I don't get

Case one: GRCs
Singapore politics are really over my head, I thought I knew what politics was, until I went to Serangoon Central the other day, and saw a sign that goes "Welcome to Marine Parade Estate" or something to that effect... errr.. I looked around, I was in Serangoon, what the heck am I being welcomed to Marine Parade? Then I realise that it's Pappy's GRC policy that's playing tricks on me.

I was in Serangoon Central, it's just that it's under the Marine Parade GRC. Simple. The only problem is that it's Serangoon I'm at, and Marine Parade is like so so so so so so so far away. To get from Serangoon to Marine Parade, you have to get through Ang Mo Kio, Hougang, Bedok Reservior, Ubi, Paya Lebar, then Marine Parade.. It's amazing how they divide the districts up. But then again, what Goh wants, Goh gets. Simple as that.

I understand when my house, in between Woodlands and Admiralty, falls under Sembawang GRC, coz that's like pretty near my place, a 10 min drive away only.. But Serangoon under Marine Parade?! Now that's a little far-fetched. No wonder I read so much complaints about the GRC system (I dunno if this is the right term to coin the system, it's the only thing I can think of.) during the last election, I thought it was just the usual making a mountain out of a molehill by the opposition, now that I've witness what it really means, it hit me hard. I have to admit I was wrong, the GRC system is really wrong, it's wrong. It's ok to group different housing areas together to form an estate, but it's wrong when housing areas are like miles apart. That is just wrong.

Not only is it wrong, it's unfair, I would even like to call it foul play. It's playing dirty. Just coz one sets the rules, it does not mean that the game should be unfairly slanted towards the organizer. That is intrinsically wrong. The fundamentals are all not there, what kinda democracy is that?
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Case 2: Death Penalty
The recent noise over the Australian guy that is to be hang (the date is set to be in decemeber right?). I find it strange that people talked so much about him, signing petitions. Like what Mr Wang said before, these people do not really know what they are supporting. They are against the death penalty, but when people like Ah Hao (Huang Na case) gets sentenced to death, did they react? If they really feel that the death penalty is fundamentally ( i like using this word) wrong, why did they not speak out previously? And now that Ah Hao's case is under appeal ( I think so, saw a lot of reports in the papers), would these people step out and appeal when he gets his death sentence?

It's sad that a young man is sentenced to death due to drugs. But I'm a supporter for harsh punishments, my stand with people is that they are evil in nature, without the scare-factor, criminals will run amok. Ok, that's too sweeping a sentence, but I really believed in the death sentence for drug trafficking. Drugs can do a lot of damage to a lot of people, so traffickers, pushers should all be sentenced to death, to act as a warning.

Of course, there are arguements that the death penalty does not work to deter such crimes. I beg to differ. Singapore is just right next to the golden triangle, without such harsh punishments from the start, Singapore would be wealthier with all the drug money, but at what cost? And is death penalty really that inefficient? The studies that had shown that capital punishment does not work to deter crimes are done in the States. Asian society and Western society are very different in nature, so I don't think it's fair to use such study results and force them onto us.

Plus, the Australian PM was supportive when the Indonesia terrorist got the death penalty, and now he's asking for pardon.. Must be consistent.. How can you agree when it suits you and disagree when it doesn't?

I know I have a weak arguement for this case, but I still think that capital punishment is right and should stay. Drug trafficking is something we must stop at all cost. How can a state murder someone for murder? There's a chinese saying that is "an eye for an eye". When a murderer took a life, it's only right that he returns the life that he took. But there's no way to return the life, so the only thing to do is to take his life.

I'm not a Buddhist, but I believe in its teachings, there's a thing called karma, and for whatever wrong-doings that you had done, you will have to pay back, one way or another. You can't get away from that by being repentant, the system does not work that way. Whatever you had done, you pay for it.

Ok really off the point for this. I just don't get the big fuss people are kicking up over this case, maybe I just have a stone instead of a heart.. Ba.. Does it matter?
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Case 3: Way over-priced dinners
I'm back to politics again.. This time are dinners that are waaaay way way overpriced..

Ok, I dunno how much this dinner cost, but my guess is that it's at least a hundred bucks for each person, meaning that it's 1k for 10 people. That's cheap really.. my parents are going for another diner tonight that costs 1k per person?! That's 1k for one person, 2k for two person, 3k for 3 person.. .. .. 10k for 10 person!!! WTF?! 10k can help me pay off half of my tution loan, which I still have 9 more years to service.. damn it!

Back to this dinner, normally for such dinners, the expense will be higer than 1k, coz there will be calls for donations and such and at least 4~5k more will be spent. Given Comrade Chan's love for singing, at least 2~3 songs at 2k each will be sung.

I'm not saying that money donated to charities are wrong. I just feel the donations in these cases are .. how should I put it?? Insincere... They don't donate coz they think it's for a good cause, they donate so that they will get buddy buddy with the minister.

I like Chan Soo Sen.. not initially, coz honestly, he does not have a very appealing look. Kinda look like a .. .. .. I shall reserve my comments. But after a day out with him, on a Taoism-whatever-I-cant-be-bothered event, I'm impressed. Without having to consult to anything, he can give hour long speeches, and that's not only once but at least 3~4 times, in a single day!?! And though all the speeches sounded similiar, it's impressive to see him just rattle off, and in both mandarin and english. I must say I'm really impressed by him.

But I still don't get these dinners, RCs spend so much time and effort organizing them. They could had spent all those time on more meaningful stuff.. But on the other hand, maybe they really have nothing better to do.

Argh, I dun care, if people like to just throw their money into such dinners, it's their problem. But there's something else I don't get about this particular dinner.. Click on the invitation cards and take a better look. They called Chan Soo Sen.. a Comrade!?! Serious.. I almost choked when I saw that.. Comrade? Revival of communism in Singapore?!

"Comrade Chan Soo Sen and all Comrades of PAP Joo Chiat Branch"

From Wikipwedia, I found this definition "Comrade is a term meaning friend, colleague, or ally. The term originally carried a strong military connotation, and referred to a roommate." But in political use, "The term "comrade" (and its equivalent in other languages) is widely used to mean "a fellow socialist" or "a fellow communist"."

When I googled and went to dictionary.com to check out the word comrade, I find that it's almost always linked to communism. The revival of communism in Singapore? Now that's something interesting to watch.

Will we all one day call each other as 同志??

Now 同志 have another meaning and that is the common men's term for gays. When you call Chan a 同志, does that mean that .. .. .. No no, I'm not saying that he's a gay, of course not. Haven't I mention that I respect this guy? This is one minister that I know that drives around in an old, tiny Nissan March. It's not those new and stylo Nissan March, it's the real old and tiny Nissan March. This is one guy who is close to the grassroots and really worked his way up.

What I'm trying to say is that, the use of the word 同志 means that pappy is slowly accepting the gays in our society??

Nah, I think I'm thinking too much, the communism conspiracy seems more interesting.. Hahaha.. Imagine all of us in green uniforms with red arm bands and red cards.. now that's interesting ;Þ

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