The Passing of our Founding Father, Mr Lee Kuan Yew

We had been observing the news since February this year when we received news of our Founding Father Lee Kuan Yew had been hospitalized. Although it was common these years, as his health had been failing him after his wife had pass in 2010.

3 days ago, after a long week of grueling waiting, the news finally came that he had passed on peacefully in the wee hours of the morning. Many had cried, many are lost like myself, and many young ones are ignorant of what was going on.

I am second generation of Singapore Citizen. My parents are at those times, when Mr Lee Kuan Yew yells "Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!" though the loud hailers of black and white televisions. They were given a choice to live in Singapore or live in Malaysia, and they choose Singapore. As second generation of Singaporean, we did not do know what our parents experience in the past, the riots, the war, the political conflicts. We only hear stories from my parents that are mentioned very lightly in our textbooks, the Lee family, they always fondly referred him and his family including Mr Lee Kuan Yew's father.

In my youth i despises long essays due to my weak languages, so, i took up geography instead of history after the basic two years in secondary schools. I lack knowledge of what actually happened between the 2 great lands, Singapore and Malaysia.

We have no idea how much our founding father had planned and led his people to build this place, how the stability comes about, how the safety comes about, and even how do we ended with a green city with the best airport, best port to boost about. And like many others, we took all these for granted.

So, with all these tributes to his wife, Mdm Kwa Geok Choo in 2010, together with Mr Lee Kuan Yew's recently, we pieced everything together and now know the masterminds and who had been driving us to work hard, and harder, to maintain the continuity of our society nowadays.

Finally, I would like to say in very simple words.

Thank you! 

For everything you thought of and did for us.

I pray we will, no, we must continue your works, to make you proud. And make us continue to stand tall in the world.

I hereby, attached few videos in memory of him.

First, on a interview of Mr Lee Kuan Yew's eldest son, who is our current prime minister Mr Lee Hsien Yang. In Chinese.

Mediacorp TV8 PM Lee Hsien Loong interview on... by singaporegeek

and i will use my weak bilingual skills to translate whatever spoken in English. If there is any discrepancy in the transcript, please inform me, so i will improve on it. Thank you.

Founding father of Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's eldest son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had earlier received an interview from a Chinese media spoken of Mr Lee Kuan Yew's career of building the country, how he treat people and his leadership traits.

He also discussed of his father's image and the relationship between him and his father.

Mr Lee Hsien Loong said, the whole life of his father and Singapore is inseparable.

His father's destiny gives him motivation

"He is my father and prime minister at the same time.

So, from our view as family members, we do not have a normal family's way of life. He is always working at every moment. I believed that if my father had not been himself, i most probably will not become what i am today. However, i feel that the way he treat people around him, his mission, is that if you have the chance to do the same, you should try your very best to do it.

He feels that Singapore is his responsibility, is something that he created, therefore he feels he is responsible for all Singaporeans, that he must take care of them, create a better future for them, at the same time encourage them, or even excite them to do better. To do things that Singaporeans had never expected they could complete such a feat."

Prime minister mentioned about the times he was young, and yet not completely fulfilling his father's wishes.

"After i knew about things around me, Singapore had just started for a few years. Those are the years of many turmoils and changes. In view of these, i followed the newspapers reports very closely. In schools and among friends, we discussed of these social issues. Even in primary schools, these are being discussed. I think today, our primary school children do not discuss such country affairs at all anymore. That's why, unconsciously, we (LHL and his friends) too, absorbed the trend, politics of our times, how our times had been directed, and also motivated."

At those times of Independence, the government movements had left a deep impression, when discussing on what his father had gone through during these times, and how he spend his trying years of building the country. Our prime minister was speechless.

"we can dare say he is a hero of his times. because he experienced world war, experienced..."

*emotional pauses*

"Experienced the Japanese occupation, fighting the Colonial powers, chaotic times among the people, everything was a big global change. He had become a hero wrought from worst situations, because he survived from the worst. It is this knowledge, that he can guide Singapore to have stable lives, to grow, and to prosper. Those were the times. Now we are having a brand new generation. I feel that the new requirements for leaders are different from the past. That's why people must be led differently from the past. I know Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew understand this point. He knows that when he was a prime minister, he already did the best what he could."

However, under the new leadership, basic philosophy still have be be observed. Including Lee Kuan Yew's policy on clean government.

" I feel that to have a clean government is a very important factor. This is a very difficult thing to maintain. We have to make tough decisions in many times as it may affect certain civil servant or certain minister. If he had done something wrong, your responsibility is to  investigate and prosecute by legal means. You cannot say, that this is my comrade or my subordinate, i have to side him, to protect him, which i have to continue to tolerate his ways. These, my father had done many times too. That's why all these years, he insisted going to work. he will carry his own briefcase, never let others carry for him. Because these were his responsibility. Like once he mentioned, he is not the king of one country, but he is actually the first servant of his citizens."

In prime minister Lee Hsien Loong memories, Mr Lee Kuan Yew put Singapore as first place in his mind. Even after stepping down, he was still worrying about the country and her citizens.

"For example, we were discussing whether to let overseas investors to open casinos in Singapore. He have his views. At those times, views among younger ministers are not the same: Some feel can do, some have preservative views, that we should not go for such trades. He (LKY) feels we should go for it, should try, because it is a new era, this is a new type of tourism, if we do not do it, we will in a disadvantage. Actually, in many things, He (LKY) is very open minded. I know when he (LKY) spotted some comments on newspaper, he feels that what is discussed is not important and relevant to the problem, sometimes he even wants to draft a speech just to persuade Singaporeans not to be too complacent and too contented with what we have now, and to think we are already the best. But we told him, you have done enough, now it is our turn as new generation of leaders to do it, as this is our responsibility."

Prime minister  Lee Hsien Loong mentioned, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and his comrades built Singapore, also built a body that maintain continuity. This is the best legacy he had left for Singapore.

"Without him, we will not have Singapore today. This is widely recognized. But created a country, the most important is it whether it can be survived and continued moving forward. To be able to continue to have successors to continue as the generations followed. To be able to continue the prosperity and to be surpass the previous generation, to create a system that systematically and specifically to continue to be a stable, and independent country.

This, Not many countries can do this.

My favorite tribute video so far:



The full video of the 'please don't waste time' for the NUH Phd girl.

His last Goodbye to his wife always make me teared, even after all these years.

Looking back for 6 months

A friend asked around for an dentist experience, which i recalled i had an article. This also made me reflect on how long i had not written in my blog.

It is school holidays again. Not a very simple thing as this is the time where all the schedules are undone as children are not spending their time in school. And so does some individuals.

During the last holidays, i picked up a lot jobs, from supermarket serving hams, teaching a small group of 10 children, administrative and also volunteer tasks. At the same time, emotions was badly strained by actions of other whom might cause me to be homeless. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the church for taking me in, comforting me and gave me food, spiritual food during these times of hardship.

I was lucky. I was picked up by a principal, now i can assist the teachers. They taught me how to handle group of children, something i am not really good at. I am a slow learner and i admit i am still learning how to. I have my challengers both from the young and the adults, but i kept reminding myself, i had faced worse, this is nothing. There are things i have done that are redundant and not appreciated, i am glad to have it as a experience. It is not easy, i accepted a class of 10 rowdy children outside my work hours which i had a enriched experience how does a international school works. i also started giving tuition to a family of children, which i find them a pleasure, sometimes. Same, learning the ropes. I was so into the computer world, that the personal touch was quite gone, i have to pick up where i left off.

However, things doesn't as smooth as i prayed to be everyday. Home is not getting better. though it appears to be back as a normal household, actually, those pesky girls from Vietnam are still around. The recent proof broke my heart, and yet, i know i cannot voice it out. i prayed for guidance, i couldn't see help. i just hang on, and hoped. And it hit me so hard, that i have to cancel all my classes, and there goes my income. And on top of that, due to the school holidays, i have to pay for excursion trips i prepare for my children. On top of all these, i am also supposed to give money to the breadwinner, who does not seems to have money of his own because he had happily sent it out to other countries and assumed that he spend it on the family.
I gave the money as if i paying my toll for my pain. This is absurd and yet, i still have to do it.
But this goes on like that, i really hope, God will have to intervene.

Once again, i thank all for reading my woes. I hope i will write more frequently.

Is there a limit to one's learning capacity?

Just came across an article of the above title on Neuroscience topic on the limits of learning.

I remembered my primary school Chinese teacher used to write 4 words in my autobiography book, "学如海涯". (There's no limits to the horizon of learning).

It is true, that there's no end to learning.

Although, There are times, i feel so despair because i simple can't a new trick right. But eventually, i got through.

I have subjects, like Economics and English language, which i love to fail in school, i am still struggling with them.
I have seen examples in the recent classes i attend, that class, consisted of students age ranged from 16 to 80+. Imagine the teacher's agony, he have to style his materials and speech that it can be understood by his listeners. As a teacher, whom had taught with a class ranged from 8 to 14 years old, i already finding it already challenging, imagine a BIGGER age gap.

Coming back to the topic, this class i attended, the topics are fairly easy to understand, straight forward. The only problem is our exams, we must score 99 to 100%, yes, that means we not just understand 100% of what is taught, and also to regurgitate all of them verbally, and physically in the exams. This had challenged many of my classmates, about 30% of us took the exams in the end. I even heard, many deferred the exams for more than once, just want to be sure they are to pass the exams. One of them, re-attended the same classes for more than 3 times, the last time i met this person, he is still re-attending the class, still struggling to remember all the things, but the more this person attend, he got a little better, just a little.

I guess this is how our brain works. Is the psychology. Personally, on younger days, I always feel there's a limit to learning, despite teacher's 4 words reminding that i was wrong.
When i attending high school, i realized i could not absorb as fast and well as i did in earlier years. I starting to do badly for my physics, one of my better science subjects. I was so much convinced by my belief. And proceed to University, my good mathematics subject started to fail me, too, proving it better to me.

Now with this classmate who attended the class so many times, i was slapped my the belief i have was wrong. It is not there's a limit to our brains, it is time that forces us to surrender. We are given a very short time to learn and excel, It is the ability to absorb the information and applying the information in a short time restricts us.

If given time, nothing cannot be learnt.

So now, when i see my students struggling, i simply tell them to slow down, cool down, not to be so frustrated over things they could not understand ... at the moment.
However, we are in the society that does not wait for slow learners.
Perhaps, this is the biggest challenge as a educators nowadays.

Jane
Night Desperato Project

Passing of Nelson Mandela

I just received news from Yahoo!news & CNN that the founder of South Afica, President Nelson Mandela, had just passed on.

May God bless his soul and May he rest in peace.

To a founder who been through so much, i am amazed of his 94 years of his roller coaster life. Feel his pain during his 27 years of jail, and enduring the pain of his country and his own when his death of his son, his mother, which he was not allowed to attend their funerals. After he becomes president one year after his release from jail, he steered the country towards democracy, something, so vast, for such a big country. Even after officially retirement in year 2004, his names lingers.

As time passed for 11 years, news had ceased reporting about him, other than he is usually reported  sick.
For whole of year 2013, rumors of him dying, slipping in and out of coma, there were also sites i found claiming, Africa will not let the poor old man die. There is a African belief, that a person will not passed on, until his family and close ones let him. Thought it was a interesting and yet strong one, but, this is not how it works in real life.

However, i was glad that he died surrounded by his family.
At last, a father gets his rest. His soul will be in every South African's heart.
The world will remembered him for his works, and efforts.

May you rest in peace, President Mandela.


Night Desperato Project.

Lottery Winners: Please think before splurging your money!

I have read so many stories both locally and overseas about lottery winners leaving themselves less than 5k of their currency even they won at least a million in lottery after a year.

First, i will envy them, if i can, i will congratulate them, because i never won such a big amount in lottery before, and my country does not allow such big winners anyway, if it does happens which is a very rare less than 1% chance, they usually pay in installments than to give them one big lump sum.

So, what one should not do when one wins a lottery?
- Do not broadcast, you will ended a queue of relatives to strangers queuing your house asking for donations, sponsorship, rentals and even fake debt collectors!

- Clear debts as much as possible. If your debts is more than 50% of your winnings, then, don't used up all. Plan your debt clearing. Look for a legitimate bank or a real financial planner, think of good ways to invest the winnings, use the winnings for clearing debt, how about that? You may even refer to my previous post on how to handle debts.

- Don't change your lifestyle. In short, don't think you will get the another such chance of the lifetime again being that few extra millions in your account does not mean you will keep it at the same amount forever. It is not your regular pay.




Jane
Night Desperato Project



Reference Articles:
(1) Britain's youngest lottery winner Callie Rogers has just £2k left - but she's happier than ever
(2) Scottish lottery couple split up just a year after scooping £2.1m jackpot
(3) Lottery Winner Who Spent His Fortune On Drugs, Now Works In Cookie Factory
(4) Twelve Things not to do if you win the lottery
(5) Lottery Winner Blew Through $10M in Fewer Than 10 Years
(6) How do lottery winners go from riches to rags?
(7)

Raise money online - Is it for real?

After removing myself from my job, i am down to nothing, no income. After all the promising, now, husband is now forcing me to live with the in-law, which obviously, frankly speaking, after that horrific night 5 years ago. Experience says i should not live with her, and not in her house.

What happened 5 years ago?
I was chased out from my own house by my mother-in-law. For some reasons, i managed to go back after much persuasion, and she had moved out of my house months after.

So, can God tell me a reason why i should live with her in her house?

I am given a choice to stay in my house. MONEY.
I am determined to find a way to earn money. online. but, i just can't get a quick result. 
I guess i am really weak and useless, like husband and my previous boss think of me. But i am still determine to prove them wrong, not just 2 of all, but all the people who says i am a piece of useless junk, my life should be terminated. Yes, nasty words, so imagine my level of depression after dwelling in these words.

During my ventures, i found a interesting site:



I read on-going cases, success stories that people request funding, donations to be exact.
I was amazed about how it works. The same question goes, do people really just donate just like that??? Wow.
How i wish i can do the same! But how far can i go?

Why don't just one of you readers start clicking on those banners i put here and sign up for free, and prove it to me, and i am not even asking you to donate money to me? Just a click will do, please?

Jane
Night Desperato Project/

Mole Cricket

I had a shock one afternoon to see one of the legs of my outdoor chairs is covered with a lot of wooden sawdust.

So, thinking is just the constant soaking of the floor that cause the leg of the chair to give way, i decided to put the chair upside down and started digging with my finger. It was a bad choice. Something came out of the 'hole' which apparently gave me a little shock.

In Singapore, we do encounter crickets. But Mole Cricket is rare here, i posted a picture of a dead one before asking for opionion what was it, i have interesting answers like "Alien", even my husband said so too, until a educator told me it was a cricket, but the fore arms of the insect does not match the picture she attached for me. I researched further, and i managed to classify the insect under cricket but specifically "Mole Cricket". I think it digs into wood and eats them as well. 

Now, i got a live one! Excited to see it alive than a dead shell i had.  Like a amateur scientist, i started measuring it before i lose the insect to the wild.

Then i released the insect, making sure it does not comes into the house because my flooring is also wood! And wow, See how fast it runs! it initially ran into another wooden door, hopefully to reside as a new home, which i insist it to go down, as i observed it does not come back up again as it does not fly.

So, now i have the 'damage control report' to write! 

 

This is what happen to the leg of the chair. I should have know something is wrong. It is water damage, it should be all four legs. But the damage here is only one leg. As we can see, the wood used in Ikea chairs is stuffed wood shavings. That's probably why, it is a easier target for wood insects like mole cricket.

Comparison with a good leg.

 

Mole Cricket stays in the wood, constantly digging, this damage is for the period of 24 hours. It had successful removed part of the bottom, and a hole of 3 cm inside it. Note that the earlier measurement of the insect is about 3.5 cm. So, i supposed it was nicely resting inside when i disturbed it by digging it out using my finger.

So, now, i have a damaged chair to fix. I have to saw part of it off and use some wooden cubes to replace the leg, to regain the balance of the chair.

Still does not know where and how the cricket comes in, we live in high-rise buildings, not at ground level. And mole cricket is not a local insect. I supposed it might comes with the furniture or plants, or even the soil when we 'import' from overseas.

After 2 months from this incident. I have no more occurrence of dead or alive version of mole cricket. I hope this will remain as a memory, a history that will not be repeated.

Jane
Night Deperato Project.