fLAWS within

The purpose of legislation is to primarily fix the flaws within society by bringing in justice. Laws are meant to be fair and equal, at least that's the view that the elites want everyone to believe in. However, there are plenty of flaws within the LAW which most people would tend to agree.

Firstly, Laws favour those who know Law. Everyday, the poorly educated gets punished for not knowing Law. At the same time, those who are educated in the subject walks off getting richer with every mistakes that their opponents offend.

Secondly, Laws favour those who are rich. It doesn't matter much if one does not know about Law that much. He would have just missed opportunities to extract compensations on certain occasions. With an adviser or a legal consultant, he could at the very least prevent too much harm from being inflicted upon him.

Thirdly, Laws rely much on the judgment of a Man/Woman. Maybe sometimes a team of people i.e. the juries. Is there really fairness when personal prejudice and discrimination (however small the extent) come into the room which metes out legal punishments?

Having laws seemed to increase disparity between the elites and the non-elites. But we can't do without anyway.

Toastmasters International District 80 Area L1 International Speech and Table Topics Contest

12 April 2008 (Saturday)
2pm
Kg Chai Chee Community Centre

After joining Kg Chai Chee CC Toastmasters Club for 2 months, this event was the first Toastmasters contest that I attended, and participated as a contestant. The event was graced by the CCC Chairman of Kg Chai Chee CC.

I realised that I was the youngest contestant and the youngest person in the whole hall. The contestants balloted for their order of appearance and took a seat as the event commenced.

I was the first speaker for the English Speech category. My turn to speak was immediately after the refreshments, so I refrained from taking any food during the short break while taking deep breaths and wiping off my sweaty palms. I received my greatest encouragement from my Mother who came to support me, as well as a good-luck SMS from Bao Hui.


I spoke on "Gratitude". Silent Gratitude means no Gratitude at all. My speech took me 6 minutes. Emotions kicked in while I was sharing my personal anecdotes and I thought that affected my performance to some extent. Anyway, I gave in my best shot. I was amazed by the 3 other contestants. I would later learn that they had 5-10 years of contesting experience. Nevertheless, it was a great eye-opener and also a great first try on a Speech Competition platform.

Receiving the participation certificate from the Competition Chairman:


My supporter - Mother

Youth OUT!

For weeks, the organising team at Eunos YEC had been working on the Youth OUT! project. For nights, we went round the precinct to publicise the event to youth and selling tickets.

 

This is my first time organising an event at the Grassroots level. The main difference between a school event and a Grassroots event is that in schools, the teacher is the guiding force and often gets many things done for the students; whereas for grassroots events, volunteers head the projects and we have to be responsible for our own dealings.

 

For my organising committee, I had Ming Choo, Jialing and Abdillah. Ming Choo proved to be of tremendous help. She created all the publicity materials from scratch -- designing logos to printing the banners and posters. She was also a good time checker, always ensuring that things get done by deadlines. With Jialing's help, we managed to liaise with the Vice Principal of Damai Secondary School and distributed publicity materials within the school. Jialing and Rahayu also gave a speech at morning assembly to publicise the event. Abdillah was unfortunately tied up by National Service most of the time. On the event day, was quite touched to see him come despite having to walk with a walking stick due to his injured knee.

 

The other members of YEC also contributed into the success of Youth OUT! First, we had Hock Rong who pulled in a large part of the contacts of performers. He also acted as a mentor and supervised the committee, giving crucial advices from time to time. Jinfu, the PA staff, must be the most stressed up person. With 2 events just completed in the month, he had to continue with Youth OUT! Siblings Carin and Peng Koon rendered help in the event despite their busy schedules. Timothy volunteered to help settle the food issues. Constance came to help pack the goodie bags and had to rush off via taxi to her event. Brenda too came to assist even though she had something on.

 

On the eve of Youth OUT!, Ming Choo, Jinfu, Lawrence and myself went to Bugis TopOne Karaoke to chill out after a long day of preparation. We sang till 2am, then left home for some rest.

 

On 29th March 2008, Ming Choo and Jinfu had started work while I came slightly late due to the "hangover". From 10am, we would then work our way till 11pm.

 

Have to really thank James who volunteered to help in manning the registration and ticket selling booth. Jian Hao came to support my event, but I felt bad for not being able to accompany him for most of the time. Bao Hui also came with her friend, Ris. This is a very pleasant surprise and I'm real touched by her sincerity and her presence. My cousin, Yuan Mei, also came with a group of friends to attend Youth OUT! Got the chance to introduce her to Bao Hui and Jian Hao. Splendid!

 

I thought the emcees, Jason a.k.a Chee Wei, my Senior in Secondary School, as well as Karin done a great job in bringing up the atmosphere for the event. With little information about the whole event, they picked up quick with ease and set the stage for the night.

 

Father, Mother and Yuan Mei's Mum (my Aunt) popped in to express support for me as well, with their eagerness to see me speaking on stage. Their presence, together with Bao Hui's, really gave me great motivation. Father was initially very afraid to enter the premise as it's a youth event. But he persevered in staying at one corner, just to see me speak. T.T touched...

 

Went up to stage to deliver a speech as the organising Chairman for the event. Stressful but managed to deliver it smoothly, just forgetting to thank some important people.

 

Thanks everyone. Thanks to all the performers who I don't have much chance to interact with. Thanks to all the volunteers for the event. Thank you!