YP Convention 2008

2 November 2008
NTUC Building
9am

This is the first Young PAP (YP) activity that I have participated in. It had been about 4 years since I wore a uniform. Donning the party whites in the morning, I felt proud that I could stand for a party that had created the Singapore that we are living in today. My parents were even more eager to see me in the uniform.

Shared a cab with Hock Rong, Ming Choo and Chee Jian and reached the NTUC building early. We did some networking and proceeded to the auditorium.

There were discussions on three topics. These included Economic Challenges; Social Compact - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow; Politics in the 21st Century. All 3 sessions were moderated by Comrade Teo Ser Luck. Each session started with 2 party members presenting on the topic. There was a MP assigned to be the mentor for each topic as well.

The audience were eager to post questions and seek opinions from the panel.

After the discussions, the outgoing YP Chairman Dr Vivian Balakrishnan gave an inspiring speech before introducing the new line-up for the YP's 16th Executive Committee. The new YP Chairman is Teo Ser Luck who will lead the committee with 2 Vice Chairman - Zaqy Mohamad and Christopher de Souza. Dr Tan Wu Meng fills the new post of Organising Secretary.

New YP Chairman Teo Ser Luck then gave his speech and led the YP pledge recital.

The four of us later decided to have lunch together at Swensens in Tampines Mall. It was an interesting trip walking around people who casted curious looks at us.

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In the evening, went to Baohui's cousin's wedding dinner at Trader's Hotel.

Insights to Singaporean Teacher in Mini Bikini

The New Paper covered a story on the Singaporean primary school teacher blogger "Gwen" who posted photos of herself in mini bikini at her blog. This stirred up a debate in online forums on whether it is right or wrong for an educator to post such pictures.

According to I.Z. Reloaded, there was a NTU Assistant Professor who also posted bikini photos of herself in her blog. Although both "Gwen" and this NTU A/P were prompt to erase their blogs, their photos were already in circulation.

I remember my primary school teacher asking about our opinion if we visit bars or pubs and see our teachers in there. Her argument was that as an educator, there is an unmentioned obligation to keep an image that is appropriate for a role model.

I agree with her views. As educators, it is undeniable that students would tend to look up to them and subconsciously treat them as role models. When educators reflect a character that is in big contrast to how they carry themselves in school, a sense of betrayal and disappointment occurs in students.

It is true that teachers should also have a private life of their own. However, they are still bounded by the factor of accountability to parents. Nowadays, students spend more time with the teacher than with their parents. If parents need to set good examples for their children, teachers must set even higher standards. But what is good and what is bad?

Indeed this is debatable. Cladding bikinis cannot be said to be good or bad -- it's a freedom of choice in this free society. But if we were to consider the culture, then there might be a social norm where various behaviours are judged. Singapore is still a conservative society, and Confucian values give teachers greater pressure to conform to code of conduct.

I believe the infusion of younger teachers would gradually change the dynamics of education. Teachers just have to continue to be conscious of their private lives in the meantime...

Hari Raya Aidilfiltri Youth Reception @ Eunos

26 October 2008
7.30pm
Auditorium, Eunos CC

More than a hundred Eunos residents celebrated Hari Raya Aidilfiltri together. As early as 7pm, residents arrived to interact with one another while eating some light snacks. The set-up of the reception had a slight romatic touch with candles.

The Guest-of-Honour for the event is Mr Lin Tze Kin PBM, Chairman of Eunos CC Management Committee.

After he delivered his speech, the dance group from Eunos MAEC performed Malay Dance. Hip Hop Dance followed up next.

Singer Irwin Kesuma delighted the audience with his voice and guitar performance.

The organising chairman, Zul, explained the meaning of Hari Raya Aidilfiltri to the audience. The audience was glued to the presentation as they anticipate the quiz that comes after it.

The rest of the audience were also rewarded with prizes for sitting on the Lucky Chairs.

At 9pm, everyone enjoyed buffet dinner together.

Today was also Chee Lee's birthday. We actually wanted to bring the cake and get him up on stage as a birthday surprise. In the end, we decided to celebrate in our usual hangout - Mac!

NUS Safety & Crisis Planning & Management Workshop for Student Leaders

24 October 2008
9am - 1pm
Office of Safety, Health & Environment

The morning drizzle did not affect the attendance of the Safety & Crisis Planning & Management Workshop for Student Leaders conducted by the NUS Office of Safety, Health & Environment.

The trainer has rich experience in this field of knowledge and shared many instances where lives and injuries could be saved. It was heartening to know that NUS is the only university in Singapore that conducts safety workshops for students. And only in NUS, there are AEDs planted all across campus!

We were divided into groups where we formulated safety plans for a given activity. During the presentation of the plans, the trainer asked questions on safety issues and triggered our minds to think of solutions.

I hope to apply my new knowledge in the future activities I'm organising or participating in.

Safety - Leave no man behind

How You Can Get Free Publicity from the Media for Your Event

22 October 2008
7pm
Amphiview, OnePeople.SG Building

The special PAYM session for YEC members, titled "How You Can Get Free Publicity from the Media for Your Event" was conducted by Ravi Veloo, Managing Director of The Media Campus. He was previously a journalist with Singapore Press Holdings and had been awarded with Journalist of the Year from Press Foundation of Asia as well as Feature of the Year, Special Award of the Year, Headline of the Year among two dozen awards from SPH.

Ravi started by getting us to find out the unique things about the person sitting beside each of us and capture them using a reporter's mindset. Through this activity, Ravi taught us the various news angles that reporters are looking out for when sieving through the thousands of media release requests.

There were group discussions to brainstorm about creating powerful headlines.

Overall, the session was very interactive and we enjoyed hearing some experiences of Ravi when he was a journalist. Perfecting Media Releases isn't that difficult after all!

Brace Yourselves for the Storm

22 October 2008

As I open my eyes gratefully to be able to see the morning sun, the grimy economy news in The Straits Times didn't bother me much. The reporters seem to be copying and pasting the same bad news everyday for the past week. The difference perhaps lie only in the company/country being inflicted with the bad economic flu.

After collecting a deposit from a client and processing his printing job, I received a couple of calls regarding request for quotation for various printing jobs. It's that time of the year again. So little wonder why I would get such a shock later in the evening.

It's totally unfair that Lin Qiang already started receiving "Navy News" Magazine. I didn't even had one before enrolment!

After a healthy dinner with a hilarious slapstick movie "The Big Hit", I went downstairs to attend my RC meeting. Over the next 2 hours, the topic of an adverse economy popped out from time to time. One member said that companies are starting to tighten their belts and retrenchment would definitely start next year.

After the meeting, the coffee shop discussion couldn't escape the mention of the economy as well. People from different industries and various walks of life painting the gloomy picture for the coming months or even years. That's when I got a shock, not a very big one but it definitely had its impact.

I remember some wealthy soul mentioned that recessions are periods when the riches in the world are redistributed. As we tighten our belts, we should start thinking of how we can leverage on this impending crisis since recessions don't come so frequently and hopefully this will be the last to come!

Koh's Wedding @ Grand Hyatt Hotel

19 October 2008
Grand Ballroom, Grand Hyatt Hotel

My fellow RC mate, Mr Koh invited us to attend his son's wedding dinner at Grand Hyatt Hotel. He catered two buses to ferry the Eunos residents, mainly Eunos Zone '3' RC members and Senior Citizen's Executive Committee members. At 7.15pm, we left Eunos for the hotel. Mayor Zainul Abidin Rasheed (Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs) also attended the dinner.

Grand Hyatt looks really grand. I especially like the style of decoration, using black as the main colour, rather than the usual white. For instance, the table cloths, napkins and even the waiters' uniform were all black. The black combined with the candle lightings create a warm atmosphere.

Each table had a bouquet of roses (real ones!) and lining the aisle were stands of fresh roses with candles.

The gift was a keychain, consisting of a couple donning traditional Chinese wedding costume.

I felt a little uneasy when they kept changing plates after each course. Think of the amount of soap and water wasted... Anyway, got myself a glass of red wine. Overestimated my capacity and ended up getting giddy after the first glass.

There is a saying that goes that if you want to find out the different character of the people in a department, ask the toilet cleaner. And of course, if you want to check out the quality of a hotel, check out the toilet!