"Melvyn hw dare u lie 2 me. cme back hme u better explain 2 me. i swear i stop ur studying in australia. u make mom believe in u and happy 4 nothing."

-- This, is Mom playing nice.

whee

The leader is Lee.
Freedom of speech is qualified.
One party rule.
Citizen control is a must: We decide who you marry, when, how and why.
Privacy, is a fallacy.
The only natural resource we can exploit is the people.
Opposing views are tolerated, but discouraged.
The leader, is always right.

And no, I'm not talking about Singapore.

Cheryl is a slut.

Cheryl slept with Peter.

It was said that Cheryl had been getting close with Peter over the course of the month.

Someone witnessed Cheryl putting her hand on Peter's thigh.

There were sounds of someone entering Peter's room one night.

It had to have been Cheryl.

Cheryl must have slept with Peter.

Peter was not Cheryl's first.

-----------------

The trouble with making a judgement:

What is relevant? Is it only facts that are of deal directly with the event that has occurred? When is the line of remoteness drawn with such facts? The question then turns upon the matters that could legitimately be considered as facts. What are facts, and what remains, for lack of a better term, 'hearsay'?

Who is credible enough for the provision of such facts? Is it the person who viewed the event unfolding, thus giving him/her credibility because of his/her first-hand view of the event? Or is it the person who has a sufficient academic history to be an authority on the event, and events similar to what has happened?


The above scenario involving Cheryl, Peter, and supposedly the people who watched and talked about Cheryl, is of course fictional. Nevertheless, such situations are familiar.

In making decisions about another, how often do we depend upon the testimony of a third party, one who claims to know?

Dear Mr President

I mean... Mr Prime Minister Lee.

You will probably never read this, but I'm hoping the spies who trawl the internet daily for posts related to you will. And I'm hoping they bring this to your attention.

It's entirely possible that your spies will treat this as another letter simply bashing you, your party, and your actions (and the lack thereof in regard to certain circumstances).

But it's not. Or least, I'm going to try avoid doing so.

Dear Mr Lee, aren't you tired? Aren't the people in your party tired? Tired of saying the same things, over and over again? Every few months or so, I hear the same message blaring from the party speakers:

"GDP GDP GDP GDP GDP!"

Even in discussions I have with friends about Singapore, that dirty word inevitably comes up. And I have to admit, I've only been seriously discussing for a few months, and already I'm sick of saying GDP.

Could it be possible that you're just as tired too?


Dear Mr Prime Minister, aren't you feeling guilty? Aren't your party members feeling guilty? Do you remember, not so many years ago, of a Mediacorp drama: 早安老师? Do you remember the theme song? A part of it went...

“你扮渔民，我扮海盗！” (Translated: You'll play the fisherman, I'll play the pirate)

It's a suggestion that the children singing the song actually had time to go out and play after all.

I was lucky enough to be born in 1986, and that meant I did not have to go through the craziness of lessons, tuition, CCAs, excursions, remedial lessons, supplementary lessons, musical instrument lessons, dance lessons, etiquette lessons, homework, revision, and all this in one day.

No where in there do I find any time to play. Is that what my younger cousins go through today?

When I think of my childhood, I remember a few instances of playing freely at the playground, of running around the block because I could, of kicking a ball around, because I had the time. Now that, was a childhood.

Do you think you could find it in your heart to grant our younger generation a chance to have a childhood too?


Dear Mr Prime Minister, are you a CEO? Are your party members Directors on the Board of Singapore Pte Ltd?

How come everything I hear and read about these days is about Singapore plugging itself (and I admit, the picture it paints isn't pretty) into China, plugging itself into America.

How come we're always so busy plugging ourselves into other countries?

Slightly nasty metaphors aside, what I mean to say is... why are seemingly all the policies business driven? Yes, I understand the need for a compan.. I mean country, to make money. Yes, I understand that if companies not invest in Singapore, we will dry up. Yes, I understand that if the people aren't trained (again, d'you see how nasty that image is?) we can't do our jobs properly.

But Dear Mr Prime Minister, we are humans, as much as you are. I do not believe I was created simply to work and work, for the betterment of the compa.. again I apologize, country.

As much as you wish to exploit your only resource, given Singapore does not have oil and natural gas and precious minerals, you must realise that your only resource, like all other resources, may end up being depleted?


Dear Mr Prime Minister, could you find it in your heart to let us smell the roses? We truly appreciate the hard work you have put in to make us work harder... but there would be no point encouraging us to earn all that money if we end up being unable to spend it.

There would be no point living in Singapore. There would be no point cultivating a national identity. There would be no need for a Singapore Spirit: because all you have taught us is the importance of money.

must. grow.

Right. So I've decided I'm going to umm, improve myself. HAHA And this time no giving up, either.

If I'm going to have what I want, when I want, then I obviously need to be better than what I am now; No point trying to fly when I haven't grown wings.

Besides, if people sometimes think I'm arrogant, then I had better have something to show for it. Otherwise it's just showboating. No point, lah.

On a sidenote: OMG Beijing in less than 2 months. Working there had better not be a disappointment!

because frankly, you bore me.

Argh.

I hate to admit this, but I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that Singapore and its system has gotten to me. I survived through 22 years of rushing.

'study!'
'go for this activity!'
'look to your future!'
'this looks good on your resume!'
'your life will be secured if you do this!'


I mean, I'm on my winter holidays now, and what do I wake up wanting to do?

Work.

Or well, maybe not work work. But waking up and realising there really isn't anything to do just isn't what I'm used to. I don't want to wake up and just smell the freaking roses (the lack of roses around my house notwithstanding).

I can't just sit down and breathe in the bracing fresh morning (afternoon) air and suddenly decide to appreciate just how wonderful the sky is.

In fact, the whole idea about The Great Stand Alone Continent being laidback and relaxed irks me.

I think what I'm getting at is that I need the holidays to end.

Pfft. Men. Impossible to please.

And so it is.

My exams officially begin tomorrow and end in one week.

At this point, I'm panicking ever so slightly. It's not that I'm not prepared or anything, but it feels just about right to begin to panic. Just that wee bit.

Hehh. Here's hoping I don't fail criminal law. I hope not. It doesn't look like I wrote a shitty Assignment #2, but then... that's what I thought about Assignment #1. And look where that ended up.

Damn it Semester 1 is (potentially) at an end, and I'm not exactly sure what I learnt this semester.

Reasonable foreseeability;
Salient Features;
Rejection of Caparo;
Civil Liabilities Act;
Rape;
Theft;
Attempt/Complicity;
Rude Boy, can you get it up?;
Collateral contracts;
Misrepresentation;
Good faith (and Bad faith); and
The Constitution.

Each one footnoted and consigned to history. Hopefully.