Today's online TV listing confusing

First time visit to online Today's TV listing. First impression, very confusing. The program duration is not really necessary because I can estimate the run time. Furthermore, the run time is definitely shorter than the overall program time (plus advertisement time). What is really lacking is the information about the date and day of the TV listing. Also, I can't backtrack what I have missed several hours or several days ago.

So, either the interactive webpage is not compatible to Mozilla Firefox or that the TV listing information requires improvement. Well, back to XinMSN.

Why there is no plucking of fruits around HDB estate?

Some complained about the wastage of fruits near their estate. Others questioned the logic of prohibiting plucking of fruits. Many complained about the senseless prohibition.

To me, there is always a reason for prohibiting things in Singapore, e.g. the famous chewing gum ban, the no smoking within certain distance, no cycling at designated places, no littering, no loitering, no fishing with live bait, no playing football in void deck, no skateboarding in walkway, no open burning (except in allocated drums), no trespassing, no cluttering of personal furniture/belongings outside HDB flat, among others. Just because we might not get the meaning of the ban/prohibition at first, that shouldn't stop us from seeking answers (or deduce by reasoning).

As for the topic of this entry, why are we prohibited from plucking fruits from trees surrounding HDB estate? I can come up with several reasons.

First, if there is no ban, there might be mass-harvesting of these fruits by certain party (due to "kiasu" [afraid to lose out] culture). They could later sell these fruits for a profit (without any cost to them), while killing the livelihood of legitimate fruit sellers.

Second, the fruits hanging on the trees are not completely gone to waste. These fruits are food to the faunas in Singapore, such as birds (e.g. Alexandrine Parakeet [Psittacula eupatria] eating an unripe rambutan fruit [Nephelium lappaceum]) witnessed by me today!), squirrels (if they are there in your estate), insects, insect- and fruit-eating bats, and many more. Furthermore, once the fruits start falling and rot, they are compost to the surrounding vegetation.

Third, if it is illegal to pluck fruits from trees, there is no liability on the part of  HDB if anyone should fall or injure themselves.

Fourth, to prevent illegal fruit sellers from harvesting these fruits (not belonging to him/her) and selling them (just to emphasize this point again).

Just a thought.

"Tissue paper seller" in Singapore

To help or not to help beggars
by sbssolution

It’s illegal to beg in Singapore. To go around such restriction, people uses tissue paper to exchange for money. There isn’t any price tag for the item and everyone can contribute any amount. There has been an increase in “tissue paper sellers” lately. The people selling them are either the elderly or the handicapped. Luckily,  no one uses baby or children to beg here. What is worrying is that, begging trend will grow if not controlled. In addition, it could attract unscrupulous party to exploit the generosity of the public. They could start by recruiting more people fitting their criteria to populate the street, shopping mall, tourist attractions, and more to solicit for money.

The government tried to stem the “tissue seller” trend by introducing license requirement to sell tissues. The unpopular move failed due to resistance from the public, and hence the problem still persist.
Not long ago, there were fake monks soliciting alms in the form of money in Singapore. Fortunately, uninterested response from the public to donate prevented these fake monks from flourishing. In order to control begging similar response from public will be needed.

To those who thinks giving money to beggars are alright, it’s the least proactive means to help these people. Givers are not helping them in the long run. Instead,  they create a reliance and dependency (if not addiction) of beggars to handouts. There is no sense of achievement nor pride to them who received handouts. These beggars are akin to zoo animals being reliant on handouts, stripped of the sense of usefulness (and pride,  I’m emphasising). Giving money to beggars are the lazy way out.

I’m respectful to those who are taking the time to volunteer and do social work. They are the real help. Instead of giving money to those who flunked/failed at money management, social workers help by managing the difficulties faced by the people in need. These volunteers take charge in aspect of medication, housing, necessities, and emotional needs. These volunteers know the government machineries that cater for needy people.  These volunteers are able to direct needy people to the right kind of help. They make sure every money spent gives the maximum return.

Again, to those who gives to beggars.  How are you to be sure that the money you have given doesn’t land on a gambling table?  How are you sure that the money will be spent on the following month’s house repayment? How sure are you that the money will be well managed? You don’t. You just felt better because you “gave”.

Last,  it isn’t difficult to search for Singapore social volunteer homepages and register with them. It isn’t difficult to search for Salvation Army homepage to register as volunteer. It isn’t difficult to contribute your money to the right coffer and people. Just start looking.

Just a thought.

To add to the above:
Singapore Association of Social Workers
Singapore Red Cross
Touch Community Services
Reach Community Services Society

Scheme to help the needy cope with transport fare (Reach webpage)
Elderly and needy get help to prepare for GST hike (Touch Community Services)

ComCare Call line at 1800-222-0000 (through this line, concerned public highlighted the plight of jobless beggars to the relevant party for help). Visit this page under Ministry of Social & Family Development for more information regarding begging trend in Singapore and how the relevant agency controlled this issue.

What else you can do to help?
 Volunteer in fields you are able to contribute, e.g. if you can give free tuition, why not? If you are able to spend time to play and talk with the elderly, why not? If you can help mobilize and accompany the needy during their visits to hospitals or checkups, why not? If you are able to write and contribute to highlighting the plight of the needy and the proper channels to contribute any form of assistance, why not write? If you have the expertise in counseling, why not give an ear and contribute your skill?

What you can do without
Showing negativity.

Be gracious, there is no entitlement in Singapore

Drop the dream, and brace reality. You are not born to have entitlement to everything you want. You should be gracious when Samaritans give you slack and you should accept when no help is given (but with positive attitude). In Singapore, don't always expect government to do you help and assistance and function in God-like ability but with ordinary salary. When ministers ask for CEO salary, people complained, but when government can't perform God-like function such as mitigate flood caused by freak storm, complain flooded.

In MRT, don't expect people to give you seats; go ask for it humbly, don't expect and harbor hatred. You are not entitled to seats. People who seemed healthy might need seats too, because you might not know if they might be suffering from back-pains or foot injury. If you are offered seats, be thankful and gracious. Disability don't affect your humility, so don't act bad or else people will become apathetic to you. 

Praise as much as you criticize the government and authority. Be realistic, be gracious as well as critical. Don't be blinded by the illusion of entitlement, you are not entitled to anything unless you earn it. Ask, work, study, self-improve, be proactive if you want something. Be gracious and thankful always.

I've seen how people complained about Gods saying that this God and that God as being useless or ineffective (apply to polytheism). How their wishes for great fortune wasn't realised. How we complained about stupid deadlines when we procrastinated half of the time given for certain assignments. How we complained about meagre salary when we failed to self-improve or change our attitude. How our team sucks when we don't provide team spirit in the first place. 

Love, compassion, help. When we are capable, how many times and how frequent we helped others? Don't give the stupid excuse as "I've been poor all my life and hence I am incapable as giving help". Your time, your care, your little action can help in many ways. Money isn't everything. If you can proudly say you did something, you can criticise other people for not helping. If not, you lost the rights to say anything.

Re: Singapore PM hits back at social media "pack behaviour"

Based on this article, it is sad to see that the people who shout freedom of speech are so eager to crucify another person for just making fun to his friends on Facebook about his son and him taking the MRT. There was never any Ill-intention when he posted his message on Facebook EXCLUSIVELY for his friends. Unfortunately, one of his so-called friend made a fuss, exposed the message, and placed Anton Casey and his family in harm's way. 

PM Lee said it is a pack behaviour, which is true because everyone in the pack is so eager to hunt and savage the target prey without much thought to understand the situation. This is akin to mob mentality in old time villages where and when there is news of outsider causing "disturbance", the whole herd comes in droves ready for mob attack. What we did to Casey is similar; no matter how much apologies he utters won't make a difference because we are just angry people. Worst, there are people who loves to incite (fan-the-fire), making a trivial matter from bad to worst. I never liked instigators (troublemakers). They don't help a bit to resolve matters. They love to destroy rather than mend. In Casey's case, it could have been mended with ease if not for the eagerness to see him destroyed. Did we all know him personally to pass judgement? To me, I see him as a caring and loving father who took his son in the MRT but unfortunately for him, his bad sense of humour costed his job and destroyed his name. Shame to all bigots in Singapore. What we did to Casey is not a question about being a nationalist, it's more like being a petty bigot.

We should forgive Casey. It's not that he has consistently made bad judgement and behaved erratically. We hardly know him before all of this, and hence shouldn't that present a caveat for our perception on this individual? Should a bad sense of humour destroy someone? Haven't we made stupid humours that hurt other people in our lives? How many times had we been forgiven for our stupidity? It's time to reciprocate that with graciousness.

Establishment vs student, latter admit defeat and fined sgd400

Student fined sgd400 because she used the power outlet at MRT station. She pleaded guilty. Plenty of people felt bad for her. Most thought the action was inappropriate considering that the outlet was not locked and there was no warning telling people not to use it. LTA should have known better than to "bully" a student. How much is litigation cost anyway? I would be terrified to plead guilty too if I was her. This scenario is akin to establishment versus individual or in this case student. Her case helped others when LTA said they will review penalties for flouting MRT rule. Just to remind them, please let the public know in advance what are the rules before executing them. We wouldn't want poor students to be poorer because they are ignorant of these rules. 

Last, appreciate the LTA for the prompt response and action. Appreciation goes to the power of social media for highlighting the student's trouble and I have to admit that alternative media helped the most in "hammering" this case to the right people for action. I wonder what all this is going to do to the student.. would she still be paying the hefty fine for being ignorant of her "crime"?

What's next, being fined for using power outlets in library, schools, fast food outlets, museums, hospitals? Common sense would be to place warnings before carrying out any action as deterrence. Hope such unilateral action as demonstrated by SMRT or LTA won't happen again.

Singapore student charged court over usage socket mrt station?

Singapore student charged in court over usage socket mrt station? Link to therealsingapore sensational news?

The story starts off with, I want to share... (second-personal experience) of someone. By Gabriel Bai.

Who is he?

Is the story credible? A normal person will seek classification with smrt, which a significant people did. The reply from smrt was, "we did not take any legal action" (full stop).

How on earth could the girl in the story fined sgd 400 then?

The content of the story is incredible and mock Singapore judicial system. First offence, no warning signage, etc. couldn't possibly make a case.

This story is an example of "freedom of speech" with malicious intention. If smrt wants to take legal action, Gabriel Bai (or anonymous) shouldn't scream "NO freedom of speech". There was in this case because evidently, plenty of people read your story. But freedom of speech don't preclude responsibility. If you have been found to harbor Ill-intention to cause harm to reputation, you are liable to justice.

Remember, freedom-of-speech and libel come hand-in-hand to protect both parties in question.

Update (24 Feb 2014): How angry can a person be if SMRT lied to people? I know... because I was lied (or rather misled)... in the above case, Gabriel Bai is brave to voice out for his friend. SMRT played with words when their rep said this, "we, the SMRT have not taken any legal action (but she was caught and handed to the authority and LTA pressed charges and the student pleaded guilty; and indeed the student was fined sgd 400) against the commuter who utilized our power outlet for her electronic device". The bracketed information seemed to be on a need-to-know-basis and hence omitted from the statement WHICH MISLED NUMEROUS PEOPLE INTO THINKING SHE WAS NOT FINED.

Read penalty for flouting MRT rules here. In this case, score one for alternative news. I've not been a fan of alternative news, but I have to admit they scored a solid goal this time, all thanks to SMRT for trying to cover their butts.