When I'm Bored!

Meeting with Tang Fong Har

2009-06-05T23:20:00.006+08:00

On 29 Jan 2009, I posted an article written by Tang Fong Har, one of the 22 who were held under the ISA in 1987 for the "Marxist conspiracy to overthrow the Singapore government." In April that year, she issued a declaration of innocence along with eight other former detainees. All were immediately rearrested except Ms Tang, who was out of the country.To date, she was not able to return to

CPF SAVINGS AS RETIREMENT FUNDING

2009-05-25T12:18:00.002+08:00

(This article was edited and first published in the 'Hammer', issue: 0902)During the 2009 Budget Debate on 13 February, Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Ms Sylvia Lim asked the minister to review the Minimum Sum payout for elderly Singaporeans who do not have much savings in their CPF and who may not be covered by CPF Life. A case in point: Mdm AMs Sylvia Lim quoted the real-life case of Mdm

A detainee remembers

2009-01-29T14:02:00.006+08:00

Got the article below from:http://www.singapore-window.org/tfhmemo.htmBY Tang Fong Har, one of the 22 people held in 1987 for "communist conspiracy to overthrow the Singapore government." In April that year the author, a lawyer aged then 31, with eight other former detainees issued a declaration of innocence. All were at once rearrested, except Tang Fong Har, who was out of the country.----------

Feeling bored at work!

2009-01-16T15:31:00.001+08:00

I m in office now and feeling a little bored so this is why I m blogging at this hour!!! Not that I had nothing to do ya, just that weekend mood and feeling damn full after a heavy lunch at New York New York with my 3 colleagues.We must be gone out of our mind earlier, we order a seafood platter for 2 and a meat platter for 2! Everyone that walked past our table will sure say a "WOW". They must

A lifetime bet and a lifetime agreement

2009-01-03T21:19:00.003+08:00

A lifetime bet or a lifetime agreement. Sounds scary, right? Who on earth would be so silly to agree to one?Yes, this indeed happened to me. I am the "silly" person who agreed to the lifetime bet and agreement. Honestly, to this day, I still can’t believe I did so.How the lifetime bet came aboutI remember that 6 April 2008 was the effective date of the lifetime bet with J. Coke has been my

What went on in the year 2008

2009-01-03T21:17:00.002+08:00

I would say 2008 was a rather slow and peaceful year for me. I completed two diploma courses concurrently in the year. I also started a new job in a field and position I had no experience in, which was being a personal assistant to the Managing Director of a publishing company.As for my involvement in The Workers' Party, I became an Organising Secretary and was still actively involved in almost

A Tribute to "Chao Meh Ah Pek"

2008-10-21T23:13:00.008+08:00

During dinner time today, I received the news of that "Chao Meh Ah Pek" (a dialect moniker that means "Uncle Grasshopper") who always helped the Hougang Constituency Committee sell event tickets, had passed away.I was prepared for this eventuality. I visited him in hospital some time in September 2008. He had already become very weak then after a heart ailment. Hence, he surprised me when,

Life is unpredictable

2008-10-05T23:07:00.002+08:00

We will never get to know what will happen in the next minute. Everyone knows that life is short and unpredictable. Thus I always believe that we should spend every moment of our life meaningfully and with no regrets.On 30 September 2008, everyone was shocked by the news of the passing of Mr J. B. Jeyaretnam, the man who spent most of his life in politics. Despite going through lots of obstacles

Isn't this a sign of unfairness and double standard?

2008-09-01T12:18:00.003+08:00

On 28 August, Straits Times reported that Ms Sylvia Lim asked in Parliament about why the WP could not get a police permit for a mass cycling event at East Coast Park. The response given by Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Assoc Prof Ho Peng Kee was that the East Coast Park is a recreational park for Singaporeans and their families. It is not meant to be used by a political party

Guilin tour (18 Jun - 25 Jun)

2008-07-05T13:52:00.003+08:00

I returned to Singapore on 25 June 2008 from Guilin and fell ill. I am since almost recovered. As mentioned in my earlier posting, the places that we were supposed to visit were affected by storms and floods but the weather turned humid and were hot on most of the days (around 34 to 37 degrees Celsius) in the week we are there. I would say this trip to Guilin was rather disappointing

China, here I come... again

2008-06-17T16:08:00.009+08:00

I will be leaving Singapore for Guangxi Nanning and Guilin, China, tomorrow (18 June '08) for 8 days.This will be my second trip to China. What is different this time is that I am not going with family members but a group of Hougang Residents instead. 27 of us will be boarding Flight ZH9074 at 1815 hours to Nanning and we should arrive

Life

2008-06-12T00:47:00.002+08:00

Life is just like a piece of glass - it is transparent and breaks easily. Nobody knows when our journey will end and what will happen to us tomorrow. 30 May 2003, at the Singapore General Hospital, was where it marked an end of my grandfather’s journey. This was his second stay in hospital during the whole 85 years of his life and no one, I believe including himself, expected that he

YW President’s statement on Vote@18

2008-05-08T22:55:00.002+08:00

8 May 2008 by WPYWThe Workers’ Party Youth Wing (WPYW) wishes to thank, once again, all participants who attended the inaugural YouthQuake forum on voting@18 on Saturday, 3rd May 2008.A full house with many new and youthful faces is testament to the timeliness and impact of this matter but more so an editorial by Andy Ho of the Straits Times (8 May 2008) perhaps alluding to the WPYW forum (as a

WP Children’s Day Celebration at Grace Haven Homespacer 29 September 2007

2007-09-29T15:06:00.000+08:00

This year, WP went for a different Children’s Day celebration. Last year, it held a public outreach to distribution to children members of the public. Today, it decided to organise a charity bazaar for a children’s welfare home at Grace Haven Homespacer.The organising committee consisted of Eng Huat, Lilian, Joy Seng, Aaron and myself and there was a group of 15 who turned up at the

A Little History of WP Welfare Com

2007-08-24T08:20:00.000+08:00

WP Welfare Committee was formed by Mr Low Thia Khiang, the Organising Secretary, at that time in 1986 at Boat Quay WP HQ. That year was a down period because Mr Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, a.k.a. JBJ, was out of parliament and WP was at the fringe of disintegration. Welfare Committee served to unite the party and hold WP together.

Today is Ah Lian's Birthday

2007-07-19T01:29:00.002+08:00

Today is one of TCSS Ah Lian's birthday! I would like to take this opportunity to wish herA VERY VERY VERY Happy 29th Birthday!!!May all your wish comes true...and stay young and funky forever!

The Secrets of Autism

2007-07-13T22:40:00.000+08:00

This article refers to a boy named Tommy Barrett who has a condition known as Asperger Syndrome, a form of mild autism. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002364,00.html?internalid=ACATommy is a boy with above-average intelligence, with a normal family background, and they keep some pets. However, he has an obsession with toys to the extent of imitating them when he is at school

Does PASSION come with a PRICE?

2007-07-09T01:26:00.000+08:00

After a month’s break, the “Hammer Team” is out again in different constituencies for their public outreach to promote The Hammer, the Workers’ Party’s organ.More than 20 WP members gathered at Block 2 of Hougang Avenue 3 on a warm Sunday morning, waiting to kick off the new issue.After a short briefing by the Organizing Department, everyone headed to the nearby market to start the outreach. As

HGCC Muar Tour - 1 July 2007

2007-07-02T00:29:00.001+08:00

Today is the first wedding anniversary of Melvin and me. We did not celebrate but instead, we did some meaningful things together. HGCC organized the annual Malaysia tour to Muar and Batu Pahat today. I was the overall coordinator and Melvin was one of the bus leaders.This morning at 6 am, when most of us would be still in bed, all the bus leaders reported at their respective locations to meet up

Words That Your Dog Should Know - Part 3

2007-06-22T19:04:00.000+08:00

Article taken from Westie Secrets:Enough (Whatever you are doing was Ok, but I've just changed my mind and now I want you to stop it, as opposed to “No,” which means whatever you are doing is unacceptable and should never be done). The command “Enough” is taught mainly, believe it or not, by tone of voice. It is usually learned rapidly and can stop excessive barking, a game of roughhousing that

Words That Your Dog Should Know - Part 2

2007-06-21T08:22:00.000+08:00

Article taken from Westie Secrets:The following is a list of words that are crucial to training your dog:Stay (Freeze). Actually, the “Sit, Stay” is the way to teach vocabulary to a dog. It is through this initial discipline, which can be done very gently and without a choke collar on a very young puppy, that the dog learns how to listen and then how to learn.What you request in the “Sit, Stay”

Hougang Community Awareness Day

2007-06-16T17:30:00.001+08:00

On 16 June 2007, the Hougang Constituency Committee (HGCC) organised Community Awareness Day for residents in Hougang for the first time. The purpose of this event is to promote the awareness of the help-line in Singapore for needy families as well as to have parents and their children have fun with games and activities.At 10 am, volunteers from HGCC and WP Youth Wing gathered at Blk 310 Hougang

Words That Your Dog Should Know

2007-06-15T01:01:00.000+08:00

Article taken from Westie Secrets:Many dog owners are at a loss for words when they wish to communicate with their dogs. Of course, your choice of words is not the issue. What is important is that you pace your vocabulary lessons in such a way that your dog absorbs the first few definitions before you go on to the text. And, since dogs are learning English as his second language, you must be very

Inside The Womb

2007-06-14T18:00:00.000+08:00

Scientists are slowly beginning to unveil the once-mysterious process of the growth and development of a foetus in a mother’s womb, thanks to the advancement of life sciences in the areas of MRI, sonograms and other technologies. Just 20 years ago, scientists believed that different species developed according to their own special set of “rules” and did not felt their development process was

Understanding the Reasons for Children's Problem Behavior

2007-06-13T00:06:00.000+08:00

There are many definitions of “problem behaviour” but I will outline it in my own words as “behaviour that is undesirable, inappropriate and affects the environment negatively”. However, this is subjected to a wide range of debate and disagreements when examining the details.At the beginning, infants will have no idea about what kind of behaviour is acceptable or not until they go through a

面包之思

2007-06-11T01:43:00.002+08:00

一片面包，对许多人来说也许是微不足道的食物，轻而易举得来，丢弃时也毫不珍惜。不过，你可能很难相信，在我们社会中，还有一部分人是多么的珍视一片面包。三年前，我有幸成为一个与后港选区委员会协作的福利机构里的义工。我这才发现，在这个我们政府处处标榜为世界第一的国家里，还有着这一些被忽略的弱势群体。他们当中有一些被其成为精英的孩子置之不顾，成为孤独老龄人。不断在我心里打转的问题是：到底是什么原因造成这些高级知识分子可以连自己的父母也置之不顾。这些居民都很高兴我们到访，他们也很愿意告诉我们关于他们的故事。一些年长者还请我们到他们的屋里，只希望我们能多呆一会儿，和他们聊聊天。我相信因为长时间没有人倾听，使他们在那窄小的房子里变得越来越孤单寂寞。在一次常年义务大扫除的活动中，发现一位90多岁的独居老人，他的身体非常虚弱，就算为我们开门这么简单的事，他也花了一段的时间才慢慢挪到门口。进到他的屋里，

Living and Serving in an Opposition Constituency

2007-05-21T13:53:00.003+08:00

At the age of 3, my family and I moved from our kampong in Lorong Napiri to a HDB flat. The government had bought over the farms owned by my late grandfather and arranged for us to relocate into a new block.The new “flat” as they call it - my new home - was located along Hougang Avenue 5. This stretch of blocks would later be carved out from Punggol constituency to form Hougang constituency. You