Why is Raffles Honoured and not Sang Nila Utama ?

Stamford Raffles Statue outside Victoria Concert Hall

Outside the Victoria Concert Hall, stands a bronze large than life statue of Sir Stamford Raffles, who was the 'founder of modern day Singapore' as according to the plaque beneath it. I question this word 'founder'. Stamford Raffles came as the British representative of the British East India Company in 1819, and there already were people already inhabiting this small island called Temasek. In fact, the story goes that Sang Nila Utama, the Indonesian prince, first came to Singapore in the 15th century and saw a lion, whereby he called this island Singa (Lion) pura (City).

Furthermore, the Dutch East India Company was already set up in the north, Malacca and this fishing village already had trading and entrepot trade for several hundred years. No doubt, Raffles wrangled the treaty away from the Dutch and developed it further using the deep water harbour as a base for ocean going ships and promoting it as the gateway for trade between the East (China, Vietnam, Indonesia) and West (UK, Spain, Portugal). Raffles' contribution was important, but Sang Nila Utama first 'founded' the island state Singapore.

Perhaps the statue was built in the early 1900s when the British empire was at its peak and needed to build statues glorifying its civil servants like Raffles, but lets have some accuracy in this fact. No Western man 'founded' Singapore.

We must shake off this mindset that West is best. West perhaps WAS BEST. East IS BETTER, NOW.

Seize the Day Movie

Life, seize every opportunity for meaningful friendship and make each day count

Friends from all over the world

Recently, I heard the news that a friend from Taiwan was sick from liver disease, and another acquaintence had his marriage broken down. Sad facts of our lives which are moving at breakneck speed in this Internet related globalised world where everybody is chasing their dreams of making more money and forgetting about things that really do matter.

I started this blog in May 2008 as a way of expressing my thoughts and feelings of my own life, however mundane it may be. I have been told by 2 friends, a long time friend of over 30 years and another friend who has known me for 10, that I have a very blessed and fortunate life and should treasure it. I thank God for this life and ever since my realisation of my mortality 4 over years ago, I have made many many attempts to seize each and every day to treasure its experiences.

Writing a blog, to me, comes naturally. I have established a small following and am thankful for all of you page views and comments, positive and negative. I do not wish to be a 'media whore' whose mundane life is glamourised because some people in the Internet world have nothing else better to do than to surf for smutty images and see which talentless celebrity has been jailed for not paying their speeding fines or doing something stupid. I do not wish to advertise, 'Hey Look at Me', I am _______, have done _________ to anybody with half a brain. I do not need to advertise whether I own a Mercedes Benz, or have _______ houses worth ____________ millions. The Internet sadly has cultivated in the current young generation with the hedonistic, fast profits and 'look at me first' attitude which is so prevalent. I am not one for glorifying myself, not in this way, no.

The blog posts is to remind myself, that life is indeed very short, and as a small diary to myself that I have done these things which bring hope, joy and happiness to myself and my loved ones.

Going back to my friend from Taiwan, Jacky. I hope you get better, I will want to visit you to establish some good ties with you and possibly move things forward. For the acquaintence, whose marriage broke down, its sad things had to work out that way, you would probably question and ask God " Why me? Why this time ?".

I don't have the answers. There are always 2 sides to a story. Whatever doesn't break you will only make you stronger.
You have to be strong for your loved ones. They count on you everyday.

Globalisation and what we need to do now

Another week another country

The impact of reduced tariffs and Free Trade Areas (FTAs) has led to companies going Global for about 10 plus years now. AFTA (American Free Trade Area, between US, Canada and Mexico), EU, ASEAN, Commonwealth etc. have led to increased imports and goods, from components, semi assembled to move from country to country in the attempt to find the cheapest low cost manufactured products within Asia and the rest of the world.

The result of this is that increasingly, we are seeing many factories moving out of our SE ASia archipelago and going to China, India, Vietnam and South America. With the migration to the lower cost countries, the jobs also move out also. This 'hollowing out' of manufacturing in Singapore has happened over the last 15 years, and with Seagate Technology, once the largest private sector employer in Singapore with 30,000 (in mid 80s) personnel closing its manufacturing plant by end 2010, the end of an era of Singapore being the Winchester city (Winchester being the name of the then 8M 5 1/4" disk drive which was the then standard for all the hard disk drives worldwide. Now, Singapore has no more disk drive manufacturing, only R & D. This is not surprising given the strong S$ and higher costs of labour and land rentals.

The nett result is that many jobs, particularly in Engineering, will be found overseas and while the select few managers can survive by working as senior managers and technical directors in overseas plants for a few years, inevitably, they themselves will be priced out by local cheaper and more hungry personnel from the host country like China or India.

Thats why I am travelling so much, to attend to the business which is primarily overseas driven now. Is there anything, I can do about the situation ? Given that the products which my company represents sell mainly to automotive and electronics manufacturers, the answer is to go into a cheaper producing country and provide equipment distribution and services from there.

Or perhaps move into a sunrise industry like sports and ageing lifestyle services and ride the boom from there. We all need to be globalised citizens, like it or not.

Germany 2010 - thanks for some wonderful soccer

This June 2010 World Cup is a first for many reasons, this the first time that the World Cup is held in African soil. It is also the first time that the cotroversial Jabulani ball is being used in a major FIFA sanctioned tournament. Additionally by tomorrow, the world will see a newly first- time crowned World Champion which is not one of the previous multiple past winners like Brazil, Germany, Argentina, Italy . The winner will either from the hard and attack-minded Netherlands or the sublime, silky pass masters Spain.
As a neutral wtaching my 9th World Cup, I am most captivated by the free -flowing attacking sides of Germany and Argentina. Germany in particular played extremely well and they have a multi-talented team comprising young up and coming stars from the Bundeliesia. To name a few, Mesut Ozil, Bastian Schweistiger,Lucas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Mueller, Boateng and Sammy Kadeira stood out.

In the past World Cups, Germany was known for its defensive play and Teutonic (blonde, fair skinned) like players. Nowadays that stereotype is no more. Good for them. The coach/manager Joachim Loew should also be credited for fielding a young side brimming with talent and attacking flair. Even leading 3 -0 against Argentina, they went on the offensive to score 1 more. They are the highest per game scoring team in this World Cup which makes their team so exciting to watch.

Also very interesting, is that like France 12 years before, they have a muti-ethnic team made up of players whose parents birthplace were from Turkey (Ozil), Yugoslavia (Podolski), Ghana (Boateng), Morocco (Madeira). 3 Cheers to this team who have shown me that a country which about 70 years ago was lead by a racist dictator and performed ethinc cleansing on the Jewish people have progressed to one which is multicultural, accepting of all races and religions in their cities and towns and forward looking.

Well done Germany ! Many neutrals will root for you in the future.You have a great team for the future.

'Psychic' Paul the Octopus gets 6 out of 6 'predictions' right

This is the famous Octopus Paul the 'Psychic' who has claimed worldwide fame by predicting correctly 6 matches in succession between Germany and her opponents.The first 3 being a win against Switzterland,followed by a loss against Serbia, a win against Ghana during the opening matches. In the round of 16, it predicted the win against Chile, quarterfinal win against Argentina, and now the loss to Spain.

The England Goal that Wasn't - World Cup 2010 Germany vs England

Frank Lampard's strike hit under the crossbar, bounced 1 and a half feet inside the German goal and bounced out

The Goal that Wasn't, was at a really crucial time during the England-Germany last 16 tie. England had just scored and were trailing 2-1 when Frank Lampard struck an awesome shot from some 28 metres out. It beat the German goalkeeper Neuer, and hit the inside of the crossbar, bounced one and a half feet inside the goalline and bounced out. The referee and the linesman
were too far out of position to allow it and assumed it hadn't crossed the line.

A camera mounted on a crane above the German goal showed that it indeed crossed the line. While FIFA still rules that only 3 officials will determine the outcome of the game, it is high time that fairness is dispensed to the sport, at the expense of some drama. England team did not protest, and carried on, although in all fairness, the German team was playing brilliant counterattacking football and all their strikes and goals were first class.

Life is like that, you get rotten luck thrown at you or life throws you a 'curve ball'. You are left floundering about the 'what ifs' and it is the ultimate winner ; the individual or team which shrugs off the misfortune or bounces back even stronger to 'win' and be more resolute.

England team, your time hasn't come yet, but, keep plugging the loopholes, tighten up the defence, retire David James,have more feeder schools for football development and get Jose Mourhinio as manager.

What do I know as an armchair critic of football, as my supported team is on the verge of relegation, each season,
Wolverhampton Wanderers ??

When will Singapore reach the World Cup Finals ? I hope in my lifetime !!