The First Years 12 - Swimming Club Days and adventures

With Club friends L to R ; Tan Sian, me, Kelvin Wee, Gillian Khoo, Audrey Tan

     My parents joined the Singapore Swimming Club (SSC) in mid 1974, my brother and I were then enrolled in the swimming program helmed by coach Neo Chwee Kok, one of the top swimming coaches in Singapore.  As a late entrant into swimming, I was not much of a fast swimmer, partly due to my body shape (thanks to the Indian 50% gene) which left me with a belly, skinny legs and arms and starting at age 11, I had to play 'catch-up' with the much younger kids - some starting as young as 5 years old. 

     Fortunately, after about 1 year of swimming, I was able to represent the club in the Sanya Samaki regional swimming competition  amongst the ASEAN countries. There was SSC, the Penang Malaysia Ikan Bilis Club, Thailand's Bangkok Sports Club, Philippines Manila Polo Club swim section and Indonesia's Jakarta Swim Club. The first swim competition I took part was in 1975 in Thailand, and in those days, the entire swim section
headed by Swim Manager Mr. Henry Chan and the whole group of dedicated and fun-loving parents arranged for us to go to Bangkok by coach bus. It was a delightful regional experience for me and my brother, as I was 13 and visiting neighbouring countries was a great eye and brain opener for me. I was fortunate to travel to Europe (London and Greece) in 1973 - courtesy of my wonderful father and saw with my pre-teen eyes the cultured West.

    In December 1975, Club's swim section took off by bus from Singapore, through KL and Penang - those heady days there was no smooth North South Highway. I remember vividly the horribly filthy toilet (no flushing system at all, just a hole in the ground !) where are the human waste was piling up in the hole and the disgusting odour, ugh ! That place was the piss stop called Ayer Hitam (Black Water) and tour buses would stop at the eating centres and we would all bundle out into the dusty open air food centre just to stretch our legs and go to ease ourselves. 

   I remember vividly us using Malaysian currency, (I think after separation from Malaysia in 1965 Singapore established its own Singapore dollar) and although Singapore's economic growth was tremendously large (something like 15% year on year from 1974 all the way to 1985) the early to mid 70s saw our Singapore dollar having the same valuation as the Malaysian ringgit. That meant that in the early to late 70s, $S1 or 1 Singapore dollar was equivalent to 1 Malaysian Ringgit. Today, some 40 years on, the S$ 1 is equivalent to 
RM 3.2, which reflects on how strong the Singapore economy has grown all these years compared to our neighbour.  

    The first night en route to Bangkok, we all stayed at a hotel in Hat Yai. It was really a 'cowboy town' then. Another vivid recollection I had was when we stayed at this hotel in Hadyai, after dinner, the teens (boys and girls) were all camped up in our rooms playing blackjack or something when we heard loud "bang ! bang ! bang !". My first instinct was that someone had pushed down a large metal cabinet and it had bounced on the floor. My logical mind told me that that was not possible. Then it dawned to me that those were gunshots in the lobby of the hotel ! 

    My Mum and the other lady chaperones rushed into our room and after checking we were all accounted for, went down to take a look. Apparently there was some altercation between businessmen and shots were fired. We were shocked and I dare say, no one ventured outside that night !

    The next day when we checked out we found out that the businessman was drunk and he let loose on some hotel staff. Fortunately no one was injured or killed, but it brought me to the realisation that this big world was full of uncertainties and people with guns and other 'bad things'.

    We set off for Bangkok the next day, and the rest of the trip is another story.  

     

Trump and The Social Contract in the Western World

        The Trump Presidency has made me, for one, an ordinary citizen in the far end of the world (not so far if you count the social network) very concerned about what is happening in the (dis) United States of America. With all the news and 'fake news' that has been going about, I have been having a dialogue with some good friends about what democracy and the Social Contract means to me, the ordinary citizen. We do not learn this in class but we experience it in daily life through experiences and from what we have experienced living in a democracy or a socialist democracy.

         I watched videos on Stephen Bannon, who explained through his his town meetings with the Tea Party (centre right) groups, is alarmed that the US is on the path to a sorry end, and what, if they (Trump and his team) were elected, they would do. He mentioned the phrase Crito Contract, which led me to reading up on it. Its available on the Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.

        

          In the early days of the Greek democracy some 2000 odd years ago, Socrates argued that Crito, a Greek citizen, who had committed a crime and was sentenced to death, had to serve out that crime as he was a domicile, hence a resident of Greece, hence he had to accept the laws of Greece rather than to escape and flee, thereby breaking the contract.            

         The theory is of the view that a person's moral and political obligations are dependent upon a contract or agreement (this is never formally discussed, you just assimilate into it, by virtue of your birth into that society) among them to form the society in which they live.  In the social contract, a  person living in a society has to obey laws in exchange for others in the same society to obey these laws. So just and equal men and women subject themselves to the convention of justice and the power (the state or the monarch) will dispense justice to those who break the law. 

          Thomas Hobbes, a latter day thinker, lived during the period of the English Civil War, from 1642 - 1648. The Monarchists then, preferred living under the authority of a monarch clashed with the Parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell. The present day USA is a breakaway faction of those Parliamentarians who fled to seek life anew in the New World. Hobbes rejects the early democratic view, that power ought to be shared between Parliament and the King.He also rejects Robert Filmer's view that the king's power and authority was invested in him by God (Judeo Christian) and such authority was absolute, no one could ever question the decision of the king. 

        The basis of political obligation lay in our obligation to obey God absolutely and through His divine investment in the King and / or Queen of the day. Then, according to this view, this political obligation is subsumed under religious obligation.

         That obligation has in the last several centuries had a major paradigm shift  with the numerous revolutions, the French Revolution being the most celebrated. While living under a sovereign (in the past) can be harsh, with the sovereign having the authority for the execution of the contract to be successful, it was better than anarchy and having people follow the universal laws of human nature. This State of Nature states that human beings are selfish and motivated their better our own situations and satisfy as many of their own (family and tribal groups) individually considered desires  as possible. So self interest (at the expense of others) is the main driving factor of each human individual. As these will ultimately result in conflict (living in close proximity as in society), a human being living in a society will have to give up or subjugate some of his desires as with other individuals in that society for safety and fairness, in short, justice for all.

       A good example of the State of Nature is exemplified in the hit TV series "the Walking Dead" where rival groups of human beings survive the nuclear holocaust and have to make "rules" and fight against other groups in a sordid post apocalyptic world with 'zombies' as backdrops. 

       Thomas Hobbes believed that the State of Nature would be very brutal and given the nature of man to be first and foremost naturally and exclusively self interested, man is more or less equal to one another. Given the limited resources each person has or accumulates in a group, there is no power able to force men (and women) to cooperate. However, as men (and women) have the ability to reason, empathise and rationalise, a reasonable conclusion is that over time, man has decided to submit himself to a higher, political, authority who would oversee the state of society.   

      

Houses of Parliament and the Thames River

     So what does President Trump want to do ? According to his chief strategist Dr. Stephen Bannon, the Crito Contract has been changed in the last few decades for the American peoples. I disagree. It has nothing to do with the Crito contract. In essence, it should be redressing the economic imbalance between the haves and the have-nots in society to create a fairer, more just a society. 

International Business - Fly, Drive, Train and Boat

On the road in Thailand

     We live in the 21st century, lets not forget that. The world is globalised, people are moving from continent to continent, through many time zones in the same day. We are eating practically the same foods (Steak, Sushi, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Korean you name it, major cities all have them), we talk the same languange of business and possibly leisure (many people speak second, third and even four languages fluently). So, it is the age of Internationalization of the mind, the inter-connectedness of the world at large (OK, China has blocked Google, FB and Whatsapp) and the flying road warrior. You cannot email a handshake, you can't pat his back on a job well done, you need to see their limited space for their a)equipment b) server c) layout.  

     In short, the selling process is still a 'person to person' interaction. People 'buy' people. They want to see, feel, shake the hand of the man who will 'sell them the dream'. To smell the same air... ok, I will stop there.

   When we do international business, we need to use the existing infrastructure of the country / territory we visit ; in this case, Thailand. Its accessibility is very easy, so is its ease of doing business. I have been too often dependent on the local representatives to get around the country. In fact, the Mass Rapid Transit is so convenient, anybody can access it from the Suvanabhum airport to the major capital Bangkok. All major cities, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok, Shanghai (and many first tier Chinese cities) have that connectivity all setup.

    I have only started to use the Bangkok system and it is so efficient. So, a typical day for me is to fly in to the airport, hit the ground running, and visiting customers and being dropped off at the MTR or BTS station for me to take to the hotel. Sometimes, I take the boat to my hotel if it is beside the Chao Phya river.

The BTS line and the Airport Line 

Hence, Fly, Train, Drive and Boat ; Four efficient modes of transport in this City of Angels.

Flyboard - disruptuve technology ; coolest new way to get around. Regulation on air space needed !

         This technology which took 20 years to develop is really a cool one. Somthing out of the Green Goblin's transport options (see Spiderman movies for reference), I believe it requires to fly above water for some unknown reason, and it is definately not for the faint hearted. Massive tests and accidents are waiting to happen but above water, with a sound and careful flyer, this will literally 'take off' 


       I categorically state I do not own rights to this video and would like to get one for Christmas !!! 

Tiger Tiger Burning Bright - a poem read to me by my Dad

TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies	5
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?	10
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp	15
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?	20
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

                                                          Willam Blake 

                                                       English Poet William Blake 

this was the first poem recited to me (or at least I can remember) when I was a toddler by my father, Geoffrey. I was too young to understand the significance of poetry, inner meanings, innuendoes and implications as a young child (I think I remember this from 5 years old) but now 50 years on, my mind is able to take a broader and more mature understanding of this poem.

Geoffrey Abisheganden

circa 1965

   

7 weeks to go -Schneider Paris Marathon 2017 ; time is of the essence !

Inspiring words for me

I really have to 'step up my game' several notches and clock in 50 - 60 km per week for an average of 5 weeks if I want to make it within 5 : 30 for the Paris marathon. The spirit is indeed willing but the flesh is weak. I know time is of the essence with age not on my side. However, giving excuses is not my philosphy so I want to ensure that I will make this marathon one to remember and savour.

Lets get going !  

Bloody Past of London - Yeoman Guards