Singapore Dilemma

In the face of a changed labour market, Singapore may have decided to keep the local university population from increasing beyond current levels.

The more cautious approach to higher education emerged from private talks that a senior education ministry official had with a U.S. diplomat several years ago, according to WikiLeaks.

No formal announcement has been made, but the remarks quickly set off a buff of excitement among Singaporeans, who worship higher education as a god of success.

The official was quoted as telling the diplomat that the government did not plan to encourage more students to go for university studies.

The campus enrolment rate would be maintained around 20 per cent to 25 per cent of total Singapore students. The reason, she added, was the labour market did not need everyone to get a degree.

While political leaders have denied other WikiLeaks allegations, no one has commented on this subject.

Not playing a numbers game

Recently, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat said, in future, university planning could not "be a numbers game alone" and that "it has to be a strategic approach, responding to the needs of the economy".

The revelation has raised public speculation, including one that it is cheaper and faster to bring in trained foreigners en masse than to produce them at home.

Given past records, this is unlikely to be the whole truth. The government has always given priority to developing Singaporeans to play an economic role.

But such talk persists. "The number of local students is being reduced because foreign professionals are available at lower salaries," said a former IT engineer who is now doing jobs on an ad hoc basis.

Adding to the unhappiness is the presence of foreign students, who make up roughly 20 per cent of students in local campuses.

This new move is seen in some quarters as a new quota of sorts.

Downsizing ambition

Some of the harsher critics call the limitation a downsizing of the national ambition, or at least of the individual dream.

To economists, however, there are wider fundamental reasons for it. The demise of the manufacturing era has significantly altered the job market.

Many of the newly-created jobs today are in services that do not require formal four-year university training. "A degree is nice to have, but we need something else," is a regular employer comment.

For example, the opening of the two resorts required some graduates to be retrained as casino dealers and roulette operators.

In the past decade, thousands of retrenched middle-aged professionals have become property or insurance agents. Others are driving taxis.

This has evidently made the government worried about producing more graduates that the market does not need, especially with the global economy turning dismal.

A different approach

If the WikiLeaks report is accurate, Singapore seems to be breaking ranks with countries whose universities keep churning out masses of students for jobs that often do not exist.

Reuters reported this week that China's colleges are pushing out graduates in numbers far exceeding demand.

"A decade-long expansion in university capacity has created distortions in the job market," the news agency said. "China needs to work on the imbalances."

Singapore's tale is different. This is a smaller entity where numbers are easier to manipulate.

The universities here produced some 12,000 graduates in 2007 — or 25 per cent of all students — below Japan's 50 per cent. But this is only half the story.

According to Unesco, a further 18,000 Singaporeans were studying in foreign universities that year — half of them in Australia. In one year, some 4,000 enlist in US universities.

Poor hardest hit

Social commentator Lucky Tan said any university cutback would work against lower-income Singaporeans who could not afford to study abroad.

The WikiLeaks story showed the government was unable to fulfil its pledge to develop every Singaporean to his full potential.

Some Singaporeans are, however, supportive of being cautious. "It is important to maintain a balanced, orderly labour market for the sake of social order," said one writer.

Society does not only need graduates, she said. Who is going to work as a mechanic? Or cook?

In an observation on Asia's chaotic past, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew spoke of the dangers of educating hordes of graduates and being unable to provide them jobs.

He noticed that many unemployed graduates often ended up roaming the streets, making violent revolution.

In a recent related comment, Lee remarked that Singaporeans were not getting smarter, only better educated.

Willingness to sacrifice

The ruling People's Action Party is not yet facing such a crucial test, and how sensitively it can handle public grouses — especially on jobs and education — will decide its future.

More than anyone, he knows his people's readiness to sacrifice for their children's education.

Many families are prepared to set a huge monthly budget to pay fees to private tutors to give their children the edge in exams to make it to university.

Just three months ago, a father angrily wrote how he had to sell off his prized house to finance his son to study medicine in Britain because he was rejected for a place in Singapore.

This was despite scoring 4 "A"s and a Special Paper in his A-Level examinations.

During a dinner gathering of several families at our house a hot subject surpassed all others among the wives: their children's education, what to study and which country to study in.

These are upper middle-class earners, who see their children's future depending on getting a good university degree — the higher the better.

I wonder how they will react to the government move to discourage them to enrol for one.

A former Reuters correspondent and newspaper editor, the writer is now a freelance columnist writing on general trends in Singapore. This post first appeared on his blog www.littlespeck.com on 17 September 2011.

best one china

Woman roasted puppy alive

By farism | SingaporeScene – Thu, Jun 16, 2011

How gruesome it is to torture an animal, much else roast it alive? While this horrifying act did not take place in Singapore, but in the Kengkou district of Guangzhou, China.

Content-aggregation website chinaSmackposted a news article showing a Chinese woman roasting a puppy alive.

The gruesome incident was said to have taken place near the entrance of Kengkou market. The woman is seen grabbing the puppy using a throng and grilling it over what looks like a portable stove. After a while, the dog's body appeared stiff and its skin slightly charred.

Understandably, users who posted their comments on the website were vilified by the action.

One user known as VIP posted a comment, "Are you still human? Think for a moment, how would you feel if you were roasted alive/barbecued alive?"

Another who wanted to be known as Love, said, "What's wrong with people these days? They don't even seem like people/human anymore."

This abuse comes hot on the heels of another animal cruelty concerns in Indonesia where live cattle exports were subjected to mistreatment.

On 31 May, it was reported that the Australian government suspended live cattle exports to Indonesian abattoirs after a television program showed videos of cattles being unnecessarily whipped and left to bleed to death after their throats were cut using blunt knives.

The videos were recorded by Lyn White, a former police officer and campaign director of the animal welfare group Animals Australia. It is understood that the said abattoirs are located in Jakarta, Bogor, Bandar Lampung and Medan.

It is understood that Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered an investigationof slaughterhouses in the country, saying, "We have to highly respect animal welfare."

Warning: The pictures below taken from the woman roasting the puppy might be disturbing, parental guidance required.

kiasu ones

Are Singaporeans the most ‘disgusting’ people?

By farism | SingaporeScene – Fri, Jun 17, 2011

Are Singaporeans the most "disgusting and "irritating" bunch of people around?

Well, users of one blog in Chinese seem to think so.

The blog 'Lion City Life', which is supposedly frequented by foreign nationals from China based in Singapore, had conducted a poll seeking feedback from respondents on the most "disgusting and "irritating" people.

Believed to be a poll starter, a person with the moniker of "sayangweiwei" had asked in Chinese, "Having been in Singapore, all must have met people from other countries. Which country's people are the most disgusting and irritating?"

Eight choices were provided, namely: Singaporean, Filipino, Malays, Malaysian, Japanese, Chinese (China), Korean and Indian.

According to socio-political website Temasek Review, the results as reflected on Thursday showed that Singaporeans were voted as the most "disgusting and irritating" people with 48.15 percent of the votes, followed by Filipinos and Malays who garnered 7.41 percent and 5.94 percent of the votes, respectively.

When Yahoo! Singapore tried to visit the site on Friday, the blog had been taken down.

This "poll" comes as a German TV variety show Galileo attracted attention here for tongue-in-cheek references to Singaporeans' way of life.

In an episode aired in early May this year, the show's host had said, "Singaporeans are not just crazy, they are tremendously crazy."

Don't they read newspapers?

Really !!!


Wonder how old this stupid woman is. Boleh baca ke tidak?

Woman RM1.1m poorer after falling for sob story on FB

SHAH ALAM: A woman who fell for a con artist's sob stories on Facebookended up being cheated of RM1.1mil.

The man who claimed to be a British citizen had told her he needed her account to bank in money from his contract with Petronas, which he claimed amounted to RM4.6mil.

However, he told the woman he needed her help to pay stamp duty charges and insurance fees before he could get his contract sanctioned.

The suspect claimed he could not afford the fees at the time.

“The victim paid RM1.1mil via several transactions to the man between March 29 and April 19,” said Federal Commercial Crimes director Comm Datuk Wira Syed Ismail Syed Azizan yesterday.

He added that following a police report lodged by the victim, six suspects were arrested in Kepong on Tuesday.

Police also recovered RM15,000 in cash, 18 ATM cards, seven cellphones and a laptop.

“Of the six, two were Nigerians, two were Bangladeshis while the others were locals,” he told reporters.

Comm Syed Ismail said the victim had been sympathetic when she read about the man's predicament.

“She caved in when she heard his sob stories,” he added.

Comm Syed Ismail urged people using popular social networking websites like Facebook to be very careful.

“These unscrupulous people prey on gullible girls through these websites,” he said. “Revealing your personal information on your Facebook wall' is not a good idea.”

The public, he said, had been warned several times not to respond to e-mail from seemingly rich people offering money for safekeeping, yet a lot of them still become victims.

Not again!

Thestar today reported another internet love scam. This time a college lecturer was conned. Same modus operandi as before. How can she be soooo gullible. Didn't she read newspapers?

A COLLEGE lecturer lost RM30,000 after getting acquainted with a man who claimed to be a doctor on the social networking site Facebook,Kosmo! reported.

Pahang commercial crime chief Supt Zaini Jass said the victim, 49, got to know “Dr Bruce Burn” from the United States on Jan 7.

When they were communicating, the “doctor” told her that he was based in the United States and was looking for a companion to settle down with.

He further deceived her by saying that he was prepared to settle down in Malaysia after marriage and would be coming to the country to meet her.

However, Supt Zaini said a man, who claimed to be a customs officer, contacted the lecturer and told her that the “doctor” had been arrested at KLIA for carrying £25,000 (RM121,567) that was not declared.

“The victim then paid RM30,000 to free the man,” he said, adding that she lodged a report after she discovered she was conned when the doctor did not show up at her house.

Scrambled Eggs

I think this is strange.


Wonder how it was when they were dating. Well, I am taking it for granted that this is not an arranged marriage but then what do I know!


Regarding the demand about the money used for their wedding, I honestly think she has a solid ground there provided it was a contract - verbal or written and of course a written contract would be easier to prove. SO moral of the story for the love struck boys and girls planning to tie the knot,do consider having the PRE NUPTIAL contract seriously. It can easily be included in the taqlik.


Anyway read this [taken from here]:- 

Harian Metro frontpaged a report about a man known as Razman who was allegedly suffering from his “gangster” wife’s outbursts.

Razman alleged how his wife, whom he married out of love, has woken him up by kicking him and demanded for divorce more than 10 times whenever they fought over his delay in replying her calls and SMSes.

He claimed his wife, who had also damaged his office personal computer during one of her outbursts, also verbally abused him by calling him either a pig, stupid, obnoxious and “to go to hell or die.”

He claimed his mother-in-law had accused him of stealing his wife’s stuff for witchcraft to make her submissive.

He said when they went for marriage counselling, she had vented her anger and scolded the ustaz.

After their child was born, he said his wife continued to sideline him and demanded the money they used for their wedding, which she regarded as debts that he had yet to repay.

One year into their marriage, he is considering divorce.

Mistakes At Job Interviews

The Most Outrageous Mistakes Made at Job Interviews


On Thursday 13 January 2011, 5:04 SGT
 
The job market may be showing signs of life but competition remains fierce, so if you're headed to an interview, don't blow it.

"The goal of any interview is to stand out from the other candidates and ultimately land the job, but make sure you stand out for the right reasons!" said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder.
CareerBuilder recently polled a couple thousand hiring managers and found out that one of the most common mistakes candidates made at job interviews was answering a cell-phone call or text during an interview. Seven out of 10 hiring managers said they'd had a candidate do that during an interview.
They also cited dressing inappropriately, appearing disinterested, appearing arrogant and chewing gum among the most common mistakes.
That list alone should have you outraged on behalf of American job seekers everywhere, but it gets worse! Here are some of the most outrageous things hiring managers said they've seen candidates do during a job interview:

1- Provide a detailed listing of how previous employer made them mad.
2- Hug the hiring manager at the end of the interview.
3- Eat all the candy from the candy bowl while trying to answer questions.
4- Bad-mouth spouse throughout the interview.
5- Blow her nose and line up used tissues on the table in front of her.
6- Bring a copy of a college diploma, with white out over the name and candidates name written on top.
7- Wear a hat that said "take this job and shove it."
8- Talk about how an affair cost him a previous job.
9- Throw his beer can in the outside trashcan before coming into the reception office.
10- Have a friend come in and ask "HOW MUCH LONGER?"

OK, so we're going to skip the usual jargon of job tips and get back to the basics:

1- Listen to your mother and spit out that gum before the interview. Blow your nose before you get there.   And while we're at it, make sure you go to the bathroom before you leave the house.

2-Turn that phone off before I turn it off for you.

3-No badmouthing of anyone. No candy eating. No cute T-shirts or hats. Actually, no T-shirts or hats of any kind. No white out. No friends allowed to come with you.

And for the love of jobs, no hugging!