Cobbler Wong was an old shoe mender near our office - McCallum Street by the side of DBS Building to be exact. His death a week back at the age of 82 was reported in the Straits Times with the following account:
- the man worked as a cobbler from the age of 13 till the day he died.
- words of appreciation from one of his sons written on a board and placed at the spot where his father mended shoes for his customers and where the old man fainted the morning of the day he died. The message was for all the nice people who had been his father's customers through the years and who had shown the old man great kindness like buying him meals daily.
- how much his cobbler father’s work meant to him and about him waking up at 4 am daily to 'go to work'
- the man being awarded an award some years back for his exemplary services (despite his age), honesty etc. as a roadside cobbler
- the old man giving each of his grandchildren $10 every week but had never stepped foot outside of Singapore - not even Sentosa!
- One of his son's remarking about how surprised he was that so many people could have shown such kindness to his father even though he was neither 'rich nor famous'.
I remembered the old man well for 2 reasons. He was very much a part of the 'scene' along the path many of us take to go for lunch daily. Whenever I see him I wondered if he really had to do that given his age and how lucky most of us are in contrast. It also reminded me of a saying by an English writer quoted by Gandhi as having had a profound impact on him: 'A life of labor is a life worth living'.
I remember the 2 instances when he turned down my business. Sometime back I thought I might be able to give him some business. So, I brought my old soccer boots and asked him to have the soles reattached. But he told me that he cannot fix them and I'll have to go to a shop with the machinery to do stitching. I returned weeks later with a simpler problem - a casual shoe with part of its sole detached. I thought now he should have no excuse not to fix it since I could have glued it back myself with super glue. To my chagrin he turned me down again! This time he told me that the sole would not stay on for long even if he glued it back for me. Which was true - I glued it back myself and it did re-open again sometime after.
My personal experience with Cobbler Wong helped me to better appreciate what was reported in the papers. That old man was really honest and professional. And his other customers must have appreciated it too - thus the award and kindness shown to him in return. I now feel a tinge of regret for having approached him - for he might have thought that they were just out of sympathy (which was somewhat true).
So from him, a few important lessons I learnt in life were reinforced:
- A life of labor is indeed a life worth living. His work meant so much to him that he did it till the day he died.
- Goodness begets goodness and it does not matter who you are and what little you do.
- Never be like Cobbler Wong's sons. One who wondered in public why others could have been so nice to his father even though he was neither 'rich nor famous' as if goodness has anything to do with those 2 attributes. None of the sons and grandchildren had bothered to accompany the old man even for a trip to Sentosa! It made me feel sick. And that probably explains why the old man preferred to come to McCallum street everyday. He probably felt closer to the nice people he knew there than his own off springs.
But all the above would have just simply receded to the back of my mind had I not learnt of what a man I know did for old Cobbler Wong. And I had to write this down - for my friends and kids when they grow up. This man is a colleague in JP Morgan's Corporate Services group - responsible for mails and other administrative tasks. Apparently his first encounter with Cobbler Wong was more than 10 years ago when he wanted a new hole punched on his belt which the old man (younger then) did for free. This colleague felt so bad that he bought the old man a drink that day. What was most admirable was that since that day, that was what this colleague did almost every morning without fail! Just like what a woman was reported in the newspaper to have done with meals for Cobbler Wong.
One day last week, on his usual drink delivery to Cobbler Wong, this colleague was a little surprised when the old man asked him to take off his shoes so that he could polish them. Our colleague was embarrassed but did so as it was an unusual request from the old man and he did not want to disappoint the man - if it made him happy why not? But he was to learn on his next delivery the next morning that the old man had fainted the previous morning (sometime after polishing his shoes) and had passed away that day. He returned to the office that morning with the memory of the dead man and wondered about the significance of the event the day before. Did the old man sense that he was about to go and the polishing of his shoes was his last act of appreciation for the kindness shown to him?
That only God will ever know but we should all be proud to know that among us is a very, very nice man and his name is Das, short for Devathas Kumarasamy.
p.s. can someone pls forward a copy of this to Das - couldn't find his e-mail ID! And those who want to join Das for lunch can let Ee Lin know - she is arranging one and it was she who told me the story about Das and Cobbler Wong.
Sunday, October 15, 2000
Why Maids Are Not Allowed in Cricket Club
ST reported recently about a member of Singapore Cricket Club challenging the club for forbidding her Sri Lanka maid from entering the club. The Club claimed that it was specified as condition of club membership. The question is why are maids not allowed in the club? Pick the correct answer from below:
A. Members in club are not distinguishable from maids and do not want to be mistaken as one (see next point)
B. Members' parents and grandparents were treated the same way by the club when it was exclusive to their colonial masters and they were not allowed to enter the club. So their children now want to do the same to others to feel as good as their parents' colonial masters.
C. Members paid so much money to show off they could not afford to be seen there with someone else's maid
D. All of the above.
A. Members in club are not distinguishable from maids and do not want to be mistaken as one (see next point)
B. Members' parents and grandparents were treated the same way by the club when it was exclusive to their colonial masters and they were not allowed to enter the club. So their children now want to do the same to others to feel as good as their parents' colonial masters.
C. Members paid so much money to show off they could not afford to be seen there with someone else's maid
D. All of the above.
Friday, September 29, 2000
Why JP Morgan is the Best
JP Morgan announced agreement to merge with Chase which agreed to pay US$60 billion to exchange about 3.7 Chase shares for each Morgan share. Each Chase share was valued at about US$50 and Morgan share about US$180. There has been a lot of rumours and talks about impending buyout of Morgan for the last 2 years. It has finally happened and was the talk of every staff in Morgan.
That was what happened one day that first week in our pantry among some of our staff from the human resource department when I went there to top up my cup. I could not avoid joining in the most important topic for the week and asked them what the sentiments were in their department. One of the HR staff responded that they were not worried. When I asked why that was so since there were talks about impending cuts in staffing by about 3,000 world wide, she said that it was because 'Morgan is the best' and looked at me quizically as if saying that I should know that.
When I asked her why she thought Morgan was the best, she said 'everyone knows it'. So I insisted on getting some proof which was duly given : Morgan's stock price was $180 while Chase's was only $50! I was shocked and proceeded to explain to her that it was an incorrect conclusion and gave her the example that my having $50 dollar notes in my wallet while another person having only $10 notes in his does not mean that I am richer. I may have only 1 $50 note but the other guy may have a thousand $10 notes!
The HR lady understood my point and the conversation ended there. I thought to myself what would happen if that lady had quoted that to potential recruits of Morgan as example for why 'Morgan is the best'! It would be the fastest way the disprove that statement.
That was what happened one day that first week in our pantry among some of our staff from the human resource department when I went there to top up my cup. I could not avoid joining in the most important topic for the week and asked them what the sentiments were in their department. One of the HR staff responded that they were not worried. When I asked why that was so since there were talks about impending cuts in staffing by about 3,000 world wide, she said that it was because 'Morgan is the best' and looked at me quizically as if saying that I should know that.
When I asked her why she thought Morgan was the best, she said 'everyone knows it'. So I insisted on getting some proof which was duly given : Morgan's stock price was $180 while Chase's was only $50! I was shocked and proceeded to explain to her that it was an incorrect conclusion and gave her the example that my having $50 dollar notes in my wallet while another person having only $10 notes in his does not mean that I am richer. I may have only 1 $50 note but the other guy may have a thousand $10 notes!
The HR lady understood my point and the conversation ended there. I thought to myself what would happen if that lady had quoted that to potential recruits of Morgan as example for why 'Morgan is the best'! It would be the fastest way the disprove that statement.
Friday, September 15, 2000
History of American Folksongs
Old Folks At Home, Old Kentucky Home & Old Black Joe
The songs were classified as "Ethiopian Melodies". When once Stephen Foster devoted his life to song writing, the talent developed into a rare one. Old Folks at Home was written in 1852 and was one of the three which were written in that year. It also proved to be one of the big and lasting hits and it's publishers, Firth, Pond & Co., of New York, realized much on it. It is a typical negro minstrel song and was, of course, sung by the Christy Minstrels. This song followed in the footsteps of such other favorites as Uncle Ned, Nelly Was A Lady, Open Thy Lattice, Love; Suwanee River, O Susanna, Laura Lee, Wilt Thou Be Gone Love, I Would Not Die In Summer Time and many others. It is reproduced here to show that there is truth in the statement that most of Foster's lyrics were as original with him as were his melodies.
"As I once intimated to you, I had the intention of omitting my name on my Ethiopian songs, owing to the prejudice against them by some, which might injure my reputation as a writer of another style of music, but I find that by my efforts I have done a great deal to build up a taste for the Ethiopian songs among refined people by making the words suitable to their taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some of that order. Therefore I have concluded to reinstate my name on my songs and to pursue the Ethiopian business without fear or shame and lend all my energies to making the business live, at the same time that I will wish to establish my name as the best Ethiopian song-writer. But I am not encouraged in undertaking this so long as "The Old Folks At Home" stares me in the face with another's name on it. As it was at my own solicitation that you allowed your name to be placed on the song, I hope that the above reasons will be sufficient explanation for my desire to place my own name on it as author and composer, while at the same time I wish to leave the name of your band on the title page. This is a little matter of pride in myself which it will certainly be to your interest to encourage. On the receipt of your free consent to this proposition, I will, if you wish, willingly refund you the money which you paid me on that song, though it may have been sent me for other considerations than the one in question, and I promise in addition to write you an opening chorus in my best style, free of charge, and in any other way in my power to advance your interest hereafter. I find I cannot write at all unless I write for public approbation and get credit for what I write. As we may probably have a good deal of business with each other in our lives, it is best to proceed on a sure basis of confidence and good understanding, therefore I hope you will appreciate an author's feelings in the case and deal with me with your usual fairness. Please answer immediately. Very respectfully yours, Stephen C. Foster."
It is ironic that the only race that developed a folksong literature in this country is the race that was brought here against it's will, and was and has been the most brutally exploited of all-the Negro. The Negro spirituals and Stephen Foster's songs are the nearest to completely indigenous folksongs that we possess. - Deems Taylor
The songs were classified as "Ethiopian Melodies". When once Stephen Foster devoted his life to song writing, the talent developed into a rare one. Old Folks at Home was written in 1852 and was one of the three which were written in that year. It also proved to be one of the big and lasting hits and it's publishers, Firth, Pond & Co., of New York, realized much on it. It is a typical negro minstrel song and was, of course, sung by the Christy Minstrels. This song followed in the footsteps of such other favorites as Uncle Ned, Nelly Was A Lady, Open Thy Lattice, Love; Suwanee River, O Susanna, Laura Lee, Wilt Thou Be Gone Love, I Would Not Die In Summer Time and many others. It is reproduced here to show that there is truth in the statement that most of Foster's lyrics were as original with him as were his melodies.
"As I once intimated to you, I had the intention of omitting my name on my Ethiopian songs, owing to the prejudice against them by some, which might injure my reputation as a writer of another style of music, but I find that by my efforts I have done a great deal to build up a taste for the Ethiopian songs among refined people by making the words suitable to their taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some of that order. Therefore I have concluded to reinstate my name on my songs and to pursue the Ethiopian business without fear or shame and lend all my energies to making the business live, at the same time that I will wish to establish my name as the best Ethiopian song-writer. But I am not encouraged in undertaking this so long as "The Old Folks At Home" stares me in the face with another's name on it. As it was at my own solicitation that you allowed your name to be placed on the song, I hope that the above reasons will be sufficient explanation for my desire to place my own name on it as author and composer, while at the same time I wish to leave the name of your band on the title page. This is a little matter of pride in myself which it will certainly be to your interest to encourage. On the receipt of your free consent to this proposition, I will, if you wish, willingly refund you the money which you paid me on that song, though it may have been sent me for other considerations than the one in question, and I promise in addition to write you an opening chorus in my best style, free of charge, and in any other way in my power to advance your interest hereafter. I find I cannot write at all unless I write for public approbation and get credit for what I write. As we may probably have a good deal of business with each other in our lives, it is best to proceed on a sure basis of confidence and good understanding, therefore I hope you will appreciate an author's feelings in the case and deal with me with your usual fairness. Please answer immediately. Very respectfully yours, Stephen C. Foster."
It is ironic that the only race that developed a folksong literature in this country is the race that was brought here against it's will, and was and has been the most brutally exploited of all-the Negro. The Negro spirituals and Stephen Foster's songs are the nearest to completely indigenous folksongs that we possess. - Deems Taylor
Monday, September 11, 2000
Street Peddlar and Big Business
For the last 3 years or so, an Indonesian man from Batam has been selling his curry puffs at 3 pieces for a dollar at various places around the new SIA building. Before completion of the SIA Building, he started by selling his puffs right at the back exit of DBS Tower 2. It was a pretty good location that captures the traffic going into DBS Tower 2. I like many other people around the office find this convenient and cheap supplier a welcome.
When SIA Building opened it has a small mamak shop (provision shop run by Indian families common in Singapore) at its back exit that faces that of DBS Tower 2. It also sold snacks like nasi lemak, fried mee hoon and, of course, curry puffs. I guess the Indonesian peddlar must have either found that he was losing some customers to the Indian shop or was chased away by the DBS building management. For awhile after that he moved his operations to a spot right in between SIA Building and CPF Building. It was also a better location since it was right in the middle of traffic moving from the Tanjong Pagar MRT station to the various buildings near SIA Building. That continued until the week Starbucks opened its coffee outlet in the ground floor of SIA Building. The peddlar disappeared the week Starbucks appeared. Initially I was not sure if Starbucks was the cause as the peddlar might have been ill. But he never appeared again at that spot.
A few months later, while driving into the CPF carpark I caught sight of the Indonesian man again. This time he was selling his puffs at the other end of CPF Building, nearer to the traffic lights (and away from SIA Building). But I did not see him again subsequent to that. Still wondering where he has gone.
This little episode of this poor but resourceful Indonesian peddlar sticks in my mind for a few reasons :
- circumstantial evidence showed that he was probably chased away as part of the deal between SIA Building and Starbucks. I have always wanted to catch hold of the peddlar to confirm this but never got to do it. And if that is the case, it shows what big businesses are capable of. Even a small time peddlar was not given a chance. For me, it increases my commitment not to ever buy anything from Starbucks and SIA.
- it also shows the odds which smaller businesses have to go against.
When SIA Building opened it has a small mamak shop (provision shop run by Indian families common in Singapore) at its back exit that faces that of DBS Tower 2. It also sold snacks like nasi lemak, fried mee hoon and, of course, curry puffs. I guess the Indonesian peddlar must have either found that he was losing some customers to the Indian shop or was chased away by the DBS building management. For awhile after that he moved his operations to a spot right in between SIA Building and CPF Building. It was also a better location since it was right in the middle of traffic moving from the Tanjong Pagar MRT station to the various buildings near SIA Building. That continued until the week Starbucks opened its coffee outlet in the ground floor of SIA Building. The peddlar disappeared the week Starbucks appeared. Initially I was not sure if Starbucks was the cause as the peddlar might have been ill. But he never appeared again at that spot.
A few months later, while driving into the CPF carpark I caught sight of the Indonesian man again. This time he was selling his puffs at the other end of CPF Building, nearer to the traffic lights (and away from SIA Building). But I did not see him again subsequent to that. Still wondering where he has gone.
This little episode of this poor but resourceful Indonesian peddlar sticks in my mind for a few reasons :
- circumstantial evidence showed that he was probably chased away as part of the deal between SIA Building and Starbucks. I have always wanted to catch hold of the peddlar to confirm this but never got to do it. And if that is the case, it shows what big businesses are capable of. Even a small time peddlar was not given a chance. For me, it increases my commitment not to ever buy anything from Starbucks and SIA.
- it also shows the odds which smaller businesses have to go against.
Friday, September 08, 2000
If He Can Write, So Can I
In the last couple of years of my work in JP Morgan, I subscribed to a daily internal Morgan publication which provides daily excerpts on various technology topics from various sources. These mails always had a 'Quote of the Day', and along with each topic, the 'editor' would provide his 'comments'. Over time I found these editor's comments a bit disturbing and decided to respond to some of the writings on topics that I was more familiar with. I figured if some Morgan staff can write, so can I! Below is an example of one of the exchanges.
From: Arthur Iger on 09/05/2000 09:24 AM EDT
To: Technology Industry Daily Recipients
Subject: Technology Industry Daily - Tuesday September 5, 2000
J.P. Morgan, LabMorgan
Tuesday September 5, 2000
Volume 4, Number 156
Internet economy drives liberalization in Singapore
In a clear departure from it state-control approach to commerce, Singapore’s deputy prime minister signaled yesterday that country was adopting a more laissez-faire attitude, IDG News reported. "From now on, everything is allowed in business in Singapore unless it is specifically banned; previously, what was not explicitly allowed was generally regarded as banned," said Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan. "The world economy and the way businesses are run are being transformed by the triple driving forces of technological innovation, globalization, and liberalization. Under the onslaught of these forces, old paradigms are being examined and new paradigms are being thrown up almost by the day. People will continue to be a critical resource in the new economic phase we are moving into."
IDG News quoted Tan’s remarks from an official transcript of a speech given Friday to honor successful technology entrepreneurs in Singapore. As an example of the government’s liberalization, Tan pointed to Singapore’s easing of bankruptcy laws to make them less intimidating for small companies and potential technopreneurs. The government is also making it easier for foreign IT experts and technopreneurs to work in Singapore, Tan said.
Editor's Comments:
This appears to be a real sea change on the part of the government of Singapore. Previously, some observers saw Singapore as a government, which was heavy handed in the areas of civil liberties. While, the government's move is far short of a "Bill of Rights" for Singapore citizens, it's a bow to the belief that greater personal freedom is linked both to creativity and to making Singapore an attractive environment for the people-driven technologies of the future.
China has looked to Singapore as a model for how to achieve significant development without the need for an evolved environment of personal freedom. The hope is that China will continue to choose to follow Singapore's lead in this area as well.
Quote for the day:
"Reading is being the arm and being the axe and being the skull; reading is giving up, not holding yourself at a distance and jeering."
- J.M. Coetzee, The Master of Petersburg
Arthur Iger
New York, NY 10260
(212) 235-0504
iger_arthur@jpmorgan.com
Chee-Khiaw Cheng
09/08/00 05:34 AM
To: Arthur Iger@JPMORGAN
Subject: FEEDBACK: Technology Industry Daily - Tuesday September 5, 2000
Hi Arthur,
Feedback on the Editor's Comment on the article on Liberalization in Singapore.
I am quite amazed by the editor's re-interpretation of the Singapore minister's comments as reported by IDG News relating to how it and the country should approach the issues of :
- interpreting regulations in light of the fast changing & competitive nature of the new economy
- bankruptcy laws and its relationship to discouraging enterpreneurs
- attracting more foreign talents and enterpreneurs
The Editor on its part has chosen to change Singapore's proactive attempt to address those issues that all governments in the world currently faces (except that Singapore does it faster & better than many governments in this world) to one of civil liberty and imply that that was the origin of the minister's comments.
My comments are as follows :
- I am a foreigner who has been living in Singapore for the last 15 years and has not encountered any incident where my civil liberties were restricted. In fact I find Singapore a place where I can safely and confidently do anything I wish anytime of the day AND NIGHT as long as I do not infringe on the liberties of someone else. That does not exist in even New York.
- there are a number of Americans that have personally told me that they prefer living in Singapore to the US for exactly the same reasons.
- We have many western expatriates within JP Morgan including Americans that hang on to staying in Singapore instead of returning home - something hardly sensible for 'free Americans' if their civil liberties are not protected.
- 1 in 5 people in Singapore is a foreigner. From all over the world, they are here to make a better future for their family. That is a much higher ratio than Britain, Japan or Germany.
- never has there been an incident where Singapore tried (as the US tried so hard to do) to make accusation stick to one of its citizen for espionage for a foreign country like that of Lee Wen Ho
- never has any significant group of citizenry of Singapore publicly (for they can do so anywhere on earth) has accused Singapore of racial or sexual discrimination let alone limiting their civil rights. The US has all of those issues since its inception to today.
- no country in this world which was an ex-colony exploited by Britain for 300 years could have achieved for its people the same living standard as Britain in its 30 short yrs of existence if its people's liberties were highly restricted.
- no government as honest as this one who publicly recognises those new challenges of the new economy and takes conscious steps to keep its people relevant (as it did for 30 yrs) as one of the most competitive in the world can do so in a repressive environment.
I follow this publication daily with a great degree of trust and expectation that the comments provide an objective analysis on a subject. Obviously that requires the commentator to be well informed on the subject - something I do not expect one person to have but has so far assumed that fair due diligence has been performed. Otherwise, I expect forthrightness in abstention.
In this case where I have first hand experience on the country commented on, I have a good basis to perform a reality check on the comments. Me and a few readers here in Singapore can only conclude that the comments arose out of ignorance. Ignorance by itself & unaware is not an issue unless it contributes to dis-information. Then it will be a disfavour to its readership and the credibility of the publication.
By the way, the Singapore government do believe that liberty does not mean license to do things with irresponsibility and impunity, and conducts itself accordingly. Many irresponsible people see that as heavy handedness.
Rgds
CCK
p.s. Do leave China out of this. I'm very confident that the Editor has zero or little knowledge on the realities and history of China to make a fair comment on it. If they are so terrible, they will fail and the West will be ahead. That should keep many in the West happy. (Despite what Gandhi said, most people are happier if they see themselves ahead of or above someone else). But if the Chinese succeed, they cannot be that bad. Just that someone elsewhere will be sore about that.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY :
"It is a mystery to me how a man can feel himself honored by the humiliation of his fellow being" - Gandhi
Below is the 'editor' reply and my response in italics.
To: Arthur Iger@JPMORGAN
cc: William Dunmyer@Jpmorgan
Subject: Re: FEEDBACK: Technology Industry Daily - Tuesday September 5, 2000
Arthur, My responses in red (italics)..... Rgds CCK
From: Arthur Iger on 09/08/2000 10:29 AM EDT
To: Chee-Khiaw Cheng@JPMORGAN
cc: William Dunmyer@JPMORGAN
Subject: Re: FEEDBACK: Technology Industry Daily - Tuesday September 5, 2000
Chee-Khiaw,
Thank you for your very thoughtful feedback. I have visited Singapore several times. It is a delightful, well run and clean place. I am an admirer of the speed and focus of Singapore's development into a first rate economic power under the present administration - from its somewhat humble beginnings. Singapore's single-minded focus on making the country an attractive place for business, including its effort to wire the Island for the Internet, has been the reason that it's been chosen as the Asian corporate headquarters by many multinational companies. I also admire the incorruptible reputation of the Singaporean government. One other thing that I admire about Singapore is that it's a multi-ethnic society that seems to function without the racism and violence that exists in many other countries.
[CCK:
I am very well aware of your observations above. I've gone round the world a few times but do not claim to have it figured out or have its issues condensed to a few simple answers....
Racism does exist in Singapore. It will be too idealistic to think otherwise. The reason why it does not get out of hand and result in violence is because the government manages it closely and carefully - to the acceptance of all races. To be able to do so requires active/real promotion of harmony and taking firm action against people who try to play it up - known as heavy handedness to some 'observers'. More importantly it requires a set of good souls to achieve and not just a set of nice sounding declarations. Substance and not form. The former is for those that lead, the latter for those who just follow (so they know what to repeat after).
Violence is high for places where there exist great injustices or imbalances, or if there are people who has nothing to lose when that happens or if they think they can get away with it. That situation does not exist (at this moment) in Singapore.]
But the give-up has been civil liberties which I believe that Singapore's Senior Minister, Mr. Lee has spoken of as a virtue. Censorship of the Western Press for anti-government remarks, suspension of habeas corpus, and the intrusion of the government into everyday activities of personal choice such as chewing gum are a few examples.
[CCK:
Mr Lee was talking about "absolute freedom" and finding a balance between that and other aspects in life and society. Balance may require some compromises that may be called "give-up". He recognises that our world is not perfect and societies have to find the right mix for themselves. He also recognises that that mix will necessarily have to change as society changes and governments must adapt to it and the democratic system is the best system to be able to do that.
Singapore's position is that any publication making remarks about Singapore's politics should be liable to due process of law in Singapore and equal access to rebuttal. Only when that is not accepted would they restrict circulation of the publication involved.
Suspension of habeas corpus probably refers to the Internal Security Act that Britain implemented in the 50s and retained till today. The British saw the situation then and deem it fit for the same reason LKY was quoted as saying.
Chewing gum is a personal choice but sticking it all over the place and, in some instances, stopping the whole sub-way system is more than a personal issue. The government does not ban consumption of gum but the sale of it just as it bans advertisements of cigarettes.]
If, as you assert, Deputy Prime Minister Tan's remarks were not signalling an intention to permit greater civil liberties in order to make Singapore an even more attractive place to work, then I apologize for the error, but am nonetheless disappointed. I believe that personal liberties are a core component of creativity. And that creativity is a core driver in the new economy.
[CCK:
Proper awareness, Right Education, and Liberty from fear, prejudices, violence, established rules and regulations, and someone else's expectations and notions are all important for creativity. Some people may say it is only genes - otherwise they can't explain why African Americans have proportionately less Nobel prize winners than whites since everything else is great and the same in the US. But others ask : is that really the case or is there more to that? Are there more factors and considerations at play? For example, how do we explain the beautiful music 'created' by Stephen Foster that Americans now proudly call their own that was really Ethiopian music that was not recognised as creative at all until Stephen Foster came along?
Mr Tan was very specific about which aspects his government was looking at but he did not say anywhere that his government has a heavy handed approach to civil liberties. The extrapolation to civil liberties was someone else taking liberty at it which I find incredible.
more below....]
As to your comment about the persecution of Dr. Wen Ho Lee in the U.S. for espionage. Many people in the U.S. disagree with the government's position. The free press in the U.S. for example noted that many of the documents that Dr. Lee downloaded onto his computer were reclassified as secret after he was arrested. Civil Liberties are not just about creativity, they are about making sure that the government doesn't use its power in arbitrary ways.
Art
Below are some quotations from Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first Prime Minister
http://www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/landow/post/singapore/government/leekuanyew/lky5.html
As the authors of Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas (1998) point out, Lee rejected "the notion that all men yearned for democratic freedoms, prizing free speech and the vote over other needs such as economic development. Asian societies, he contended, were different, having evolved separately from the West over the centuries" [126]. Lee also argued, "somewhat controversially," that "notions of absolute rights to freedom for individuals would sometimes have to be compromised in order to help maintain public order and security." He was therefore willing to suspend the right of habeas corpus, "or an open and fair trial, for known criminals or political agitators" on the grounds that "witnesses were too cowed to come forward to testify against them.
In his May 1991 address to the Asahi Shimbun symposium, Lee argued that Asians "want higher standards of living in an orderly society. They want to have as much individual choice in lifestyle, political liberties and freedoms as is compatible with the interests of the community." He granted that once a country has attained a certain level of education and industrialization, it "may need representative government . . . to reconcile conflicting group interests in society and maintain social order and stability. Representative government is also one way for a people to forge a new consensus, a social compact, on how a society settles the trade-off between further rapid economic growth and individual freedoms." [147]
Han Fook Kwang, Warren Fernandez, Sumiko Tan. Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas. Singapore: Times, 1998.
Here's another group that provides an objective ranking of Civil Liberties in various countries. The complete survey is at http://www.worldaudit.org/civillibs.htm
The Freedom House Annual Survey employs a Civil Liberties checklist to help monitor the progress and decline of human rights worldwide. Each country is rated on a seven-category scale, 1 representing the most free and 7 the least free.
Country 1999 Civil Liberties Score 1998 Score Democracy Rank
United States 1, 1, 11
United Kingdom 2, 2, 15
Singapore 5, 5, 64
China 6, 6, 121
Denmark 1, 1, 1
[CCK:
It is very interesting how many among us live in a world where credibility seem to increase because of the use of :
- words & methods like 'objective', 'checklists' and 'methodology'
- nice sounding names for an organisation like "Freedom House"
and not aware that we just may be living out the rules and concepts set out by someone else.
My questions are :
- could someone be trying to play God?
- how do these people think that they have the secret formula for the future of the human race?
- are we not forcing everyone to live according to a set of rules/measures made up by a small group of people if the human race is going to live by its ratings?
- where then are liberty and diversity?
- do we ever notice that no country outside of the Western countries has such organisations to measure how others perform against their expectations? Who are these peope who think they can play God simply because they own most of the wealth (measured in USD) and the destructive power of the world? Is that advancement? Who ever defined human progress as that?
The world is much more complicated (and, to some, illusory) than any of us can fully comprehend and there are many questions that we should ponder. Let's take specific restrictions in Singapore and see if they really affect civil liberty or creativity :
- chewing gums.
Do we believe Einstein or any REALLY creative being (which counts most of us out) would be any less so without those gums? But one irresponsible gummer did bring the whole country's sub-way system to a halt!
- drugs and guns
If they make a difference it is in taking more lives - those whose yearn for liberty no one will ever hear.
- libel suit against political opposition
read LKY's interview with Fortune. May be we should think about Germany's liberty and creativity under Hitler.
Other examples from the survey results:
- do we notice that most of the countries with the highest democracy rating are countries with the most homogeneous and wealthy population? We may ask if those factors have a bearing on the results.
- Israel has a higher democracy rating than Singapore. Is that really the case for the Palestinians living in Israel compared to any racial group living in Singapore?
- India has higher rating than Singapore. Do we realise that a Tamil esp. Tamil woman in Singapore has a much better life and future than one in India? Would a Tamil woman in India care about that rating if her family earns less than US$10 a day and can barely survive?
- I assume the inter-ranking between countries practicing one-man-one-vote measures some form of variations or nuances. But what are those differences and what do they mean? Who is judging which is better or worse?
Lastly, there are a lot of creative people in Silicon Valley. Many are people who migrated from Asia including Singapore. But that does not mean any of the following :
- that they suddenly found creativity on arrival in the US or they would have lost it if they did not
- that they are in the US because their countries lack freedom and civil liberties
- New York or Florida could have been a Silicon Valley
Things are much more complex than that.
Narrow piece-meal measures of life by a small group of people with little real interest at stake in the actual outcome of life in a particular country is simplistic and dangerous. The creative ones (that crop up everywhere) can go anywhere. But because countries refuse to let the others enter their countries (in the name of national interest and not liberty), those that remain have to make the best out of what they have and they have to cater to some very real challenges.]
As to my saying that China views Singapore as a model, here's an excerpt from a Fortune Magazine article which appeared in August '97 and included an interview with Senior Minister Lee.
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/1997/970804/yew.html
"Lee Kuan Yew is not one to shy away from controversy, whether by expounding on the superiority of Asian values or hounding his critics in court. But lately Singapore's senior minister and the successful system he largely created have been in the spotlight for a different reason: A growing number of leaders would like to emulate them. Tung Chee Hwa, the new Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong, has expressed his open admiration for Lee's Singapore; China, too, looks upon the island state as a model...."
[CCK:
The above quote is NOT Lee Kuan Yew's own words but that of Fortune Magazine. And he is a smarter man with a much broader read of the global picture than the one that made those statements - if you care to read LKY's own words published by Fortune (we're not sure if that's the full text but good enough for this purpose).
There is nothing inherently wrong with leaders of any country voluntarily desiring to emulate certain aspects of another country if they think it right for the country's circumstances. In the case of Hong Kong, that desire is nowhere near what the British government has done to it - forcibly apply colonial rule for 200 years and, just before returning it to China, Chris Patten let loose a system perculiar to both the Hong Kong people and what Britain itself practiced in HK for that 200 years. May be we should ask : who is taking the liberty?
In the interview published by Fortune there was no mention of emulating the particular characteristic implied to have existed in Singapore by your comments - heavy handed approach to civil liberties.]
From: Arthur Iger on 09/05/2000 09:24 AM EDT
To: Technology Industry Daily Recipients
Subject: Technology Industry Daily - Tuesday September 5, 2000
J.P. Morgan, LabMorgan
Tuesday September 5, 2000
Volume 4, Number 156
Internet economy drives liberalization in Singapore
In a clear departure from it state-control approach to commerce, Singapore’s deputy prime minister signaled yesterday that country was adopting a more laissez-faire attitude, IDG News reported. "From now on, everything is allowed in business in Singapore unless it is specifically banned; previously, what was not explicitly allowed was generally regarded as banned," said Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Tony Tan. "The world economy and the way businesses are run are being transformed by the triple driving forces of technological innovation, globalization, and liberalization. Under the onslaught of these forces, old paradigms are being examined and new paradigms are being thrown up almost by the day. People will continue to be a critical resource in the new economic phase we are moving into."
IDG News quoted Tan’s remarks from an official transcript of a speech given Friday to honor successful technology entrepreneurs in Singapore. As an example of the government’s liberalization, Tan pointed to Singapore’s easing of bankruptcy laws to make them less intimidating for small companies and potential technopreneurs. The government is also making it easier for foreign IT experts and technopreneurs to work in Singapore, Tan said.
Editor's Comments:
This appears to be a real sea change on the part of the government of Singapore. Previously, some observers saw Singapore as a government, which was heavy handed in the areas of civil liberties. While, the government's move is far short of a "Bill of Rights" for Singapore citizens, it's a bow to the belief that greater personal freedom is linked both to creativity and to making Singapore an attractive environment for the people-driven technologies of the future.
China has looked to Singapore as a model for how to achieve significant development without the need for an evolved environment of personal freedom. The hope is that China will continue to choose to follow Singapore's lead in this area as well.
Quote for the day:
"Reading is being the arm and being the axe and being the skull; reading is giving up, not holding yourself at a distance and jeering."
- J.M. Coetzee, The Master of Petersburg
Arthur Iger
New York, NY 10260
(212) 235-0504
iger_arthur@jpmorgan.com
Chee-Khiaw Cheng
09/08/00 05:34 AM
To: Arthur Iger@JPMORGAN
Subject: FEEDBACK: Technology Industry Daily - Tuesday September 5, 2000
Hi Arthur,
Feedback on the Editor's Comment on the article on Liberalization in Singapore.
I am quite amazed by the editor's re-interpretation of the Singapore minister's comments as reported by IDG News relating to how it and the country should approach the issues of :
- interpreting regulations in light of the fast changing & competitive nature of the new economy
- bankruptcy laws and its relationship to discouraging enterpreneurs
- attracting more foreign talents and enterpreneurs
The Editor on its part has chosen to change Singapore's proactive attempt to address those issues that all governments in the world currently faces (except that Singapore does it faster & better than many governments in this world) to one of civil liberty and imply that that was the origin of the minister's comments.
My comments are as follows :
- I am a foreigner who has been living in Singapore for the last 15 years and has not encountered any incident where my civil liberties were restricted. In fact I find Singapore a place where I can safely and confidently do anything I wish anytime of the day AND NIGHT as long as I do not infringe on the liberties of someone else. That does not exist in even New York.
- there are a number of Americans that have personally told me that they prefer living in Singapore to the US for exactly the same reasons.
- We have many western expatriates within JP Morgan including Americans that hang on to staying in Singapore instead of returning home - something hardly sensible for 'free Americans' if their civil liberties are not protected.
- 1 in 5 people in Singapore is a foreigner. From all over the world, they are here to make a better future for their family. That is a much higher ratio than Britain, Japan or Germany.
- never has there been an incident where Singapore tried (as the US tried so hard to do) to make accusation stick to one of its citizen for espionage for a foreign country like that of Lee Wen Ho
- never has any significant group of citizenry of Singapore publicly (for they can do so anywhere on earth) has accused Singapore of racial or sexual discrimination let alone limiting their civil rights. The US has all of those issues since its inception to today.
- no country in this world which was an ex-colony exploited by Britain for 300 years could have achieved for its people the same living standard as Britain in its 30 short yrs of existence if its people's liberties were highly restricted.
- no government as honest as this one who publicly recognises those new challenges of the new economy and takes conscious steps to keep its people relevant (as it did for 30 yrs) as one of the most competitive in the world can do so in a repressive environment.
I follow this publication daily with a great degree of trust and expectation that the comments provide an objective analysis on a subject. Obviously that requires the commentator to be well informed on the subject - something I do not expect one person to have but has so far assumed that fair due diligence has been performed. Otherwise, I expect forthrightness in abstention.
In this case where I have first hand experience on the country commented on, I have a good basis to perform a reality check on the comments. Me and a few readers here in Singapore can only conclude that the comments arose out of ignorance. Ignorance by itself & unaware is not an issue unless it contributes to dis-information. Then it will be a disfavour to its readership and the credibility of the publication.
By the way, the Singapore government do believe that liberty does not mean license to do things with irresponsibility and impunity, and conducts itself accordingly. Many irresponsible people see that as heavy handedness.
Rgds
CCK
p.s. Do leave China out of this. I'm very confident that the Editor has zero or little knowledge on the realities and history of China to make a fair comment on it. If they are so terrible, they will fail and the West will be ahead. That should keep many in the West happy. (Despite what Gandhi said, most people are happier if they see themselves ahead of or above someone else). But if the Chinese succeed, they cannot be that bad. Just that someone elsewhere will be sore about that.
QUOTE FOR THE DAY :
"It is a mystery to me how a man can feel himself honored by the humiliation of his fellow being" - Gandhi
Below is the 'editor' reply and my response in italics.
To: Arthur Iger@JPMORGAN
cc: William Dunmyer@Jpmorgan
Subject: Re: FEEDBACK: Technology Industry Daily - Tuesday September 5, 2000
Arthur, My responses in red (italics)..... Rgds CCK
From: Arthur Iger on 09/08/2000 10:29 AM EDT
To: Chee-Khiaw Cheng@JPMORGAN
cc: William Dunmyer@JPMORGAN
Subject: Re: FEEDBACK: Technology Industry Daily - Tuesday September 5, 2000
Chee-Khiaw,
Thank you for your very thoughtful feedback. I have visited Singapore several times. It is a delightful, well run and clean place. I am an admirer of the speed and focus of Singapore's development into a first rate economic power under the present administration - from its somewhat humble beginnings. Singapore's single-minded focus on making the country an attractive place for business, including its effort to wire the Island for the Internet, has been the reason that it's been chosen as the Asian corporate headquarters by many multinational companies. I also admire the incorruptible reputation of the Singaporean government. One other thing that I admire about Singapore is that it's a multi-ethnic society that seems to function without the racism and violence that exists in many other countries.
[CCK:
I am very well aware of your observations above. I've gone round the world a few times but do not claim to have it figured out or have its issues condensed to a few simple answers....
Racism does exist in Singapore. It will be too idealistic to think otherwise. The reason why it does not get out of hand and result in violence is because the government manages it closely and carefully - to the acceptance of all races. To be able to do so requires active/real promotion of harmony and taking firm action against people who try to play it up - known as heavy handedness to some 'observers'. More importantly it requires a set of good souls to achieve and not just a set of nice sounding declarations. Substance and not form. The former is for those that lead, the latter for those who just follow (so they know what to repeat after).
Violence is high for places where there exist great injustices or imbalances, or if there are people who has nothing to lose when that happens or if they think they can get away with it. That situation does not exist (at this moment) in Singapore.]
But the give-up has been civil liberties which I believe that Singapore's Senior Minister, Mr. Lee has spoken of as a virtue. Censorship of the Western Press for anti-government remarks, suspension of habeas corpus, and the intrusion of the government into everyday activities of personal choice such as chewing gum are a few examples.
[CCK:
Mr Lee was talking about "absolute freedom" and finding a balance between that and other aspects in life and society. Balance may require some compromises that may be called "give-up". He recognises that our world is not perfect and societies have to find the right mix for themselves. He also recognises that that mix will necessarily have to change as society changes and governments must adapt to it and the democratic system is the best system to be able to do that.
Singapore's position is that any publication making remarks about Singapore's politics should be liable to due process of law in Singapore and equal access to rebuttal. Only when that is not accepted would they restrict circulation of the publication involved.
Suspension of habeas corpus probably refers to the Internal Security Act that Britain implemented in the 50s and retained till today. The British saw the situation then and deem it fit for the same reason LKY was quoted as saying.
Chewing gum is a personal choice but sticking it all over the place and, in some instances, stopping the whole sub-way system is more than a personal issue. The government does not ban consumption of gum but the sale of it just as it bans advertisements of cigarettes.]
If, as you assert, Deputy Prime Minister Tan's remarks were not signalling an intention to permit greater civil liberties in order to make Singapore an even more attractive place to work, then I apologize for the error, but am nonetheless disappointed. I believe that personal liberties are a core component of creativity. And that creativity is a core driver in the new economy.
[CCK:
Proper awareness, Right Education, and Liberty from fear, prejudices, violence, established rules and regulations, and someone else's expectations and notions are all important for creativity. Some people may say it is only genes - otherwise they can't explain why African Americans have proportionately less Nobel prize winners than whites since everything else is great and the same in the US. But others ask : is that really the case or is there more to that? Are there more factors and considerations at play? For example, how do we explain the beautiful music 'created' by Stephen Foster that Americans now proudly call their own that was really Ethiopian music that was not recognised as creative at all until Stephen Foster came along?
Mr Tan was very specific about which aspects his government was looking at but he did not say anywhere that his government has a heavy handed approach to civil liberties. The extrapolation to civil liberties was someone else taking liberty at it which I find incredible.
more below....]
As to your comment about the persecution of Dr. Wen Ho Lee in the U.S. for espionage. Many people in the U.S. disagree with the government's position. The free press in the U.S. for example noted that many of the documents that Dr. Lee downloaded onto his computer were reclassified as secret after he was arrested. Civil Liberties are not just about creativity, they are about making sure that the government doesn't use its power in arbitrary ways.
Art
Below are some quotations from Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first Prime Minister
http://www.thecore.nus.edu.sg/landow/post/singapore/government/leekuanyew/lky5.html
As the authors of Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas (1998) point out, Lee rejected "the notion that all men yearned for democratic freedoms, prizing free speech and the vote over other needs such as economic development. Asian societies, he contended, were different, having evolved separately from the West over the centuries" [126]. Lee also argued, "somewhat controversially," that "notions of absolute rights to freedom for individuals would sometimes have to be compromised in order to help maintain public order and security." He was therefore willing to suspend the right of habeas corpus, "or an open and fair trial, for known criminals or political agitators" on the grounds that "witnesses were too cowed to come forward to testify against them.
In his May 1991 address to the Asahi Shimbun symposium, Lee argued that Asians "want higher standards of living in an orderly society. They want to have as much individual choice in lifestyle, political liberties and freedoms as is compatible with the interests of the community." He granted that once a country has attained a certain level of education and industrialization, it "may need representative government . . . to reconcile conflicting group interests in society and maintain social order and stability. Representative government is also one way for a people to forge a new consensus, a social compact, on how a society settles the trade-off between further rapid economic growth and individual freedoms." [147]
Han Fook Kwang, Warren Fernandez, Sumiko Tan. Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas. Singapore: Times, 1998.
Here's another group that provides an objective ranking of Civil Liberties in various countries. The complete survey is at http://www.worldaudit.org/civillibs.htm
The Freedom House Annual Survey employs a Civil Liberties checklist to help monitor the progress and decline of human rights worldwide. Each country is rated on a seven-category scale, 1 representing the most free and 7 the least free.
Country 1999 Civil Liberties Score 1998 Score Democracy Rank
United States 1, 1, 11
United Kingdom 2, 2, 15
Singapore 5, 5, 64
China 6, 6, 121
Denmark 1, 1, 1
[CCK:
It is very interesting how many among us live in a world where credibility seem to increase because of the use of :
- words & methods like 'objective', 'checklists' and 'methodology'
- nice sounding names for an organisation like "Freedom House"
and not aware that we just may be living out the rules and concepts set out by someone else.
My questions are :
- could someone be trying to play God?
- how do these people think that they have the secret formula for the future of the human race?
- are we not forcing everyone to live according to a set of rules/measures made up by a small group of people if the human race is going to live by its ratings?
- where then are liberty and diversity?
- do we ever notice that no country outside of the Western countries has such organisations to measure how others perform against their expectations? Who are these peope who think they can play God simply because they own most of the wealth (measured in USD) and the destructive power of the world? Is that advancement? Who ever defined human progress as that?
The world is much more complicated (and, to some, illusory) than any of us can fully comprehend and there are many questions that we should ponder. Let's take specific restrictions in Singapore and see if they really affect civil liberty or creativity :
- chewing gums.
Do we believe Einstein or any REALLY creative being (which counts most of us out) would be any less so without those gums? But one irresponsible gummer did bring the whole country's sub-way system to a halt!
- drugs and guns
If they make a difference it is in taking more lives - those whose yearn for liberty no one will ever hear.
- libel suit against political opposition
read LKY's interview with Fortune. May be we should think about Germany's liberty and creativity under Hitler.
Other examples from the survey results:
- do we notice that most of the countries with the highest democracy rating are countries with the most homogeneous and wealthy population? We may ask if those factors have a bearing on the results.
- Israel has a higher democracy rating than Singapore. Is that really the case for the Palestinians living in Israel compared to any racial group living in Singapore?
- India has higher rating than Singapore. Do we realise that a Tamil esp. Tamil woman in Singapore has a much better life and future than one in India? Would a Tamil woman in India care about that rating if her family earns less than US$10 a day and can barely survive?
- I assume the inter-ranking between countries practicing one-man-one-vote measures some form of variations or nuances. But what are those differences and what do they mean? Who is judging which is better or worse?
Lastly, there are a lot of creative people in Silicon Valley. Many are people who migrated from Asia including Singapore. But that does not mean any of the following :
- that they suddenly found creativity on arrival in the US or they would have lost it if they did not
- that they are in the US because their countries lack freedom and civil liberties
- New York or Florida could have been a Silicon Valley
Things are much more complex than that.
Narrow piece-meal measures of life by a small group of people with little real interest at stake in the actual outcome of life in a particular country is simplistic and dangerous. The creative ones (that crop up everywhere) can go anywhere. But because countries refuse to let the others enter their countries (in the name of national interest and not liberty), those that remain have to make the best out of what they have and they have to cater to some very real challenges.]
As to my saying that China views Singapore as a model, here's an excerpt from a Fortune Magazine article which appeared in August '97 and included an interview with Senior Minister Lee.
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/1997/970804/yew.html
"Lee Kuan Yew is not one to shy away from controversy, whether by expounding on the superiority of Asian values or hounding his critics in court. But lately Singapore's senior minister and the successful system he largely created have been in the spotlight for a different reason: A growing number of leaders would like to emulate them. Tung Chee Hwa, the new Chief Executive of China's Hong Kong, has expressed his open admiration for Lee's Singapore; China, too, looks upon the island state as a model...."
[CCK:
The above quote is NOT Lee Kuan Yew's own words but that of Fortune Magazine. And he is a smarter man with a much broader read of the global picture than the one that made those statements - if you care to read LKY's own words published by Fortune (we're not sure if that's the full text but good enough for this purpose).
There is nothing inherently wrong with leaders of any country voluntarily desiring to emulate certain aspects of another country if they think it right for the country's circumstances. In the case of Hong Kong, that desire is nowhere near what the British government has done to it - forcibly apply colonial rule for 200 years and, just before returning it to China, Chris Patten let loose a system perculiar to both the Hong Kong people and what Britain itself practiced in HK for that 200 years. May be we should ask : who is taking the liberty?
In the interview published by Fortune there was no mention of emulating the particular characteristic implied to have existed in Singapore by your comments - heavy handed approach to civil liberties.]
Tuesday, July 18, 2000
Lesson From Isaac Newton
"If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants." - Isaac Newton
Isaac Newton was talking about fellow thinkers before him. But while Isaac Newton was sitting below his apple tree, a few hundred million people in the British colony was also working their ass off for Great Britain! Would be hard to belief someone so farsighted as him could not see that too. So, if he have been somewhat more honest he would have said that he and those giants were also standing on the shoulders of millions other Asians and Africans who were working their ass off to feed him and those giants while they pondered in comfort.
The same went for 'giants' like Charles Darwin who never had to work a single day in his life. He spent his life travelling throughout the colonies (by hitching rides in merchant and navy ships) exploring & looking at the diverse life forms around the globe.
Is it a coincidence that western 'scientific supremacy' followed after the start of massive colonialisation in the 15th century?
Isaac Newton was talking about fellow thinkers before him. But while Isaac Newton was sitting below his apple tree, a few hundred million people in the British colony was also working their ass off for Great Britain! Would be hard to belief someone so farsighted as him could not see that too. So, if he have been somewhat more honest he would have said that he and those giants were also standing on the shoulders of millions other Asians and Africans who were working their ass off to feed him and those giants while they pondered in comfort.
The same went for 'giants' like Charles Darwin who never had to work a single day in his life. He spent his life travelling throughout the colonies (by hitching rides in merchant and navy ships) exploring & looking at the diverse life forms around the globe.
Is it a coincidence that western 'scientific supremacy' followed after the start of massive colonialisation in the 15th century?
Monday, July 17, 2000
Why LKY's English Gentlemen are No More
Some months back, Lee Kuan Yew (ex-prime minister) of Singapore said that when he was studying in London in the 1950s he was very impressed by the 'gentlemanly' conduct of the Englishmen. He commented about how things can change very fast. And in just one generation the English are now better known for their soccer hooligans - citing soccer fans that get into fights wherever they go.
Those comments got me thinking. And it was very interesting to note that LKY seemed to not recognize how that has to do very much with the history of the country. When that is understood, it would be very easy to see why the Englishmen LKY met just a generation ago were or could afford to be 'more gentlemanly individuals' than their descendents. And more importantly it will also be apparent how the conduct of the country as a whole (if one is to look beyond their individuals' behavior in London) was anything but gentlemanly. And if LKY felt that he was treated in a gentlemanly fashion, it was because he was much more fortunate than millions others and the English found it convenient to do so (but that is a real long story to be told somewhere else).
For a few hundred years up till the middle of this century, the British (or the English gentlemen that LKY was reminising about) had a huge colonial empire. The reason why it was that way was because they found that there were huge profits to be made from it. But the vast lands, people and business exploits involved had to be 'maintained' and there just weren't enough Englishmen to go round - not if you have to fight against the other colonialists, subjugate local opposition, administer the system and operate the 'trading companies'.
The last category includes individuals and groups like the East India Company, Jardine, Matheson etc. that were not performing any official fighting or administrative roles. In fact, trade companies like the East India Company actually extensions of the English government. The East India Company had their own army (undoubtedly comprising many undesirable elements that LKY would have found ungentlemanly) which was used to defeat Indian opposition to British interests and install 'more friendly' (puppet) local governments.
Once the empire is 'secured', the cheap labor of their colonial subjects and raw materials of their colonies were used to produce profits and wealth for them - the real reason why the empire was so great! They did not wage wars to form an empire just so that to the English can do some great good to humankind! In Malaysia, Indian laborers worked on rubber plantations, and Chinese migrant miners dug for tin. The raw materials produced were then sold to the English traders or middlemen. Where they could not colonise and occupy outright, they arm-twisted - like forcing the rights to sell opium to the Chinese. I am sure there were many other examples of how wealth was made for the Englishmen in other parts of the world less familiar to me (diamond and other mining in Africa?).
This is of course equally true for all the other colonial powers of the last few centuries. In fact I contend that all the major wars and revolutions of this century have their origin in the fierce competition for this right to create wealth through colonisation or enslavement.
As a result, every Englishmen before the second half of this century could see the wealth, unceasing demand for human resources and limitless rewards of this global operation. The nice thing about it was everyone could join in! There was enough to go round (if you do not include their 'colonial subjects'). Even the thieves, trigger happy murderers and rascals among them find ample opportunities to put their 'talents' to good use in the trading companies and the British army. But those activities were then more nobly known as 'service to King/Queen and their great empire'. But all the 'dirty' work took place outside of England. That was also where the ones best suited to such work went.
It was therefore not difficult to see that the typical Englishman that LKY met in England in the 50s were relatively more gentlemanly or could 'afford' to be a gentleman. For one, everyone was more than adequately fed and clothed by the system they propagated. Even a returning murderer from the British army (like General Dyer notorious for his merciless slaughter of Indians in Amritsar) could act and be treated like a gentleman in London. People like him not only got away with murder but were amply rewarded for their service to their country.
But now that the great empire is no more and the typical Englishmen has to compete among themselves and with their ex-colonies for their 3 meals a day, the picture of the Englishman is a very different one. On top of that, the ruffians among them now cannot find release without getting into trouble with their local laws and there is no alternative outlet in the 'noble service' their forefathers went for. As soccer is their favorite sport, it is then not difficult see why they choose to find release in the soccer stadiums where they can start a fight and hope to sneak away among the big crowd.
Note : In a report in Straits Times on July 18 2000, British Home Secretary Jack Straw was quoted as blaming football hooliganism on racism and colonialism. Headline was "British Minister says……
HOOLIGANISM : Blame it on racism
RACISM : Blame it on colonialism"
Those comments got me thinking. And it was very interesting to note that LKY seemed to not recognize how that has to do very much with the history of the country. When that is understood, it would be very easy to see why the Englishmen LKY met just a generation ago were or could afford to be 'more gentlemanly individuals' than their descendents. And more importantly it will also be apparent how the conduct of the country as a whole (if one is to look beyond their individuals' behavior in London) was anything but gentlemanly. And if LKY felt that he was treated in a gentlemanly fashion, it was because he was much more fortunate than millions others and the English found it convenient to do so (but that is a real long story to be told somewhere else).
For a few hundred years up till the middle of this century, the British (or the English gentlemen that LKY was reminising about) had a huge colonial empire. The reason why it was that way was because they found that there were huge profits to be made from it. But the vast lands, people and business exploits involved had to be 'maintained' and there just weren't enough Englishmen to go round - not if you have to fight against the other colonialists, subjugate local opposition, administer the system and operate the 'trading companies'.
The last category includes individuals and groups like the East India Company, Jardine, Matheson etc. that were not performing any official fighting or administrative roles. In fact, trade companies like the East India Company actually extensions of the English government. The East India Company had their own army (undoubtedly comprising many undesirable elements that LKY would have found ungentlemanly) which was used to defeat Indian opposition to British interests and install 'more friendly' (puppet) local governments.
Once the empire is 'secured', the cheap labor of their colonial subjects and raw materials of their colonies were used to produce profits and wealth for them - the real reason why the empire was so great! They did not wage wars to form an empire just so that to the English can do some great good to humankind! In Malaysia, Indian laborers worked on rubber plantations, and Chinese migrant miners dug for tin. The raw materials produced were then sold to the English traders or middlemen. Where they could not colonise and occupy outright, they arm-twisted - like forcing the rights to sell opium to the Chinese. I am sure there were many other examples of how wealth was made for the Englishmen in other parts of the world less familiar to me (diamond and other mining in Africa?).
This is of course equally true for all the other colonial powers of the last few centuries. In fact I contend that all the major wars and revolutions of this century have their origin in the fierce competition for this right to create wealth through colonisation or enslavement.
As a result, every Englishmen before the second half of this century could see the wealth, unceasing demand for human resources and limitless rewards of this global operation. The nice thing about it was everyone could join in! There was enough to go round (if you do not include their 'colonial subjects'). Even the thieves, trigger happy murderers and rascals among them find ample opportunities to put their 'talents' to good use in the trading companies and the British army. But those activities were then more nobly known as 'service to King/Queen and their great empire'. But all the 'dirty' work took place outside of England. That was also where the ones best suited to such work went.
It was therefore not difficult to see that the typical Englishman that LKY met in England in the 50s were relatively more gentlemanly or could 'afford' to be a gentleman. For one, everyone was more than adequately fed and clothed by the system they propagated. Even a returning murderer from the British army (like General Dyer notorious for his merciless slaughter of Indians in Amritsar) could act and be treated like a gentleman in London. People like him not only got away with murder but were amply rewarded for their service to their country.
But now that the great empire is no more and the typical Englishmen has to compete among themselves and with their ex-colonies for their 3 meals a day, the picture of the Englishman is a very different one. On top of that, the ruffians among them now cannot find release without getting into trouble with their local laws and there is no alternative outlet in the 'noble service' their forefathers went for. As soccer is their favorite sport, it is then not difficult see why they choose to find release in the soccer stadiums where they can start a fight and hope to sneak away among the big crowd.
Note : In a report in Straits Times on July 18 2000, British Home Secretary Jack Straw was quoted as blaming football hooliganism on racism and colonialism. Headline was "British Minister says……
HOOLIGANISM : Blame it on racism
RACISM : Blame it on colonialism"
Monday, May 01, 2000
Bird Brain
Bird Intelligence (extracted from PBS website)
On a university campus in Japan. Carrion crows and humans line up patiently, waiting for the traffic to halt. When the lights change, the birds hop in front of the cars and place walnuts, which they picked from the adjoining trees, on the road. After the lights turn green again, the birds fly away and vehicles drive over the nuts, cracking them open. Finally, when it’s time to cross again, the crows join the pedestrians and pick up their meal. If the cars miss the nuts, the birds sometimes hop back and put them somewhere else on the road. Or they sit on electricity wires and drop them in front of vehicles.
Biologists already knew the corvid family–it includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdaws–to be among the smartest of all birds. But this remarkable piece of behavior–it features in the final program of “Life of Birds”–would seem to be a particularly acute demonstration of bird intelligence.
The crows in Japan have only been cracking nuts this way since about 1990. They have since been seen doing it in California. Researchers believe they probably noticed cars driving over nuts fallen from a walnut tree overhanging a road. height on the seashore to break them open, but found this did not work for walnuts because of their soft green outer shell. Other birds do this, although not with quite the same precision. In the Dardia Mountains of Greece, eagles can be seen carrying tortoises up to a great height and dropping them on to rocks below. The hapless Aeschylus (525-456 BC), a father of Greek tragic drama, is said to have met his end by this means.
A seer predicted he would die when a house fell on him, so the wary scribe departed for the hillsides, well away from any dwellings, where he believed he was safe. He wasn’t. An eagle is said to have mistaken Aeschylus’ bald pate for a stone, and dropped the creature in its “house” onto it.
Scientists have argued for decades over whether wild creatures, including birds, show genuine intelligence. Some still consider the human mind to be unique, with animals capable of only the simplest mental processes. But a new generation of scientists believe that creatures, including birds, can solve problems by insight and even learn by example, as human children do. Birds can even talk in a meaningful way.
Some birds show quite astonishing powers of recall. The Clarke’s nutcracker, a type of North American crow, may have the animal world's keenest memory. It collects up to 30,000 pine seeds over three weeks in November, then carefully buries them for safe keeping across over an area of 200 square miles. Over the next eight months, it succeeds in retrieving over 90 percent of them, even when they are covered in feet of snow.
On the Pacific island of New Caledonia, the crows demonstrate a tool-making, and tool using, capability comparable to Palaeolithic man’s. Dr Gavin Hunt, a New Zealand biologist, spent three years observing the birds. He found that they used two different forms of hooked “tool” to pull grubs from deep within tree trunks.
Other birds and some primates have been seen to use objects to forage. But what is unusual here is that the crows also make their own tools. Using their beaks as scissors and snippers, they fashion hooks from twigs, and make barbed, serrated rakes or combs from stiff leathery leaves. And they don’t throw the tools away after one use–they carry them from one foraging place to another.
Scientists are still debating what this behavior–shown in program three–means. Man’s use of tools is considered a prime indication of his intelligence. Is this a skill acquired by chance? Did the crows acquire tool making skills by trial and error rather than planning? Or, in its ability to adapt and exploit an enormous range of resources and habitats, is the crow closer to humans than any other creature?
Dr Hunt, then of Massey University in New Zealand, said this of his research: “There are many intriguing questions that remain to be answered about crows’ tool behavior. Most important would be whether or not they mostly learn or genetically inherit the know-how to make and use tools. Without knowing that it is difficult to say anything about their intelligence, although one could guess that these crows have the capability to be as clever as crows in general.”
The woodpecker finch, a bird of the Galapagos, is another consummate toolmaker. It will snap off a twig, trim it to size and use it to pry insects out of bark. In captivity, a cactus finch learnt how to do this by watching the woodpecker finch from its cage. The teacher helped the pupil by passing a ready-made spine across for the cactus finch to use.
Sometimes a bird species’ very survival depends on its ability to learn fast. Birds need to recognize a cuckoo egg dumped in their own nest and either throw out the strange egg or desert the nest to start afresh. In Japan, the common cuckoo recently switched to a new, unsuspecting host on which to dump its eggs, the azure-winged magpie. The emerging cuckoo chicks ejected their foster siblings, and the magpie population dropped dramatically.
Ten years on, the magpies started to fight back. They learnt to detect the “foreign” eggs. Within a few years, there was a four-fold increase in its rejection of cuckoo eggs. The speed with which the magpie changed its behavior has astounded biologists.
Another sign of intelligence, thought to be absent in most non-human animals, is the ability to engage in complex, meaningful communication. The work of Professor Irene Pepperberg of the University of Arizona, Tucson, has now shown the general perception of parrots as mindless mimics to be incorrect.
The captive African grey parrot Alex is one of a number of parrots and macaws now believed to have the intelligence and emotional make-up of a 3 to 4 year old child. Under the tutelage of Professor Pepperberg, he acquired a vocabulary of over 100 words. He could say the words for colors and shapes and, apparently, use them meaningfully. He has learned the labels for more than 35 different objects; he knows when to use “no,” and phrases such as “come here”, “I want X,” and “Wanna go Y.”
A bird’s ability to understand, or speak, another bird’s language can be very valuable. New Zealand saddlebacks, starling-like birds, occupy the same territory for years. They have distinct song “dialects” passed on through the generations.
New territory vacancies are hard to find, so young males are always on the look-out for new widows into whose territory they can move. While they wander around the forest, they learn the different dialect songs, just as we might learn a language or develop a regional dialect. As soon as a territory-owning male dies, a new young male may move in to take over within 10 minutes. He will immediately start singing the dialect of the territory he is in.
Intelligence–if this is what scientists agree these birds possess–is not limited to the birds we always thought of as “bright.” In recent experiments at Cardiff University in Britain, a pigeon identified subtle differences between abstract designs that even art students did not notice. It could even tell that a Picasso was not the same as a Monet. The experiment seems to show that pigeons can hold concepts, or ideas, in their heads. The visual concept for the pigeon is Picasso’s painting style.
Some birds seem to indulge in “intelligent” play. The kea, a New Zealand parrot, has been filmed ripping (inedible) windscreen wipers off cars. Young keas, in a neat variation of ringing the doorbell and running away, are known to drop rocks on roofs to make people run outside.
Jack the jackdaw was raised by wildlife film producer John Downer. As soon as Jack was mature, he was released into the wild. However, he couldn’t stay away. “One thing he is totally fascinated by is telephones,” said Downer. “He knows how to hit the loudspeaker button and preset dial button. Once we came into the office to find him squawking down the telephone to the local travel agent.”
Jack also likes to fly down onto the mirror of the production car when he sees somebody going out. “He turns into the wind, gets his head down and surfs on the air current until we reach about 30 mph when he gives up.
“Like all jackdaws, Jack shows great versatility and intelligence. Because he has to exploit a wide range of foods, he is investigating things all the time.”
However, scientists believe it is not physical need that drives creatures to become smarter, but social necessity. The complexities of living together require a higher level of intelligence. Corvids and parrots, along with dolphins, chimps, and humans are all highly social–and smart–animals.
Some ravens certainly apply their intelligence for the good of the flock. In North America, they contact other ravens to tell them the location of a carcass. Ravens are specialized feeders on the carcasses of large mammals such as moose during the harsh winter months of North America. The birds roost together at night on a tree, arriving noisily from all directions shortly before sunset. The next morning, all the birds leave the roost as highly synchronized groups at dawn, giving a few noisy caws, followed by honking.
They may all be flying off in the direction taken by a bird, which had discovered a carcass the previous day. This bird leads the others to his food store, apparently sharing his prize finding with the rest of the flock.
Ravens share information about their findings of food carcasses because dead animals are patchily distributed and hard to find. Many eyes have a better chance of finding a carcass, and once one has been located, the information is pooled.
Although the carcass now has to be shared between more individuals, the heavy snowfall and risk of mammal scavengers taking the kill mean that a single bird or a small group could not eat it all alone anyway. Some are even believed to solicit help with the carving, by tipping off other predators, such as wolves, about the meat so they will rip it open and make it more accessible to the ravens.
The African honeyguide lures badgers to bees nests, and feeds on the leftovers. To humans they offer their services as paid employees. They call and fly backwards and forward to draw local tribespeoples’ attention to the location of honeycombs, and are then rewarded with a share of the takings for their trouble.
Of course, the bird world has its share of “bird brains.” There are the birds that build three nests behind three holes under a flower pot, because they can't remember which is which, and birds that attack their own reflections. The Hawaiian goose is as innocent of danger as a baby crawling along the girder in an unfinished skyscraper. It would walk up to an introduced mongoose on Hawaii, and be attacked.
The level of intelligence among birds may vary. But no living bird is truly stupid. Each generation of birds that leaves the protection of its parents to become independent has the inborn genetic information that will help it to survive in the outside world and the skills that it has learned from its parents.
They would never have met the challenge of evolution without some degree of native cunning. It’s just that some have much more than others.
On a university campus in Japan. Carrion crows and humans line up patiently, waiting for the traffic to halt. When the lights change, the birds hop in front of the cars and place walnuts, which they picked from the adjoining trees, on the road. After the lights turn green again, the birds fly away and vehicles drive over the nuts, cracking them open. Finally, when it’s time to cross again, the crows join the pedestrians and pick up their meal. If the cars miss the nuts, the birds sometimes hop back and put them somewhere else on the road. Or they sit on electricity wires and drop them in front of vehicles.
Biologists already knew the corvid family–it includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdaws–to be among the smartest of all birds. But this remarkable piece of behavior–it features in the final program of “Life of Birds”–would seem to be a particularly acute demonstration of bird intelligence.
The crows in Japan have only been cracking nuts this way since about 1990. They have since been seen doing it in California. Researchers believe they probably noticed cars driving over nuts fallen from a walnut tree overhanging a road. height on the seashore to break them open, but found this did not work for walnuts because of their soft green outer shell. Other birds do this, although not with quite the same precision. In the Dardia Mountains of Greece, eagles can be seen carrying tortoises up to a great height and dropping them on to rocks below. The hapless Aeschylus (525-456 BC), a father of Greek tragic drama, is said to have met his end by this means.
A seer predicted he would die when a house fell on him, so the wary scribe departed for the hillsides, well away from any dwellings, where he believed he was safe. He wasn’t. An eagle is said to have mistaken Aeschylus’ bald pate for a stone, and dropped the creature in its “house” onto it.
Scientists have argued for decades over whether wild creatures, including birds, show genuine intelligence. Some still consider the human mind to be unique, with animals capable of only the simplest mental processes. But a new generation of scientists believe that creatures, including birds, can solve problems by insight and even learn by example, as human children do. Birds can even talk in a meaningful way.
Some birds show quite astonishing powers of recall. The Clarke’s nutcracker, a type of North American crow, may have the animal world's keenest memory. It collects up to 30,000 pine seeds over three weeks in November, then carefully buries them for safe keeping across over an area of 200 square miles. Over the next eight months, it succeeds in retrieving over 90 percent of them, even when they are covered in feet of snow.
On the Pacific island of New Caledonia, the crows demonstrate a tool-making, and tool using, capability comparable to Palaeolithic man’s. Dr Gavin Hunt, a New Zealand biologist, spent three years observing the birds. He found that they used two different forms of hooked “tool” to pull grubs from deep within tree trunks.
Other birds and some primates have been seen to use objects to forage. But what is unusual here is that the crows also make their own tools. Using their beaks as scissors and snippers, they fashion hooks from twigs, and make barbed, serrated rakes or combs from stiff leathery leaves. And they don’t throw the tools away after one use–they carry them from one foraging place to another.
Scientists are still debating what this behavior–shown in program three–means. Man’s use of tools is considered a prime indication of his intelligence. Is this a skill acquired by chance? Did the crows acquire tool making skills by trial and error rather than planning? Or, in its ability to adapt and exploit an enormous range of resources and habitats, is the crow closer to humans than any other creature?
Dr Hunt, then of Massey University in New Zealand, said this of his research: “There are many intriguing questions that remain to be answered about crows’ tool behavior. Most important would be whether or not they mostly learn or genetically inherit the know-how to make and use tools. Without knowing that it is difficult to say anything about their intelligence, although one could guess that these crows have the capability to be as clever as crows in general.”
The woodpecker finch, a bird of the Galapagos, is another consummate toolmaker. It will snap off a twig, trim it to size and use it to pry insects out of bark. In captivity, a cactus finch learnt how to do this by watching the woodpecker finch from its cage. The teacher helped the pupil by passing a ready-made spine across for the cactus finch to use.
Sometimes a bird species’ very survival depends on its ability to learn fast. Birds need to recognize a cuckoo egg dumped in their own nest and either throw out the strange egg or desert the nest to start afresh. In Japan, the common cuckoo recently switched to a new, unsuspecting host on which to dump its eggs, the azure-winged magpie. The emerging cuckoo chicks ejected their foster siblings, and the magpie population dropped dramatically.
Ten years on, the magpies started to fight back. They learnt to detect the “foreign” eggs. Within a few years, there was a four-fold increase in its rejection of cuckoo eggs. The speed with which the magpie changed its behavior has astounded biologists.
Another sign of intelligence, thought to be absent in most non-human animals, is the ability to engage in complex, meaningful communication. The work of Professor Irene Pepperberg of the University of Arizona, Tucson, has now shown the general perception of parrots as mindless mimics to be incorrect.
The captive African grey parrot Alex is one of a number of parrots and macaws now believed to have the intelligence and emotional make-up of a 3 to 4 year old child. Under the tutelage of Professor Pepperberg, he acquired a vocabulary of over 100 words. He could say the words for colors and shapes and, apparently, use them meaningfully. He has learned the labels for more than 35 different objects; he knows when to use “no,” and phrases such as “come here”, “I want X,” and “Wanna go Y.”
A bird’s ability to understand, or speak, another bird’s language can be very valuable. New Zealand saddlebacks, starling-like birds, occupy the same territory for years. They have distinct song “dialects” passed on through the generations.
New territory vacancies are hard to find, so young males are always on the look-out for new widows into whose territory they can move. While they wander around the forest, they learn the different dialect songs, just as we might learn a language or develop a regional dialect. As soon as a territory-owning male dies, a new young male may move in to take over within 10 minutes. He will immediately start singing the dialect of the territory he is in.
Intelligence–if this is what scientists agree these birds possess–is not limited to the birds we always thought of as “bright.” In recent experiments at Cardiff University in Britain, a pigeon identified subtle differences between abstract designs that even art students did not notice. It could even tell that a Picasso was not the same as a Monet. The experiment seems to show that pigeons can hold concepts, or ideas, in their heads. The visual concept for the pigeon is Picasso’s painting style.
Some birds seem to indulge in “intelligent” play. The kea, a New Zealand parrot, has been filmed ripping (inedible) windscreen wipers off cars. Young keas, in a neat variation of ringing the doorbell and running away, are known to drop rocks on roofs to make people run outside.
Jack the jackdaw was raised by wildlife film producer John Downer. As soon as Jack was mature, he was released into the wild. However, he couldn’t stay away. “One thing he is totally fascinated by is telephones,” said Downer. “He knows how to hit the loudspeaker button and preset dial button. Once we came into the office to find him squawking down the telephone to the local travel agent.”
Jack also likes to fly down onto the mirror of the production car when he sees somebody going out. “He turns into the wind, gets his head down and surfs on the air current until we reach about 30 mph when he gives up.
“Like all jackdaws, Jack shows great versatility and intelligence. Because he has to exploit a wide range of foods, he is investigating things all the time.”
However, scientists believe it is not physical need that drives creatures to become smarter, but social necessity. The complexities of living together require a higher level of intelligence. Corvids and parrots, along with dolphins, chimps, and humans are all highly social–and smart–animals.
Some ravens certainly apply their intelligence for the good of the flock. In North America, they contact other ravens to tell them the location of a carcass. Ravens are specialized feeders on the carcasses of large mammals such as moose during the harsh winter months of North America. The birds roost together at night on a tree, arriving noisily from all directions shortly before sunset. The next morning, all the birds leave the roost as highly synchronized groups at dawn, giving a few noisy caws, followed by honking.
They may all be flying off in the direction taken by a bird, which had discovered a carcass the previous day. This bird leads the others to his food store, apparently sharing his prize finding with the rest of the flock.
Ravens share information about their findings of food carcasses because dead animals are patchily distributed and hard to find. Many eyes have a better chance of finding a carcass, and once one has been located, the information is pooled.
Although the carcass now has to be shared between more individuals, the heavy snowfall and risk of mammal scavengers taking the kill mean that a single bird or a small group could not eat it all alone anyway. Some are even believed to solicit help with the carving, by tipping off other predators, such as wolves, about the meat so they will rip it open and make it more accessible to the ravens.
The African honeyguide lures badgers to bees nests, and feeds on the leftovers. To humans they offer their services as paid employees. They call and fly backwards and forward to draw local tribespeoples’ attention to the location of honeycombs, and are then rewarded with a share of the takings for their trouble.
Of course, the bird world has its share of “bird brains.” There are the birds that build three nests behind three holes under a flower pot, because they can't remember which is which, and birds that attack their own reflections. The Hawaiian goose is as innocent of danger as a baby crawling along the girder in an unfinished skyscraper. It would walk up to an introduced mongoose on Hawaii, and be attacked.
The level of intelligence among birds may vary. But no living bird is truly stupid. Each generation of birds that leaves the protection of its parents to become independent has the inborn genetic information that will help it to survive in the outside world and the skills that it has learned from its parents.
They would never have met the challenge of evolution without some degree of native cunning. It’s just that some have much more than others.
Saturday, April 15, 2000
The High Class Salesmen Who Sold Loot Back to Owner
One of this week's major news was about metal figurines of animals being auctioned by Christie's and Sotheby's in Hong Kong. China claimed that those were works of art looted from its Summer Palace in Beijing during the Opium War of 1860. A government related company with links to the PLA reportedly paid US$4 million to buy back 2 of the pieces.
If the Chinese government claim (which I am sure can be independently verified) is true, then the auction is a blatant insult and challenge to the Chinese government and its people. It appeared to me that it was like an owner having had valuables stolen from his house found a few years later (except that this is a span of 140 years) that a high class salesman was trying to sell the items back to him in his own front yard! And no one says anything, not including the governments of the countries where the thieves originated. Although the individuals that stole the items are long dead and the 'prizes might have pass through many hands', it does not deny the fact that the original perpetrators committed their crimes under the cover of certain countries that still exist today. Surely those governments must feel some obligation to help the Chinese recover them.
While those governments' silence and the international community's disinterest in this is itself unacceptable to me, it also may be a sinister and brazen challenge to the Chinese government to see if it seizes the items and therefore end up interfering with the 'rule of law' in HK and its promised one country 2 system policy.
I am sure many Chinese must have felt the same and will remember this well into the future. Quietly but surely they will.
Note : Forwarded above note to Straits Times Forum but not published.
If the Chinese government claim (which I am sure can be independently verified) is true, then the auction is a blatant insult and challenge to the Chinese government and its people. It appeared to me that it was like an owner having had valuables stolen from his house found a few years later (except that this is a span of 140 years) that a high class salesman was trying to sell the items back to him in his own front yard! And no one says anything, not including the governments of the countries where the thieves originated. Although the individuals that stole the items are long dead and the 'prizes might have pass through many hands', it does not deny the fact that the original perpetrators committed their crimes under the cover of certain countries that still exist today. Surely those governments must feel some obligation to help the Chinese recover them.
While those governments' silence and the international community's disinterest in this is itself unacceptable to me, it also may be a sinister and brazen challenge to the Chinese government to see if it seizes the items and therefore end up interfering with the 'rule of law' in HK and its promised one country 2 system policy.
I am sure many Chinese must have felt the same and will remember this well into the future. Quietly but surely they will.
Note : Forwarded above note to Straits Times Forum but not published.
Wednesday, April 12, 2000
Just Another Colonial Story - Cecil John Rhodes
Recently there were news reports of black people of Zimbabwe (formerly known as Rhodesia) robbing land belonging to white people. White people who represent 1% of the population occupies 50% of arable land. The British government announced plans to help evacuate 50,000 people threatened by the action of the blacks. According to yesterday's report, the British government 'feels responsible for those white people given the history linkage'.
I took a look at website of Slate magazine and found this historical background. A review commentary by contributor to Slate on a film made by BBC on Rhodes:
Rhodes' story is an inherently implausible one: a sickly, asthmatic vicar's son from Bishop's Stortford, England, heads to South Africa for the sake of his health and ends up the richest man in the Western world and the colonizer of a vast tract of Africa. Rhodes had three simultaneous careers in his 49 years--diamond magnate, politician, and imperialist. His big idea was to "save Africa from itself." Only after his death, in 1902, did the dizzying extent of his imperial fantasy become apparent. In his will, he left a fortune for the establishment of a "secret society" modeled on the Jesuits, with the aim of extending British rule throughout the world.
He was one of few men in history, apart from Simón BolÃvar, who managed to get a sizable mainland country named after himself--two countries, actually, Northern and Southern Rhodesia. Only one person topped that, the Italian-born explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who claimed an entire continent. Of course, Northern Rhodesia became Zambia in 1964. And when "Southern Rhodesia" was jettisoned for "Zimbabwe" in 1980
His most enduring legacy in the post-apartheid world is the De Beers cartel, which he set up to manipulate the world diamond market.
But somehow this shabbily dressed buffoon, with his falsetto giggle; this fidgeting, bumbling public speaker who was once described by a senior Colonial Office mandarin as "grotesque, impulsive, school-boyish, humorous and almost clownish - not to be regarded as a serious person" rose to become a business colossus and the prime minister of the Cape Colony, and ran rings around the British government. Lord Salisbury, the British prime minister, eventually granted Rhodes his royal charter to occupy the north. "Take all you can--and ask afterwards," was his typically wimpish advice, as Rhodes' pioneer column trekked into the interior. So, like much of British imperialism, the conquest of Rhodesia was a private-sector colonization, costing the British taxpayer nothing, at least initially.
All that remained in the way of Rhodes' imperial vision of controlling the African interior was "one naked old savage," as Rhodes called King Lobengula. The story of how the ruler of the Matabele, a tribe that lives in what is now southern Zimbabwe, was cheated of his lands is truly a sad one, and one of the most affecting parts of the miniseries. A pair of binoculars here, a few hundred Martini-Henry rifles there failed to do the trick. So Dr. Jameson, Rhodes' sidekick (played by Neil Pearson), treats Lobengula for his gout by turning him into a trembling morphine junkie, prepared to sign anything put in front of him for his next fix. As Rhodes announces to his shareholders in London that shares in the Charter Company have risen 1,500 percent, Lobengula, defeated, his people reduced to servitude, kills himself.
The film leaves the impression, too, that had it not been for Rhodes' invasion of Mashonaland and Matabeleland, they would somehow have been spared the terrible subjugation of colonization. Hardly: Paul Kruger and the Transvaal Boers were already eyeing the territory north of South Africa avariciously, as a haven to which their trekkers could escape from British domination. And the Belgians, Portuguese, and Germans were also scrambling for African territories.
Rhodes and the white pioneers in southern Africa did behave despicably by today's standards, but no worse than the white settlers in North America, South America, and Australia; and in some senses better, considering that the genocide of natives in Africa was less complete. For all the former African colonies are now ruled by indigenous peoples, unlike the Americas and the Antipodes, most of whose aboriginal natives were all but exterminated.
I took a look at website of Slate magazine and found this historical background. A review commentary by contributor to Slate on a film made by BBC on Rhodes:
Rhodes' story is an inherently implausible one: a sickly, asthmatic vicar's son from Bishop's Stortford, England, heads to South Africa for the sake of his health and ends up the richest man in the Western world and the colonizer of a vast tract of Africa. Rhodes had three simultaneous careers in his 49 years--diamond magnate, politician, and imperialist. His big idea was to "save Africa from itself." Only after his death, in 1902, did the dizzying extent of his imperial fantasy become apparent. In his will, he left a fortune for the establishment of a "secret society" modeled on the Jesuits, with the aim of extending British rule throughout the world.
He was one of few men in history, apart from Simón BolÃvar, who managed to get a sizable mainland country named after himself--two countries, actually, Northern and Southern Rhodesia. Only one person topped that, the Italian-born explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who claimed an entire continent. Of course, Northern Rhodesia became Zambia in 1964. And when "Southern Rhodesia" was jettisoned for "Zimbabwe" in 1980
His most enduring legacy in the post-apartheid world is the De Beers cartel, which he set up to manipulate the world diamond market.
But somehow this shabbily dressed buffoon, with his falsetto giggle; this fidgeting, bumbling public speaker who was once described by a senior Colonial Office mandarin as "grotesque, impulsive, school-boyish, humorous and almost clownish - not to be regarded as a serious person" rose to become a business colossus and the prime minister of the Cape Colony, and ran rings around the British government. Lord Salisbury, the British prime minister, eventually granted Rhodes his royal charter to occupy the north. "Take all you can--and ask afterwards," was his typically wimpish advice, as Rhodes' pioneer column trekked into the interior. So, like much of British imperialism, the conquest of Rhodesia was a private-sector colonization, costing the British taxpayer nothing, at least initially.
All that remained in the way of Rhodes' imperial vision of controlling the African interior was "one naked old savage," as Rhodes called King Lobengula. The story of how the ruler of the Matabele, a tribe that lives in what is now southern Zimbabwe, was cheated of his lands is truly a sad one, and one of the most affecting parts of the miniseries. A pair of binoculars here, a few hundred Martini-Henry rifles there failed to do the trick. So Dr. Jameson, Rhodes' sidekick (played by Neil Pearson), treats Lobengula for his gout by turning him into a trembling morphine junkie, prepared to sign anything put in front of him for his next fix. As Rhodes announces to his shareholders in London that shares in the Charter Company have risen 1,500 percent, Lobengula, defeated, his people reduced to servitude, kills himself.
The film leaves the impression, too, that had it not been for Rhodes' invasion of Mashonaland and Matabeleland, they would somehow have been spared the terrible subjugation of colonization. Hardly: Paul Kruger and the Transvaal Boers were already eyeing the territory north of South Africa avariciously, as a haven to which their trekkers could escape from British domination. And the Belgians, Portuguese, and Germans were also scrambling for African territories.
Rhodes and the white pioneers in southern Africa did behave despicably by today's standards, but no worse than the white settlers in North America, South America, and Australia; and in some senses better, considering that the genocide of natives in Africa was less complete. For all the former African colonies are now ruled by indigenous peoples, unlike the Americas and the Antipodes, most of whose aboriginal natives were all but exterminated.
Risk Taking
To wake up is to risk spoiling a dream
To dream is to risk missing out on reality
To be realistic is to risk being mediocre
To be mediocre is to risk not achieving the best
To be the best is to risk missing out on other things in life
To enjoy things in life is to risk not making enough money
To make more money is to risk missing out on sleep
To sleep is to risk not waking up
(return to top)
To dream is to risk missing out on reality
To be realistic is to risk being mediocre
To be mediocre is to risk not achieving the best
To be the best is to risk missing out on other things in life
To enjoy things in life is to risk not making enough money
To make more money is to risk missing out on sleep
To sleep is to risk not waking up
(return to top)
Tuesday, April 11, 2000
How Some Good People Are Helping the Poor
I read a Straits Times article a few months back about a small but quite popular tourist area somewhere in India. It is on some mountainous area with good view etc. Just like all other places in India including the large cities like Delhi and Mumbai, there were many poor people making a living by scavenging and begging. Poor parents and children spend their time rummaging through the rubbish dumps and streets just to find enough to survive.
As this place was quite popular, there was a lot of trash thrown all over the place. A man who was either a university professor or someone with some government body came up with an idea to both rid the area of rubbish and give the poor people a decent income. The idea was for the poor to be organised into teams that will collect thrash like plastic containers and cans from the various parts of the area and sell them to recycling plants. He got the recycling plants to agree to the plan. He also got the local hotels and shops to place their garbage for collection by these teams of poor people. Apparently the program worked very well and a man who used to beg was quoted as saying that he now finds a decent income and could afford to send his children to school. To him it was a wish that would not have been possible without this idea and effort from this one gentleman.
Mobile Phones Give New Hope to the Rural Poor
Today I read this acticle about a bank in Bangladesh that gives small loans to small farmers and business people (micro credit). The Grameen Bank was founded by a 'celebrated banker of the poor' Professor Muhammad Yunus. The company also has a phone company of the same name that pioneered the sale of mobile phones at subsidised rates to village women. The women were selected from their track record as the bank's borrowers. The villagers then used the phones to get in touch with markets in towns which were far away from their village. In that way, middle men cannot cheat the farmers anymore. The phone company conducts a day long training session before issuing the phones. The only condition is that at least one member of the family must recognise the English alphabet.
It was really nice to know of such people and what they were doing for the poor in their countries. What contrast it is to compare that to what I hear about what happens in the different countries:
Malaysia : I hear so many similar stories from different relatives and friends from all over Malaysia that there must be quite a lot of truth to it. PM Mahathir himself was reported in Malaysian newspapers recently to have complained that the government has to review its student loan policies. That's because the students were not appreciative of what the government did for them and were supporting the opposition. He said that all of them get study loans when they go the university (Malays go in under a quota system) and the first thing they do with the money was to buy motorcycles to go round with. They were not interested in studying but politicking.
There was also a story that my cousin in Simpang Rengam (in Johore Malaysia) related to me. There was a Malay couple about to retire as teachers (most teachers in the last 20 years were Malays as part of the government program to promote their involvement in all aspects of the economy). Apparently in Malaysia, a retiring government employee can borrow about 30 thousands dollars each from the government as seed money to help them start whatever business they choose. So everyone does it (the Malays that is, since they makes up 80 to 90% of the civil service). They will get some wood to build a cart and sell something (whatever) and apply for the loan. Once the loan is obtained, the money will be used first to buy a car or motorcycle which they will parade through town. The supposedly new business almost always never take off and the loans not returned. Apparently, the couple went round the small town bragging to the others that they will get 50 over thousand Ringgit just like that when they retire.
Talking about teachers, PM Mahathir also commented about the rising number of non-Chinese students in Chinese schools and the government was looking at increasing the size of those schools. That was just before the Malaysian general elections of 1999. He said the reason why the other races are sending their children to Chinese schools was not because they wanted to learn Chinese. Just that the teachers there are 'more committed'. I guess he meant what everyone knew for decades. The teachers in government schools who are mostly Malays were useless.
Singapore : The government has just topped up S$250 into the CPF account of each Singaporean. There was a long queue of old people in the CPF today to collect the 'bonus'. Only people above 55 years old and who meet criteria like having more than the minimum savings are allowed to withdraw the money. It was quite refreshing to know that the Singapore government appreciated the plight of the older generation who needs the money more than the younger ones.
As this place was quite popular, there was a lot of trash thrown all over the place. A man who was either a university professor or someone with some government body came up with an idea to both rid the area of rubbish and give the poor people a decent income. The idea was for the poor to be organised into teams that will collect thrash like plastic containers and cans from the various parts of the area and sell them to recycling plants. He got the recycling plants to agree to the plan. He also got the local hotels and shops to place their garbage for collection by these teams of poor people. Apparently the program worked very well and a man who used to beg was quoted as saying that he now finds a decent income and could afford to send his children to school. To him it was a wish that would not have been possible without this idea and effort from this one gentleman.
Mobile Phones Give New Hope to the Rural Poor
Today I read this acticle about a bank in Bangladesh that gives small loans to small farmers and business people (micro credit). The Grameen Bank was founded by a 'celebrated banker of the poor' Professor Muhammad Yunus. The company also has a phone company of the same name that pioneered the sale of mobile phones at subsidised rates to village women. The women were selected from their track record as the bank's borrowers. The villagers then used the phones to get in touch with markets in towns which were far away from their village. In that way, middle men cannot cheat the farmers anymore. The phone company conducts a day long training session before issuing the phones. The only condition is that at least one member of the family must recognise the English alphabet.
It was really nice to know of such people and what they were doing for the poor in their countries. What contrast it is to compare that to what I hear about what happens in the different countries:
Malaysia : I hear so many similar stories from different relatives and friends from all over Malaysia that there must be quite a lot of truth to it. PM Mahathir himself was reported in Malaysian newspapers recently to have complained that the government has to review its student loan policies. That's because the students were not appreciative of what the government did for them and were supporting the opposition. He said that all of them get study loans when they go the university (Malays go in under a quota system) and the first thing they do with the money was to buy motorcycles to go round with. They were not interested in studying but politicking.
There was also a story that my cousin in Simpang Rengam (in Johore Malaysia) related to me. There was a Malay couple about to retire as teachers (most teachers in the last 20 years were Malays as part of the government program to promote their involvement in all aspects of the economy). Apparently in Malaysia, a retiring government employee can borrow about 30 thousands dollars each from the government as seed money to help them start whatever business they choose. So everyone does it (the Malays that is, since they makes up 80 to 90% of the civil service). They will get some wood to build a cart and sell something (whatever) and apply for the loan. Once the loan is obtained, the money will be used first to buy a car or motorcycle which they will parade through town. The supposedly new business almost always never take off and the loans not returned. Apparently, the couple went round the small town bragging to the others that they will get 50 over thousand Ringgit just like that when they retire.
Talking about teachers, PM Mahathir also commented about the rising number of non-Chinese students in Chinese schools and the government was looking at increasing the size of those schools. That was just before the Malaysian general elections of 1999. He said the reason why the other races are sending their children to Chinese schools was not because they wanted to learn Chinese. Just that the teachers there are 'more committed'. I guess he meant what everyone knew for decades. The teachers in government schools who are mostly Malays were useless.
Singapore : The government has just topped up S$250 into the CPF account of each Singaporean. There was a long queue of old people in the CPF today to collect the 'bonus'. Only people above 55 years old and who meet criteria like having more than the minimum savings are allowed to withdraw the money. It was quite refreshing to know that the Singapore government appreciated the plight of the older generation who needs the money more than the younger ones.
Friday, April 07, 2000
Another Example of Endless Human Greed
Some months ago I received an e-mail from someone asking people to give support to a center for stray animals known as Noah's Ark Lodge. Apparently the land occupied by the center was leased from the Singapore government and the lease was about to end. The man who ran the place applied for an extension but was rejected and the e-mail was an appeal for public support for the extension appeal. I remember seeing somewhere in Noah's Ark Lodge's website that the Primary Production Department (PPD) cited the reason for not extending the lease as the need for ensuring 'best use of the land through the process of bidding'.
My thought then was that it was quite ridiculous to consider the extension solely on that basis. I therefore put in my little piece in Noah's Ark Lodge's website suggesting an appeal to PM Goh since he appear to me to be one who may 'have more in his heart than just making money'.
In today's Straits Times is a report that said that the current operator of Noah's Ark Lodge, a Raymond Wee, has 'lost the bid' for the land. An ex-pet shop owner, he setup the center because he wanted to have 'a more humane way of handling the strays other than to put them down". He had reportedly sold his shop house and spent $1.5 million dollars of his own money and the last 7 years running the center. The winning bidder is a pet businessman who will use the land for business and had offered to accommodate the stray animals as long contributions for their upkeep continue to come in. The chief executive of the Food and Veterinarian Authority of Singapore, a Mr Ngiam, was quoted as saying that 'other animal lovers concerned about the welfare of the animals can also help by adopting the animals and contributing to their upkeep'. I guess that was probably stated in light of public concern for the closure. Prompted by the news report, I took a look at Noah's Ark Lodge website today. In its message section are expressions of disappointment from some people and there were some really nasty messages with four letter words.
I was thinking about this whole story, the public official statements and what they really meant. It is clear that many people were saddened by what happened. And may be unable to reconcile the outcome to their hearts, some good intentioned people have resorted to foul languages to express their exasperation at the failure of a nation to make a difference for some helpless animals and to let a man with the willingness to help them to continue to do so.
It was clear that settling the issue by determining best use of a land by bidding meant that the land should go to one with the highest dollar return. It would not take much for anyone to appreciate that 'humanitarian' work cannot be valued the same way as running a business. Otherwise Mr Wee would have made instead of spent a million dollars doing it. Many people including GIC would be doing it! Surely they also do not expect the animals to earn their right to live as they have done for millions of years (and, unlike humans, taking only what they need and no more) by producing revenue for humans! When it is only fair that animals should have some right to a decent existence, we humans in our usual selfishness have somehow assumed that humans have the right to every inch of space on earth. After that, we in our arrogance try to insist that everything under the sky should follow the rules that some of us had dictated. Our insatiable greed concealed in nice sounding man-made concepts (and taught by governments and schools) like "free market" and "maximum returns" have blinded us to the fact that those concepts are not laws of nature. To top it up, when an issue like this concerning the life of other life forms should perhaps be a whole nation's concern, a public official obviously with some responsibility for wild-life has taken the presumptuous liberty to tell all his countrymen that it is essentially not his business. He probably does not realise that what he was really implying was that while a whole nation has collectively deprived other animals a space for continued survival only those few with the heart and desire to help the animals should pay for that 'robbery'.
When a country claiming to be a 'first world' nation with highly schooled people and top officials pegging their salaries to 'the best' cannot seem to appreciate the above, it is indeed a frightening future for the world.
Sent the above note to the Straits Times the day the report was published hoping that it will get onto their Forum page. They must have thought that I was being ridiculous. It was not printed.
A week after the news report, the message function in Noah's Ark Lodge website was closed. Message on the site was "We have also decided to close this message board. While there were many constructive and well intentioned feedbacks, there were also a lot of immatured, shallow and irresponsible messages. Perhaps it is due to the anonymity of the Internet, many had based their criticism on superficial observations. One or Two had been using this message board as a vehicle for personal attacks, hiding behind fake identities. No wonder it took the government so long to allow the "Speakers' Corner". Even then, judging from the messages on this "virtual soap box", we are probably still not quite ready for it yet."
My thought then was that it was quite ridiculous to consider the extension solely on that basis. I therefore put in my little piece in Noah's Ark Lodge's website suggesting an appeal to PM Goh since he appear to me to be one who may 'have more in his heart than just making money'.
In today's Straits Times is a report that said that the current operator of Noah's Ark Lodge, a Raymond Wee, has 'lost the bid' for the land. An ex-pet shop owner, he setup the center because he wanted to have 'a more humane way of handling the strays other than to put them down". He had reportedly sold his shop house and spent $1.5 million dollars of his own money and the last 7 years running the center. The winning bidder is a pet businessman who will use the land for business and had offered to accommodate the stray animals as long contributions for their upkeep continue to come in. The chief executive of the Food and Veterinarian Authority of Singapore, a Mr Ngiam, was quoted as saying that 'other animal lovers concerned about the welfare of the animals can also help by adopting the animals and contributing to their upkeep'. I guess that was probably stated in light of public concern for the closure. Prompted by the news report, I took a look at Noah's Ark Lodge website today. In its message section are expressions of disappointment from some people and there were some really nasty messages with four letter words.
I was thinking about this whole story, the public official statements and what they really meant. It is clear that many people were saddened by what happened. And may be unable to reconcile the outcome to their hearts, some good intentioned people have resorted to foul languages to express their exasperation at the failure of a nation to make a difference for some helpless animals and to let a man with the willingness to help them to continue to do so.
It was clear that settling the issue by determining best use of a land by bidding meant that the land should go to one with the highest dollar return. It would not take much for anyone to appreciate that 'humanitarian' work cannot be valued the same way as running a business. Otherwise Mr Wee would have made instead of spent a million dollars doing it. Many people including GIC would be doing it! Surely they also do not expect the animals to earn their right to live as they have done for millions of years (and, unlike humans, taking only what they need and no more) by producing revenue for humans! When it is only fair that animals should have some right to a decent existence, we humans in our usual selfishness have somehow assumed that humans have the right to every inch of space on earth. After that, we in our arrogance try to insist that everything under the sky should follow the rules that some of us had dictated. Our insatiable greed concealed in nice sounding man-made concepts (and taught by governments and schools) like "free market" and "maximum returns" have blinded us to the fact that those concepts are not laws of nature. To top it up, when an issue like this concerning the life of other life forms should perhaps be a whole nation's concern, a public official obviously with some responsibility for wild-life has taken the presumptuous liberty to tell all his countrymen that it is essentially not his business. He probably does not realise that what he was really implying was that while a whole nation has collectively deprived other animals a space for continued survival only those few with the heart and desire to help the animals should pay for that 'robbery'.
When a country claiming to be a 'first world' nation with highly schooled people and top officials pegging their salaries to 'the best' cannot seem to appreciate the above, it is indeed a frightening future for the world.
Sent the above note to the Straits Times the day the report was published hoping that it will get onto their Forum page. They must have thought that I was being ridiculous. It was not printed.
A week after the news report, the message function in Noah's Ark Lodge website was closed. Message on the site was "We have also decided to close this message board. While there were many constructive and well intentioned feedbacks, there were also a lot of immatured, shallow and irresponsible messages. Perhaps it is due to the anonymity of the Internet, many had based their criticism on superficial observations. One or Two had been using this message board as a vehicle for personal attacks, hiding behind fake identities. No wonder it took the government so long to allow the "Speakers' Corner". Even then, judging from the messages on this "virtual soap box", we are probably still not quite ready for it yet."
Sunday, March 26, 2000
What's So Smart about That?
At lunch yesterday someone mentioned that she's smart and seemed impressed with herself. So I thought I'd try and see if that's really true. I told her that I need to ask her a few questions to see if that's true (from my perspective at least).
So I asked "Are you a Christian?"
Answer "Yes"
Question "So tell me why you believe in Christianity"
Answer "That's because I have faith in it"
Question "How did you get that faith"
Answer "That's because I spend time talking to God"
Question "That's it?"
Answer "Yes, that's all you need. Obviously you have not communicated with God before and do not have the faith in you"
I said "That's it? And you claim you are smart and that's all you need to believe in a religion?" The lady was obviously taken aback. And I told her that I know I was very blunt but I did that purposely to provoke her since she said that she is smart. The questions were meant to get her thinking about what thinking she had actually done on such an important matter. I asked if there is any smartness involved to say that one has the faith in something and therefore it must be right? Any Tom Dick and Harry could have done that! There's nothing smart about it.
Then yesterday evening I read a book with collection of articles contributed by various renown people as part of their views and hopes for the new millenium. In it was a letter contributed by a biologist who said it was intended for his 10 year old daughter. In the letter, he said that we should conduct ourselves based on rational thinking and not faith.
He asked how can faith be reliable if the faiths of a Mohammaden in an Arab country, a Catholic in Ireland and a Hindu in India are totally at odds with each other? How can all or any of them be right when their faiths which are no less stronger than the other's are in total conflict with each other? The biologist then proceeded to explain in the letter to his daughter that she should not believe all things passed down as tradition, revelation etc. as truth but needs to seek to understand the world around her better through rational thinking.
So I asked "Are you a Christian?"
Answer "Yes"
Question "So tell me why you believe in Christianity"
Answer "That's because I have faith in it"
Question "How did you get that faith"
Answer "That's because I spend time talking to God"
Question "That's it?"
Answer "Yes, that's all you need. Obviously you have not communicated with God before and do not have the faith in you"
I said "That's it? And you claim you are smart and that's all you need to believe in a religion?" The lady was obviously taken aback. And I told her that I know I was very blunt but I did that purposely to provoke her since she said that she is smart. The questions were meant to get her thinking about what thinking she had actually done on such an important matter. I asked if there is any smartness involved to say that one has the faith in something and therefore it must be right? Any Tom Dick and Harry could have done that! There's nothing smart about it.
Then yesterday evening I read a book with collection of articles contributed by various renown people as part of their views and hopes for the new millenium. In it was a letter contributed by a biologist who said it was intended for his 10 year old daughter. In the letter, he said that we should conduct ourselves based on rational thinking and not faith.
He asked how can faith be reliable if the faiths of a Mohammaden in an Arab country, a Catholic in Ireland and a Hindu in India are totally at odds with each other? How can all or any of them be right when their faiths which are no less stronger than the other's are in total conflict with each other? The biologist then proceeded to explain in the letter to his daughter that she should not believe all things passed down as tradition, revelation etc. as truth but needs to seek to understand the world around her better through rational thinking.
Friday, March 17, 2000
Sim Wong Hoo's Message from Mom
Sim Wong Hoo is a Singaporean who made it big as head of Creative Technologies, a computer company specialising in sound processing and multimedia technologies for computers. Creative Technologies is listed in Nasdaq (a US exchange for technology stocks) and Sim Wong Hoo is now a multi millionaire. So it is no surprise that he was awarded Businessman of the Year twice The Singapore government often cites him as an example of a successful local entrepreneur in the new world of information technology. Someone that all of Singapore should try to emulate.
During lunchtime a few weeks ago I came across a book written by Sim Wong Hoo in the MPH bookstore near my office. The book is actually a collection of short articles he has written over the years about lessons learnt and his insights into things. So I took a quick read of all the articles in the book. One of them was about something that happened during dinner one day when his family was celebrating his Businessman of the Year award the 2nd time round.
According to him, his mother quoted a Chinese saying in her dialect out of the blue and kept entirely quiet after that. Neither a word more to explain what she meant. That was a few months before she had a stroke. Sim Wong Hoo said that his mom's saying really caught his attention then and it had not got out of his mind since. He said that his mom who was then an uneducated 80 year old has never said that particular quote before even though he used to hear many of her Chinese sayings before. He said that his mom's quotes were learnt by word of mouth as it was passed through the generations. Other than being rich in meaning, the saying also had a very nice rhyme to it when spoken in his native dialect. It was "Hao Go Kan Bai Jia, Hao Ren Yi Tian Xia". Literally that means "A good dog watches after a hundred homes, a good man benefits all beneath the sky".
I know what Sim Wong Hoo meant by the richness in those old sayings. I also enjoyed the company of my old aunt in Taiping (my father's sister who's more than 10 years older than him) because she has the knack for quoting some old Chinese sayings whenever we talk about something. One or two short phrases with four to six words each. I used to go off trying hard to remember the sayings that she learnt from word of mouth and through a traditional Chinese book known as the "Tung Sing" (in Cantonese).
Sim Wong Hoo's short story also took my attention and it stayed in my mind. For I interpreted, as I was sure Sim Wong Hoo did, that what he had achieved will not mean much (to his mom at least) until he does something more meaningful. She could have easily joined in her son's celebration and expressed pride of his achievements. But she chose instead to remind him of something else. Her silence after was equally significant and it reminded me of a Slovenian proverb : "Speak the truth, but leave immediately after."
Then 2 weeks ago when I was flying to New York I happened to read a news item in the Chinese article about a donation that Sim Wong Hoo made to setup an eastern cultural development center (don't know it's real name as my Chinese was not that good). May be it wasn't by chance that I noticed that article (given my little bit of Chinese language capability). May be it had to do with the fact that the story was very much still fresh on my mind - how many of us can even consider ourselves comparable to the good dogs as described in the saying let alone good men? That is also why I have to write this down. He had also offered a section of his company premises for use by the center. The reason he gave for why he did that was that he thought that the future of the Internet (or IT in general) lies in the content business and he sees the benefit and synergy of the center's work to his IT business.
That event however made me wonder how much of that had actually been affected by what an uneducated old woman once said to her son over dinner. In her quiet way and in less than 10 words, she might just have made a difference. May be some of that has also got to do with her genes and what she had passed on to her son. The genes that gave him the awareness and control that helped him realise what his mother was trying to tell him and to continue her principles of life Who knows.
To me the story also reflects certain aspects of the Chinese language and the character of the Chinese. A language that can be succinct and yet beautiful. A people whose relative silence may belie the wisdom they possess. A people whose wisdom if deployed will be done so discreetly and without repeat that the future generation will miss it altogether if they are not fast enough or attentive enough to catch it in its quick passage. A people whose tradition teaches one to see meaning beyond personal achievement and personal wealth, and reminds its people of the importance of the greater good. Even if it has to be done through the word of mouth. We should remember not to lose that culture. Hopefully then, the Sim Wong Hoo's of the future will have the benefit of the mother that Sim Wong Hoo had.
Now I can go back to my Chinese lesson 102 without this story bothering me at the back of my mind. Is there any old ladies around for me to talk to?
Saw this quote by Mark Twain one day : "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
During lunchtime a few weeks ago I came across a book written by Sim Wong Hoo in the MPH bookstore near my office. The book is actually a collection of short articles he has written over the years about lessons learnt and his insights into things. So I took a quick read of all the articles in the book. One of them was about something that happened during dinner one day when his family was celebrating his Businessman of the Year award the 2nd time round.
According to him, his mother quoted a Chinese saying in her dialect out of the blue and kept entirely quiet after that. Neither a word more to explain what she meant. That was a few months before she had a stroke. Sim Wong Hoo said that his mom's saying really caught his attention then and it had not got out of his mind since. He said that his mom who was then an uneducated 80 year old has never said that particular quote before even though he used to hear many of her Chinese sayings before. He said that his mom's quotes were learnt by word of mouth as it was passed through the generations. Other than being rich in meaning, the saying also had a very nice rhyme to it when spoken in his native dialect. It was "Hao Go Kan Bai Jia, Hao Ren Yi Tian Xia". Literally that means "A good dog watches after a hundred homes, a good man benefits all beneath the sky".
I know what Sim Wong Hoo meant by the richness in those old sayings. I also enjoyed the company of my old aunt in Taiping (my father's sister who's more than 10 years older than him) because she has the knack for quoting some old Chinese sayings whenever we talk about something. One or two short phrases with four to six words each. I used to go off trying hard to remember the sayings that she learnt from word of mouth and through a traditional Chinese book known as the "Tung Sing" (in Cantonese).
Sim Wong Hoo's short story also took my attention and it stayed in my mind. For I interpreted, as I was sure Sim Wong Hoo did, that what he had achieved will not mean much (to his mom at least) until he does something more meaningful. She could have easily joined in her son's celebration and expressed pride of his achievements. But she chose instead to remind him of something else. Her silence after was equally significant and it reminded me of a Slovenian proverb : "Speak the truth, but leave immediately after."
Then 2 weeks ago when I was flying to New York I happened to read a news item in the Chinese article about a donation that Sim Wong Hoo made to setup an eastern cultural development center (don't know it's real name as my Chinese was not that good). May be it wasn't by chance that I noticed that article (given my little bit of Chinese language capability). May be it had to do with the fact that the story was very much still fresh on my mind - how many of us can even consider ourselves comparable to the good dogs as described in the saying let alone good men? That is also why I have to write this down. He had also offered a section of his company premises for use by the center. The reason he gave for why he did that was that he thought that the future of the Internet (or IT in general) lies in the content business and he sees the benefit and synergy of the center's work to his IT business.
That event however made me wonder how much of that had actually been affected by what an uneducated old woman once said to her son over dinner. In her quiet way and in less than 10 words, she might just have made a difference. May be some of that has also got to do with her genes and what she had passed on to her son. The genes that gave him the awareness and control that helped him realise what his mother was trying to tell him and to continue her principles of life Who knows.
To me the story also reflects certain aspects of the Chinese language and the character of the Chinese. A language that can be succinct and yet beautiful. A people whose relative silence may belie the wisdom they possess. A people whose wisdom if deployed will be done so discreetly and without repeat that the future generation will miss it altogether if they are not fast enough or attentive enough to catch it in its quick passage. A people whose tradition teaches one to see meaning beyond personal achievement and personal wealth, and reminds its people of the importance of the greater good. Even if it has to be done through the word of mouth. We should remember not to lose that culture. Hopefully then, the Sim Wong Hoo's of the future will have the benefit of the mother that Sim Wong Hoo had.
Now I can go back to my Chinese lesson 102 without this story bothering me at the back of my mind. Is there any old ladies around for me to talk to?
Saw this quote by Mark Twain one day : "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."
Sunday, February 27, 2000
The Magic of Magic
Children are always fascinated by magic tricks. The proof lies in the rapt attention magicians get from children (for performances that may last 30 minutes) - something that adults find hard to do. Children's joy is obvious whenever the word 'magic show' is mentioned.
Wai Ling was no exception. When she was barely 3 years old we happened to walk pass a video shop (selling VCDs) that had on show on their shop TV a program called 'The Magicians Secrets'. It explains and shows how magic tricks are done. Firstly it shows the magic as seen by audiences. It then show how the trick is achieved - sleight of hand, visual illusions, 'behind the scene' view and special compartments and preparations of the props used etc. Finally, it shows the trick again in slow motion. Wai Ling was captivated by the show and she seemed to understand that they are all just tricks - there's always an explanation to the 'magic' and no real disappearing act or things appearing out of nowhere.
The VCDs were pretty expensive then - it was a set of 3 but a piece cost $12 or $15 - so we did not buy them. But we had numerous opportunities to watch the show on our subsequent shopping outings as it was quite commonly shown on shop TVs then. We would just stand at the shops with me carrying her and repeating the explanations for the tricks as they unfolded. I'm quite sure it must have been a pretty popular show - kids and adults alike must have loved it! We did. When it got cheaper ($10 for set of 3), we bought the set and it was magic show everyday for a while until Wai Ling got tired of them.
It was also time to attempt some tricks ourselves. So I went to look at some magic books to try and learn some simple tricks. Also bought a magician toy set from Toys'R'Us. It had magician hat, magic wand, a guide book and plastic props (coins etc.) to be used in the tricks. Gave us some fun for a while but did not last long. The wand and hat broke quickly, and the plastic items did not look real.
But I picked up a neat little trick from a book that gave us a tremendous time of fun. It was a trick on 'shredding tissue to bits and making it whole again'. Simple but it gave the 2 of us some great fun for a long while. Showed Wai Ling how it worked and she tried doing it but her hand was too small to hide the thing. We 'did the show' for her cousins in Batu Gajah during one of our trips last year (1999) and had a field day.
Was having dinner in a seafood shop and there were 10 kids there (a couple of them around 10yrs old). I took some tissues from the shop and did the trick. The kids were clearly enthralled by it and asked that it be repeated again and again. At one stage Wai Ling began to explain how it worked and I had to stop her very quickly (otherwise no fun for me!). We did it so many times that the shop floor around our table was filled with pink pieces of servettes! The shop staff did not seem bothered. In fact, they and the other adults were all watching the trick too!
Of course, the adults and one or two of the older kids soon saw through the trick (especially those watching from behind!) but the other younger kids were still 'impressed' after we were done and wanted more. But I gave the excuse that I cannot do too many times a year, otherwise my magic will not have effect. So they will have to wait till the next year.
Of course they weren't entirely satisfied with my excuse and continued asking why. That's children's natural inquisitiveness. But I had enough encores for one night. They are probably still wondering what happened - must go back and try on them again.
Since then I've tried this simple trick on kids that I run into (on buses, in restaurants, shopping complexes etc.) and I can always see the wonder in their eyes. But I always made it a point in the end to show the torn tissue hidden in my palm. Then I'd see the sheepish smiles and the 'Oh, that's how it worked!' looks in their eyes.
Soon, I've gathered a few other simple tricks from books in bookshops. Too expensive to buy them. Some cost $30 a copy.
Tricks
Shredding tissue to bits and making it whole again
Roll one tissue into small ball and hide in ball of left palm
With back of palm facing audience, tear another piece of tissue into bits
Forming left palm into 'round tube' push torn tissue into palm (at same time, torn bits must form a ball to be hidden in palm like that of the good piece)
Take the good tissue ball out of palm and open up to show
Disappearing coin
With left palm facing upwards, hold a coin between thumb and 1st finger
With palm of right hand in front of left palm and back of right palm facing audience, pretend to grab hold of coin using right hand
As audience's view is covered, drop the coin into bowl of left palm and move left palm away from view
Move right palm (closed in bluff 'coin in hold' position) and pretend to push the coin onto head of audience etc.
Open right palm to show that coin had disappeared
Using left hand (with coin still in palm) pretend to pull coin out of ear of audience.
Wai Ling was no exception. When she was barely 3 years old we happened to walk pass a video shop (selling VCDs) that had on show on their shop TV a program called 'The Magicians Secrets'. It explains and shows how magic tricks are done. Firstly it shows the magic as seen by audiences. It then show how the trick is achieved - sleight of hand, visual illusions, 'behind the scene' view and special compartments and preparations of the props used etc. Finally, it shows the trick again in slow motion. Wai Ling was captivated by the show and she seemed to understand that they are all just tricks - there's always an explanation to the 'magic' and no real disappearing act or things appearing out of nowhere.
The VCDs were pretty expensive then - it was a set of 3 but a piece cost $12 or $15 - so we did not buy them. But we had numerous opportunities to watch the show on our subsequent shopping outings as it was quite commonly shown on shop TVs then. We would just stand at the shops with me carrying her and repeating the explanations for the tricks as they unfolded. I'm quite sure it must have been a pretty popular show - kids and adults alike must have loved it! We did. When it got cheaper ($10 for set of 3), we bought the set and it was magic show everyday for a while until Wai Ling got tired of them.
It was also time to attempt some tricks ourselves. So I went to look at some magic books to try and learn some simple tricks. Also bought a magician toy set from Toys'R'Us. It had magician hat, magic wand, a guide book and plastic props (coins etc.) to be used in the tricks. Gave us some fun for a while but did not last long. The wand and hat broke quickly, and the plastic items did not look real.
But I picked up a neat little trick from a book that gave us a tremendous time of fun. It was a trick on 'shredding tissue to bits and making it whole again'. Simple but it gave the 2 of us some great fun for a long while. Showed Wai Ling how it worked and she tried doing it but her hand was too small to hide the thing. We 'did the show' for her cousins in Batu Gajah during one of our trips last year (1999) and had a field day.
Was having dinner in a seafood shop and there were 10 kids there (a couple of them around 10yrs old). I took some tissues from the shop and did the trick. The kids were clearly enthralled by it and asked that it be repeated again and again. At one stage Wai Ling began to explain how it worked and I had to stop her very quickly (otherwise no fun for me!). We did it so many times that the shop floor around our table was filled with pink pieces of servettes! The shop staff did not seem bothered. In fact, they and the other adults were all watching the trick too!
Of course, the adults and one or two of the older kids soon saw through the trick (especially those watching from behind!) but the other younger kids were still 'impressed' after we were done and wanted more. But I gave the excuse that I cannot do too many times a year, otherwise my magic will not have effect. So they will have to wait till the next year.
Of course they weren't entirely satisfied with my excuse and continued asking why. That's children's natural inquisitiveness. But I had enough encores for one night. They are probably still wondering what happened - must go back and try on them again.
Since then I've tried this simple trick on kids that I run into (on buses, in restaurants, shopping complexes etc.) and I can always see the wonder in their eyes. But I always made it a point in the end to show the torn tissue hidden in my palm. Then I'd see the sheepish smiles and the 'Oh, that's how it worked!' looks in their eyes.
Soon, I've gathered a few other simple tricks from books in bookshops. Too expensive to buy them. Some cost $30 a copy.
Tricks
Shredding tissue to bits and making it whole again
Roll one tissue into small ball and hide in ball of left palm
With back of palm facing audience, tear another piece of tissue into bits
Forming left palm into 'round tube' push torn tissue into palm (at same time, torn bits must form a ball to be hidden in palm like that of the good piece)
Take the good tissue ball out of palm and open up to show
Disappearing coin
With left palm facing upwards, hold a coin between thumb and 1st finger
With palm of right hand in front of left palm and back of right palm facing audience, pretend to grab hold of coin using right hand
As audience's view is covered, drop the coin into bowl of left palm and move left palm away from view
Move right palm (closed in bluff 'coin in hold' position) and pretend to push the coin onto head of audience etc.
Open right palm to show that coin had disappeared
Using left hand (with coin still in palm) pretend to pull coin out of ear of audience.
Tuesday, January 25, 2000
Fate or Payback Time?
The football team I play in consists mainly of current or ex-employees of Morgan. Due to shortage of players we occasionally get outside people to play for the team - friends or acquaintances. There was this guy, about 40 years old and whose name I cannot remember, who played goalkeeper for our team a few times. Late last year he stopped playing for a few months. So when he finally joined us back, I asked how he had been and what had happened to him. He told me that he had an operation a few months ago to remove part of his intestines. Apparently it was quite serious. I asked for more details and found out that his intestines dried up and rotted. So the doctors had to remove parts of it. Guessing that it could be the effects of smoking, I asked if he had been smoking for a long time. He replied yes. So I told him that that was the cause of it. I asked if he was married and has children. He said yes, and the children were less than 10. I then suggested that for the sake of his children he should stop smoking.
Although he kept quiet and his head down after that, what caught my attention was the look of amazement on his face when I 'guessed' correctly that his problem was due to smoking. He must have been wondering how I could have gotten to the source of his problem so quickly because I barely knew him. I guess he must have been unaware or indifferent to the well-known effects of smoking, and only understand it when his intestinal problem was diagnosed as most probably due to smoking.
That led me to think to myself how all of us can be like him. Each day, our actions or activities may have implications to our future but because we are unaware of the possible effects and the effects are either not immediate or directly obvious, we go about those activities assuming that they are alright. And when the accumulated effect of those actions finally hit us later down the road, it was already too late. And we simply resign ourselves to it and say that it is fate. Attributing things to fate is but a quick and simplistic excuse. If we care to begin to be aware of our actions and learn from others' experience (especially the findings of science), there is a very good chance that we will begin to realise that there is a cause and effect to many things in life. Many of us just do not bother to notice them.
The above story was a very simple example of this phenomenon. It was nothing special about my observing that the cause of that man's problem was smoking - if one is aware of all the scientific/medical findings about smoking.
May be that also explains how fortune-tellers work. Find out about something it one's past, and predict the future based on the fortune-tellers' knowledge accumulated through observing what had happened to others. After going through a sufficiently large 'sample size', the chance of a correct prediction can be pretty good.
Although he kept quiet and his head down after that, what caught my attention was the look of amazement on his face when I 'guessed' correctly that his problem was due to smoking. He must have been wondering how I could have gotten to the source of his problem so quickly because I barely knew him. I guess he must have been unaware or indifferent to the well-known effects of smoking, and only understand it when his intestinal problem was diagnosed as most probably due to smoking.
That led me to think to myself how all of us can be like him. Each day, our actions or activities may have implications to our future but because we are unaware of the possible effects and the effects are either not immediate or directly obvious, we go about those activities assuming that they are alright. And when the accumulated effect of those actions finally hit us later down the road, it was already too late. And we simply resign ourselves to it and say that it is fate. Attributing things to fate is but a quick and simplistic excuse. If we care to begin to be aware of our actions and learn from others' experience (especially the findings of science), there is a very good chance that we will begin to realise that there is a cause and effect to many things in life. Many of us just do not bother to notice them.
The above story was a very simple example of this phenomenon. It was nothing special about my observing that the cause of that man's problem was smoking - if one is aware of all the scientific/medical findings about smoking.
May be that also explains how fortune-tellers work. Find out about something it one's past, and predict the future based on the fortune-tellers' knowledge accumulated through observing what had happened to others. After going through a sufficiently large 'sample size', the chance of a correct prediction can be pretty good.
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