June Ang

Is there racial harmony in spore?

If yes, do you think it is based on understanding or tolerance?

Yes. Religion has a powerful influence on the values, attitudes and behaviours of the people.

In Singapore, we are fortunate to have responsible religious and community leaders who speak up for shared values, tolerate differences, and understand and respect diversity. We treat all religion with respect. However, I feel that it is by tolerance in order to achieve that racial harmony in Singapore.

To be honest, I’m quite racist towards the Indians. Body smell and colour make me get away from them. Especially those Bangladesh workers! I seriously hate them to death! The way they look at people and behavour in public were unacceptable. You will always feel uneasy when you walk pass a group of Bangladesh people. Although these people are from Bangladesh, but they make me hated Indians in Singapore.

Of course, I will not tell them straight on their face that I hate them or stare at them with a dislikeable expression. Whenever there is an Indian approaching towards me, walking away is my solution.

Many feel that there is racial harmony in Singapore, but actually there isn’t. Many times we would hear quarrels from different race around the neighbour area. And there is many times we are unhappy with each other acts, but we will let it off instead of arguing back because we are sick and tired of it. Tolerant.

Jean Ang

Is there racial harmony in Singapore?

Singapore is a multi-racial country,and yes,there is racial harmony in Singapore.The racial harmony that Singapore possess is mainly based on understanding as most of us do not feel like we are being forced to tolerate one another,having to tolerate one another will not have resulted in the many decades of racial harmony.

We all grew up with friends of different races because majority of the schools in Singapore have mixed races.All races have an equal standing in Singapore,no race is more superior than the other.There is no differentiation when it comes to making friends to most of us.Singapore is unique for the mix of cultures that exist in Singapore,different races can learn the different cultures from one another.Take for example,during festive occasions like Chinese New Year,some chinese invite friends and neighbours of another race to their house to share and experience the joyous occasion and vice versa.

Many food centres sell food from the four different races,there is Indian food like roti prata,Malay food like satay,Chinese food like mee pok and Western food like fish and chips.All these local food have made Singapore a food paradise to the locals and tourists.

I am proud to be a Singaporean because it is a unique country and people of different races are able to blend well with each other without disputes and everyone can live in peace and harmony.

Jacqueline Lee

Floods in Singapore - Who should bear the responsibility?

No one such bear responsibility for this as it is a natural disaster. It is not caused by man but by nature. The floods in Singapore are inevitable as recently there has been a lot of burning and causing a lot of humidity in the air, therefore making it rain even more. For the past few months, it was very warm in Singapore but lately, it has been raining so often, the weather has completely changed from humid and warm to cold and windy.

The weather is very favorable to some however, if it continues to rain heavily every day, the drainage will not be able to drain the rain water fast enough and Singapore will be flooded faster.

With the constant flooding in Singapore, most of the construction has been put on hold causing a hold on the circle line completion and schools like CHIJ St. Nicholas girls school to be put on hold.

The government said that orchard will not flood because it has a very good drainage system, unfortunately, that statement was wrong as orchard has been flooding almost every other day if it rains heavily. The shops that are situated underground and car parks will be flooded and causing these shops to lose their business and their spoiling their equipment. This is not the government’s fault as they did not see this disaster coming and it was a sudden change of weather.

The government is doing their best to keep the flooding under control by placing sandbags in front of wheel locks basement shops to prevent it from flooding so quickly. By having these sandbags, it will absorb the water and at the same time slow down the water from flowing to the basement shops. Shops like “Starbucks” or “Wendy’s” and “Hermes” have been temporary closed due to the flood and it has spoiled their electricity, which is now under renovation.

The flooding in Singapore is not as bad compared to other countries like China. China has 701 people dead from the flooding and almost a thousand people injured. People have lost their homes and their property because of the flooding, whereas we only have a few spoiled cars and shops, so we should be thankful.

Jacqueline Lee

Is there racial harmony in Singapore? If yes do you think it is based on understanding or tolerance?

I agree that there is racial harmony in Singapore, because without it, Singapore will be having racial riots and fighting with their neighbors constantly. Singapore has strong beliefs that Singaporean should mix around different races when they are young, from kindergarten and when they are in primary school. They should be mixing with all different type of races; Chinese, Indian, Malays and the Eurasians.

They all learning in the same environment and playing in the same environment. The teacher should not teach the Indian students lesser things than the Chinese because of their race. They should all be equal standing; everyone has a right to an equal education.

I think racial harmony to certain people is based on tolerances, while others, it is based on understanding. Some Chinese might be very racist therefore they tend to mind their own business and occasionally make some racist remark about their next door neighbor because he left the rubbish outside on the corridor and saying how inconsiderate he is.

For those people who live in harmony based on understanding are those neutral parties, they have nothing against the other races and they feel that if they do not do anything to anger them, everything will be fine. An occasion greeting like “hello “or “good morning” would be good, or even a short conversation about how it has been raining so heavily in Singapore lately.

Singapore has managed their racial harmony well as they have a holiday for different race and religion, no one is left out. Singapore makes every race and religion feel important, she has built different places of worship for different religion and school to have different mother tongue languages; Tamil, Chinese or Malay, which is compulsory.

Jean Ang

Is privacy still relevant given today's hyper-connected world of online social networking?

Privacy is still relevant.A common example of privacy intrusion which most of us dislike is when other people just read through our text messages in our mobile phones without permission and i find this behaviour rude. Everyone has information about themselves which they want to be kept confidential.

Most people own an account on online social networks like Facebook and Twitter while some own blogs where they can voice out their opinions and share the happenings in ther lives with friends but people should take note of the information they post because anyone can gain access to these information when it is online.They should not include information that are too personal(contact number,address etc.) because other people might misuse these information and that can cause trouble.In short,what they want to be kept confidential should never appear on the internet.

Often,online surveys are conducted by companies for customers to fill up.People should consider before disclosing any information,especially contact details because some companies might call you up frequently to promote or ask you questions about their products and this can be quite irritating.

Sure enough,social networks are useful as it helps you to keep up with friends but if we want the privacy,we should not disclose unnecessary information.

Chan Fai

Privacy is important for most of the people around the world. People do not like others to invade their privacy regardless intentionally or accidentally.

However technologies nowadays allows invasion of privacy easily. Such as Facebook, twitter, cell phone, blog and even most popular search engine, Google. People around you are able to access other party information easily. One can use "GoogleMap" to trace other people house. Harmful intention may occur because of the google map. Facebook users are able to 'stalk' other people easily. It will become more of a internet harassment if they post something hurtful on other people wall. In the USA, a girl found out that her mother had added her in facebook and they become close friend. In the end, the girl committed suicide as she felt 'cheated' of her feelings.

Although technology invades people's privacy, they also have good uses of it. A lot of crimes are solve by the use of technology. Crimes ranging from robbery to even terrorist in the USA. Technology is able to trace a criminal location and make it easier to solve the crime.

Overall, it depends on how people uses the advanced technology nowadays. If people make bad use of the technology, it will surely be hurtful for the people around them by invading their privacy. If people make good use of it, then there will be a better world and safer environment for people of the world to live in.

June Ang

Qns: Is privacy still relevant given today’s hyper-connected world of online social networking?

Yes. Privacy is still needed for everyone, even though online networking is super outgoing. Who don’t need privacy? Even kids nowadays also will require for privacy from their parents.

As more and more people are realizing, we often reveal a lot of information about ourselves when we go online, information we may not realise we're disclosing, but which advertisers and commercial websites can use to sell us goods and services. Other times, websites and advertisers seem to magically know our interests.

They can do this because of cookies, little text files created on your computer that contains information left there by the websites you visit.

These people are really very irritating! We all need our privacy. Daily calls or emails have seriously invaded others privacy which is really rude and uncivil.

Above situations is outsider who invaded individual’s privacy, but there is any problem with privacy issue which is self-examination.

Online networking has brought us many benefits such as contact easily with family members and friends. As well as knowing your friends better through varies networking like Facebook or blogs.

Let’s take blogs as example. Firstly, blogs is like a website or a net working place for people to voice out their opinions or thoughts. Sadly, people miss-use the advantage of blogging. People intent to type out ALL their feelings and thoughts, some are not even relevant. These people creates “no” privacy for themselves. Don’t they need privacy? Why must let others know ALL about you?

Privacy is very important. Everyone needs to have privacy.

June Ang

World cup 2010; Does it promote social ills such as gambling addiction?

GOAL! That’s what all World Cup fans will want to shout out for. Some are happy because their country has won, but some are happy because they have won money. Gambling is one of the most risky things to do. And it is easily addicted just like drugs. In Singapore, normally people either go to the nearby Singapore Pool to queue up for 4D or gamble for football. In the year 2010, World Cup is the most popular game that most gamblers will gamble for. I’m not a World Cup fans but I do look out for the scoring of the battle. From what I know, this year World Cup 2010 is a big revolution. Strong teams are becoming weaker and used to be a weak team is becoming stronger! It is an unexpected result that many people didn’t predict for.

This time, many gambles have lost lots of money. From the latest newspaper, a male teacher lost $130,000 in World Cup bets. He has no choice but to sell away his 2-year-old car. I must say that teacher is not smart enough to be a teacher; in fact he does not fit to be a teacher.

World Cup is just a competition that proves which countries’ football is the best in the world. It does not promote social ills such as gambling addiction. The problem is lies on those people who love to gamble! Gamblers either choose to control themselves or face the consequences. World Cup is a game for football lovers.

Jacqueline Lee

Is privacy still relevant given today's hyper-connected world of online social networking?

Yes, I believe that privacy is still relevant. Even though the world is being connected via internet and mobile phones, people should still be allowed to maintain certain levels of privacy. People do not want to know what you are doing 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

For example, the famous bloggers Xiaxue, and her website (www.xiaxue.blogspot.com) is one of the most visited blog in Singapore along side with Dawn yang (www.clapbangkiss.xanga.com) they are Singapore’s female most visited bloggers and Singaporeans, mainly girls, tend to look up to them. I do read Xiaxue’s blog regular and whatever she writes is hilarious.

I tried to have a blog myself when I was younger, I was inspired to be like Xiaxue, a famous blogger. This would allow me to work from home and get the free perks so that people would want me to advertise their items. I stopped blogging because it was time consuming and my life wasn’t that interesting as I hoped it would be.

There are such websites for facebook, twitter and Friendster which allows you share your personal photos with the world or your friends and also update your status. For instants, what you are currently doing and if your friends on facebook agree with your status, they would click the “like” button to like your status, or they could comment on your status. Facebooks, owns every single pictures that is uploaded. Whatever picture that uploaded on facebook, they can sell these pictures without your permission.

The hyper connect of the social networking has its down side. This is how so many sex tapes are appearing on the internet. They are leaked from an unknown source and the people how uploaded the tape doesn’t respect the person’s privacy. And how celebrities stalked by paparazzi, whatever they do, the next day the whole world will know. They can’t even go to the hospital without letting the whole world know.

We are not celebrities, we have the right to own privacy but it depends on individual. It depends how much of your privacy you want to reveal and to share with the world.

Jean Ang

World Cup 2010:
How does it affect office/school productivity?

World Cup is a highly anticipated soccer event that happens only once every four years.Soccer fans look forward to this event because countries around the world send their best soccer team to compete against the teams of other countries.During the World Cup season,many people stay up late to watch matches that take place at 2.30 am.

When this happens,people spend lesser time to sleep and thus become lethargic during the day.Take for example,students who stay up late to catch the match are likely to fall asleep during lessons because they only had two to three hours of sleep.When the students return home after school,they would probably take a nap or relax until the next soccer match starts because they did not pay attention in class and find it difficult to complete the work that have been assigned to them.With that,the academic results of the students are bound to drop as they do not learn much during lessons and they neglect their schoolwork and revision.

The same theory applies to working professionals.Due to the lack of sleep,working professionals find it hard to concentrate during work.Their performance level drops,giving their superiors a bad impression of them.

World Cup is definitely an exciting event but people should make sure that they get enough rest for the next day,that way their performance level in their studies and work will not be affected.

Jacqueline Lee

World Cup 2010: How does effect office/school productivity

The World cup may affect some adults and students, mainly those who are soccer fans. They are willing to stay up until 4am to watch a match. They are willing to give up sleep just to watch a 90 minutes game. However I wouldn’t blame them as the World cup only comes every 4 years.

The students and adults would be tired the next morning as they have stayed up all night watching soccer. For an average student, waking up at 6 A.M. every morning can be quite draining already and may be quite difficult for some students to do. If the match ends at 4am, the student would only have 2 hours of sleep, this can cause the student to do badly in school because of the lack of sleep, and he might also sleep in class, causing inconvenience for himself and his teachers. He is sabotaging himself by sleeping in class and not paying attention to the teachers.

For the adults, they are slightly better off than the students as they have more time to sleep as they only start work at 8.30 A.M some even 9 A.M, they can afford to snooze more. They might be sloppy at work therefore the office productivity would decrease as they would be too tired to work or do anything properly.

On the other hand, being an adult allows them to bet on the game. Some of them might get addicted to betting on soccer, which is also known as gambling. The thrill of watching their favorite country winning and also betting on that team is indeed exhilarating as they would win money, unfortunately many people go into debts because of betting on soccer, they bet large sums of money and when they lose, they lose big.

They do not know how to limit themselves and control their gambling urges. It all boils down to the individual, if they can manage their time well, their productivity wouldn’t be affected that much, for example the students would have to study during the afternoon in order to sleep early and wake up in time for the match. That way, he does well in school and doesn’t get a scolding for not doing his homework from the teachers.