Out of The Box

Religion today

2010-04-03T10:50:00.003+08:00

The abuse scandal which has been uncovered has been the headline of major newspapers. Some of them are in favour for and some are against the church. Those who are against have been relentlessly attacking how the Church is run and the personality of the Pope himself. In turn, the Vatican officials have expressed their discontent over the unfair coverage and exaggeration of the issue and the personal attack on the pontiff to undermine his credibility. But no, I am not going to condemn anyone here. I will discuss about how these 2 factors have a part in the declining christian adherents in Western World and compare the Church in Western world to the Church in Asia.

I dare say that separation of the State and Church has no effect whatsoever on religious life. It is the disappointment of people on their lives that causes them to believe in another gods (This happens in all religion surprisingly). More people than ever say that they are spiritual, but not religious. The irresponsible behaviour of clergies supplements the unwavering effort of atheist promoters; mix up this 2 factors and we will get groups of new atheist converts. The atheist followers are trying to convince people to free themselves from 'oppresive' God and to embrace freedom to the fullest.

In Western countries, most people are passive enough in their religious lives and hence, rendered the responsibility to the clergies. The priests are passive enough too, only a few of them try to reach out to encourage their people to be active. As a result, the clergies are the ones who keep religion alive whilst the 'followers' do not have faith in God, they only have faith in their priests. Once a clergy is fallen from grace, the religion is dead and God knows what these 'passive' followers will do next. This is evident in the recent sex abuse case: a priest is involved in all church related activity-he is convicted of abuse-the parish is dead and the followers denounce their religion.

Furthermore, secular media may provide biased coverage in favour of the writer's belief (This is why I do not fully believe any article about religion in newspaper). Misleading statement are enough to crumble one's weak faith. Today's media, only cares about readership and sponsorship are forgetting the very basic ethics of journalism. They love to expose saucy scandals which can attract readers to buy their bluff than to expose goodness which perhaps is jeered by some readers as a bluff.

Whereas, Church in developing countries enjoys such an active participation of its members. the laymen and laywomen are running church-related activity. They are responsible enough to ensure that their faith grows and trying to be active in their religious lives. Should their priest be convicted of crime, they may be disappointed for a while, but the will surely move on and cling on to their faith.

In conclusion, the main problem is not secularism or 'international conspiracy of sex abuse scandal' (some groups label it this way). Is it weak faith that make all religion-related 'problem' happen

Siloso Beach Countdown Party

2010-01-05T01:03:00.002+08:00

I was so aghast when I saw the footage in Razor TV about a woman who was groped by 4, yes 4, men when dancing on a stage in Siloso Beach. But, I am more appalled at the responses given by a few people to the reporter.

To start with, I would like to express my dismay at the attitude of those men who seemed to savour every moment, groping the lady's, sorry, breast (ladies, no offense). They were all dancing gaily and then, this horrible creature start to behave maliciously; for the other 3 beasts, God knew what they'd done. The woman did not seem to enjoy when the men laid their hands on her body. She appeared to be struggling against the men.

It was a party, a party which I believe was full of alcohol. The men were certainly drunk; otherwise, they would not behave in such manner in public. The audience might not have been all drunk. No one helped the poor victim on stage. They was probably enjoying the whole show and thinking that the girl on stage loved it though she was certainly not. They could have done something to help the lady who had shown her discomfort. Male audience, where were you? You were to ignorant to see what happened at that time, no? Female audience, where were you? She was one of your kind, you surely could feel how was it like to be gang-banged in public. Where was the sisterhood solidarity?

party-case closed-

Next, the responses were various. Only ONE woman proclaimed that she would help the woman and reprimand the men if she was there. The responses from male and female interviewees were all similar: They do not care whether the woman was well. It is her own fault to be in such a party. She should have known the consequences of being at such event. She asked for it. Very repulsive, huh?

It was more upsetting to heard that all interviewees, apart from the brave woman who would take an action, would not bother to help. They said that it was plain over-emotional to help and they would not over-react to such incident. Most of the respondents said that they did not want to meddle in this incident and let they solved it themselves. One said that he was afraid nobody backed him if he was to help, and chose to wait for other people to pioneer the heroic action. even explain his reason not to help in a simple phrase," We're Singaporean."(My Singaporean friends, no offense-again.). The phrase does not imply that all Singaporean will behave in that way, but it conveys how ignorant a person be when he won't gain anything.

It, however, reminds me of one Straits Times's report a few months back. The setting was this: a man yelled at a woman, and he was about to abuse her physically. The actors played this scenes in crowded areas, where lots of people can see. No one tried to separate them, apart from two Caucasian men, a group of foreign tourist and a Singaporean man who has been abroad for some time.

Funny isn't it, that no one bother to care. We are still the same homo socius, are we not?

The media will guide our way.

2010-01-05T00:59:00.000+08:00

How much influence does media has to our youth?

Have you wondered why girls adore svelte figure? Have you pondered upon the reason why boys tend to be aggressive? Have you had any idea why youngsters nowadays are more inclined towards sexual freedom than the youths in the ‘60s? Hormones may not have the answer, but the media certainly has it.

Almost all magazines for teenagers, especially the ones crafted for girls, include shopping section which portrays the latest fashion trend around the globe. The writer of this section may teach the readers how to shop smartly by making full use of credit cards’ endless promotion and loyalty rewards, purchasing at the end of holiday season to get further price reduction and registering as member of some shops and department stores. As for the Martians, their magazines market the latest gizmos, gaming consoles and sporting equipments which should not be overlooked if they do not want to be classified as the mediocre guys. Surely, they do not fathom the purpose of these columns which is to convert them into new shopaholics. Girls are supposed to be the ahead of style, and that can be achieved by buying whatever in season. Boys, in order to be socially accepted by their peers, should be able to play the freshest online game available in the net.

Moreover, Hollywood films which spread a new culture that dictates our boys to be ultra sporty if they want to earn everything they want: popularity amongst girls, girls, girls to do their homework, etc. In the other hand, Venusians must uphold their slenderness and sexiness to attract the Martians. They go on exceptional diet regime and consume cocktail of drugs to obtain the ideal body shape which is portrayed by our world’s top models for being fat is a grave sin. A few years back, a young lady from the USA committed suicide after being told in a social networking site that she is fat and thus, no one would not want to be her boyfriend though she seemed to have a proportional body (in her photo which was released to the newspaper).

There are still so much that can happen to youth if they let the media penetrate into their mind without any boundaries.

Electricity crisis. How dire is the consequences?

2009-12-16T22:46:00.002+08:00

Some provinces of Indonesia are experiencing electricity shortage at the moment. The long postponed 10000 MW power generator project has not been kick-started, millions of household across the archipelago are not using electricity efficiently and corruption is rampant in the National Electricity Company (PLN). Thus, PLN introduces scheduled electricity breakdown for all.

As a result, manufacturing industries are suffering from millions of dollars losses. In recent case, Daihatsu plant in Jakarta reported that 10 cars which were being assembled at the time of the breakdown, were not functioning properly; they became a mountain of scrap metal. This incident worries domestic and foreign investors who want to expand their business here. Moreover, domestic textile factories are complaining to the government that electricity shortage will put them at the disadvantage side in global market for they have to pay penalty when unable to ship on time.

In addition to that, electricity shortage prevents foreign investors to invest their money. They prefer to invest in countries which have better infrastructure for they want factories to give maximum output. Therefore, with ailing infrastructure and poor domestic investment, there is no enough job opportunity for Indonesia’s 60 millions productive workforce, which contributes to the increasing numbers of employment over the years.

As this country is becoming more relied to tax than ever, unemployment means unexploited potential source of income. With limited budget to build and revitalized infrastructure, infrastructure growth will not balance the demand for industrialisation. Moreover, unemployment will lead to high crime rate in cities which will prevent investors to venture because of safely reason. Hence, the loss is exponential.

In conclusion, the crisis will definitely be a serious problem for further economic development and social cohesion. The widening income gap will cause dissatisfaction amongst people and radicalisation may triumph. Something has to be done immediately.

Immature democracy

2009-12-08T23:11:00.002+08:00

(In a news programme this afternoon, it was reported that a group of people held a protest in a golf course in Bandung. The villagers were not happy with the developer because it closed the main access road to their village and replaced it with a narrow muddy path. The villagers pulled out the grass and the shrubs nearby. Moreover, they tried to break down the fence between their village and the golf course.)

This violence scene is not uncommon in every protests in Indonesia, ranging from littering to burning of property. Recently, a group of students in Maluku were taken into custody for burning the picture of the president.

The spirit of local democracy is so high after the downfall of the late then president Soeharto. In his era, the new order, any public showing of resentment were banned. Those who were too vocal would be labeled as the enemy of the state, and some were even kidnapped and their whereabouts are not known until today. No one dared to voice out against the government and it's policies. Thus, when the law governing subversive behaviour was abolished, people tried to express themselves in the way they want. The May 98 tragedy, which involved burning, looting and raping, was one dark scene picturing how unruly a protest could be.

Back to the golf course incident, the crowd refused to leave and instead, devastated the field. They put off the flag pole and broke it. They pulled out a tree and dragged it all along the green area, leaving the grass in a miserable state. They thought that by destroying the developer's property, they would get what they want, a smooth wide road. In fact, I do think that the developer will not fulfill their wish as the money allocated for the road will be used to repair the golf course.

I sometimes do think that protesters in other country such as Thailand were more civilized. When the yellow shirt seized the Suvarnabhumi airport, there was no litter left. The area was clean and in good condition.

I talked to a man on my way back to Bandung from Soekarno-Hatta airport. He explained his experience in Manila. In there, he said, the protestors were in order and when they left the park where they gathered, the flowers were still there, alive.

Branding, it is not as 'cheem' as you thought

2009-10-02T20:26:00.002+08:00

One may go far to university to learn about marketing and business in order to get a perfect recipe to establish a name. However, establishing a brand is a very down to earth matter. All lessons will eventually go to find something which fulfils the customers’ desire. Yet, proper education is still needed in order to master the art of branding.

Today, I attended a talk about Botak Jones. The owner, which name I cannot spell or pronounce, shared with some 16 people or so his experience in establishing and maintaining a brand which is quite well-recognised here. He explained that the most important is getting to know what your patrons want, but be mindful when making decision as it cannot only satisfy a group of people and leave the rest. Everyone matters.

Furthermore, it is more important to be honest and realistic to your customer as we need to earn trust from our customers. He pointed out that he is not afraid of advertising negative things like price hikes or re-portioning as it actually exposes his honesty. Well, it is definitely better than secretly re-portion the serving and convince the customer that nothing has changed.
Thirdly, copying and imitating are unavoidable. Staff may come and go and who knows if he/she only wants to copy the recipe? That is why there is a need to go for extra-mile. It is perfectly alright to exceed the customer expectation and offer some extra service. Extra service does not necessarily be a huge rebate or a ++ kind of things. Smile and affectionate gesture will do. They are not subjected to 7% GST anyway.

Last but not least, be wise. Recession comes and there is no need to make a fuss of it. Try to reap some benefits from it. While other eateries may cut down spending on marketing and cutting off job, do not hastily follow. Warren Buffet once said that be greedy when other are fearful, but be fearful when others are greedy. Buffet’s principle serves him well and put him on the list of richest people on our earth. What botak jones does is spending more on marketing when others are spending less. This makes his advertisement stands out from the rest - less rival so to speak.
That’s all, no conclution. It is up to your reader to make your conclusion.

P.S. Another case study : Pepsi vs Coke, Singapore Airlines vs Cathay Pacific

Expired food

2008-10-20T20:58:00.002+08:00

I just went to Candy Empire in Vivo this afternoon. Guess what??? I found a packet of expired food. It should have been thrown away since August (I think they should dispose it right after the expiry date, means that they keep selling it after 2 months!!!)

Do you spend enough time for your family?

2008-08-28T21:04:00.003+08:00

This post is a commentary on an article taken from The New Paper (03/08/08)-'Wishing for more family time'

After I read this article, I remember my time before I moved to Singapore. The article was about MPs who felt that they do not spend enough time with their family because of their busy daily schedule. They said that they must put the residents and communities at the top of their list, but still family was number one for them. I agreed that residents and people are important, but family is too. However, their professions are time consuming. One said that he cannot have dinner or with his children on weekday and one said that outing with family on weekend is priceless because weekend is the only time he can spend with his family. Time on weekday is not enough for them to spend in their office and at home.
I recounted my life 10 months ago when I still live in Indonesia with my family. Time is definitely not enough for me. Yes, me, a secondary 3 student now; I was a 9th grade student then. You may say that my case is different since I am a student and they are a working adult and it only happens to adult, not to children. You may think that it is only to children whose parents are working. But, for me, children also feel the same and it is even worse for children whose parents are working.
I had piles of projects and homework when I was in my year 7 until year 9. One hundred questions for homework were just a daily bread for me. I always sit down in front of my desk and start to do my homework after around 7pm or 8pm everyday, after I went home from tuitions and had my dinner. It took me about three to 6 hours to finish my projects and homework. I did not procrastinate. The teachers assigned projects to be done on the next day, ignoring the other homework they had given before. During those three years, I rarely have time to speak to my family or to just watch TV shows with them. It was really hard to spend time for leisure when you always went to sleep around 2-5am every school day. Moreover, during school breaks on July or Christmas Holiday on December, I just could not spend my time with my parent since they are working. I just merely played with my brothers or sat in front of my computer. If I had extra time, I would rather to spend it with my friends instead and my parents understood me. I did it because I do not feel comfortable to be near to them and also because I interact with my friends at school everyday.
Also I saw that other children or teenagers also had the same problem like me, same amount of homework and similar case of parents who work in their offices. I realized that limited time to interact with family made a huge impact to our family. Our blood is easily to get boiled for simple problems and we felt that we are strangers for others.
Albeit, I personally regret that I did not spend enough time with my family and try to find the timeslot in my packed schedule to interact more with them when I was able to despite my limited time because of the assignments and projects. Now, they are thousands miles away and there is really no way for me to interact with them unless I wanted to spend hundreds of dollar for my phone bill. Now, I want you to think if you are living my life. Have you spend enough time with your family?

Vandalism. I think not.

2008-08-28T20:59:00.007+08:00

A commentary of article:En bloc tussles take nasty turn as market cools (by Lim Wei Chean, Melissa Sim, The Straits Times, 11/08/08)

I wonder if there is no other way to persuade people effectively besides using vandalism. In Laguna Park case where vandalism is used to persuade residents who do not want to sell their units in the en-bloc sale. I guess that the residents in favour to the collective sale are trying to terrorize who against them and hence, the deal between all the units’ holders and the investor will prevail thereafter.
However, I do not want to talk about persuading people via vandalism. What I want to highlight here is expressing emotions via vandalism. In Laguna case, we can infer that the motif behind is not only because of those in favour are persuading those not-in-favour, but also because of the pending deal between them and the investor. They cannot wait to sell their property in this cooling property market to avoid the fall of the price of their units. They need something to express their feeling towards those who against without using any verbal method, but with vandalism.
More than a decade ago, the similar issue rose to the height when Michael Fay vandalized public facility to express his emotion. His action brought furies over the people reside in the island and also the government. It continued to happen until finally he, with his fellow ‘gang’ members were charged and caned. The latter caused protest from foreign government and human right activists due to the action taken by the government as the punishment for them.
Vandalism, as what we know, is an action of obstructing or destroying property (ies). This may caused fear from people who worry that their possession will be destroyed by vandals and they will suffer from material loss.
Vandal may say that vandalize people’s property is the only way to show their hate to the particular people if they cannot speak out their emotion and expression. They say that this is merely a way to speak out. If it is a way to express views and emotions, what is wrong about it? Should it be considered as good?
We live in a society where freedom to speak is protected as long as it does not offend other groups of people, touch sensitive issue such as race and religion and cause loss or damage materially. Thus, vandalize is totally wrong as it does not fulfil the requirement of not causing loss or damage materially. Vandalism is not a way to express views or emotions; it is a destructive manner of irresponsible people who damaging other’s possession for their own pleasure in expense of the possessor. The action can be described as a crime and the vandal could then be punished.
On the other hand, there are also people supporting this cause as a freedom. They put it as freedom of expression. People have the right to speak up and express their emotions. I dare say those people never take into account that there are people agonise from the action of vandals. It is a freedom that seizing others’ right to obtain security in life due to the anxiety to suffer from losses. It is no longer a freedom if it is depriving people from their own freedom, freedom to live safely. Should we still say that it is a freedom of expression or maybe should we call it a freedom to oppress and terrorise?
Vandalism, once again, is wrong. If people keep ignoring this issue and it grows in this society, people will inevitable feel vulnerable. Thereafter, it may fuel distrust to each other and slowly but surely will dynamite our peaceful society to a society full of havoc.

The Criminal - an adaptation of 'Hitch Hiker'

2008-07-25T20:11:00.002+08:00

Life is hard. This is my feeling towards my job as one of the CEO’s assistants after 1 year. I abhor my boss. He always approaches me in the way that I am not comfortable with. I just hate the way he looks at and talks with me. He also makes me stay alone in the office until midnight everyday with tons of paperwork. Actually, I am not alone all the time. He is in his office until midnight everyday and always offers me a ride home. But anyway, two weeks ago, he threw all of my 9 colleagues ‘weekend homework’ on my table so that they could spend their weekend with him. I do not know why do my colleagues compete everyday to be invited to his penthouse everyday. Well, I have no idea and I still reject his offers until now. My friends think that I am weird. They are wrong, I am just different with all of them. I do not have such green eyes like them and I am a good person. That is all. Everybody in this office talks behind my back. They think I know that he likes me and I create such an image that I am not loose. I am not and I mean it. Ladiesman like him is not for me.
Back to two weeks ago, I left my office at 1.30am. My boss had gone home with my colleagues, 9 of them. I peeped into the window of the guards’ office and heard a very loud snores from inside. After standing by the guards’ office for a few minutes, I flagged a taxi down to get to the City Central station. My house is in the suburb outside this megapolitan city. That is why I must take a train, not a metro or a taxi to my house. I do not use my car because the road pricing and gas are very expensive nowadays; I park her instead.
I arrived at City Central Station at 2.00 am. The taxi stopped at the maingate and I paid the cabby. I strolled a few metres to a small foodstall selling a savoury fried rice. It is for my very early breakfast. I was so hungry because the last meal that I had was my lunch. My boss asked my to go out for dinner with him since he knew that I had not had any food since lunchtime. I thanked him, but I rejected the dinner and continued my works. After I ordered my meal, I dragged the stool and yawned. “Aaahhh….” I felt that I was freed from a death sentence. The tasks were just a lot and it was good that I could finish it so I could spend my weekend with my friends and hung out to anyplace we wanted. Nevertheless, I am very lucky to have this job, you know? The salary I earned is worthwhile for me to strive for it. It is just the paperworks that had to be done that causes me loathing on my job, and also the boss’ behaviour. After I finished my meal, I stomped down the platform to embark on the last train.
The trip took about 45 minutes. It was 2.45 am when I got on the train. “Pshh…” the train signalled the passengers that it was leaving the station. I looked through the glasspane and stared outside. Nothing else was outside but absoulute darkness. I could smell the alcohol from the person at the end of the car. He was drunk. The smell of fragrance from the lady behind me made the arome of alcohol vanished. I kept staring at the darkness and it came. My childhood fears cross my mind. I scared of darkness and bogeyman. My sister was kidnapped and mutilated. The person who have done that to my sister was released by the court. The court considered that it was a matter of self defence. It was not logical. Why was my sister mutilated if it was juat a matter of self defence. I just did not get it. My parents had tried to appeal the court, but the court dismissed it. The criminal, that is how I called the murderer was a tycoon and I was very sure that he bribed the judges and juries in the court. That is life. Money rules. However, I still remember the time when my sister’s body was found. It was more than lamentable that my family feels, but we are sure that she lives in a beautiful place up there.
“Littleville. Please mind the gap. Thank you for travelling with XpressTrans.” The recording woke me up from my bemusement. I trotted towards the parking building. I heard the sound of shoes behind me as I walked. Someone was following me. There was no enough light to illumitate the basement. I walked faster and faster until I reached the only Honda Jazz at the corner. The sounds of my heels echoed, adding some eerieness to my mind.
I inserted my key in a hurry. Someone was approaching me. My heart pounded heavily. I was ready to open the door when I saw a sillhouette behind me and felt a tap on my shoulder. I shrieked and turned my body to see the creature. I felt that my mind had prevailed. It was not. It was a graceful old lady standing right behind.
“I am really sorry, madam to scream at you. What can I do to help you?” I apologized and asked her with the remaining energy of my possession.
“It is fine, darling. I know how it feels for a beautiful young lady like you to be alone here at a wee hours in the morning. Anyway, would you give me a ride, please? I have been here for 3 hours, waiting for my chauffeur. I just came back from my friend’s house in the other city.”
“ Do you have any children, ma’am?”
“ My children live abroad. It is all right if you drop me in the middle of your way if you are in a hurry. Would you mind?”
“Sure madam. It’s my pleasure to help you.”
I opened the door for her and she slid in. She looked at her watch. I accidentally lingered through the window and saw her wrist. Oh my God. Her wrist was very hairy. Her wrist remindes me of the criminal. He was very hairy too and his height was just the same with the lady, 170 cm. She or he was the bogeyman. I was very sure that he was looking for another victim. “I had to get him off my car now” my mind whispered. My brain raced, trying to find the best solution.
I pretended to ignite my car. “Drtzddd… Drtzddd… Drtzddd… Drtzddd… Drtzddd….” My car released sound like that, convincing enough to show that I had some problem with my car. I turned my head and asked the criminal-like-woman in a fake-guilty manner.
“I am sorry, but this awful car signalled that there is something under her boot. Would you mind going out to check while I try to ignite her on?”
“No problem dear, as you wish.”She alighted from my car and left her bejewelled purse on her seat.
As she stumbled towards the boot, I pushed the lock button. She heard the clicking sound and knocked hard the metal skin out of confusion. I turned the key to the right and drenched my foot on the gas pedal.
I raced until I could calm myself. I felt a bit guilty to poisoning the well. She might be just as hairy as the bogeyman. I turned the direction and headed to the nearest police station to eased my guilty. I reported to the officer on duty and gave him the pearl purse. He opened the purse and surprised of what he saw: a dagger, a gun, a black tape, an axe and an ID card. She was the criminal. I was right about it. I was saved from his bloody hand. Maybe, it is my sister who reminded me to beware of this ‘lady’ when I was in the train.

Female Suicide Bomber

2008-05-30T21:23:00.003+08:00

First, what do you have in mind when you are exposed to the words of 'female suicide bomber'? Do you think of an extremist woman who is willing to die to 'defend' her belief?
I watched a National Geographic documentary by Lisa Ling about the life of female suicide bomber and their reason to commit such action. I was quite amazed to learn that it is not only because of her blind faith but also her miserable life due to poverty or torture from family member or spouse. The unbearable fate causes the suicide bomber to choose die in warfare rather to commit usual suicide instead. By going to the frontline, she could be considered as a hero. As such, her family social status would be raised and she might bring pride to her family.
There was a case where a woman is abused by her husband and she just could not bear it anymore. After her husband left her, the people around made such a rumour that bring shame to her family. Until finally, she decided to kill herself in warfare and inevitably, when her dead body was taken home, her family was treated with respect and honour.
In that way, it explains that harsh life is one of the main reasons why there is a bunch of woman willing to sacrifice their life as a suicide bomber. In many countries, respect and honour are often seen as the most important things to achieve in life. It is to achieve it in no time; the only possible choice is to become a suicide bomber.
If we want to end up this case, I appeal to all people, not to do something to the belief, but take into consideration their personal life and surrounding. If one could fix this and improve their quality of life, I believe that suicide bomber case will come to an end. It is wrong to blame all to the belief as no belief teaches people to do harm towards others.

Democracy. Is it good or bad?

2008-05-29T20:53:00.007+08:00

Introduction

In democratic countries, people hold the role as the ruler of the nation through institutions, namely legislative institution, executive institution, judiciary institution (Trias Politica). The people in the mentioned institution are elected by the people in election. In election, people have the right to choose the candidates who they are fond to. The people should not be suppressed by the incumbent government as to give advantage to the government by itself so that the government can be re-elected. People have their representatives in the legislative body. Legislative body is known as parliament. The representatives propose laws and policies which the people need to the legislative assembly. The laws and policies are implemented by the executive body. Executive covers cabinets, president and the staffs. The job of the judiciary body is to monitor the laws and policies to be on the track with the constitution. The laws and policies which are proposed and implemented must not against the constitution. Thus, through election of the representatives and president, people are on the top of the hierarchy of a democratic system. But, although people are on the top of the hierarchy, the government appears as the most supreme. It is because people give the government a mandate to control over them through election.

The implementation

As the legal matters are in the process of trial and error in public, NGO and civil organization monitor the implementation of the laws and policies of the government in the grass root society. These organizations, comprising a group of people as the members, evaluate the progress and the impact of the legal matters in the society. They can criticise the government on the flaw of the rules as an input for the government to evaluate these within the 3 democratic bodies.

This is why the freedom of speech is important in democratic country. Most of the democratic country allowed the people to air their own voice. In this way, the government can reflect on their policies and laws. The acts of the government must benefit the people they ruled. Freedom of speech has lots of forms in many societies. The form depends on the society. It is to fit the need and the culture of the people, so that the forms of the freedom of speech are different from one society to another.

Freedom of speech holds a crucial role in the democratic society. Without the freedom of speech, the government act as an autocracy and totalitarian government. It cannot be evaluated and may not fit to the need of the people. The government can act as the people inside the inner circle of the government want. It is because of that, the one of requirements of a democratic system cannot be fulfilled as it is not serve the need of the people.

In a society where there are majority and minority groups, democracy is tested. Why do I say so? As I mentioned, the government is formed through an election. As the majority votes, the minority has such a small chance for its representatives to get into the government. The government mainly formed by the representations of the majority. It is hard for the minority to air their voice through the wall of majority representatives. But in certain country, the ruling party has wings for the minority groups to ensure that minority voice still exist in the parliament.

Conclusion

In my personal opinion, democracy is good since it is the voice of the people which run the country through mandatory leader. Also it is the right of people to evaluate the government programs so that the programs can really hit to the spot of problems. Although I said it is right to evaluate, we must to it in such a manner which would not harm anything along the demonstration process. The democratic system can be effective if all the groups and bodies actively involved in the process.

Comment on The Evolution of Goodness

2008-05-12T20:05:00.005+08:00

This article is taken from ‘The Straits Times 16 April 2007’ and written by Dr. Lee Alan Dugatkin

Goodness is a state of being good or perfect of something. There are a lot of examples of goodness, and so are the kinds of it. Dr. Dugatkin raised the topic about altruism in this world, human altruism and non-human altruism. Altruism means unselfish regard for the welfare of others, or willing to sacrifice for the sake of others’ benefit.

Scientists have been questioning the relation of altruism and blood relationship. Darwin failed to link altruism that challenged his theory of evolution by natural selection. In his natural selection theory, he explained that organisms can survive if they are able to adapt in the environment. He did not get it from his exploration of bees and their hives. He saw that the bees in the hives were protected by other bees that were willing to scarify to defend their hives. He was wandering on the behaviour of the bees to defend their homes that led to natural selection.

Another case, Huxley argued with Kropotkin whether blood relationship has something to do with altruism. None of them could agree to each other argument. Their argument was observed by Hamilton, a British biologist. He formulated the mathematical formula about it. From his investigation, he concluded that altruism is close with costs and benefits, along with genetic relatedness. He explained about the behaviour of organisms that are willing to do something good to others if there is benefit for the organisms themselves. In other words, the occurrence of altruism cannot be separated with mutualism between creatures. Yet, it is not for all that Hamilton said that.

For me personally, altruism has something to do with blood relationship, like what Huxley supported and what Darwin observed. But, I do not think that altruism is all about to gain benefits from others. Yes, it occurs sometimes, but not always. Either animals or humans have a strong bond with those who descended from the same ancestry, in general. We can see that from people or animals around us. People usually are willing to help their relatives and do not expect any for returns. It will lead us to personal satisfaction of helping people. It cannot be explain scientifically, but we can feel it inside our heart. In reality, people that are helped feel that they must return the goodness sometimes, even though the helpers do not oblige it for the people that are helped by them. It is not obligate, but in social life, people have put it in the context of what to do.

Organisms have the tendency to sacrifice themselves for the well being of their family or the continuity of the family line as a matter of the existence of their kind. It is natural to secure the next generation of the family so that the line will not stop at one individual.
If we see from other perspective, altruism can lead to Darwin’s theory of natural selection. We use the life of the bees as I have mentioned above. The willing-to-sacrifice bee is the creature that in the position of the eliminated creature and the bees that live with protection in the hives are the creatures that preferred by natural selection.
Unfortunately, in this real world, I must admit that reciprocity has relation to altruism. Human ego and selfishness are the main cause of the reciprocity altruism. There are very seldom occasions or individuals that are willing with their heart to help others without anything that they demand in return.

I have my personal experience regarding to this issue. One day, I was in Medical Certificate. I did not go to school for 3 days due to fever. The day before I went back to school, I went to my so-called friend to borrow his notes and homework so I can hand the assignments to the teacher when I felt well enough to go to school. He lent me his. He said that it was okay and no problem. He also mentioned that he was really ‘sincere’ enough to help me. When I went to school and spend the whole day in the school, nothing happen. In the evening when I returned from school, he called me. He asked the answer of the homework for the following day. I refused. He kept telling me that I have to do something in return because he had helped me. It really did not make sense. If he called because he was not clear about the instruction, it was all right. But, he called me so that he did not need to do his homework by himself. He said that he was too lazy to finish his.

Hamilton made his formulae based on the relation of individuals and the benefits behind it. People tend to help their relatives first before they looked others and helped them. Closeness matters in this problem. The closer you are to a person, the more you will help that person. I link back to the reciprocity of altruism. I give you an example. You feel that you are close to A. One day, A and B need your help. You are not very close to B. You probably will choose A first. One day, if you need help, who do you think will help you, A or B? You may think that A will help you because this person is close to you and because you have helped this person, right? It can be true if A feels that you are close to him/her. If B is a very kind person, you will get help from him/her. I do not talk about goodness in this way for now. It is altruism and relatedness that I highlighted.

I think it is easier to go through this with the examples of human rather than animals. Why? It is because as a human, we hardly understand how animals think and behave. We have our limit to approach animals’ ways of thinking. Animals live with their instinct, but humans use their mind and little portion of instinct. Altruism is not all about reciprocity, but also kindness that human has. As a human we should diminished our ego and selfishness to make a better environment for all.

my adventure in march holiday ( 10 March 2008 )

2008-03-10T21:30:00.002+08:00

I went to Indonesian embassy today. After I took my passport from my guardian at 10.00am, I with Kevin, Jason, Alvin went to the bus stop on marymount road. Yes, it was only four of us. The other 3 persons were going home for holiday. We took bus 132. Our destination was Chatsworth Road, near Tanglin Road. We rid a double decker bus and we sat on the upper deck. It was a really nice view from there. I just put my heart on the map that my senior lent me the day before. Upper Thompson, Ang Mo Kio, Hougang. Wait a minute, why was I here? Hougang? Oh my... I took the right bus from the wrong bus-stop. "We should be going to Tanglin Road, shouldn't we?" I asked the others. So all of us had to get off the bus and found the same 132 bus to Tanglin. "But we have no time!" said Jason. " Just use the MRT instead." We agreed and we took the North East MRT from hougang-dhoby ghaut, changed to North-South from dhoby to Orchard. We took the exit to Orchard Boulevard and there was a shower when we raging the site. After a long debate about who's the wrong today and where're we now, finally we arrived at the embassy. The officer prohibited us, but Jason to go through. He wore pants and Kevin, Alvin and I wore bermudas. After a while, the officer said that the embassy was going to closed at 1.00pm. What!! After all we got nothing?? So we must go there again for the second time tommorow......

( Misuse of ) Alcohol and the Youth

2008-03-07T15:57:00.002+08:00

Link to the article that inspired my to write on this topic : http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jan/23/drink.detox and http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jan/23/youngdrinkers

Alcohol and youth are two different words that cannot be separated in this present world. Most youth know what alcohol is. Some of them have their own experienced with it. But hold on, I’m not talking about alcohol that we often see in the hospital or in Guardian right now. I’m talking about the alcoholic drink and the ‘good’ relation between youth and alcohol. Anyway, why did I put the word good inside the inverted comma? I provide some clues for you to derive to the answer.

Frankly speaking, there’s nothing wrong with alcoholic drink. The one that deserve to be blamed is the user. The user admits the misuse of alcohol and makes this happen. It is not fair to blame alcohol without including the user as the one who should take responsibility of it.
The people who addicted to alcohol consider alcohol as a good companion of this life. It will never betray you and always give happiness as a result of the freedom that people feel when drink it. It is when the people who were addicted to alcohol were asked what their view about alcohol is; they will answer the contradictive statement from the people who addicted to it. Their point absolutely will be like this: don’t you waste your time with alcohol, listen to me or you will regret when you realize that what I’m saying now is true.

Alcohol evil side shows up when people drink alcoholic drink in large amount or to make it simpler, drink until drunk. The simple word of drunk causes lots of problem across the countries in the world. Criminality holds the first rank of problems caused by alcohol abuse, while health problem, traffic accident and amorally behaviour follow as the second rank and so on.

Some example of criminality which can be caused by misuse of alcohol: raping, inter-gang fight, misuse of fire weapon, and many more. These kinds of crime affect the society, so do the youth. Misuse of alcohol is one of the triggers for youth active-sexual activity. Yet the main trigger is the influence from environment around them, alcohol is just like the vitamin or food supplement to the bad influence. When criminality and alcohol stated together, I think that there’s nothing wrong if youth with alcohol always illustrated as bad role model for other youth.

People said that alcohol can lead people to drug and drug lead people to death. For some reason it is true. As a matter of fact, people who are addicted to alcohol seem easily addicted to drug, just like tea and cookies, they are just a good friends.

Let me end this topic. I discourage you to drink a lot. It would be okay if you keep consuming alcohol with full responsibility, but don’t you ever consume it above the safe limit until you drunk. I don’t want to see your face to appear in the criminal section of the news programme on TV tomorrow.

My comment on YouthInk Articles ' Singaporeans' lack of social graces a social disgrace '

2008-02-14T20:51:00.001+08:00

I disagree with the writer of this article because I seldom meet Singaporean who is like that. I have met one, but I cannot generalize all Singaporean, can I? I want to share my own story regarding on this issue. Please read it and give me your feedback or comment.

When I went to Bishan Community Library, I went to the information counter as to ask how to become a member. When I was talking to the man in the counter, suddenly there was a man, about 40 years old, interupt my conversation with the library officer without seeking any permission from the officer and me for his interuption. He didn't say sorry to me at all. Maybe he was in a hurry, but that's not an excuse for me.

That's the only disgrace that I ever met here. I haven't found the other one yet. I hope that I won't. The MRT issue, it is just the prople who don't want to catch the next train because of the limited time that they have.

In my opinion, we can still improve our social graciousness. As a matter of fact, social graciousness is a good habit for all of us.

Introduction

2008-02-14T20:41:00.000+08:00

I'm Sergio Rinaldi. I think this is my first official blog. I've never written a post in English before. Please do correct me if I'm wrong. I'm trying to post resgularly, I will try. I hope that what I've posted can be read. Please do correct me if I made a mistake(s). Thank you so much and happy reading. Enjoy yourself!