TR EMERITUS

WHAT is happening to Singapore? We can't tolerate it if someone does not speak or respond to our enquiry in a language we know. We can't get stuck in traffic jams, make a "wrong turn" or take instructions from others. Flights must take off on time, no matter what. Luggage cannot get lost. Our list of complaints goes on, ad infinitum. We have forgotten how to treat others the way we want to be treated ourselves. We don't show any appreciation for the workers who build our homes, clean our streets, and who look after our sick. We aim to be a gracious society. But where is our humility, our compassion, tolerance? Unless graciousness starts with us, there is no way we can achieve this dream.   Lawrence Cheong  Read More →

I have read widely that the economic crisis is  over and many have cheered such positive news. It is like dawn breaking out on a very prolonged period of darkness. We can finally see some light at the end of a very dark long tunnel. For many, they will want to erase such a depressing period from their memory if they could.  The past twenty  months have knocked many of us flat  and some even suffered tremendous financial distress from failed investment, home foreclosures and bankruptcies. Many have lost their  fortune in a very short period and may never get to see their money again at all. Some families I heard broke up as a result of unemployment-related problems – mostly financial.  Lives have changed  and how we approached our affliction will largely determine whether we can meaning in our suffering. Yet, there are many others who have learn something useful out of the crisis. Some have told me that they became stronger mentally and emotionally. They have learn to thrive in adversity and found that their adversity quotient has strengthened. It is in the valleys that many will learn life’s lessons and this is so true for many in this recession. Unless we try to embrace and accept such down times readily, we will never learn from crisis that can suddenly  hit us at certain points of our life. Without experiencing sadness, we can never really know what is true happiness. Without the feeling of being poor before, we can never truly understand what poverty can bring to a person and appreciate any richness that we have. Adversity has softened many people  and they have all grown to become a better person. We all can learn a lesson or two from the 2008/9 recession. Here are seven lessons I learned from my own unemployment blues: 1. Never put all your eggs in one basket Those who think that by investing our money we will reap tangible returns from risky or even risk-averse investment vehicles will be disappointed. The past recession proved to be very devastating for anyone who invested their money  even in capital-guaranteed instruments. One big lesson we can learn from the recession is that greed may sometimes equal loss. Invest abit but left some in the low-interest savings account seem a wise choice in this volatile environment. Though the return may seem low for money placed in the savings account, at least the capital sum is guaranteed – 100%. Personally, I have lost 6 figure sum   in the stock market many years ago and have since stayed away from the stock market. I have learned my lesson and hope not to repeat my mistake again. Readers who have lost money in the minibonds and other investments will identify with what I have shared here. 2. Reduce debts and save more Hopefully, the recession has taught us to constantly look for ways to reduce our debts and save more. Many I know have cut back on spendthrift habits and spend what they have rather than using their credit facilities. If you have a mortgage loan, try to pay it off in the shortest possible time. Staying debt free should be the motto of our people in this tough time. If possible, when buying a house, use the income of one person rather than both working couple to seek for a loan from the banks as the recession cycle seems to be getter shorter these days. Many people were caught out when they have difficulty paying their mortgage loan when their partner lost their job in the recession. We ought to try to stay debt free in the shortest time possible. I know that this is easier say than done especially when we borrow to wed, buy a house, car, furniture and some even use their credit card to go on their dream holiday. Cutting down on debt or even staying debt free should be the goal of anyone affected by the recession. 3. Always be in an upgrading mode even when you are gamefully employed Seek out a new skill even when you are still gamefully employed. Many people work thinking that they will be in their job forever.  People  always look lost when they are suddenly  retrenched and never know what they want to do after that. While still employed, plan ahead what you want to do for the next five or ten years. Those who plan ahead tend to be more confident of their future when they lose their job in a recession. Having additional skills also allow you to immediately change career when you lose your job. You are already one step ahead of those who are still floundering and looking lost after retrenchment. So,  learn a new skill preferably something that you like to do all along but never get the chance. It is time to explore those dreams that seems almost impossible to achieve when we are in our comfort zone. Be adventurous and take some calculated risk in your life. 4. Treasure your family One nice thing that I heard from many people who lost their jobs is that they have  treasured their family more. Perhaps, we have substitute  relationships for tangible stuff in our materialistic society all along. We buy things for our children thinking that this will please them when deep down they prefer having us around  at home. They want our time and not our toys. Many who spent most of their waking hours in the office sudddenly felt lost when  enforced to spend the day time with their family members at home when they lost their job. They felt uncomfortable as they don’t know how to engage their children while transitioning at home. They realised how much they have missed out on seeing their children grow up until they spend the time  at home interacting with them. It is a good wake up call for many I felt. Our children all grow up too fast and when we realise that we have miss those time, it will be too late as those lost time can never come back to us again. Time lost is forever gone. 5. Reconsider that loyalty issue with the employer One significant lesson many people learned during the recession is that you can never expect loyalty from your employer though you have being foolishly loyal to the company. Many people put in extra hours of over time when requested to help their employers rush out some urgent tasks but were shocked to receive the pink slip still. Worse of all if you still see many of your colleagues working  on when you are being laid off – that’s the deepest cut of all. "Why me?” many have asked when they were been laid off. It was a blatant thrust of the sword into the loyal heart. So, reconsider that  loyalty issue with your employer. Are you putting in too many hours trying to fulfill your boss over bearing demands at work? Every extra hour you spent at home take you away from the precious time that you can spend with your family members. Is it worth it? I am not saying that we should all slack at work but the loyalty issue may need a re-check after how employers lay off their workers indiscriminately during the last  recession. One ought to know that we work to live and not live to work. Life is too short to put all our waking time working for our bosses so that they can make more profit for the company. 6. Spend more time networking Many people who find jobs easily after been  laid off usually have a larget network of friends and contacts that they can tap on. They have benefit from spending time interacting with people from all walks of life. We need to change the way we job search from now on especially when the economy is so turbulent these days.  Learn to move out of the comfort zone of simply going to work and returning home. Learn to socialise more and be a friend to others. It is when we sow then  we can  reap from the time and efforts that we have put in cultivating relationships. Networking can be uncomfortable for many of us who are naturally shy and inhibited. However, hopefully the positive efforts to network  will put us out of our comfort zone. So, move out to interact more with others – it can also  bring more colour into our mundane life. 7. Simplify our lifestyle and be contented with what we have We all need to simplify more here. In Singapore whereby shopping is the popular past time of most people, learning to simplify one’s lifestyle seems relevant. We buy things on impulse and stock them up without really using them in the process. We buy the latest gadget when we found our colleagues having them. Hopefully, during the recession, we have learn not to compare ourselves with the Joneses and be contented with what we have. if our car is still working well though it is a old model, try not to change for another newer model incurring a new 10-year loan in the process. The key question to ask ourselves when we want to buy anything new is: “Do we need it? Is the old one not serving us well enough?” It is best to be happy with what we have. Stay lean and contented. Lessons learnt from difficult times tend to stay on within us for a long time. People also emerge stronger after each economic crisis. So don’t waste your time brooding over lost opportunitites but try to see something useful coming out of the hard times. Life is too short to spend them always wishing for what we don’t have. Learn to see that there will always be a rainbow coming out of the heavy storm. As one great man has taught us :- All this shall pass. It already had for me and the same will happen to you …   Written by: Gilbert Goh     Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.    Read More →

ON SATURDAY evening, my sister boarded SBS bus No 30 along West Coast Road, heading for the Esplanade. She took a seat on the upper deck. A male passenger took the seat next to her, positioning himself very close to my sister. She asked him to give her a little space. In response, he inched even closer. Then, to her utter surprise, he punched her several times on her head. My sister tried to defend herself, but she was no match for this man. He held her wrists and continued his attack, hitting her on the head and in the stomach. As a result of the attack, my sister sustained bruises on her head, neck and arms. The struggle lasted for 30 minutes and was witnessed by all the passengers seated on the upper deck, but during the entire incident, not one of them tried to intervene and stop the attack. None of the passengers even bothered to help my sister pick up her belongings. Only one passenger - Benjamin Tan Wei Kiong - who had been seated on the lower deck came to her aid. Benjamin heard the commotion and headed upstairs. He asked the bus driver to stop the bus and call the police. But the driver refused to, saying that the SBS command centre had told him to drive on. After this shocking incident, there are a few crucial issues I want to highlight: - Why didn't the bus driver stop the bus? Driving on meant my sister, as well as other passengers on the bus, was put at risk of another attack. - Why didn't the bus driver contact the police? Surely all bus personnel have been trained as to what to do when a passenger is assaulted. Even if he had been instructed to drive on and not stop, couldn't he have assessed the severity of the situation and taken action? - Most importantly, why did no one on the upper deck come forward to help my sister? Thanks to the inaction and apathy of the spectators on the bus, my sister is nursing not just her physical bruises but also the emotional hurt from the fact that no one bothered to help her. This incident has made me lose faith in the kindness of Singaporeans. The only glimmer of hope is the existence of Good Samaritans such as 22-year-old Benjamin, who helped my sister and who later spent his Saturday night at the police station with us. Thank you, Benjamin.     Irene Yeo   Editor's Note: This email also appeared on TODAY, published verbatim.  Read More →