Sunday: Culture, Scholars, and George Yeo in London

“Want a local culture? Just be ourselves creatively” Tay Kheng Soon, “MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew is right that culture today does not have the isolation or time to develop naturally its own distinctiveness. He is wrong that therefore no culture with distinctiveness will ever arise in Singapore.”

“George Yeo in London” George Yeo, “With Prime Minister in London”

“this is our country, this is our home” My Singapore News, “Do we invite foreigners to our homes and allow them to insult us and tell us to get out?”

“Scholars should work their way up” 

I HAVE many friends and relatives who are in the civil service.The civil service is such that those on scholarships are ‘guaranteed’ high positions even before they come on board.

While it is only right that as scholars they command a high position, let us not forget that most of the time these people are young and inexperienced. Some may not have held down a job.

A diploma-holder may be in the civil service for 10 years but due to his qualification, he may not have opportunities for promotion. In comes a scholar, who becomes the diploma-holder’s boss right away.

In terms of experience, the scholar is nowhere near the diploma-holder. He may have excelled academically but this will not guarantee that he will be a good leader.

Also, as scholars climb the career ladder too fast and too high in a short period of time, they tend to be arrogant.

Is there any way we can change the system so that they gain experience by working their way up? This would help them understand how an entire ministry works. In time, they may become good leaders, and, potentially, ministers.

Annie Koh Seok Kien (Ms)

Saturday Commentary

“3G SAF, 1G Rules & Regulations?” Free Thinker “On a more serious note, it seem to me that this continued ban on the possession of camera handphones by SAF personnel within camps & training areas would run contrary to the Ministry of Defence’s (Mindef) plan to transform the SAF into a 3rd Generation (3G) SAF, that is one which fully utilise the latest technology in its operations.”

“Choked by Middle Management” Trisha Reloaded, “I mean, how ironic can things get? MOE is rolling out the red carpet to attract people to teach, MOE wants to retain teachers, wants teachers to develop themselves professionally and yet, when a teacher chooses to do exactly that — take a Masters degree to upgrade herself and then returns to teach — she faces an uphill task trying to get her principal to support her.”