Dinner by Anna Olson @ St Regis. 24-Nov-2010

Mas Selamat's escape

Fugitive terrorist Mas Selamat escaped from detetion was given shelter by his brother. Thousands of policemen were sent to search in Singapore jungles but never search his relatives or friends' homes nor have them under survillance. Yet the govt claimed it was not a security lapse but lack of resources to do so. As usual, our govt never admit mistake.

Caucasus Oct 2010, Azerbijian

Most Terrible Thing That May Happen

The most terrible thing that may happen to you is not being held hostage by terrorists, but the Philippines police coming to rescue you.

Quran Burning

On a Florida pastor planning to burn Quran on 911 of 2010, the UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki Moon said :
"Such action cannot be condoned by any religion. They contradict the efforts of the UN and many people around the world to promote tolerance, intercultural understanding and mutual respect between cultures and religions."
Then, what has the UN done ?
The American think their freedom of speech is more important than racial and religious harmony. They are protected by their Constitution to harm such harmony.
Why can't they amend their Constitution ?
The Danish Cartoonist who caricatured Prophet Muhammad has been awarded the M100 Media Prize 2010. In the ceremony, German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the Danish Cartoonist for his achievements on freedom of speech.
The westerners continue to think they are more superior to other races and religions.

Is Singapore a small country ?

We keep saying Singapore is a small country, giving excuse why we can never do well in sport.

According to Wikipedia, Singapore is ranked 115 out of 223 countries in the World by population.

New Zealand (Ranked 123 with population of 4.3 Million)

Uruguay (131, 3.4 M)

Slovenia (144 of 2 M)

The three are all smaller than Singapore and were all qualified for World Cup Finals 2010.

By this time, Uruguay has even advanced into the semi finals.

Can we think of a better excuse than claiming we are just a small country ?

Marina Barrage

Dear Mr Lam,

We refer to your feedback to the Prime Minister concerning facilities in parks, which was forwarded to the Ministry of National Development for follow up. We are evaluating your suggestions and will respond you shortly.

Yours sincerely

Trina Khoo

Head/Infrastructure Division

Ministry of National Development

From: Joon Hin Lam [mailto:lamjh123@yahoo.com]
Sent: Sunday, 27 June, 2010 8:46 PM
To: PMO Hsien Loong LEE (PMO)
Cc: PUB Gee Paw TAN (PUB)
Subject: Marina Barrage

Dear Prime Minister,

I went to Marina Barrage on a hot Sunday afternoon. I saw many families with children playing at the pool and fountain on the ground floor (quite a few Malay families). There are also families flying kites on the roof top (Mainly Chinese). It was a perfect scene of happy family outing. I feel good for what PUB has done.
Presently, most of our parks do not have ‘Play” element in there. I wonder if we can build more such water theme park in our existing parks and also provide open space without trees for kite flying.
If we can attrack more family outing in our parks, we promote better family bonds.
Provide facilities for those who cannot afford to go to Resort World Sentosa will also close up the gap between the rich and poor.
Thank you.

Lam Joon Hin
S0022085Z

Tipping towards good service

I refer to the article today in the Straits Times.

I think the reporter should have done a research on when and why Singapore implemented Service Charge system.

The service Charge system was implemented to avoid problems from tipping system. And now Singapore want to bring back these problems.

I am not impressed of the service provided in the US. In my opinion after travelling more than 60 countries, I think the best service I have experienced was in Japan. And yet, in Japan, they don't have tipping system nor Service Charge system.

Good service is something that service provider must always provide, it should not be varied by tipping.

In Singapore, I tipped the waiters and bartenders at pubs and clubs well and received good service, but others who didn't tip them often not being attended to.

My conclusion - Tipping is Bribery.

(Sent to The ST today at 1.30pm).

(ST published it on 19 Feb).

Hospital Fee in Singapore

On Saturday, 6 Feb 2010, The Straits Times reported a prominent surgeon in Singapore faced SMC (Singapore Medical Council) hearing related to amount she charged a patient which ran into millions.
Hospitalisation fee in Singapore is an open cheque, you can be charged any amount by the doctor or hospital without having you to agree to it first. You don’t have an idea of how much you would be charged before the treatment and you can’t say No.
In addition, doctors can prescribe any unnecessary medicines and send you for unnecessary scanings and tests. One of my late mum’s doctors commented that why every doctor also gave my late mum so many Vitamins ? My mum at that time was looked after by around 5 or 6 speicalits.
When my late mum first saw a specialist, she was recommended to see another specialist for another part of her body then another one and another one. She ended up with around 5 or 6 specialists. In addition, we were also asked to engage a GP to coordiante for these specialists.
I just feel that we need to have a more transparent medical system in Singapore, as a patient, we should have the right to know how much we would be charged.

I sent this comment to the Minister for Health, Mr Khaw Boon Wan at 1.27pm today and he replied immediately as shown below at 1.35pm but did not quite answer to my point raised. Yes all hospitals will provide financial counselling pre-admission, but they only tell you how much is the room charge and the basic fees, they can't tell you how much more your doctor will charge you.

Healthcare is inevitably complex as patients differ from one another. But there are useful tips, such as: - Have a family GP whom you trust and have built up many years of relationship and familiar with your and your family. He/she will help you determine if you need a specialist and if so whom; - if a specialist prescribes surgery, get a second opinion; - if you require hospitalisation, all hospitals will provide financial counselling pre-admission, giving an estimate of length of stay and likely bill sizes.

Changi General Hospital

There is another complaint of Changi General Hospital (CGH) in The Straits Times Forum page today. Changi Hospital was named as New Changi Hospital (NCH). It has changed its name because NCH stands for Never Come Home. So they changed it to CGH, hoping that patients Can Go Home. However, CGH may also stand for Can Go Hell. So remember, don't go to Changi Hospital. It is rated as one of the worst hospital in Singapore.

Haiti Earthquake-Singapore Government's Aid

SINGAPORE government is contributing US$50,000 to the International Community's Humanitarian Relief efforts for Haiti, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, 14 Jan 2010. Singapore, with a population of 5 millions is contributing 1 cent per person. I am embarrassed. Singapore Gov't may want to save money for their New Year Ang Pow ?