Ah Chooooo (Sneeze) Part 1

Julian Hong

– August 11, 2009Posted in: Uncategorized

I guess my recent trip to Timor has impacted me greatly about the things that i have and yet take for granted.

I realized that writing and articulating my thoughts has helped me to learn better from my experiences as an individual and in a hope glean epiphanies that will strengthen my desire to make a positive difference in the world i live in.

Over the next 2 weeks, i hope to share my thoughts and views gleaned with respect to the following 5 areas. I hope to call it the Sneeze series! Why sneeze ?

1) Security and peace

2) Education

3) Healthcare

4) Water and irrigation

5) Simplicity of life

I realized that when a person sneezes, most of the time, the Physician does not just treat the sneeze but treats what causes the sneeze – From Hayfever (allergies) to the common flu to H1N1

Ah Choo!

In the same respect, i guess thats how i have been wired to think, exploring these 5 paradigms and perhaps discovering the cause (root) and effect (sneeze) through my experiences in UK, Timor Leste and Singapore!

Personally, i hope that when i look back at what i’ve blogged a decade later, these thoughts would not only keep my feet on the ground, but also help me cherish what i’ve been given.

About the Author

Julian is a student currently studying in the UK. At the age of 3, he came close to death due to a life threatening disease. Thankful for his second chance, Julian believes in making a positive difference with whatever he has been blessed with through various community opportunities both in Singapore and abroad. Someone who believes in the motto, "To heal sometimes, to relieve often but to comfort Always", he hope to share his musings and observations of daily life as a Singaporean student in the UK (:

R

Hi again Julian, thank you for fervency in engaging my posts with non-answers accompanied by your personal praises of Lee Kuan Yew. Thank you for further exposing what kind of people run this website.

Without a person like him, an ex-colony like Hong Kong has also come this far, and even exceeded Singapore in various aspects. By saying that you are thankful for Lee Kuan Yew and that doubting that Singapore would have come this far without him, you have also shown that you have a one-sided view of history.

But no one can blame you, since our history textbooks will never tell you the whole truth and you may not have read the other books that are available. I suggest you go read up more.

And if you cannot comment on the 'means' - which means you cannot even take a position on whether supporting the murderous Burmese military is a good or bad thing - please don't bother bringing up to us the humanitarian work you've been exposed to. It really doesn't say much when you support such a regime which directly supports the Burmese military regime.

Julian's reply: Hi R, I am not here to argue with you, because at the end of the day i am truly appreciative of your views. My parents taught me to be thankful and appreciative of what I have and not take things for granted (: I am truly impressed that you would scroll through all the comments to engage my views. In fact, i believe you are doing so because you, like another person i met elsewhere are truly concerned at where this country is heading and are not happy with the present state of things. Positive change takes time, and it can start with how we make a difference in the lives of our friends and families I look forward to your continued support!
R

Not interested in allowing my comment? Or perhaps its some error:

Hi Julian, you respect a man who allows detention and torture of Singaporeans? Wow, you might as well express your open support for the Burmese Military Junta (who, by the way PAP openly supports).

And we don't need to talk about the colonial independence era. As recent as 1987 local catholics, social workers, lawyers and other professionals were detained without trial and tortured as part of a 'Marxist conspiracy' fabricated by the PAP government.

Those 22 Singaporean men and women were stripped naked, made to sit on blocks of ice in freezing rooms, slapped, beaten and humiliated repeatedly to sign forced confessions.

There are a whole series of articles on this online, you can read quite a number here: http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/05/operation-spectrum-was-political-rape/

Julian's reply: Hi again R, thank you for your fervency in engaging my posts, appreciate it! I am in no position to comment on the means Mr Lee may have adopted because no one but him knows the full facts, but one thing i have learnt is to be thankful. Without him, i highly doubt that Singapore would have come this far. I qualify this not based on what has been taught to me in schools, but through my first hand witnessing of how difficult nation building is through the humanitarian work i've been exposed to.
R

"Julian’s reply: Hi there again Pang, I like this quote from the spiderman movie: with great power comes great responsibility. With what you are willing to say, you must be willing to take responsibility as well. One cannot simply say the earth is square without any concrete evidence"

Oh yes. Lee Kuan Yew needs to be held accountable for all the nonsense he has spewed all these years.

Nice try to use a quote from a movie to blanket-reply everything the other person wrote though. Why don't you try and disprove any of the claims made by the poster?

Julian's reply: Hi there annon, Thank you for following up with the backdated comments though! Appreciate your engagement (: I respect our founding father Lee Kuan Yew. You cannot deny the good work he has done for Singapore. Were the means justified ? I do not think any of us would have known better unless we were from the colonial independence era.
RED-man

////Julian’s reply: Hi there again Pang, I like this quote from the spiderman movie: with great power comes great responsibility. With what you are willing to say, you must be willing to take responsibility as well.///

Is this a threat?

////One cannot simply say the earth is square without any concrete evidence////

To my understanding of history, it is mostly the people that proclaim the earth is round that get to be executed. Please do not distort history.

P65, change the soup but don't change the ingredients. Band the truth to suit it needs. Thanks but no thanks!

Julian's reply: Hi RED-man, Why is that quote from spiderman threatening? I actually think it is a meaningful quote you know. I understand you may be upset or angry especially with our gahment, but i am not the gahment! these are just my views as a student! Thank you for taking time to read and reply though :)
Pang

Everyone is entitled to their own views? I don't Lee Kuan Yew would agree with you on that one.

In fact, those who expressed their own views were arrested and jailed, or detained without trial and tortured by ISD, or sued till bankruptcy.

If everyone is entitled to their own views, why was every single independent newspaper in Singapore forcibly shut down by 1990?

Julian's reply: Hi there again Pang, I like this quote from the spiderman movie: with great power comes great responsibility. With what you are willing to say, you must be willing to take responsibility as well. One cannot simply say the earth is square without any concrete evidence
Singapore Short Stories

The world will just keep changing. Its now the era of change which is unprecedented!

Julian's reply: I agree! We are part of that change as well whether we like it or not, and i reckon we can positively contribute to this change and shape the futures for ourselves and our children
Pang

So marketing this as a PAP youth propaganda was too overt and so now its marketed as one less subtle?

Julian's reply:
Hi Pang, glad to have you join us! Everyone is entitled to their own views, what is most important as you can see is that these views belong to us young Singaporeans (or young at heart!)
Julian Hong

Alexis: Where Singapore has come from since the threat of our communist past or coming out of colonial rule is remarkable. I believe the yardstick used by most commentaries is with regards to the western model. For a multi religious, multi racial country like Singapore, i as a citizen think that we have done pretty well. Can more be done to improve present situations? Definitely, but as Obama promised change, he also mentions that changes always takes time. I am definitely encouraged by our incumbent's willingness to change!

David: As i was mentioning to Alexis, the western model is good, but it cannot be fully applied to the Singapore context, it has to be tweaked. Literacy is of utmost importance for any population. The ability to read and write is something i take as a given, but in Timor, the ability to read and write gives them food on the table. Sexuality education is something that every government is slowly grappling with, with the effects of globalisation, i guess there is no one size fits all.
Alexis de Tocqueville

Shame on Singapore!!
Whilst the world condemns the sentencing of Aung San Suu Kyi , the propaganda paper Straits Jacket writes on its front page that after all the sentence is not that severe???
A few pages later, an editorial on democracy....
Singapore is a beacon af democracy in Asia? An example to be followed?
Umbelievable.....
Tan SM

I hope you do a 'ah chooo' comparison with the UK and other first world democratic developed countries as our government has a tendency to measure its' 'over achievements' with our regional neighbours.

Interesting to note that Timor-Leste scores a 7.22 (Flawed Democracy) and ranked 47 on the Economist Intelligence Unit Index of Democracy 2008.Singapore scored a measly 5.89 (Hybrid Regime) and is ranked 82.

We score miserably in Electoral process and pluralism and political participation.The previous incarnation of this blog where it featured PAP Members of Parliament is tantamount to these figures.Timor-Leste's Electoral process and pluralism and political participation scores are far higher than Singapore's.Are we that apathetic?

Is this reason why most young Singaporeans feel a sense of belonging to Singapore?

I would like to refer to this article in the Star: Sense of belonging lacking among the young published on 8 August 2009. (http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/8/8/focus/4473741&sec=focus)

What is the cause (root) and effect (sneeze)?
Julian Hong

Hi SM,

Firstly thank you for your comments.

Recently i was thinking about how i handled and treated the presents i received on my birthday. I found that i took less care of them and after awhile it was "chucked" one side. I compared this with the things which i saved up painfully to buy and i realized as well that i took greater care of them.

Well to be honest, even without the article, alot of my friends and myself agree upon where a sense of belonging is absent and a sense of apathy towards Singapore is highly prevalent.

Interestingly when i was younger, i always wanted to leave Singapore. And even now as i study in UK, that opportunity is higher than ever as a professional with a salary higher than what i would receive in Singapore.

Im not sure about my friends or others but for me i find that what i get for free, i end up taking for granted. Through stays in UK and Timor, i learnt to appreciate Singapore, especially the 5 points which i will discuss.

Im learning bit by bit to be thankful and with that perspective, with what im given, make a positive difference to the lives around me.

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Ah Chooooo (Sneeze) Part 1

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