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A letter on marriage -

2012-02-15T16:33:00.001-08:00

“When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

... Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed -dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband….

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.

So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

If you don’t share this, nothing will happen to you.

If you do, you just might save a marriage. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up

See Morehttp://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=178001635636518&set=a.137044676398881.17724.137042976399051&type=1&theater

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Socratest remembered - 4 Dec 2011 BBC

2011-12-04T18:38:00.000-08:00

Former Brazil captain Socrates has died at the age of 57.He had been in a critical condition with an intestinal infection since being admitted to intensive care on Friday at a hospital in Sao Paulo.Socrates, who was widely regarded as one of the greatest ever midfielders, was moved onto a life support machine on Saturday.He played in two World Cups, won 60 caps for his country between 1979 and 1986 and scored 22 goals.

The former Corinthians player, whose full name was Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Sousa Vieira de Oliveira, was taken to the Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo with food poisoning on Friday, according to his wife.A hospital statement said on Saturday that the former footballer was "in a critical condition due to a septic shock of intestinal origin".It added he was breathing with a ventilator and using a dialysis machine.

On Sunday Corinthians won their first Brazilian league title for six years after their 0-0 draw against Palmeiras was enough to edge out Vasco da Gama by two points.Fans held up several signs honouring Socrates and players held their closed right hand up in the air during the moment of silence before the match, imitating his trademark celebration after scoring."The Corinthians nation woke up very sad today because of the loss of this incredible person," striker Liedson said. "The title comes as a small way to honour him."Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said Brazil had lost "one of its most cherished sons"."

On the field, with his talent and sophisticated touches, he was a genius," she said. "Off the field... he was active politically, concerned with his people and his country."

Socrates scored 172 goals in 297 games for Brazilian club side Corinthians, having begun his career at Botafogo.More than a decade after retiring, he joined non-League Garforth Town at the age of 50 on a one-month deal as player-coach, but managed just 12 minutes as a substitute.Zico, a team-mate of Socrates in the iconic Brazil side of the 1970s, told website globoesporte.com: "He was a spectacular guy.

"As a player, there is not much to say; he was one of the best that I ever played with. His intelligence was unique."Paolo Rossi, who scored a hat-trick in Italy's memorable 3-2 quarter-final win over Socrates's Brazil in 1982 - widely regarded as one of the greatest games in World Cup history - paid tribute to his former opponent."It's a piece of our history that's broken off and gone away," he said."Socrates seemed like a player from another era. You couldn't place him in any category - on the pitch and even more so off it."Everyone knew about his degree in medicine and he had a lot of cultural and social interests as well. He was unique from every point of view."Socrates scored Brazil's first goal in that match, beating Dino Zoff at the near post after running on to Zico's wonderful through ball.

I remember the goal he scored against Zoff; he was one on one and it didn't seem like he could get to the ball. He looked slow but in reality he wasn't."He was a very dynamic player with a sublime foot but, most of all, great intelligence."Fiorentina, where Socrates spent one season, held a minute's silence before the Serie A match against Roma, when the players wore black armbands.A club statement read: "To the unforgettable 'Doctor' who played with the purple shirt in 1984/85, playing 25 matches and scoring six goals and who will always be remembered for his footballing intelligence, he will be affectionately remembered by the club, the team and the Fiorentina fans."Giancarlo Antognoni, a team-mate of Socrates at Fiorentina and an opponent in that famous 1982 World Cup clash, said: "I'm really hurt."He was a true personality, above the rules with his own methodology, his way of life and his idea

"He struggled to adapt to our football but he was an authentic champion, full of refined class, great charisma and character."Giancarlo De Sista, Fiorentina's coach at the time, also spoke of his admiration for Socrates as a player and a person."Socrates was a very intelligent man; he had great class," he said."I remember that he was an objector. He wanted to know everything - why he couldn't smoke on the team bus, why we had to be in retreat on the Saturday nights before games."He was an intelligent person who was interested in politics, although he smoked and drank a bit too much."Sad start to the day. Rest in peace Dr. SocratesFormer Brazil striker Ronaldo on TwitterFormer Brazil striker Ronaldo wrote on Twitter: "Sad start to the day. Rest in peace Dr. Socrates."Socrates was taken to hospital in August and September this year with bleeding in his digestive tract.After these incidents he admitted he had problems with alcohol, especially so during his playing career. He is also well known for his smoking habit.In a recent television interview, Socrates said he had considered alcohol his "companion" but believed its regular use did not affect his performance on the field."Alcohol did not affect my career, in part because I never had the physical build to play this game," he said."Soccer became my profession only when I was already 24. I was too thin and when I was young I did not have the opportunity to prepare myself physically for the sport."

SOCRATES FACTFILE Born on 19 February 1954 in Belem do Para, Brazil Rated as one of the greatest midfielders of all-time At 6ft 4in tall he was known for his physical strength, as well as two-footed vision and skill Played for Botafogo and Corinthians in Brazil before a one-season spell at Fiorentina Saw out his career with Flamengo and Santos before retiring in 1989 aged 35 In 2004 aged 50, Socrates made an appearance as sub for Garforth Town in the Northern Counties League after a one-off deal to become player-coach

They don't get harder than Smokin' Joe Frazier

2011-12-04T05:58:00.000-08:00

They don’t get any harder than Joe Frazier. The son of a sharecropper, he grew up in the blackest part of black America, Beaufort County, South Carolina. He spent his childhood makin bootleg corn liquor and beating on a stuffed burlap sack. As a child on the farm his left arm was mauled by a 300 lb hog. Unable to pay for medical attention, the arm healed crooked, leaving it permanently cocked for the perfect left hook.

In the 70s, Joe Frazier’s gym on Broad and Indiana was the best place to train in the United States. He had the greatest trainer who ever lived, Eddie Futch. Following a training accident in 1964, Joe Frazier was partially blind in his left eye for his entire career, still going on to be one of the greatest fighters ever to live. That legacy was cemented in the annals of boxing history in 1971, after he became the first man ever to defeat Muhammad Ali. In doing so he captured the greatest title in all of sports: Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Boxing is the hardest sport, by far. There aint no teams. It’s just you getting punched in the face for three minutes at a time. It aint the UFC. You can’t tap out. You can’t quit. You can’t rest. You gotta hit the other guy harder than he hits you. It’s the only sport where the players are willing to pay the ultimate price to win. Fighters die in the ring every year. Joe Frazier said that he would have been prepared to die to fight the last round of the Thrilla in Manilla, his third and final fight with Ali. As a blind Frazier begged Eddie Futch to go on, he through in the towel before the start of the fifteenth round. Little did they know that Ali was begging his corner to cut his gloves off, and probably would not have stood had that bell rung.

Human beings are the last step in an evolution of animals that crawled out of the ocean. The only thing we have in common with those beasts is the will to fight to the death in order to triumph.

Boxing is the only thing in the world that brings out that desire in humans today.For his last thirty years, Joe Frazier lived in a room on top of his gym on Broad and Indiana.

He was broke from various failed business ventures, most notably, after buying 140 acres in Bucks County for $800,000. He eventually lost the land, and today it is worth over $100 million.

He didn’t have it all bad though. Still a revered figure in boxing history, he toured the country frequently, being paid to appear at various functions.

He was also a regular at Philly’s own B&W Sports Bar on 22nd and Spring Garden, where he enjoyed a New York Strip or Blackened Tilapia, along with his favorite drink — Courvoisier and ginger ale.

There is a disgraceful statue of of Sly Stallone, who stole many of Frazier’s real life training exploits (including pounding beef carcasses and running up the art museum steps) standing in front of the Art Museum. Where is Joe Frazier’s statue?

Joe Frazier, Ex-Heavyweight Champ, Dies at 67

2011-12-04T05:51:00.000-08:00

Joe Frazier, the former heavyweight champion whose furious and intensely personal fights with a taunting Muhammad Ali endure as an epic rivalry in boxing history, died Monday night at his home in Philadelphia. He was 67.

His business representative, Leslie Wolff, said the cause was liver cancer. An announcement over the weekend that Frazier had received the diagnosis in late September and had been moved to hospice care early this month prompted an outpouring of tributes and messages of support. Known as Smokin’ Joe, Frazier stalked his opponents around the ring with a crouching, relentless attack — his head low and bobbing, his broad, powerful shoulders hunched — as he bore down on them with an onslaught of withering jabs and crushing body blows, setting them up for his devastating left hook. It was an overpowering modus operandi that led to versions of the heavyweight crown from 1968 to 1973. Frazier won 32 fights in all, 27 by knockouts, losing four times — twice to Ali in furious bouts and twice to George Foreman. He also recorded one draw. A slugger who weathered repeated blows to the head while he delivered punishment, Frazier proved a formidable figure. But his career was defined by his rivalry with Ali, who ridiculed him as a black man in the guise of a Great White Hope. Frazier detested him.

Ali vs. Frazier was a study in contrasts. Ali: tall and handsome, a wit given to spouting poetry, a magnetic figure who drew adulation and denigration alike, the one for his prowess and outsize personality, the other for his antiwar views and Black Power embrace of Islam. Frazier: a bull-like man of few words with a blue-collar image and a glowering visage who in so many ways could be on an equal footing with his rival only in the ring. Ali proclaimed, “I am the greatest” and he preened how he could “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” Frazier had no inclination for oratorical bravado. “Work is the only meanin’ I’ve ever known,” he told Playboy in 1973. “Like the man in the song says, I just gotta keep on keepin’ on.” Frazier won the undisputed heavyweight title with a 15-round decision over Ali at Madison Square Garden in March 1971, in an extravaganza known as the Fight of the Century. Ali scored a 12-round decision over Frazier at the Garden in a nontitle bout in January 1974. Then came the Thrilla in Manila championship bout, in October 1975, regarded as one of the greatest fights in boxing history. It ended when a battered Frazier, one eye swollen shut, did not come out to face Ali for the 15th round. The Ali-Frazier battles played out at a time when the heavyweight boxing champion was far more celebrated than he is today, a figure who could stand alone in the spotlight a decade before an alphabet soup of boxing sanctioning bodies arose, making it difficult for the average fan to figure out just who held what title. The rivalry was also given a political and social cast. Many viewed the Ali-Frazier matches as a snapshot of the struggles of the 1960s. Ali, an adherent of the Nation of Islam who had changed his name from Cassius Clay, came to represent rising black anger in America and opposition to the Vietnam War. Frazier voiced no political views, but he was nonetheless depicted, to his consternation, as the favorite of the establishment. Ali called him ignorant, likened him to a gorilla and said his black supporters were Uncle Toms. “Frazier had become the white man’s fighter, Mr. Charley was rooting for Frazier, and that meant blacks were boycotting him in their heart,” Norman Mailer wrote in Life magazine after the first Ali-Frazier bout. Frazier, wrote Mailer, was “twice as black as Clay and half as handsome,” with “the rugged decent life-worked face of a man who had labored in the pits all his life.” Frazier could never match Ali’s charisma or his gift for the provocative quote. He was essentially a man devoted to a brutal craft, willing to give countless hours to his spartan training-camp routine and unsparing of his body inside the ring. “The way I fight, it’s not me beatin’ the man: I make the man whip himself,” Frazier told Playboy. “Because I stay close to him. He can’t get out the way.” He added: “Before he knows it — whew! — he’s tired. And he can’t pick up his second wind because I’m right back on him again.” In his autobiography, “Smokin’ Joe,” written with Phil Berger, Frazier said his first trainer, Yank Durham, had given him his nickname. It was, he said, “a name that had come from what Yank used to say in the dressing room before sending me out to fight: ‘Go out there, goddammit, and make smoke come from those gloves.’ “ Foreman knocked out Frazier twice but said he had never lost his respect for him. “Joe Frazier would come out smoking,” Foreman told ESPN. “If you hit him, he liked it. If you knocked him down, you only made him mad.” Durham said he saw a fire always smoldering in Frazier. “I’ve had plenty of other boxers with more raw talent,” he told The New York Times Magazine in 1970, “but none with more dedication and strength.” Ali himself was conciliatory when Frazier’s battle with cancer became publicly known. “My family and I are keeping Joe and his family in our daily prayers,” Ali said in his statement over the weekend. “Joe has a lot of friends pulling for him, and I’m one of them.” And when word reached him that Frazier had died, Ali, in another statement, said: “The world has lost a great champion. I will always remember Joe with respect and admiration.” Billy Joe Frazier was born on Jan. 12, 1944, in Laurel Bay, S.C., the youngest of 12 children. His father, Rubin, and his mother, Dolly, worked in the fields, and the youngster known as Billy Boy dropped out of school at 13. He dreamed of becoming a boxing champion, throwing his first punches at burlap sacks he stuffed with moss and leaves, pretending to be Joe Louis or Ezzard Charles or Archie Moore. At 15, Frazier went to New York to live with a brother. A year later he moved to Philadelphia, taking a job in a slaughterhouse. At times he battered sides of beef, using them as a punching bag to work out, the kind of scene used by Slyvester Stallone in the film “Rocky,” though Stallone said that he drew on the life of the heavyweight contender Chuck Wepner in developing the Rocky character. Durham discovered Frazier boxing to lose weight at a Police Athletic League gym in Philadelphia. Under Durham’s guidance, Frazier captured a Golden Gloves championship and won the heavyweight gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. He turned pro in August 1965, with financial backing from businessmen calling themselves the Cloverlay Group (from cloverleaf, for good luck, and overlay, a betting term signifying good odds). He won his first 11 bouts by knockouts. By winter 1968, his record was 21-0. A year before Frazier’s pro debut, Cassius Clay won the heavyweight championship in a huge upset of Sonny Liston. Soon afterward, affirming his rumored membership in the Nation of Islam, he became Muhammad Ali. In April 1967, having proclaimed, “I ain’t got nothing against them Vietcong,” Ali refused to be drafted, claiming conscientious objector status. Boxing commissions stripped him of his title, and he was convicted of evading the draft. An eight-man elimination tournament was held to determine a World Boxing Association champion to replace Ali. Frazier refused to participate when his financial backers objected to the contract terms for the tournament, and Jimmy Ellis took the crown. But in March 1968, Frazier won the version of the heavyweight title recognized by New York and a few other states, defeating Buster Mathis with an 11th-round technical knockout. He took the W.B.A. title in February 1970, stopping Ellis, who did not come out for the fifth round. In the summer of 1970, Ali won a court battle to regain his boxing license, then knocked out the contenders Jerry Quarry and Oscar Bonavena. The stage was set for an Ali-Frazier showdown, a matchup of unbeaten fighters, on March 8, 1971, at Madison Square Garden. Each man was guaranteed $2.5 million, the biggest boxing payday ever. Frank Sinatra was at ringside taking photos for Life magazine. The former heavyweight champion Joe Louis received a huge ovation. Hubert H. Humphrey, back in the Senate after serving as vice president, sat two rows in front of the Irish political activist Bernadette Devlin, who shouted, “Ali, Ali,” her left fist held high. An estimated 300 million watched on television worldwide, and the gate of $1.35 million set a record for an indoor bout. Frazier, at 5 feet 11 1/2 inches and 205 pounds, gave up three inches in height and nearly seven inches in reach to Ali, but he was a 6-to-5 betting favorite. Just before the fighters received their instructions from the referee, Ali, displaying his arrogance of old, twice touched Frazier’s shoulders as he whirled around the ring. Frazier just glared at him. Frazier wore Ali down with blows to the body while moving underneath Ali’s jabs. In the 15th round, Frazier unleashed his famed left hook, catching Ali on the jaw and flooring him for a count of 4, only the third time Ali had been knocked down. Ali held on, but Frazier won a unanimous decision. Frazier declared, “I always knew who the champ was.” Frazier continued to bristle over Ali’s taunting. “I’ve seen pictures of him in cars with white guys, huggin’ ‘em and havin’ fun,” Frazier told Sport magazine two months after the fight. “Then he go call me an Uncle Tom. Don’t say, ‘I hate the white man,’ then go to the white man for help.” For Frazier, 1971 was truly triumphant. He bought a 368-acre estate called Brewton Plantation near his boyhood home and became the first black man since Reconstruction to address the South Carolina Legislature. Ali gained vindication in June 1971 when the United States Supreme Court overturned his conviction for draft evasion. Frazier defended his title against two journeymen, Terry Daniels and Ron Stander, but Foreman took his championship away on Jan. 22, 1973, knocking him down six times in their bout in Kingston, Jamaica, before the referee stopped the fight in the second round. Frazier met Ali again in a nontitle bout at the Garden on Jan. 28, 1974. Frazier kept boring in and complained that Ali was holding in the clinches, but Ali scored with flurries of punches and won a unanimous 12-round decision. Ali won back the heavyweight title in October 1974, knocking out Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire — the celebrated Rumble in the Jungle. Frazier went on to knock out Quarry and Ellis, setting up his third match, and second title fight, with Ali: the Thrilla in Manila, on Oct. 1, 1975. In what became the most brutal Ali-Frazier battle, the fight was held at the Philippine Coliseum at Quezon City, outside the country’s capital, Manila. The conditions were sweltering, with hot lights overpowering the air-conditioning. Ali, almost a 2-to-1 betting favorite in the United States, won the early rounds, largely remaining flat-footed in place of his familiar dancing style. Before Round 3 he blew kisses to President Ferdinand Marcos and his wife, Imelda, in the crowd of about 25,000. But in the fourth round, Ali’s pace slowed while Frazier began to gain momentum. Chants of “Frazier, Frazier” filled the arena by the fifth round, and the crowd seemed to favor him as the fight moved along, a contrast to Ali’s usually enjoying the fans’ plaudits. Frazier took command in the middle rounds. Then Ali came back on weary legs, unleashing a flurry of punches to Frazier’s face in the 12th round. He knocked out Frazier’s mouthpiece in the 13th round, then sent him stumbling backward with a straight right hand. Ali jolted Frazier with left-right combinations late in the 14th round. Frazier had already lost most of the vision in his left eye from a cataract, and his right eye was puffed and shut from Ali’s blows. Eddie Futch, a renowned trainer working Frazier’s corner, asked the referee to end the bout. When it was stopped, Ali was ahead on the scorecards of the referee and two judges. “It’s the closest I’ve come to death,” Ali said. Frazier returned to the ring nine months later, in June 1976, to face Foreman at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. Foreman stopped him on a technical knockout in the fifth round. Frazier then announced his retirement. He was 32. He later managed his eldest son, Marvis, a heavyweight. In December 1981 he returned to the ring to fight a journeyman named Jumbo Cummings, fought to a draw, then retired for good, tending to investments from his home in Philadelphia. Both Frazier and Ali had daughters who took up boxing, and in June 2001 it was Ali-Frazier IV when Frazier’s daughter Jacqui Frazier-Lyde fought Ali’s daughter Laila Ali at a casino in Vernon, N.Y. Like their fathers in their first fight, both were unbeaten. Laila Ali won on a decision. Joe Frazier was in the crowd of 6,500, but Muhammad Ali, impaired by Parkinson’s syndrome, was not. In addition to his son Marvis and his daughter Jacqui, Frazier is survived by his sons Hector, Joseph Rubin, Joseph Jordan, Brandon Marcus and Derek Dennis; his daughters Weatta, Jo-Netta, Renae and Natasha, and a sister. His marriage to his wife, Florence, ended in divorce. Long after his fighting days were over, Frazier retained his enmity for Ali. But in March 2001, the 30th anniversary of the first Ali-Frazier bout, Ali told The New York Times: “I said a lot of things in the heat of the moment that I shouldn’t have said. Called him names I shouldn’t have called him. I apologize for that. I’m sorry. It was all meant to promote the fight.” Asked for a response, Frazier said: “We have to embrace each other. It’s time to talk and get together. Life’s too short.” Fascination with the Ali-Frazier saga has endured. After a 2008 presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, the Republican media consultant Stuart Stevens said that McCain should concentrate on selling himself to America rather than criticizing Obama. Stevens’s prescription: “More Ali and less Joe Frazier.” Frazier’s true feelings toward Ali in his final years seemed murky. The 2009 British documentary “Thrilla in Manila,” shown in the United States on HBO, depicted Frazier watching a film of the fight from his apartment above the gym he ran in Philadelphia. “He’s a good-time guy,” John Dower, the director of “Thrilla in Manila,” told The Times. “But he’s angry about Ali.” In March 2011, however, on the eve of the 40th anniversary of the first Ali-Frazier fight, Frazier said he was willing to put the enmity behind him. “I forgave him for all the accusations he made over the years,” The Daily News quoted Frazier as saying. “I hope he’s doing fine. I’d love to see him.” But as Frazier once told The Times: “Ali always said I would be nothing without him. But who would he have been without me?”

By RICHARD GOLDSTEINPublished: November 7, 2011. NY Times

Top PSLE Student 2011

2011-11-24T21:05:00.000-08:00

A female student from Rulang Primary School emerged as this year’s primary school leaving examination (PSLE) top scorer.Yasmin Ziqin binte Mohamad Yousoof achieved an aggregate score of 283, the highest amongst the 45,251 primary 6 students that sat for the examination this year, according to results announced on Thursday.Out of 17 top students listed by the MOE, three came from Raffles Girls Primary School and St Hilda’s Primary School each. The others came from schools such as Tao Nan Primary School and Greenridge Primary School.The MOE said that out of the total number of examinees, 97.4 per cent or 44,106 students may proceed to secondary school. Out of that number, 62.9 per cent are eligible for the Express course while 23.1 per cent and 11.4 per cent qualify for the Normal Academic and Technical courses, respectively.Six schools also made it into the list of those who have made good progress in the PSLE results. They are: Ai Tong School, Anderson Primary School, Bukit View Primary School, Kheng Cheng School, Park View Primary School and White Sands Primary School.This was based on criteria such as achieving at least 5 per cent improvement in percentage of students who qualify for the Express course as well as positive improvement in pupils able to enter Normal Academic and Technical courses as compared to 2010 results.Parents whose children qualify to progress can submit their choices of secondary schools through the Secondary One Internet System (S1-IS) which is accessible 24 hours a day from 12 noon today till 3pm on 30 November.They can also submit the option form through their child’s primary school which started from 12 pm to 3pm on Thursday and will continue from 9am to 3pm between 25 and 30 November.Results of the postings will be released on Wednesday, 21 December and pupils are expected to report to the secondary schools they are posted to on the day after at 8.30am.Last year, out of 45,049 students who took the examination, Alex Tan from Rosyth School emerged as the PSLE top student with an aggregate score of 282 and straight As in all his subjects.More about the story

Does S’pore need tools to hammer home filial piety?

2011-11-14T18:31:00.001-08:00

Deborah Choo
"Love cannot be a legal obligation, and genuine concern cannot be commanded by a court order."
- Alice Chen Yan, Sydney Globalist writer
A devoted mother, drenched from running miles under the rain to the nearest hospital, cradled her child in her arms and sang the old classic "天黑黑" ("Dark skies"). Years passed. Her son soon set up his own family.

Day by day she grew older. Her husband passed away. She developed problems walking. Her health deteriorated, and she was soon admitted into hospital, her life relying on machines for support.
That day, it was raining too.

"Dad, grandma always treated mum and you so badly. How can you still be sad for her?" the grandson asked his father at the hospital.

His father looked out into the rain. Pitter-patter, pitter-patter…
It was Singapore in the 60s. A mother cradled her feverish son in her arms, desperately flagging a vehicle. None stopped. Rushing to the hospital on foot, she frantically grabbed a nurse to seek help. Wait, she was told.

Settling in a chair, she sung that classic song.

This fictional story is the plot for a 2010 TV advertisement 'Father and Son'. Spearheaded by the National Family Council and supported by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), the ad aimed to promote the value of filial piety.
Setting aside the controversy that followed, an MCYS spokesperson told The New Paper last year that the reason for the ad was because "Singapore's population is rapidly ageing and the traditional value of filial piety may be lost in an increasingly globalised society."
But is it true that filial piety is making way for modernity?
An alarming story broke this week of an elderly couple who was forced out of their eldest son's home after a heated discussion that eventually culminated in the police's involvement.
Foo Tin Tak, 62 and his wife, Tham, 55, claimed their son owes them money. He in return claimed his father had threatened to kill him with a knife during the quarrel.
Foo and his wife, both of whom have difficulties walking, resorted to spending two sleepless nights at a fast-food outlet before approaching the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh for help. They are now settled into a congested three-room flat with another family. Their youngest son, 27, is also living together with them now.

To be fair, a single story is not suggestive of an emerging trend.

Law used to underscore tradition

Respect and filial piety has long been the cornerstone in Asian societies. Almost like an unspoken defining social contract that has been carried on through generations, the government is now taking on a proactive -- and some might argue, an invasive -- role to preserve this tradition.

In this Asian country, singles face limitations such as the purchase of HDB flats since most children are expected to live with their parents until marriage. Also, a special type of CPF housing grant is made available for married child living near his or her parents -- specifically either in the same town/estate or within 2 km of the married child's HDB flat.
Monthly monetary contributions too are seen as an act of reciprocity. In the event filial piety fails though, there is the Maintenance of Parents Act of 1995 where parents can use to sue their scions for monthly allowances.

As of 2009, there has been about 1,400 applications filed for maintenance at the Tribunal, out of which about more than 1,000 maintenance orders were made. It is recorded that in 2008, over 170 applications were received.

Interestingly enough, most parents who resorted to this measure are Chinese fathers, usually single -- either widowed or divorced.

The burgeoning need, it seems, to take recalcitrant children to task may serve as a safeguard for the cultural value of filial piety.

However, as Vivian Balakrishnan, former Minister of MCYS and current Minister for the Environment and Water Resources rightfully pointed out, the law should be used as a "last resort".
A blunt instrument as that might be a tad too harsh; sometimes almost tantamount to inflicting damage on a family relationship that might already be teetering precariously on the edge of resolution.

Moreover, blatant propaganda does not go over well with the public. In a recent NUS survey, one in two out of 200 Singaporeans revealed that the campaigns are excessive.
The staggering amount of finances poured into campaigns might go a lot longer — and in a more subtly supportive way — when it's given out as financial support to the elderly who need it.
I do not speak for all Singaporeans when I say this: Yes, we are modern and may prefer our freedom and independence, but we remain willing to provide for our parents.
The metaphorical saying goes that "If you tell a child he can fly, he will believe he can fly".
To draw a parallel, positive reinforcements such as awards (which are comparatively given less prominence in our society) encourages not only the polite and filial citizens in our midst, it also acts as an invisible check on the people by the people.
If the next generation is continually being raised under a highly reprehensive society where constant reminders via campaigns or even legal conditioning that elicits only fear, over time they will believe that they are ungracious and unfilial. This only serves to propagate the opposite intention more pervasively through generations.

So instead of legislative imposition from higher authorities down the societal pyramid, let's work collectively as a society — to lead by example, and be generous where credit is due.
Deborah Choo used to write for an array of websites such as Youth.SG and The Online Citizen. She now blogs in her free time.

2011-11-14T18:24:00.001-08:00

Under our "Inspiring People" monthly column, we highlight the incredible journey of one person who has overcome tremendous odds to achieve personal success. This column celebrates the triumph of the human spirit and we hope it will inspire you to reach for your dreams, too. This month, we bring you Jeremy Lim, whose fragile condition has not stopped him from actively pursuing his dreams.
Each time one of his bones breaks, it's like a sword has pierced his body.
“The pain is as excruciating as it is traumatic,” describes 21-year-old Jeremy Lim, who was born with brittle-bone disease.
Yet when he was only 12-years-old, Lim held back his tears and told his mother that he was not in pain after breaking his arm and leg from a fall.

His mother, Wong Liang Ming, recalled, “In the car, he was the one comforting me, saying, ‘Don’t cry, I’m okay’."

“And as I carried him into the house, with the help of my husband, there he was holding back tears just so I won’t feel bad. And he told dad that it’s not mummy’s fault. There he is in pain and protecting me. … At that point, I have the highest respect for my son,” she said.
Lim’s reaction perhaps stems from a philosophy he holds close to his heart, that “nothing can change what happens to you but you can change how you react to an incident”.
“From an early age, my parents taught me to look at the bright side of life because if you look on the bright side, there will not be a dark shadow in sight,” Lim told Yahoo! Singapore in an hour-long interview.

Lim was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta, also known as brittle-bone disease which affects one in some 20,000 births. As a child, his bones would break with a “pop” sound every other week as he rolled over in his sleep or tried to open a box of toys on his own.

His bones are sturdier now thanks to an experimental drug he has been taking the last 13 years to increase bone density. The last time he broke a bone – his collarbone – was a few years ago.
Still, Lim’s delicate condition has not stopped him from reaching out to help the less fortunate or from steadfastly pursuing his dreams.

‘Only natural to help other people’
If he looks familiar to some, Lim was a young ambassador for the National Kidney Foundation’s children’s medical fund from 2001 – 2005. His stint ended after malpractices by former NKF chief executive T T Durai were uncovered.

As ambassador, Lim would collect cheques, give speeches, visit beneficiaries’ homes to cheer them up and check on their health.

When he was in Temasek Junior College, Lim participated in school initiatives to help the needy. He went with other students to collect newspapers and recyclable material from households to raise money for charity. If there was no lift at a particular flat, Lim, wheel-chair bound, would stay behind to look after the collected material, he recalled.

He would also visit old folks’ homes and talk to residents to cheer them up.

His mother recalls that his charitable nature was apparent from his younger days. In primary three, Lim would take the school-issued pledge card and enthusiastically ask his father’s friends to donate to charity.

“With my condition, I want to focus on what I can do, focus on making a positive difference in the lives of the less fortunate... I think God has been kind to me, he’s given me a lot of blessings. It’s only natural for me to help other people,” said Lim.
He listed several people who have helped shaped his life.
There was his then-principal of Pei Chun Public School Chen Keng Juan who offered him a place to study when many other schools rejected him because of his health condition. “Some even thought I was mentally ill,” said Lim.

Then in Temasek Junior College, principal Loke-Yeo Teck Yong had ramps retrofitted and a lift built in the school in preparation for Lim’s attendance there. During the orientation games, organisers made him a station master when he could not participate in the games.
“It’s not about the hardware, it’s about the heartware,” said Lim. “It made me feel very included.”
“I don’t think I could be where I am today without these people. There’s so many people in my life whom I’ve had the honour of meeting. They’ve touched my life, they’ve wanted me to succeed and helped me to achieve my goals,” he stated.

Pursing his passions

This year, Lim fulfilled one of his dreams to be a published author. He wrote and published his autobiography titled “Beyond Bone Breaking”, where he shared life experiences that he hopes will inspire readers.

The book contains a foreword by former President S R Nathan, whom Lim first met when he was 12. The pair have kept in touch through the years.

Other than writing, Lim counts Japanese animation as among his passions. He has shelves of Japanese anime figures at home.

The second year student at the National University of Singapore is now deciding between majoring in Japanese studies or new media communications.

He once had dreams of becoming a genetic engineer but realised chemistry was “too abstract” for him. He is considering writing, animation or even opening a toy shop selling Japanese toys as career options.

No matter what choice he makes, he has already shown many people the path to touching people’s hearts.

“Jeremy has made a difference in our lives,” said Lim’s mother, Wong. “People say society is less gracious (now). Maybe they are put here to remind us we must be humble and count our blessings.”

The 5 Regrets

2011-06-19T08:30:00.000-07:00

5 regrets people have on their deathbeds

Ms. Bronnie Ware has worked with the dying for many years. She recently detailed the top 5 regrets that people have on their deathbed on her blog
(http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html).

While we are all bound to have some regrets in life, here are the top 5.

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

Ware said that this was the most common regret of all. It’s easy to let our dreams slip by due to circumstances or decisions that we’ve made. These choices mark the divide between living a fulfilled life or one that is full of regrets.

It’s important that we aim to achieve at least some of our dreams along the way. We often put off trying for our dreams due to a myriad of reasons. Before we know it, we would have lost our health and therefore, our chance to attain them.

If your dream is to start a business, get to it. If it’s to learn how to dance or try skydiving, book a class. If you want to make music, pick up a guitar.

Don’t put it off any longer.

2. I wish I didn’t work so hard.

In between having ends meet and aiming for a luxurious lifestyle, it’s easy to see why we get caught up with our work.

Ware said that this was a common regret of male patients who didn’t manage to spend enough time with their family.

It’s easy to get caught up in the rat race, but remember to set aside some time for the important things in life. Most importantly, you will have to understand why you do what you do. Is it for your own personal achievement, for family, or for a higher calling?

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

Hands up anyone who has suppressed their feelings in order to avoid potential embarrassment or argument.

Avoiding arguments is good for a harmonious life, but the problem comes when we take it too far. When we blindly follow the opinions of someone more assertive just to avoid arguments, we’re shortchanging ourselves.

While it’s understandable that we use Twitter and blogging to rant about things we are unhappy with, do remember that talking about it face-to-face is always a more sincere option.

So if an issue is major enough, try approaching the person for an honest and frank chat. We’re not saying that the talk will be smooth sailing, but your relationships will emerge stronger and healthier.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

It’s easy to lose touch with good friends. A busy lifestyle can take away time from the ones you love. This is where technology comes in.

With services like Facebook, WhatsApp and Yahoo! Messenger, it’s easy to keep tabs on old friends. Talking to friends is so effortless today that we have no reason to let staying in touch with friends take a backseat.

At the end of the day though, nothing beats chatting over a cup of coffee. So always remember to occasionally take things offline and catch up with your friends the old fashioned way.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

Many don't realize until the end that happiness is a choice’, said Ware in her blog post.

This is very true. Happiness is something that we choose for ourselves. Many get upset over the circumstances in their lives. What they do not realize is that they can choose to face difficulties with a smile.

Take a moment and enjoy life. If difficulties come your way, remember that pain is inevitable but wallowing in misery is always optional.

Choose to be happy.

Va. inmate 1st woman in 5 years executed in US A Euthanasia

2010-09-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

Va. inmate 1st woman in 5 years executed in US
AP
By STEVE SZKOTAK,Associated Press Writer - Friday, September 24

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JARRATT, Va. – Teresa Lewis spent the last days before her execution as she had spent one side of her life _ singing hymns and praying. That devotion to Christianity, by her own admission, was countered by outrageous bouts of sex and betrayal.

That dark side led her life to a deadly turn in 2002 when she plied two men with sex and cash to kill her husband and stepson to collect on a $250,000 insurance policy. For that, the 41-year-old on Thursday was the first woman put to death in the U.S. since 2005.

Lewis died by injection at 9:13 p.m., apologizing first to the sole surviving daughter of the husband she had killed. She was the first woman in Virginia since 1912 put to death. Her supporters and relatives of the victims watched her execution at Greensville Correctional Center in Jarratt.

"She was very peaceful," before she entered the death chamber, said her attorney, James Rocap III.

"We thought that we were supposed to be helping her, while she was actually helping us," he said about the days leading to her death during which she laughed, sang and prayed _ for everybody.

Lewis promised the killers a cut of a life insurance policy to shoot her husband, Julian Clifton Lewis Jr., and his son, Charles, as they slept in October 2002. Both triggermen were sentenced to life in prison and one committed suicide in 2006.

Lewis appeared fearful, her jaw clenched, as she was escorted into the death chamber. She glanced tensely around at 14 assembled corrections officials before being bound to a gurney with heavy leather straps.

Moments before her execution, Lewis asked if her husband's daughter _ her stepdaughter _ was near. She was. Kathy Clifton was in an adjacent witness room blocked from the inmate's view by a two-way mirror.

"I want Kathy to know that I love her and I'm very sorry," Lewis said.

Then, as the drugs flowed into her body, her feet bobbed but she otherwise remained motionless. A guard lightly tapped her on the shoulder reassuringly as she slipped into death.

More than 7,300 appeals to stop the execution had been made to the governor in a state second only to Texas in the number of people it executes.

Texas held the most recent U.S. execution of a woman in 2005. Out of more than 1,200 people put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, only 11 have been women.

Lewis, who defense attorneys said was borderline mentally disabled, had inspired other inmates by singing Christian hymns in prison. Her fate also had drawn appeals from the European Union, an indignant rebuke from Iran and the disgust of thousands of people.

The execution stirred an unusual amount of attention because of her gender, claims she lacked the intelligence to mastermind the killings and the post-conviction emergence of defense evidence that one of the triggermen manipulated her. Her spiritual adviser, the Rev. Julie Perry, stood sobbing as she later witnessed the execution, clutching a religious book.

Throughout her life, a faith in God had been a seeming constant for Lewis _ whether it was the prayer with her husband hours before he was killed or her ministry behind bars.

But there was another side.

"I was doing drugs, stealing, lying and having several affairs during my marriages," Lewis wrote in a statement that was read at a prison religious service in August. "I went to church every Sunday, Friday and revivals but guess what? I didn't open my Bible at home, only when I was at church."

Her father said she ran off to get married, then later abandoned her children and ran off with her sister's husband. Then she had an affair with her sister's fiance while at the same time having an affair with another man.

Lewis married Julian in 2000 and two years later, his son Charles entered the U.S. Army Reserve. When he was called for active duty he obtained a $250,000 life insurance policy, naming his father the beneficiary and providing temptation for Teresa Lewis.

Both men would have to die for Lewis to receive the payout.

She met at a Walmart with the two men who ultimately killed Julian Lewis and his son. Lewis began an affair with Matthew Shallenberger and later had sex with the other triggerman, Rodney Fuller. She also arranged sex with Fuller and her daughter, who was 16, in a parking lot.

On the night before Halloween in 2002, after she prayed with her husband, Lewis got out of bed, unlocked the door to their mobile home and put the couple's pit bull in a bedroom so the animal wouldn't interfere. Shallenberger and Fuller came in and shot both men several times with the shotguns Lewis had bought for them.

___

Online:

Save Teresa Lewis: http://www.saveteresalewis.org

Zig Ziglar - Cause of Unhappiness

2010-06-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

A Harvard psychology professor once said that whenever he meets someone who really wants something, he always wonders what they will be willing to do not to get it. Taking another slant, motivational speaker Zig Ziglar believes that the leading cause of unhappiness is trading what we want most for what we want now.

There are some practices that are guaranteed to generate unhappiness. Among them are:

Don’t appreciate your achievements. Instead, regard them as things that anyone could do or which somehow occurred through no serious effort of your own.

Keep raising the bar. Turn a search for excellence into an exhausting, never-ending quest.

Look at life through a mirror. After all, the rest of the world should behave and think as you do.
Expect others to know when you are upset. Regard their failure as a sign that they are insensitive and uncaring.

Reopen old wounds. Blame your parents, siblings, coworkers, bosses, and teachers. Let no transgression have a statute of limitations.

Worry. Fret about things that are unlikely to happen. Worry some more when they don’t happen.

Embrace martyrdom. Be much harder on yourself than you would be on others

Don’t enjoy the small things. Keep your eye on the weightier matters. Ignore small pleasures such as watching a sunrise or having a good cup of coffee.

Fall in with bad companions. Associate with people who have similar negative habits so you can reinforce one another’s feelings.

Swing for the fences. Forget the base hits and incremental goals.

Don’t set deadlines. Hey, you’ll get around to it one of these days.

And above all, expect an even playing field. The world is noted for being fair.

Michael Wade writes Execupundit.com, an eclectic combination of management advice, observations, and links. A partner with the Phoenix firm of Sanders Wade Rodarte Consulting Inc., he has advised private and public-sector organizations for more than 30 years.

12 Rules on Email Etiquette

2010-06-07T16:21:00.001-07:00

Michael S. Wade, On Saturday 5 June 2010, 1:59 SGT

Since E-mail is not going away any time soon, it makes sense to develop some ground rules for its usage. Here are 10 that I try to follow:

1. Do not use E-mail for sensitive subjects or topics that may be especially susceptible to misinterpretation.

[See 15 essentials for getting hired.]

2. Do not use E-mail if you are having a difference of opinion with the other person. It is very easy to come across as curt or uncaring in an E-mail message. Schedule a meeting with the person or pick up the phone.

3. Scrutinize the tone of your E-mails. Recognize that the receiver cannot hear your tone of voice and may not spot irony or humor.

4. Don't put anything in an E-mail that you wouldn't want to read on the front page of the newspaper or while sitting on the witness stand.

[See why most CEOs are nice.]

5. Be wary of forwarding E-mails unless you are certain that the sender would not mind if the message were forwarded. I've received forwarded E-mails that contained some rather personal comments in addition to the business content. I doubt if the author of the original message wanted me to know about her family situation.

6. If you want an E-mail to be regarded as urgent, then label it as such. Regard non-urgent messages the same way you'd regard regular mail and don't expect a reply within hours.

7. Beware of using text messaging abbreviations with people who might find it to be unprofessional, confusing or abrupt. I recently received an E-mail from a customer service department that was written in "textese." I thought it was funny but not everyone would have that reaction.

[See 12 ways to be miserable at work.]

8. Unless the person is on the other side of the world, the fewer messages, the better. If you need to communicate so much with someone who is just down the hall, go see the person.

9. Beware of rushed messages. Those are the ones you are most likely to regret.

10. Forgive notes that seem unpleasant or out of character. We all have days in which we need people to cut us some slack. Unless it is extreme, don't let one note ruin a relationship.

Michael Wade writes Execupundit.com, an eclectic combination of management advice, observations, and links. A partner with the Phoenix firm of Sanders Wade Rodarte Consulting Inc., he has advised private and public-sector organizations for more than 30 years.

Connecting the Dots in Education

2010-04-04T00:38:00.001-07:00

Connecting the dots (Janadas Devan, SunTimes Think, 28/3, p34)

SunTimes carried a commentary by Janadas Devan on the fundamental questionsthat needed to be asked in the quest for a ‘holistic education’. Hecommented that all modern systems of knowledge were the product of intensespecialisation, which produced a tendency of the mind thinking in“hermetically sealed silos, among which there was little or nocommunication”. He noted there was little progress from the past attemptsof solving the problem of integrated education, by basing education onscience or alternatively on the humanities. He suggested adopting apragmatic approach in the quest for holistic education by asking questionswhich would require the coordination of different knowledge to answer andwhy we needed to know them.
I love knowing things. The more bizarre the fact, the more surprising thehistorical event, the more unusual the feeling or thought, the moreavariciously I collect them.
How do spiders make love? Well, there at the centre of her web, sits thefemale of the species, two or three times the size of her male lovers. Themale approaches the centre, drawn by the delicious perfume. At the heightof passion, after the male has deposited all its semen, the giant femaleturns around, and promptly devours the male.

What was James I's official title? Well, in 1616, after the English woncontrol of two spice islands in the Banda Sea, it was announced that JamesI, 'by the grace of God, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, isalso now by the mercy of God, King of Poolaway and Poolaroone' - Poolawayand Poolaroone being what the English then called Pulau Ai and Pulau Run,two tiny atolls in what is today Indonesia's Maluku Islands. The Englishfought many wars with the Dutch for control of the atolls, once consideredto be worth more than all of Scotland because of the nutmeg that grew onthem. The English finally renounced control of the islands in 1667, when,in the Treaty of Breda, they exchanged them, most unhappily andreluctantly, for New Amsterdam - which, of course, later became New York!

What is the most truthful thing that's been said about the relationsbetween the sexes? Well, plenty, no doubt, but consider this, a poementitled Bloody Men by Wendy Cope:
'Bloody men are like bloody buses -/ You wait for about a year/ And as soonas one approaches your stop/ Two or three others appear.'You look at them flashing their indicators,/ Offering you a ride./ You'retrying to read the destinations,/ You haven't much time to decide.'If you make a mistake, there is no turning back./ Jump off, and you'llstand there and gaze/ While the cars and the taxis and lorries go by/ Andthe minutes, the hours, the days.'
Science, history, literature - does knowing bits and pieces about these andmany other subjects make me a renaissance man, a polymath?

Well, if the criterion is sheer quantity, I might qualify as a polymath. Mymind is filled with loose intellectual change - pocketfuls of five-centbits of science, 10-cent bits of history and politics, 20-cent bits ofmusic and poetry.

But if the criterion is wisdom - the ability to build bridges amongdisparate fields of knowledge to arrive at an intellectually, emotionallyand spiritually adequate view of life and society - I'm most certainly nota renaissance man. I am, I suppose, capable, on my best days, of evokingthe odd 50-cent bit of insight - and once in a blue moon, perhaps even adollar-coin's worth. But whole bills of wisdom, alas, have always eludedme.

And this is not solely due to my personal inadequacies. All modern systemsof knowledge are the product of intense specialisation. We have noalternative but to specialise in order to acquire an adequate command ofparticular subjects. But the problem is, as necessary as specialisation is,it has produced what the mathematician and philosopher A.N. Whitehead oncereferred to as a 'celibacy of the intellect' - the tendency of the modernmind to exist in a series of hermetically sealed silos, among which thereis little or no communication.

Both scientists and men of letters have been aware since the 19th centuryof the difficulty of connecting the silos. T.H. Huxley, the biologist andeducator, called for a broad-based integrated education, but believedscience should provide the basis of its organisation. Matthew Arnold, thepoet and critic, called for the inclusion of science in education, butargued that only the humanities could provide the basis of integrating allknow-ledge, including science.
This famous argument between Huxley and Arnold 130 years ago was repeated50 years ago when C.P. Snow, a scientist as well as novelist, coined theconcept of the 'two cultures': one, scientific and technical, and theother, literary and traditional. Snow blamed both scientists and literarypeople for the 'gulf of mutual incomprehension' separating them, butsuggested that scientists were on the whole morally superior. They 'havethe future in their bones', he wrote, and were more concerned aboutimproving material life than literary people, who seemed content just tocontemplate human tragedy.

Snow's views inevitably instigated a response - including a famouslyviolent one from literary critic F.R. Leavis, who called Snow 'portentouslyignorant', and another more temperate reaction from another critic LionelTrilling, who suggested a disinterested mind might be able to bridge the'two cultures'.

What is remarkable is how little progress we have made in solving theproblem of integrated education. One can revisit the Huxley-Arnold debateof 130 years ago, or the Snow-Leavis dust-up 80 years later, and get thefeeling that one is reading about current controversies.
The choice, now as before, seems to be between the Huxley-Snow position - aprimarily scientific education, with some loose change from the humanitiesto provide imaginative variety - and the Arnold-Leavis position - aprimarily humanistic education, with some loose change from the sciencesbecause they are unavoidable. But whether the stress is on science or thehumanities, the assumption is that one can adopt a smorgasbord, or dim sum,approach to education: a little of this, a little of that - and hopefully,the combination will add up to a balanced diet. The end result is not somuch the integration of knowledge but a sampling of its variety. The corecurriculum programmes of both Chicago and Harvard universities, despitetheir undoubted intellectual rigour, suffer from this limitation.

Can anything be done? As it so happens, there is one person who intervenedin the Snow-Leavis debate - Aldous Huxley, the grandson of T.H. Huxley andthe grand-nephew of Matthew Arnold, interestingly - who did have a valuablesuggestion: Instead of trying to devise an integrated education fromtheoretical first principles, why not begin with questions which wouldrequire the coordination of different knowledges to answer?

'Who are we? What is the nature of human nature? How should we be relatedto the planet on which we live? How are we to live together satisfactorily?What is the relationship between nature and nurture? If we start with theseproblems..., we can bring together information from a great number of atpresent completely isolated disciplines.'
Such a pragmatic approach might be something we might adopt in our questfor a 'holistic' education - an approach that begins with the questions: Sowhy do you want to know different things? What for?

Sheik Mohammad Sayed Tantawi - modeate Islm

2010-03-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

Egypt's top Muslim cleric dies of heart attack
By SALAH NASRAWI (AP) – 3 days ago

CAIRO — Top Egyptian cleric Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, whose moderate views angered conservative Muslims, died of a heart attack Wednesday during a visit to Saudi Arabia, the state-owned news agency reported. He was 81.
Tantawi was the grand sheik of Cairo's Al-Azhar, Sunni Islam's pre-eminent theological institute. Sunni Islam is the faith's mainstream sect, to which the majority of Egypt's 80 million people adhere.

Tantawi was a moderate scholar and supporter of women's rights whose views made him a frequent target of criticism from fundamentalist Muslims.
Most recently, he infuriated conservatives late last year by barring women from wearing the full face veil known as the niqab at Al-Azhar University. That step was part of the intensifying struggle between the moderate Islam championed by the state and a populace that is turning to a stricter version of the faith.

The Middle East News Agency said Tantawi died Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, where he attended a religious ceremony. Saudi officials said he will be buried in the Baqee cemetery in the Saudi holy city of Medina near the shrine of Prophet Muhammad.
The sheik, who was appointed in March 1996 by President Hosni Mubarak, was a revered figure among many of the world's 1.4 billion Muslims. His rulings carried great influence, particularly in Egypt, although they did not carry the force of law.
His teachings and rulings won him wide acclaim among moderates in the Muslim world, but they were also controversial. Fundamentalist Muslims considered them against Islamic teachings.
He angered radicals by supporting organ transplants, denouncing female circumcision and by ruling that women should be appointed to top government judicial and administrative positions. He also supported interest in commercial banking, unlike many Islamic scholars who condemn the paying of interest on bank deposits.

In January 2000, amid growing public debate on legislation easing divorce procedures for women in Egypt, Tantawi ruled that there is nothing in Islam that bars women from getting a divorce easily.

He told Egypt's male-dominated parliament: "Men are not made of gold and women from silver."

Tantawi, whose moderate views have always rankled hard-liners, has been blasted by critics several times. His meeting in 1997 with Israel's Chief Rabbi Yisrael Lau led to charges he wanted to normalize ties with Israel, something many Egyptians oppose despite their government's 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

In 2008 he came under pressure to resign from politicians and newspapers for shaking the hand of Israeli President Shimon Peres at U.N. headquarters during an interfaith conference.
Tantawi has supported the peace process with Israel, although he also has condoned attacks by Islamic radicals against the Jewish state. In March 1997, he called for a holy war to take back Jerusalem.

The sheik also promoted Christian-Muslim dialogue.

He had a controversial side, in particular his bad temper in dealing with his critics. He sometimes yelled at reporters for questioning him about his controversial ideas.

At one religious gathering, he attacked what he called the "mob mentality" among Arabs and Muslims.

Before being named to the post at Al-Azhar, Tantawi had served as Egypt's official mufti. He is considered close to the government in his religious opinions.
Tantawi received a doctorate in interpretation of the Quran and Sunna, Prophet Muhammad's teachings, from Al-Azhar University in 1966. He was a religious teacher until 1986, when he was appointed mufti.

He is survived by two sons and a daughter.

LONDON (AFP) - Former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan said human nature made another global financial crisis inevitable

2009-09-10T04:21:00.000-07:00

LONDON (AFP) - - Former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan said human nature made another global financial crisis inevitable, in an interview with BBC television on Wednesday.
;
"They (financial crises) are all different, but they have one fundamental source," Greenspan said.

"That is the unquenchable capability of human beings when confronted with long periods of prosperity to presume that it will continue."

The belief that markets would continue to rise led people "to take speculative excesses with the consequences that have dotted the history of the globe basically since the beginning of the 18th or 19th century."

He added: "No two crises have anything in common except human nature."
Speaking as the global economy is showing signs of recovery a year after the collapse of US investment bank Lehman Brothers, Greenspan predicted the world would also "get through" the next crisis.

He said that while the current crisis was triggered by the trade in US sub-prime mortgages, any factor could have been the catalyst.

If it were not the problem of these toxic debts caused by people's failure to repay the loans that were granted to homebuyers with bad credit histories, "something sooner or later would have emerged," Greenspan said.

He added that the world's financial institutions should have seen the looming crisis.
"The bankers knew that they were involved in an under-pricing of risk and that at some point a correction would be made," Greenspan said.

"I fear too many of them thought they would be able to spot the actual trigger point of the crisis in time to get out."

Greenspan has been blamed by some for failing to do more to prevent the crisis, but he denied any responsibility for the problems gripping the economy.

"It's human nature, unless somebody can find a way to change human nature, we will have more crises and none of them will look like this because no two crises have anything in common, except human nature," he told the BBC.

To avoid a repeat of the situation, financiers and governments should look to clamp down on fraud and force banks to hold more capital to cushion themselves against financial shocks, the former central bank chief said.

But he urged governments to steer clear of protectionism because applying strict regulations could hamper global trade.

"The most recent endeavour to re-regulate is a reaction to the crisis. The extraordinary impact of these global markets is making a lot of financial people feeling they have lost control.
"The problem is you cannot have free global trade with highly restrictive, regulated domestic markets."

Religion a force for unity - ST May 10

2009-05-11T07:31:00.000-07:00

Religion a force for unity, Pope tells Muslims
Pontiff urges Muslims and Christians to come together as 'worshippers of God'

Amman - Pope Benedict XVI yesterday condemned the 'ideological manipulation of religion' in a speech to Muslim leaders in Jordan, as he pressed for inter-faith reconciliation.

Religion should be a force for unity, not division, he told his audience, which included Christian prelates, in Amman's huge Al-Hussein Mosque on the second day of his tour of the Holy Land.

On his first visit to an Arab country as pontiff, he urged Muslims and Christians to unite as faithful 'worshippers of God' because of 'the burden of our common history' that has often been marked by misunderstanding.

The Pope was eager to mend ties with the Muslim world after a 2006 address in Regensburg, Germany, in which he quoted a mediaeval Christian emperor who criticised some teachings of Prophet Muhammad as 'evil and inhuman'.

In his speech, the Pope acknowledged that 'tensions and divisions' between followers of different faiths exist.

He noted, however, that it is often the 'ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tensions and divisions - and at times even violence - in society'.

The Pope, who expressed his 'deep respect' for Islam on Friday, fell short of a full apology yesterday. But Prince Ghazni bin Mohammed, the top religious adviser and cousin to Jordan's King Abdullah II, said the Muslim world 'appreciated' the Vatican's clarification and accepted that the Pope was not expressing his own opinion in 2006 but making a historical citation.
He also praised the Pope for his 'friendly gestures and kindly actions towards Muslims' since then.

In one section of his address at the mosque, Pope Benedict referred to God as 'merciful and compassionate', using the formula Muslims use when speaking of God.

Mr Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Common Word, a group of Muslim scholars promoting dialogue with Christians, said the Pope's speech yesterday would not erase his Regensburg address from popular memory.

But he noted with approval that Pope Benedict had stressed that Muslims and Christians worshipped the same God.

Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said yesterday that the Pope did not remove his shoes or pray while in the mosque, as he did during his first visit to a mosque in Turkey in 2006.
Instead, he paused for 'a respectful moment of reflection'.

The Pope did not remove his shoes as his hosts did not ask him to, the spokesman explained.
Catholic conservatives criticised the Pope in 2006 after he prayed towards Mecca with the imam of a mosque in Istanbul.

The Pope arrived here on Friday on a Holy Land tour that will also take him to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Earlier yesterday, he called for reconciliation between Christians and Jews during a speech at Mount Nebo, where the Bible says God showed the Promised Land to Moses.
'The ancient tradition of pilgrimage to the holy places also reminds us of the inseparable bond between the Church and the Jewish people,' he said.

'May of our encounters today inspire in us a renewed love for the canon of sacred scripture and a desire to overcome all obstacles to the reconciliation of Christians and Jews in mutual respect and cooperation.'

Israel and the Vatican have clashed recently over the papal decision to lift the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop and over moves to beatify Pope Pius XII.
AFP, AP, Reuters

Spare the rod, spoil the child - ST 28 Feb 2009

2009-03-02T06:23:00.000-08:00

Spare the rod, spoil the child
British parents cite reasons for lack of discipline in schools

LONDON: - Parents in Britain believe that corporal punishment was an 'effective method of control' when they were at school, says new government research.

The parents said the decision to outlaw physical chastisement contributed to a fall in discipline, The Telegraph has reported.

The study, backed by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, comes just months after a fifth of teachers in the country called for the cane to be reintroduced to restore order in the classroom.

It follows another report published earlier this week by Ofsted which suggested that traditional discipline methods such as suspending hundreds of troublemakers at a time and banning children with shaven heads and designer trainers were good deterrent measures.

Britain abolished corporal punishment including the use of the cane and rule in state schools in 1987. In the fee-paying sector, it was abolished in 1998.
In the latest study, the Department for Children, Schools and Families held in-depth interviews with 48 adults to gauge their perception of behaviour among young people.

When asked to describe what they felt was behind a decline in discipline, they made a series of observations.

These included the 'increasing demands on teachers - paperwork, planning, etc - leaving them less effective to teach and discipline effectively'.

The group, which included 32 parents, also cited the 'suitability of some teachers to the profession', suggesting that some lacked an ability to 'instil respect and good behaviour amongst teenage students'.

They added that 'the removal of corporal punishment in schools, which many felt had been an effective method of control in their day', also affected discipline standards.

Ms Margaret Morrissey, from the campaign group Parents Outloud, said: 'I really do believe that the problem for the deteriorating behaviour is the political correctness of the last 10 years that has told children to stand up and complain the moment someone tries to tell them off.'

In the study, parents also blamed the fact that 'children and young people (were) becoming more vocal and demanding and at the same time less afraid of authority'.

Increasing pressure on children to be academically successful was also cited, The Telegraph said.

A survey of more than 6,000 teachers last year found more than a fifth believed the cane should be brought back.

One supply teacher told researchers: 'Children's behaviour is now absolutely outrageous in the majority of schools. I am a supply teacher, so I see very many schools and there are no sanctions.'

But Ms Morrissey said she was not convinced that corporal punishment will make a comeback in the present climate. 'Can you imagine the number of compensation claims it would lead to?' she pointed out.

Mr John Dunford, of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: 'Thankfully, corporal punishment is no longer on the agenda, except in the most uncivilised countries. I am sure that this barbaric punishment has disappeared forever.'

IRO Turns 60 - ST 12 Jan 2009

2009-01-14T06:14:00.001-08:00

Inter-faith NGO turns 60
By Goh Chin Lian

NEW immigrants and the young generation can take a leaf from the founders of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) 60 years ago.
They knew the importance of dialogue and face to face interaction in building trust in a diverse society, and on Monday night they were praised by Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng for their 'wise foresight' in founding Singapore's only inter-faith non-government organisation.

Mr Wong, who is also Home Affairs Minister, reminded more than 280 representatives of religious groups and members of the diplomatic corps that the ability of different religious communities to live peacefully together in Singapore did not happen by chance.

'This is not something in the DNA of Singapore. It is the effort of purposive and determined cultivation and is maintained by disciplined vigilance against anything that threatens it,' he said at a dinner reception at the Raffles Town Club to mark the IRO's 60th anniversary.

He called the Government a 'worrier' who takes nothing for granted when it comes to matters of race and religion.

This is why it started the Community Engagement Programme in 2006 to build up ties among leaders across various communities such as schools, businesses, unions and arts groups to reduce tension in case of a crisis.

This is also seen in the Government taking a serious stand on all who purvey extremist or seditious views, or actions.

He said: 'The robustness of the Government's response and its clear message that we will not extremism from any group is the reason why groups exercise restraint even when they encounter provocation, often from occurrences outside Singapore or on the Internet.'

Mr Wong also paid tribute to the IRO, which represents 10 different religions: Hinduism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam, Skihism and the Baha'i Faith.

He put on record its work in promoting inter-religious understanding and goodwill through seminars and public talks, as well as publishing books on religious customs and practices.

The IRO and its members who are leaders in their own communities, he said, also 'set a bold and powerful example for others to follow in inter-faith dialogue and mutual understanding'.

On Monday night, he presented the IRO Award to one of its longest serving member, Venerable Chao Khun.

The Chief Abbot of the Wat Ananda Temple has been involved in the IRO for more than 20 years, providing guidance for key IRO events and being a regular member of its prayer team.

Mr Wong said the IRO has become 'both a symbol and a working reality of religious harmony'.

'I would like to place on record the Government's appreciation of the contributions of the IRO and its members over the many years.

'They have helped to preserve and enhance the ethnic harmony which Singapore has come to showcase as one of its most valuable and precious feature.'

The Catholic High Story - ST 12 Jan 2009

2009-01-14T06:10:00.000-08:00

Curriculum change helped
Student-focused system is more flexible, caters to interest
By Cheryl Ong

OF THE 35 top Secondary 4 Chinese students in last year's GCE O-level examination, about one-third came from Catholic High School.
All 12 of them scored nine A1s, a jump from last year, when only three Catholic High students made it to the list of top Secondary 4 Chinese students.

Catholic High's principal Lee Hak Boon attributed the marked improvement partly to a new curriculum the school adopted in 2006.

It allows students to take subjects they want to study rather than choose from fixed subject combinations.

'What we've done here is open up a lot of options and give students leeway to do what they are interested in.'

He added that the teachers' commitment to their pupils also contributed greatly to the good results this year.

O-level students need to take a predetermined number of subjects in language, science and the humanities.

Students at Catholic High were able to take any combination they liked as long as they met the requirements.

The resulting total number of combinations came to nearly a hundred, according to the Head of Department (English) Mr Edwin Heng, and the school coped with this by 'banding' subjects in the timetable together.

For instance, during two hours of humanities subjects in a timetable, students attend the respective classes of whatever subjects they signed up for.

'I think the school programme has certainly helped,' said Chan Hua Peng, 17, one of the top students at Catholic High. 'If you study what you like you'll naturally want to do well.'

Interests aside, the flexible system also let students like fellow top-scorer Chua Kah Hoe, 17, take subjects they can ace.

'I chose mainly the subjects I would do well at,' he said of his combination of three science subjects, two maths, geography, social studies and a history elective.

'But it all depends on how much hard work you put in, and the teachers, of course.'

Bolstered by the school's achievements, Mr Lee aims to raise the number of distinctions for English from 65.4 per cent this year to 70 per cent.

'We are looking for new breakthroughs next year,' he said.

Dutoit

2008-08-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

You hear a lot about dreams at the Olympics, and Natalie du Toit's should have died on a Monday morning in Cape Town when she eased her scooter out into the road and was broadsided by a careless driver. A week later she lay in a hospital bed with a stump where she used to have a left leg.

Six months after the amputation she jumped into the same swimming pool where she had made her name as one of South Africa's most promising teenage athletes and struggled to finish 25metres. “If I tried breaststroke on one leg,” she said, “I went round in circles.” As a tale of overcoming adversity, Du Toit may set a new Olympic standard tomorrow when, at the Shunyi lake, she unclips her prosthetic limb, hops to the edge of the water and embarks on the 10km marathon against the 23 best long- distance swimmers in the world.

She is not just here to take part but is aiming, realistically, for a top-ten finish, despite her obvious disadvantage. The wise 10km swimmer conserves energy in their legs and then kicks for the line. Du Toit does not have that luxury so must go out strong to put herself in contention.

They don't believe that a disabled person should compete in the able-bodied Olympics because the Paralympics are just as good,” she said. “But before my accident, I was an able-bodied athlete.” A talented one, too. At 14, she competed for South Africa at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Malaysia. At 16, she only narrowly missed qualifying for the Sydney Olympics.
“My brother was a swimmer and I used to sit on the side watching him. I despised water. And then one day, when I was 6, I was sitting there and I said to my mum, ‘I can swim.' I jumped in. I tried training and things went on from there.”

In the 200metres and 400metres butterfly, she was the best in her age group at 14 and 15. “I was on top of the world,” she said. But then, one February morning in 2001, came the accident that changed everything.

Du Toit had finished her morning training session and was heading off to school. Her parents had bought her a moped because the demands of her schedule meant that she needed to dash around Cape Town. Close to the pool was a busy crossroads where drivers would take a short cut through a car park, which is exactly what one woman did that fateful Monday rush-hour, hitting Du Toit and sending her and her scooter flying across the street.

A motorcycle policeman racing to the scene hit a truck and had to be airlifted to hospital. Meanwhile, Du Toit, conscious throughout, was being tended to by team-mates. She remembers her own agonised cry: “I've lost my leg, I've lost my leg.” Her foot was perfectly intact - “I was wearing a steel-cap shoe. There was only a dent in it” - but the rest of her lower limb was mangled. She is happy to recall all the details and does so with the poise of a woman who is a sought-after motivational speaker.

“If I can explain,” Du Toit said, “my leg burst open, like if you drop a tomato on the ground.” That was her calf and shin. Higher up, she had broken her thigh bone, her femur, in three places. “The bone burst through the skin, that is why you see a big scar on the top of my leg.” There is a hole the size of an egg.

In hospital, the doctors spent a week trying to save the leg. “They were going to take muscle out of my back and insert it in there and try and add some length, try to sort of piece everything together.

“They used this big exoskeleton to align the bones, but after four days it still hadn't knitted. And I had been through 24 units of blood because they had to keep scraping away the dead tissue. Nothing was bandaged, nothing could be sewn up.

A titanium rod could repair her thigh but, after five days, the doctors decided that they would have to amputate just above the knee. “I remember asking my mum, ‘When are they going to amputate?' My mum's answer was that they already had.”

It was only 174 days later that, restless, she jumped back into the swimming pool. “I didn't know if I would be able to swim,” she said. “I didn't know how fast I would be able to swim. I didn't know if I would be able to walk again. Breaststroke was difficult because I can't snap my legs together.”

But she still had the upper-body strength, and the lung power. And, subconsciously, her body started to make adjustments. She discovered only recently from watching video footage that her right foot had turned inwards as if to act as a rudder. And her left arm began to strengthen to compensate for the absence of her leg.

She started to compete in disabled races over short distances, then 800 metres in able-bodied competitions, including the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002. It was in the 10km at the World Open Water Championships in Seville in May, aged 24, that she came an astonishing fourth to secure qualification for the Games.

The open water is a race that does not only test endurance and ability, but toughness. At the turns around buoys, she would be pulled, kicked and elbowed. “They don't make any allowance for me,” Du Toit said.

Her story has been compared to that of Oscar Pistorius, the blade runner from South Africa, whose prosthetic limbs caused such controversy. But even if Du Toit wanted to use a prosthetic to race, the swimming federation would not allow it. And it goes without saying that there is no advantage to be gained from swimming with one leg.

In Beijing she has been sought after by the world's media, particularly after she carried the flag for the South Africa team at the opening ceremony. “What if I can't carry it, what if I trip and fall?” she wrote on her website beforehand. And afterwards? “The standing hurt a little, but it was all worth it. I had tears in my eyes when the flame was lit.”
The journey has had its difficult moments. Her mother upbraided her when she became downcast just before the Athens Olympics. She has had to learn to discipline her mind to fight off thoughts of “what if”.

By tomorrow, when she finishes the 10km swim, she will have ticked off two of her lifelong dreams by racing in the Games and visiting Kruger National Park. There is a third. “I want to run,” she said.

Natalie Du Toit

2008-08-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

Natalie du Toit: ability of mind

South African swimmer Natalie du Toit, whose left leg was amputated below the knee in 2001, has gone on to compete against - and often beat - able-bodied swimmers at the highest level.
In Beijing this month, she will become the first amputee to compete in the Olympic Games.
Du Toit's achievements at international events for athletes with disability are outstanding enough. She won five gold medals and a silver at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, and followed that up with three golds at the 2005 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester.

At the 2006 International Paralympic Committee World Swimming Championships in Durban, Du Toit won six gold medals, including an incredible third place overall in the five-kilometre open water event.

Multiple world record holder

She is the owner of numerous disability world records, including the record for the 50m, 100m and 400m freestyle, 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley.

Her greatest achievement, however, has been bridging the gap between able-bodied and disabled athletes.

At the 2003 All-Africa Games, competing against able-bodied swimmers, Du Toit won gold in the 800 metres freestyle. At the Afro-Asian Games in the same year, up against able-bodied swimmers once more, she took silver in the 800m freestyle and bronze in the 400m freestyle.

Making history

In the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, 18 years old at the time, Du Toit qualified for the 800 metres freestyle final - the first time in history that an athlete with disability had qualified for the final of an able-bodied event.

She also won gold in the multi-disability 50m and 100m freestyle, both in world record time.
At the closing of the Manchester Games, she was presented with the first David Dixon award for the Outstanding Athlete of the Games - a unanimous choice ahead of Australia's Ian Thorpe, despite his winning six gold medals and setting a new 400m freestyle world record.

Olympic qualification

Before she lost her leg in an accident, Du Toit narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. As an amputee, she failed to qualify for the Athens Olympics in 2004.

But she never gave up on the dream she had carried with her since she was a child, and in May 2008 she booked her place in Beijing - in the women's 10 kilometre marathon swim - by finishing fourth in the 10-kilometre race at the World Open Water Swimming Championships in Seville, Spain.

Russia's Larisa Ilchenko won the race in two hours, two minutes and 2 seconds, with Britain's Cassie Patten second and Spain's Yurema Requena third, just five seconds off the pace - and only fractionally ahead of Du Toit, who had only needed to place in the top 10 in order to qualify for the Olympics.

She was going head-to-head with the best open water swimmers in the world, despite a disadvantage that some have likened to a kayaker paddling with a single-bladed paddle. Her qualification is that amazing.

But Du Toit reckons there is no magic recipe for success; it is all down to hard work and determination.

'If this can tie a bond...'

In Manchester in 2002, Du Toit told journalists that that by swimming in both disability and open races, she felt was forming a bond. "If this can tie a bond, if it can help disabled people to believe in themselves, if it can bring them to a better understanding with able-bodied people, then that's great, if it helps."

Her courage and achievements were acknowledged with a nomination for the "Oscars of sport", the 2004 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with Disability award, along with Canadian athlete Earle Connor, Nigerian athlete Vitalis Lanshima, Alpine skier Ronny Persson, German cyclist Michael Teuber and British Dressage World Champion Nicola Tustain.

Connor - who also had a leg amputated, though in his case when he was just three months old - was adjudged the winner.

'Swim your own race'

When Du Toit had her left leg amputated below the knee following a scooter accident in early 2001, she ended up encouraging tearful family members while recovering in hospital - and within a few months of leaving hospital was back in the swimming pool.

In an interview with William Rowland published on Disability World in early 2004, Du Toit said that her accident had only served to increase her determination. Back in the pool within four months after her operation, she spent the first week swimming by herself.

"After a week I started with the squad, but in the first lane", she told Rowland. "It was not nice seeing little babies beat you; so I just had to train harder ... get up with the guys ... get up with the seniors ... get back to the level I was swimming at before."

Du Toit switched to longer events - from 200m and 400m individual medley to 800m and 1 500m freestyle - to make up for her loss of speed with only one leg. But she made no adjustment to her mental outlook.

"There's really no line between able-bodied and disabled swimming ... I treat both of them the same. They're your opponents and you've got to race the way you train.

"It is important to swim your own race and not someone else's."

Article last updated: August 2008

Former ‘Lost Boy of Sudan’ to Carry U.S. Flag

2008-08-24T05:22:00.000-07:00

Former ‘Lost Boy of Sudan’ to Carry U.S. Flag
By Juliet Macur

Lopez Lomong was born Lopepe Lomong in a small village in Southern Sudan to Awei Lomong and Rita Namana[3]. Lomong was a victim of the Second Sudanese Civil War. A Catholic, he was abducted at age six while attending Catholic Mass and assumed dead by his family and buried in absentia.[3] He nearly died in captivity, but was helped to escape by others from his village. The four of them ran for three days until they crossed the border in Kenya.[3] Lomong spent ten years in a refugee camp near Nairobi before being moved to the United States through Catholic Charities. His name "Lopez" was a nickname from the refugee camp that he later adopted officially. Although he originally assumed his parents had been killed by the Sudan People's Liberation Army, he was reunited with his mother and family in 2003, who now live outside Nairobi[3]. He first returned to his native village in December, 2006.[3]

He was inspired to become a runner following watching Michael Johnson at the 2000 Summer Olympics on television.[3]

Lomong is one of the Lost Boys of Sudan. He was resettled in the United States through Catholic Charities with Robert and Barbara Rogers, in New York State. The Rogers have since gone on to sponsor many other Sudanese refugees. Lomong attended Tully High School in Tully, NY, entering at a 10th grade level. In high school, he helped lead the cross country and track teams to sectional and state titles, and later competed for Northern Arizona University. In 2007, Lomong was the division I NCAA indoor champion at 3000 meters and the outdoor champion at 1500 meters.

He became a naturalized citizen of the United States on July 6, 2007.

Lomong qualified for the US Olympic Team on July 6, 2008, one year after gaining his US citizenship.[4] "Now I'm not just one of the 'Lost Boys,'" he told reporters. "I'm an American."[5] [6]

After his success at the collegiate level, Lopez signed a contract with Nike and now competes professionally. He specializes in the 1500m run but is a serious contender in every mid-distance race from 800m up to and including the 5k. Lopez finished 5th in the 800m finals during the 2008 US Olympic Trials, which he ran as part of his training for the 1500m.[1]

Lomong was chosen by the team captains of the US Olympic team to carry the US flag in the Opening Ceremony at the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, an honor for which he campaigned. The U.S. Olympic team captains said that Lomong deserved the honor of flagbearer because he was so proud of his citizenship.[7]

Henry Cejudo - Olympic Story

2008-08-24T04:42:00.000-07:00

August 20, 2008

BEIJING -- Henry Cejudo called it the American dream.The son of undocumented Mexican immigrants who had to work two jobs to keep food on the table, Cejudo gave the U.S. its first Olympic gold medal in freestyle wrestling in Beijing Tuesday with a stunning win over Japan's Tomohiro Matsunaga in the 55-kilogram (121 pounds) final.

joyful Cejudo, 21, broke into tears on the mat at the end of the match, then took a victory lap around the China Agricultural University Gymnasium."This is what I always wanted," he said. "The frustration was let out. The hard work and everything."I set my goal, I trained hard. I had a good staff around me. I just put the pieces together and I really believed in myself."Cejudo, who had to come from behind simply to win the U.S. Olympic trials, also trailed in all three of his preliminary matches here, but he never trailed in the final.

Although he and Matsunaga were tied, 2-2, after the first period, Cejudo was declared the winner because he had the highest-scoring move, a two-point takedown. Cejudo then jumped to a 3-0 lead early in the second period to clinch the match."This is cool. Coming out of a Mexican American background, it feels good to represent the U.S.," said Cejudo, who was born in Los Angeles. "Not too many Mexicans get the chance to do that."Cejudo's parents divorced when he was 4 and he saw his father, Jorge, only one more time before he died in Mexico City. But his mother, Nelly Rico, raised a family of six children on her own, bouncing from low-paying jobs in California to New Mexico and Arizona, where the family sometimes slept four to a bed.A large group of family and friends -- including sister Gloria, brother Alonzo and brother Angel, his training partner in Beijing -- were in the stands for the match. And they made so much noise they were nearly ejected at one point.

Missing, however, was Cejudo's mother, the person he has repeatedly said was most responsible for his success."We always moved forward. We always moved forward. My mom always taught us to suck it up and whatever you want to do, you can do," Cejudo said. "And that's what I did."There were conflicting stories as to why his mother remained in Colorado. According to one explanation she had passport problems. Cejudo said she stayed home to take care of her grandchildren.But Gloria said her mother, who had a ticket, didn't come because she was too nervous to watch her son compete in the Olympic Games."At the Olympic trials in Las Vegas, she couldn't take it," said Gloria, who added that her mother, despite being half a world away, spent much of the last day vomiting because of nerves.But she was there in spirit, with her son putting her life's lessons to good use."

He has done an unbelievable job coming from the environment that he came from," his coach, Terry Brands, said. "Could be in prison. Could be a drug runner. Could be this, could be that. He's done an unbelievable job of not being a victim."He is the American dream. Gold medals are the American dream."And Cejudo had one around his neck Tuesday. But he was also wearing an American flag. And he wouldn't let on which he liked better."I don't want to let it go," he finally said, tugging on the flag. "I might sleep with this."

Olympic Wrestling Champ Henry Cejudo Embodies The American Dream

By Henry Cejudo's count, they moved at least 50 times. Sometimes they moved across state lines: California, New Mexico, Arizona. Sometimes they moved downstairs in the same apartment building.Sometimes Henry's mom and his six siblings didn't even bother unpacking their bags.Yet no matter where they were at the moment, no matter how many places they lived, Nelly Rico's message didn't change."My mom would always say, 'Whatever you want to do, you can do. You want to be an astronaut? You can be an astronaut. You want to be a doctor? You can be a doctor.'"

With tears streaming down his face following his victory Tuesday over Japan's Tomohiro Matsunaga in the 121-pound freestyle wrestling final, Cejudo, Olympic gold medalist and U.S. citizen, said softly, "This is what I always wanted."The 21-year-old son of illegal immigrants from Mexico pinched himself as he stood on the podium and the U.S. flag was raised during the national anthem. He had dreamed about this so many nights, he wanted to make sure the moment was real."I am living the American dream right now," Cejudo said.

And then he went to call his mom in Colorado Springs."We did it!" Henry yelled into the phone.Nelly was so happy, so proud, she nearly did a back flip.The woman who the 5-foot-4 Cejudo says is most responsible for his Olympic glory, the one who calls him "Shorty" and "Smurfy," did not make the trip to China. Henry said she remained behind to care for her half-dozen nieces and nephews just as she once had cared for her own by working two jobs, cleaning toilets, doing factory work, carpentry, you name it. Minutes later, Henry's older brother Alonzo let us in on a little secret. Nelly, 47, gets so nervous when her son wrestles she can't help vomiting. This day would have overwhelmed her.

"I called during the match," Alonzo said. "She was in the restroom."

The Cejudo party of nine made so much noise during the match that security at China Agricultural University Gymnasium threatened to eject them."They came over about 20 times," said Angel Cejudo, also a freestyle wrestler and resident athlete at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.Later at a press conference in the Main Press Center, Angel, 16 months older, sat next to his brother. He was the one who first had wrestling success. He ran off a 150-0 record in high school in Arizona. Henry followed him into the sport and then followed him to Colorado.

How close are they? They never slept apart until moving to the training center."I just wish there were two medals," Henry said.The Cujedos are close, and we don't mean that only in a metaphorical sense. All four boys used to sleep in one bunk bed."Two by four," Alonzo joked.

Nelly was doing all she could.

At age 14, she had taken the bus with her cousins from Mexico City to Tijuana. They found "coyotes," human smugglers who got them across the border. Nelly went to L.A. to visit relatives. She stayed in America. She did not stay with the father of her children. Jorge Cujedos, aka Favia Roco and Emiliano Zaragosa, drifted in and out of California prisons.

Just before his release in 1991, Nelly had had enough.

She took the children to Las Cruces to get away from him. "Jesus is your father," Nelly would tell the kids."

My mom is the nicest person in the world," Alonzo said. "She used to loan out food stamps. People didn't have anything to eat. We didn't have anything to eat.

She's strong, too. She'd beat us into church. One time she dragged me in without a T-shirt. We always had the God factor in our lives. That's what helped her stay sane. She said if it wasn't for God, she would have killed us."

Henry said the family calls her "The Terminator.""She's just a tough lady," he said. "It's always about going forward with her. She's been a father and a mother. She's a superwoman. I never knew what it is to have a father."

What Henry did have was a dream. The drunks in Phoenix used to give him Mexican ice cream to fight other kids for their entertainment. He said he began wrestling in junior high as a way to fight for medals and trophies. The more success he had, the more obsessed he became. He became a four-time state champ (twice in Arizona, twice in Colorado). He became the first high schooler to win the U.S nationals.

Cejudo also was so focused he admits he didn't have friends in high school. The washout rate at the U.S. Training Center can be high, but the kid who passed up college to fixate on a gold medal didn't waver. And that commitment continued through one final day. He had to drop 10 pounds to make weight.

We grew up in a pretty tough environment where it was gold or bust," Cejudo said. "But I did it all for a reason. The reason is around my neck right now.

"Henry's father, never able to get his life in order, died last year at 44 in Mexico City. They had spoken only once in 15 years. Henry was going to see him, but his family persuaded him otherwise.

It's done," Cejudo said. "I just hope he's in heaven to see what I did."With the family's glorious day, Alonzo said he thinks Nelly now will go ahead and take the test to become an American citizen. Cejudo's coach Terry Brands calls

Nelly's son a "near perfect role model." He wants America to know he chose not to be a victim. He chose not to become a drug runner. He chose not to take the sure road to prison."I think the message is stay legal, man," Alonzo said. "Don't go stupid. Crime isn't the only thing that pays."Henry was less definitive."The message is what you want it to be," he said, the American flag still draped around his shoulders hours after the match. "

As a Mexican-American I'm thrilled to represent the United States. It's the land of opportunity."On a wrestling mat halfway around the world, Henry Cejudo made the best of his.

jjacobs@courant.com

Michael Phelps

2008-08-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Michael Phelps

Today, Michael Phelps is the greatest athlete who ever lived. "You can't put a limit on anything," says the 23-year-old , "The more you dream, the farther you get.” And what obstacles he has overcome

Michael Phelps was born on June 30, 1985 to Fred and Debbie Phelps. (Click here for today's sports birthdays.) His parents already had two daughters, Hilary and Whitney. The family lived in Maryland, just outside of Baltimore. Fred was a state trooper, and Debbie was a middle-school teacher who was twice named Maryland’s “Teacher of the Year.”

His dad, Fred was a good athlete, and passed his ability on to his kids. All three got into swimming at an early age. Hilary showed real promise, particularly in the butterfly, but eventually gave up the sport. Whitney stuck with it much longer. One of the better swimmers in her area, she tried out for the U.S. Olympic team in 1996 at the age of 15. Michael was among those in attendance to cheer her on. When Whitney didn't qualify, he was left devastated like the rest of the family. Ultimately, her career was cut short by a series of herniated disks.

His mon, Debbie Phelps recalles, “In kindergarten I was told by his teacher, ‘Michael can’t sit still, Michael can’t be quiet, Michael can’t focus,’ “I said, maybe he’s bored.” The teacher said that was impossible. “He’s not gifted,” came back the reply. “Your son will never be able to focus on anything.”

Phelps was diagnosed with ADHD — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He was put on permanent medication but after two years, he had had enough. His mother, speaking at the hospitality lounge set up by Speedo — the sponsor who will pay $1m to Phelps should he match Spitz’s seven gold medals — recalled: “Out of the blue, he said to me: ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, Mom. My buddies don’t do it. I can do this on my own.’ ”

Phelps was teased at school for having “sticky out ears” and a gawky expression. His mother recalled that her son “grew unevenly ... it was his ears, then he had very long arms, then he would catch up somewhere else...” For the first time, Phelps talked of the “deep hurt” he felt as a child being teased. His response was telling. He channelled his anger into swimming lessons and later training.

That ability to convert the negative into a positive is one of the secrets of Phelps’s success. "One of the things I call Michael is the motivation machine,” says Bowman. “Bad moods, good moods, he channels everything for gain. He's motivated by success, he loves to swim fast and when he does that he goes back and trains better. He's motivated by failure, by money, by people saying things about him ... just anything that comes along he turns into a reason to train harder, swim better. Channelling his energy is one of his greatest attributes."

Michael learned a lot from his sisters, particularly the value of hard work. Hilary started swimming the year he was born, and Michael spent many afternoons in a stroller watching her practice. He eventuall followed both sisters into the pool, though initially with great hesitancy. As a seven-year-old, he refused to put his face in the water. Sensing Michael’s fear, his instructors allowed him to float around on his back. No surprisingly, the first stroke he mastered was the backstroke.

Growing up, one of the turning points for Michael came when he saw swimmers Tom Malchow and Tom Dolan compete at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta. The 11-year-old began to dream of becoming a champion himself.

By then, Michael’s home life had changed drastically. After years of fighting, his parents divorced. High school sweethearts, they had separated before Michael was born, gotten back together, and then split for good in 1992. The kids went to live with Debbie. Michael grew very close to his mother, while Fred faded from the picture. To this day, he has very little contact with his father.

A new male presence entered Michael’s life in 1996. He had started his swimming career at Towson’s Loyola High School pool. But when it became clear he needed better facilities and more professional coaching, he moved on to the North Baltimore Aquatic Club at the Meadowbrook Aquatic and Fitness Center. There he met Bob Bowman. The coach recognized Michael’s potential immediately.

Bowman told Debbie that her son was a rare talent. Long-limbed with big hands and feet, he took to instruction very well, loved to work hard and never seemed nervous in competition. In fact, Michael’s only “shortcoming” was the tremendous growth spurt he was experiencing. On some days, it tended to cause fatigue.

Michael’s competitive fire burned intensely. He hated to lose, and reacted angrily on the odd occasions when he did. Once Michael flung his goggles away in disgust after finishing behind a swimmer of the same age. Bowman pulled him aside, and warned him never to act that way again.

Bowman and Phelps have not always enjoyed harmonious times. “Yeah, sure he challenges me,” says Bowman, who the swimmer calls “my second dad”.

“But I think that Michael has a very high regard for me", Bownman continued, "He doesn't challenge me on what we should be doing in training. I think that where we really clash is where I'm trying to push him to a position he doesn't want to be pushed to. On a daily basis I remind Michael of what his long and short-term goals are and how he stands today in relation to that. Rather than say, 'I'll deal with it tomorrow'. I'm there to say ‘No, let's deal with it today’. That’s my job. There's a a lot of work that goes into it. There are a lot of ups and downs. He has bad days just like everybody else."

From Times Online
August 13, 2008
Profile: Psychology and physiology make Michael Phelps a phenomenon

Think America and swimming and the mind wanders from Baywatch and beach babes to California beaches and the birthplace of Olympic legend Mark Spitz, he of the moustache and seven gold medals in a sport for the landed and loaded with ocean views and time and talent to spare.
Think again. Try a working-class world away, Baltimore, Babe Ruth, broken home, burning ambition, back-breaking regime, a boy with a breathtaking talent. Think big. Think Michael Fred Phelps. Not seven laurels, but eight. No limits.
"You can't put a limit on anything," says the 23-year-old born in Towson, Maryland, and sporting a 6ft 7in armspan to outstretch his 6ft 5in height. He is a medal-winning machine who broke the mould.

"The more you dream, the farther you get.”
Setting limits such as eight gold medals is not enough for Superfish. “If that sort of stuff is my goal, then that's where the line is drawn. I can only imagine. If you don't, you sell yourself short and you never reach your potential."
Marketeers, merchandisers and the men from NBC-TV with 793 million of their dollars in a Swiss vault marked IOC have flocked to claim a part of Phelps. They even switched the swim programme at the Water Cube so that finals were held in the morning. All the better for US prime time advertising revenue and audience figures.
That his size 15 feet are firmly on the ground is no surprise. Born in the blue-collar milltown of Towson on the north-east coast of Maryland, where dreams are made on football fields not in water, the third and youngest child of Fred, a state trooper, and Debbie, a school administrator and teacher. He followed his sisters, Hilary and Whitney, to the North Baltimore Aquatics club headed by coach Bowman.
Whitney, whose own international career was cut short by a back injury, would later refer to swimming as a refuge from the domestic maelstrom. "I didn't have to listen to people yelling or bickering and complaining. It was my escape," said Whitney. "I took a lot of anger and beat it out, just me and the bottom of the pool". Separated and reconciled before Michael was born, Fred and Debbie made the final split just as their seven-year-old son started to swim competitively.
Phelps had a stand-up row with Fred that created a months-long rift between father and son in 2003. Three days after Phelps's high-school graduation ceremony, Fred visited the family's townhouse in Baltimore and was told by the swimmer that his two complimentary tickets to the world championships in Barcelona would go to his mother and sister Hilary. Fred walked out and missed his son's graduation party. They made up just before the Olympic Games in Athens.
It is mother and daughters that you see hanging over the rails accepting flowers from Phelps with each passing gold medal and world record — five down, three to go — at the Water Cube. The tears that flow are not just for what is unfolding before their eyes but because they know what went into making it all possible. “In kindergarten I was told by his teacher, ‘Michael can’t sit still, Michael can’t be quiet, Michael can’t focus,’ ” recalls Debbie, a teacher for 22 years. “I said, maybe he’s bored.” The teacher said that was impossible. “He’s not gifted,” came back the reply. “Your son will never be able to focus on anything.”

Phelps was diagnosed with ADHD — attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He was put on permanent medication but after two years, he had had enough. His mother, speaking at the hospitality lounge set up by Speedo — the sponsor who will pay $1m to Phelps should he match Spitz’s seven gold medals — recalled: “Out of the blue, he said to me: ‘I don’t want to do this anymore, Mom. My buddies don’t do it. I can do this on my own.’ ”

On his own and in the pool, channelling his energy. When Phelps was 11 his swim coach at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Bob Bowman, now here in Beijing as USA men’s head coach, took Debbie aside and said: “By 2000, I look for him to be in the Olympic trials. By 2004, he makes the Olympics. By 2008, he’ll set world records. By 2012, the Olympics will be in New York and ...”. The swimmer’s mother was alarmed. Bowman had spotted something incredibly unusual in his pool, not only in terms of talent but outlook and specific intellect.
“Michael’s mind is like a clock. He can go into the 200 butterfly knowing he needs to do the first 50 in 24.6 to break the record and can put that time in his head and make his body do 24.6 exactly,” said his mother. He always did his swimming homework. “In high school, they’d send tapes from his international races. He’d say, ‘Mom I want to have dinner in front of the TV and watch tapes.’ We’d sit and he’d critique his races. He’d study the turns — ‘See, that’s where I lifted my head.’ I couldn’t even see what he was talking about. Over and over.”
Phelps was teased at school for having “sticky out ears” and a gawky expression. His mother recalled that her son “grew unevenly ... it was his ears, then he had very long arms, then he would catch up somewhere else...” For the first time, Phelps talked of the “deep hurt” he felt as a child being teased. His response was telling. He channelled his anger into swimming lessons and later training.
That ability to convert the negative into a positive is one of the secrets of Phelps’s success. "One of the things I call Michael is the motivation machine,” says Bowman. “Bad moods, good moods, he channels everything for gain. He's motivated by success, he loves to swim fast and when he does that he goes back and trains better. He's motivated by failure, by money, by people saying things about him ... just anything that comes along he turns into a reason to train harder, swim better. Channelling his energy is one of his greatest attributes."

Bowman discovered hidden depths to Phelps early on. "He's had the same mental approach since he was very young. There is nothing on his mind. He's able to block everything out," says the coach. A symptom perhaps of the need to bottle-up, to block out, both in what has been at times a troubled home and in the midst of a regime that many would faint away at the very thought of: Phelps covers more than 100km in water a week during the hardest times, seven days a week, including Christmas Day.
"We're seven days, 365 days of the year here," said Phelps. "When you train at Christmas you kinda know that others aren't doing that. It's a good feeling to know you've done something they didn't." Bowman says he actually enjoys it. True? "Yes, I do enjoy it. I enjoy a challenge. The challenge of going to the Olympics and having tons of pressure on you is always out there but I find it exciting. I've got loads of goals to reach for and I'm willing to work for those."
His ability to block out all distractions is one of several weapons in Phelps's war chest. "Sure, I can disappear when I have to," is all that he will say, comfortable with the notion of a place that only the great competitors can go. Swimming is like that: no sound of breath on your neck or footstep behind you, no roar of crowd, only a muffled hum and a relationship with the water. Phelps sings "the same song over and over and over again" a habit that he says is "the one thing that gets me through practice".
Bowman and Phelps have not always enjoyed harmonious times. “Yeah, sure he challenges me,” says Bowman, who the swimmer calls “my second dad”.
“But I think that Michael has a very high regard for me. He doesn't challenge me on what we should be doing in training. I think that where we really clash is where I'm trying to push him to a position he doesn't want to be pushed to. On a daily basis I remind Michael of what his long and short-term goals are and how he stands today in relation to that. That's where that whole thing comes in where many say 'I'll deal with it tomorrow'. I'm there to say ‘No, let's deal with it today’. That’s my job. There's a a lot of work that goes into it. There are a lot of ups and downs. He has bad days just like everybody else.”
Phelps’s arrival in the Baltimore youth pool was the answer to Bowman’s prayers after several failed attempts at translating to sports coaching the rigour and repetition drummed into him as a music scholar. Bowman learned to play piano at 10. At 12, his father took him to watch a swimming competition at which Tracey Caulkins, arguably the most versatile female swimmer in history and deprived by the 1980 Games boycott, held top billing. Watching her was “like hearing an orchestra play", said Bowman, a Beethoven fan with a degree in developmental psychology (minoring in music composition) and owner of a Maryland stud.
In his early days as a swim coach, Bowman’s tempo resulted in burnout among a fair few youngsters. “I was definitely overzealous,” says Bowman. Enter Phelps, a boy who by 11 had a capacity to train in sync with Bowman's beat and compete in a way that turned the standard tune on its head. “His greatest strength is his ability to relax and focus under pressure. As the pressure gets higher, he performs better — that's very rare,” says Bowman. “He has an ability at the critical moment to be at his best.”
An ability, too, to endure what Bowman describes as “a more intense programme than any other swimmer, domestic or international”. Phelps covers between 16 and 18km in training every day (even at altitude, an expenditure of energy that is replenished by breakfasts said to be of a size fit to feed “a small neighbourhood”), trains seven days a week (up to six of them for up to six hours), including Christmas Day, and has done so since he was 14.

In Athens four years ago, he won six gold medals and two bronzes. He then let his hair down and the world heard about it. Like many teenagers, as he was then, he went on a bender. He then got in his car, was stopped by the police and charged with driving under the influence by police in Maryland. He issued an apology: "It was a mistake. Getting into a car with anything to drink is wrong. It's dangerous and it's unacceptable. I'm 19, but was taught that no matter how old you are, you take responsibility for actions, which I will do. I'm extremely sorry." Beyond that, Phelps has towed a tight light on his trajectory to becoming, as he did today, the most crowned Olympic athlete in history, with 11 gold medals hanging around his neck.
Beijing is all about the final notes of Bowman’s Eighth Symphony. This is not just about winning some races, it is about following a masterplan that only Bowman and Phelps have had access too. Not even the swimmer’s mother has been given access to the ledger where the goals are written down.
There are good reasons why Phelps can stand up day after day and achieve things beyond the vast majority of world-class athletes, let alone mere mortals. One of those reasons is a bizarre physiology. Sports science suggests that Phelps is unique: beyond an armspan worthy of the curse of the ancient mariner, paddle-like hands, a whippet-like 13st 10lbs frame of cut muscle, no fat, nuclear calves and a flexibility fit to make a contortionist blush, his cardio-vascular system has had swimming scholars in a frenzy.
US team physiologist Genadijus Sokolovas has monitored more than 5,000 swimmers over the past 20 years and most end a race with a lacticity (build-up of lactic acid in the blood caused by oxygen starvation in fast-twitch fibres) of between 10 and 15 millimoles per litre of blood. Just one world-record breaker has registered a sub-10 millimole count: after Phelps broke the 200 metres butterfly world record his count was 5.6. While most swimmers take 20-30 minutes to recover from a race, Phelps can bounce back in 10 minutes. On a night when Phelps raced two events recently, the first a final, the second a semi-final, his lacticity count was above 10 after the first race but below it after the second, suggesting that he is actually recovering while racing below peak.

In Melbourne last year, the world championships served as a dress rehearsal for the Games in Beijing. Phelps won seven gold medals, missing one because the USA medley relay got disqualified for a false start in the heats. Seven, however, was a record, and the way that Phelps went about his mission has entered sporting lore.
“There has been nobody that's been not just as dominant but as versatile,” says Schubert. “His performance was the greatest performance of all time. He can do it from behind, he can do it from the front, he can do it when it’s close, he can do it when it’s not close. He can go anywhere.” In China, Phelps is doing just that.
"What Michael's doing, it's elevating everybody else's performance here," said US teammate and 100m backstroke champion here in Beijing, Aaron Peirsol, who, like Phelps, arrived in Olympic waters in Sydney in 2000 and won a silver medal at 17 in the 200m backstroke. "He's [Phelps] not just winning but destroying everything. It's awesome to watch." Indeed it is

No TV

2008-01-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

Jan 25, 2008
No TV - that's how top Malay student did it
THE eldest of five siblings, 16-year-old Nurul Azizah Johari tries to always set a good example to her two sisters and two brothers.
She did just that yesterday when she was named top Malay student at the O levels.

The Methodist Girls' School student scored eight A1s - and an A2 for Physics - to the delight of her parents, who took time off work to join her at the school.

'I was surprised she did so well as she did not perform well for her prelims,' said mum Rosidah Muhamad, 41, who runs a cafeteria. Her dad runs a courier business.

Azizah scored B3s for Physics and Combined Humanities in the prelims, but turned these into A2 and A1 at the O levels.

The former Shuqun Primary pupil took Chinese as a third language but dropped it in Sec 3 when she found it hard to cope.

Azizah, who has always been among the top students in class, focused on revising for the O levels by giving up her favourite TV shows like drama series CSI.

'I refrained from watching TV and stopped going online,' she said.

Azizah, who likes sports especially soccer, hopes to become a doctor.

Another mission girls' school student who did well was Lauren Lindsay John, 16 - one of 10 top Indian students at this year's O levels.

The Paya Lebar Methodist Girls' School student scored 8A1s, one of which was for Chinese. An only child, her software engineer dad is Indian-Chinese and her mother is Chinese.

She has not thought about a future career but guessed it will have to do with accounting. 'I like math!' she said.

HO AI LI and DIANA OTHMAN

Best of the bunch: Singapore students clinch top two spots

2008-01-26T07:02:00.000-08:00

Jan 25, 2008
Best of the bunch: Singapore students clinch top two spots
But top group has 11 foreigners compared to eight S'poreans
By Ho Ai Li and Jessica Lim

WHEN Pearlyn Ler re-entered the Singapore school system at Primary 5 after two years in the United States, she could hardly understand a word on the Mandarin news bulletins.
Yesterday, an A2 for Higher Chinese turned out to be the only so-called blemish in Pearlyn's O-level results.

The Singapore Chinese Girls' School (SCGS) student scored nine A1s and one A2, making her one of two top O-level students this year.

While her command of English was strengthened by interacting with native speakers in the US, she worked hard to brush up her Chinese - by speaking Mandarin to her cousins, for instance.

She did well enough to read Higher Chinese, but her grades were still sometimes below her expectations.

'I didn't feel very secure about Chinese. Sometimes, I couldn't answer the questions asked in comprehension tests,' said Pearlyn, who has a younger brother.

However, she scored an A1 for her third language, German.

Language also proved to be the 'Achilles heel' of the other top student, Kim Chan Xinhui, 17, from Methodist Girls' School. She had A1s for all subjects except Japanese, her third language, for which she scored an A2.

The two top students stood out for being Singaporean, as this year's pick of the O-level crop featured 11 foreigners out of 19.

Over the past few years, foreign students, especially scholarship holders, have dominated the top ranks, with top Singaporean students opting to bypass the O levels for six-year integrated programmes that take them to the A levels or International Baccalaureate.

In general, not more than 20 per cent of a school's places are given to foreign students.

The trend of foreigners taking top placings started with the 2005 O levels, with a dozen out of 39 students. Then it was 12 out of 25 for the 2006 exams.

Six of the 11 foreign top students this year hail from China. Malaysians and an Indonesian make up the rest.

All the top students from Catholic High and Crescent Girls' - six in all - are foreign students on scholarship.

Hu Yiqing, 18, the only child of a government official and university professor, arrived from Jiangsu on a scholarship to start Secondary 3 at Crescent Girls.

And like most of her peers in the same boat, she struggled with English initially.

'There was a time I went to McDonalds and instead of asking for French fries, I asked for fried rice,' said Yiqing, now at Hwa Chong Institution.

Likewise, Catholic High's Tan Tzer Han, 17, from Penang, had to work on his English when he received a scholarship here to start Sec 3.

He failed his first English test, but started compiling word lists which he would commit to memory. He also read two English books a week.

Kim, the youngest of the three children of an engineer and insurance manager, hopes to study science.

Pearlyn, whose father is a senior technician and mother, a housewife, hopes to become a gynaecologist.

'I think it's wonderful to be the first to see miracles happening every day and to play a part in them,' she said.

2008-01-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

Jan 19, 2008

Overhaul of bus system for smooth, fast trips
Govt to control planning of routes, bus market to be open to competition
By Goh Chin Lian

BUS travel here will undergo an overhaul to give commuters a faster, smoother and more pleasant ride.
This will happen in two stages over the next few years. First, the Government will take back control of the planning of routes from the two public transport companies.

The aim: to find the fastest and best route for commuters by bus and MRT - not how to make more money.

Then, it will open up the bus market to more competition. The idea is that contest could lead to better ways of doing things, and maybe, even lower costs.

More immediately, transfers will become easier and cheaper, and commuters will get more information on the go, to plan how best to make their journey.

Transport Minister Raymond Lim gave the details yesterday in the first of three key policy speeches he will make this month on how travel by bus, rail and car will change.

This shake-up of the land transport landscape foresees that by 2020, 14.3 million journeys will be made every day on this small island, up from 8.9 million now.

The future will be gridlock and pollution if many more people take to cars, he said.

The thing to do now is to move more people to public transport: Mr Lim's target is 70 per cent for all journeys in the morning peak by 2020, up from 63 per cent now.

But what will it take, he asked, for the majority to choose the bus or MRT over the car?

His ministry's solution for buses combines radical strokes with fine tweaking.

It is the fruit of a year-long study to take stock of a 1996 road-map on land transport and lay out a new one, good for the next 10 to 15 years.

The planners turned to consultants who assessed what worked for such cities as London, Hong Kong and Melbourne, and sought public views.

The 'new philosophy', as Mr Lim calls it, is to plan transport through the eyes of the commuter - from the time he thinks about making his journey to the time he reaches his destination.

'Our land transport system must be planned and built for people, not vehicles,' he said.

'Can people get to a train station or bus stop quickly and comfortably? Are the connections good? How long is the total journey time and waiting time between transfers? How crowded are the buses and trains? Can people get timely and user-friendly travel information?'

The Government will consider such concerns when it plans the bus routes and opens them up to the best bidder to run them, possibly as early as 2010.

It will specify standards for what commuters, in a 2007 official poll released yesterday, see as still lacking in the current system - less overcrowding, shorter waiting times.

If the consultants are right, the market has room for a few more bus operators.

These major changes aside, the planners are also tweaking the system to make transfers seamless.

The fare system will be changed so that commuters do not have to pay when making transfers. They will be charged just for the total distance travelled.

They will get a new season pass for use on all trains and buses, regardless of operator.

And the wait for the connection will be shorter. Buses will be given more priority on the roads later this year.

Some commuters, in welcoming the changes, say they are overdue.

Tampines GRC MP and deputy chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport Ong Kian Min expects complaints from commuters whose routes get re-drawn by the Land Transport Authority, but thinks they should not sidetrack people from the overall good the changes bring.

'I hope the minister will have the political will and the support from the people to see this through,' said Mr Ong.

It is not clear yet if bidding for the bus routes will eventually push fares up or down. Mr Lim said new gains by operators as a result of opening the market to competition could be reflected in the formula that caps fare rises.

The two bus operators were optimistic about their prospects when the bus routes are carved up for bidders.

SBS Transit, which has a bigger share, saw the share price of its parent ComfortDelGro fall five cents to $1.61, while its own stayed unchanged at $2.83. SMRT's rose one cent to $1.73.

All eyes are now on the coming announcements. Mr Lim said there will be a need to reduce the vehicle growth rate and raise Electronic Road Pricing charges.

Motorists and aspiring car owners can do their sums then, on whether it makes sense to make their other car the bus or the MRT.

chinlian@sph.com.sg

New targets

Shorter wait

August 2009: Eight in 10 services to run every 10 minutes or less, down from today's 15 minutes.
Zippier travel

2015: Eight in 10 commuters will complete their trip within one hour, up from seven in 10 today.
Catching up with the car

2020: Trips on public transport to take no more than 1.5 times that by car, down from today's 1.7 times.

2008-01-19T15:59:00.000-08:00

Jan 18, 2008
Major overhaul to improve bus travel
The radical changes promise to get commuters to their destination faster
By Goh Chin Lian
BUS travel here will undergo an overhaul to give commuters a faster, smoother and more pleasant ride.
This will happen in two stages over the next few years. First, the Government will take back control of the planning of routes from the two public transport companies.

The aim: to find the fastest and best route for commuters by bus and MRT - not how to make more money.

Then, it will open up the bus market to more competition. The idea is that contest could lead to better ways of doing things, and maybe, even lower costs.

More immediately, transfers will become easier and cheaper, and commuters will get more information on the go, to plan how best to make their journey.

Transport Minister Raymond Lim gave the details on Friday, in the first of three key policy speeches he will make this month on how travel by bus, rail and car will change.

This shake-up of the land transport landscape foresees that by 2020, 14.3 million journeys will be made every day on this small island, up from 8.9 million now.

The future will be gridlock and pollution if many more people take to cars, he said.

The thing to do now is to move more people to public transport: Mr Lim's target is 70 per cent for all journeys in the morning peak by 2020, up from 63 per cent now.

But what will it take, he asked, for the majority to choose the bus or MRT over the car?

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.

Samsui women of today

2008-01-19T15:47:00.000-08:00

Jan 15, 2008
The Samsui women of today
By John Gee

SELF-RELIANT: Former Samsui worker Yip Say Mui, now deceased, would collect cardboard near her Redhill flat to earn money. Even in her 90s, she was too proud of her independence to rely on government aid. -- PHOTO: SIM CHI YIN

SAMSUI women have a small but distinct niche in Singapore's history. Their broad red hats and blue-black samfoo marked them out as they went back and forth to work on the island's building sites.
Since the last working Samsui women retired, their image has become a fixture in Singapore's perception of how it transformed itself into a modern city.

They are eulogised in drama serials; there are Samsui women T-shirts, collectible figures and dolls on sale at the Chinatown Heritage Centre; and when the Dim Sum Dollies performed The History Of Singapore at the Esplanade last July, one segment was devoted to Samsui women.

The Samsui women are seen to represent values that present- day Singaporean society regards highly. With their reputation for resilience and hard work, they embody the spirit that has gone into the making of modern Singapore, and are sometimes held up as an inspiring example for younger generations accustomed to a less arduous life.

Samsui women themselves have had little say in how their contemporary image was shaped. The women's social circumstances meant that they recorded little of their own views and experiences. Few could read or write and, until recently, other people took no great interest in their lives and memories.

Samsui women worked hard because they had to. Nation-building was not on their minds when they set out to work in Singapore's construction industry; making a living was. Many who came were in their teens. Most came alone. As they stepped onto the Singapore pier in the 1930s after months at sea in grim and often perilous conditions, the road ahead must have seemed daunting indeed.

Yet decades later, thousands of women continue to leave their families behind to seek jobs in Singapore. Many are employed as domestic workers.

There are similarities as well as significant differences between these two groups of women.

Lowly jobs

LIKE most migrants who came to Singapore before 1950, Samsui women were from southern China, so they found some familiar institutions and customs when they arrived. They lived among people who, like themselves, mostly spoke Cantonese. Many of their immediate neighbours were also from the Samsui district.

Today's foreign domestic workers, by contrast, come mostly from Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Myanmar. They number about 170,000 in Singapore today, and are among the country's 650,000 migrant workers.

Both groups have faced the consequences of doing work that the better-off regard as lowly and unskilled.

While respected by employers as dependable workers, Samsui women were not regarded so positively by society at large in the 1930s and 1940s. Former Samsui worker Wong Ah Tai, now in her 90s and living in an old folks' home, said she felt people used to look down on them 'because, after all, we carry mud'.

Likewise, foreign workers today face varying attitudes, with some people crediting them for their hard work and dedication, and some denigrating their intelligence, honesty and other values.

In both cases, the 'pull' factor of jobs in Singapore drew in people subjected to the 'push' factor of poor economic conditions in their places of origin.

The Samsui women came from a rural area to the west of Guangzhou, where three rivers, or 'three waters' (Samsui in Cantonese), flowed into one. It was a region of grinding poverty, where life was made more wretched by natural disasters such as the catastrophic flood that washed away many homes and livelihoods in 1915.

The economic growth of Singapore attracted a steady flow of men from southern China until the early 1930s, when the Depression hit Singapore hard. In 1933, the colonial administration introduced the Aliens Ordinance to restrict Chinese immigration by limiting male entry, but left the door open to female migrants. And it was through this doorway that the Samsui women walked.

Eventually, well over 1,000, perhaps as many as 2,000, women came to Singapore to work in the construction industry in those years.

The experience of going into debt to pay for the journey to Singapore and of repaying it from their earnings is also common among both groups of workers.

Samsui women often had to work for more than a year to pay off their debts, while modern domestic workers usually repay their debts in six to nine months.

But there is a difference: Once she was in Singapore, a Samsui woman could go from one employer to another without penalty. But a modern domestic worker who wishes to transfer to another employer needs the consent of her existing one in most circumstances and ends up paying the equivalent of 11/2 to four months' salary to her agency to make the change.

Work comes first

THE most fundamental similarity between the two groups of women is in the commitment that both have made towards their families.

Most Samsui women gave up the prospect of marriage and children and lived very simply in order to save money to support relatives who they might never see again after they left home. They lived frugal lives, sharing accommodation and eating simple food. Whether it meant walking to or from work, gathering the wood for cooking from around building sites or repairing their clothes themselves, their lives were marked by their determination to save every cent they could.

Similarly, modern domestic workers are careful in their spending when they go out, and sometimes endure unreasonable and exploitative treatment simply because they do not want to risk losing their source of income.

Young single women who come to Singapore as domestic workers may see their chances of finding a husband and having children slip away with the passing years. Married women miss seeing their children grow up and may not be there when they are needed. Many mothers lavish love and care on other people's children during their years in Singapore while their own children miss them and feel emotionally deprived.

The personal sacrifice is enormous.

Changing political conditions also led to vast differences in the experiences of the two groups of migrant women. Singapore was still under British rule when the original Samsui women came, and it was expected that most migrants who were admitted would settle here. The authorities were not concerned much with what they did once they passed quarantine.

At independence, Singapore was hard-pressed to create jobs for all its citizens who needed them, so it operated a very restrictive policy towards foreign unskilled and semi-skilled workers.

Only after the economic take-off of the 1970s transformed the country's prospects did it open the doors to foreign migrant workers, but sensitivities about community relations prompted the government to want their presence to be temporary.

Male construction workers and female domestic workers are allowed into Singapore on work passes that must be renewed every two years. They are not permitted to marry locals or raise families here, or to settle permanently.

So while Samsui women could easily settle in Singapore once their useful work lives were over, today's work-permit holders have to leave the country within two weeks of the cancellation of their permits.

A room of their own

SAMSUI women took on work that was available every day because of economic necessity, not because they were compelled to work by contract. They had days or part-days off when work was not available. They usually laboured for around nine hours a day, not the 15 or so that is quite common for domestic workers today.

Once the working day was over, a Samsui woman's time was her own. She would go home and prepare and eat her evening meal. Afterwards, she might sit and talk with other women outside the houses where they stayed. There was enough space on the five-foot way outside the shophouses for other people to walk past them. The traffic of the working day had thinned out, and the air had cooled a little. Many smoked cigarettes as they whiled away an hour or so before going up to bed.

Samsui women came and went as they chose outside working hours: There was no one to lock them up in case they 'fell into bad company'. Their ability to reject a bad employer and the presence of fellow workers on-site no doubt protected them from physical and sexual abuse.

Working together and sharing accommodation, Samsui women provided support for each other, though living in close quarters and sometimes competing for work could also lead to friction.

Conversation, sympathy in difficult times and the chance for young women to learn from the more experienced all made it a little easier to cope with difficult circumstances.

Whatever else they had to bear, Samsui women were not forced to endure the debilitating, morale-rotting isolation of some of today's domestic workers, whose employers try to isolate them from the outside world and deny them the right to go out, meet friends and know a few hours when their lives are their own.

Perhaps a recognition that the motivations of foreign domestic workers and the sacrifices that they make are similar to those of the now-respected Samsui women could help to bring about greater consideration for these modern migrants.

John Gee is a freelance writer and president of Transient Workers Count Too, an advocacy group for migrant workers.

A longer version of this essay was written in conjunction with an ongoing exhibition of photographs of Samsui women at bus stops around Singapore, part of the M1 Singapore Fringe art festival (www.singaporefringe.com).

15 Jan 300m in poverty in China

2008-01-19T15:35:00.001-08:00

Jan 15, 2008
300 million people in China living in poverty
Many peasants in the heartland scrape by on less than US$1 a day

YANGMIAO (HENAN) - WHENEVER she falls ill, Madam Li Enlan, 78, picks herbs from the woods that grow near her home instead of buying modern medicines.
She has never seen a doctor and, like many residents of this area, lives in a meagre barter economy, seldom coming into contact with cash.

'We eat somehow, but it's never enough,' she said. 'At least we're not starving.'

In this region of southern Henan province, in village after village, people are too poor to heat up their homes in the winter and many lack basic comforts such as running water.

Mobile phones, a near ubiquitous symbol of upward mobility throughout much of this country, are seen as an impossible luxury.

People here often begin conversations with a phrase that is still not uncommon in today's China: 'We are poor.'

China has moved more people out of poverty than any other country in recent decades, but the persistence of destitution in places like central Henan province fits in with the findings of a recent World Bank study that suggests that there are still 300 million poor people in China - three times the number that the bank previously estimated.

'Henan has the largest population of any province, approaching 100 million people, and the land there just cannot support those kinds of numbers,' said Mr Albert Keidel, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and an expert on Chinese poverty.

'It is supposed to be a breadbasket, but there has always been major discrimination against grain-based areas in China. The profit you can get from a hectare of land from vegetables, or a fish farm or oils, is so much more.'

Other experts say that Henan and other heavily populated parts of the Chinese heartland are often excluded from the financial support that goes to the coastal areas, and anti-poverty measures there are having little effect.

Typically, residents of these areas say, money intended for them is appropriated by corrupt local officials who pocket it or divert it to business investments.

Paradoxically, they say, they are overlooked precisely because of their proximity to the major economic centres of the east. They are forced to fend for themselves on the theory that they can make do with income sent home by migrant labourers and other forms of trickle-down wealth.

'Previous poverty alleviation policy focused more on western China, places like Gansu, Qinghai or Guizhou, which were poorer,' said Mr Wang Xiaolu, deputy director of the National Economic Research Institute, a Beijing non-governmental organisation.

Here in Henan's rural Gushi County, only 73,000 of 1.4 million farmers fall below the official poverty level of US$94 (S$135) a year, which is supposed to be enough to cover basic needs, including maintaining a daily diet of 2,000 calories.

'We should bear in mind that this poverty standard is very low,' Mr Wang said, echoing the view of many Chinese economists.

Many more people in this part of Henan subsist between the official poverty line and the US$1-a-day standard long used by the World Bank.

Last month, the World Bank's estimate of the number of poor people in China was tripled to 300 million from 100 million after a new survey of prices altered the picture of what a US dollar can buy.

The new standard was set according to what economists call purchasing power parity.

Given the huge size of China's population, even a small change in the definition of poverty can produce widely different estimates.

NEW YORK TIMES

2008-01-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

Schemes for the needy
ALL the five community development councils administer the following four schemes:
1. ComCare Self-Reliance:

Targeted at improving the work prospects of needy, low-income families to get them out of the poverty trap. The Work Support Programme is the main vehicle for delivering self-reliance. It is directed at three sub-groups - the unemployed poor, chronically poor families and those who are too old or ill to work.

Number of cases all five CDCs helped in financial year 2006 (FY 06): 4,233

Amount they spent in FY 06: $10.1 million

2. ComCare Grow:

This scheme helps ensure that children from needy families are looked after before, during and after school, while their parents are earning a living. There are three broad schemes in this category: The Kindergarten Financial Assistance Scheme (KiFAS) gives needy families with children in kindergarten subsidies of up to $82 per month. The Centre-based Financial Assistance Scheme for Childcare (CFAC) gives subsidies of up to $320 to offset childcare fees. The Student Care Fee Assistance Scheme (SCFAS) provides subsidies of up to $160 a month for parents who place their children in student-care centres before or after school.

Number of cases all five CDCs helped in FY 06: 13,012

Amount they spent in FY 06: $18.8 million

3. ComCare EnAble:

Focuses on helping the needy who require long-term assistance because of disability or old age. Funds the Public Assistance Scheme for older folk without family support.

Number of cases all five CDCs helped in FY 06: 2,947

Amount they spent in FY 06: $9.8 million

4. Home Ownership Plus Education (Hope) Scheme

Gives young, lowly educated, low-income couples around $100,000 worth of incentives, including housing and training grants and education grants for their children. But couples cannot have more than two children and cannot divorce.

Number of cases all five CDCs helped in FY 06: 226

Amount they spent in FY 06: Not available.

For more information, log on to www.centralsingaporecdc.org.sg or call 1800-222-0000

More relief at 'local' level
Local schemes are meant to plug gaps not met by national aid programmes

GRASSROOTS AID: Retiree Chua Teng Siew, 73, receives meal and grocery vouchers under a new scheme by the Central Singapore CDC. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM

WHEN retiree Chua Teng Siew returned home with a bag of five apples last September, it was the first time he had bought fruit in years.
With no family to fall back on and no savings, the 73-year-old bachelor has been on public assistance since 2001.

The $290 he gets from the Government every month is enough to meet his rent, conservancy charges and three square meals, if he sticks to bread and water for breakfast and $2 economy rice meals for lunch and dinner.

In a bid to get the elderly poor to eat more nutritious meals, the Central Singapore Community Development Council piloted a scheme last September to give them $30 worth of food vouchers every month.

The brainchild of Jalan Besar GRC MP Lily Neo, the vouchers can be exchanged for groceries at the Sheng Siong supermarket.

Says the MP: 'Good nutrition is really important if our elderly are to remain active as they age. Our voucher scheme is just a way of providing the elderly with the opportunity to have food they cannot otherwise afford.'

Mr Chua, for instance, uses the vouchers to buy fruit, milk and, occasionally, coffee. About 300 hawkers in the area have also begun accepting the vouchers in lieu of cash.

In fact, some like noodle stall vendor Ngo Meng Nguen, 49, have gone a step further. He 'subsidises' those who pay with vouchers, and accepts a $2 voucher for a plate of seafood hor fun that normally costs $4. 'I've always wanted to do something for those who are less fortunate. It's good to get this chance,' he says.

In nearby Kampong Glam, another initiative started by the local residents' committee is improving the diet of poor folk. Every Sunday, local grassroots workers distribute bread that has been donated by upscale hotels and eateries and is delivered by the Food From The Heart charity.

Among regulars who queue for bread every week is Hamidah (not her real name), 29, a housewife and mother of four whose husband is in jail. Her children look forward to the bread the entire week. 'It's a treat for them,' she says.

Usually initiated in partnership with local grassroots or voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs), the CDC's local schemes are meant to plug gaps not met by national schemes such as ComCare, says CDC general manager Agnes Kwek.

Each CDC has the flexibility to devise schemes that it feels are best suited to meet the unique needs of its resident population.

Here is a snapshot of some of the other local help schemes available at Central Singapore CDC.

Safe Home Scheme: The scheme gives the elderly poor and the disabled subsidies of up to $1,000 per household to 'elder-proof' their homes, by adding features like grab bars and slip-proof tiles to ensure the elderly don't hurt themselves at home. The applicants, however, must be prepared to pay a part of the costs. Applications are administered by the VWO Touch Caregivers.

Ride Scheme: This is a transport subsidy, capped at $150 per month, to help those elderly who wish to attend day care or day rehabilitation centres defray their transport costs.

Talking Dollars and Sense: Conducted in English, Mandarin and Malay, these are three-hour basic budgeting workshops that teach families which are in financial distress how to save money and live within their means.

Nurture Programme: Meant for children from low-income or single-parent families, this weekly programme is both educational and fun. Children aged between six and 10 are treated to art and craft, storytelling, balloon sculpting and reading sessions.

RADHA BASU

SCHEME #1: PUBLIC ASSISTANCE FOR THE DESTITUTE
Making every cent count
Aid recipients try to make the most of cash grants through careful budgeting
By Radha Basu, Community Correspondent

GETTING BY: Widow Jenny Tan and her intellectually disabled sons Andrew (left) and Eddie survive on a government grant of $580 a month and $100 from a church. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM

View more photos

AFTER a stroke felled Mr Koh Cheng Huat in 1995, his wife and their two intellectually disabled adult sons were reduced to living on the $500 his former employer gave them out of charity every month.
As the ailing karung guni helper's medical bills piled up, so did their financial woes. 'There were days when we lived only on rice,' recalls housewife Jenny Tan, 68.

Ironically, things eased after he died in 2001 and aid from his employer dried up. The family was put on public assistance, which is administered by the community development councils. They now get $580 a month from the Government and another $100 from a church. They are also eligible for free health care, free rations and, occasionally, free cooked food from local welfare organisations.

Madam Tan and her sons, Andrew, 32, and Eddie, 31, are among Singapore's 3,000 or so destitute folk who have no other means of support and are on public assistance. The Government gives them a monthly cash grant ranging from $290 for a single living alone to $940 for a family with three school-going children.

Parliament witnessed a heated debate in March last year on whether these amounts were enough.

According to neighbours Monah Selamat, 76, and Emily Low, 78, who each gets $290 a month in public assistance, it is enough if you are thrifty and budget carefully.

They live in adjacent one-room rental units on Mei Ling Street.

They prepare small meals of rice and meat or vegetables at home and are in bed by 9pm to save on electricity. After paying the bills, they say they have enough left over to go on at least one outing a month to Tekka Market or IMM shopping mall.

'We pool our money and sometimes can even afford to take a taxi back,' says the childless and widowed Madam Monah in her prettily decorated flat, complete with colourful lace curtains and a matching bedspread.

A floor below is the stench- ridden flat of another public assistance recipient.

Grime coats the floor. A 81-year-old widow lives there with six cats. A leaflet from a welfare organisation offering free home cleaning services is stuck to the door, but she has refused help.

CDC social service manager Sani Lim, who drops in on all three women once a year to check on their well-being, says that sometimes it is personal habits and disposition, rather than money, that make the difference in how a person lives. 'There is very little you can do for a person who does not want to be helped,' he says.

radhab@sph.com.sg

SCHEME #2: WORK SUPPORT

THE year 2006 almost knocked out Mr Ismail Sanif.
In July, the 40-year-old father of two was retrenched from his warehouse assistant job. Soon after, wife Hasna Hamid also lost her factory operator job.

September brought the final whammy. Unable to pay a $3,000 fine for being involved in a bar brawl, Mr Ismail was sentenced to 37 days in jail.

Life worsened upon his release. He sent out three or four job applications every day, all in vain. 'No one wanted an ex-inmate,' he remembers.

The nadir came when the electricity in their three-room Ang Mo Kio home was cut after one too many unpaid bills. He had to fan his two girls, aged eight and 10, to sleep on hot nights.

After a year of unemployment, he approached the Central Singapore Community Development Council for help in June last year.

He was placed on the Work Support Programme that helps low-income families become self-reliant by improving their job opportunities. He was given $150 cash to help with transport money for job interviews and vouchers to settle his electricity bill arrears.

Two days later, he was referred for an interview as a dispatch rider and hired on the spot. 'My new boss said the company did not care about my past, only my future,' he recalls.

He put in long hours and did extra deliveries for extra cash. Six months on, he earns around $2,200 a month, more than he ever earned before. Madam Hasna too has found work as a factory operator. The family has not returned for public assistance since.

Since it was introduced in July 2006, the Work Support Programme has become one of the key pillars of the CDCs' drive to help the poor help themselves. More than 4,200 individuals and families have been helped since the programme began.

Central Singapore Mayor Zainudin Nordin says: 'We want programmes that are sustainable and allow our clients to take responsibility for their future, rather than depend on handouts.'

The programme is divided into three schemes. The first, which Mr Ismail benefited from, targets the unemployed.

Apart from help to get a job, poor families are given cash grants or vouchers, as well as 'top-ups' to childcare or kindergarten subsidies, for up to six months. In return, the clients must work with officers to get a job within that time.

A second scheme is aimed at people who may be employed but are in such low-paying jobs that they cannot make ends meet. They get cash and vouchers and can also make use of a training grant to improve their chances of getting better-paying jobs. The vouchers can be used to pay rent, utilities or conservancy charges.

Support under this programme is extended for a maximum of two years.

The final programme is for those who cannot work because of old age, illness or a disability. Clients require a medical certificate to get help, which includes cash handouts and vouchers.

Assistance is usually reviewed every six months for the second and third scheme and only rarely does a family get the maximum level of subsidy.

RADHA BASU

SCHEME #3: HOME OWNERSHIP PLUS EDUCATION (HOPE)
Hope for lower skilled comes with strict terms
Package of up to $100k requires families to stay small and intact
By Radha Basu, Community Correspondent

A RIGHT-SIZED HOME: The scheme not only helps oil rig worker Mohamad Esmon Omar, 32, and wife Olivia Castillo, 31, with a housing grant for their Bukit Batok flat and grants to upgrade their skills, but also provides bursaries for children Netashya, (left), 13 and Shyaquir, seven. But their much-needed financial security comes with strings attached: they cannot have more than two kids or divorce. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM

WHEN Ms Olivia Castillo spotted teenagers doing drugs along the corridors of her Lengkok Bahru block of one-room rental flats, she knew she had to move out - and on.
She and her husband, then working as a dispatch rider, were too poor to buy their own flat, so they and their two young children bunked in with his parents for nearly a decade while they dreamt of having their own place.

That dream came true last year.

Home is now a spacious 12th-floor executive flat in Bukit Batok, complete with a plush sofa set and crystal chandelier.

Ms Castillo says her dream was made possible by hard work and a government scheme that gives up to $100,000 worth of incentives to low-educated, low-income couples to lift them out of the poverty trap.

It includes a $50,000 housing grant - given in monthly instalments - bursaries for children as well as a training grant of up to $10,000.

But the largesse under the Home Ownership Plus Education (Hope) scheme comes with strings attached. Female applicants must be aged 35 and under. Couples cannot have more than two children. They cannot divorce.

None of that deterred Ms Castillo, 31, when she first read about the scheme in 2004 and approached the Central Singapore Community Development Council to sign up.

Childhood sweethearts, she and her husband dropped out of school to marry after their N levels. Daughter Netashya, now 13, was born soon after. Son Shyaquir Mon followed six years later.

After a few false starts - a truncated education, early marriage - life is finally looking up for the family.

Her husband, Mohamad Esmon Omar, 32, has spent the past five years working as an oil rig 'rope-access specialist'. He climbs up heights of 50m on a rope to access parts of oil rigs that cannot be reached by machines.

It is dangerous, back-breaking work but, by sheer grit, he has reached a supervisory position and quadrupled the family income in the last four years.

The Hope scheme provided the family with much-needed economic security, says Ms Castillo.

But their prosperity today is due largely to her husband who has tirelessly toiled seven-day weeks, without taking any vacations.

'There is no substitute for hard work,' the housewife concludes.

Not everyone on the scheme, however, has success stories to share.

Part-time telemarketer Khadija (not her real name), 36, signed up in November last year because her husband, a frequently unemployed odd-job worker, was in prison.

Her infant son cannot hear very well and has a deformed foot. A recent medical bill was $1,000 - $300 more than what she earns each month.

But their marriage has gone downhill ever since she found out he was a secret society member. 'He also lied about his job, saying he owned a barber shop, before he married me,' she laments.

Because she is seeking a divorce, she has returned the Redhill flat she got through the Hope scheme and lives with her mother now.

radhab@sph.com.sg

Long hard road to self-reliance
Despite nearly full employment in Singapore, there are still some people who slip through the cracks. But there is hope for them. Community Correspondent RADHA BASU worked with officers of the Central Singapore Community Development Council to find out how the organisation helps

HELPING HUB: Service@Central is the front office of the Central Singapore CDC at Toa Payoh's HDB Hub, where those in need can go for assistance.

View more photos

LAUGHTER gurgles from Mr Ahmad Habib's two-room rental flat. His grandchildren are involved in a riotous jumping game. But the unemployed 59-year-old's face is creased with worry as he spends his days reciting the Quran and praying for divine intervention.
'Do you think we will get any help? My bank account is empty,' he implores from behind his metal grille gate, worry dispensing with the formality of a proper greeting.

An unusual assignment has delivered me to Mr Ahmad's doorstep. For two weeks in November, I worked alongside officers of the Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC) to find out first-hand how this key pillar of Singapore's social security system works on the ground.

Weeks earlier, Mr Ahmad was one of the 3,400 weary and worried souls who shuffle through the doors of the CDC every month. Most are in need of money, jobs or just empathy. When his divorced younger son was jailed in 2006, he was saddled with caring for his two young grandchildren aged five and eight. But back then, he had a job.

The $1,000 he earned as a Changi Airport gardener was enough to feed his wife, Madam Salamah Nor, 55, and the two young ones. But when Madam Salamah became bedridden after a spinal operation in April, he had to quit his job to look after her and their grandchildren.

His two other children are in no position to help. His eldest son, a bachelor, was recently released from jail and is unemployed. His divorced daughter is struggling with four children of her own. With less than $200 left in his bank account, Mr Ahmad approached the CDC for help late last year.

After hearing out his tale of woe - and checking papers such as his bank book to ascertain his financial status - social assistance officer Gin Chua put Mr Ahmad on the ComCare Work Support (Employment) programme, which helps unemployed people from low-income families get jobs. The CDC also agreed to provide him with $250 a month in cash, and pay his rent and conservancy charges for three months.

But while the paperwork clears, Mr Ahmad has been scrimping on food. 'These kids are not choosy - their favourite food is eggs and ketchup,' he says. 'But even that costs money.'

IT IS another busy afternoon at Service@Central, the front office of the Central Singapore CDC at Toa Payoh's HDB Hub. Perched on one of the nondescript plastic chairs that fill the waiting room, an elderly man is muttering to himself and wiping away tears with a grubby sleeve. His emaciated fingers clutch a plastic bag filled with documents.

'My money will end next month,' he rails, pulling out a white card. 'How will I live?' The card states he will receive $250 from the CDC every month till end-November, 2007.

The counter staff quickly alert social services manager Elizabeth Aw, 24, the officer assigned to his case. She calmly escorts him into a tiny cubicle, where she assures him in soft, measured tones that his assistance will be extended.

The former restaurant worker suffers from an anxiety disorder and has been certified unfit to work by the Institute of Mental Health. He had already been informed over the phone that his assistance would be extended. 'I guess it was his worry that drove him here,' Ms Aw says, smiling wanly.

Later that day, a grey-haired housewife in a worn sweatshirt comes in. Her odd-job worker husband earns $40 a day, but most of it goes to paying for his father's nursing home fees. She is 53 but kidney problems and depression have made her unemployable.

The couple have a three-room HDB flat, but she maintains that 'it's old and not renovated, no one will want to buy it'. Before she is escorted out, a date is made for officers to visit her husband the following week.

WITHIN a month, Mr Ahmad's assistance is approved. But the housewife's case is dropped. Her husband has flatly refused any assistance. 'We don't have much but don't need any help. My wife approached the CDC without my knowledge,' he says.

About six in 10 people referred to the CDC for financial help return empty-handed. Some refuse help, and most others have stable sources of income. To make sure tax payers' money goes to the genuinely needy, the CDC staff spend a lot of time doing assessment interviews, document checks and home visits.

A few days after former cleaner Wasi Rashid, 69, and his nephew Haris Abdullah, 59, come to the CDC for help, social services manager Nazrin Begum Hamid, 33, turns up at the two-room rental flat that the two men share.

Mr Wasi is partially blind and cannot hear well. Mr Haris suffers from psychiatric problems. Neither is employed. The bachelors live on around $500 a month from their CPF savings and the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) and occasional food rations.

The flat is dark and dank, with the rain falling heavily outside. The lights are not switched on because the previous month, they chalked up arrears of $16 on their electricity bill.

After scrutinising their bank books, and inquiring about outside help, Ms Nazrin makes a quick tour of the flat, lifting cushions and peering under the sofa with a torchlight. 'Such visits allow us to check for bedbugs and to ensure that the homes of the elderly are clean,' she says, recalling a case when she noticed bedbugs crawling out of the shirt of a client she visited.

About three weeks later, their request for help is denied because they still have money left in their CPF accounts.

Ms Nazrin's next stop is the one-room Telok Blangah flat of former stall helper Pichagani Shaik Dawood, 82. For the last six months, unable to work and with no more savings, the wiry man has been surviving on $200 he gets monthly from the CDC, which is up for review.

For the past 50 years, he has led a lonely existence in Singapore, working in menial jobs to support his family in his native India. But in October, a $1 4-D ticket he bought yielded a rare stroke of luck - a $2,000 win, he reveals cheerfully.

Unfortunately, the revelation of a windfall means his assistance will have to be terminated, for a while at least. When Ms Nazrin first explains to him that others could use the financial help more than him right now, he looks a bit perplexed, then nods his assent after realisation sets in. But before she leaves, she arranges for a voluntary welfare organisation to provide him with free meals at home in the interim. At the door, she reminds him: 'Uncle, please contact us when the money runs out.'

FOR many of the CDC's 112 officers, the long hours of playing financial adviser, agony aunt and private investigator all rolled into one can be exhausting. But the responsibility comes with rewards. 'I am always moved by the trust the clients put in us, sharing their most personal details,' says Ms Aw, a National University of Singapore social work graduate, who joined the CDC two years ago.

Recently, she was the first person one of her clients - an unemployed mother of four - called after landing a job. 'Sharing a client's joy after months of hardship and hard work is the biggest reward.'

Despite nearly full employment in Singapore, there has been no let-up in the numbers trudging into the CDC seeking jobs. In November last year, there were 594 such cases, up from 518 last January.

One such person is Madam Julia Jacqueline Pang, 61, who wheeled herself into the CDC looking for work one morning. Childhood polio left the spunky mother of a grown-up son wheelchair-bound, but she managed to work as a factory operator earning $800 a month. But in 2005, an accident robbed her of mobility in her arms.

Two years on, her savings have dried up. 'My son has his own family to look after; I don't want to burden him,' she says, 'I just want to rely on myself.'

The CDC, working in partnership with the Workforce Development Agency, has a comprehensive scheme to help her. Career consultants fill in an electronic questionnaire listing her qualifications, work experience, state of health and job preferences. They then scan various job databases to find a suitable match.

There is also a free computer aptitude test for job seekers to find out where their strengths lie. Those who need to brush up on skills are sent for training courses. Not only is the training free, but candidates are also given a stipend of $30 a day to attend.

To MP and head of Central Singapore CDC, Mayor Zainudin Nordin, ensuring employability is one of the most important aspects of the CDC's work. 'If your focus is self-development, then even if your company or job is in jeopardy, you will be likely to find another job quickly,' he says.

But helping put low-income, lowly educated workers on the path towards self-reliance is a long, arduous process.

In the first half of last year, about 440 job seekers registered with the CDC every month. About 260 - or more than one in two - were successfully placed each month. But many could not keep their jobs due to ill health, mental problems or 'attitude problems'.

When Ms Sumathi Gopal walked into the CDC last year, she had no home, no job and only $1.80 in her bank account. Her mother was dead, her father in a nursing home and she had fallen out with her only brother.

The CDC's first priority was to get her employed. But with only primary school education and health problems - a leg infection that made her unable to stand for long periods - this was easier said than done.

As part of the employment assistance programme, she was sent on a six-day 'job preparation exercise' that taught her how to face interviewers and manage stress. Then she was linked up with a company looking for a carpark cashier, one of the few available blue-collar jobs that would not require her to stand for long periods.

She began work in late November. 'I don't think I could have managed to get a job without the CDC's help,' Ms Sumathi said then, beaming.

Barely a month later, her leg condition worsened. She was warded in hospital for five days, quit her job and neglected to inform her CDC career consultant Rasidah Rashid.

Now, she's better and is back in the queue for a job.

Like most of her colleagues, Ms Rasidah is used to such setbacks. 'I tried calling her several times to check how she was doing, but she never returned my calls,' she says, her tone tinged with disappointment.

'Now I guess we need to start over again.'

CDCs: A brief history
What are CDCs? When were they set up?
The community development councils were set up just over a decade ago - in 1997 - to foster community bonding and enhance social cohesion among residents.

The brainchild of then-prime minister Goh Chok Tong, they were first mooted at the National Day Rally in 1996 to build 'heartware', bind Singaporeans together and motivate them to take part in community projects.

Singapore was carved into nine distinct geographical 'districts', each with its own CDC. The CDCs were tasked with administering a few help schemes for the needy, such as the Public Assistance Scheme, where the destitute get a monthly government grant.

In 2001, the nine CDCs were reconstituted into the current five - covering the central, north-east, north-west, south-east and south-west parts of Singapore. Each CDC is headed by a government-appointed Mayor.

While community bonding is still a mission, since 2001, the CDCs have evolved to become the lead government agency that disburses help to the needy.

They still administer the Public Assistance Scheme, together with other financial aid schemes to help the poor meet their housing, education and employment needs. They also provide job-matching services.

Central Singapore CDC:
Set up in 1997, Central Singapore CDC is the country's largest in terms of resident population, being home to more than 860,000.

Geographically, it covers the heart of Singapore - stretching from Tanjong Pagar and Jalan Besar which are areas rich in history and culture, to largely middle-class Bishan-Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio, and finally to the leafy suburbs of Yio Chu Kang.

Nearly one in five of its residents is above 60 years old. It also has a sizeable population of elderly poor.

What is the formula to win a Nobel prize?

2008-01-12T18:03:00.001-08:00

What is the formula to win a Nobel prize?
Tharman: Curiosity, concern for society are some of the elements - but not glory seeking
By Shobana Kesava

MANY elements go into the formula that creates Nobel laureates, but seeking glory is not among them.
Instead, Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and three laureates agree, the potent mix includes intense curiosity, wide interests, years of devotion and a concern for society.

Mr Tharman was opening the first Molecular Frontiers Forum yesterday at the Biopolis. The two-day event drew local and overseas award-winning scientists, researchers and students.

Mr Tharman, who is also Finance Minister, urged the youth present - from 14-year-olds to young adults - and their teachers, to follow their hearts and not be too concerned about seeking out the best route to success.

He cited numerous examples of laureates who had taken unusual paths. Several found the sciences only in adulthood.

Among them: Anthony J. Legget (Nobel prize in physics in 2003) first studied the classics at Oxford. Eric R. Kandell (medicine in 2000) majored in 19th and 20th century European history and literature at Harvard.

What it takes to be a winner
YEARS of scrutiny precede the granting of each $2.25 million Nobel Prize. Professor Bengt Norden (below) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Sweden chairs a committee that picks each year's winner in chemistry. He lists the panel's criteria:

The discovery has to open the door to changing the way we think. It could be original, or the serendipity of what the scientist makes of a discovery.
... more
Not all started with sterling academic records. 'Some couldn't get into university,' he noted.

'Do what you want and what you love at every stage of your life and you usually do well as a result of it. Not because you want achievement or to show results but because you love it,' he said.

The three Nobel laureates in chemistry who spoke to the more than 300 students in the audience agreed that they had always been open to delving into wide interests - from baseball and fishing to carpentry. Read widely, they urged.

'You need to know what's going on in the world in order to make a difference to it,' said American professor Barry Sharpless, who won the prize in chemistry in 2001.

He said 20 per cent of his reading is unrelated to science.

Connections are important too. Japanese laureate Ryoji Noyori, who also won the award the same year, noted that he had met Prof Sharpless and Prof Richard Schrock in 1969 in Harvard.

An American, Prof Schrock won the prize in 2005.

'When you keep connecting with scientists in different labs, each may uncover an invisible spot in the other's work because everyone has a different approach,' said Prof Sharpless.

All agreed that one 'winning' factor perhaps stood out: society's needs.

'The only research I wanted to do was that which makes a difference in society,' said Prof Schrock, whose work is used in global pharmaceutical companies today.

The laureates are here as part of a drive by the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the Sweden-based Molecular Frontiers Foundation to promote appreciation of molecular science as well as entice youth to pursue scientific inquiry.

Singapore is trying to nurture a new generation of scientists and engineers to fuel the multibillion- dollar science and technology industry.

Yishun Junior College (JC) teacher Jacky Wong, who was at the forum, said molecular sciences like nanotechnology are not yet taught at the JC level, but the forum equips him to encourage students about the possibilities that lie ahead of them.

'Even if they don't end up choosing it as a career, science teaches lifelong skills, logic and systematic thinking,' he said.

Finding the sessions interesting, too, was university student Chin Sau Yin, 23, who was thrilled to meet the world-renowned scientists.

Said Miss Chin: 'They are real people who even took breaks from academia, which led them to ideas on what could help meet society's needs.'

skesava@sph.com.sg

MM's keys to living long and successfully

2008-01-12T18:00:00.000-08:00

Jan 12, 2008
MM's keys to living long and successfully
By Lee Siew Hua

PLUGGED IN: MM Lee says his days are high in stimuli and he is fully connected to the world. he says 'you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli, to keep going'. -- LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE PHOTO

View more photos

THE Minister Mentor has calculated his date with destiny.
His mother died of stroke at 74. His father was 94 when he died. Now that MM Lee Kuan Yew himself will turn 85 in September, he says: 'I've reached the halfway point.'

But he is living long and successfully - the theme of his dialogue at the first Silver Industry Conference - as his days are high in stimuli and he is fully connected to the world.

He would have shrunk away if he had retired, he said. 'Retirement means death,' he said, putting this point in the darkest light several times.

At a time when extending the retirement age is being debated, he thinks that those who expect to retire at 62 for a life of enjoyment are making the biggest mistake of their lives.

'If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli, to keep going,' he said.

IND A REASON TO GO ON

'The biggest punishment a man can receive is total isolation in a dungeon, black and complete withdrawal of all stimuli, that's real torture. So when I read that people believe, Singaporeans say, 'Oh 62 I'm retiring.' I say to them, 'You really want to die quickly?'

'If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli to keep going.'

MM LEE

WORK AT LOWER GEAR

'I do not believe we should have a retirement age. It is very difficult to switch from what is a world practice which we adopted, the British left us at 55, we pushed it up to 60 and pushed it up to 62.

I think a man should go on working or a woman should go on working for as long as we can but changing the nature or the intensity of the work as he ages.'

MM LEE
Brain drain worry hits close to home
THE worry over brain drain has hit close to home for Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

Yesterday, he related this story from within his family: 'I have a grandson who has just gone to MIT, he's doing economics... Fortunately for the father, he decided to apply for a Public Service Commission (PSC) scholarship, which means he is bonded to come back.
... more
His own father exemplified that. He swam every day and kept himself active. After retiring from the Shell company, he became a salesman, surprising people by selling watches at BP de Silva.

'But it kept him busy,' Mr Lee said. 'It kept him meeting friends.' His father had a routine, he added.

In a dialogue filled with family stories told with a light touch, he revealed how at each turning-point of life, he made choices to stay alive.

In his 30s, he was very fond of drinking and smoking.

Once, he met foreign correspondents, and an unflattering picture was printed. 'I had a big belly...a beer belly,' he told an amused audience of businessmen, policymakers and activists.

So he played more golf, but the belly stayed. 'There was only one way it could go down - consume less, burn out more.'

He quit smoking soon after he lost his voice and could not thank voters when he won a City Council election in 1957.

He would puff 10 cigarettes on stage before each campaign speech, watching people, sensing the mood.

'Three speeches a night, plenty of cigarettes, a lot of beer after that, and the voice was gone.'

His one-hour-plus dialogue showed a less-glimpsed side of the nation's founding father as he spoke freely of his frailty.

But, true to his forceful nature, he fought each brush with mortality.

At one turning point in the 1970s, his daughter, about to graduate as a doctor, found him breathing heavily on the Istana lawn.

He told her: 'I feel an effort to breathe in more oxygen.'

She said: 'Don't play golf. Run.'

He was not one bit keen on running, but loved golf. So in between golf shots, he started walking fast. Later, he ran.

After a few years, he told himself: 'Golf takes so long. The running takes 15 minutes. Let's cut down the golf and let's run.'

Another time, his doctor gave him a medical encyclopaedia, and he zoomed in on the ageing section to learn more.

'As you acquire more knowledge, you then craft a programme for yourself to maximise what you have,' he said.

In his case, he said, he has 'led a very active life, connected with the world'.

And all that he has accumulated, he interprets it for Singapore, he said. Including his ideas about ageing vitally.

siewhua@sph.com.sg

2008-01-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

Obituary: Sir Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary, who has died at the age of 88, made it to the summit of Everest in 1953, and became the first man on the planet to reach its highest point.

As a boy in New Zealand, Edmund Hillary's fragile appearance belied his ground-breaking potential.

At school, he was in a gym group for those lacking co-ordination and admitted to feeling a "deep sense of inferiority".

But the 40-mile journey to school in Auckland each day gave young Edmund many hours to pore over adventure stories and travel ever further in his mind.

Unrecorded achievement

Although Sir Edmund briefly worked as a beekeeper after he left school, he had found his true vocation at the age of 16 while on a school trip to Mount Ruapehu, 320km (200 miles) south of Auckland.

He had seen snow for the first time as well as learning to climb.

After spending two years as a navigator in the New Zealand's air force, he joined a local Alpine Club to take on all the national peaks.

Unsatisfied by these local triumphs, he also travelled to the Himalayas and started wrestling to improve his strength.

This was all with the idea of taking on the ultimate challenge, becoming the first man to climb Everest.

By the time Sir Edmund attempted his ascent, seven previous expeditions to the top of the world's highest mountain had failed.

Sir Edmund recalled: "We didn't know if it was humanly possible to reach the top."

Despite this general trepidation, the determined New Zealander joined a trip led by British climber, Sir John Hunt.

After a gruelling climb up the southern face, battling the effects of high altitude and bad weather, Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay managed to reach the peak at 1130 local time on 29 May.

'All this - and Everest too!'

When they finally reached the top Sir Edmund, who lost four stone on the expedition, reported his first sensation as one of relief.

He took the famous photo of his Sherpa companion posing with his ice-axe, but refused Tenzing's offer to take one of him, so his ascent went unrecorded.

On the morning of Queen Elizabeth's coronation in May 1953, her subjects were told that Sir Edmund had made it to the summit.

As he was a New Zealander and therefore a citizen of the Commonwealth, British subjects celebrated his achievement as their own.

On the day the Queen was crowned, one newspaper headline crowed "All this - and Everest too!"

Sir Edmund was knighted for his efforts, and Tenzing given a medal.

The pair initially reported the ascent as one made in unison. Only after the Sherpa's death in 1986, did Sir Edmund reveal that he had been about 10 feet ahead at the final ridge.

Personal tragedy

Sir Edmund was apparently so shy that he even proposed to his wife with a message via her mother.

In the years that followed his famous ascent, he shunned the celebrity that had become his overnight.

Sir Edmund declined the Queen's invitation on the 50th anniversary
On the 50th anniversary of his achievement, he even turned down an invitation from the Queen, so that he could instead travel to Kathmandu to be with lifelong Sherpa friends.

He was made an honorary Nepalese citizen in 2003.

Sir Edmund was far happier exploring.

During the next two decades, he led expeditions to the South Pole, searched for the fabled Yeti, and completed six Himalayan ascents.

And he became increasingly concerned by the plight of the Sherpa people he had met on his expeditions.

He spent two years as New Zealand's High Commissioner to India, and founded the Himalayan Trust in 1964, which helped establish clinics, hospitals and nearly 30 schools.

It also supported the construction of two airstrips, bringing in more tourists than Sir Edmund liked.

He continued this work after personal tragedy in 1975, when his wife and daughter died in a plane crash on their way to meet him at a construction site.

Although the explorer was inconsolable for a long time, he found solace in the Nepal landscape and its people.

'Life's a bit like mountaineering...'

He was a vociferous opponent of what he considered the commercialisation of the mountain, rich tourists paying their way to the ultimate altitude thrill, and often leaving rubbish behind them.

Sir Edmund enjoyed the friendship of Norgay and the Sherpa people
Seemingly forgetting his own determination to conquer the high ridges, Sir Edmund urged these later climbers to "leave the mountains in peace".

Although he will always be remembered for reaching the world's highest plateau, for the explorer himself, his greatest satisfaction came with the Nepalese people he befriended.

He said: "My most worthwhile things have been the building of schools and clinics. That has given me more satisfaction than a footprint on a mountain."

Sir Edmund Hillary remained philosophical about living with such an early achievement. He explained: "I've had a full and rewarding life. Life's a bit like mountaineering - never look down."

'My Himalayan climb with Hillary'

Brian Wilkins said Sir Edmund was an "utterly sensible person"

Mountaineer Brian Wilkins climbed with Sir Edmund Hillary, who has died at the age of 88, in the Himalayas in 1954. He told his daughter, BBC News's Lucy Wilkins, Hillary would be remembered for his "utter common sense" and determination.

Dr Wilkins was a young mountaineer chosen as one of 10 climbers in the New Zealand Alpine Club expedition to attempt peaks to the east of Everest.

Charles Evans, who had failed to reach the world's highest summit in Hillary's expedition, was also to climb with Dr Wilkins.

Even though Sir Edmund had won world-wide acclaim and was feted everywhere he went after the conquest of Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay the year before, he did not forget his prior commitments.

He had a tremendous determination. Even though he wasn't eating much, he showed he could go on for hours

"Despite all the demands on his time after Everest, such as writing a book about his life, he kept his promise. In all we climbed about 20 peaks over 20,000 ft," Dr Wilkins told the BBC News website from his home in Wellington, New Zealand.

But it was not all easy going for a man who had achieved a world first.

"The thing that I most remember about Ed, despite the fact that he wasn't at all well and he wasn't eating much, he was still able to go very well.

"He had a tremendous determination. Even though he wasn't eating much, he showed he could go on for hours," Dr Wilkins said.

Teamwork
Sir Edmund's lack of appetite was never fully explained, and Dr Wilkins said he had serious bouts of sickness in subsequent climbs. Once during the NZ Alpine Club climb, he collapsed and had to be carried down to a lower altitude.

But having a celebrity in their midst did not affect the NZ Alpine Club climbers.

Sir Edmund enjoyed being among fellow New Zealanders

"We were certainly conscious of who he was - a world-famous mountaineer. But once you're out there in the mountains you're all sleeping in the same tent, you're all part of the same endeavour.

"He was an utterly sensible person. He enjoyed spending time amongst New Zealanders because for him it was being back in the environment that he had worked his way up through."

For Dr Wilkins, a retired scientist, who is still an active climber at the age of 82, his down-to-earth qualities will be remembered as key to one of New Zealand's most famous sons.

"His face appears on one of our banknotes, he was given the highest honours in New Zealand, he was the high commissioner to India, but I think the thing that New Zealanders admired in him most was his utter common sense."

And the Sherpa people around the Everest region will miss him greatly too, Dr Wilkins said, as Sir Edmund set up a trust for building schools, hospitals and bridges which had become "his life's work".

2008-01-11T20:13:00.000-08:00

Tributes for Everest 'colossus'

Sir Edmund Hillary was made an honorary Nepalese citizen

Everest hero

Tributes have been paid to Sir Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the top of the world's highest peak, Mount Everest, after he died aged 88.

New Zealand PM Helen Clark said a state funeral would be held for Sir Edmund, while Queen Elizabeth II said she was "very saddened" by his death.

Nepali Sherpas lit lamps and offered special Buddhist prayers in monasteries for his reincarnation.

Sir Edmund conquered the peak with Tenzing Norgay on 29 May 1953.

The first living New Zealander to appear on a banknote, his health had reportedly been failing since April, when he suffered a fall during a visit to Nepal.

'Legendary'

Flags at the New Zealand parliament in Wellington and at the Scott Base in Antarctica were at half mast as a mark of respect to the climber, who died of a heart attack at Auckland Hospital at 0900 local time Friday (2000 GMT Thursday).

All New Zealanders will deeply mourn his passing
New Zealand's prime minister described him as a "colossus".

"The legendary mountaineer, adventurer, and philanthropist is the best-known New Zealander ever to have lived," Ms Clark said in a statement.

"But most of all he was a quintessential Kiwi.

"He was ours - from his craggy appearance to laconic style, to his directness and honesty. All New Zealanders will deeply mourn his passing."

'Knocked off'

Buckingham Palace in London said the Queen was sending a personal message of sympathy to Sir Edmund's widow and family.

The climber was 33 years old when he and Tenzing Norgay become the first men to climb the 8,850m (29,035ft) peak, just days before the monarch's coronation.

Before reaching base camp, ascent team walked 175 miles (282km) from Kathmandu and spent three weeks acclimatising

On May 26 initial attempt came within 300ft (91m) of summit, with final bid two days later

Five man team helped Hillary and Norgay to precarious point high up mountain where pair spent night in tent

Next morning they set out at 0630, reaching summit 1130

Returning to Everest's South Col camp, he famously greeted another member of the British expedition group with the words: "Well, George, we've knocked the bastard off."

Sir Edmund was knighted that year by the Queen for his achievement, and 42 years later was awarded her highest award for chivalry - the Order of the Garter.

His climbing partner died in 1986 but his son, Jamling Tenzing Norgay, said Sir Edmund was "a great explorer".

"The most important of all is that he was humble man, a simple man," he added.

The Sherpa community in Nepal said they were planning a memorial to the man they considered a second father.

"I lit butter lamps and offered prayers for his reincarnation as a human being," said Ang Rita Sherpa, 60.

After scaling Everest, Sir Edmund led a number of expeditions to the South Pole and devoted his life to helping the ethnic Sherpas of Nepal's Khumbu region.

Summit race

His Himalayan Trust has helped build hospitals, clinics, bridges, airstrips and nearly 30 schools. He was made an honorary Nepalese citizen in 2003.

To my great delight I realised we were on top of Mount Everest and that the whole world spread out below us

Sir Edmund: Your tributes

Born in Auckland on 19 July 1919, Sir Edmund began climbing mountains in his native country as a teenager and soon earned renown as an ice climber.

By the time he attempted his ascent of Everest in 1953 as part of an expedition led by the British climber, Sir John Hunt, seven previous expeditions to the top of the mountain had failed.

After a gruelling climb up the southern face, battling the effects of high altitude and bad weather, Sir Edmund and Tenzing Norgay managed to reach the peak at 1130 local time on 29 May.

"I continued hacking steps along the ridge and then up a few more to the right... to my great delight I realised we were on top of Mount Everest and that the whole world spread out below us," Sir Edmund said.

The two men only stayed on the summit for 15 minutes because they were low on oxygen.

A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM - 9 Jan 2008

2008-01-10T08:11:00.003-08:00

ISEAS 40TH ANNIVERSARY
A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM
He says cultivating social graces will take longer compared to environmental consciousness
By Li Xueying

IT TAKES TIME: Mr Lee said he hoped a gracious society 'will come with cultivated living over a long period of time'. -- ST PHOTO: TERENCE TAN

ENVIRONMENTAL consciousness among Singaporeans will come about very quickly when they realise how they will be in trouble when changes in the climate take place.
But attaining a gracious society will take more time, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on Monday at a dialogue marking the 40th anniversary of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Iseas).

In fact, he believes it will not happen in his lifetime.

'I will not see it, maybe you will live long enough to see it; I wish you well,' he told 48-year-old economics academic Euston Quah to laughter from the audience of diplomats, academics and government leaders.

Dr Quah had asked a question about Singapore's progress in terms of social graces and environmental consciousness just as the country succeeds economically.

The issue he raised was among a host of subjects brought up by the audience, from the situation in Myanmar to the rise of China and India.

Muslim radicals in S-E Asia will not prevail
MINISTER Mentor Lee Kuan Yew believes that Islamic terrorists in South-east Asia cannot win the war against their governments.

He is optimistic that 'the early burst of enthusiasm that they can change the world' may fade away.

Speaking in response to a question on whether South-east Asian governments are losing the fight against terrorism, Mr Lee said on Monday: 'I'm not sure that's correct. I don't think they are losing so much as they are not beating it down as well as they can. The problem is they are not winning the hearts and minds of the people.'
... more
In his reply, Mr Lee said a gracious society will not happen so fast. 'I think it will take more time to develop and mature culturally as a people.'

Even the British, he said, were 'sitting at a very high level over an empire for nearly 150 years before they developed their culture and then being invaded by football hooligans and foreigners who are now joining them and coarsening their society'.

'So it's very difficult to get a rough society onto a cultivated plane and it's very easy to bring it down,' he concluded.

Environmental consciousness, on the other hand, will come very quickly 'when something happens and they say, you do that, your whole environment changes and you are in trouble'.

On the other hand, the idea of a gracious society - 'where people are considerate to one another, where you don't make more noise to upset your neighbour than you need to, where you tell the other motorist, please have the right of way' - was 'harder to come by', said Mr Lee.

'It will take time, but I hope it will come with cultivated living over a long period of time.'

Mr Lee recalled how, 45 years ago, Singaporeans wanted to take their chickens with them when they were resettled from kampungs into high-rise flats.

'So it took some time to get them adjusted. A more cultivated way of life takes a very long time,' he said.

xueying@sph.com.sg

A gracious Singapore? Not in my lifetime: MM - 9 Jan 2008

2008-01-10T08:11:00.001-08:00

Jan 5, 2008 - Year of the UN reef

2008-01-10T06:48:00.001-08:00

Jan 5, 2008
2008: The International Year of the...

IN DANGER: Indonesia's coral reefs are under threat from coral mining and illegal fishing. -- PHOTO: AFP

POTATO
WHO DECLARED IT: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation

WHY: It will be an important staple in times of food scarcity. It occupies less land than other cereal crops for the amount of nutrition provided. It also draws the attention of the world to food crops and agriculture.

WEBLINK: www.potato2008.org

PLANET EARTH
WHO DECLARED IT: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) and the International Union of Geological Sciences.

WHY: Attention to earth sciences will make the world a safer place to live. Scientists estimate that hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved during the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004, with properly trained geologists, equipment and networking among meteorological stations around the globe.

WEBLINK: www.yearofplanetearth.org

CORAL REEF
WHO DECLARED IT: The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), a 13-year partnershipamong world bodies, governments and non-government organisations.

WHY: To raise awareness about reefs and motivate action to reverse damage done. If trends continue, this decline is likely to lead to the loss of most of the world's reef resources in the next century.

WEBLINK: www.iyor.org

FROG
WHO DECLARED IT: Amphibian Ark

WHY: A third of all amphibians are threatened. The campaign draws attention to frogs, which are a key indicator of environmental health.

WEBLINK: www.amphibianark.org

Jan 5, 2008 - Planet Earth

2008-01-10T06:45:00.001-08:00

Jan 5, 2008
A year in honour of reefs, Planet Earth and potatoes
By Shobana Kesava
TAKE your pick: 2008 is the Year of the...
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has declared 2008 the International Year of Planet Earth.

But even the humble potato can have its day, er, year - courtesy of the UN too.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's declaration said The International Year of the Potato is a 'major event', presenting 'many opportunities to raise the profile of the potato among civil society'.

Past UN efforts have indeed created an impact.

The International Women's Year in 1975 led to the creation of the UN Development Fund for Women, to improve women's health, education and job opportunities.

Now, the world body hopes to raise general issues of agriculture through the unassuming tuber, to address issues of hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.

Specifically, it wants to raise awareness of the importance of the potato itself.

The official Potato2008 website said the tuber produces more nutritious food more quickly, on less land and in harsher climates than any other major crop. Also, up to 85 per cent is edible, compared to 50 per cent in cereals.

This year is also International Year of the Reef, according to the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI). This is the second global campaign to reduce threats to coral reefs and to motivate people to take action to protect them. The first ran in 1997.

Of the reefs in 93 countries, those in South and South-east Asia, East Africa and the Caribbean are among those at greatest risk of destruction.

Explaining its significance, Dr Nigel Goh, assistant director at the National Parks Board's Marine Diversity Centre, said coral reefs absorb carbon dioxide, a key factor in global warming.

'Coral reefs make an impact on climate change, acting as a major global carbon sink,' he said.

Taking a shot at the spotlight this year are frogs and toads too. The Minnesota-based Amphibian Ark, an international non-governmental organisation, has decided it is time amphibians - cold-blooded vertebrates - had their day in the sun.

Meanwhile, the UN's International Year of Planet Earth is the largest global effort to promote earth sciences. It aims to raise US$20 million (S$28.8 million) from industries and governments to co-fund research and outreach activities.

The money will go towards projects like detecting deep and poorly accessible groundwater resources, lowering risks to man from natural and human-induced hazards, and encouraging the young to study earth sciences.

Chief executive officer of Science Centre Singapore, Dr Chew Tuan Chiong, said the move will raise awareness of the subject in Singapore and 'help us understand sustainable actions better'.

He is positive the campaign can work.

'Already, we get calls from Singaporeans asking why we are not more involved in international campaigns,' he said.

Innovation sparks

2008-01-10T06:21:00.000-08:00

Jan 4, 2008
ECONOMIC PROSPERITY
Innovation's bright sparks
By Lam Chuan Leong, For The Straits Times

INNOVATION is now accepted by economists as essential to economic growth. But how does innovation drive markets and vice-versa? What conditions favour innovation?
Innovation consists of two phases: a generative phase and an extrapolative phase.

Because extrapolative innovation is about increasing order and knowledge, I shall refer to it as O-type innovation. O-type innovation is at the heart of most initiatives undertaken by businesses and governments. It uses expert knowledge and processes to identify and solve problems. For example, what the customer needs.

O-type innovation needs a constant supply of new ideas. This is the role of generative innovation. I call the introduction of these ideas V-type innovation to stress their role in increasing variety.

V-type innovation requires an ability to take advantage of unexpected opportunities, and relies on the ability to 'connect' existing ideas that have not previously been linked. These are characteristics usually associated with entrepreneurship.

V-type innovation may be compared to a furnace that supplies the energy to power the O-type, or extrapolative, phase of innovation. These two types work in tandem to create the 'Innovation Cycle', which is the engine of long- term economic growth.

Four factors favour V-type innovation:

1. Free Flow and Spread of Information

First, the free flow and diffusion of information. This is critical to both types of innovation. Without the knowledge of previous generations, even geniuses would have to re-invent the wheel.

Historically, economic growth and prosperity are strongest during those periods when there is a surge of new ideas and inventions brought about by V-type innovation. For example, the growth cycles following the invention of the steam engine, the motor car, electricity and the railroads.

This idea is consistent with neo-classical growth theory, which suggests that technical progress is the key to long-term growth. In other words, it allows us to escape the tyranny of diminishing returns from the traditional inputs of labour and capital.

2. Make it Easy - Free Market Entry and Exit

Second, free market entry and exit. Economies that make it easy for people to start new businesses have a better chance to produce innovation. This is especially so for radically new ideas, which rarely find rapid acceptance. Inventors must find a way to develop a prototype. So it is important that innovators can set up businesses easily to commercialise their ideas.

India claims to have a market- based system, but suffers a lower rate of growth because it has an onerous licensing regime that makes it difficult to set up a business. China did not allow for private business startups during its central planning days. In such circumstances, V-type innovation was not possible. Only O-type innovation - which takes advantage of existing processes to solve problems - was possible.

Besides the ease of market entry, other market characteristics that assist innovation include:

3. The Large Market

Breadth and size: Larger markets tend to have more people willing to use new technologies, thus helping to build up a critical mass of demand for the new product to be commercially viable.

A lack of market distortions, arising from restrictions and control either by governments or from monopolistic practices.

4. Rule of Law and Openess

Transparency and the rule of law: This is especially true with respect to property rights, including intellectual property rights.

Capital markets able to limit, transfer or spread risks: The invention of the limited liability company in particular is crucial because it limits the risks involved in commercialising an invention.
The third factor favouring V-type innovation is a suitable 'selection system'. The free market as we know it today does a good job as a 'selection system'. It is certainly better than a system in which innovations are selected by a planning committee.

With a panel of independent experts, there is always the danger that expert opinion will fail to re-cognise the potential of a new idea. History is full of such mistaken prognoses.

Free market selection can be described as an ex-poste system. New products and services are introduced. They compete with one another and the market chooses the winner. Submitting a novel idea to a panel, however, is an example of ex-ante selection because the choice is made before the production stage is reached.

The broader, deeper, more developed and diversified a market is, the greater the chance that the innovation will take root. It is not surprising that so many radically new innovations take place in the United States, which is the largest and most varied consumer market in the world.

Advanced capital markets tend to do a good job because they use ex-poste selection. Venture capital funds that seek emergent innovations and are prepared to take higher risks play a bridging role. But traditional loan financing from banks is less conducive to V-type innovation because it relies on ex-ante selection, in this case the banker responsible for approving the loan.

Finally, the reward system. Having used time and resources to develop an innovation, the innovator expects a financial return. The economy must provide the means to reward him. This is only possible if assets and intellectual property are protected.

Taxation affects rewards. Overly high income taxation has the effect of expropriating the innovator's return. A tax regime that is non-transparent or often changed raises the risk that the innovator will not be rewarded.

Singapore's case

SINGAPORE scores well in all the areas except in market size. With rare exceptions (mainly on social grounds), information and knowledge flow freely. Foreign companies are able to bring in their technology, skills and people without restriction. Companies can be established easily and at low cost. Both legislation and government policy prevent the development of restrictive market practices.

The selection system is based on a free market. Property rights are enforced, and stability of that protection is ensured. There are no confiscatory tax policies or arbitrary changes in tax laws.

But the economy does not have the size, breadth or depth of markets (physical and financial) to sustain a high rate of V-type innovation. The introduction of totally new ideas is a function of diversity, which is proportional to size. Improved education, skills and knowledge can multiply the effectiveness of O-type innovation, but do little for V-type innovation.

That explains why the state has intervened by giving grants to companies and research centres. This is a good move, but the danger of ex-ante planning, even with the best of intentions, is real.

This state intervention is probably why Singapore's economy is classified as a form of state-guided capitalism in the book Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, by William J. Baumol, Robert E. Litan, Carl J. Schramm (Yale University Press, 2007).

This book describes four types of capitalism: state-guided, oligarchic, big-firm and entrepreneurial. The authors argue that entrepreneurial capitalism is best for long-term growth.

State-guided capitalism is not necessarily optimal for sustained high growth, particularly when the country already has a fairly advanced level of development.

Why then does Singapore exhibit such high rates of growth? Is it because the time-frame of measurement is too short? Or are there extenuating circumstances?

In theory, the Singapore economy should show lower growth because it lacks a large, sophisticated market and does not have sufficient size to sustain the Innovation Cycle by itself. But Singapore's economy is not limited to its political boundaries.

This was recognised even in the early 1960s. Singapore was founded as an entrepot to serve the region. The initial economic strategy was to become part of the Malaysian market. When this failed, Singapore did what could now be considered an example of brilliant V-type innovation.

It opened up its economy, welcomed MNCs, and leap-frogged the region by becoming plugged into the global economy and in particular the US economy. This approach was certainly contrary to the conventional economic wisdom of the 1960s.

By plugging into the global economy, Singapore has become part of a larger system. Its growth is powered by an innovation cycle that operates on a transnational basis, even though some of the benefits are diluted as a result of being thousands of miles from the product and financial markets of the developed countries.

The importance of being close to large, diverse markets is underlined by Mr Bill Gates' comment that Microsoft intends to set up research centres only in places with a population of a billion or more, that is, China, India and Europe.

Becoming part of this global cycle of innovation means more than just engaging in trade. It involves actively encouraging foreign companies to bring their technology (O-type innovation) and research activities (V-type innovation) to Singapore. In doing so, they bring with them their knowledge and access to markets.

These companies thus perform the task of bridging the innovation cycle in the Singapore economy with that of other markets. They act like 'transport agents' in this innovation and information exchange in addition to their production and trading activities.

The huge importing power of the American market has given rise to the saying that when the US economy sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold. But it is not just that importing power that matters. The US provides large, sophisticated markets that allow the innovation cycle to work. The process of free trade and cross-border investments spreads the resulting innovation and production gains to other countries.

Conversely, innovation is needed to drive and sustain economic growth and hence markets. This then is the symbiotic relationship between markets and innovation.

Innovation needs markets as much as markets need innovation. Since innovation is so crucial to long economic growth and is so symbiotically linked to markets, it behoves policymakers to re-examine their own markets and investment policies when formulating economic policy.

The writer is chairman of the Competition Commission of Singapore. This article is extracted from a paper to be presented at a Nanyang Technological University seminar in March.

Are 11-year-olds ready for training?

2008-01-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

Are 11-year-olds ready for training?
Some feel they are too young for MOE's specialised training, but others disagree
By Terrence Voon

WHEN the Education Ministry's Junior Sports Academies (JSAs) open their doors next month, some of the best Primary 5 student athletes here will be groomed to become future champions.
But not everyone is convinced that 11-year-olds are ready for specialised sports training.

Sports science experts and coaches are unsure whether these children are old enough to take the plunge.

Under a pilot project announced by the Ministry of Education (MOE) last week, about 280 Primary 4 students will be selected from the 2007 cohort to attend the four academies located island-wide.

Six sports will be offered - badminton, netball, swimming, table tennis, track and field, and wushu. Short-listed students will undergo selection trials.

The trials for badminton and wushu have been completed. Trials for the other four sports will be held on Jan 19 at the Singapore Sports School.

At the academies, students will undergo skills and fitness training. The basics for their chosen sport will also be emphasised.

Lessons will be held after school or during weekends.

So why target 11-year-olds?

According to the Ministry, this is the optimum age for children to start specialised sports training.

Citing studies by renowned Canadian coach-educator Dr Istvan Balyi, it said that specialisation before the age of 10 is not recommended because of the likelihood of burn-out and early drop-outs.

Research has also shown that athletes reach elite levels after at least 10 years or 10,000 hours of training, said MOE.

But several former athletes have their doubts. Among them is former national swimmer and now swimming coach Ang Peng Siong, 45.

He said: 'They may still burn out because they start too early.

'In swimming, for example, a lot of coaches would rather swimmers mature, physically and mentally, before putting them through intensive training.'

Volunteer community coach James Lim, 42, also argued that primary school pupils are simply too young.

He said: 'My experience in coaching children from six to 12 years old tells me that our kids are very lacking in motor skills.

'Their movements like running, jumping, kicking throwing and catching are poorly coordinated.'

Allaying such fears, MOE told The Straits Times that the academies would cater to the growth and developmental needs of their young trainees.

An element of fun would also be included in the training regimen.

But, no matter how enjoyable training is, some say it could add to a child's already hectic schedule.

Said Dr Jason Chia, Changi Sports Medicine Centre's associate consultant sports physician: 'Training at such an early age is an additional load on the child.

'It is a form of stress. But as long as there is a balance, then it is do-able.'

Former national sprinter C. Kunalan, who spent most of his childhood running for leisure, recalled that he only started proper training when he was 20.

'The academy must not worry about performance-related results and should focus on developmental results,' said the 65-year-old, who is now an assistant professor at the National Institute of Education's PE and Sports Science department.

'Training and competition should not be emphasised too much.'

Currently, budding athletes are roped in between the ages of 12 and 15, when they are eligible to attend the Singapore Sports School.

However, most people do not reach their physical peak until their 20s, noted Dr Teh Kong Chuan, director of sports medicine at the Singapore Sports Council.

'But every person is different' he added. 'Some start very young, like Tiger Woods.'

The world's top golfer had a golf club in his hands by the time he was two.

China has also produced world champions by getting children as young as six to specialise in a sport.

But even sports prodigies can falter, unless they receive first-class coaching, added Kunalan.

'The academies must be run by well-qualified people who understand long-term athletic development,' said the former Asian Games silver-medallist.

To that end, the Education Ministry is working with national sports associations (NSAs) to scout for suitable candidates with experience in nurturing young athletes.

If the pilot project goes well, MOE plans to set up as many as 16 academies, hosting up to 1,000 top student athletes.

In the meantime, the jury is still out on the latest drive to nurture sports talents here.

Said Singapore Swimming Association vice-president Oon Jin Gee: 'Personally, I think kids may not know what they want at that age.

'We've heard so many views on the issue. At the end of the day, it is just nice to see more focus on youth and sports.'

tvoon@sph.com.sg

NT Champ

2007-12-22T20:23:00.000-08:00

Dec 19, 2007
Boy who wants to be a pilot scores high the Express way
He nets a record in Normal (Technical) stream using books meant for higher level
By Jane Ng

A HARD WORKER: Selwyn Sim, 16, studied from 10pm to 3am every night for eight months.

SELWYN Sim is in the Normal (Technical) stream but he worked on assessment books for those from the Express stream because he is a self-starter who aims high.
Yesterday, the efforts of the 16-year-old Pasir Ris Secondary student paid off.

His aggregate score of three points in the N-level exams was the best ever in the 10-year history of the N(T) stream, which is considered the weakest stream in the secondary school system.

He scored Grade 1 for all his subjects except Chinese, for which he scored a Grade 4.

No N(T) student has ever scored a Grade 1 for both English and Mathematics.

The aggregate is based on the grades for English, Mathematics and a best subject.

If Selwyn had achieved these results three years ago, he would have been the first N(T) student to have made it straight to Secondary 5 and the O levels.

But the system has since been changed and now N(T) students who do well enough can do a lateral transfer - first to Secondary 4 Normal (Academic) to sit for the N levels, before moving on to sit for the O levels in Secondary 5.

To do so, they have to achieve a mean grade of two or better for all N(T) subjects in the same sitting.

Selwyn's outstanding results were not due to luck.

The consistent worker studied from 10pm to 3am every night for eight months before the N-level exams, waking up at 5.30am to go to school.

He would look for books in the public library relating to science topics he did not understand.

To improve on Chinese, his weakest subject, he would learn from Primary 6 textbooks 'because there's hanyu pinyin' with the passages.

His form teacher, Mr Andrew Lim, and principal, Miss Cheng Hwee Yeang, were impressed.

Said Mr Lim: 'While other N(T) students would wait to be told what to do, he would seek out answers for himself.

'Two weeks before the exams, he wanted to organise a speed-reading class for his classmates, saying that might help them do better in the exams.'

Miss Cheng said she noticed Selwyn when he was in Secondary 3, when she gave his class a pep talk. He spoke to her afterwards, asking her advice on working towards sitting for the O levels.

Beyond his schoolwork, he was a student councillor and active in co-curricular activities, holding leadership positions as vice-chairman in taekwondo and the Red Cross Society.

Saturdays and Sundays were spent volunteering at his church, cleaning the hall before and after services.

Selwyn, who hopes to be a pilot, wants to pursue the aerospace course at the Institute of Technical Education.

He has yet to decide whether to take up the lateral transfer option which will let him take the O levels in two years' time.

Selwyn is the youngest child of a security supervisor and a secretary. His older brother, 22, is an IT support officer, and his older sister, 19, is an undergraduate.

Selwyn's beaming father, Mr Sim Chor Chye, 51, said: 'Many people think that N(T) students are weak in studies but when given a chance, they can do as well as, if not better than, those from other streams.

'Selwyn has led the way.'

Half qualify for Higher Nitec courses

2007-12-22T20:21:00.001-08:00

Half qualify for Higher Nitec courses

ONE in two Normal (Academic) students who took their N-level exams this year will be allowed to skip one year of school and head into higher-level technical courses.
Under new rules, some 6,502 out of 11,653 Secondary 4 N(A) students are eligible for direct entry into courses like engineering or applied and health sciences at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), said the Ministry of Education.

Previously, they had to take the O levels in Secondary5 before they could enrol in a Higher National ITE Certificate (Nitec) course.

To qualify for direct entry, students have to score an aggregate of not more than 19 for English, Maths and three other subjects, with at least a Grade 4 in English and Maths.

Out of the 6,502 students, about half can opt for the more demanding business courses, which require students to score at least a Grade 3 in English.

Students can apply for the course of their choice on the ITE website (www.ite.edu.sg)

Golden trash

2007-12-22T20:13:00.001-08:00

Dec 21, 2007
Vatican condemns The Golden Compass

'ANTI-CHRISTMAS': The Vatican says the movie promotes a cold and hopeless world without God. -- PHOTO: WARNER BROS

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has criticised the American children's film, The Golden Compass, saying it is 'anti-Christmas' and promotes a cold and hopeless world without God.
In a long editorial on Wednesday, the Vatican newspaper l'Osservatore Romano also slammed Philip Pullman, the best-selling British author of the book on which the movie is based.

It was the Vatican's most stinging broadside against an author and a film since it roundly condemned The Da Vinci Code in 2005 and last year.

'In Pullman's world, hope simply does not exist, because there is no salvation but only personal, individualistic capacity to control the situation and dominate events,' the editorial said.

The film, which premiered earlier this month in the United States and stars Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is an adaptation of Pullman's acclaimed novel, Northern Lights.

The editorial said 'honest' viewers would find it 'devoid of any particular emotion apart from a great chill'.

In the fantasy world in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, the Church and its governing body, the Magisterium, are linked to cruel experiments on children aimed at discovering the nature of sin and attempts to suppress facts that would undermine the Church's legitimacy and power.

In the film, all references to the Church have been stripped, with director Chris Weitz keen to avoid offending religious cinema goers.

Still, some Catholic groups in the US have called for a boycott, fearing even a diluted version of the book might draw people to read the best-selling trilogy.

The Vatican newspaper called the movie 'the most anti-Christmas film possible' and said that it was 'consoling' that its first weekend ticket sales in the US were a disappointing US$26 million (S$38 million).

The film, packed with special effects, cost US$150 million to make.

AFP, Reuters

Teens' Wild Nights Out

2007-12-22T17:13:00.000-08:00

Dec 16, 2007
Teens' Wild Nights Out
Parents are often unaware of the drinking, sex and even drug use at teens' parties
By Melody Zaccheus

WHILE SOME TEENS insist that their parties are just healthy fun, such gatherings can easily get out of hand and counsellors say parents need to get in tune with their children and be alert to telltale signs of problems. -- POSED PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

IT'S a Friday and Tina is dressed to the hilt for a night out with her friends.
They had finished their O-level exams a few weeks ago and have been partying hard since then.

'Where are you going, dressed like that?' her mum asks in a concerned voice.

'Don't worry, mum, I am just going for a gathering at Sarah's place,' came the quick reply.

The mention of Sarah, a regular visitor at Tina's home and her classmate for the past four years, allays the parent's fears.

But Sarah's party at the clubhouse in her condo is no innocent gathering of a classroom of bookworms looking to have some nice clean fun.

Friends bring friends and boyfriends who come well stocked with booze and cigarettes to last the night.

These teens give their parents the slip quite easily. Mention that it's a party at a friend's place and there is seldom any problem, they say. Parents feel relatively safe and relax rules on staying out if they know the party is at a friend's place.

Student Amy, 15, has been attending three or four such parties a year since she was 14.

And she lies to her parents every time she attends one. When she went to the latest one last month at a friend's house, her parents thought she was at a school camp.

She was away from home for three days and two nights, preparing for the party and recovering from her hangover later. 'My parents will flip if they ever found out the truth,' she said.

Especially if they find out that on all of these occasions, she had drunk herself silly.

Amy said: 'I get drunk to experience a night of carefree fun. Even though I suffer from a hangover the next day, I find drinking a good way to release stress.'

Amy claims to know her boundaries. For instance, drugs are a no-go and the worst thing she has done is 'run off to make out with a stranger' when intoxicated.

Others, however, have seen far worse happening at such parties.

Fashion student John, 19, said: 'At a party I attended, a pair of teenagers who barely looked 18 were all over each other, having sex along the hallway. They were drunk, the girl's make-up was completely smudged and the guy was all over her.

'Their body parts were exposed and they were doing it in full view of 65 other people at the party.'

At such parties - usually held at condominium barbecue pits, chalets or private homes - complaints from neighbours and visits from the police are common.

These parties often begin at 7pm and sometimes stretch till 6am.

Food is usually catered or pizza ordered in, with music coming from an iPod plugged into a speaker set.

Junior College student, Stacey, 17, has witnessed fights at such parties. 'A few boys were kicking and punching each other. There was a lot of blood. I was terrified and fled.'

While some parents are clueless about their children's activities, some feel their children are old enough to take care of themselves and leave them very much on their own.

Polytechnic student David said he has been given a lot of freedom since completing secondary school.

The 17-year-old has no problems staying out late. All his parents would say to him is 'don't go overboard partying', he said.

But giving teens total freedom may not be the way to go, some counsellors say.

Youth Guidance Outreach Services programme director Gn Chiang Tat, 57, said: 'I don't think you can stop a teenager from being a teenager - it's a defiant phase. He'll definitely find a way to meet his friends no matter what kind of measures you take.'

But parents need to start getting in tune with their children, Mr Gn said. 'If the teen is looking for some way of release, and if he doesn't have a close relationship with his mum and dad, what's going to stop him from smoking, drinking, having sex and consuming drugs behind their backs?'

Counsellor Edward Rajeshwar from Tekka Community Services said parents should learn how to pick up telltale signs.

'The drinks he chugs down, the cigarettes he puffs and the party drugs he consumes will influence and negatively affect the teen's moods aside from the typical physical symptoms like bloodshot eyes, slurring and a weaker constitution,' he said. 'Parents must always be alert to these.'

Mr Rajeshwar added that parents of party organisers should also assume responsibility in ensuring that these gatherings do not get out of hand. Laying down the rules and boundaries clearly to the attending teenagers would be one way to have some form of control over the party, he said.

But what appears like living on the edge to parents is healthy fun, many teens who attend such parties insist.

Polytechnic student Bernard, 17, said: 'Sex and drugs do not always happen at these parties. But even if they did, we're mature enough to know how to handle ourselves.'

With a smirk, he added: 'What harm does a little tobacco and alcohol do?'

melodyzaccheus@gmail.com

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'If the teen is looking for some way of release, and if he doesn't have a close relationship with his mum and dad, what's going to stop him from smoking, drinking, having sex and consuming drugs behind their backs?'
MR GN CHIANG TAT, Youth Guidance Outreach Services programme director

New Asian Heroes - Peter Loh Paralysis

2007-12-12T04:50:00.001-08:00

Rising to life's challenges
New Asian Heroes, an eight-part series on Asians who lead inspiring lives, kicks off with Peter Loh, who's determined to be financially independent despite being paralysed
By Wong Kim Hoh

HAPPY OUTLOOK: Peter Loh overcame his depression after being paralysed in an accident and now works from home for a bank with the help of his mother Monica Chong, who types his comments on the computer keyboard. -- ST PHOTOS: ALAN LIM

View more photos

LIFE has a very cruel sense of irony sometimes.
On Sept 11, 1994, Peter Loh, then 22, was supposed to meet an insurance agent. His mother, Madam Monica Chong, had arranged for the agent to recommend him some policies.

She had to cancel the appointment.

On that day, Loh dived into the swimming pool at the former Non-Commissioned Officers' (NCO) club in Beach Road and broke his neck.

The accident severely damaged his spinal cord. He is now confined to a motorised wheelchair, paralysed from the neck down.

It was a cruel blow to the athletic young man, who was then taking a break from his electrical engineering studies at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh in the United States to complete his national service.

The Hwa Chong Junior College alumnus, a keen canoeist and swimmer, remembers the day well.

He had arranged to meet a friend for dinner after giving a swimming lesson at the club.

'I had some time to kill so I decided to jump into the pool for a few laps,' says Loh, now a DBS bank executive.

He plunged in from the shallow end, something he says he had done numerous times before. But this time, he could taste blood.

'I probably broke my teeth,' he says during the interview in his family home, a four-room HDB flat in Tampines.

An alert swimming coach helped pull him out.

Although he was conscious throughout the ordeal, he says that he cannot remember more.

'It's not something I keep thinking of, as you can imagine,' the 35-year-old says with some difficulty, eyes brimming with tears.

Madam Chong, 63, adds: 'When we rushed to the hospital to see him, he just kept saying, 'Mum, I'm sorry.' '

The former secretary and her retired civil servant husband insisted on a complex operation even though doctors were not optimistic about their son's survival. They have a younger son, Joshua, 32, a manager in a property company.

Madam Chong says: 'I said that even if the success rate was just 1 per cent, I wanted him to have a shot.'

Loh stayed in hospital for the next 11/2 years. During this time, his parents would smuggle in acupuncturists and Chinese physicians, never turning down any option to save their son from life in a wheelchair.

It was a dark period for Loh, who was suicidal for the first few months.

He says: 'Every time I had an infection, I'd say, 'Let this be the one.' '

His mother nods, adding: 'He always said then, 'If I could use my hands, I would kill myself.' '

It was the love and support of his family, relatives and friends that pulled Loh, a Catholic, through.

Cousins, aunts and uncles often kept him company.

Strangers and 'friends of friends' who had heard about his mishap also turned up to pray for him.

Once he had come to terms with his condition, he says his practical and competitive instincts took over.

'I decided I wanted to be financially independent,' he says. 'Since I had some credits from Carnegie Mellon, I decided I would get a degree and find myself a job.'

He wrote to the National University of Singapore in 1996, hoping to study electrical engineering, like he had done in Carnegie Mellon.

The professor who visited and interviewed him at the hospital suggested computer science instead.

He took up the challenge.

'I could not just study for the sake of interest, I had to do something which would land me a job.'

He was a determined student. The family maid accompanied him to lectures three times a week, either in a Handicaps Welfare Association ambulance or a London cab. She helped him record lectures, which his mother or aunt would then transcribe.

'I had friends who volunteered to help me photocopy notes or borrow books for research,' he adds. 'I asked a lot of questions; one professor even gave me his phone number because he knew he wouldn't be able to answer all my questions during office hours.'

The tenacity paid off handsomely.

He bagged the Lee Kuan Yew Gold Medal, awarded to the best student in the Bachelor of Computer and Information Science degree programme for 1998/9.

'The degree was my insurance policy, the prize, my rider,' he jokes, using the insurance jargon for additional coverage.

After graduation, he wrote many job application letters.

'I 'signed' them with my thumbprint, since I could not use my hands. I was apprehensive that I would get many rejections,' says Loh who can manoeuvre the control of his motorised wheelchair with the help of a splint.

His fears were unfounded. Several employers came to his home to interview him. Soon after, he landed his first job - as a research assistant in an NUS computer laboratory.

He left soon after to become an applications engineer for SpeechWorks, a software company. It was a job he held for more than four years until the company was bought over and had its operations moved to Australia.

He worked briefly in another software company before DBS hired him about three years ago. He is part of the group strategic marketing and communications team, managing and editing content for the bank's Intranet network.

He works from home but goes to the bank's Shenton Way offices at least once a week to attend meetings.

He has access to a voice recognition software, but says he relies mostly on his mother.

He dictates, and she executes all his commands on the keyboard.

'He's a tough boss,' she jokes.

Asked if he shares his bonus with her, he says with a cackle: 'Of course.'

Indeed his mother is his biggest crutch and support.

She says: 'My husband sometimes worries and asks me, 'What will happen to him when we are gone?'

'I don't want to think of that scenario. We won't even know what will happen to us tomorrow so why worry? I know God will take care of him.'

Loh, who loves spicy food and enjoys watching Cantonese drama serials and listening to music, is equally pragmatic.

'In the worst case scenario, I will go to a nursing home. Hopefully, my income and savings will allow me to do that.'

He then says chirpily: 'You know what? I am more worried about delivering on my KPIs (key performance indicators).'

kimhoh@sph.com.sg

New Asian Heroes is brought to you by DBS.

THE CELEBRATED NOBEL PRIZE

2007-12-12T04:45:00.003-08:00

THE CELEBRATED NOBEL PRIZE
A hint of ignobility
By ROBERT MARC FRIEDMAN
Dec 10

THE dance around the golden Nobel medallion began over 100 years ago, and is still going strong. As icon, myth and ritual, the Nobel Prize is well secured. But what do we actually know about the Nobel Prize?
Shrouded in secrecy and legend, the Nobel Prize first became an object for serious study after 1976 when the Nobel Foundation opened its archives. Research by historians leaves little doubt: the Nobel medallion is etched with human frailties.

Although observers accept a degree of subjectivity in the literature and peace prizes, the science prizes have long been assumed to be an objective measure of excellence. But from the start, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the physics and chemistry prizes, and the Caroline Institute, which awards those for medicine/physiology, have based their decisions on the recommendations of their respective committees. And the committee members' own understanding of science has been critical in determining outcomes.

From the beginning, the inner world of those entrusted to make recommendations was marked by personal and principled discord over how to interpret Alfred Nobel's cryptic will and to whom prizes should be awarded. While committee members tried to be dispassionate, their own judgment, predilections and interests necessarily entered into their work, and some championed their own agendas.

Winning a Nobel Prize has never been an automatic process, a reward that comes with having attained a magical level of achievement. Designated nominators rarely provided committees with a clear consensus, and the committees often ignored the rare mandates when a single strongly nominated candidate did appear, such as Albert Einstein for his work on relativity theory.

Academy physicists had no intention of recognising this theoretical achievement 'even if the whole world demands it'. The prize is a Swedish prerogative. (Einstein instead was awarded the physics prize in 1921 'for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect.')

A simple change in the committee's composition could decide a candidate's fate. Not until committee strongman C.W. Oseen died in 1944 could the theoretical physicist Wolfgang Pauli - one of the giants of quantum mechanics - receive a prize. Conversely, the Academy of Sciences sometimes rebelled against its committees. Harbouring a grudge, one chemist rallied the academy to block the committee's recommendation for the Russian Dmitry Mendeleyev, who created the periodic table.

Even when all involved tried to rise above pettiness and partiality, selecting winners was always difficult - and remains so. Committee members occasionally confessed privately that often several candidates could be found who equally deserved a prize. Unambiguous, impartial criteria for selecting a winner were not at hand - and never will be.

The image of science advancing through the efforts of individual genius is, of course, appealing. Yet, to a greater extent than the prizes allow, research progresses through the work of many.

Brilliant minds do matter, but it is often inappropriate and unjust to limit recognition to so few when so many extremely talented scientists may have contributed to a given breakthrough. The Nobel by-laws do not allow splitting a prize into more than three parts, thereby excluding discoveries that entailed work by more than three researchers, or omitting key persons who equally deserved to share in the honour.

It has also become clear that many important branches of science are not addressed by Alfred Nobel's testament (limited to physics, chemistry, physiology/ medicine). Some of the past century's greatest intellectual triumphs, such as those related to the expanding universe and continental drift, have not been celebrated. Environmental sciences - surely of fundamental importance - also come up empty. It is right to want heroes in science, but we should understand the criteria used to select those whom we are asked to revere.

Why do people venerate the Nobel Prize? There is no easy answer. The cult of the prize began even before the first winners were announced. Media fascination whipped up speculation and interest. The creed of the prize did not depend so much on the merit of the winners as much as the understanding that the prize was a powerful means to gain prestige and advantage.

Even scientists who frowned upon the Swedish committees' limitations and sometimes odd choices nevertheless still nominated and lobbied for candidates, knowing that a winner can draw attention and money to a research specialty, institution or national scientific community.

Is science or society well served by a fixation on prizes and on nurturing a culture of extreme competition? Perhaps once the mystery of the Nobel Prize is reduced, we might reflect on what is truly significant in science. The soul and heritage of science going back several centuries is far richer than the quest for prizes.

The writer, professor of the history of science at the University of Oslo, is the author of The Politics Of Excellence: Behind The Nobel Prize In Science.

Copyright: Project Syndicate

THE CELEBRATED NOBEL PRIZE

2007-12-12T04:45:00.001-08:00

DYSLEXIA AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS

2007-12-12T04:41:00.000-08:00

Dec 10, 2007
DYSLEXIA AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SUCCESS
Capitalising on a little disadvantage
By Brent Bowers

IT HAS long been known that dyslexics are drawn to running their own businesses, where they can get around their weaknesses in reading and writing and play on their strengths. But a new study of entrepreneurs in the US suggests that dyslexia is much more common among small- business owners than even the experts had thought.
The report, compiled by Ms Julie Logan, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Cass Business School in London, found that more than a third of the entrepreneurs she had surveyed - 35 per cent - identified themselves as dyslexic.

The study also found dyslexics to be more likely than non-dyslexics to delegate authority and excel in oral communication and problem solving, and were twice as likely to own two or more businesses.

'We found that dyslexics who succeed had overcome an awful lot in their lives by developing compensatory skills,' Professor Logan said.

'If you tell your friends and acquaintances that you plan to start a business, you'll hear over and over, 'It won't work. It can't be done'. But dyslexics are extraordinarily creative about manoeuvring their way around problems.'

The study was based on a survey of 139 business owners in a wide range of fields across the United States. Prof Logan called the number who said they were dyslexic 'staggering', and said it was significantly higher than the 20 per cent of British entrepreneurs who said they were dyslexic in a poll she did in 2001.

She attributed the greater share in the US to earlier and more effective intervention by American schools to help dyslexic students deal with their learning problems. About 10 per cent of Americans are believed to have dyslexia, experts say.

One reason that dyslexics are drawn to entrepreneurship, Prof Logan said, is that strategies they have used since childhood to offset their weaknesses in written communication and organisational ability - identifying trustworthy people and handing over major responsibilities to them - can be applied to businesses.

'The willingness to delegate authority gives them a significant advantage over non-dyslexic entrepreneurs, who tend to view their business as their baby and like to be in total control,' she said.

Mr William Dennis, senior research fellow at the Research Foundation of the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group in Washington, said the study's results 'fit into the pattern of what we know about small- business owners'.

'Entrepreneurs are hands- on people who push a minimum of paper, do lots of stuff orally instead of reading and writing, and delegate authority, all of which suggests a high verbal facility,' he said.

'Compare that with corporate managers who read, read, read.'

Indeed, according to Prof Logan, only 1 per cent of corporate managers in the US have dyslexia.

Much has been written about the link between dyslexia and entrepreneurial success. Fortune Magazine, for example, ran a cover story five years ago about dyslexic business leaders, including Mr Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways; Mr Charles R. Schwab, founder of the discount brokerage firm that bears his name; Mr John T. Chambers, chief executive of Cisco; and Mr Paul Orfalea, founder of the Kinko's copy chain.

But Prof Logan said hers was the first study she knew of that tried to measure the percentage of entrepreneurs with dyslexia. Mr Carl Schramm, president of the Kauffman Foundation, which financed the research, agreed. But he said that although the study's findings were surprising, there was no previous baseline to measure it against.

Mr Emerson Dickman, president of the International Dyslexia Association and a lawyer, said the study's findings 'just make sense'.

'Individuals who have difficulty reading and writing tend to deploy other strengths,' said Mr Dickman, who has dyslexia.

'They rely on mentors and so become very good at reading other people and delegating duties to them. They become adept at using visual strengths to solve problems.'

Mr Orfalea, 60, who left Kinko's - now FedEx Kinko's - seven years ago, now dabbles in a hodge-podge of business undertakings. He is almost proud of having dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADD).

'I get bored easily, and that is a great motivator. I think everybody should have dyslexia and ADD,' he said.

He attributes his business success to his difficulty with reading and writing because it forced him to master verbal communication. 'I didn't have a lot of self-confidence as a kid,' he said.

'And that is for the good. If you have a healthy dose of rejection in your life, you are going to have to figure out how to do it your way.'

He said his biggest advantage was his realisation that because of his many inadequacies, he had to delegate important tasks. 'My motto is: Anybody else can do anything better than me.'

Mr Danny Kessler, 26, also has dyslexia and ADD. He founded Angels with Attitude, which holds seminars for women on self-defence. He is a co-founder of Club E Network, which sponsors 'networking events', runs an online chat room for entrepreneurs and produces television shows about them.

Like Mr Orfalea, he said he had low self-esteem as a child, and now views that as a catapult into the entrepreneurial world. 'I told myself I would never be a lawyer or a doctor. But I wanted to make a lot of money. And I knew business was the only way I was going to do it,' he said.

In high school, Mr Kessler said, 'I became cool with the teachers. I developed a rapport with them. I was able to convince almost all of them to nudge my grade up just a bit. I adopted a strategy for squeezing through the system'.

As for the importance of entrusting tasks to others, Mr Kessler said his limitations endowed him with a 'razor sharp' intuition that allows him to ascertain within minutes of meeting people whether he can depend on them and what they would be good at in an organisation.

Mr Drew Devitt, 45, who also has dyslexia, said he started Thoughtware Products in college to produce videos for real estate brokers. Today, he runs a successful US$9 million (S$13 million) company called New Way Air Bearings that makes bearings for precision machine tools.

He also indirectly confirmed giving free rein to his deputies. Asked about the claim on his company's website that it is a 'market leader', he sighed.

'Actually, it's baloney. But that's what our marketing people came up with. You can't do everything. You have to let people do their job.'

NEW YORK TIMES

Most S'pore kids are happy: Study

2007-12-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

Nov 30, 2007
Most S'pore kids are happy: Study
Research shows the majority like their parents and have enough friends
By Theresa Tan
WORKING mums can breathe easy - a new study has found that hours at the office will not affect the emotional well-being of their children.
Despite parental fears, most children think their mums - working or not - often spend time with them, according to a study released yesterday by the Singapore Children's Society.

'Perhaps children don't expect their mums to spend all their time with them,' said senior researcher Mrs Shum-Cheung Hoi Shan.

'It's the quality of the time spent that matters.'

The study on the well-being of primary schoolchildren here painted a rosy picture. Researches interviewed about 1,800 parents and children and found:

83 per cent of children feel happy often or very often.
Over 95 per cent of children like their parents and have good relationships with them.

98 per cent of children have enough friends.
'It's very reassuring to know that the majority of our kids are happy,' said Mr Alex Lee, who sits on the society's board.

The study comes at a time when families are under greater strain than ever.

Divorce rates and the number of single-parent families are climbing. Plus more women are going out to work.

Working mothers said they wished they had more time for their children and try to devote their down time to their kids.

Accounts assistant Mrs Jeslin Heng, 39, says she is sometimes too tired to help her eldest daughter, who is nine, with her homework.

The mother of two has considered quitting her job to spend more time with her daughters, but cannot afford to leave work.

However, children interviewed by The Straits Times said their mums spent enough time with them, regardless of their employment status.

Ynez Tan, 11, is happy to have 'private' time when her salesgirl mum is at work.

She said: 'I can chat with my friends for a long time or watch TV when my mother is working.

'I prefer my mum to work.'

What is interesting, Mr Lee said, is that Malays and Indian children said they spend more time with their parents than Chinese children.

One reason could be Malay and Indian communities are more close-knit, said Mrs Shum-Cheung.

While the majority of children are happy, 10 per cent said they feel very sad often or very often.

Researchers did not ask the children why they were sad, or for that matter, happy.

They only asked the children, aged between six and 12, to rate their feelings.

However, going by calls to Tinkle Friend - the society's helpline for primary school pupils - children are often troubled by fighting parents, stress from school work, quarrels with friends and bullying.

Said Mr Lee: 'The percentage of unhappy children may be small, but it is something to look into.'

The study also found a child's emotional well-being is not affected by the number of siblings he has.

Those who are the only child tend to share their secrets and feelings with their grandparents more frequently than children with brothers or sisters.

theresat@sph.com.sg

Believing in Science as an article of faith - irrational!

2007-11-27T10:53:00.000-08:00

Taking science on faith
By Paul Davies

SCIENCE, we are repeatedly told, is the most reliable form of knowledge about the world because it is based on testable hypotheses. Religion, however, is based on faith. The term 'doubting Thomas' well illustrates the difference.

In science, a healthy scepticism is a professional necessity, whereas in religion, having belief without evidence is seen as a virtue.

The problem with this neat separation into 'non-overlapping magisteria', as American palaeontologist and evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould described science and religion, is that science has its own faith-based belief system. All science proceeds on the assumption that nature is ordered in a rational and intelligible way.

You couldn't be a scientist if you thought the universe was a meaningless jumble of odds and ends haphazardly juxtaposed. When physicists probe to a deeper level of sub-atomic structure, or astronomers extend the reach of their instruments, they expect to encounter additional elegant mathematical order. And so far this faith has been justified.

The most refined expression of the rational intelligibility of the cosmos is found in the laws of physics, the fundamental rules on which nature runs. The laws of gravitation and electromagnetism, the laws that regulate the world within the atom, the laws of motion - all are expressed as tidy mathematical relationships. But where do these laws come from? And why do they have the form that they do?

When I was a student, the laws of physics were regarded as completely off limits. The job of the scientist, we were told, is to discover the laws and apply them, not enquire into their provenance.
The laws were treated as 'given' - imprinted on the universe like a maker's mark at the moment of cosmic birth - and fixed forever. So, to be a scientist, you had to have faith that the universe is governed by dependable, immutable, absolute, universal, mathematical laws of an unspecified origin. You must believe these laws won't fail, that we won't wake up tomorrow to find heat flowing from cold to hot, or the speed of light changing by the hour.

Over the years I have often asked my physicist colleagues why the laws of physics are what they are. The answers vary from 'that's not a scientific question' to 'nobody knows'. My favourite reply is: 'There is no reason they are what they are - they just are.'

The idea that the laws exist without reason is deeply anti-rational. After all, the very essence of a scientific explanation of some phenomenon is that the world is ordered logically and that there are reasons things are as they are. If one traces these reasons all the way down to the bedrock of reality - the laws of physics - only to find that reason then deserts us, it makes a mockery of science.

Can the mighty edifice of physical order we perceive in the world about us ultimately be rooted in reasonless absurdity? If so, then nature is a fiendishly clever bit of trickery: meaninglessness and absurdity somehow masquerading as ingenious order and rationality.

Although scientists have long had an inclination to shrug aside such questions concerning the source of the laws of physics, the mood has now shifted considerably. Part of the reason is the growing acceptance that the emergence of life in the universe, and hence the existence of observers like ourselves, depends rather sensitively on the form of the laws. If the laws of physics were just any old ragbag of rules, life would almost certainly not exist.

A second reason that the laws of physics have now been brought within the scope of scientific research is the realisation that what we have long regarded as absolute and universal laws might not be truly fundamental at all, but more like local bylaws. They could vary from place to place on a mega-cosmic scale.

A God's-eye view might reveal a vast patchwork quilt of universes, each with its own distinctive set of bylaws. In this 'multiverse', there is life only in those patches with bio-friendly bylaws, so it is no surprise that we find ourselves in a Goldilocks universe - one just right for life. We have selected it by our very existence.

The multiverse theory is increasingly popular, but it doesn't so much explain the laws of physics as dodge the whole issue. There has to be a physical mechanism to make all those universes and bestow bylaws on them. This process will require its own laws, or meta-laws. Where do they come from? The problem has simply been shifted up a level from the laws of the universe to the meta-laws of the multiverse.

Clearly, then, both religion and science are founded on faith - namely, on belief in the existence of something outside the universe, like an unexplained God or an unexplained set of physical laws, maybe even a huge ensemble of unseen universes, too. For that reason, both monotheistic religion and orthodox science fail to provide a complete account of physical existence.

This shared failing is no surprise, because the very notion of physical law is a theological one in the first place, a fact that makes many scientists squirm.

Isaac Newton first had the idea of absolute, universal, perfect, immutable laws from the Christian doctrine that God created the world and ordered it in a rational way. Christians see God as upholding the natural order from beyond the universe, while physicists think of their laws as inhabiting an abstract transcendent realm of perfect mathematical relationships.

And just as Christians claim that the world depends utterly on God for its existence, while the converse is not the case, so physicists declare a similar asymmetry: The universe is governed by eternal laws (or meta-laws), but the laws are completely impervious to what happens in the universe.

It seems to me there is no hope of ever explaining why the physical universe is as it is so long as we are fixated on immutable meta- laws that exist without reason or are imposed by divine providence. The alternative is to regard the laws of physics and the universe they govern as part and parcel of a unitary system, and to be incorporated together within a common explanatory scheme.

In other words, the laws should have an explanation from within the universe and not involve appealing to an external agency. The specifics of that explanation are a matter for future research. But until science comes up with a testable theory of the laws of the universe, its claim to be free of faith is manifestly bogus.

The writer is the director of Beyond, a research centre at Arizona State University, and the author of Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe Is Just Right For Life.

Copyright: New York Times Syndicate

Water Safety

2007-11-27T10:46:00.000-08:00

Team 'decided not to wear life jackets to paddle faster'
They found water calm and were confident during practice, says association president
By Carolyn Quek

A BIG LOSS: Photos of the dead dragon boat team members were placed outside a tented area at the mortuary where their bodies were taken to yesterday. They are Messrs Jeremy Goh (from left), Chee Wei Cheng, Stephen Loh, Poh Boon San and Reuben Kee. -- ST PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG

PHNOM PENH - SINGAPORE'S dragon boat team wore their life jackets when they trained on the Tonle Sap before their race last Friday.
They found the water calm enough and were confident even using a different kind of boat for the Cambodian water festival race.

So after a discussion, they decided that they would be able to paddle faster and better without their life jackets, Rear-Admiral (Retired) Kwek Siew Jin, president of the Singapore Dragon Boat Association, said yesterday.

'They felt that conditions were benign enough for them not to have to wear the life jackets,' he said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said that had he known, he would not have allowed them to discard their life jackets.

In Singapore, for sure, that would not have been allowed. But life jackets were optional in the Tonle Sap race, and the team went with their decision.

RADM Kwek stressed that the paddlers were all very experienced, had a good assessment of the situation and were all strong swimmers.

'I tell you, these people are very comfortable in the water, with several years of experience. Otherwise, they can't make the national team,' he said.

'Look at the size of the captain. All of them have been training for years. If they are not rowing, they are training on weights.'

He said there would be 'a very thorough investigation', less to find fault than to find out how the tragedy could have been averted.

One answer, he said, might be to insist that paddlers wear life jackets in all competitions in future, no matter where they race and what the rules of the competition are.

RADM Kwek said that the 22 team members represented the cream of the crop in the sport, chosen from different dragon boating squads in Singapore.

They had hoped to make next month's South-east Asian Games in Thailand in the traditional boat race event, but the Singapore National Olympic Council turned them down.

Among other things, athletes or teams aiming for selection were expected to better or equal the third-placed timing of the last SEA Games to qualify.

The senior vice-president of the dragon boat association, Member of Parliament Lam Pin Min, said yesterday that the paddlers were invited by the Cambodian government in September to take part in the Tonle Sap races.

He said the team would probably have gone to Tonle Sap even if they had been selected for the SEA Games as it would have given them additional exposure.

RADM Kwek said the national squad members shared a fierce love and dedication for the sport, and spent so much time practising or working out that many were hardly home.

So when five of the men went missing on Friday, the others were devastated.

'In dragon boating, especially, the team spirit is very strong,' said RADM Kwek.

The deaths had left the surviving paddlers too distraught to speak to the media, he said, explaining why team members had refused to say anything to reporters all weekend.

The team is scheduled to leave Phnom Penh for Singapore this morning.

'We initially wanted them to go home as early as possible, but they requested to stay on because they wanted to know the fate of their team members,' he said.

He said the deaths of the five men were a great loss not only to their families, but also the sport.

'We were building up the national team. We hoped in the next few years, they could be good enough to compete internationally. Now, we have lost the services of five really good sportsmen,' he said.

He said he did not know all of the dead men personally.

'I usually meet them as a team, and you know how they all look the same - all big-sized and all beautifully built.'

carolynq@sph.com.sg

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY LEONARD LIM IN SINGAPORE

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The Mekong river - The Economist

The sweet serpent of South-East Asia
Dec 30th 2003
From The Economist print edition

How much longer will the Mekong remain the world's last great unspoilt river?

EVERY October, on the night of the full moon, small globes of light rise from the Mekong river along the border of Laos and Thailand. One theory holds that methane drawn from the riverbed by the gravitational pull of the moon causes the “Naga fireballs”, as locals call the phenomenon. The devout, on the other hand, consider it a sort of spiritual firework display to celebrate the end of Buddhist Lent, while sceptics say that it is all a hoax, perpetrated by Laotian monks to put the fear of god into their flock.

Then there are the bizarre creatures that navigate these shifting currents: catfish the size of cows, dome-headed dolphins, crocodiles with a taste for royal blood—and relatively few people. Uniquely for such a big river in the heart of tropical Asia, the biggest city along the Mekong's banks—Phnom Penh—has a mere 1.1m inhabitants. That makes the river unusual in another respect: the pressure of a burgeoning population and fast economic growth is only just beginning to make its mark on the Mekong. But the outcome could be all too familiar: a poor compromise between conservation and development.

For centuries, the Mekong has disappointed those who have dreamed of turning it into a major artery of trade and industry. At times, overland routes have rivalled maritime ones as a conduit for east-west trade in Asia, but the sea has always provided the simplest way of getting from north to south. Thus Marco Polo probably crossed the Mekong on his way home to Europe from China in the 13th century, but did not travel along it. At any rate, he considered the river so inconsequential that he did not mention it in his account of the journey.

About the same time, 1,600km (1,000 miles) to the south, the only major civilisation to be built around the Mekong, the empire of Angkor, was reaching its apogee. Its Cambodian heartland sustained a population of at least 1m through rice farming along the shores of the Tonle Sap, and fishing in its waters. But the Mekong played a part in the empire's trade only in so far as it provided an outlet to the sea. The Chinese merchants and ambassadors who visited Angkor in its heyday came by boat from China's coast and then up the Mekong from the delta, not downriver from the Chinese province of Yunnan.

Four thousand obstacles
They did so in part because the Mekong is not navigable much beyond Phnom Penh. In the dry season, when the river is low, boats must dodge endless jagged reefs and shifting sandbars. Even when the water level crests, the many rapids of Si Phan Don, or “Four Thousand Islands”, in what is now southern Laos, form an insurmountable obstacle to shipping. Over a stretch of 30km, the Mekong divides into a muddled network of streams and channels, tumbling over cascades and shoals.

But the main reason this huge river has always been such a commercial backwater is the scanty population along its course. The biggest expanse of flat, well-watered and fertile land in the basin lies around Tonle Sap lake, but the devastating annual flood makes intensive agriculture difficult there. Depending on the strength of the rains, the surface area of the lake can swell to up to ten times its normal size during the monsoon. But the water recedes quickly when the rains stop, so the land is alternately flooded and parched.

No wonder, then, that the most powerful countries in the region took shape in more hospitable river basins: China on the Yangtze and Yellow rivers, Thailand on the Chao Phraya, Vietnam on the Red, and Burma on the Irrawaddy, leaving the lower Mekong to much-diminished Cambodian kingdoms. North of Cambodia, the Mekong flows through the periphery, not the centre, of all these countries.
European explorers, who began snooping around the Mekong in the 16th century, took hundreds of years to work that out, though. In the 1590s a party of Iberian conquistadors overthrew the Cambodian king and set themselves up as governors in the Mekong delta. A Dutchman, Gerritt van Wuysthoff, struggled upriver as far as Vientiane in 1641. But as late as the 1860s, when France conquered Vietnam and Cambodia, colonial officials knew nothing of the river's northern reaches. They still hoped that it might provide a lucrative back door to China, and in 1866 sent an expedition to explore both the Mekong's course and its commercial potential.

The leader of the expedition died en route, and the survivors brought back grim reports of impassable rapids and lawless hinterlands. But the optimists pressed on. They seized control of Laos in 1893, and tried to turn the Mekong into a thoroughfare linking all their colonies in Indochina. To get round the rapids in Si Phan Don, they built a railway across the river's two southernmost islands, Khon and Det, close to the Laos-Cambodia border. Goods could be shifted from boat to train at the southern terminus of the railway on Khon, below the rapids, and carried to a vessel above them, at the northern end of Det.

The scheme was more a triumph of engineering than of economics, however. Chinese merchants still found it cheaper to send goods to Laos overland via Thailand. After the second world war, the railway—the only one in Laos—fell into disuse. By now, villagers on Khon have prised up most of the tracks for use as fencing. Water buffalo graze on the grass that has sprouted on the old railway bridge linking Det and Khon. Not far off, a rusty French locomotive lies abandoned in a bog.

In the 1950s and 1960s, America, too, dreamed of harnessing the Mekong to enrich Indochina, and thus dent support for the region's communist insurgents. Its allies in the region, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and South Vietnam, set up an agency called the Mekong Committee to co-ordinate joint development projects. Plans were drawn up to dam the Mekong, and engineers got as far as surveying several sites before the ever-intensifying Vietnam war put an end to such schemes.

Thanks to all these disappointments, the Mekong remained almost untouched until the 1990s. The first dam on the river, at Man Wan, in China, was not completed until 1993. The first bridge across the lower Mekong (ie, outside China) was built a year later, between Vientiane in Laos and Nong Khai in Thailand. To this day, much of the river feels deserted. Between the town of Stung Treng, in northern Cambodia, and the Laotian border, hardly a house can be seen. There is so little traffic on the road that runs parallel to the river north of the border that “you could sleep on it,” as one local remarks. Farther north still, along some stretches of the river near Luang Prabang, only odd patches of cultivated land give any hint of human settlement.

But that is changing fast. The population of Cambodia is growing by 2.6% a year, and that of Laos by 2.3%—among the highest rates in Asia. Growth is lower in the Thai and Vietnamese parts of the basin, but they have long been more densely populated. Economic growth is even faster: 5-6% in 2003 in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, 7-8% in China and Vietnam.

Build and destroy
To accelerate this trend, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is promoting a scheme to integrate the economies of the “greater Mekong sub-region”. Two north-south highways are under construction to link China and Thailand, one via Laos and the other via Myanmar. So are five east-west routes linking Thailand and Vietnam, three via Laos and two via Cambodia. A tie-up of electricity grids and telecoms networks is also getting under way.

The ADB may find it as difficult to make the region boom as the French and Americans did. But one element of the current development drive is bound to leave its mark on the Mekong: dam-building. According to the International Rivers Network, an anti-dam group, some 100 large dams are proposed for the Mekong basin.

China has already completed two on the Mekong itself, has started work on a third, and plans at least four more. By the time the Mekong enters Vietnam, it has already formed a delta, leaving no opportunity for dam-building—so the government is building five dams on the one big tributary that strays across its mountainous border with Cambodia instead. Thailand, too, has dammed the main tributaries that flow across its territory. The biggest dam enthusiast of all is dirt-poor Laos, which hopes to enrich itself by building enough hydropower projects to become the battery of South-East Asia.

This barrage of dams generates valuable electricity, aids irrigation and regulates flooding—but in the process does irreparable damage to what was, until recently, the Mekong's most valuable resource: its fisheries. The Mekong and its tributaries yield more fish than any other river system. The annual harvest, including fish farms, amounts to about 2m tonnes—or roughly twice the catch from the North Sea. The Mekong is home to over 1,200 different species of fish, more than any other river save the Amazon and the Congo. Over 1m people in Cambodia depend solely on fishing to make a living, while in Laos 70% of rural households supplement their income by fishing.

The abundance of fish stems from the Mekong's seasonal ebb and flow. During the monsoon, when the plains around the river and its tributaries flood, the habitat for fish suddenly increases by as much as ten times. Moreover, much of the flood-plain is actually forest, which provides a particularly nutritious array of rotting leaves for the fish to feed on. Many species in the Mekong have evolved to take advantage of this delectable smorgasbord. They spawn at the end of the dry season, so that the coming floods can carry the fry to the flood-plain. The bigger the flood, the greater the feast on offer, and so the fatter and more numerous the fish.

More dams, however, mean smaller floods. Most hydroelectric plants aim to generate the same amount of energy year-round. That requires a consistent flow through the turbines, which in turn requires rainwater to be held in a reservoir for use in the dry season. The same drawback, of course, applies to dams designed for flood control. Dams for irrigation, meanwhile, have a doubly damaging impact on fisheries: they not only hold back water, but also encourage the conversion of forest to farmland in the flood-plain.

Irrigated rice-farming, which is two or three times more productive than the rain-fed sort, is growing rapidly throughout the basin, albeit from a low base. In Laos alone, the area under irrigation increased eightfold in the 1990s. Meanwhile, the Mekong River Commission, the latter-day successor to the Mekong Committee, calculates that flood levels have fallen by almost 11% since 1965.

Fishermen all along the Mekong are already complaining of falling catches. For now, at any rate, the problem stems more from the growing number of fishermen than from falling numbers of fish. The Mekong River Commission calculates that the fish catch actually doubled in Cambodia between the 1940s and the 1990s. But over the same period, the number of fishermen (along with the population as a whole) has more than tripled, leading to a decline of 44% in the amount each one takes home.

To make matters worse, even if the catch as a whole is stable, certain species are clearly dying out. The Siamese crocodile, which used to pluck picnicking princesses off the riverbank, according to French explorers, has already disappeared from the main river. Perhaps a few hundred remain in the forested highlands of Laos and Cambodia—but they too are threatened by hunting and habitat loss.

A similar fate awaits the Irrawaddy dolphin. According to Isabel Beasley, an academic, there are only about 70 of these dark grey, snoutless creatures left in the entire Mekong basin. These few survivors, she explains, follow the fish in the dry season to deep pools in the bed of the river near Kratie, in Cambodia. Despite their scarcity, they can easily be spied at these spots, breaking the surface in gentle arcs in pods of three or four. But fishermen also follow the fish, and often snag the dolphins unintentionally in the large-mesh nets they leave unattended for days at a time. As mammals, they need to come to the surface to breathe at intervals of roughly 20 minutes. So any that are caught in nets have usually drowned long before the fishermen return to inspect their catch.

Suffering catfish
The reasons behind the dramatic decline in other species are murkier. Take the giant catfish, the world's largest freshwater fish, which can grow up to 3 metres (10 feet) in length and weigh up to 300kg (660lb). It used to be found throughout the Mekong basin, but has completely disappeared from most areas. In Chiang Khong, traditionally a prime fishing ground, the catch declined from 69 in 1990 to two in 2000, and none since. Unlike smaller species, which reach reproductive age within a year, giant catfish take about seven years to mature, and so are seven times more vulnerable to over-fishing. They also migrate upstream to spawn, though no one knows where, exactly, they go, and therefore whether the proliferation of dams is playing a part in their demise.

In general, the Mekong is so little studied that the effects of any development project are hard to predict. China, for example, is paying for a scheme that involves blowing up reefs in Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, to provide a navigable channel for ships of up to 150 tonnes. But halfway through the blasting, the Thai government has suspended the project, for fear that the faster flow of an unimpeded current would increase erosion and thus alter the midstream boundary with Laos. Fishermen also worry that, since the reefs may be prime breeding-grounds for fish, including the giant catfish, the catch of all species will plummet if their habitat is destroyed.

That fear is not far-fetched. Something similar happened in 1994, when Thailand, with money from the World Bank, completed a hydropower dam on the Mun river, a major tributary of the Mekong. Since then, the fish catch directly upstream has declined by 60-80%, according to a study by the World Commission on Dams. The same study argued that, thanks to cost overruns and lower-than-expected generation at peak times, it would have made more sense to build a gas-fired plant.

To avoid a similar fiasco, the World Bank is insisting on umpteen studies and safeguards for the Nam Theun II, a big dam it is financing on a tributary of the Mekong in Laos. But the authoritarian rulers of China, Myanmar and Vietnam do not always mull over big projects so carefully, and no cost-benefit analysis at all is made of the thousands of small dams, irrigation schemes and land clearances that are undertaken each year throughout the basin. Anyway, governments in upstream countries are unlikely to give much thought to the impact of projects on lowly fishermen or farmers beyond their borders.

In theory, that is the job of the Mekong River Commission. Its members, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, are slowly drawing up pacts on the exploitation of the Mekong and its tributaries. In 2001 they agreed to exchange data on water flows. A pledge to notify one another about big projects came next, and then a system to check up on such declarations. Next year, if all goes according to plan, they will fix the minimum amount of water each country must discharge downstream and, in 2005, rules on water quality.

But none of these pacts will amount to much so long as China and Myanmar refuse to join the Mekong River Commission. Officials from downstream countries—somewhat hypocritically—say that China's dam-building schemes threaten the whole basin. But for upstream countries, of course, membership of the commission would bring many restrictions and few benefits.

China has, however, been keen to rid itself of the image of a budding regional bully, and has courted South-East Asian countries with trade concessions. It also needs the acquiescence of downstream countries in schemes such as the reef-blasting. In 2001 it agreed to the minimal step of sharing data on water levels with the commission, to provide an early-warning system for floods. After all, say officials at the commission, co-operation among the riparian states, like the river itself, should flow in both directions.

Writer's dilemma

2007-11-27T10:44:00.001-08:00

Writers bloc
Scriptwriters in Singapore are often an unknown lot, but they are hopeful things will change
By Boon Chan

NOT SEEN BUT HEARD: Ms Tan Wei Lyn (left) and Ms Bon Sek Yieng (right) are behind the Golden Horse-nominated original script for the movie, Just Follow Law, while Mr Lionel Chok (centre) wrote for drama series, Random Acts, which aired on Arts Central. -- ST PHOTO: ALAN LIM

UNDER One Roof, Growing Up, Don't Worry Be Happy - they are are all well-loved local TV series.
While audiences would have little trouble coming up with the actors associated with these shows, they would be hard put to name a single writer responsible for the scripts.

So who are these people who keep viewers glued to the goggle box? While members of the Writers Guild of America - some of whom are the wordsmiths behind hits like Desperate Housewives - continue to strike for better terms, how are scribes in Singapore faring?

President of the Screenwriters Association (Singapore) (SWA) Woon Chet Choon estimates that there are 'dozens' of full-time writers here, largely with MediaCorp, and about 200 part-time ones.

The SWA was set up in 2000 by Daniel Chan, then a film lecturer at Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The association currently has over 1,000 names in its mailing list.

While an average writer in the US might make about US$50,000 (S$73,000) a year, a part-time one here would be lucky to clear $5,000 from writing alone.

Ms Tan Wei Lyn, 35, who co-wrote the Golden Horse award-nominated original script for Jack Neo's Just Follow Law, says: 'Realistically, to feed yourself as a scriptwriter in Singapore, you can't venture far from TV.'

A fresh graduate can expect to make about $2,500 a month as a full-time writer at a TV station and command $5,000 and up with five years of experience under his belt.

Freelance director and writer Han Yew Kwang, 32, says: 'If you're really hardworking, you could make $5,000 a month writing five episodes for a TV show, but then you probably won't enjoy the writing process'.

But the likelihood of a new writer being able to land such a deal is quite low. You need to make a name for yourself, then people would come and look for you, says Ms Tan.

However, Ms Bon Sek Yieng, 42, fellow co-writer for Law, feels it is probably easier to make a living as a scriptwriter now compared to the past.

TV stations used to have a monopoly on the production of programmes, but there has been an 'opening up' and independent production houses now handle a greater volume of work which they, in turn, farm out to freelancers.

Another challenge faced by writers here is that there are no industry standards on payment and contract terms. Contracts often do not stipulate the number of drafts to be delivered and writers sometimes do not see a paycheque until a script is finalised or when the production is completed.

Freelance writer-director Lionel Chok, 34, says his wish-list includes 10 per cent of the payment delivered for a first draft and a limit of five drafts.

He once did eight drafts for a TV programme and 'it was three months of work but I could not command three months of pay'.

He concludes that it's very difficult to make a living as a full-time writer, and a person would have to dabble in all platforms including writing for magazines and corporate videos.

One of the benefits for members listed on the SWA's website is to 'provide a unified voice for the screenwriting community in promoting fair practices within the industry'. But Mr Woon admits that the SWA is not meant to be a guild or union, and has been more concerned with raising standards of writing here.

Gaining recognition's tough

WHILE monetary remuneration is a key concern of writers, it is only part of the equation.

Ms Tan says: 'It's hard to gain recognition for writing, while you can tell good acting and directing.'

Of her nomination for Best Original Script, she says that any recognition is a good thing, and hopefully more writers here will get more exposure.

The director of development and head writer of animation studio Peach Blossom Media, Mr Andy Logam-Tan, 37, says: 'There is somewhat less respect for people in the creative line as a rule because it is difficult to measure results.'

Still, he is encouraged that people have begun to make a genuine effort to look at the product, rather than the rate of output, of writers.

Then there is the question of creative control.

Mr Han, who worked for four years at TV stations here, says writers can sometimes initiate a project, but when it goes into production, the producer and directors take over and the writer has to let go creatively.

Ms Tan concurs to an extent: 'In the old days, the director used to be king but people are realising that it's hard to start from a blank page.' But while there is 'a growing appreciation for writers, we are also easy targets. When something doesn't work, it's the writer's fault'.

To Ms Chen Sew Khoon, 47, a story planner for MediaCorp's Mandarin drama serials, scriptwriting is not an individual but a team effort. There has to be give and take and writers may not be aware of the reasons for changes, such as production limitations.

Mr Chok puts it this way: 'Writers understand that there can't be 100 per cent creative control; even in the United States, it's a question of how much creativity you can try to inject into any project.

'If you want it to be 100 per cent yours, make your own short film or play.'

The write steps

MOVING ahead, there are scenarios that writers would be glad to see realised in the industry.

Mr Tan notes that 'we have not had a situation as in the States where a writer runs the show'.

Again, unlike in the US, Mr Han observes that it is not common to have a creator credit for projects. A bigger problem might be the lack of a proper long-term scriptwriting course, he adds.

That is why Ms Tan is returning to MediaCorp to head the English comedy and drama division. Having benefited from a more structured system as a novice writer which included a scriptwriting course and being assigned a mentor, she is keen to help train more writers now.

The growing awareness of the importance of content creation is also reflected in official schemes to encourage writing.

The Singapore Film Commission's (SFC) Script Development Grant was launched in December 2003 to help writers develop their stories into feature film scripts. A grant of $6,000 is given to each successful applicant and the total number of recipients as of July this year was 54.

Mr Man Shu Sum, the Media Development Authority's (MDA) broadcast and film development director as well as SFC director, also recognises there is a need for scriptwriters to improve their skills through training by professionals.

To this end, MDA has organised scriptwriting and script-consulting masterclasses and workshops for local writers.

For Mr Tan, writing should be seen as a decent money-earning job, and writers' salaries should be matched to comparable professions like engineering. 'After all, this is what writing is, to design and construct a product.'

If the industry developments in Hollywood can be said to resemble a potboiler, then perhaps the situation here is still very much a work in progress.

bchan@sph.com.sg

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'Realistically, to feed yourself as a scriptwriter in Singapore

Taming Inflation

2007-11-27T10:40:00.000-08:00

Taming inflation
With inflation hitting a 16-year high of 3.6 per cent and likely to go up to 5 per cent next year, Erica Tay looks at what can be done to rein in rising prices

IF IT seems that eating out and getting around town has become more expensive these days, the latest hard data from official number-crunchers confirms that indeed it has.
Prices in October, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), are 3.6 per cent higher than a year ago - the fastest rise in 16 years.

The rate of increase in the CPI - known as the headline inflation rate - has literally been making headlines as Singaporeans gripe about higher food prices and bigger petrol bills.

Hawker centre meals cost 2.8 per cent more compared to a year ago, statistics show.

Restaurant food costs 5.1 per cent more, and transport expenses have also gone up by the same percentage.

Staying at home and eating in? That is not getting cheaper either.

Prices of non-cooked food have crept up 5.6 per cent over the past year, with prices of dairy products and eggs up 9.9 per cent.

Is there any respite for workers who find that they are buying less with the same pay cheques?

What can policymakers do to tame rising inflation?

To understand how to tackle inflation, it is important to understand what is causing rising costs in the first place.

The drivers include July's goods and services tax hike, higher oil and food prices worldwide, and wage and rental increases fuelled by Singapore's red-hot economy.

These factors all play a part in explaining why a plate of chicken rice now costs $3 instead of $2.

But while they all result in higher prices, dealing with each factor requires a different prescription, say economists.

Good and bad news

THE good news is that inflation is set to come down by the end of next year.

The bad news? It is likely to climb higher before coming down.

Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang recently told Parliament that inflation could go as high as 5 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 before moderating for the rest of the year.

On Monday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore predicted inflation for all of next year to range between 3.5 and 4.5 per cent.

'We think inflation will surge past 5 per cent early next year, and average 4 per cent for the whole of 2008,' predicted United Overseas Bank economist Suan Teck Kin.

An inflation rate of 5 per cent will be Singapore's highest in more than two decades, surpassing the 4 per cent peak seen in July 1991, noted Standard Chartered Bank economist Alvin Liew.

A perfect storm

A CONFLUENCE of factors is fanning inflationary pressures on several fronts, said Mr Suan.

Since July this year, one factor has been the 2-percentage- point hike in the GST.

That has the effect of lifting inflation for 12 months, until June next year, after which the effect will wear off, he said.

Another reason for escalating prices has been the sizzling economy.

Rapid expansion has been using up spare capacity in the economy and putting a squeeze on the supply of labour and other resources. Higher wages and rents then get passed on as higher consumer prices.

'The economy is not just getting hotter. It has gotten too hot,' said Citigroup economist Chua Hak Bin.

Singapore is running at full employment and this is driving up wages, he noted.

A shortage of commercial space is pushing up business rents, and new buildings, although under construction, take time to be completed.

Housing costs, too, are on the rise.

A hike next January in the annual assessed values of HDB flats by the tax authorities will push the CPI up by 1.5 to 2 percentage points, estimated Dr Chua.

Besides these domestic factors, along came other unexpected pressures.

The price of crude oil - a raw material for petrol and plastics - has shot up to a whisker shy of US$100 a barrel.

Also, the cost of food and commodities has been surging globally.

As HSBC economist Robert Prior-Wandesforde puts it: 'Prices are being pulled higher by an almost perfect storm of rising energy and food commodity prices, higher rents and the impact of July's GST rise.'

The impact

WHAT are the implications of accelerating prices?

For one, real wages and real interest rates will be hit, explained DBS Bank economist Irvin Seah.

If salaries go up by 5 per cent a year, but consumer prices rise by 5 per cent too, it brings workers back to square one, as their purchasing power stays the same.

Second, if inflation outstrips interest rates earned on deposits, the purchasing power of savings will be eroded, giving rise to 'negative real interest rates', he explained.

A pick-up in inflation would leave low-income workers more vulnerable, said Dr Chua.

Mr Seah said: 'The lowest income group will be hardest hit. The inflation faced by this group has typically been higher, and the recent spate of increase in food prices and hike in bus fares will certainly hurt their pockets a lot more than the rest.'

Mr Liew added: 'Although wages have generally been rising, lower-income workers typically don't get as much wage growth as the top earners, so their real income may go down quite a bit.'

What can be done?

ONE way to combat rising prices is for the central bank, which manages the Singapore dollar's exchange rate against a basket of currencies, to tighten monetary policy - that is, to let the Singdollar strengthen at a faster pace.

'External sources of inflation are something we can do little about, except by appreciating our currency,' said Fortis Bank strategist Joseph Tan.

'A faster rising Singdollar makes imports cheaper, and more drastic tightening might be called for at the next policy review in April,' he added.

But Citigroup's Dr Chua said monetary policy is unable to directly tackle domestic price pressures, particularly coming from a tight property market.

Initiatives have been taken to increase the supply of commercial and residential property, he noted.

Recent government moves to alleviate the squeeze on resources by postponing public projects were useful, said Mr Suan.

Mr Prior-Wandesforde pointed out: 'While denying that the economy is overheating, the government has clearly shown its concerns for the future via the various measures designed to cool the housing market as well as the delays in several construction projects, an increase in immigration and a contraction in real government spending as reported in the national accounts.'

On the demand side, policies to further cool the property market may be needed, said Mr Tan.

'There are different ways you can skin the cat, and the cat, in this instance, is the property market,' he said.

Aside from big-picture policies, economists also advocated that more be done in the Budget early next year to help low-wage earners cope with rising costs.

'There can be rebates targeted at low-wage families,' Mr Liew said.

Mr Tan pointed out: 'In the next Budget, we will need to look after those in the lower-income bracket. They are the ones typically caught out by higher inflation.'

ericatay@sph.com.sg

2007-11-27T10:38:00.001-08:00

Nov 25, 2007
INBOX
Dance music too sexy for kids

I CAUGHT some performances at the Asian Children's Festival held outside the National Library on Nov17.

At first, I enjoyed the performances presented by the children, but my enjoyment turned to dismay when a group of girls, who looked to be around seven to nine years old, came on stage and danced to the song, Buttons, by the Pussycat Dolls (right).

With its sexual connotations, it is an inappropriate song for any young child to dance to, let alone to be presented as an item in a festival that was meant to celebrate the joy of being a child - and watched by many other youngsters.

Was the National Library Board (NLB), as the main organiser, aware of the implications of the song?

One could simply laugh it off as a 'small, trivial thing' and say the children were not aware of the hidden meaning of the song, let alone remember it.

I beg to differ. To carelessly underestimate a child's tendency to be influenced by the media he is exposed to is a huge oversight.

I hope the NLB and future organisers of such children's events will seriously take into account the age of the audience they are catering to.

Ruth Lee Ting En (Ms)

Sg education system - Give a pat on the back

2007-11-27T10:36:00.001-08:00

RECORD PSLE SCORE
Singapore's education system works
By Koo Tsai Kee, For The Straits Times

THIS year's Primary School Leaving Examination results are heart-warming. Natasha Nabila Muhamad Nasir, a Malay girl from a working-class family attending a Christian school in a Gifted Education Programme class, tops the nationwide exam in grand style. Her score of 294 is a record that will remain for some time to come.
While her results are remarkable, the messages behind her achievement are familiar ones. Singapore is a place where everybody can do well. The elites do not have a monopoly on success. And success is not entrenched in the old establishment.

The first message is clear. The elites' children do not have a monopoly on good grades. The elites - having attended 'good' primary schools themselves - may cash in on their affiliation points and enrol their children in their old schools. But at the end, it is intelligence and, above all, diligence and motivation that produce good grades.

Every year, I see top PSLE students coming from working-class families. They worked themselves up from neighbourhood schools to GEP schools and then on to good secondary schools. Natasha is one such example. Our system gives them a chance for upward mobility. The system doesn't ask where you live and where you come from. It only asks if you are capable and willing to scale the peaks of excellence. The best schools are those that open the gate as wide as possible to the ablest and the most determined regardless of race, language, religion or wealth.

Money cannot buy intelligence, nor pedigree ensure clever children. Sure, money alone can buy some advantages; and pedigree can indeed give the child a head start. But the random nature of reproduction has shown that successful parents do not always have clever children.

The GEP has been much maligned. Changes are always welcome. But without the GEP, many outstanding students from working-class families in neighbourhood schools would not have been able to move to the good schools. They have no affiliation points to use, they cannot afford to live near good schools. In that sense, the GEP is a gold standard for transparency in enrolment. Only the motivated and intelligent need apply.

However, if parents think the GEP is a gift, they are mistaken. It is true that GEP students as a group do very well, but it is also well known that some fall by the wayside. The reason is clear. GEP students - however intelligent - do not have a passport to good results. Some GEP students could have come in by chance. Others may not be suitable for the academic rigour, while yet others find their interests elsewhere. Everybody has to prove themselves once again at the PSLE. The competition is re-set every few years.

In my daughter's primary school, 17 pupils obtained over-270 marks in this year's PSLE. Of the 17, only 10 came from the GEP, the rest came from mainstream classes. But what is noteworthy is that eight out of the 10 GEP students who scored over 270 marks had come from neighbourhood schools.

The second message is the multiplying strength of diversity and social harmony. Children of all races and religions, across economic profiles, study together happily in the same environment. St Hilda's Primary did not pre-qualify only Christians. If it did, it would have lost Natasha. Nor is the school exclusively for members of the establishment and the rich. Natasha's father is a technician and her mother a full-time housewife.

And our system doesn't bankrupt families' savings. Tuition fees are so low they are even affordable to poor new immigrants. Scholarships allow them to go to the best universities.

The third message is that the system works. If it didn't, if it only produced exam-smart kids, then how does one account for the success of modern Singapore? What fuels this metropolis? The answer is smart Singaporeans. With limited natural resources and limited human resources, it is the quality of the people that matters. Quality education delivers quality people. Nothing else does.

Sometimes, news can be misleading. A headline in The Sunday Times told of how the international school United World College beat top local schools at The Arena debating competition. That attracted attention and created a noisy chatter. But no headline noted that UWC was beaten in another school debate series.

But really, headline news does not matter to most people. What really matters is how the average student performs. The average is the centre of gravity of our system. In the Natasha story, her score of 294 is outstanding, but it is the average score of the average PSLE student that vindicates our system.

Here, it should be noted that the average literacy level in Singapore is very high. And the average Singapore student has consistently done well in international benchmarking tests. This is the system which many international educators have been trying to approximate.

It is a system that works. It delivers the Singapore dream.

The writer is Singapore's Minister of State for Defence. This article, however, is written in a personal capacity.

Waging War against diseases

2007-11-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

Nov 24, 2007
Waging war against infectious diseases
Top scientist says S'pore can't be free of these diseases unless region does its part
By Shobana Kesava

INFECTIOUS disease expert Duane Gubler, 68, puts himself in the front line in the war he wages.

He has been infected at least thrice with dengue, thrice with malaria and even deliberately infected himself with the filiarisis worm which causes elephantiasis - to better understand the disease.

He caught the two mosquito-borne diseases while trying to lure mosquitoes into biting monkeys, and while out in the field.

The former director of the vector-borne infectious diseases division at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention is now here to take research in these areas to the next level.

'The world is about 30 years behind in infectious diseases research because we thought we conquered them in the 1960s...Resources were moved into the war on other diseases like cancer.'

Ironically, scientists have discovered that certain cancers such as stomach cancer are, in fact, caused by the infectious diseases that have been neglected for decades.
Professor Gubler runs the Asia-Pacific Institute of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases in Hawaii.

He is, from this month, concurrently heading the signature research programme in emerging infectious diseases at the Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School (Duke-NUS).

His plans for Singapore are ambitious - to set up the 'world's best laboratory for research and reference on Asian infectious diseases'.

Tens of millions will go into the laboratory, and with government support, money is not an issue, he said.

Good research will rope in funding from groups like the National Institutes of Health in the US and the Gates Foundation, he said.

The Government has declared its commitment to a concerted effort to fight infectious diseases. It will work with regional countries.

Duke-NUS will have about 70 investigators looking at areas such as metabolic disease, and will train students from the region too.

Field laboratories will also be set up in Asian countries, such as China and Vietnam, where there are emerging infectious diseases.

A key goal will be to develop an early warning disease detection system across Asia.

Singapore cannot be free of infectious disease, Prof Gubler noted, unless the region does its part.

While it is not known what the next epidemic will be, he is almost certain it will be a 'zoonotic' - a disease transmitted from animal to man - as was the case with severe acute respiratory syndrome, which was traced to civet cats.

Prof Gubler plans to spend most of his time in Singapore from next September, until the lab runs smoothly.

He said: 'Not only Asia needs it but the world needs it.'

skesava@sph.com.sg

Art in his soul

2007-11-27T10:30:00.000-08:00

Nov 24, 2007
Art in his soul
Writer-painter Gao Xingjian has thrown himself into his work after recovering from a serious heart condition. The peace he feels now has translated into softer paintings, which are on show here
By Adeline Chia, ARTS REPORTER

NOBEL laureate Gao Xingjian has been working with a vengeance the past year. He takes no holidays, does not rest on weekends and burns the midnight oil.
He says it is to make up for time lost in 2002 when he took two years to recover from a near-fatal condition which caused his major arteries to harden. It resulted in a creative dry spell.

The Paris-based writer-painter-film-maker, who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 2000, is in Singapore until Monday for a packed schedule of speaking engagements.

Gao, 67, also graced a ceremony last night to mark the donation of one of his paintings to the Singapore Art Museum (SAM).

This is his first trip out of Europe since he fell ill in 2002. He is accompanied by his wife, Chinese writer Xi Ling, 44. The couple have no children.

In an interview with Life! on Thursday, he says he is also pushing himself hard to make up for what he calls his 'wasted youth' in his native land. Censorship and political oppression limited his output then, he says.
He was thrown into a re-education camp during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and 1970s and was persecuted by the Chinese government for his 'antiParty' plays. He eventually moved to Paris in 1987 and became a French citizen in 1998.

Now, every waking hour is a race against the clock. He says: 'I spend most of my time creating works now. I have no holidays, no free weekends.'

Looking a little drawn but alert during the interview at the Fullerton Hotel, he recounts softly in Mandarin that the last time he set foot in Singapore was in 1988, when he was invited here by the late theatre doyen Kuo Pao Kun.

He says wistfully: 'It feels like yesterday.'

His interior universe

ANOTHER reason for his visit is to open his solo exhibition at the iPreciation gallery at the Fullerton. It features 22 works he created between 2005 and last year.

Most of the monochrome Chinese ink on paper works are on loan from private collectors in Europe and Asia, with five for sale.

Most of the works have abstract landscapes represented by washes of black and grey, and large areas of luminous white.

Gao says he is calmer and more peaceful now, so these works are in lighter, softer and more harmonious shades than his previous ones, which had more contrasting tones.

With titles such as Interior Universe and Black Thoughts, they are windows into his inner life.

'I rubbed shoulders with death and survived,' he says. 'God is merciful.'

Better health has also allowed him to paint larger works.

In fact, his donation to SAM is the largest painting he has ever done. Day And Night measures 1.9m by 4.7m and is on show at the museum's ongoing exhibition called The Big Picture Show.

He donated the painting to thank the museum for putting up an exhibition of his works in 2005 - his first retrospective in Asia - and to give scholars and arts lovers a chance to see his work without going to Europe.

The painting, which shows solitary and grouped figures in a balanced background of black and translucent grey - was completed in 10 days in a flash of inspiration. Gao, with a wide grin, calls it 'a miracle'.

Six years of hard labour

THIS new-found serenity seems a long way from the political claustrophobia in China he endured in his younger days.

He was encouraged to write, paint and play the violin by his actress mother and his father, a senior bank officer. A French language and literature student in the Beijing Institute of Foreign Languages, he later worked as a translator.

He is tight-lipped about his personal life, but he is known to have been married twice before. It has also been reported that his first wife denounced him to the authorities during the Cultural Revolution.

He had to burn 'kilos and kilos' of essays, plays and novels to avoid arrest. Nonetheless he was made to attend re-education camps and did hard labour in the fields for six years.

In 1981, he was resident playwright at Beijing People's Art Theatre, but his satirical plays such as Bus Stop (Chezhan) caused him to be blacklisted by the Chinese government.

Frustrated with censorship and political oppression, he left China in 1987 to settle in Paris, where he published a steady stream of short stories, novels and plays.

His seminal work, Soul Mountain (Lingshan), was completed in 1989, and is a meandering 81-chapter epic portraying an individual's search for roots, inner peace and liberty. The Chinese government denounced it as 'very, very average' but it received warm reviews abroad.

After the suppression of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in June 1989, he renounced his membership in the Chinese Communist Party. His books were then banned in China.

On what drives his creative impulse through the ups and downs, he says: 'I faced a lot of oppression in China, but the only way to determine your own value as an artist is to create. Not through speeches or political action, but to say something using art.'

But he takes pains to distance himself from his experiences in China.

He says: 'The past seems so far away. I consider myself having three lives. The first is in China, where I encountered difficulties at every turn. The second life is in the West, where I consider myself a global citizen. That ended after winning the Nobel Prize, when I faced a lot of stress and fell sick.

'The third life is now, after I've risen from the shadow of death. That's why I treasure it. China seems like a completely different realm from now.

'I don't think about the past. I don't want to.'

Besides, the workaholic has more urgent things to think about.

Since June, he has been working relentlessly on a book of essays, On Creating, which tackles the themes of his works and 'the relationship between the intellectual and society in the 21st century'.

He figures that 'if anyone were to do a summation of my work I might as well do it myself'.

Other issues keep him busy.

He says: 'We are in the 21st century. We are facing new questions and crises, such as environment issues and global warming. Those old questions of the 20th century, of revolution and aesthetics, they are over.'

After the interview, he gamely autographs a catalogue and poses for pictures before doing another interview, one of many during his packed schedule.

He says: 'With so much to do, what is there to reminisce about? People ask why I don't write my own memoirs. I never even think of it.'

chiahta@sph.com.sg

Geeky MDA Video

2007-11-27T10:17:00.000-08:00

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lBUBNVDLFdY

Yo, check this, MDA is in da 'hood!
By Alfred Siew

YES, yes, y'all, they don't stop!
The top brass in the Media Development Authority (MDA) have pulled in 20,000 views on the video-sharing website YouTube in just two days.

It is a feat few local acts manage. A video of opposition leader Chiam See Tong during the last General Election - considered well watched - has been viewed only about 11,000 times.

The MDA video, classified under 'comedy' on YouTube, features the agency's senior people jabbing their fingers in the air and rapping about a vibrant Singapore.

It was produced to showcase the agency's work on the media scene.

The brainchild of MDA communications director Cassandra Tay, the four-minute clip was first shown at a staff conference in April.

It was also screened at the reception areas of offices and to new staff.

The rap video was so well received that it was later sent to those in the industry in a memory drive together with the agency's annual report.

A version was also put on its website.

The public cottoned on after newspaper reports this week and so far, at least six copies of the video have been put up on YouTube.

Read the full story in Saturday's edition of The Straits Times Life!

Teen Sexuality

2007-11-27T10:04:00.001-08:00

Nov 23, 2007
S'porean students are a sensible lot, health survey shows
By Sharon Loh, Assistant News Editor

IN the first such national survey, health authorities here have found that Singaporean teenagers are by and large a sensible lot who mostly don't smoke because it is harmful, don't engage in sex because of disease and unwanted pregnancies, and who try to eat the required servings of fruit every day.
The survey of 3,844 Secondary One to Four students was conducted by the Health Promotion Board (HPB) between April and August last year.

The survey findings, released by HPB on Friday, found that just four out of every 100 15 and 16-year-olds have had sexual intercourse, a far cry from previous surveys by other groups, which polled 20 out of every 100. Top of the reasons for not having sex was the fear of getting sexually transmitted diseases or HIV, followed by the fear of pregnancy, being too young and upsetting their families.

The survey also found that the number of kids who have tried cigarettes dropped from 26 per cent in 2000, to 19 per cent last year. The percentage who had smoked at least one stick a day in the previous month also dropped from 11 per cent to 9 per cent.

But there were some dark spots among the bright. Of the teens who have had sex, one quarter had engaged in intercourse more than 5 times in the last 12 months.

The median age for having sex was 15, which meant that half of those teens were even younger when they started. And nearly two thirds said they had sex because 'it just happened'.

When it comes to cigarette smoking, the prevalence has remained unchanged from 2000, with 2 per cent of all youths regular smokers. More than half picked up the habit before the age of 12.

Exercise also does not figure high on teens' priorities, with only one out of 5 exercising 30 minutes a day for at least 5 days in the week. Boys were more than twice likely to exercise than girls. They were also more likely to eat the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables a day than girls.

Sugary and deep fried foods are also a big hit, which could have an impact on later health. More than half (52 per cent) have deep fried foods more than twice a week, and 29 per cent have sugar-laden drinks more than once a day.

A key part of the survey, on mental health, is yet to be completed.

In the meantime, teens deal with stress by tuning out the world. The top ways of de-stressing are to listen to music, watch television, play computer games and surf the Internet, ahead of talking to someone about it.

HPB said the survey provides baseline data for any youth health initiative the government may embark on later.

----------

Most teens shun sex and smoking, survey shows
Poll of 3,844 Sec 1 to 4 students shows they love junk food and exercise little
By Tessa Wong
Poll of 3,844 Sec 1 to 4 students shows they love junk food and exercise little
By Tessa Wong

UNHEALTHY DIETARY HABITS: The survey found that only 24 per cent of teens eat two servings of fruit and vegetables daily. They are also fond of sugary and deep-fried foods. -- ST FILE PHOTO

THE first nationwide survey of its kind has found that the average secondary school student is level-headed about sex and smoking, preferring to abstain from both, but is also a couch potato who loves his junk food.
The Student's Health Survey, by the Health Promotion Board (HPB), polled 3,844 Secondary 1 to 4 students from 51 schools between April and August last year.

It focused on practices and attitudes towards smoking, sex, diet and exercise. A mental health component is still being evaluated.

Many habits which persist in adulthood are formed in one's teens. The survey provides baseline data for future youth health initiatives to mould these habits, said HPB's chief executive officer Lam Pin Woon.

1. A mixed picture emerged from the survey:

2. Four per cent of all Secondary 3 and 4 respondents said they have had sex.

3. Half of this group had sex before they were 15, and one-quarter of them had sex more than five times in the past 12 months.

4. The number of teens who are regular smokers remains at 2 per cent. Fewer are likely to try smoking, 19 per cent compared with 26 per cent in 2000.

5. But half of teen smokers pick it up before the age of 12, and 19 per cent of them do not think it is harmful.

6. At least 70 per cent of students knew they should eat two servings each of fruit and vegetables daily. They are also fond of sugary and deep-fried foods.

7. Exercise was not a top priority. Boys were more than twice as likely to exercise than girls.

Respondents were given anonymous questionnaires to fill out in class while a teacher was present.

Overall, the survey shows that teens are at a vulnerable stage of life when they need guidance, said experts.

The answers for why they have sex - 'it just happened', 'it felt good' - indicate a lack of self-restraint in dealing with sexual feelings, said youth counsellor Carol Balhetchet.

'They cannot decipher or rationalise for themselves what they should do, and just go with the flow,' she said.

Dr Balhetchet felt the figure for sexually active teens seemed low, compared with other surveys, and said respondents might not have told the whole truth to avoid embarrassment.

Nutritionist Anna Jacob said health is often not a teen priority.

'They are in a critical stage of growth, and burn calories like crazy. It's a natural reflex to eat high-calorie foods...' she said.

The only result released for mental health found that most teens dealt with stress by tuning out the world. They would rather listen to music, watch television, play computer games and surf the Internet, ahead of talking to someone about it.

This is natural, said teens.

'Some people feel better when they're alone and can get to grips with their situations,' said Rameza Khan, 15, a Coral Secondary School student.

But youth must be careful not to isolate themselves, Dr Balhetchet warned.

twong@sph.com.sg

Median age when they have sex
Four per cent of 15- and 16-year-olds have had sex. The median age of these teens losing their virginity is 15.

Two per cent of those polled are regular smokers. The median age of them having their first cigarette is 12.

At least 70 per cent of students know about the daily recommended intake of fruit and vegetables. But only 24 per cent follow that guideline.

Only 19 per cent of teens exercise regularly. Boys exercise more than girls.

Bring Tina Back

2007-11-27T10:04:00.000-08:00

'Please bring Tina back'
A critically ill woman wants to see her daughter who has been missing for two years. The family wrote to Life! following a story on missing persons
By Sandra Leong

THE family of a 74-year-old woman now critically ill in hospital is trying to fulfil her desperate plea: find her missing 32-year-old daughter Sutinah Hussein, once named one of Female magazine's 50 Most Gorgeous People.
Ms Sutinah, or Tina for short, is the youngest and favourite daughter of Madam Merdik Basari, a mother of seven.

However, she last saw her glamorous daughter during Hari Raya Puasa in November two years ago.

The unmarried account executive and occasional model went to her parents' HDB flat in Jurong East to help her mother prepare food for the festivities, and has not been seen since.

All this while, Madam Merdik has pined for her, even staying home on weekends in case her daughter came by. Then, earlier this month, she suddenly told her family: 'Bring Tina back or I won't forgive you.'

The plea took on a new urgency after Madam Merdik fell ill last Saturday night.

She was admitted to Singapore General Hospital after complaining of blurry vision and giddiness.

At 4am on Sunday morning, doctors told her family that she had a life-threatening haemorrhage in her brain.

She is in an intensive care unit, breathing with the help of a machine and has to be monitored by medical staff hourly.

Madam Merdik's fifth daughter, administrative assistant Asmah Hussein, 39, says of her mother's plea: 'She must have known she was going to be sick, that's why she said that.'

Her mother's condition, adds the visibly tired woman, is only '50-50'.

The family posted a Missing Persons report with the police on Monday.

They also wrote to Life! on Tuesday in response to a LifeStyle article two weeks ago about the missing persons' phenomenon in Singapore, which also ran with a call for families of missing persons to share their stories.

Since Madam Merdik was admitted to hospital, about 15 family members, including her husband Hussein Musdi, 84, have kept vigil outside her ward. He was too shaken to be interviewed.

'My mother needs Tina's touch,' says Madam Asmah. 'Maybe with Tina here, she will feel better.'

After that Hari Raya Puasa visit, Ms Sutinah stopped visiting altogether. A few months later, she disconnected her mobile phone number, effectively severing all ties with her family.

Madam Asmah says: 'There was no argument. She just disappeared.'

She may have vanished from her family, but her face was all over Singapore - she appeared in that fateful November's edition of Female, as No. 45 on its 50 Most Gorgeous People list. The strikingly beautiful woman appears clad in a sexy bustier top and figure-hugging jeans.

Asked why she and her siblings did not try to look for their sister through the publication, Madam Asmah says with a sigh: 'She's a grown-up. We thought she wanted a good life and freedom.'

Indeed, Ms Sutinah was no stranger to vanishing acts - before this disappearing act, she had also gone missing before that for about a year, but later said she had been living with friends.

This time around, the situation is different with Madam Merdik critically ill.

On Monday, Madam Asmah's brother Osman Hussein, 52, finally filed a missing person's report with the police, and even approached the Crime Library, a voluntary group that helps search for missing people, for help.

The police confirmed that a report was lodged. A spokesman noted: 'Once family members lodge a missing person's report, we would investigate the case thoroughly, assessing the information and taking into consideration the age, mental and health conditions of the missing person and the situations under which the person has gone missing.

'People will go missing for many reasons, and some may even do so deliberately for their personal motive.'

Checks with the Central Provident Fund board have showed that Ms Sutinah has no record of employment for the past 11/2 years.

She is believed to be in Singapore, however. The Immigration & Checkpoints Authority has also told the family that she last travelled in and out of the country in August this year. Her Friendster account lists her location as 'west and east on this island of Singapore' but is not accessible to strangers.

Madam Asnah is worried that her sister may have mixed with bad company. 'Maybe someone is making use of her,' she says. 'Someone who says 'you must belong to me' and she is scared to leave.'

She describes Ms Sutinah as outgoing, jovial and 'havoc but soft-hearted'. Popular with men, she had many boyfriends but had brought only one home, four years ago - a wealthy, French-Arabian man whom she was then living with. Madam Asmah says the couple talked about marriage but eventually broke up.

At her time of disappearance, she may have been dating a Caucasian man.

Madam Asmah believes that her sister may have left home because she was ashamed of her family background.

'All her friends were high-class types.'

She sadly adds: 'Tina, come back and visit your sick mother. Even if just for five minutes. If after that, you want to go, you may go.'

sandral@sph.com.sg

The Prayer - PSLE Results: ST

2007-11-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

Nov 22, 2007
Top PSLE student sets new record with 294 score
By Ho Ai Li
ST HILDA'S Primary pupil has scored a record 294 in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), beating the previous high of 292 set in 1993.
Natasha Muhamad Nasir, 12, eclipsed the record set by Nanyang Primary's Justin Lau in 1993.

Her score was 'outstanding', said the Singapore Examination and Assessment Board (SEAB) spokesman, as it was a good six points ahead of the next highest score of 288.

At St Hilda's on Thursday, Natasha, flanked by her younger sister and mother, smiled shyly as reporters shot questions at her. In the background, her father was recording the scene with a camcorder.

'I was worried if I could get 4A*s,' she said. The Gifted Education Programme (GEP) pupil had found the Science paper 'tedious'.

And on the day of her first PSLE paper on Oct 3, her maternal grandfather, 74, underwent surgery for his heart at the Singapore General Hospital.

Natasha, who was very close to him, spent the PSLE exam period shuttling between hospital and home.

'He taught me a prayer to say before the exam. I would say it before each paper,' she said.

He died on Oct 30.

'I would like to dedicate my results to him. Before I sat for the PSLE, he prayed for me,' she said.

Natasha, who plays the piano and violin and is in the Scrabble club, already has a place in Raffles' Girls Secondary and plans to be a paediatrician in future.

Her parents have left nothing to chance when it comes to bringing up Natasha.

When she was still in her mother's womb, they would would read aloud to her and played music for her to listen.

Her mother, Ms Zaharah Othman, 44, quit her flight stewardess job after Natasha was born so that she can give her 'quality time'.

When Natasha was three months old, she bought her an encyclopedia set. By two and a half years, she could read a book on her own.

Ms Zaharah and her husband, Mr Muhamad Nasir Atan, 47, a Singapore Airlines technician, live in a five-room Pasir Ris flat, but they volunteered at Gongshang Primary in Tampines to get Natasha a place in the popular school.

She went to St Hilda's when she got into the GEP at Primary Four.

The last time a Malay pupil topped the PSLE was two years ago, when Adil Hakeem Mohamad Rafee from Rosyth School scored 282.

Besides Natasha, another 14 pupils scored at least 286 in the PSLE this year.

Natasha was the top Malay student, while Vanessa Malishree Dharmaratnam from Raffles Girls' School (Primary) was the top Indian pupil with a score of 285.

Top Eurasian Santa Maria Priscila Nicole from CHIJ Katong Primary scored 272.

In all, some 49,817 Primary 6 pupils sat for the PSLE this year, a drop of 1.6 per cent over last year.

A total of 48, 665, or 97.7 per cent of the pupils, did well enough to move on to secondary school.

Of these, 63.5 per cent are eligible for the Express, 22.2 per cent for the Normal (Academic) and 12 per cent for the Normal (Technical) course.

Technocrats - Nov 20 ST

2007-11-27T09:52:00.000-08:00

British scientists slam shoddy science in ads
Group worried that advertisers are using technical-sounding terms to hoodwink shoppers

LONDON - WHEN biologist Harriet Ball noticed that a popular vitamin B-enriched yogurt made by Nestle promised to 'optimise the release of energy', she queried the company about its claims and found they had no evidence to support it.
Ms Ball belongs to a group of more than two dozen British scientists who became so fed up with advertisers' seemingly bogus claims that they started a campaign to debunk bad science.

Those who have run afoul of scrutiny by them include French cosmetic company Clarins and pop star Madonna.

The group, Voice of Young Scientists, published a report last month chronicling their encounters with 11 companies.

'These are just a few of the products that particularly annoyed us,' said Ms Alice Tuff, coordinator of the group.

It found that none of the companies investigated had proof to support their assertions. Products ranged from a cleanser purported to wipe the body clean of parasites to Himalayan salt lamps that supposedly relieve asthma.

Ms Tuff said they were not intentionally trying to show up the companies.

'All we wanted to do was track down the evidence,' she said. 'We were really shocked that we didn't find anything at all.'

The scientists are worried that advertisers are increasingly employing technical-sounding language to hoodwink consumers, while in some cases their pseudo-science has caused alarm about supposed health threats, with no supporting data.

In the Clarins case documented by the group, Britain's Advertising Standards authority ruled that the French cosmetics company had needlessly worried people about the dangers of electromagnetic radiation waves in marketing their 'Expertise 3P spray'.

Clarins claimed their spray protected skin against pollution and the effects of artificial electromagnetic waves.

Company officials did not answer calls seeking comment on how the product works.

The advertising authority judged that Clarins had not proven that electromagnetic waves could damage skin in the first place.

Last year, the group chastised Madonna for her attempts to 'neutralise radiation' by using a mystical Kabbalah fluid that allegedly decontaminated nuclear waste in Ukraine.

Voice of Young Scientists is part of Sense About Science, a charity that promotes better understanding of science in the general public.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

When the Earth overheats

2007-11-27T09:43:00.001-08:00

Nov 20, 2007
When Earth overheats
SCIENTISTS of the United Nations climate panel, who have just released their concluding report on Earth in peril from its inhabitants, must wish they were industrialists and government leaders. They would then have the executive authority to take remedial action on climate deterioration, to go with the conviction borne of scientific certainty. But if they were politicians and business leaders, each with agendas not fully theirs to define, they would be liable to temporise until looming disaster becomes their successors' problem. The United States refused to even ratify the Kyoto Protocol because compliance, according to the Bush White House, would damage the nation's industrial competitive advantage. China, as a designated developing nation, is not subject to the emissions caps. It wishes to be permitted to industrialise untrammelled by modern-age environmental remits, although it is beginning to see that its role in planetary protection will soon be as pivotal as America's.
This broadly is the inertia gap that will continue to exist between the scientists' scary scenarios of climate change and the will of nations and their wealth-creators to ameliorate, not so much undo, the half century of damage to Earth's natural rhythms. No government regards as extreme the scientists' assertion that unrestrained burning of fossil fuels and forests would raise temperatures and sea levels, and damage climate systems that sustain agriculture and water supplies. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said in unveiling the panel's report at the weekend that all humanity must take responsibility for the ravages that come with climate disruptions. A clearer perspective came from the head of the panel, Mr Rajendra Pachauri, who said it would be too late to ward off catastrophe if governments did not act in the next several years.

Concerted action is still possible, though not highly probable. An indication could come next month in Bali, when some 180 nations will discuss ways of achieving emissions controls beyond the Kyoto standards. China, India and Brazil - the developing bloc's fastest growing - have a role not less vital than America's. A coal burner, like China, can be allowed flexibility to comply but it should come within the global framework. Asean is setting an example by including climate protection among its goals. Meantime, old industrial nations and emergent economies could be more inclined to discipline their industries and consumer habits if they are psychologically primed to think they are controlling the release of greenhouse gases to secure their people's future, not so much the health of the planet. One is self-serving, the other sounds like a platitude. Politicians can still be brought around.

Respect the Royal Family and Speak the Right Language

2007-11-27T09:31:00.001-08:00

Nov 21, 2007
Spanish court fines men for burning king and queen's photos
SPAIN - TWO Catalan nationalists who burned photos of Spain's king and queen were convicted on Tuesday of insulting the royal family and fined euro2,700 (S$5,789) each.
The ruling was handed down by Judge Jose Maria Vazquez Honrubia of the National Court, the same magistrate who last week fined two cartoonists who depicted Crown Prince Felipe having sex with his wife in a drawing that ran on the cover of a humour magazine.

This time, the judge said the two defendants - Jaume Roura and Enric Stern - committed 'grave insults' to the Spanish crown by burning photos of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at an anti-monarchy and Catalan separatist rally in Girona as the royal couple visited that Catalan city on Sept 13.

'They can have whatever ideas they want, but they cannot attack the basic institutions of the state,' Judge Vazquez Honrubia said.

The defendants admitted burning the photos - Stern doused them with gasoline and Roura set them on fire - and said they did so as a protest against the monarchy.

Like other Spanish regions, Catalonia has its own language and distinct culture and is home to strong nationalist sentiment. One of the parties in the regional government is outright pro-independence.

The judge interrupted the proceedings at one point because the two men insisted on speaking Catalan rather than Spanish in answering questions from their lawyer and the prosecutor.

In the end, Judge Vazquez Honrubia let this continue but cut the defendants off when they tried to make their final statements in Catalan, the official language in the powerful and wealthy region of northeast Spain.

The prosecutor had originally sought jail terms of a year and three months but ultimately sought just a fine. The judge agreed.

The photo burning and sex cartoon are part of a spate of recent cases in which King Juan Carlos, a soft-spoken figurehead who shuns publicity, has seen himself or his family thrust into the limelight.

On Nov 10, the king told President Hugo Chavez to 'shut up' at a summit in Chile after the Venezuelan president called a former Spanish prime minister a fascist, sparking a diplomatic spat that is still simmering, with Venezuela threatening to review Spanish investment in that country.

Last week, the Spanish royal palace announced that the king's eldest child, Elena, is separating from her husband, banker Jaime de Marichalar. They have two small children.

Spanish newspapers are calling 2007 the king's 'annus horribilis'. -- AP

Acing EM3

2007-11-23T03:05:00.000-08:00

Nov 23, 2007
Missed 2 years, but he aces EM3
By Ho Ai Li
HE WAS a dropout but not a typical one. And 12-year-old Nazir Khan Abdul Mutalib proved it when, after returning to his school, he emerged as one of its 18 top EM3 pupils.
Nazir, the fourth of six children of an odd-job worker and a housewife, had spent most of his Primary 3 and 4 years away from school.

There wasn't enough money for him to go to school. Also, he stayed home to look after his younger siblings.

But after persistent visits by his Huamin Primary teachers, he returned to class in Primary 5. The teachers 'wore him down' with encouragement.

They also helped him get financial aid for his books, fees and meals. He was also made a prefect.

Yesterday, Nazir learnt he had scored Grade 1 in all his subjects and an aggregate of 129. Huamin principal William Pushpam said he was not surprised by Nazir's results, as he has been 'very consistent' and 'diligent'.

In fact, he had done well in lower primary and only went to the EM3 stream, which offers foundation courses, because of all the schooling he had missed.

His Primary 5 and 6 form teacher, Mrs Geetha Velmurugan, knew he had grit.

'From day one, he started working. He aims very high and is very competitive,' she said.

To stretch him, she set high targets, like giving him work meant for those in the more demanding EM2 stream.

Nazir, who plays hockey and floorball for Huamin, hopes to pursue a sports career in future. He is gunning for a Normal (Academic) place in Northland Secondary, known as a hockey powerhouse.

Disabled girl tops her school in PSLE - 23 Nov 2007

2007-11-23T03:01:00.000-08:00

Disabled girl tops her school in PSLE
Despite many obstacles, she scores an aggregate of 278
By Sumathi V. Selvaretnam

HIGH HOPES: Evergreen Primary's Loh Jia Wei, who gets around in a motorised wheelchair, suffers from a muscle-wasting disease and fractured her thigh bone in August last year. Her determination to fight the odds has paid off and a philanthropic organisation is exploring ways to help her through a scholarship or bursary. -- ST PHOTO: LAU FOOK KONG

AT THE tender age of three, Loh Jia Wei was found to have muscular spinal atrophy, a muscle-wasting disease.
A physically weak child, she missed out on most sports.

Then she became wheelchair-bound after fracturing her thigh bone in August last year.

She also felt faint during her Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) this year.

But Jia Wei, 12, persevered. With the results out yesterday, she topped her school, Evergreen Primary. Her aggregate score of 278 was the highest among her school's Primary 6 cohort of 487 pupils.

Jia Wei said: 'My teachers had high hopes for me and I did not want to disappoint them.'

She also attributed her success to the strong support that she received from her family.

When she missed school for a month in January after surgery to strengthen her spine, her form teacher, Madam Linden Ng, 41, visited her home once a week to help her with her schoolwork.

Madam Ng said: 'She took pride in every task or project. She really pushed herself.'

In August last year, Jia Wei's mother, Madam Loke Wai May, 44, left her job as a human resource officer in the civil service to take care of her only child.

Because Jia Wei's motorised wheelchair does not fit into the family car, Madam Loke and her Filipino maid had to wheel her from their home in Woodlands Drive to her school at Woodlands Circle every day.

Jia Wei's top PSLE result was all the sweeter since her medical condition made her tired after studying for more than an hour at a stretch.

She said: 'If I write for too long, my hand gets tired.' Despite this, she completed over 20 assessment books.

Jia Wei's father, Mr Loh Yap Song, 48, an executive in a label-printing company, was visibly delighted at his daughter's achievements.

But he had one worry. He said: 'She wants to go to Raffles Girls' School which is some distance away. Her wheelchair will fit only in a London cab. Transport will cost over $1,000 a month.'

Mr Loh can take heart.

Aware of her potential and family circumstances, the Tan Chin Tuan Foundation (TCTF), a philanthropic organisation, is exploring ways to help Jia Wei and two other disabled PSLE pupils at her school, through scholarships funds or bursaries.

TCTF CEO Eric Teng added that it will be setting aside funds to champion similar deserving causes that may arise in other schools.

sumathis@sph.com.sg

We're British, we don't do mottos

2007-11-19T03:16:00.001-08:00

Britain's quest for a national motto
By Mark Rice-Oxley
LONDON - THE French have their 'Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite'. The Americans have 'In God We Trust'. Even tiny countries like Antigua and Fiji have their national mottos, stirring calls to nationhood, faith, solidarity.
Not so Britain. Until now, that is.

Keen to redefine an increasingly diverse nation and its values, Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government has launched a quest for a new motto, a 'statement of values' as ministers call it.

Mr Brown himself betrayed a Latin predilection when, upon first taking office in the summer, he said that he lived by his school's hallowed maxim, 'usque conabor' (I will try my utmost).

And yet officials may prefer to stick with that rather than go with some of the suggestions that have been pouring in the past week to the BBC and the Times, both of which are conducting their own soundings into what the new motto should say.

'Once Great: Britain,' offered one contributor. 'At least we're not French,' read a second. 'Americans who missed the boat,' quipped a third.

While some did genuinely try to come up with more sincere efforts, most were mocking in tone.

'It's stirring up a good characteristic of the British, and that is a sardonic humour towards any attempt by government to do unnecessary and pompous things,' says Sir Bernard Crick, a former government adviser on citizenship.

Mr Brown though believes he has good reason to play the British card: rising nationalism in Wales, Scotland and England, and disenchanted ethnic minorities are picking at the seams of British unity.

He has already floated ideas like a new 'national day' and new citizenship rules.

But philosopher and author A.C. Grayling thinks a new motto is not the way to go about this.

'It's characteristic of how we have done things, a rather cheap, slogan-based solution to what are more complicated problems,' he says.

Author Chris Cleave, who writes about contemporary Britain in his fiction, thinks something from Shakespeare might do the trick: 'I like 'Virtue is bold, and goodness never fearful.'(from Measure For Measure).'

The government says it has had plenty of worthwhile suggestions and that it now plans a consultation process on what the 'statement of values' should be and how it should be used.

But clearly Mr Brown will have to try his utmost to convince his nation that it is a worthwhile exercise.

For, as one blog contributor put it recently: 'We're British; we don't do mottos.'

Man who pushed girlfriend onto MRT track gets 2 more years

2007-11-17T15:40:00.000-08:00

Nov 13, 2007
Man who pushed girlfriend onto MRT track gets 2 more years
Court of Appeal ups his jail term from one to three years after prosecution appealed.
By Selina Lum

THE spurned man who had been handed one year in jail in May for pushing his former girlfriend into the path of an oncoming MRT train on Tuesday had his sentence upped to three years after an appeal by the prosecution.
But 26-year-old Kwong Kok Hing, a permanent resident who returned to Malaysia after being released from prison, was not in court to hear his increased sentence.

Kwong now has up till Dec 3 to surrender to the authorities, failing which the prosecution can apply for a warrant of arrest against him.

His lawyers, Mr Shashi Nathan and Mr Adrian Wee, have phoned Kwong's parents to break the news.

'They are obviously upset but we have explained to them that the decision is extremely fair,' said Mr Nathan.

'They are going to have a family discussion and we have advised them to ask Kok Hing to come back.'

The Court of Appeal - Justices Andrew Phang, V. K. Rajah and Tan Lee Meng - will deliver detailed reasons for their decision at a later date.

But it was clear that the main issue troubling the judges was: exactly what mental condition Kwong suffered when he shoved Ms Jenny Low Siew Mui, 26.

Dr Tommy Tan, then of the Institute of Mental Health, opined that Kwong has suffered from dysthymia - characterised by a chronic depressive mood - since he was in school.

But Dr Y. C. Lim of Raffles Hospital said Kwong suffered from reactive psychosis - a sudden display of psychotic behaviour triggered by a stressful event.

Justice Phang noted: 'When it comes to sentencing, the precise disorder is important because because it's a significant consideration. The accuracy of the diagnosis may become crucial.'

The judges also expressed concern that two different pictures have been painted of Kwong.

'Who is the real Mr Kwong?' Justice Rajah wondered aloud three times.

On Sept 14 last year, Kwong pushed Ms Low off the platform just as a train was pulling into the Clementi MRT station.

She had ended their turbulent two-year relationship a few days earlier but he wanted to patch things up.

Ms Low narrowly escaped death when she made a dash for safety just a split second before the train hurtled past her. Her act of agility, captured by a CCTV camera, was played in court.

On May 23, Kwong pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted manslaughter and was sentenced by Justice Choo Han Teck to one year in jail, backdated to the date of remand.

In effect, with one-third remission, Kwong, who hadspent eight months in custody, walked out of court a free man the same day.