Current Affairs Blog Post: The Dr Susan Lim Saga

Hi there! This my next current affairs blog post regarding the Susan Lim Saga that happened a while ago. My class was told to have a debate over this and thus, I am posting my reflections here. A main idea of what happened in this case was that Dr Lim was hired to cure a Bruneian patient (Royalty) of her breast disease. Dr Lim initially requested for $25 million and the family accepted, wanting to save the future queen as soon as possible. However, in November 2007, the royal family wrote to the Ministry of Health, asking them to tell Dr Lim to reduce her fees as $25 million was a big sum. Considering the fact that Dr Lim had already received $14 million from the past few years as service charges from the government of Brunei and also that the Bruneian patient died, the Singapore Medical Council is launching an inquiry against Dr Lim for overcharging her patient. The question burns down to this: Should a doctor's fees take priority over benevolence? 

This question mainly means that doctors should provide cheap services to people who cannot afford it like for example, an old man with no one to depend on.

Reflections:
I feel that a doctor's fees should take priority over benevolence. Doctors should be paid fairly and not short-changed/taken advantaged of whether your family is rich or poor. In this case, Dr Lim's patient is from royalty and is thus, well-to-do.

Firstly, doctors should be given fees fairly as they are like any ordinary human, having a family to feed. They also have to take care of themselves and survive, furthermore with the high living costs nowadays. By taking advantage of/short-changing them, possibly by telling them that you have no money, they make losses. They are indirectly providing a cheap or free service this way and also, they have to spend money on medicine like antiseptic. They do not earn enough money to feed their families. If you short-change them, you might feel happy that you gained. However, ask your conscience. Is this really the right thing to do? What would happen to the doctor that provided a cheap service? Thus, I feel that doctors should be paid fairly.

Next, solving the problem of people with no money. In some cases, doctors are called upon to be Samaritans. Usually, they would see old people (Common) that are critically ill. However, there is this problem that these old people have no one to depend on and have no money on them. Are the doctors really that cold-hearted to leave the old person to die? Obviously not. Yet, they are faced with the problem that they do not receive fees. There are mainly two solutions to this. One, you can provide a free service since the man is already dying and you do not want to be known as a cold-hearted person. Or you can help that old person to apply for financial services like Medisave. After all, they have been saving it for life, why not use it now? Hence, the problem of 'being forced to be benevolent' is solved.

Lastly, it is regarding the Singapore Medical Council's inquiry against Dr Lim's company regarding the overcharging. I feel that there is no problem regarding this incident. Dr Lim has already asked/warned the patient about the prices and the patient has already agreed to it. The patient has also chose Dr Lim for a reason. This reason would be that Dr Lim had a good reputation. Hence, it is not uncommon for a good doctor to charge patients at a high price for services. Also, at that time, the patient would have already seen a few doctors and compared prices so Dr Lim's price should have been reasonable. Therefore, there is not really much of a problem with this incident.

In conclusion, I feel that a doctor's fees take priority over benevolence. Doctors are human beings too and require money to survive. Free services should not be provided as 'There is no such thing as a free lunch'. Solutions towards the problems of not having money etc can be easily solved. Hence, doctors have all rights to charge their patients.

Current Affairs Blog Post: Meeting the people session online

Hi there, this is my 3rd blog post on current affairs for the holidays. This blog post is regarding a system initiated by the government, where a meet-the-people's session would be held online. The link for this article is http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_684143.html. Enjoy! :D

Summary of the article: Recently, the PAP initiated a new system, which is the meet-the-people's session online. This system allowed residents to speak to the ministers in their constituency, without having to go to the nearest town council. People could provide their feedback and suggestions through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. This would not only provide convenience, but also save time.

I feel that the system to use social networking sites to provide feedback and suggestions is truly a good idea as it provides convenience from residents within the constituency. It could also help the PAP in the next general election, as more people would vote for the PAP for initiating this new system for them. However, with advantages definitely comes disadvantages. These disadvantages are not of the system, but the flaws of social networking sites.

Some common problems of social networking sites that have little or no relation to the Meet-The-People session online are cyber-bullying and addiction to the Internet. Also, there is a case of disturbance online like spamming and posting of vulgar stuff. This is the true problem that this initiative is facing.

Firstly, the problem of spamming. Spamming refers to the continuous posting of irrelevant stuff by an individual. In this case, spamming is occurring since people are posting trivial matters that does not concern the ministers on their walls. For example, a person could be posting on the social networking sites of his personal problems like stating that his house's toilet has broken down or that his house is poorly situated. This is a personal problem, what could the posters of these messages want the ministers to do? Hire a plumber? Thus, if the people living in a certain constituency want to report to their minister about a problem that they are facing, they should think of how many people are involved and not only for themselves. Such examples include telling the ministers of faulty lights or a lift that broken down. They could also report about the lack of facilities in that area.

Next, there is the problem of the posting of vulgar and abusive stuff on the ministers' wall. Some people in Singapore, due to the recent General Elections 2011, dislike their ministers since they did not hope for them to win. For example, if a person voted for the workers' party and in the end, the PAP won, they might be quite angry with the PAP, with a sense of dislike. They would thus, make use of this social networking sites to curse at the PAP with a fake name, so that these PAP members would not be able to track down who the culprit was. This is a common problem faced by the ministers.

Overall, this idea was quite a good initiative that the PAP made and would definitely garner more support in the next General Elections. As long as these ministers are patient, the problem of spamming and the posting of abusive stuff might not seem so major in the end. By not paying attention to these people, the problem is actually solved.

Current Affairs Blog Post: Exposing kids to different kinds of sports in schools

Hi there, this is my second blog post on current affairs for the holidays. The link to the article is http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/OnlineStory/STIStory_683522.html. Enjoy! :)

Summary of the article: In many schools nowadays, students are not exposed to various kinds of sports and are hardly taught anything related to sports like for example, techniques and methods to play. The writer of the news article feels that students should be exposed to sports more often for them to discover their talents in certain areas.

I agree with the writer of the article that students should be exposed to more kinds of sports, but only to a certain extent. Discovering hidden talents is indeed important in a student's life as it could help him to earn achievements and get a career in the aspect that he/she is good in. However, I feel that this should not be done during PE lessons. The main purpose of PE lessons is to give students a chance to a take a break from their academic routine and also help keep them physically fit. Also, most PE lessons of various schools in Singapore are more focused towards the NAPFA test so most of the PE lessons would be used up to train students for it. PE lessons are usually conducted once a week so there would be hardly enough time to discover new talents. All that have been said in this paragraph, however, only applies to secondary schools. 

On the other hand, primary schools do indeed help students discover their talents. During primary school life, there would be around 3 hours of PE Lessons per week on the average, with exception to the examination period. Also, the workload during primary school level is not as hectic as compared to secondary schools so primary school students would have more time to come into contact with various sports. I believe that PE teachers in primary school, do teach students how to play various sports like basketball and soccer. Through this, students would be exposed to different kinds of sports and also be able to discover the talent that they have in that certain area. Thus, students are already exposed enough in primary school level. 

Many teachers and parents in Singapore are more academically-focused. They regard primary school level as the exploratory stage and secondary school level as the developing stage. Hence, to achieve a win-win situation (More academic time and physical education time), Co-curricular activities have been introduced to help students develop their talents. In primary school, students would discover their talents in certain areas and when they graduate to secondary school, they would join a COMPULSORY co-curricular activity for them to further develop their talents in that area. Also co-curricular activities are held after school, usually from 1 to 3 times per week and students would thus, be able to manage their academic work and keep physically fit at the same time. Hence, win-win situation is achieved. 

Current Affairs Blog Post: Dead Body Found In HDB Water Tank

Hello there, this is my blog post for Language Arts on current affairs, regarding the dead body found in water tank incident that occurred recently. Here is the URL to the web page regarding the article: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_669451.html

Summary of the article: 

In one of the HDB flats in Woodlands, a dead body was found in the water tank. This resulted in dirty water (Yellowish and foamy) and also unsafe for consumption. The maid was killed by her boyfriend, possibly due to the fact that they wanted to break up. Many residents thought that this was a private matter and thus, did not interfere despite the screams and shouts.

Reflections: 

The 27-year-old Bangladeshi maintenance worker's action to kill the maid was wrong. Firstly, if the murder took place due to the fact that both parties wanted to break up, the man should have been calm and talk things through with the Indonesian maid. In other words, instead of committing murder, he could have been more civilized. With murder taking place, the worker would be sentenced to the gallows or given a sentence of a lifetime imprisonment. On the other hand, if the man would have talked things through, there would be a chance of them patching their misunderstandings up. Even if the maid insisted on breaking up, the man could just give her some time to think things through as decisions being made required plenty of thought at that point of time. Also, if breaking up really took place, the man should just learn from his mistakes (what he did wrong that led to both parties breaking up) and find another woman. After all, the Indonesian maid may not be the best in the world for him.

So, what if the Bangladeshi man killed the Indonesian maid rashly, without putting in thought about the consequences that would follow? Well, a murder still took place so he would still be sentenced. It is his loss too. Also, even if his actions were rash, putting the dead body in the water tank was a wrong action too. He already killed one person and should feel guilty about it. Does he want to be the murderer of the woman AND the murderer of the residents of the HDB flat by polluting the water, making it unsafe for consumption and possibly resulting in death? One mistake is enough, a second one should not be made.

Hence, I feel that the Bangladeshi man’s actions were wrong and that he should pay for what he did to the Indonesian maid and the residents of the HDB flat.

Home based Learning Exercise

Dear Diary,

It all happened on the 25^th of June 1950. I was still asleep when my father woke me up. He told me that B-29, a type of plane had been launched. North Korea was invading South Korea. Initially, I wondered why North Korea would even want to harm us. After all, we had good bilateral relationships by just being located next to each other. It was then when my father told me that military conflicts had emerged between both governments.

Life was bitter during the war. There was no place for us to live in, no food and under the mercy of the extreme cold temperature. Fortunately for us, we weren’t that rich. I received news from my friends in high school that the rich people had all been taken away by the ‘In Meen Goon’, the North Korea soldiers. All their possessions had been taken away too. The most shocking thing was that it was actually the poor people of South Korea who brought the ‘In Meen Goon’ to the rich people. They had betrayed us due to their jealousness of the rich people. 

Last week, when I was walking alone at night, I witnessed a killing scene that traumatized me fully. When I was walking, I saw a number of people lying at the feet of a North Korean Soldier. They were all frail and weak. They did not have a shirt on them and bones were protruding. They had not eaten for quite a few days and were pleading with the North Korea soldier to give them food. However, the North Korean soldier was merciless. He took out his gun and began firing at the people below him. Suddenly, one of the people began to stand up and run. The North Korean Soldier fired at the running man. However, when the North Korean Soldier shot at the man, it was not just the man that died. The stray bullets killed many others too. People from the police station and other high positioned people got their fingers cut off and shot. I ran behind a wall to seek shelter. My heart was pounding. After 10 minutes, the firing of gunshots stopped. I went out and saw a land of horror below me. The bodies of many were left on the floor, unattended. This showed how cruel those North Korean Soldiers were!  This incident left me in shock for the entire night, to the extent that I had nightmares and was unable to get any rest.  

Many people were missing during the war. Many people were killed during the war. And all of them shared something in common. They were INNOCENT. There was hunger. People died of starvation. The living conditions were poor with the low temperatures. I did not complain about anything for fear of dying. I was struggling not to die. I was not trying to live. Neither was I trying to die. The war should never have happened. In conclusion, war is the worst tragedy in the world.

Yours sincerely,

Mervyn
7^th October 1950

Blog Prompt 11 - Do you feel that crisis brings out the best in man?

           What does crisis mean? What does the best in man refer to?  These two questions have to be addressed before the question can even be attempted. Crisis refers to the point of emergency, possibly involving a life or death situation, for example, the Japan Earthquake that happened recently. On the other hand, the best in man, could refer to many sorts of things, but the most basic of all is the virtues of man.
            So now, my overall answer of the question if crisis is able to bring out the best in man. I feel that the answer varies. In certain aspects, the answer can be "No" and in other aspects, the answer could be a definite "Yes". It is not that difficult to see why crisis can or cannot bring out the best in man, but this can only be seen if you consider the question in a two-point perspective.
           Firstly, the reason behind the answer "No". Crisis may not actually bring out the best in man, but actually the worst in man if you consider it in a different way. For example, take the different sorts of crisis occurring around the world, be it the riots or the Japan Earthquake. In these aspects, man are actually turning out to be selfish beasts, only thinking for their own lives and not caring about others. During an evacuation, people are struggling to hold on to their lives, shoving and pushing people out of their way and even resulting in a stampede in some cases. These people have obviously not considered that it would be dangerous for others, especially the old folks' and the young children. They only care about their own lives and not others. By shoving and pushing, they really do save their own lives. But have they ever considered the fact that they are taking away the lives of others? By shoving and pushing, we can see how selfish these humans or maybe even heartless beings are. These selfishness leads to the worst in man being brought up in such cases and thus, I feel that crisis may not always bring out the best in man.
           Next, the reason behind my favourable answer. Crisis can also bring out the best in man in some cases. For example, take the 911 Bombing incident. An aeroplane crashed into the World Trade Center, resulting in heavy fire breaking out. However, the firefighters at the scene did not care about their lives and yet, dashed into the fire, hoping to at least save a few lives. This depicts how the best of man was brought up. Through this crisis, selflessness of man was actually brought up, with the firefighters dashing into the fire risking their lives.
           In conclusion, what does the best in man mean? Through the above stated, the concluded meaning of the best in man refers to life and death. The best of man is portrayed when someone risks whatever he haves, just for the benefit of others. The firefighters stated risked their lives just to save the folks, not even sparing a thought for themselves. This is known as selflessness. This is what is meant by the best in man.

Blog Prompt 10

My Reflections:

Kids ruling the school seem impossible. In fact, when you talk to someone about your idea about having kids to have their own curriculum and rule the school, that person would think that you are joking. Kids all around the world are regarded as incapable and irresponsible. Therefore, kids are not competent enough to rule the school.

If kids were to develop their own curriculum, the school would be full of chaos and it would be disorganized. In fact, the curriculum would be terrible and messed up. Being kids, it is quite obvious that they would prefer having fun first than to keep the best for the last when it comes to fun and games. Therefore, it is quite possible that if the kids were to create their own curriculum, they would make all the fun activities on the first day of school which is Monday. On Monday, the timetable could be full of fun such as having music lessons in the morning and physical education at noon. All activities on that day would not be related to academic and in the end, all the academic lessons would be pushed back, deeper into the week. This would result in the disorganization of the school, and also disruption in the student's education. Fun should be merged with academics. There is time for fun and time for studying. The kids would probably not enjoy school if all the academic lessons were all on Wednesdays to Fridays, right? This is one of the reasons why I feel that kids are not capable enough to rule the school.

Another reason why I feel that students are not capable enough to rule the school is because they are obviously not mature enough to do so. For example, if the students were to put all the fun activities and lessons on the Mondays or Tuesdays, it would affect them in a way in which they do not about or do not understand. In a child's mind, fun is all that he or she thinks about and the future implications or problems are not thought of when the child makes a decision. By pushing all the fun lessons forward, they would just have 2 days of fun and slack that they have no homework. However, they did not think or realise that if the other days are academic days, they would be full of homework and not be able to cope. They have no idea that the timetable should be balanced since their flows of thoughts are not developed enough. This is another reason why I feel that children are incompetent to rule the school.

Due to the immaturity of the children and their poor flow of thoughts, they are definitely not capable enough to have their own curriculum, organized by themselves. Once again, I would like to stress the point that kids ruling the school are an impossible task, although some schools have already tried it out when they have not weighed the pros and cons.