Saturday 28 July 2012

Relaunch of "Connecting the Generations" Blog

Wow, my last post was done almost 1 year ago. Since then, I was going through a rather big change in my life. Perhaps I can call it a milestone. During that period, I have discontinued services (www.i-open-house.com) that I created 10 years back; set my purpose in life ahead; and helped to redefine the company (www.mondarlezo.com) I founded a decade ago.

Today, I am glad that this new blog site is relaunched. If you are curious about what is this blog and what do I mean by "Connecting the Generations", check out this About blog.

Looking forward to share with you more of my thoughts.


Saturday 20 August 2011

Singapore Presidential Elections 2011 Candidate Analysis

Why am I doing this?

I have spent approximately 6 days in analyzing our Presidential Elections (PE) candidates since the Presidential Elections Committee first issued the certificates of eligibility to the 4 Presidential candidates on the 11th Aug 2011.

I went through their websites and blogs. I read articles about them and about the election at the candidates' websites, as well as from other websites. I watched many of their videos in the Internet. I watched videos on the Roundtable discussion with the 4 presidential candidates conducted by Straits Times in the Straits Times newsroom on Tuesday, 16th Aug 2011. I watched their Nomination Day speech, 17th Aug 2011, and some campaigning walked about videos. And I also watched the TV broadcast of the PE candidates on the 18th Aug 2011.

I have also been thinking and analysing about this PE since then. Now that I am clear and I can answer to myself how and why I make my decision, I would like to share them with all of you, and present them to you as a normal Singaporean.

Monday 15 August 2011

Singapore Government - Your Father

National Day Rally 2011 - August

I have just watched the National Day Rally 2011 from the LIVE webcast. The prime minister (PM) of Singapore, Lee Hsien Loong, was giving his National Day Rally speech at the University Cultural Centre @ NUS (National University of Singapore) this evening.

Like his previous rally speech, he updated us on what is happening around us and how it will affect us. He announced some "goodies", mentioned some names, explained some policies and also highlighted our achievement. However, I personally feel that in his speech tonight, the mood, the punch and the length of speech is quite different. I also find that the facial gesture of the ministers and the government officials were somehow quite different compared with the past rally. Well, I may be over sensitive, but I think that my observation is plausible after all we did have a watershed General Election (GE) 2011 in May; things are a little bit different now.

The overall signal I received from his speech is that PM Lee is asking for a unity of people so that the government can get the politics and policies right. Unity means 2 two-way. It cannot be always the government's or the people's way.

Monday 18 July 2011

Women Soccer World Cup 2011 Final - my thoughts

I have been very busy with my project lately, but I just feel so compelling to stop everything I am doing and blog about this.

After learning through twitter that Japan has won the Women Soccer World Cup 2011, I was quite emotional.

Techcrunch reported that a historical high volume of 7,196 tweets per seconds on the final game of the Women Soccer World Cup 2011. more..

I am not a fan of Women Soccer but I love soccer and I don't separate whether is it men or women soccer. To me, the soccer spirit is the same for both sexes. The spirit of facing the given forever changing situation (why? because the ball is round, it can row to either side), preparation for the game, mental calmness and strength during the game, physical endurance, team work & spirit, player's skill and commitment, coach and captain leadership, playing by the rule, fair game, sportsmanship .... the list can go on and on.

All these spirit also exist in businesses, institutions, working life, personal life and even as a Nation or a Country.

Sunday 6 February 2011

Chinese New Year, Red Pocket and Gambling

Today is the 3rd day of Lunuar New Year or Chinese New Year. The west used the Sun movement for their calendar, which we are using today. The Chinese used the Moon (Lunar) movement for their calendar. In the Lunar calendar, on the 15th day, the moon is always full.. :) It just tells me that science exist long long long time ago. Just that thousands of years ago, only few people can understand how it works.

Furthermore, the Chinese is well known not to teach "EVERYTHING" to their disciples or apprentices... :) a hard fact... reason being the masters are worried to be "over throne" by their own disciples or apprentices. Can you imaging if one from the first generation knew 100% of the knowledge, he only passed down 99% of the knowledge to the next generation and so forth. Eventually, when they reached the 50th generation, only 50% of the knowledge are passed down. What a waste and what a loss. Sad... If, and only if, the Chinese passed down 100% of the knowledge from generation to generation, on top of that, improvise and make changes from generation to generation, I think the world will be a very different world today.. anyway, only if...

Wednesday 26 January 2011

S. Rajaratnam - Another Founding Father of Singapore to remember

Wow, time flies off swiftly when you didn't notice it. Just realised my last post was more than 6 months ago....

Last week, our Minister Mentor (MM) Lee Kuan Yew launched his 3rd memoir - Lee Kuan Yew: Hard Truths To Keep Singapore Going. It generated some argument in the blog space after a young blogger spoke to the press that, I quote:

"'There is nobody bigger than MM in Singapore,' said Mr Cheo, who has read and owns both volumes of Mr Lee's memoirs. 'He is the equivalent of Nelson Mandela to Singaporeans.'" - source Straits Times.

Frankly speaking, that 2 statement disturbed me because as a Singaporean, we should know about our history more than the others. You see, I heard of Nelson Mandela and watched the movie, played by Morgan Freeman, Invictus. However, a movie being a movie, I know so little about Africa history that you can consider I don't know anything. How MM Lee is equivalent, I don't know. But one thing I know is that no 2 persons are of equivalent because each of them are in different situation, have different character and personality, and have achieved different things. How the Africans see Nelson Mandela and how Singaporeans see Lee Kuan Yew, I cannot agree on its equivalent either because the Africans and Singaporeans both went through different situation too.

Monday 21 June 2010

Freedom like a Wavin' Flag - 2010 World Cup

Today is Father's day. I wish all the great fathers everywhere a Happy Father's day.
This period of time is also the 19th FIFA World Cup (4-year once) - the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa (11 Jun 2010 to 11 July 2010) - since the FIFA world cup started in 1930.

Soccer or Football is a game that I love naturally. My legs will just move with the ball.. :) It was such a long time since I last played a soccer game....

I love to watch the game too. I have a neighbour who once complaint to me that she don't understand what is so fun watching 23 men, including the referee, running around and chasing after a "stupid" ball on the field... for 90 mins.... well, I don't understand what is so fun about watching 2 people hitting a shuttlecock with a racket side to side either..... sorry, no offence to badminton fans, just want to bring a point across. I respect all sports and all fans :)

Anyway, I managed to catch a few matches on the Internet. I enjoyed most when I watch matches with both teams playing with intelligence, collaboration and determination to win. Those feelings gained from watching these matches are energising and "siok" (singlish word means very satisfied and enjoyable).

The following song I found at YouTube is the Theme Song of 2010 World Cup by K'naan title Wavin' Flag

I was attracted by the drum beat of the song's intro. Then its rhythm flow in, and the lyrics slowly take place in my imagination. It sounds motivating. I have list out the lyrics below. Enjoy the song.


Lyrics - 2010 World Cup Theme Song

Ooooooh Wooooooh