Busy week

Selamat Hari Raya Puasa to all my Muslim friends out there. 1 month of fasting, to some might be easy but it might to be to some, especially when you've to be fasted when the sun is shining. (The sun shines all the time, but depending on which part of the continent you're at.) I went to Siti Nurita's house (my colleague) to celebrate the occasion with them. I thought that it would only last for perhaps 1 or 2 hours and didn't expect to have dinner with them. Luckily no plans for dinner with friends were made. And whoa, I was fed really well, all thanks to the home cooked food by Siti herself. I didn't know that she could cook that well though. Ayam masak merah (a spicy chicken dish), lontong (stuffed rice with curry & vegetables), tahu tempei, sambal prawn, tomato rice and chicken. Watched TV, helped to wash the dishes and more TV before leaving her place at about 11.40pm. And by that time, there were no more buses to Bedok as the last 168 leaves Woodlands at 11.30pm. She stays at Woodlands drive 60 (near Admiralty MRT). Was dead tired when I arrived home.

Was the porter at work on Monday and Tuesday. I wanted to cut my hair on Tuesday as it was long but couldn't make it as I worked 5 hours of overtime on Tuesday and 4.5 hours of overtime on Wednesday. Luckily I'm on half day today and went to get my hair cut, highlighted and dyed. Spent $80 on it but it seems to me that the highlight can't be seen as i did reverse process (that is highlighting and dyeing instead of otherwise).

It's the visit to the Wyeth factory tour tomorrow. If I'm not wrong, we're going to see how milk powder is being made, or something to that extent. Leaving East Short at 2.30pm and the bus will bring us to their factory at Tuas. It'll be my first time there at such a far off location, further than Boon Lay.

Dinner on Saturday night at Hua Yue Yu (at Upper East Coast Road) with my relatives as it's my aunt's birthday. Will be going to Malaysia for the Pineapple and Mushroom farm tour on the 27th, Saturday. Thereafter it'll be November already, 3 months more to Australia. Whoo~~~ I can't wait for it.

By the way, have you heard of the Blog Competition 2007?

Only 20 blogs will make it to the final round. Every week, 7 blogs will be listed and each week only 5 blogs will make it to the final round. There will be 4 weeks of intense voting till all 20 blogs are determined. When all 20 blogs are determined, that's when the fiery competition starts. Before the final round, the person with the most votes by the end of the week for each round will receive $50. As for now, the prize remains as a $300 worth of hamper or $300 worth of cash and a $540 worth of hypnotherapy voucher. It is a hypnotherapy voucher for 3 sessions worth. I am still looking around for sponsors. The stakes may increase, the prizes could multiply. No joke :)

So imagine this, if you're the overall winner in the final round and a winner for the individual round, you get $300 + $540 and $50.

But who will be the winner?

E.M.TAN HYPNOTHERAPY is proud to be a sponsor for Blog Competition 2007. Should you need sponsors for any of your events, do contact either Film Five Management (admin[at]film5.org) or E.M.TAN HYPNOTHERAPY (info[at]emtanhypnotherapy.com) and we'll be glad to work something out.

Still tired, yawning away le. Goodnight everyone.

Letter to ST Forums not published

Starhub contacted me this afternoon. The salesman identified himself. After chatting for a while, he put me on hold to check on something. While he was at that, I used my other phone to call my dad, asking him to call me back so that we could have a conference call. And of course, I kinda regretted doing that. When the both of them were talking (my dad was practically complaining about the Sunday experience), I almost went deaf on my right ear.

About 15 minutes later, I was told that I would be able to get my new phone, a Nokia E65 for the same price as advertised last week at $88, plus a delivery charge of $12.84, this coming Friday evening. That's good news for me that I can get my new phone just in time for the weekend. Oh ya, and I'll be going to the Singapore Zoo with the 88 thread guys this Saturday. It's Hari Raya Puasa.

Here's the email from ST:-

Thank you for writing to us. We do appreciate your making the effort.

We receive up to 70 letters each day. Limited space means we can publish only about a dozen every weekday.
This means having to make often-difficult editorial judgments on which letters to publish.

We regret we are unable to publish your letter.

You may want to contact Ms Jeannie Ong, Head, Corp Comms & Investor Relations, StarHub at corpcomms@starhub.com.


Yours sincerely


Ms Noor Aiza
for Forum Editor
The Straits Times

So yea... The zoo will be my first place to test my phone's WiFi capability. =)

Starhub service not a star afterall - letter to ST Forum

I have been a very loyal Starhub customer since it started operations 7 years ago. Last Thursday, I visited Starhub's Online shop to re-contract my current plan as well as to get a new phone. The price of the phone, the Nokia E65, was $88 with contract. The next day, the sales consultant contacted me with regards to the transaction. I asked if I could collect the phone personally at the Plaza Singapura outlet on Monday as it was near to my office and so that I would not need to pay the delivery charge. He confirmed that I would be able to obtain the Nokia E65 from the above-mentioned outlet.

On Sunday, I went to the Tampines Mall outlet as I was nearby. After queueing for almost 45 minutes and speaking to the staff, I was told that the Starhub shop online and the retail shop wasn't linked as it was 2 different departments. I was also told that the promotion was over and i had to pay $268 for the phone - a $180 difference! I went over to the Plaza Singapura Level 1 outlet, with my wife and son in tow, thinking that I would be able to collect my phone from there as the sales consultant would have contacted the branch with regards to my order. After queueing again for another hour, to my surprise, nothing was known. As I didn't know the name of the caller, I was told to go to the B2 Customer Service center to see if the caller could be traced. After waiting for another 45 minutes to be attended, I was told that nothing could be done and that it was most probably a miscommunication that I wasn't told that I had to do a purchase in the retail outlet and that the promotion would have ended by the time I visited the shop on Monday. My whole Sunday afternoon was spoilt, wasted and I didn't get my phone.

Starhub should seriously consider improving and consolidating their retail and online shops as well as inform customers over the phone if there would be changes in the pricing if the collection is from the retail outlet after the promotional period. Starhub should also specify that online purchases are only to be delieverd to the home only and cannot be collected at the retail outlet. It is also absurb to know that delieveries cannot be sent to the office expect to residential addresses. Waiting time should also be very much reduced, else I forsee myself or other customers jumping over to SingTel or M1. What's the use of having online orders when it cannot be fulfilled at the end of the day?

I hope that Starhub would seriously look into this matter.

Repeal s377A - An Open Letter to the Prime Minister

The Prime Minister
Mr. Lee Hsien Loong
Prime Minister's Office
Orchard Road
Istana
Singapore 238823

Subject: Abolition OF Section 377A, Penal Code

Dear Prime Minister,

As a citizen of Singapore, I write to appeal to your sense of fairness and equality, to take the lead to move Parliament and your party on issues related to s377A, Penal Code. I strongly believe that it should be repealed, not just for the benefit of the gay community, but also for the good of all Singaporeans. I also firmly believe that the time to repeal s377A, Penal Code is now, not later.

The reasons why this repeal is so important are manifold.

1. Singapore’s Founding Principles.
2. Constitutional and Legal Rights.
3. International Social Mores and Trends.
4. Domestic Social Mores and Trends.
5. Damage to the Gay Community.
6. Pragmatism, Leadership and the Future.

1. Singapore’s Founding Principles

Singapore was founded on the basis of justice and equality. This is reflected in our pledge. From the start, Singapore as a nation has staunchly upheld multiculturalism, with diverse groups living together in harmony by respecting each other's differences. This has been the cornerstone of our country’s success. Since then, these principles have been further strengthened. For example:

- In 1966, a Constitutional Commission was formed to study how the rights of minorities can be safeguarded.
- The implementation of the GRC in our electoral system ensures that racial minorities are adequately represented.
- The Women’s Charter was amended to safeguard women’s rights.

Legislating that certain sexual acts are legal for heterosexuals but illegal for gay men is tantamount to our country taking an active step (for the first time) to discriminate against a minority group. That goes against everything we, as Singaporeans, have been taught to believe in and hold dear.

2. Constitutional and Legal Rights

Section 377A contravenes Singapore’s Constitution which grants equal rights to treatment and protection for everyone. This law is unequivocally discriminatory. We believe a gay man should have exactly the same rights as a straight man or woman.

We understand that there are elements of our society that do not see being gay in a positive light. They are entitled to their opinion. But their opinion should not infringe upon the rights of this – or any – group of Singaporeans. This holds true even if those who disapprove of gay people outnumber those who support them. In fact, it is the responsibility of any democratically elected government to protect minorities from the “tyranny of the majority”.

Section 377A violates an individuals's right to privacy. Especially since what we are talking about is a choice between consenting adults and hurts no one.

Furthermore, the government's self-avowed compromise of having s377A on the books but not enforcing it will bring Singapore’s justice system into disrepute. The Council of the Law Society states in its report to the Ministry Of Home Affairs dated March 30, 2007, that the law as it stands “cannot be justified”. The Council goes further to argue that the proper function of criminal law “is to protect others from harm by punishing harmful conduct. Private consensual homosexual conduct between adults does not cause harm recognisable by the criminal law. Thus, regardless of one's personal view of the morality or otherwise of such conduct, it should not be made a criminal offence”.

Singapore has always taken pride in being a country where the rule of law is transparent, fair and clear cut. This reputation has served us well and contributed in no small way to our country’s success and should not be eroded by this aberration.

3. International Trends

The courts of many major countries have held the equivalent of s377A to be discriminatory, an invasion of privacy and unconstitutional. This is not only in Europe and America. It includes the UN Human Rights Committee, S, Africa and most recently Hong Kong. The legislatures in UK, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and even China have also passed laws decriminalising such acts.

Singapore will be woefully out-of-step with the rest of the world should it move to retain this Victorian legislation only weeks after Newsweek magazine’s cover story proclaimed that “the battle for gay rights is gaining ground across the globe” and hailed the repeal of laws similar to s377A across the globe as “a global civil-rights revolution”.


4. Domestic Trends

The attitude of Singaporeans have become much more accepting of alternative sexuality. Between 2000 and 2005, the level of acceptance has changed from 10% to more than 30%. The latest figure is taken from Mark Cenite and B. Detenber's article in the International Journal of Public Opinion Research. Furthermore, the Straits Times online census in July 2007 indicated a tolerance level of 55%.

Admittedly, different public polls can often illustrate contrasting views and the sum of all these statistics makes it difficult to get a clear view of popular sentiment. However we believe that the law of our land does not exist to be popular, but to be fair and just for all people. This is a belief we know is shared by many.

5. Damage to the Gay Community

If the current amendment bill succeeds, the resulting law will become a bitter symbol to many gay Singaporean men, young and old. It will hinder greater understanding and integration of these people, who are often responsible, invaluable and highly respected contributing members of society. The only thing that makes these people different from the majority of Singaporeans is that they are biologically-pre-disposed to love differently. It will be a slap in the face to their significant contributions and encourage many more to leave our shores for more open-minded societies. Singapore’s most valuable resource is its citizens. We cannot afford to lose them.

S377A will also affect the status and moral citizenship of gay men in society. The government has openly welcomed gays and lesbians into the civil service. But this law will only discourage equal-treatment for gay employees everywhere and diminish the moral standing these men and have rightfully earned. We fear it will be a seed for further acts of discrimination.

Criminalising gay sex also impedes effective safer-sex messages being disseminated effectively to gay men and other men at risk of contracting HIV. There are numerous studies which have concluded that HIV prevention programs in environments where gay sex is criminalised are resoundingly ineffective. The fight against HIV/AIDS is an important issue which affects all Singaporeans. There should be no impediment to getting this life saving information out.

Branding gays as outlaws will be destructive to the self-worth of those individuals and could lead to an increased incidence of self-harm. Thought should also be given to gay youth who struggle deeply with this issue. This law would only add more trauma to what is already a very difficult period in their lives.

6. Pragmatism, Leadership and the Future

You and our government have always shown a willingness to make tough pragmatic decisions for the best interests of our country. Decisions made with conviction, despite opposition from various interest groups, religious organisations and minorities.

In a recent address at NUS, you talked about this issue and said that “we will not reach consensus however much we discuss it. The views are passionately held on both sides. The more you discuss it, the angrier they become. The subject will not go away.” Having admitted that we are at an impasse, it seems only logical that the way to move forward is for the government to take a lead with the same conviction and leadership it has always shown.

We keep hearing that Singapore society is ‘too conservative’ for this law to be repealed. This is not a strong enough reason to deny a group of Singaporeans equal rights. Far more conservative countries have done away with laws like these and are none the worse for it. We are a modern, democratic and secular state. While there will always be a place for conservative mores, we also need to protect and nurture space for tolerance and open-mindedness to flourish.

You have often said that your goal is to create a tolerant and progressive society for all Singaporeans. We urge you to now demonstrate your commitment to achieve this goal. Repealing this biased law will be a symbolic milestone to signal to fellow Singaporeans and the world that this is the vision of Singapore that we all share.


Yours faithfully,

Edgar Mirantz Tan

If you wish to sign the open letter, please do so at http://www.repeal377a.com/letter/sign/. If you believe in making Singapore a country of fairness and equality, please sign the open letter online before October 19, 2007. This letter will be sent, with all your online signatories to the Prime Minister in the following week. I've signed the open letter. Have you?

Debunk the Myth

Mooncake making was fun and at the same time, tiring. Started making at about 4.45pm until 5.30pm. I had a rest as I had to let the snow skin "settle". After an hour, I started filling the skin with the red bean filling and I completed making 40 mooncakes in total by about 9.45pm.

Here are some pictures of me making the snowskin mooncakes.

I've backslided. I got to know someone. He's a cell mentor. To think that I was once was so strong and grounded. I'm thinking of when was the last time i prayed. I can't remember. Oh well, yes, i did a fortnight ago as I was in church for the christmas musical production meeting. I do remember that I just prayed a very short prayer when i have my meals. But that was quite some time ago too.

This is what's from his blog:

MYTH 1: christians are supposedly "holy" people, those goodie-two-shoes that recite the bible and love the entire world.

DEBUNK: christians are no less human and any other human. true they're called to be holy, but they holiness does not aptly equate to "doing good".

MYTH 2: christians must pray, go church, and sing songs
DEBUNK: well would a baby grow if he had no food? like babies, we need to go to church to receive what we need to growth in christ-likeness. but i'm sore about the word "must". i would say that these things are great, but they dun make a christian. they only make psychics, concert-goer and music-lovers. a relationship with God is most important.

MYTH 3: church and school are two separate entities, and should not mix.
DEBUNK: nonsense! for the christians who think so, jesus instruction was to go into the world, not to be a church rat. which is why i dun spend too much time in church. lets not build daisy chains and ignore the great commission.

MYTH 4: church is a boring place.
DEBUNK: well it depends which church you go to. :) firstly boring could mean a lot of things. standing still, listening to sleepy sermons? there are a lot of churches that have fantastic concert-like worship sessions, and those that have amazingly hilarious pastors! i believe that teens ought to go to churches that speak to them. just as chinese services speak to chinese speaking people, hokkien to hokkien speaking people. as for christians, this could mean absence or the lack of the tangible presence of God. I believe that the presence of God will and does indeed vary across churches. miracles, healing, personal encounters are important to me. so i therefore am in a church they has all of that. its personal, really.

Perhaps I should wake up early to go to church, sometime soon. But then again, I wish I could have someone to accompany me to another church. When I go back to my home church, I'm not in a worship mood as I've responsibilities. People come looking for me asking me to help in this and that. The next thing i know that is that i would be sitting in front of the audio console mixing and giving technical directions.

My church's AV ministry is in need of more people. Steven (owner of Vaxicom) hasn't been feeling well, so that makes it only 2 main persons in charge. I still remember when i was there, we would each take 1 week each to be in charge. Now it's twice a week for them.

I feel so much at home in Free Community Church even though I'm just a visitor there. It's where I can be me. Whenever I go for their services, my heart just pours out and everything just flows.

Sigh...

Oh ya, I forgot to add. Happy Childrens' Day!