Berita Hairan

“When we invest, we are investing for 10, 15, 20 years. You may look as if you are making a big loss today, but you have not borrowed money to invest. You will ride the storm, the company recovers, your shares go up.” – Lee Kuan Yew, Feb 2009 – via tomorrow.sg

oh how times have changed! so much for riding the storm. guess we are not good riders, aren’t we?

now dear dear oh dreary CPF, i do have a question. you’ve used OUR money to invest, divest, whatever vest and most likely you’ll increase our withdrawal age limit and most probably put in extra instances for minimum sum, will you give me my money back if i let go of my singaporean citizenship? i do have plans to move out of the country you see, because i don’t have much trust or believe in administrators whose running this conglomerate institution who actually intend to downsize a lot and outsource a lot and then blaming its own citizens not caring enough for themselves because they are picky in choosing jobs.

SINGAPORE: Overcrowding at Singapore’s beaches has led to the National Parks Board (NParks) introducing a new permit system.

NParks says the number of campers have doubled in the past few years, hitting some 12,000 last year.

And to control the numbers at the beaches at Changi, East Coast, Pasir Ris, Sembawang and West Coast, campers will have to apply for a permit from mid—April onwards.

NParks says reducing the number of campers means more space can be freed up for others. – Source.

let me repeat that sentence again. NParks says reducing the number of campers means more space can be freed up for others. so nparks, does it mean you want to clear space so that you can have more space for more people to camp? apa motive ni?

seriously, what the fuck lah dei?!

So there’s my point of view. I don’t know who’s going to bother reading it. Sometimes I feel sad – it’s never easy moving to a different country – and sometimes I miss Singapore, which I know deep inside has so much potential. Singapore has so much talent, and so much to offer. But it is heading in the wrong direction: it’s turning into a materialistic, bigoted, regressive society where individuals are not valued. Where people don’t dare to be different, and don’t want to think for themselves. commenter on sg.

aptly said, what i can’t put in words. and each day i’m awake, i do intend. the grass may not be greener on the other side, but at least you can do whatever you want with that grass.

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ok before the green thing takes place, i am stunned.

TRENT IS COMING TO SG!!!

*doing the morbid fan screaming and fainting mode*

was reading with interest on the case involving mediacorp battling with astro asia networks over its logo in high court today. question is: why now? the weird thing is astro’s logo looks so much diff when compared to cna’s when in actual fact cna’s looks way similar to that of adobe’s. no?

seriously? the first time sarip saw cna’s logo way back in ‘99, sarip thought cna had flipped adobe’s logo 180 degrees. the nerve! at least astro’s logo has the effort of putting swirls in it!

anyway, there was a report today reporting on singabore’s dubious promotion to number 10 in the world’s costliest cities ranking. and lo and behold, instead of reporting the concerns of its citizens, the 2 hosts on prime time morning singapore were more concerned on how this status will affect foreigners’ sentiment of making business here. *fair enough – they do provide business to this country and yadda yadda yadda.* but the blatant straight remark on the foreigners’ sentiment as its main priority and not to reflect on its own citizens first just shows how this place is more concerned on what others will think of us and not how we feel about everything that is going to affect us here.

it hurts sarip so. does sarip’s sentiment and others who have been living here all their lives matter less than what foreigners will think?

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by the way, who wants to bet with sarip that after yesterday’s “trouncing” of real madrid, liverpool will choke at old trafford and lose its match against united (finally i will my respects to sir alex ferguson but not to its “fans” yet who somehow went missing in ‘05 & ‘06)?

***ooops. (if only pool can play against “top” oppositions each week. they seem to only do well against teams whose arrogance frequently sits on the stratosphere.)

a recent study says that third hand smoke – smoke that clings to clothes, hair, carpeting and furniture - is the new “threat”, especially so if done indoors and “highly likely to affect the occupants within the house, especially children.” via breath spa for kids,

Also publishing in 2004, Prof. Matt of San Diego University and his colleagues reported on astudy that found that tobacco by-products were trapped in household dust, carpets, ceiling tiles, soft furnishings etc. and therefore increased children’s exposure. These smoking by-products can have a legacy for several months after smoking occurred. 

Even in homes where the parents smoke outside, the levels of tobacco contaminants were up to 7x greater than in homes where neither parent smokes. In homes where the adults smoke inside, the tobacco toxicity levels are up to 8x greater than in homes where parents smoke outside. 

The researchers argue that children are more vulnerable to inhaling this type of third-hand smoke because they:

• spend more time indoors
• are in close physical contact with the smoker (e.g., cuddling, changing)
• breathe more frequently than adults
• may swallow contaminated items.

well, sarip didn’t know that. wait a sec, all the elders did not know that. and as far as it seems, a lot of kids in the yesteryears turn out fine, don’t they? we rarely hear cases of children getting sick easily, or even if they do, their immune system seems to be fighting against the illness. the obsesiveness of being clean, is to what sarip suspects, the root cause of all of these “new” infections, where the children are so used to be in a clean environment, thus they cannot adapt fast to a “dirtier” place. were there major cases of hfmd, or kawasaki disease during your childhood period? the only kawasaki sarip remembered were those racing bikes he saw on the roads.

but back to the subject of smoking. sarip finds the new rulings to be ridiculously, stupit. not because of “smokers-are-to-smoke-5-metres-away-from-any-entrences-or-exits”, BUT because of this stupid concensus that cigarettes are still available here. he does not get it. fine, you can show to all the effects on the health for smokers and those who are closed to them. but how is this still feasible enough when you still sell us these things? as far as sarip can remember, the ruling for the sales ban of chewing gums came out fast and swift and within a few days all shops were prohibited of selling the item. if the health authorities are so concerned on the health of its citizens, why don’t they do the same as what was implemented for chewing gums instead of putting out more rules each year? are they more concerned for understanding the plight of smokers that it is a hard habit to beat or the fact that they know that smoking is an addictive habit and smokers will do whatever it means to get their fix, no matter how expensive the items may cost and in lieu of that, “they” can profit more from this very lucrative business?

money talks, don’t they? do the math, it’ll cost probably $0.10 to produce a stick and retail price is probably $0.55 a stick. 

and this is the main reason why sarip quitted smoking (so far). not because of the health issues, but more against “them”. he’s going on a strike and he wants others to realise too where their money is going to. let’s hit ‘em where it’ll hurts most and we’ll see if the price of the cigarettes will drop drastically or the cigarettes will be totally extinct here if the number of smokers are significantly reduced. remember your supply and demand lessons?

let’s see and wait. and be strong. it is achievable.

question: is it just me or are the escalators at the mrt stations putting on a strike ala the bangkok riots? novena, hougang, amk! 3 “spoilt” escalators on the same day? my, oh my.

but what the hell, sigur ros’ festival is one hell of a kicking-feeling-mengfeeling-syiok-sendiri-jerawat-sampai-bleh-pecah-type of orgasm. really.

but what is more tantalizing is the fact that this guy is performing again this monday. I REPEAT. THIS FUCKEN MONDAY.

NAHBEH. really lah, sarip’s pocketful of money no more soon.

but it’s JENS ANAK WAK LEKMAN playing woik! the one yang you sanggup gi sorang sorang gi KL then balik with a group of people who sarip felt he macam bikin suasana yang tegang for them.

so…

It’s impossible, that’s sure. So let’s start working.

looks solid. webby.

oh, and…

.

if the ‘C’ disappeared, will the ‘SDP’ stake a claim? this brings to a whole new argument for sarip. if the gahmen is so adamant to pressure its citizens to stop smoking, why don’t they just ban it, like totally? oh we forget. tobacco does bring in biiiiiiiiiiig bucks….yes?

plus!

via sarip’s favrit blogguh.

seeing mark richmond pleading to the viewers that it is ok to have foreigners to represent the country – cue the excuse for examples of other athletes – is downright embarrassing. and who in the bright world decided to place the songeh jade seah as a co-presenter?

it feels fine and dandy to have won a medal. but it feels fake. to put it in a comparison, it felt like a lonesome man paying for a prostitute in order to have the pleasure of sex.

who wants to bet with sarip that within 10 years those 3 will not stay here and flee to their “territory” once everything is done and over here?

In a “normal” company, losses will be prominently blared out to the public, informing their shareholders about the current state of the company.

In a “normal” company too, the head honchos will be taken off the post, some even sentenced to prison time if the losses are very huge. Nick Leeson and those Enron execs are just some of the personnel Sarip can think of right now.

But Singapore Inc? Apparently, the move makers seem to escape from the focus of the media. Or its people. After the fracas of the Suzhou “experiment”, we now witnessed that Temasek Holdings made a lost of $8.5 BILLION dollars and Singapore Power a step up further with a loss of $17 BILLION dollars.

It’s funny that these were not reported prominently in the national media. Oh sorry, the main highlight is supposedly the Brazil against kittens match in the stadium which they said will be torn down again and again and again but somehow still stands.

Now, where is the accountability for all of these losses? Is it not part of our money that’s been used to raise these monies?

Oh, but who cares right, because 100,000 people are more concerned about getting ready for the Parade to pat themselves on their back.

Now I am more mad about this than that Saiful bastard. Fuckwits.

i can’t understand how “creative” the organizers of the NDP can use that irritating that thing you do song for the publicity commercial that’s been annoying me while waiting for the ever crowded MRT. hellooooo..this is 2008 not 1996. and what has that thing you do has anything to do with national celebration? what did we do??

and don’t get me started on NDP. i incredibly hate that thing. a very bloated party chappati to make excuse the solidarity of the country. blah! and people still complain they cannot get the tickets! oh come on! what is so important about ndp? possibly they think the P is more important than the ND. maybe we should just change the holiday name to just P. can save abit on printing the extra 2 letters. inflation is rising like mad, right?

and speaking of inflation why am i still paying the lift upgrades when my town council has a very bloated extra budget in their coffers? more reason to spit on this ndp. kapala dot lah!

but fuck it, let’s watch some joy division documentary to relieve those bingit feeling.

part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

everyone knows by now about the annuity sc\am brought by our favrit peeps. apparently, they realised that it may not be such a good idea, so some tweaks have to be made.and in the long tradition of our fondness for diplomacy and die-die-must-plan move, they’ve set up a committee to assist the original committee to try and make things bettuh.

and the first of many suggestions by tha committee is ,

and the response as to why this is neccessary, the response was,

great. why not all of us are sent to a room and mass hypnotize all of us into believing that a change of name can and WILL make us feel any better. talk about us on the emphasis of being more creative in this nu-age.

but let us look at the brighter side, shall we? based on this, i think i will imagine anything that is ridiculously irritating in my life and change their titles, just because.

for example, i can change the title of going to work as “a sacred journey of my life to infinity”. or the raise of the prices that’s affecting my expenses as “a kind gesture of donation”. or what about the prima-deli incident as just “an asmah laili’s interruption of spiked sambal belachan”.

now everyone, let’s chant and follow along the metronome…

“…Nobody will blame us until we are 35 years from now, when the problem is here, then people will say, ‘What kind of Government did we have 35 years ago, never taking care of us today…’

– Tha Godfadja Lee, Straits Times 24th July

35 years from now, sarip sees why people are so dumb 35 years ago to believe something that has not happened but were just being hypnotized by words of fear. 2042 here we come!

we have to stop this fear for the future thing. i thought we were supposed to be living positively, yes?

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same goes to rafa. just bloody well put on torres and not trying to put spikes on his bum for every league game. we do not want the champions league, we just want the premier league. don’t be greedy and wanting to have all when you can just concentrate on one which has been thirst by lots for so long.

source: wikipedia

Check that out. No. 10 woits! Now, what are we ever going to do with all of that money…? hmmm……

more strange things are happening in singabore. moral of the story is, no matter how illogical, how confusing, how tacky their response to our questions and needs and fears, it will be heading to the dinasour archives, so…

i’ve been growin super tired lately that i can’t open my eyes when the clock strikes 4pm. i can sleep almost anywhere without bothering much of the surroundings. worst of all, i’ve become one of those “funny looking sleeping people on mrt trains who tend to get their heads knocked on the glass panel”. used to be funneh, not now apparently. padan muka aku.

what’s going on man? i used to be so excited when work ends so that can merayap sana sini after that. not now, i am more excited to hit the bed as soon as possible. and weekends, oh puhleeeese. i am more in tuned with catching up on lost sleep than becoming the malam muda mudi kid. nah uh. i know, i know aku ni dah tua, but hellooooo….it’s still early age kan? i still remember my dad (his stories, entah betol ke tak) hit the swing life during his 30s. kena minum alicafe ataupun kopi jantan agaknyer tak?

so how liddat? becoming 30 and already not enough energy to sustain. how liddat gahmen? you said that ON AVERAGE people tends to live up to 82 and beyond nowadays so that’s why you guys implemented the new CPF ruling. incredible! i didn’t know the gahmen had set up a new geomaster-fortune-teller-tikam-tikam ministry that can agak agak how long its citizens will live. this is so minority-report-gattaca! we are so far ahead in terms of human evolutions that no wonder terroristas are not interested in landing on this land. what’s the point they may say. even if they do *something* they’ll know that it won’t be fruitful ‘cos the gahmen aka fortune-teller had told the world singaporeans will live up to 82. unless they target the old folks home lah. (i get it! it’s a whole big plan to make singapore more secure and to deter any terroristas from coming here! brilliant!)

buggers.

oh well, i have to admit that new ruling just plainly, sucks. can i say that i don’t want to contribute to CPF then? aku simpan dalam akoun senoman lagi mulia siots!

*update: nmp siew kum hong detailed speech in parliament that will fall into deaf ears i belief.

ok calm down, calm down. let’s watch some old school kiddy clip.

or those wes anderson’s sell out commercials. quirky.

more here.

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only just when we were talking about city of possibilities, this happened.

On a Saturday morning, 40 people put on their running shoes and get together to jog along the Singapore River. A nice, healthy activity. However, they get harassed by the police….Well, let me tell you what the “crime” was. These 40 people were gay. That is all. [more]

if terry fox was you-know-you-know, do you think the organizers will be allowed to have the terry fox run annually?

Casinos are fine. Free speech isn’t.
Taxpayers’ money can be spent on educating people and prevent gambling problems.
Taxpayers’ money cannot be spent on educating people and preventing speech problems.
You are free. You can’t be free.
We are open. We can’t be open.
We are aphasic. We have to talk. – mollymeek

“Whatever the challenges, we will tackle them one by one and sail through.”
The Prime Minister – todayonline

…but if no wind, how?

in this city of possibilities:-

1. we can work work work till we are 65! recent research shows that the life expectancy here is about 80 years old. i won’t be surprised if that’ll be my retirement age.

2. we can never smell the bulk of our cpf savings! who needs all those lump sum of money we’ve earned after slogging for 30 years kan? just give us the “monthly” annuity ok loh.

3. upgrading for estates built before 1990! does this mean opposition wards will get one too?

4. income gap is widening! we can start with the discussion on the ministers’ pay first, can?

5. more singaporeans are asked to take up malay! does this apply to the malays too? we seem to lack behind in our own heritage leh. oh yah! suria and ch8 will collaborate like that! macam ally mcbeal crossover to the practice cam gituh.

6. no one will be left behind. who were all this while!? oh the travesty!

bersungguh-sungguh tokoh tokoh wakil melayu besar besarkan boss dia nye rapat umum. kadang kadang gua tengok diaorang bagi komen sampai macam nak tercekik diaorang punya samosa. rilek joy, rilek. tak yah lah bersungguh sungguh bagi komentar. tiap tiap tahun lu nya muka kluar, tiap tiap tahun lu cakap “bagus! bagus! untuk singapura!” samaaaaaaaa ajer gua tengok.

via rizman’s. youtube link.

i have this bai friend in primary school who always sing banyak as mmmmmanyakkk. fuhneh. anyways, fireworks wonders will be on later. god help me i won’t be trampled on by thousands of foreign tayylent.

and its funny to know that kit chan, the whole almighteh singer who sings this is home suuurreeelllyyy is an american pr resident. what cock man.

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1. i think this may not be new, but i think we are the only country in the world to have many previews of the national day parade. it seems the people are more interested on the parade rather than the ’significance’ of the day itself. to that i propose that we change ‘national day’ to ‘national day parade holiday’. and please no more clips of lky crying in front of the telly of ‘65.

2. men’s style had a page that links to the best undiscovered videos. mj’s performance made my day. yah!

3. i need a haircut. but the hair’s thinning and no style can suit me well. i just hope i won’t turn out like this. scarrreeeyyyy.

4. warhol vs banksy. ’nuff said.

5. i just have to do this. i just have to. i cannot wait for control, the biopic of ian curtis.

i will go and see this just for the soundtrack alone. trailer. clip. clip 2.

fucken brilliant.