Gee Siva!

Why elections this year?

siva — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 16:51:12 +0000

Much happened since the turn of the year - a new president was inaugurated in the USA, the global economy has not recovered despite the trillions of dollars that have been poured into it, and Singaporeans are gearing up for the biggest challenge to their living standards in recent memory. Many people have already been laid [...]

Why elections this year?

Saying no to madness

siva — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:19:29 +0000

After last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, I sent a sms text message to a friend in the city asking about the situation. Her one-word reply summed it up: “Madness.” Terrorists cause mayhem in the largest possible scale to send a message about their cause. They know no boundaries, and merely shrug their shoulders when “collateral [...]

Saying no to madness

Not always a great way to fly

siva — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 14:06:04 +0000

Given the challenging times that lie ahead, you would expect carriers to do all they can to keep their customers happy. Unfortunately, as my recent experience with Singapore Airlines shows, that is not always the case. Let me say first, though, that I really do like SIA. They normally have great service, their connectivity out of [...]

Not always a great way to fly

For all of us

siva — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:04:59 +0000

As a young boy growing up in Singapore in the 1980s, I looked up to the United States of America. It was the land of innovation, epitomised at that time through the McDonalds Big Mac and Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. It was the country of ideals, which stood firm and stared down the “evil” communist [...]

For all of us

Malaysian Flip-Flops

siva — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:07:17 +0000

Can Malaysia please get on with it? First, Kuala Lumpur announced that the Eurocopter EC725 Cougar would replace the country’s ageing Sikorsky S-61 “Nuri” fleets. Now, after opposition politicians and Eurocopter’s competitors cried foul, saying that the selection was made without proper trials and checks, Kuala Lumpur has decided to “postpone” the deal. On the surface, Prime [...]

Malaysian Flip-Flops

Meeting JBJ

siva — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 14:52:57 +0000

Almost 10 years ago to the month, the National University of Singapore’s newspaper, The Ridge, published an interview with the late Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam. At that time, he was the Workers’ Party secretary-general and in Parliament as a non-constituency MP. This may be 10 years old, but some of the issues that he touched on [...]

Meeting JBJ

The Lion of Singapore

siva — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:35:59 +0000

My first memory of Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam is of him selling the Workers’ Party newspaper, The Hammer, at a neighbourhood market in Ang Mo Kio in the early 1980s. With his distinctive loud British-accented voice, looking like a serious man on an important mission, the then Workers’ Party secretary-general would call out: “The Hammer! Buy [...]

The Lion of Singapore

Waiting for nothing

siva — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:39:32 +0000

Japan has finally confirmed what everyone figured would happen anyway - it has delayed its fighter jet competition in order to continue lobbying the USA for information on the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. It is silly, though. The Japan Air Self Defense Force’s capability will keep dropping, and there is no guarantee that Washington would allow [...]

Waiting for nothing

Money matters

siva — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:24:34 +0000

Have you ever signed on the dotted line at a bank for an investment plan that you did not really understand? Or bought an insurance policy without thinking much about what it covers? Many of us end up like 62-year-old Mrs Ong, whose story appeared in The New Paper over the weekend. She put $50,000 into [...]

Money matters

Foreign Attitudes

siva — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 02:05:04 +0000

Emotions usually run high when Singaporeans discuss foreigners, but irrationality has reared its silly head in the ongoing debate involving the Serangoon Gardens housing estate. Many residents are against a plan to house foreign workers at a disused school, which will be converted into a dormitory, in the estate. Given that I live nearby and have [...]

Foreign Attitudes

Crowded House

siva — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 13:36:12 +0000

Why in the world does India want to manufacture regional jets, when it already has so much on its plate? An Indian Regional Jet will join a crowded field in which newcomers from Japan, China and Russia will also be competing with the incumbents, Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier, for market share. Analysts say that one [...]

Crowded House

What price glory?

siva — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 07:46:09 +0000

So the Beijing Olympics will end with Singapore having a solitary silver, the first medal of any hue since the 1960 Rome Games when this was not even an independent country.

What price glory?

Identifying Singapore

siva — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:11:09 +0000

Just a week after Singapore celebrated National Day the country’s table-tennis players reached the final of the women’s team competition at the Beijing Olympics. Despite guaranteeing Singapore’s first Olympic medal since 1960, the country is not yet in the grip of Olympic excitement. Many families have been here for two or three generations, enough to reinforce [...]

Identifying Singapore