My thoughts on the Torres affair

I’ve been following the #LFC channel for some time. Ever since Chelsea came in with their bid for Torres, much have been said. I’ll try to give my 2 cents worth to some of those that’s been said.

1) Why does he want to leave now?

Many are baffled by his decision, me included. If he had handed in request about a month ago, it might make more sense. Last season, when we finished at 7th, when we had bad owners, and when Roy Hodgson took over and bring us to even worse depth when we thought we are already at our worst. He has endured all those times and now that we are picking up, he wants to leave? And why now, where there’s only 4 days left to the end of the window? Why not when the window just opened? Ever since Dalglish took over, our play had improved. Torres have started to show the form that make him so lethal. We have started winning games. We just signed an exciting player. What had happened in this month that changed his mind?

2) Hypocrisy of LFC fans. Some said that while we expect Blackpool’s Charlie Adams to hand in their transfer, and that Blackpool should not stop their player from a brighter future, and yet rejected Torres’s request and said it’s a betrayal.

I don’t agree with that at all. There’s similarities, and yet much difference. For 1, the gap between Chelsea and us is not as great between us and Blackpool. We made our intentions known to Blackpool very early. Chelsea is our direct competitor in our project back to the top of England, Blackpool do not have such a project yet.

Another argument we have is that we did not ask Charlie Adam to hand in a transfer, he did it on his own.

3) Why Chelsea?

As I’ve mentioned above, the gap between Chelsea and us is not that great. We had new owners who has said they are going to bring LFC to the top again, they have a billionaire who has not been spending much in the past few seasons. Though Chelsea almost always finish above us in the league, we won our fare share of games against them. Their position this year so far is not that far from us. We have a chance to overtake them at 4th place. We have gotten out of our bad run, Chelsea has not.

Add to this that he has been part of the project of bringing LFC back to the top for so long, how can he join our direct opponent and undermine our project? There are other better and more appropriate team that he go to, why Chelsea?

4) Should we keep him?

When someone dear to us do something wrong, we forgive them if they admit to their mistakes. Similarly, if Torres decided against leaving, and apologise, I’ll go back to supporting him. People have branded his actions as a betrayal, and I agree. But everyone make mistakes, we should be gracious and forgiving. However, if he should leave, I’ll just say goodbye to him with no ill feelings. But it’s going to be weird seeing him wear the Chelsea jersey and play against us.

It’s been a long time, something trival.

It’s been a long time since I last posted something. Thought I’ll start with something trival.

I used the SG Pools app on my phone for the 1st time last night. The driver of my taxi told me he has not checked the numbers yet, so I checked for him and read to him in Hokkien, in fact, I chatted him for the whole journey from Yishun to my place in Hokkien. I wonder how much of it he understood.

I win a car….

Guess what I see in my spam mail folder today. I win a car!
Ya right. Yawn….

TOYOTA INTERNATIONAL LOTTO (HEADQUARTERS)
Customer Service Department Affiliate of Toyota Japan.
#281 Taizi Road Shekou Beijing, China.

Dear Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement made today, You are among the winners of the TOYOTA CAR INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION PROGRAM participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses of individuals and companies from all part of the world as part of our electronic business Promotions Program.

As a result of your visiting various websites we are running the E-business promotions for. You/Your Company email address, attached to ticket number 523-958-2261, with serial number TL-909-P874E-69CN, lucky numbers 04, 07, 29, 44, 42, 30 and Bonus number 39 , Your INSURANCE Number: FLS433/ 453L /GMSA, Batch No:- 538901527-BB67 and consequently you won in the Second Category of the TOYOTA FORTUNE LOTTO DRAW.

You have therefore been approved for the payment of the sum of US $1,000,000. 00 in cash, including a Toyota car which is the winning present /amount for the Second category winners. This is from the total prize money of US$24,650,000.00 shared among the international winners in the Second category.

Congratulations !!!

Please be informed that your won fund of the sum of US $1,000,000.00 is now with the payee center. Contact our agent and give them your full names so that they will re-insure your winning fund under your full names. Together with the port where your winning car should be shipped to.

To begin your claim, please call our claim agent or send email immediately to:-

Certificate Agent, Toyota Email Lotto
Mr. Morris Wang
Email: toyotapromo@asia.com
Email: morriswang@asia.com
Telephone: 0086-135 3548 4911

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, Please quote your

1. Full name
2. Address / contact number
3. Country of origin
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Tel/fax.

Kindly get back to us with the above required information so that we will start your awarded process and guide you on how to claim your already awarded fund.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Zang Chu Luo
Hon Online Coordinator.

Shaken confidence

This morning, as I was leaving my home for work, I saw this article in 新民日报, a local Chinese evening newspaper. link

It reported that some Malaysians made belachan (sambal chilli) using dye that may cause cancer. On reading the headline, my 1st thought is that, AVA should have that covered. The belachan that got into Singapore should not have that problem. Sure enough, it’s reported in the article that ＡＶＡ　ｈａｓ　ｓａｉｄ　ｔｈａｔ　ｔｈｅｒｅ’ｓ　ｎｏ　ｐｒｏｂｌｅｍ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｔｈｅ　ｂｅｌａｃｈａｎ　ｉｎ　Ｓｉｎｇａｐｏｒｅ．　Ｓｔｒａｎｇｅｌｙ，　ｗｈｅｎ　Ｉ　ｒｅａｄ　ｔｈａｔ，　Ｉ　ｇｏｔ　２ｎｄ　ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔｓ．

Ｔｈｅｒｅ’ｓ　ａ　ｓｔｒｉｎｇ　ｏｆ　ｕｎｆｏｒｔｕｎａｔｅ　ｅｖｅｎｔｓ　ｉｎ　Ｓｉｎｇａｐｏｒｅ　ｉｎ　ｒｅｃｅｎｔ　ｔｉｍｅｓ．　Mas Selamat has escaped. Our MRT train got vandalized at the depot. Flood in Orchard Road. Jolly Hangman got published. Vignes Mourthi’s case come to light. Looking at how the relevant people handle these crisis, I can’t help having this feeling that, I know I could be wrong but I can’t shake it off, they are more interested in keeping good public appearance than anything else. When something goes wrong, denial comes 1st. Pushing blame is next.

I sure hope I am reading too much into all these. I won’t want to read about cancer causing belachan found in Singapore sometime in the near future.

Homeless in Singapore

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/01/raiding-the-homeless-in-the-middle-of-the-night/
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/02/the-behaviour-of-little-lee-kuan-yews/
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/04/raiding-the-homeless-%e2%80%93-part-two/

I came across these articles recently. I was quite angry when i read them. I’ve always thought The Online Citizen is too anti government, their articles are almost all about how the government did wrong, and i tried to take what i read with a pinch of salt. I don’t doubt their journalistic integrity, but they might not be painting the full story, maybe unintentionally. They might be too focused on digging dirt that they missed some details. This is just a thought of mine after reading their articles for some time. I follow them quite regularly as they offer news that would not appear in the mainstream media, not without heavily packaged to not make it look bad on the government.

Back to the articles. They were about some homeless people in Singapore. And how they are treated by our government and the ministry who is supposed to take care of them. There could be many reasons that they got homeless. Some of it could be due to their own mistakes, carelessness and greed, and they desIerve all the hardship they are getting. But shouldn’t we try to help people who are worse off than us? Or if we are not helping, at least not give them a kick while they are down, unless the kick is to get them to stand up again.

If I have to sacrifice 1 park, just so some people have a place to stay, I’ll gladly do it. A friend argued that you don’t know what they’ll do. They might litter and make the place dirty. They might vandalise. They might commit crime, robbing people who use the park or something. I disagree heavily with this view. 1stly, poor people do not equal criminals. Criminals an be poor and can be rich. And the non homeless do litter as well. If they are really breaking the law, then catch them and put them on trial. My friend argued that it will take up too much resources to constantly monitor them. Again, the assumption that poor people will commit crime. And they are already constantly watched and harrassed by the Npark officers anyway. If only those efforts are channeled to helping them. Apparently, it’s illegal to squat in parks. When they lose everything, don’t make them outlaws too.

Not many people like to be homeless. Given a choice, most people will chose to be homeless on purpose. There might be idiots out there trying to take advantage of the system. But I will rather use a leaking bottle to get water to a drought area than to watch those people die. There might be people who’ll take advantage of your kindness, but should we stop helping people who are really in trouble just because of that?

Bah

Was talking to a friend. He was complaining about how another friend’s attitude is so stupid that he don’t know how to reply.

I showed him this:

Source: http://bah.nudnik.ru/

Me in ascii

ssssssssssssssssssssssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
sssssssssssssssssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr;;;;;;;;;;r;;;;;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsrrrrrrrrr;;r5GBMMB&irrsisrr;;;;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssrrsrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsrrrrrrr;sXM@@@@@@@@@@#@@@#HB&i;:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssrrsrrrrrrrrrsrrrrrrrrrrrrriA#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@Hr:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr;rSH#MM#@@@@@@@@@@##@#HH#@@@@@@9:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr;5ABMH@@@@@@@#BMMH#BHAHH&AM@@@@@@#::rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr;rA#&hA@@@@&Sr;;;;rrS3hAM@@MMM@@@@@@@r:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr;i@@3XG@@M5:   ..,:::;ri3B@@@@@#@@@@@@@r:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr;2@@M&AH@A;  .,:::;;;;rrr529#@@@@@@@@@@@@r:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrrr;2@@@MBMMX, .,:::;;;;;rrrriii3#@@@@@@@@@@@@r:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssssssrrrrrrrrrrrrr@@##MMB5  ,,,,:::;;rrrrrrsSX2h#@@@@@@@@@@@@:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssrrrrrrrrrr;B@##BHH5. ,,...,,,::;rrrrrS52i3A#@@@@@@@@@@@9,;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
sssssssssssrrrrrrrrrr;i@@#BBM2:.,,,,.,,,,::;;rrrsS222GB#@@@@@@@@@@@@;:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssrrrrrrrrr;9@##MA3:.,,:::,:::;;;;;rrrs599hHMBB@@@@@@@@@@@3,;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssrrrrrrrrr;H@##&2: .,,,,,,,,,::;;;;rrs59GGAAAA#@@@@@@@@@@M,;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssssrrrrsrr;@@@AG2iSSi;:,,,,,,,;rri55X939&hX&AM#@@@@@@@@@@@:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssssrrrrrr;s@@@5s;;rihA5r;;rs2A##BGhAH@#AA&3&M##@@@@@@@@@@@;:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssssrrrrrr;i#@#:;:;::;s5irrS2X5r;,,;riXHAAAh9G#@@@@@@@@@@@@;:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssssssrrsrrrh@H.rG&S@@M5r;:r2irissS252GGGGXS2&#@@@@@@@@@@@@r:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
ssssssssssssssssrrsrr:2@A.rXi:s&2;;:,5A:S&:h@@@#BXiiri2&#@@@@@@@@@@@@s:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
ssssssssssssssssrrsrr;X@9,::;;:,.:;:rA&:,:;;rsiissrri5XA#@@@@@@@@@@@@i:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
ssssssssssssssssssssr;2@2,:,,,,,;r;;5GXr:,::,,.,;si2X9&B#@@@@@@@@@@@@r:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
ssssssssssssssssssssr;S@2,;:,..:r;:;iGBS,....,;rsS2hAHBM##@@@@@@@@@@@r:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
ssssssssssssssssssssrrrH2:;;::rrr,.rS2hHs,.,:;rs52hAHHBB###@@@@@@@@@@;;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
sssssssssssssssssssssrr5s;;;rsr;AA9@@#H@@;:;;rriX3&&AHBM###@@##@@@@@@:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
sssssssssssssssssssssrrssrrrsr:,;;;sXAX2r:;;rri29hh&HHBMMMMBBM@@@@@@G:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
ssssssssssssssssssssssrsisrsrr;;;:. .,,,:;rrssS299hABHHBMBHAH@@@@@@@i:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
ssssssssssssssssssssssssisrrrX#BH22G&BAhA3isssi239AHHHHBB#@@@@@@@@M#;;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
sssssssssssssssssssssssssis;r25i2rs;rM@@@Mirrsi23&HBBHBBB##@@@@@@A3;:rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssSirr::r222XXX2s;;;;i5XGHMMBBMBBB#@@@@@Mr;:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsr
sssssssssssssssssssssssssss5S;::::rrr;;;;r;;sXAHM##M#MMBHH#@@@@#,,;;rrrrrrrrrsrrrrrrrrrrrrsssr
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssr55;::,,,,,,;rss2A#@@######MHHB@@#@@r.;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrssr
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssri5ir;;;;;rS2G#@@@@#######MBBH@@@M3::rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrssr
ssssssssssssssssssssssrrsssrsssSH@HAH##@@@@@########M#M#h9@@@#:,;rrrrrrrrrrsrrssssssrssrrssssr
sssssssssssssssssssrrsssssrrrsrrsH@@@@@@##BBBM###MBBM##35@@@@@@;,;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsrrrrrrrrrssr
sssssssssssssssssssssrrrrrrrrr;;:;s5&M#MBBMMMMBBHHB##Ai2@@@@@@@@r,:;rrrrrrrrrrrsrrrrrrrrrrrssr
ssssssssssssssssrssrrrrrrrr;;;iG@A;:,;5GHBBBBBHHHHAX;:G@@@@@@@@@@@r::;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrssrssr
sssssssssssssssssrrrrr;;;;riA@@@@r,irrS22X9hGAAG2r, ;#@@@@@@@@@@@@@Hr;:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrsssssr
ssssssssssssssrrrrr;;;rXB@@@@@@@@  isiisrrrssr:.  .X@@@@@#####@@@@@@@@#s:;rrrrrrrrssrsrrrrsssr
sssssssssssssrrr;;;sh@@@@@@@@##@M  Sr;::;;:.     r@@@@@######@@M#@@@@@@@#r:;rrrrrrrrrrsrrrrssr
ssssssssssrsr;;;s&@@@@@@@@@##M#@i  :9rsir.     .A@@@@#######@@M#####@@@@@@#s:;rrrrrrrrrrrrrssr
sssssssssssr;iM@@@@@@@######M#@@.   2#r.   .,.;@@@@#########@##########@@@@@@i::;rrrrrrrrrrssr
ssssssssssr;H@@@@@@###########@B s@@:,   ... S@@@@#########@#M###########@@@@@#2;:;rrrrrrrrssr
ssssssssrrr@@@@@#############@@25@@Ahs  ... G@@@##########@@M##############@@@@@@B;;rrrssssssr
sssssssss;A@@@###############@@X@@G3X3r  . B@@@##########@@M################@@@@@@@;:rrrsssssr
ssssssssrr@@@###############@@@3,;&r;iBH  M@@@#######@@@@@#M###################@@@@@S:;rrrsssr
ssssssss;h@@@###############@#@M :5rA@@@#B@@@######@@@@@########################@@@@@H:;rrrssr
sssssssr;@@@##################@h 5rB@@@@@@@#########@#M#########################@@@@@@M,;rrssr
sssssssrr@@@##################@i,XrX@@#@@@#########B#@################@#####@@@@@@@@@@@M:;rrsr
sssssss;i@@##################@@iiS;9@M#@@###########@@@##################@#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@;;rsr
sssssss:2@@##################@@G2irXM#@@##########@@@@##################@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@:;rr
ssssssr;@@@##################@@#2ir;H@@##########@@@#############@####@@#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@3:rr
isssss;H@@###################@@ASs;G@@#########@@@##############@###@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@;;r
sssssrs@@@###################@@GSr&@@@########@@@#############@#####@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@5:r
sssss;9@@@#####@#############@@GsX@@@#@#####@@@########@@@###@#####@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@&:r
sssss;B@@@@####@#############@@3X@@@@######@@@######@@@@@@##@####@#@#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@&:r
ssssr;#@@@@###@@#####@#######@@&@@@@######@@#######@@@@@@#######@@#@@@@@@@@@@@@###@@@@@@@@@h:r
ssssr:B@@@@########@#@@######@@@@@@#####@@@#######@@@@@@###@####@@#@@@@@@###@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@G:r
ssssr;@@@@@@@#####@#@@@######@@@@@#####@@#######@@@@@@@@##@###@@#@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@&:r
ssss;B@@@@@@@@@@@@#@@@@@#######@@#@@#@@@#######@@@@@@@@##@##@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@X:r

All PRC bad?

I got this in an email.

A Singapore man’s unhappy experience with a PRC lady

Termasek Review

The below email has been circulating around in cyberspace and was forwarded to us for publication. For those of you who knows the identity of the author, pl ease keep it strictly confidential.

Please forward this to all your male Singaporean loved ones and friends. This is something that actually happened to me and I feel that it needs to be shared. I believe my experience will help your male loved one stay out of trouble.

On the morning of 18th February at about 9.50 am I was standing at Coffee Bean (Novena Square) counter, ordering my usual cup of mocha latte before heading into the office as usual. Behind me was a row of leather cushions that the mall has provided. In the corner of my eyes, I noticed a middle aged Chinese lady with an umbrella and a cold storage plastic bag, looking really nervous, glancing around every now and then.

The lady had shoulder length hair tied up neatly in a pony tail and looked pretty plain, wearing just a normal t-shirt and jeans – nothing too revealing. She was about mid 2 0s to early 30s and pretty pleasant looking I must say. But her eyes were scary when she stared intently at me for a short moment I did not pay much attention to her as I thought she was waiting for the slimming centre to open. I carried on my business as usual, glancing through the Today newspaper.

As I made my way towards the direction of Banquet coffee shop, she stood up and walked towards my direction. What happened next caught me completely by surprise.

The lady stopped directly in front me of, stared at me and suddenly screamed “Why you touch me?” Only then did I realise from her unmistakable accent that she is from China . I said “Sorry? What are you talking about?” I was more in shock then angry. The first thing that came to my mind was, is this some woman that I accidentally brushed on the train this morning?

She did not bother to explain but kept on screaming and pointing her index finger at me “Why you touch me!” about 4 or 5 times. She then squatted, covering her face and cried, crying out over and over again that I had touched her. I was really lost. There were some people walking past me and I felt like a criminal standing there, while people gave me this disgusted look. All the while I was trying to talk to the China lady but she remains in a squatted position, covering her face and crying.

At this point of time, a Malay bang in light blue coloured uniform walked over from Banquet. Seeing the situation he asked me what happened. The lady stood up and said that I had “touched” her. She then told the Malay bang that I need to giver her $500 to “see doctor” or else she would report me to the Chinese Embassy. She took out her hand phone and took several photos of me.

The Malay bang then said, “Bro, I think we better call the police”. At this point of time, I have gotten over my shock and anger was slowly taking over. I nodded to the Malay bang in agreement. I took out my hand phone too. But instead of taking her photo, I dialled 999 immediately. “I am calling the police myself. Let them settle the matter”. I said calmly to the both of them. At this point of time, she picked up her plastic bag and umbrella, and swiftly left towards the direction of Tan Tock Seng hospital – even before my call could connect!

We were left there puzzled. Somehow I was relieved that it was over and did not want to proceed with the call. The Malay bang asked me if I was ok. All I said was “Thanks”. He patted my shoulder and walked away towards the direction of Coffee Bean. Several patrons inside banquet were already witnessing the commotion. I just wanted to get out of there.

In case something like this happens to you or your loved ones, do not make the same mistake I did, trying to console the woman. Immediately take out your hand phone, take a photo of her and call the police. Please help to spread this around to our Singaporean husbands, sons, brothers and friends.

Please, my dear Singaporeans, look around you, what has happened to our country? Where have all these pests come from? Think about your loved ones and your other Singaporean friends. Forward this story and make sure that they know what to do when the same thing happens to them.

I don’t like gahmen’s policy of overcrowding our island. I especially hate the way they do this. It’s their fault that there’s now a Sg-born vs Immigrants mindset going around. But we should still be objective when looking at issues.

In the above email, the act that the person talk about could be committed by a Sg-born lady as well. And I doubt he will bother to write this email if she’s Sg-born. This email stems from a certain hatred towards Sg new immigrants, PRCs in particular. And there’s a certain discrimination to this as well. “All PRC in Sg are bad people”?

I am not saying the PRCs are angels. But when 1 of them do something bad, how can we put the blame on the whole lot of them? Aren’t Sg-born capable of crime too? Are we going to send out emails to say that Sg-born are all villains?

And, lastly, I find it sad that it has come to “Don’t be nice to strangers in trouble. They are are bad and will harm you”. So everybody should be hostile to everybody? What kind of society are we building?

200 passer-by confront police in Geylang

See this link.
http://news.omy.sg/News/Local%2BNews/Story/OMYStory201003051525-133201.html

I don’t think it’s the full story. Why would passer-by want to confront the police for some stranger? Something else must have happened that is not reported? What else did the police do?

My friend say that there’s been raid in Geylang everyday. All businesses, legal and illegal, are affected. A hungry man is an angry man, he said.

崇洋，哈日，progression

I was in Dragonfly with my boss friend, Kwanghan. We were talking about 1 of the female singer, I think her name is Kelly. Kwanghan was telling me that he dislike people who dye their hair blond. 崇洋 he says. For those who don’t know, 崇洋, when directly translated, is “worshipping caucasians”, or dare I say it, Angmoh. It refers to Singaporean Chinese who thinks the Angmoh ways are better than our Chinese ways. I share his view on people who are 崇洋.

But, after some observation, I realise Kelly is not 崇洋. She’s 哈日. 哈日 direct translation to English is “likes Japan”. It refers to people who likes things from Japan. It’s not so much as worship.

How do I link 崇洋, 哈日 and progression together? For us South East Asian countries, we were colonized by the Ang Mohs some time back in our history. They were our leaders, as such, the older Singaporeans look to them as a class above us. And this admiration got passed down to their offspring. So people start to follow their lifestyle, buy their products, follow their religion. Then I look at the Japanese. They follow some of the Ang Moh lifestyle too. They dye hair their colour. But they are not 崇洋. They are still very in touch with their culture and roots. It’s more like they thinks certain ways of Ang Moh are nice and chosen to adopt it, rather than blindly taking in all Ang Moh ways. And they managed to adopt the Ang Moh ways into their own that people were following Ang Moh ways through them. That’s what I call progression.

There’s another kind of progression that I am interested in. Racism. I’ve used the words “Ang Moh” numerous times in this article. It’s racism they say. Same as Blacks, Cheenas, etc. In the olden times, I would say those words are racism. They are used in tones of despise. It divides people. If you are white, you are a class above, if you are black, you a class below. But in this day and time, I thought the tones of despise has melted away. The Blacks are not slaves anymore, but they are still black. Equality don’t turn them into white. But they don’t have to. That’s the meaning of equality. I don’t mind being called Cheena, or Yellow. That’s what I am, and I am proud of it. Just as long you don’t say those words to me in tones of despise, I can find no problem with it. Those words were used to divide people, and it was to be avoided. To show progression, we have to show that we are not afraid to use them anymore because they no longer carry the demeaning meaning they used to have.