Singapore-Reasons of Success

Singapore can be regarded as a success now, even though there were incidents, such as the escape of terrorist Mas Selamat or the increase of crimes these years, affect the country’s image in a negative way. However, most of us take these successes for granted and think that all these were what our forefathers should do.

Singapore, from a mere Third-World country in the 1960s to a famous First-World country in 1990s is not an easy feat. Also, being the pioneers to host The Formula One Night Race and the Youth Olympic Games is certainly not by luck. Singapore legalized casinos and this means that Singapore’s society put behind these traditional values and transformed into a vibrant environment.

But do we achieve all these by sheer luck? No and our Minister Mentor will tell us more…
Our minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew gave a speech at the post-National dinner in his Tanjong-Pagar constituency regarding the reasons of the Singapore’s successes. Being father of Singapore, his opinions is by far the most reliable as he witnessed the young country growing into a world-class economy. He said that the four factors leading to Singapore’s successes are ‘Capable leaders’, ‘meritocracy’, ‘a level playing field’ and ‘the use of English as a working language’.

In my own opinion, the other factor is multi-racial Singapore, where there are equal rights for each races. Unlike Malaysia which is a racist country, the Chinese especially do not get to enjoy several privileges and the leaders are mostly Muslims. However, in democratic Singapore, capable men are the country’s leaders and they are made up of different religions.

The other factor, ‘Capable leaders’ is the biggest contributing factor as Singapore has undergone big changes under the leadership of PAP. One major change will be Singapore’s welcoming attitude to attract foreign talents to reside here. PAP has always been considering old policies and amend them if they are too traditional or deemed unfeasible.

No doubt it is not easy for Singapore to come this far and we should not take this for granted. Instead, why not try improve Singapore as a better society by doing your part as a citizen?

Violence Incidents during Sports Competitions in Singapore

This shall be the fourth post and shall be the last post I will post today. I will talk about the several brawls that happened during the sports competition in Singapore and the ways to curb this problem.

I was shocked and appalled when I got to know of the brawl between ACS (I) and St Andrew school. I cannot imagine this happened to such prominent schools in Singapore as they are thought to be both intelligent and morally stable.

Because of the immense pressure faced by the school and parents to win the match, players nowadays are fixated on medals and only have the “must-win” mentality in their minds. They do not care about the sportsmanship values that they should possess during their competitions. They think that by winning these matches, their school and parents will feel proud for them and favour them more. However, they are totally wrong as I feel that win or lose does not matter in the game, instead the important part is where players get to learn from setbacks, sportsmanship values and know more friends. There are several violent incidents such as the Judo Finals involving St Joseph Institution which caused a Judoka to be sent to the hospital ICU. From here, we can infer that most of the Singapore players lack sportsmanship values as they cannot respect themselves.

I do understand that teacher-coaches do not play a great part in teaching their teams hard skills because of their busy curriculum schedule. Thus, the external coach does most of the teaching and he may not concentrate on teaching them the correct sports values that the players must possess on the arena. The external coaches only care about the teams winning the matches because when the teams win, it means higher salaries for them. But so what if the sports team get the medals, do they end up with the right set of values eventually? No, they do not.

I feel that teacher-coaches are in the best position to inculcate values of sportsmanship to their players, rather than external coaches who only focus on the teams’ hard skills. To achieve this, rules and regulations are not the best way because this will prevent the players from failing on their own and the true objectives for learning these sports values. Of course, some rules must be implemented, such as no fighting on the arena so that accidents can be prevented. Implementing rules like caning the players if they act violently are compulsory during the competitions. The best way to impart real sports values to them is by teaching these players, just like how classroom teaching is done in schools. We should explain to them the importance of sportsman ship so that they can practice it on the arena.

Another case study will be the players in India. Most of the Indian players will touch the arena ground with their hands before they start competing so as to show respect and give the assurance that they will practice sportsmanship during the match. I am not saying that Singapore players have to do the same thing as the Indians, but at least they should show respect to themselves and also to their opponents. By respecting the opponents, violent incidents and strained relationships will not occur. Also, our national youth soccer team is made up of players from different schools, and this shows that players from different schools can still be friends after their match, and not enemies like the ACSI and St Andrew players.

Being the teacher-coaches for school players, they not only have to teach them the hard skills used on the arena, we also have to teach them moral values that can last them their lives. As said by a retired coach in a news report, coaching players is a full-time job as we have to teach the players both physically and mentally.

In conclusion, sportsmanship is essential for the game to be carried out smoothly. If the Youth Olympic Games participants do not posses these values, do you still think the event will run smoothly? Hence, to train our players for international competitions, we need to impart the hard and soft skills to them. For this, teacher-coaches play the most important part.

The YOG Spirit

This is the fourth post for term 3.

Last Tuesday, the whole school gathered at Kah Kee Drive to witness the “YOG torch relay”. We expected the torch relay to be very grand and majestic, like having the police escorting the torchbearer and the media.

However, we were all wrong as the torch relay was only less than five minutes when a not-so-famous man walked to the clock tower carrying a torch. Can you believe it? We waited for about two hours just to see this “spectacular” torch relay that will “goes down into the Olympic history”. If what the government said was true, I can only say that the Olympics’ efforts has gone to waste. Well, all these were my thoughts during the two hours!

You can’t blame someone who stood under the sun for two hours to say all these. The whole school, like me, was quite angry over this incident as we were merely ‘cheerleaders’ who couldn’t catch a glimpse on the performances put up by our school. However, this was a ‘slack’ period for us and also a study break as we got to chat with our friends. Also, what pissed me off was not the long waiting under the burning sun; it was the propaganda the media instilled in us. Upon seeing us sweating and grumbling, several cameramen told us to smile and be happy as they said “Guys, smile! Be happy for Singapore!” before they started filming us. What hypocrites! From here, I can infer that the torch relay we see in the TV is ‘false’ and ‘hypocritical’.

Mr Balan changed the class’s mindset after giving us an impromptu lecture on the road. Being an inspiring teacher, I could remember his words vividly. He understood our plight and he said, “The school has its reasons for doing this. But what really is the main aim for standing under the hot sun doing all these? Can you write me an essay on this and submit to me by Friday?” Firstly, he was witty (haha!) as his move meant more homework for us! Secondly, I thought through his words, about the real aim of the YOG-a small-scale event, compared to the Olympics.

I know that everything that the school does has its aims and rationales. But what really is the rationale to waiting under the hot sun to witness the torch relay? Is it to tell the world that Singaporeans are enthusiastic about this upcoming YOG? Or is it to let us witness the event that will goes down into history? Yes, all these are some of the reasons but the main reason is that we are Singaporeans.

Every countryman supports his country’s actions in whatever she is doing, just like the Germans supporting Hitler’s ‘immoral’ actions. Now that Singapore has managed to get a chance to host the first YOG, don’t you think we should feel proud of her as she is only a ‘small red dot’? Although YOG is a small-scale event that caters only to the youths, Singapore has made a big step by being able to host it. Countries like Malaysia and Indonesia do not get a chance. Since this is the first time Singapore hosts this sports event, it is normal to witness some hiccups, just like the torch relay. In the Olympics, the torch is considered to be holy as it is blessed by the Greek Gods. That is why Singapore should publicise the torch relay to the public as I believe not all of us know what is going on.

In a nutshell, we should support Youth Olympics as it is hosted by our dear Singapore. No matter how many mistakes is made during this event, YOG is still hosted by Singapore.

National Day Celebrations

This is the second post for Term 3 and it was posted 30 minutes after the first post!

National Day Celebration happens annually but all the concerts or parades are somehow similar. They always consist of performances, singing sessions and marching parades. Even in the

National Day Parade held in Padang this year, the 3 hours-long parade is a special one to me as that was the first time I saw the NDP being held in the Padang.

Now let’s get back to topic. What is the rationale behind all these similar parades and concerts? Well, in a school’s context, the main aim to instill the patriotic spirit in the students so that we “may better serve our country” (evidence from the National Pledge). And in the country’s context, the aim is to tell the world that Singaporeans are united, strong and posses a powerful patriotic spirit that celebrates the independence of Singapore.

I will talk about my experiences and feelings for the NDP@HCI and NDP@Padang.

Since Singapore is the 'mother' of Hwa Chong, I shall discuss about the NDP@Padang first. There were all the same stuff, such as the parade, marchpast of Singapore’s military, performances by several organizations and the singing sessions by Singapore-born stars. I watched the NDP on Channel 5 and my friends initially planned for an outing at the Marina Barrage so that they can watch the beautiful fireworks at night. However, I backed out as I had a lot of studies to catch up on and partly due to the fact that Marina Bay area will be thronged with thousands of people. Sure enough, they called me at midnight to tell me that they are still on the train going back home and I laughed like a mad horse on steroids! As a NCC cadet, I liked the parade most as I can witness the standards of marching by the several contingents. The NCC contingent’s marching was 100 hundred times worst than our school’s as they could not hold the rifle properly. I somehow feel they are a disgrace to NCC as NCC is known for their marching among the uniformed-groups.

There were a few singing performances by Singapore Idols like Sezari, and the 2010 Theme Song singer Corrinne May. I feel that this year’s theme song is much sentimental and soothing, compared to the previous ones. The performance depicting the army in the future is performed by the Singapore Armed Forces. The performers were dressed like superheroes and the spectators will be shocked to see this performance as the arm is thought to be serious and strict.
Now is about the NDP@HCI. The Organising Team of this event did a good job as the school seemed enthusiastic and interested during the concert, which is a good sign because it was a different case compared to the concert last year. Last year, most my classmates were playing their handphone games and chatting around. We had history test afterwards, which was a wet blanket to our jovial spirits.

In conclusion, the annual NDPs that we watch has a lot of hidden rationales, such as sending a message to the world that Singapore is a strong country. Even though NDP is propaganda-related, we should still celebrate wholeheartedly as 9th August was the day Singapore grew independent.

16th Student Leaders' Convention

Okay, this shall be the FIRST post for Term 3!

16th SLC was held on the 1st -4th June, which aims to gather student leaders from the Asia-Pacific area to discuss social issues pertinent to youths. This majestic event was organized by the student councilors from HCI and NYGS and mentored by several teacher advisors, such as Mr Edmund Teo.

Eventually, this event was well-planned and it went smoothly, although some minor-hiccups occurred sometimes. The Organising team was mainly made up of 20 Sec 3s and 7 Sec 2s. Thus, you can see that I am the minority and both sides (sec 2 and sec 3) did have trouble communicating with each other due to some reasons, which I would elaborate further later. The selection of the OT took place in December when Samuel and I were the two selected Sec 2s from Ortus.

At that point of time, I had mixed feelings in my mind-both jubilant and stressed. My seniors told me that the planning of SLC (not the Service Learning Club! Haha) will be taxing and stressful, but as the Chinese saying goes “一份耕耘，一份收获”, the ending results will be enjoyable. When the event ended, I finally understand that it is worth the immense efforts that we had put through for the past 5 months.

Through the planning of SLC, we held uncountable meetings and the one that I remembered most vividly was the first General Meeting. It was the only meeting that we played icebreakers so as to let us ‘break the ice’. However, this was not the part which I enjoyed the most. In fact, it was Mr Edmund Teo’s words. I could still remember every word he said and they are still etched in my mind. This was what he said, “The Student Leaders’ Convention is the biggest event in Hwa Chong that is solely organized by the student leaders, and the teachers do not play a part in it.” Of course, teacher advisors still play a part as they were in charge of vetting our work and proposals.

During HCNYATFM (the name sounds nice and professional and I still prefer CSM though), the OT took a group photo.


I thought that the planning of this event would take up most of my time and my results would drop drastically. Surprisingly, my MSG for the first semester improved since last year. Maybe it was sheer luck that got me a 1.** MSG but “sheer luck” has helped me to get a 1.** MSG for two consecutive terms!

As this event ended in a blink, I somehow think something went missing in my life, such as attending weekly meetings in the King Albert Park Macdonald’s at 7pm and burning midnight oil to complete proposals. However, as time goes by, all these vanished but will always stay in the back of my mind.

I hope to join the 17th SLC Organising Team as the experience is really enriching and enjoyable.

It's time to post new posts soon. Hooray, blogging spree has started since the last one was during Term 1.

Stay Tuned....