Month: February 2017

A Honey For Your Money

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Do you want to buy a 3-bedroomed house for NZ $110,000? Do you want to buy a property with development potentials for NZ $210,000? If you say YES, then take a look at the following two advertisements: Ad # 1: A HONEY FOR THE MONEY $101,000 13 Stirling Place Tokoroa About this property The low maintenance Masada cladding means this little cutie is going to tick all the investor boxes with its free standing log burner, one run carpet, three bedrooms and a roomy combined kitchen and dining area. The decking is north facing and sun drenched with views over […]

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The Beginning of A Tradition

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Have you heard of the fable - the Five Monkey Experiment? IF your answer is Yes, skip the next few paragraphs. IF your answer is No, read on. Once there was an experiment done on five monkeys (at any one time) in a room with a tall ladder that enabled one monkey to climb up in order to reach a bunch of bananas hanging from the ceiling. As soon as one monkey stepped on the ladder, the other four monkeys were drenched in cold water from a piped hose. The four monkeys quickly understood this drenching to mean the prevention […]

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Understanding Maori Language and Maori Culture

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I remember the following story well. It was in 1960 and I was a primary school teacher at Bukit Merah North Primary School in Singapore. I was then the assistant cub master, addressed by the Cubs (junior boys’ scouts) as ‘Baloo’. Amongst the songs sung by the Cubs then was the Maori waiata (song) is “E Pa Pa Wa A Ri Ta Ku Ne Ma Hi”. I did not the significance of this song at the time but the rhythm struck me as ‘appropriate’ for the young ones and we used to clap our hands in accordance with this three-beat rhythm. I […]

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“God, how I wish he was back,” commented one viewer.

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Yes, he is no longer the President of the United States of America. Yes, he is no longer in control. Yes, he belongs to the past. But, listen on. His wisdom goes beyond his times. He simply cannot be the President that Donald Trump belittles. https://youtu.be/VqtPg0P2ZLg   I shall let some of the comments from the public speak for his deeds.   降龙十八掌22 hours ago (edited) The departure of Barack Obama and worst of all, the entry of Donald Trump, will mark the end of US global dominance and the beginning of her decline. Reply Armando Sanchez Armando Sanchez22 […]

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Smoke gets in your eyes by Engelbert Humperdinck

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  The year was 1958. An eighteen-year-old boy from the poorest part of Chinatown, Singapore, was madly in love with a twenty-year-old girl from Eu Tong Sen Street, on the richer side of South Bridge Road. One cannot describe how love can grow and how love can develop. The boy had lost his father when he was eighteen months old - his father being taken by the Japanese during the second world war under a purge campaign known as Sook Ching. His mother, although educated in the Chinese classics was unable to find employment other than to be a domestic servant. […]

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Wilfred Cantwell Smith

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“Who is Wilfred Cantwell Smith?” You may well wonder. He was born in 1916 and he died in the year 2000. His life has been described by many philosophers as one who had made tremendous inroads to our understanding of religious pluralism. He is best known as the author of his controversial book “The Meaning and End of Religion” where he contended that ” … the term ‘religion’ is a peculiarly European construct of surprisingly recent origin.” In other words, the term “religion” as we know it today was non-existent until the nineteenth century. According to the philologist Max Muller, […]

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Property Speculation

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Let us read the following news item again. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11748861 There is a story going round the grapevine now that states how two houses in Mangere Bridge have been transacted five times in four days. Another story relates to another house on a similar theme - that of a historic homestead along Coronation Road, also in Mangere, changing hands three times within six months with the sale price doubling from $1.45 million to $2.80 million. And such stories about speculative property buying appear to be hit the headlines over and over again. My question then is this: What’s wrong with property […]

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Lessons from Jack Ma 马云的教训

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Listen to Jack Ma here on this youTube video:     Several meaningful lessons that we can learn from him can be summarized as follows: Lesson # 1 - Answer a question with a diversion. Listen to this: Question - Explain to us how you think about the US-China relationship given some of the comments that Donald Trump has made about China being a manipulator, a currency manipulator? Answer: I think first, America is country with a “freedom of speech” right. So he can whatever he wants and I respect that. But of course, I have my own views. We did […]

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How do solar panels work?

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Michelle Kodis wrote a booklet entitled “Turn Me On” to show us how easy it is for us to use solar energy. The booklet is an introduction into how the sun can be turned into an earth-friendly alternative to fossil fuel consumption. The booklet contains doses of information about how solar powered energy projects are growing around us with heaps of websites about different solar powered products for us to take a look at. Let us start with the Super Solar Shower which is a lightweight non-toxic PVC 20L water bag fitted with solar-energy battery for a hot shower at […]

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Sook Ching in Singapore : 肃清 - 新加坡 :

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This story is based on the real life of my father who was taken the Kempitan during the Sook Ching Massacre in Singapore in December 1942. === === === “P-lop!” I felt the heat of the heavy blow to my right cheek as I fell to the ground. As I was about to steady myself up, I felt the sudden pain of my left arm as blood flowed from the injured flesh. I looked up to see the sharp end of a bayonet targeting me again. I moved aside and the bayonet got stuck into the chest of my father-in-law […]

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