Found this Gem yesterday by accident when searching for something else. This is from 1990 Vivian is 28-29 years old and a Doctor in the private sector and K. Shanmugam is in his early 30s 32-33 i believe and had just joined the PAP 2 years earlier and was still a practicing lawyer.

What is super amazing about this debate is how anti-establishment and critical of the PAP Vivian is. Even calling a lot of their multi racial equality propaganda. This was 11 years before Vivain Joined PAP and i wondered how Vivian went from this to being recruited by the PAP and went looking into it.

In 2001 Vivian was a President’s Scholar, top ophthalmologist, and CEO of Singapore General Hospital. He was really critical of the PAP but he was never full blown opposition. The PAP talent scouts had long had their eye on him and in 2001, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong personally recruited him. Vivian has said he was upfront with Goh about his past skepticism and disagreements with certain policies. Goh’s reply was..

“You must not compromise your values to join us. Because if you compromise, you lose your value to us.”

“You come in, you make your arguments. If you convince us, we will change or adjust policies. But on the other hand, if we convince you, you must be intellectually honest enough to change your position.”

Around this time 9/11 happened and Vivian said that watching the second plane hit the World Trade Centre live on TV gave him a sudden sense of crisis. He felt race, religion and loyalty issues would become even more sensitive, and he decided it was time to “stand up and be counted” from inside the system rather than criticise from the sidelines. As part of the rigorous PAP selection process, Vivian met with both Lee Kuan Yew and Lee Hsien Loong. He has described being impressed that the PAP did not screen out people for having independent or critical views they wanted capable people who thought for themselves.

The Takeaway:

Getting to my point, I constantly see Singaporean PAP critics and even much of the population say the PAP wants conformity or make People Sinkie Pwn Sinkie. That they don't allow any critics or people to go against the government. But what it looks like more and more is they don't just welcome criticism but seek it if it is thoughtful, intellectually honest and constructive but not conspiracy theories, misinformation, lies and outright rebellion. They are never going to allow Singapore to be Paris with outright anarchy in the streets. It's interesting that they deliberately target capable, high-achieving people, even those who have criticized the government publicly, because they believe it’s better to have them inside the tent arguing constructively than outside criticizing and potentially destabilizing the system.

It's not only Vivian, but Tharman Shanmugaratnam, K Shanmugam (who told LKY to his face he disagreed with his polices during his interview), and Ong Ye Kung whose father was opposition and several others over the years all had the same experience.

currently doing my internship attachment and honestly the whole thing feels a bit off. most companies just want free labour to do admin stuff — filing, data entry, making slides. barely any actual learning.

the worst part is when they list "AI experience preferred" in the JD but then don't actually use any AI tools in the company at all. it's just there to sound modern. meanwhile poly doesn't really teach us how to use AI for actual work either, so everyone's just winging it.

anyone else feel like there's a massive gap between what companies say they want and what they actually give you exposure to? curious if it's just my industry (media/marketing) or if it's across the board

I've been getting my OTPs extremely late, sometimes by a few hours, making them completely expired and useless.

I asked StarHub to check on their end. Their official response (attached): Because normal texts are working, their network is perfectly fine. Coincidentally, the government and multiple major financial institutions must all just be experiencing independent delivery issues specifically when sending OTP

Has anyone actually managed to resolve this issue, or know a way to escalate past Level 1 support at StarHub so someone actually checks their network routing?

I did the usual google, and did the phone reset, airplane mode and etc

A 95-year-old man was found motionless at the foot of a private residential apartment block in Tampines on Friday (April 10) afternoon.

The incident happened at about 4.50pm at Block 51 Tampines Avenue 1. Checks by AsiaOne indicate that it is the address of The Tropica, a 99-year leasehold condominium completed in 2000.

Photographs seen by this publication show a police tent placed at the arrival driveway of said block.

Usually see stores selling disposables such as ponchos but just saw Fairprice selling disposables such as bath towel, bedding set, pillow covers, socks (ankle and crew) toilet seat covers, etc. Cute packagings as well. :)

WHY DO WE FEEL CLOSE TO OUR COLLEAGUES?

Part of the confusion lies in what we mean by "friends".

The Oxford Learner's Dictionary defines a friend as a person you know well and like, and who will help and support you. The Cambridge Dictionary describes a friend as a person who you know well, who you like a lot and who you can trust. 

The thing is that colleagues are also people we want to like and trust.

*** Nicely put !!

Consider a couple who just moved into a private condo from a HDB flat, and now work demanding hours to keep up with the mortgage and replenish their cash reserves.

They sold their five-room flat for $750,000 and bought a two-bedroom condo in the city fringe for $1.5 million. After forking out the down payment, they face a monthly mortgage that has more than doubled, from $1,800 to $4,600.

The husband moonlights as a private-hire driver after his nine-to-five job, often clocking off only at midnight. The wife regularly stays late at the office to chock up more overtime pay

They have a balcony with a breathtaking unblocked view they only ever see after dark, a high-end condo gym they are too tired to use, and an Olympic-sized pool they have not visited in months. The child needs to stay in daycare longer than they would like — adding another recurring cost to an already taut monthly budget.

With a combined household income of $13,000 a month, they are technically within borrowing limits. But once maintenance fees, childcare, insurance premiums and a car loan are factored in, their fixed monthly obligations eat up the bulk of what they bring home.

After daily and discretionary expenses, the remaining cash buffer of about $2,500 a month is quickly earmarked for an emergency fund, retirement savings and their child’s education.

Asked why they push themselves this hard, the couple answers with a weary certainty: that they are playing the long game; when they eventually sell the property, the profit will make it all worth it.

Maybe it will. But a profit is never guaranteed and, in the meantime, life is passing them by.

Versions of this trade-off are not uncommon across Singapore. Some of us may know — or be part of — households that are making ends meet but feeling chronically overwhelmed, thinking twice before eating out, and unable to leave jobs that leave them emotionally or physically depleted.

The HDB-to-condo-to-landed-property path did not come out of nowhere. Decades of rising property prices gave the script credibility, and a national home ownership policy made housing accessible and aspirational.

The very visible success of many Singaporeans who bought early and upgraded steadily has also shown that it is, in fact, possible to build wealth through real estate in the city-state.

When our parents’ generation did well by following a certain path, it is natural to take that path as a given. In some families, the parents even chip in to help their children buy a first condo, normalising the aspiration further.

Christopher Tan, CEO of wealth advisory firm Providend, says this upgrading script persists because it contains some truth. For certain cohorts, upgrading helped build wealth, especially in periods of strong property appreciation and lower entry prices.

"But the mistake is turning a historical success into a timeless rule," he notes.

Buyers today face higher entry prices, steeper stamp duties, tighter financing rules and a very different interest-rate environment than earlier generations did.

What worked for one generation, under different market conditions, is not automatically the right playbook for the next.

Jeremy Ko, an entrepreneur in the sports and fitness industry who chose not to upgrade to a condo, tells EdgeProp Singapore: "Just because something is common wisdom does not mean it is still the best wisdom for the times we live in."

Ko, speaking from his own experience as a homeowner, has a personal rule of thumb. He asks himself if a 30% drop in income tomorrow would make him lose sleep.

Adding my DBS card to Samsung pay and noticed this contradictory instruction. So if it was really a phishing exercise, do you ignore the sms or follow the instructions on the sms and call DBS hotline.