A Singaporean In Australia

Today is the last day of Winter.

Winter has been my favourite season so far and I am quite sad that it will be over in 24 hrs' time. Perhaps in cold, small sources of warmth were much easier to detect. I was lucky to experience warmth from in all sorts of form here in Perth as well as from Singapore. These would be treasured and embedded in the Tome of Recall.

Winter teaches many lessons. The cold grants the ability to preserve and the ease of shattering entities in a state of brittleness. It would take years of cultivation to put these properties into wise usage. Some say there is a lesson to be learn from each mistake. I must be learning at an exponential rate than the average. It depends which way you look at it, that enlightenment is well on the way or I'm just a mistake magnet. 

No matter, we need move on like the seasons whether we like it or not. Every human being have the esoteric need to feel special, to be exclusive, to be the hero or the princess. In reality, the human ego is a monstrous ratio to each of our microscopic existence to the world. The world will definitely continue to spin when we cease to exist. Look at Steve Jobs. Great man, died, spin. The laws of nature do not care who you are, what you did, what you can do, what colour you are and what you think.

Winter in Perth was rather great. Not too cold to walk around in shorts and slippers in the afternoons. Heaters weren't necessary at night. The bath room adventures had also been thoroughly managed as compared to the first winter I experienced as a tourist 5 years ago. They call it climatising over here. The idea of our bodies gaining resistance to forms of harm is probably legit. Else, how do you explain that Japanese old man swimming across a lake in sub-zero air temperature as his morning exercise routine without ending up in the mortuary by lunch time?

Our bodies learn and adapt. We do learn, slowly but surely.

Question: How long can 300 Singaporeans survive a Persian onslaught before they are thoroughly exterminated? 

Answer: 3 hours before the Persian army arrives.

For Singaporeans would die fighting amongst themselves before they could even stand together to muster any effort towards a cause. One would pick on the crack in his shield, the other would whine about his spear being 3 centimetres short. When you think you have heard it all, someone would point out that the guy besides him did not shave that day and spark a melee. At the end of the fight, a few more would leave the battlefield no matter how the fight was settled, being disillusioned for different reasons.

300 soldiers makes a terribly small fighting force, even in modern warfare. Everyone here counts but alas, not everyone wants to be counted. It is alright, we are Arcadians really, not Spartans yet. Who am I kidding? For one, we don't even have 300 of us from the start to begin with - yet we couldn't get along. I feel so weary that I don't know if I should be carrying on. It is probably time to let go and let the rest carry on the Battle of Plataea.

A comrade left to search for attendees for her funeral. I didn't stop her but couldn't help wondering who will attend mine.

Someone asked me where do I want to visit the first thing I returned to Singapore. My answer was the blood centre. Before I left Singapore, I was a regular blood donor. I started when I was in the army in my early 20s. By the time I left Singapore, I might have donated 40+ times, I couldn't remember and didn't bothered to.

A lot of people dissuaded me from donating blood, including my own father who was a regular donor himself in his earlier years. The reasons varied from logical sounding medical reasons to strange spiritual theories. Believe me, just when you think you have hear it all, you'll be surprised. Over more than a decade, I didn't stop and did my donation faithfully and punctually. I ever stopped and wondered why I choose to do that. I never quite came out with an answer but perhaps today I finally could.

Other than winning a horde of silly sports trophies in primary schools that didn't count, I have never been outstanding in any area in any stage of my life. I was just an average, perhaps below average, Singaporean ploughing the fields day in day out like a good farmer's bull. Sometimes in life people sell you the idea of doing something out of your routine, to improve the lives of others. Such as voluntarism, donating part of your coffers, some even go to the extent of asking you to donate to God. At times cynics will probably stop to think if we have been made used of in the name of a good cause. The NKF debacle some years ago was an example, where we were sold the perception of helping needy patients while only a small fraction of your donation went directly to help them. Well even with blood, we will never know. It might be used for special transfusion to a certain Ah Gong, it might be sold as a profit in the black market, it might even be used in experiments that might bring forth the zombie apocalypse. 

When you donate part of yourself, be it time, money, sperm or blood, you have good faith it will end in good hands. Silly blind faith in humanity. That was why I chose to donate blood. Why particularly blood? The silly belief in the symbolic act of saving my countrymen with my own blood. I don't have to explain that I love my tribe. This was where I grew up and I am part of the brotherhood, it doesn't change this fact even though I am not physically in Singapore now.

Have you experienced living a day where you couldn't see well and everything looked hazy, you could hear but not listen, you could feel but couldn't relate and at the same time, everyone wanted a piece of you and you didn't know what to do first?

Did anyone experience going back to work after attending a night course which ended at 2200hrs in the night, just to get screwed by people, climb scaffold, beg workers to buck up and make his way back home at 0300hrs, wake at 0730hrs and repeat that over and over again? I thought I would never experience this again. That was nothing compared to what happened back home. Perth hasn't come to that stage yet, surely but slowly. The body was telling you something was breaking. Something was wrong but you couldn't put a finger to it. Neither could a doctor if you bother to visit one. Many would pop a few pills to counteract the symptoms and rest their laurels, ignoring it was more than a physiological issue.

Imagine your hands being bound behind and yourself to a lamp post and see leeches crawling towards you for the first time in your life. Somehow you got yourself undone, grabbed a knife and made multiple stabs on the leeches on your thighs, wounding yourself in the process. You couldn't care less about yourself anymore. You went all out to vanquish your innate fears and subliminal anguish like tangible symbols of elements from your unconscious minds and innermost thoughts

When was it since I slept before 2000hrs? Not even when I was down with illness back home. I wasn't even sick. It just felt like a bad boot up and nothing seemed to be running. Even the two mates at work noticed. Surely the boss from Singapore who came over for a visit would have too, despite me trying to be as cheerful as I could while giving him feedback of what was going fine and what wasn't. At 2000hrs or probably earlier, I decided that enough was enough and bid the world goodbye. Until the next time.

I was woke by Albany's farts at 0100hrs. That sound like music compared to divisive voices. I thought I felt better and decided to write some notes. I missed writing at wee hours like now. Perhaps I shouldn't have taken up the new job and stuck to my steel trade jobs at unearthly hours. A broken body didn't seem to feel worse than a broken soul. In that way, I wouldn't rouse any human beings. I didn't have the time to anyway. I have failed in people management time and again. Perhaps I should consider working in a mortuary. That requires somebody special. Perhaps I am the special one.

Thank you Anonymous 27 August 2012 19:53. Thank you for reminding and the support for the past year.  You know what? I was writing another post in mind when I saw your comment. I totally missed this one out and decided to shelf the other post and write some of my thoughts about this instead. Here goes and hope you enjoy this

Good morning my countrymen, overseas Singaporeans and Malaysian kawans.  Thank you for reading asingaporeanson.blogspot.com today. We are celebrating our first year anniversary today after receiving a timely reminder from an anonymous reader. Since that unexpected remainder, our huge team (consisting of me, myself and I) at asingaporeanson worked very hard to squeeze in this one.

It has been an eventful year at this blog. It began as a personal diary and has somehow caught on with a small group of regular readers. Since then it has gone from strength to strength. At the end of the year, it is still ... er ... a personal diary. But our team has great visions for the blog and I, asingaporeanson, will like to take the opportunity to represent my team to share them with you here today.

Firstly, I am pleased to announce our team at asingaporeanson.blogspot.com will be engaging all of you readers in a Blogospheric Conversation about how to take this blog forward by putting readers at the heart of our concerns. It will be an opportunity for readers to come together and ask, "What matters most? What do we want asingaporeanson.blogspot.com to go as a blog, as united readers?  I hereby urge all readers to take part in the Blogospheric Conversation and it will be as inclusive as possible.

Next, I will like to give readers an insight on "What is the next chapter of asingaporeanson story? I wish I can go on all night but I know the time of you readers is very precious so I will summarise them into an overarching theme of Harvest, Hallucinate and Horny.

Harvest

Winter is going to be over in a few day's time. It is time to reap and sow the land that given to mankind. asingaporeanson is not going to go against the laws of nature. Only yesterday, we have received invitations from Grace to harvest her raspberry tree. For the coming year, our primarily focus is to harvest fervently. Although this is extremely small scale, we should be proud that we are moving ahead to adopt the Ways of the Farmer.

Most readers need to understand the need of more harvesting posts to come in asingaporean.blogspot.com and accept them. Many have concerns because these are really dry and boring posts which causes real problems in reading through every single one and I completely understand this. But I am worried by some of the nasty views expressed, especially by "Choked-on-coke", a new name I gave to an anonymous reader, who is choked on coke.

Hallucinate 

Publicity is a main focus of asingaporeanson.blogspot.com. We have a series of plans that will have long term impacts on this blog. The first major change was to create a facebook page for this blog. The focus of the page will be for posting random musings rather than actual blog posts because nice short musings are highly in demand, rather than boring blog posts that nobody really wants to share.

I hope that readers will take advantage of this - not just to read, laugh and forget but to develop themselves, learn something useful and help to share blog posts. We are aiming through this initiative, all readers will “level up” and make a positive difference to our development at asingaporeanson.blogspot.com to increase the variety of options. The transformation is difficult but we expect to see results in 5-7 years. We aim to take this blog to greater heights and finally publicly listed on SGX in future.

Horny

Many people has came up to me and ask “When is the next one?” 

We have a problem. We cannot seem to make a decision to stop at one or have another child and when, if so. We have many considerations and concerns. The issues of a permanent home with privacy and adequate income are nagging. We have said no to a dual income family for a very long time but I think it may be time we have to change.

Concerned family and friends however, cannot develop a “fall from heaven” mentality and expect babies coming from the pipeline. We will need to improve the Horny Index first. That is difficult for any unsettled couple in a strange land in the first few years. Ultimately, it is not about having children only but also values and deep motivations. We want to create the right environment so as to achieve good harvest, adequate hallucinations and right level of horniness.

******

A serious NDP Rally

What Singapore and its people could really benefit if PM Lee could take his selected team  to present their masterplan addressing the concerns of the people and the issues of our country, on this day every year. They will then face off in a 'live' debate on national television with the shadow cabinet formed by the opposition parties. Whose else are better qualified than the opposition team to debate the merits and fallacies of policies with the government? Not bloggers for sure, no matter how insightful some of us can be at times. Let this be between the professionals and rightly so. PM Lee and his team will prove the merits of their grand policies in the debate and even have the chance to put the opposition shadow cabinet to shame, to batter them into oblivion if they are worth their salt. It should be kept clean and fair. No subtle threat of suing a member of the opponent, no commercial break when someone in the wrong team hits a home run and the audience must be invited randomly from the Singapore public.

If PM Lee is adamant about snuffing out noises from the cyberspace, he should seriously consider the above. If The PM would lead his team to debate and emerge victorious with sound policies that the oppositions couldn't fault or better on national TV, broad casted 'live', I dare say even the harshest cyber critic will tip his hat at the PAP team. Many birds, one stone. Nothing to worry about, PM Sir.

以德服人，心服口服

Dear Mr Tang,

I hope this email finds you well! We’re launching a new Straits Times Political website just before the National Day Rally. As part of the launch we’ll have a bunch of stuff up – including one bit titled “What I want to hear from PM on Sunday..” i.e what issues/topics/ announcements you personally want to hear at the National Day Rally. We’re getting MPs, bloggers, observers etc. Do you mind contributing? Very brief – one or two paragraphs will suffice. We will copy and paste the whole thing in, so it’s not an interview style and it won’t be edited.

Would it be possible for you to contribute? If possible by late tonight or tomorrow morning? So sorry for the tight window but we just need like 200 words, max!

Many thanks!

R C
Political Desk,
The Straits Times

*****

I don't wish to be a busybody, it isn't me. Since this email was forwarded to me, I guess I was invited to comment on it. Else, I couldn't think of what was the motive of letting me know. It was an email from The Straits Times to our most famous Train Officer Blogger in Singapore. To me, he is the most famous blogger in Singapore now. I see his name mentioned everywhere in Straits Times, mentioned in a serious tone mind you and that is something. I mean, you see the blog of a plastic bimbo with pink hair  appearing on mainsteam media now and then, but who really take that seriously?

Remember the Association of Singapore bloggers? [link] I wasn't blogging back then in 2009 but I remembered having some thoughts about it. My first instinct was that the government was trying to control the internet by conquering the divided bloggers. Just look at their last post in their blog. It was typically how we run government agencies. Who are they fooling? It was a tame attempt as that association lasted for 2 months and closed shop. Even I could run my blog for more than 2 months writing stories nobody reads or share. They couldn't even pretend to have the heartware to do better. It was a joke.


Since then Singapore bloggers remained disunited. Perhaps it is meant to be, as blogosphere thrives on creation, individualism and independency. But the most attractive features of blogosphere turns out to be its weakest link. It is easy to conquer the divided and the government knows that. It is pointless for us to talk in codes like Farmer has been doing because the cat was already out of the bag for some time now. It is the same strategy of how government agencies in the world dealt with hackers. In the earlier days of mass internet, hackers were a force to be reckoned with. Agencies tried stopping their rampages by setting guidelines, laws and strengthening web security. None of these worked as well as getting hackers themselves to be their frontline. They termed them White Hats.

White. I shivered at the thought of it. The war has already begun, based on the new strategy.

We already have the crappiest shit I've ever seen here [link] who displays fabrications of fabrications about the PAP. There has been individual bloggers converted into Whities, I was told by a friend who is a fervent blog scout over the years. She even remembered the blog names of the converts. Well they are still doing it aren't they, looking at how things are going?

The above email raised so many questions in my head when I was reading through it. I almost could not believe my eyes and had to re-read it twice, thrice before it finally dawned on me. They never changed, sneaky bastards. Looks like our friend here is being recruited to be the this year's Poster Boy of the National Day Rally. I was forced to run my WhiteAxeTrainer V5.4 decoding software on that email and this was how the message was translated:

If this goes on, parents will soon storm into that army camp, telling that army barber how to cut his son's hair. If any of my ex-teachers were to read this, written by that rebellious student, they will be so surprised. Yes, but yes, this is coming from me.

Long time ago, I was a schoolboy like any Singaporean son out there. I was definitely far from the model student though I wasn't quite the aspiring school drop-out either. The Haircut Game wasn't a new game. Back then, with the exception from goody good boys, from the hardcore pai kia to the average rebellious teenage boy, we eagerly participated in the Haircut Game. It was almost like the typical Chinese New Year black jack games in the grand parents' place in the olden days, the discipline master was the banker, the naughty boys were the gamblers.

As imaginative teens, we would like to believe we were specialists in the game. Like a computer game, the noob had saliva, the richer ones had hair gel or spray. These days, I expect the young punks to have state of the art technology to play the game. They shouldn't disappoint. We tested different hypotheses. We tried complex theories of physics to remain in the blind spots of the Game Master marching from the assembly area to our classrooms. We dabbled with mind reading. We had a few go at forecasting weather. We put probability concepts to test. We mastered the art of dodging by improving our dexterity.

It was great fun. But everyone knew the rules - very well. Everyone knew when it was going to be a warning, when we were going to have a real really bad time. Basically like any other games or sports, you could always push it and be a hero but if you screwed up, be prepared to face the music, or even humiliated. It was the name of the game. If you want to play the game, don't play the blame. It should be confined in the school. Parents should never be involved. More so the police. What the hell is happening to our kids and parents?

I strongly disagree with that parent in the article who suggested, "We are not living in the past anymore," or something crappy along the line. Getting a free haircut but untrained hair stylist was nothing new. It was classic and should always remain so. Removing that away from the game is akin taking away the "Go to Jail" square in Monopoly and replacing it with "Smell the flowers, take $200".  Or removing the "Snakes" in Snakes & Ladders and put "Maids" in their place to help soldiers players move twice as fast. New age parents are real wimps. I wondered which generation did they grow up in.  Maybe almost the same generation as me.

Oops.

So what happened to "we were once young"? Are the current batch of parents cloned from the DNA of sheep right into their adulthood from start? Any wonder the current youth were branded mollycoddled by Ah Gong? For Raistlin's sake, stop proving him right. What was the parent thinking when she suggested, 

If parents sincerely want their children to be educated, they have to rethink hard about working with, or against the teachers.  When I say education, I don't mean learn to write and add, ace exams and moving on. A rebellious student should know the rules and weigh between the benefits and consequences should they choose to be a recalcitrant. Moral values are always part of education. What message are we sending to our kids if we are prepared to do ridiculous acts for them, such as making a police report for an unauthorised hair cut? What will the teen be thinking of when he beats the red light driving his first car in the future?

If it is our wish to cultivate a powerful new generation who could vanquish any foreigner excuse the government could muster, parents have to work with the teachers again as our previous generations of parents did. Stand on the teachers' side, re-empower them the old school style. Tell the teachers loudly, "Teacher, if my son misbehave, punish him!" In front of his classmates for better effect. His friends' parents should do the same. All of them. The holy trinity of parents-principal-teacher should never be broken. They should work as a team for the sake of a better generation. There are wisdom passed down from hundred years of civilisation, regardless of culture. Who are the parents to dismiss wisdom in the name of modernity?

不打不成才

Spare the rod and spoil the child

Parents, you know the rules. You know the name of the game. If you want to play the game, don't play the blame.

Average salary: $90,000-$200,000.

Average Salary: $180,000 - $200,000

Average Salary: $122,000 - $150,000 (+ bonus in some cases).

Average Salary: $150,000 - $180,000

Average Salary: $95,000 - $100,000 (+car and bonus in some cases).

Average Salary: $160,000 - $180,000 (graduates start around $100,000)

Average Salary: $100,000-$250,000 (Project Managers are the top earners in this category, going as high as $250K)

Average Salary: $100,000 - $200,000

Average Salary: $100,000 - $250,000

Average Salary: $80,000 - $200,000

Average Salary: $100,000 - $200,000 (+perks in some cases).

Average Salary: $85,000-$200,000

Average Salary: $90,000 - $180,000

Average Salary: $80,000-$200,000

Update for The Barry White Project

This is probably the last one or two updates on it. Surprisingly someone turned up for my roof racks. It was a couple from USA. The girl was petite and young, her boyfriend or husband looked older than me. They were the first buyers who didn't know much about cars.

Jen came out to have a chat with them. They seemed to like Albany and Albany, strangely seemed to endear very well to the girl and responded cheerily during our conversations. I didn't catch much of their stories but I knew they were travelers. The first question I wanted to ask was of course, how could they afford to travel for life. They revealed that they find work in the hospitality field. That made sense. I reckoned it was easy to find hospitality jobs in most places we might travel to. Both of them saved up fervently and move on to the next destination. They were not planning to come back to Perth anymore.

Coincidentally, they drove a model identical to Barry White and was white too. With their Seca, they are planning to drive to the eastern cities. Which one, I didn't quite catch but one thing for certain, my rack will be holding up a lot of stuff for them for many many kilometres. A nomadic style of living is not a new idea here. I had a conversation with a lady in Pemberton whose husband makes motor-homes for a living. She shared interesting tales about travellers who actually work and travel around Australia, one family doing it as long as ten years!  

I will miss my rack. After all, they helped me set up my first home in Perth. A lot of my furniture was brought home on top of that set of roof rack. I'm glad they are off to a better home, on top of someone else's car, doing what it should be doing. With that, it was A$60.00 more to the Barry White Project.

It was funny to read old letters from a friend. I could still remember replying her fury of messages during 2300hrs breaks in my last job. She told me it was around March then.

A Singaporean Mom Seeking Advice

More questions from Singaporean Mom

Time passed quickly didn't it? Back then Singaporean Mom had not gotten her Australian PR visa. Along the way she cleared her medical (the subject she bugged me most) and then her PR visa was approved (not my credit) and she finally came over to have dinner one evening during her one week recce.

M has a brave soul in her. Of course, having financial backing helps. Still, venturing alone to a strange land with a son and nobody else is daunting. I will not even think about it coming here on my own, let alone with a child. Ok, I know many PRC 陪读妈妈 did the same coming to Singapore, but PRCs and PRCs. They'll venture to amazon forests if they see the need to. Not many Singaporeans would feel comfortable leaving our homeland in comparison. Well because Singapore is great and we have the best government in the world. Also, Remember R.A.T.S?

M has a plan and appears to be the meticulous type. She has every small detail sorted out and is very clear what she wants to do. It is safe to say she is the female Edmund, well organised and foresighted. Within a week she managed to enroll her child in a school in Perth. So it is safe to say we will see her again next year. She also commented she chose to live in the North of River to siam me far far. Nonetheless, M became the first visitor who stubbornly did the dishes after dinner during her first visit to our place despite me telling her not to.

Ryan, the gentleman from Singapore who contacted us also came over our place with Joanna for dinner. We hope our meals were alright, good enough to host. He wanted to have a meal out and give us all a treat. I couldn't let him, not when he was guest. He insisted we should be doing that the next time though, so we can relax and do away with the cooking and washing. Maybe. Tell us when you are coming again, Ryan. We'll be happy to do that. I didn't get much chance to talk to both Ryan and M because I had to make food. M even had to babysit Albany and read stuff to her. Albany seemed to like M though, or it could be her Ipad.

It felt a tad odd to meet up with folks you have known for quite some time but have never met. When we met it seemed we weren't strangers, yet in a way we were.

Last week was Ah Hua week. Many of us fondly refer Stephen as that because, well, we are fond of him. I met him on Thursday. He came for dinner along with M, the Singaporean mum who finally came for a week to look at Perth and Ryan, the kind heart who sent us an ang bao for Albany without knowing us. We met them both for the first time, knowing them for more than half a year respectively. 

On Friday, Ah Hua lent me a helping hand transporting a bed from Shamirah to Thusara so that he could sleep on something rather than the hard, cold floor of his new temporary home at Yan Chun. That was kind of him, because I made the promise to help and couldn't fulfill it due to cock-ups in my planning. Ah Hua saved the day by agreeing to help to save my ass. I'm thankful for the help.

If that wasn't enough, Ah Hua opened his 'shop' on Saturday and invited us over along with the folks who lived nearby. The noodles he whipped up was delicious. The soup looked deceptively ordinary, like those in our hawker centres many of us would not finish drinking. It tasted exceptional, brewed intricately from bones, without enhancers or flavourings. The taste of the dish was more authentic than many of the current Singapore noodle stalls in the food courts. It was the taste of the owner-hawkers, the nation builders of the yester-years which is fast becoming a rarity in the richest country in the world. Our rich food heritage will vanish in a generation or two because we did not expect it to, and did not make plans to preserve it.

Ah Hua gave me lots of face and came along with our family on Sunday, all the way up to Lesmurdie Falls. The problem was that it was Sunday. Sundays are for cooping at home. It was his birthday and I thought it would be nice to breathe some fresh air instead of cooping up at home on birthdays. He came along anyway and we were glad. Both Steph and Joni like Albany. You'll like people who treat your children well, it is natural. We planned to do a quick visit to the Falls and return home to have a rest but we ended up spending a long day instead. The chat was good, on the peak of Lesmurdie Falls. Fantastic air, fantastic view, no mosquitoes, free parking, sparse, no crowds.

There are lots to learn from Ah Hua, to begin with he shares some interesting life philosophies now and then that I can actually think about. Before that, I  think I will benefit from the lessons of his wicked cooking.

It still happen often. When I make deliveries and get bored with the seemingly endless roads, I think of the little bundle at home. Time passes so quickly everyday such that I am rushing for time rather than wishing the hours away. Before long, I'll knock off from work and that's when I really yearn to be at home at the soonest possible. So I can hold Albany, smell her and make each other laugh. 

She can flip herself back and forth now and I was fortunately enough to be there, looking over her as a proud father. I witnessed her struggling, whimpering in her difficulties but I held myself back to give a helping hand. Somethings, we have to do it ourselves. I was there in a flash when she made it, celebrating with Albany and calling out to Jen, who was whipping up our meals. We were very happy, all three of us.

When they don't do it, they don't. When they do, they do it too often. By now, it is difficult to contain her. She flips so quickly, sometimes consecutively and landed outside the soft yoga mat before you know it. I don't feel too comfortable with that because sometimes she looks like she bumps her head on the floor. I may have to extend the mat boundary.

Jen showed me Albany's earlier pictures as a infant. How quickly has she grown. You tend not to notice it seeing her everyday. I could still remember every moment of her birth and how we spent the time alone by the window bench in our hospital ward, watching the evening sun. She was sleeping soundly in my arms. She refuses to sleep in my arms anymore because she wants to share every precious moment with her Dad playing. Every evening we spent some moments 'dancing' by the window. Whenever I hum a waltzing tune, do a mock dance while holding her close to me, she will glance at our reflections of the window and chuckle and chuckle and chuckle.

******

By 2012, Singapore is the country with the lowest fertility in the world. It is a serious issue and we think we may have found a solution to it. If only it is as simple as that: Look at the Singaporean Malays, learn their bedroom secrets, convince rest to adopt their ways and Singapore's fertility woes will be resolved. In truth, the causes behind low fertility involved factors which are more complex, often intertwined and paradoxical.

A comparison was done by Swee-Hock Saw in 1990 comparing fertility rates in Malaysia and Singapore, two countries with very similar language and cultural demographics. In the study, it is worth noting that by 1987, Chinese fertility rate in peninsular Malaysia (Malays 4.51, Chinese 2.25, Indians 2.77) was greater than the Malay's fertility in Singapore (Malays 2.16, Chinese 1.48, Indians 1.95). Singapore only ceased to be part of Malaysia since 1965. What changes did Singapore go through in two decades that causes such a significant differences between the fertility demographics of both countries?

Antinatalism by the PAP

Was it Lee Kuan Yew's fault?

Not really. Let's recap by comparing Singapore's fertility rates between 1987 and today:

1987 (Malays 2.16, Chinese 1.48, Indians 1.95)

2012 (Malays 1.64, Chinese 1.08, Indians 1.09)

Note Malaysia's big fertility changes over the same period

1987 (Malays 4.51, Chinese 2.25, Indians 2.77)

2012 (Malays 2.60, Chinese 1.50, Indians 1.70) [source]

The big question - Should we be looking at the Malays?

No. Consider this:

Drop (Malays -31.7%, Chinese -37.0%, Indians -78.9%)

It's the population density, stupid

Special thanks to Joni, who took many pictures for us and Stephen who cooked dinner for us. It was a hazy day, else it would be more of a sight. It didn't have to be perfect because it was good enough for me. I was happy, very happy.

Lesmurdie Falls was only a 20 minutes drive from my place. There wasn't much I could do to describe the place. It would not be the last time Jen, Albany and I visit this place for sure. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Lesmurdie Falls, Winter 2012

Yes, that's a truck stuck in the hills. Don't ask me why and how.

Naughty bandicoot

Nesting birds

Camo bird

Don't ask me how and why

Beautiful flowers at the base of the waterfall, everywhere

Jen kept singing "There was a stream", she was happy.

That's the truck in the hills again, if you look carefully

Albany, me and Perth

Lai liao, lai liao! Spring is coming and it is time to plant some stuff. Do we not need chili? No, we need them. Why, because Jen has made her first attempt of chili paste and it tasted F.A.N.T.A.S.T.I.C. So I've started growing chili.

Much as I love to, I'll grow a lemon tree and other fruit trees. Not a chance in years. Not going to be happen as long as I don't own a house in Perth. But shrubby plants, potty plants. No problem. So here goes. Heck, I'll prepare the patch and grow some vegetables too. 

Yes I will.

It is time to sow, and sow a lot. It cost very little but the effort tends to give us back something 10 folds, 20 folds, 100 folds, the proper down-to-earth manner. Will we have too much? No chance. None of Eve's lemons have gone to waste. None of her chili's went to waste too. Thanks Eve, for your generosity. We certainly eat a lot. Winter is costly.

It is time to lose all the weight I gained over Winter. From a caged  pig to a free range chicken again. Gotta work out something with my schedule to, heh, work out. Perhaps I'll cycle to work. Wait. I don't have a bicycle. Maybe I'll get it when I return to Singapore. A Brompton bike from Bike Hop perhaps. Winter's over in 2 weeks. 

Time to work.

Time to work.

Lesmurdie Falls

Month 1

Month 2

Month 3

Milestone: Breaking Even

Month 4

Month 5
Month 6
Month 7
Milestone: Renting a House

Milestone: Landing a Permanent Job
Month 8
Month 9
Month 10