"ASEAN cannot remain silent over Myanmar unrest: PM Lee"

And indeed. ASEAN issued a statement. Only a statement. I can't help but feel extremely frustrated with the incompetency of ASEAN. Several years ago, someone journalist referred to ASEAN as the "talk-shop", its policy of non-interference of member states has always been the main obstacle in turning this organisation into one that is productive and beneficial to the region.

Aung Sung Suu Kyi's party won the elections more than 17 years ago but was never given the chance to rule the country. Instead, she came under house arrest by the military who voided the elections. And for 17 years (even though Myanmar only joined ASEAN later), ASEAN did nothing. The current unrest is probably the best chance the country can see some form of reform. However,the situation seems to be spiraling out of control. Just two days ago a Japanese journalist was shot dead at close range, (ie. possibly intentionally).

Let's face it, how many military governments actually managed to rule the country properly? Most of them are only interested in building up their power and wealth. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is one of the things I learnt in my political science lectures. As long as there is not enough checks and balances in any system, corruption is bound to happen. Singapore included.

Was just discussing with Dominic the other day that I cannot fathom the idea of a soldier killing another countryman. If I'm ordered to kill an innocent civilian Singaporean, I don't think I have the heart to do it.

There appears to be no good way out of the situation for the junta of Myanmar. Already the global pressure on them is mounting. Perhaps what they really need now is for someone to offer them a good way out of this awkward position. An exit plan of sort. One good way would be to release Aung Sung Suu Kyi and reform the military to be one that will help in the new government. That's probably the best exit plan they can have. Any other moves to forcibly contain the protests will only result in a bigger reaction from the people.

All over the world and SEA, people are angry and upset over this apparently injustice. Here in Singapore, nothing at all. Kyaw Kyaw Min, Education Committee, National League for Democracy, says: "We want ASEAN to take action on Myanmar. ASEAN is so weak...they are responsible because Myanmar is one of ASEAN countries. European Union also gives pressures, US also gives pressure, UN security council also...only ASEAN is so weak." Sigh...

Blogger launches Blogger Play!

"Shortly after Blogger launched photo uploading two years ago, one of our engineers whipped up a web page that would show us the pictures that were being uploaded in real time. The result was fun, often beautiful, but above all, compelling. We couldn’t stop watching."

I saw this when i logged into blogger this morning. Wondering what this new toy is, i clicked the link. I was wow-ed and amazed by the pictures that I see. It made me feel so small yet unique in this world that we live in.

We're all born different. No one better than the other. Perhaps better or well adapted to live in certain environment, but never completely better. This is the basis of evolution and effects of genetic variation. What we perceive as correct or norms are merely social constructs. Boundaries that societies set so that we can make sense of this complex world that we live in.

For example, many religions today claim that there is only one true god. Their god. But this belief system is very dependent on the cultural background of the person. In other words, what god I believe in actually depends on what culture and religion i am born into. The development of the human brain as we make sense of the world depends very much on our prior knowledge. In other words, what we both call green colour, may actually be different colours because our experiences and understanding with the colour green, were all different.

Interestingly, NGC is playing "In the womb" again. And I'm just so awed by the ever so diversified world that we live in. If the world is big, the universe is even bigger. But if our minds are small and narrow, humankind will never make progress. Geneticist Richard Dawkins wrote that biology raises the human consciousness and opens up the mind. It really does.

Don't give hate a chance.

Recently I've come across a lot of incidences personally and also on the news about hate crimes and discrimination. Be it racial, religion, body weight, looks, whatever...Discrimination comes from ignorance and ignorance breeds hate. Nobody likes the feeling of injustice so here I am doing my part by telling everyone, don't give hate a chance. :)

New toy!

As some of you may have noticed, I had a new toy last week! The hill bought in a couple of new tablet PC (T4220) from Fujitsu. Having used Fujitsu's tablet PC since my uni days, I was more than happy to be one of the few to try the gadget out and see how it can fit into our daily work. Already i found a bug in the system and also found the way to overcome the problem. Compared to "anti-codon" (that's the name of my own tablet PC which is a T3010), this new machine is faster. Anti-codon comes with only 2 USB ports which can be realy annoying but the new one comes with 3. In addition, this machine comes with a hot-swappable DVD rom whereas anti-codon has an external one. Overall i'll rate the new machine 4/5. I'm still at wits end as to what to do with anti-codon since i've just gotten a new desktop at home and i'm too sentimental to get rid of it. Afterall, that was the machine that accompanied me throughout my university years. My days in the hostels and all over the world. I think i'll clean up the machine to remove the unwanted programs so that it'll run faster. Then I can use it at home when I leave the hill's laptop at work.

Meet Anti-codon (left) and his new friend Mendel (right).

Reflection...

The celebs in the hills are fun fun fun yesterday. Although our joint performance item was short, I totally enjoyed it. I miss the days as a band member. Marching in the sun, doing formation display, painting banners, planning for concerts etc. Life as a student was just so fun.

4MM held a good munchies session for us too. The cake was oh-so-yummy! Thanks 4MM for making the day memorable. Looking back, that was the third time I had this sort of experience. First in FTPSS, then second year in SAS and third year, in STC.

The dinner was fun too. So much laughter in a day. I woke up this morning in deep thought. Reading the notes the hillers wrote for me. Sometimes we do wonder if we've chosen the right path. This job requires all 24 hours of our time that we sometimes neglect our families and the ones we love. One colleague lamented that he has not played with his daughter for a long time because everytime he is home, he is just so tired that he needs to sleep. Then there's the 'difficult-to-reach-out-to' hillers. They are quick to point fingers, to blame and the accuse. However, we understand and do not retaliate. This takes a lot of understanding, patience and heartaches on our part. Thankfully these incidences are still a minority. Dropped my teachers a few sms wishes. I'm sure they are busy now as well. The notes from the hillers were very encouraging. Am I in the right path? I'm not so sure at times but it's a decision I've made and I'll think i'll stick on to it.

Off to breakfast and then....SET PAPERS AGAIN!

PS: N Levels students please close the BROWSER NOW!

PPS: Yes... i said stop surfing and go study NOW!!!!!!! :)