Integration 101: Here’s how to build ties

IT MAY sound like an old cliche, but youths today hold the key to Singapore’s future integration – or dissolution.
Much has been said about what Singaporeans and foreigners should do to accommodate and assimilate. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also sought to calm simmering resentment last month, signalling that Singapore would slow its immigrant intake.
But [...]

Caring for aged parents: Parents first, marriage can wait

I WAS not planned.
My mum found out she had an inverted womb three years after she gave birth to my older brother. That was when my parents were trying for a second child.
So, they left it to fate – which intervened five years later. As a result, they were past their mid-30s when they brought [...]

Have a heart, it goes a long way as you age

IF YOU want to age richly, start investing in “heartware” now, because goodwill will be an asset in your greying years.
A YouTube video about an old man and his adult son brought home the point at the inaugural Young-Old Forum held on Sept 5 at Singapore Polytechnic, which aimed to get youths to think up [...]

Invest in history to secure the future

HISTORY is boring. Dead boring.
That’s the refrain of about half a dozen secondary school students I’ve talked to in the course of my work.
History is just about a bunch of facts and dates we have to cram for exams, they say. And what’s the significance of these facts and dates? They shrug; they aren’t sure.
Never [...]

A bittersweet homecoming

SOONER or later, even a prodigal son must come home.
More so if he has finished his last university exam and needs to vacate his bachelor’s pad of the past four years – the hostel room.
There, for the first time in my life, I was supreme ruler over 9 sq m.
For four years in university – [...]

The Cs that guide us forth

What are the new Cs that will guide today’s youth caught in the world’s deepest recession since the Great Depression? YouthInkers give their two cents’ worth on the shift in values
Build on health and abilities
TO QUOTE a cliche: Youth is wasted on the young. Why? Because we spend so much time and effort chasing the [...]

Twitter: Hot or not?

THE Feminist Mentor is my friend on Twitter.
Well, I’m not sure if it was really Dr Thio Su Mien who acquired a Twitter account and added me during Aware’s impassioned, seven-hour extraordinary general meeting (EGM) at Suntec City on May 2.
But whoever helmed that account certainly showed her – or his – humorous side.
For the [...]

What makes us ready for a Singapore beyond Lee Kuan Yew

Sound values ingrained in system
SINGAPORE’S model of good governance, built on the principles of meritocracy, fairness and efficiency, has propelled it to great success.
Future leaders from my generation will have to ensure that this system continues to work well. Fortunately, we have what it takes due to the education we have received that is better [...]

The power to destroy…and build

By Eisen Teo
IN CASUAL T-shirt and pants, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab, 21, looked like any young commuter at Mumbai’s historic central railway terminus on Nov 26.
Then he and his accomplice whipped out hand grenades and AK-47 rifles, and within minutes, bloodied the place with the bodies of more than 40 innocent people. His [...]

We must not fall victim to thugs

THE inevitable has finally happened: a Singaporean has died in a terror attack.
I say inevitable, because terrorism knows no bounds when it comes to geography or nationality.
In an e-mail to Indian media organisations hours after launching its attacks at 10 locations in Mumbai on Nov 26, the Deccan Mujahideen said the hits were retaliation for [...]