Alice Cheong

It is reported that the number of cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) has surged again, to a new high of 1,466 cases last week. That means an average of 200 new cases per day. This surprising increase in the number of cases, reflects either, an increase in the virulent of the strain, or perhaps procedural-faulty enforcement of checks.

The procedural-faulty enforcement of checks might also bring about increase transmission, as the care-taker, will check every single child in the preschool or childcare centres. However, in the event that proper hygiene is not employed, it will instead be the source of transmission, by helping to pass the virus onto the next healthy child who is being checked.

In order to prevent this from happening, the care-taker who does the checks, needs to be fully informed of how to perform the checks, in such a hygiene matter that ensures that their equipment and hands are sterile whenever they check the next child. They need to maintain the same high standard of sterile as modern-day nurses.

The increase in the virulent of the strain, might also comes into play, as the disease, being present all year round in Singapore, has lots of chances to mutate as they are being circulated. This will entirely be up to chances as most mutation will not increase the virulent, and only a tiny chance of mutation might cause the increase in virulent.

In any case, with the increase in HFMD in Singapore, another 34 preschools and childcare centres with sustained transmissions are advised to voluntarily close for 10 days. As this brings about an increase application of leaves from working parents who need to stay home to take care of their charge, it will be good if more attention is paid to investigate the reason behind the recent surge in cases.

Do you see what I saw? Is it rubbish? Is it unattended article? What is it? Hmm….

Now, lets take a closer look. It is large 3 sacks of postal letters left lying around unattended. There can well be many confidential letters, such as credit cards sent by various banks. What is SingPost doing?!

The recent ST Forum article, How Republic Polytechnic handled a student’s deferment application, shows the extremely poor management personnels attitude toward students, who give them non-regular paperwork.

The buck does not stop here. We do no wrong.

Article obtained from Straits Times Online Forum, 19 April 2008

How Republic Polytechnic handled a student’s deferment application

SINGAPORE’S educational system has always been widely regarded as one of the best in the world, with many local and foreign talents being cultivated from polytechnics, tertiary institutions and universities.

Started up in 2002 as the country’s fifth polytechnic, Republic Polytechnic has nurtured and educated many batches of highly skilled individuals. The school has also achieved several significant awards such as the Singapore Quality Class in 2005. However, one recent encounter with the school has tremendously changed my perspective on the school’s management towards its students.

Last month, my brother was successfully enrolled into Republic Polytechnic. However, as he is already serving his National Service when he received the letter of approval, he has to defer his studies and complete his National Service before he continues to further his studies.

On March 27, my brother received an SMS from Republic Polytechnic, requesting him to go to the school personally on the 28th to settle his enrolment. Given the short notice, my brother had no choice but to apply to book out early from BMTC in Pulau Tekong to complete the enrolment and request deferment of his studies. Worried that there might be some procedures which my brother might have difficulties in, I took leave from work and accompanied him to RP. After we had handed in the necessary documents to process his enrolment, we told the staff that my brother needs to defer his studies till he completes his NS. However, we were alarmed to hear from the staff that there is no way deferment of studies can be done and there was only two choices, either defer his NS and proceed with his studies or re-apply two years later when my brother has successfully completed his NS. Also, my brother had to make another trip to school personally on April 1 to complete his enrolment.

Why can’t the school be more efficient and complete the whole enrolment process in one day? It is very difficult to apply leave from NS, especially when my brother has just enlisted and is still undergoing BMT. This disruption in his training will take a toll on him as he will have to stay in camp during Saturdays to attend the lessons that he has missed. Isn’t this making life more difficult and putting unnecessary stress on him?

I went back home and surfed through RP’s website. On one of the pages on deferment issues, it states that ‘Successful applicants who are still serving full-time National Service may apply for deferment of their studies to reserve their place until they have completed their service’. I called up the school immediately and they confirmed that deferment of studies can be done. By giving false information and misleading applicants, the staff of RP must take full responsibility for their actions if the applicants decide to choose either of the two options that were given earlier. If the applicant chooses to complete his NS, re-apply two years later but this time round he is unsuccessful in his re-application for a course in RP, the applicant’s opportunity to further his studies will be diminished. This is very unfair to him as he is not fully informed of the choices that he can make and this decision may affect his path in life and even career opportunities in the future.

Thinking that this was a one-off mistake from the staff, we decided not to pursue the matter. However, the situation just got from bad to worse.

On April 1, my brother booked out from camp and went back to school to complete his enrolment. He went through eight stages, with each stage telling the person in charge that he was requesting deferment. At one stage, the person in charge asked him to purchase a laptop so that my brother can be issued with his student ID and password to gain access to the RP’s website and wireless Internet within the school. However, my brother told him that he was going to defer his studies so there was no need for him to purchase a laptop for the time being. After finalising his enrolment and requesting deferment, he went back to camp.

Despite all the necessary actions taken to proceed with the deferment, there was no letter of confirmation of deferment from RP. Recalling the bad incident that we had in the past, I decided to call up the school once again on April 4. This time round, the staff told me that my brother has to complete an online deferment form, located in RP’s website, and to log in to his account, he needs to have his user ID and password which will be issued when he purchases his laptop. Earlier on, my brother had already informed the staff that he was requesting for deferment and that was why he did not purchase the laptop. Why was he not given his user ID and password on the spot and instead insisted on having him purchase a laptop to get the user ID and password? I believe that technology is so advanced now that his user ID and password can be generated and issued by the IT Department immediately.

Finally, after filling up the online form, we thought that the whole saga can finally die down. However, the best part has yet to arrive.

On April 9, we received a call from the Program Chair in charge of the course which my brother was enrolled in. To our shock, it was pertaining to my brother’s absence from school. From that moment we knew that nothing was done by the school about the deferment and we were advised by the lecturer to wait for the confirmation letter by the Office of Registrar. At the same time, he explained to us about the five stages to successfully apply for deferment, one of which was to seek his approval. We adhered to his advice and waited another week, hoping that everything can be completed as soon as possible.

We received a letter from RP on April 14, stating that my brother was absent from school from April 7 to April 11 and that if he continues to be absent from school till April 18, ‘we will change his/her student status from enrolled to dormant and he/she could be liable to be dismissed from the school and pay the administrative fees equivalent to the 100% of semestral tuition fees and annual supplementary fees’. This is ridiculous. Why should we forfeit the semestral fees that we have already paid when we have already asked for a deferment which was not taken up by the school on the very first day of enrolment? The school has to take the blame for the messed up system and inefficiency in resolving such a simple issue. If the staff are not educated in handling such issues, why allow them to oversee the enrolment procedures? In the very first place, they should already be notified whether the applicants are currently serving National Service ( for those who are eligible to serve NS).

With things going out of hand, I called up the Deputy Principal (Academic Affairs) and Registrar, Dr. W.A.M. Alwis, who took a very defensive and protective stand. I was given absolutely no chance to explain our current situation as he continued to rattle on through the phone on how the school had to handle more than 4,000 students and why the whole procedure was taking such a long time. Throughout the conversation, I was interrupted countless times as I pressed on to ask for an explanation on the poor handling of the situation. When I requested a deadline for the deferment issue to be settled, he could not even provide me with an estimated date. In the end, without any further explanation that he could provide me regarding this issue, he hung up his phone.

I sincerely hope that Republic Polytechnic can improve on its management system as it is causing a lot of unnecessary stress and time wasted in resolving such a simple issue. I believe that this issue can be settled within the day of enrolment itself if the school’s management system is efficient. This will reduce the time spent on follow-up cases and save a lot of trouble for the parents/guardians of the applicants and the applicants themselves.

Cheong Jian Ping

According to ST article “Unwanted child of S’pore conservation?“, there is recent reports of fresh plans for the Capitol Theatre. The author, however is sceptical about these fresh plans, as Capitol Theatre, had been acquired by the state in 1987, that is 20 years ago, and nothing, absolutely nothing had been done to the site. Unless you count the declaration of the building as a conservation area.

Various department tai chi the plans to better use the acquired Capitol Theatre, with this hot building bouncing from Singapore Land Authority, to Singapore Tourism Board, and back to Singapore Land Authority.

Somehow, this inaction for 20 years does really make the public wonders about the efficiency of the government. It does not matter to the public which department is in-charge. As they are all under the unbrella of government, the inefficiency will be pointed at the government.

An idea brought up was to engage the public in the conservation of buildings in Singapore. This seems to be the recent cool phrase to use by different government departments. It is always nice to portray a caring image that the government departments are concerned about the public views and the government departments listen to the public.

However, the public cannot be held, but be very sceptical about it, as past records, such as the tearing down of the old Stamford National Library to built an ERP-gantried tunnel pierced hard into the heart of the citizens.

People, being human, learns from experience. We have the proverb “Once bitten, twice shy”. The tearing down of the old original Stamford National Library, which being a collective effort of the early days commoners, will always strike hard in the heart of the citizens. If fevert public protest was unable to make any difference, why bother?

Show the public example that their voices and efforts make a difference, rather than telling them “Nor should they be left to bemoan conservation efforts gone awry after the fact.” It is as good as saying, stop complaining.

What is the world coming to? You mean, we can get away with assaulting stranger in Singapore? I thought that Singapore is a safe place that one can walk the street after night fall.

Oh, Singapore is a safe place for your goods and your car. The police will arrest the culprit on spot if the guilty party vandalize (Vandalism Act, Chapter 341, Section 6) your car or shoplift (Penal Code, Chapter 224, Section 379) your goods. However, a police cannot arrest an assaulter who does not use weapons if your injury is not grievous.

We have a loophole in the law, in which a wide range of non-grievous assault without weapon is treated with the same law (Penal Code, Chapter 224, Section 323). We have our Ms Ang (from Singapore Police Force Media Relations) replying to the ST forum on 14-Apr-2007, “On the other hand, Section 323 cases can range from a parent disciplining his child by slapping him to family disputes between adults, leading to a fight. Most family-related cases are resolved amicably without police intervention and the parties often do not necessarily want to seek redress through the legal system.”

And, our good law, is using this same law to address non-family assaults. That includes cases such as a stranger punching you in the face and walked off. This law (Penal Code, Chapter 224, Section 323), according to Criminal Procedure Code, is a non-seizable offence (Criminal Procedure Code, Chapter 68, Section 2). In layman terms, it means that the victim needs to get a Magistrate order (Criminal Procedure Code, Chapter 68, Section 133-(1)) which requires one working day to be issued before the assaulter can be arrested, regardless of the number of witnesses. Since the police will not be able to arrest the assaulter on spot, they will not bother to chase after the assaulter to obtain their identity. Quoting Ms Ang again, “Police would like to reiterate that when a call about an assault is received, our officers would proceed to the scene to gather evidence or speak to any witnesses present.”

However, this loophole only exists for voluntarily causing hurt without using any dangerous weapons or mean, does not cause *grievous injury and as long as the assaulter is not identifiable, especially after the lapse of one working day. But, just make sure the stranger is not a public servant (such as MPs) or police. They are exceptional cases.

Even through, legally, (according to the Criminal Procedure Code, Chapter 68, Section 133-(3)), public servants or police is not under the exceptional case for the offence non-grievous assault without weapon, the commoner’s feeling is otherwise. (Legally, public servants or police do not need to a Magistrate to examine a complaint that is defined in the Penal Code which is punishable with imprisonment for a period not exceeding 6 months or with fine only, provided that the complaint is in writing and signed by the police officer or public servant. However, non-grievous assault without weapon is punishable with imprisonment for 2 years, or fine, or both, which means, it does not legally fall under the exceptional case.)

*Legally, (according to Penal Code, Chapter 224, Section 320), grievous injury is defined as (a) emasculation; (aa) death; (b) permanent privation of the sight of either eye; (c) permanent privation of the hearing of either ear; (d) privation of any member or joint; (e) destruction or permanent impairing of the powers of any member or joint; (f) permanent disfiguration of the head or face; (g) fracture or dislocation of a bone; (h) any hurt which endangers life, or which causes the sufferer to be, during the space of 20 days, in severe bodily pain, or unable to follow his ordinary pursuits; (i) penetration of the vagina or anus, as the case may be, of a person without that person’s consent, which causes severe bodily pain.

The price of rice in friendly supermarket has increase by around 10% recently, while export price of Thai rice has doubled based on last year’s price. The general mass feeling is to buy more rice, as the feeling is that rice price will only increase. No matter how much rice our minister shows us in the warehouse, we still continue to buy buy buy.

But, what is actually driving up the rice prices? A very direct relationship can be seen using the supply and demand rule. The supply has decreased due to reasons, such as bad weather, and diversion of fields to grow more profitable corns instead of rice. (We have to really thank our big brother Uncle Sam, for their green policy of buying huge amount of corns to manufacture green fuel. This is where our food has disappeared to.) Demand, however, due to relatively constant population, will not decreased.

Now, our dear rice buyer, (that includes your mum, your dad, your grandfather, you grandmother), feeling that rice price will increase, or that there has been too much publicity, now happily remembers to buy a few more packets of rice back home. So, the demand increases further, and likewise, the price. Each and everyone buying rice above norm is an accomplice to the price increase. Yes, an accomplice.

What we can do instead, is to just eat some other food. There is wheat, corn, yellow noodles, bread, pasta. And there is no need to horde so much rice at home. The demand, will instead stabilize, and so will the price.