Monday, February 15, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Title: S'pore rolls the dice
Source: the Straits Times
Name of the writer: AFP
Student’s name: William
The Straits Times. 15 Feb.,2010. S'pore rolls the dice. Retrieved 15, Feb., 2010, from http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_490510.html
SUMMARY
Eventually, the Singapore's first casino is opened. Opened officially at 12.18pm on the very first Tiger Year after the opening ceremony speech given by Genting Group chairman Lim Kok Thay, the first casino complex World Sentosa complex welcomed her first 200 vistitors. The second casino complex is expected to be completed in April. The resorts, each worthes around US$4.4 billion (S$6.2 billion), are expected to attract 17 million visitors a year generating more than $21 billion by 2015, thus help boost the services industry.
REFLECTION
The casino project has been a hot topic since from its first announcement, however, now there we go and the first casino complex is opened. Right here, right now, what we concern about is no longer whether we need a casino but what we should do to maintain the social harmony and our orderly society environment and welcome the expected increasing tourism. I hope that govenment can help carry out related campaigns to enhance social awareness towards gambling.
Anyhow, now is the year of Tiger, and I do hope that everyone will take a great leap in their family, business and life.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Postmen to rest Saturdays by Ivy
Title: Postmen to rest Saturdays
Source: the Straits Times
Name of the writer: Tan Weizhen
Student’s name: Ivy
Summary:
With the popularization of the new communication tools such as e-mail, SMSes, the amount of snail mail has declined to a large extent. Statistics show that there are more than 181 million items delivered in the year 2002-2003 while only 139 million in 2008-2009. What is more, the volume of mail on Saturday is 40 per cent less than on a usual weekday. Therefore, the Singpost has decided that the postmen can have a rest on Saturdays from May 15. To make up for the break time, Singpost will prolong the collecting timings of item on Friday. Also, the chief executive of SingPost Ng Hin Lee promised that there would be no drop of items delivered due to the break of the postmen. At the mean time, more than 70 countries has adopted a 5-day week for their mail delivery service.
My perspective:
From my point of view, the rest given to the postmen is quite reasonable. In the first place, the break on Saturdays will not influence the amount of items delivered as the chief promised. Secondly, the volume of mail on Saturday is only 60 per cent of the weekday. Since less people tend to deliver mail on Saturday, why not give the postmen a short break? Last but not least, Singapore has adopted a five-day week for most of the jobs for a long time, as is known to everyone. Then the mail delivery service should not be an exception; the work of a postman is very tiring, they need a break to deal with their own matters and dust them off. Some people may hold the view that what if I have an urgent mail to deliver on Saturday? I think the snail mail itself is rather slow, if the mail is really urgent, a express delivery can be taken.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Officials Need More Responsibility to Hold People's Trust-----Local News Reflection by Tonia Liu
Stephanie Chee Jok Heng, 51, formerly management consultant to Parkway Healthcare Foundation (PHF), Toa Payoh Centre and Geylang Centre, was found guilty of cheating PHF, Toa Payoh Centre and Toa Payoh Centre Ltd of various sums of money between March 2003 and April 2004.
In a separate case, Chee, who has a doctorate and is a qualified nurse, is suing Dr William Tan, 52, a well-known neuroscientist and Paralympian, for the repayment of $400,000 in alleged loans.
In the criminal matter, the prosecution led evidence through several witnesses to show that Chee dishonestly submitted claims for reimbursement from the charities to pay her daughters' piano teacher and the Chinese tutor of one of her daughters.
She was also convicted of making a double claim of payment for treatment rendered to her younger brother, Mr Chee Kin Mun, under the auspices of the PHF's emergency medical fund, for which she had been reimbursed.
District Judge Jasvender Kaur adjourned mitigation and sentencing to March 15. Chee faces a jail term of up to seven years and/or a fine on each charge.
Reflection:
After reading this local news, I am shocked by the irresponsible behavior of this woman Chee Jok Heng. She was in charge of the charity in PHF, Toa Payoh Centre and Geylang Centre, which suppose to make good and useful contribution to the society. However, surprisingly, she used her position to cheat the fund in the charity, which is a definitely unbearable behavior. I believe in most of our people’s mind, ‘charity’ should be a beautiful word that can bring hope to the people who is in desperation. The person who is in charge of the charity should also be responsible and sympathetic. Obviously, she violates the objective of her job and really hurt people’s faith. She abandoned the benefit of the whole society and only care about her own family. I really hope that she feels shamed about her behavior. This is also a warning to all the officials in every field to behave well and never cheating people’s trust again.