Fake Buddhists Monks (Sunday Times 8 Jul); and
Fake Buddha Tooth (Sunday Times 15 Jul)
Last week it was fake monks begging for alms in Singapore. This week it's questionable Buddha's relic. $45m was raised to build a temple to house a tooth said to be from Buddha. Experts sy it looks like a cow's tooth. Frankly, if I know anything about buddhism, Buddha should be turning in his grave (if he had one) if he knew people were keeping pieces of him let alone worshipping it. People who donate money to house relics, even if authentic, for worship seems not to have understood the teachings of Buddha.

A tale of true humanity (ST, 14 July)
On Hainan Island, a rag-and-bone odd job labourer has been taking in and adopting baby girls abandoned by their natural parents trying to have a son to carry on the family name. All over almost 2 decades he has taken in 10 or more girls. With his meagre income, he still manages to ensure that his children, natural and adopted, get an education and have a better future. When he sent his eldest adopted daughter, who was 19 by then, off to Shenzhen to work, it was a tearful separation as she had never left home before. The father cried all the way back on the bus. When the daughter offered to send money home for the family to celebrate Chinese New Year, he told her to keep the money for her own use, as he did not raise their children in order to make money from them.

As I read this story, I was thinking that if this man applied for PR status in Singapore he would probably be denied. He had no education, and no wealth to offer Singapore. And yet, what he could offer was the immeasurably more precious human heart and the compassionate soul.

Instead, we accept the rich and "talented" who are not afraid to use their talent to further enrich themselves materially (and in so doing, enrich Singapore). While some are probably nice people, the selection criteria probably doesn't favour philanthropy or compassion.

If Singapore is already crassly materialistic, the future with more immigrants of similar ilk, does not seem likely to be any different.


Who's misbehaving?

With the headlines, "Ok. Ok. I'll behave. Don't shoot." The Sunday Times (15 Jul) probably thought it was a fun picture to show a Spl Ops Command Officer pointing his gun at at 11-yr-old.

The Officer should know better than to do that. His weapon is not a toy, and even in basic weapons handling he should have been taught
1) Treat all firearms as loaded. 2) Never point a firearm at anything you do not want destroyed or killed.

There is a third rule: never let the breaking of the 2nd rule be captured in the national press. Yes, it's NDP, and maybe the kid was willing to pose for it, and maybe the dumb photographer asked for the pose. You should still be professional enough (or at least smart enough) to say no.

Guess who's gonna get a reprimand?