In My Hands Today…

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The Casual Vacancy – J.K. Rowling

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.


Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils … Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Goodbye Mr. Lee and Thank You

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Singapore woke up on Monday morning to a news they all feared and dreaded. Mr. Lee Kwan Yew, the man who is credited for making Singapore the world-class city state it is today, was no more. 

 

Mr. Lee or LKY as he is known, had been in hospital for over a month, battling pneumonia and had been deteriorating in the past week. 

Widely regarded as the man most intrumental in shaping the path to Singapore’s prosperity, he was a man who was loved and feared in equal intensity while alive. However, it is in death that an entire nation – from young to the old, from citizens to residents – mourn together for the man who is synonymous with the nation.. 

He fought for our independence, built a nation where there was none and made us proud to be Singaporeans. We won’t see another man like him.  

These words from PM Lee Hsien Loong’s televised message to the nation reflect perhaps what a lot of people were feeling. 

He gave us a country we can be proud of, a home to bring up our family and a better life we can aspire to…Much of today’s ‘Singapore DNA’ can be traced to his personal character, philosophy and values – Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong in a letter to the late Mr. Lee’s son Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. 

National Day this year is going to be bittersweet. Singapore is celebrating 50 years of independence and the architect and man responsible for this celebration will not be around to celebrate with the nation he helped found. SG50 will not be the same without LKY. 

This post isn’t going to be about LKY’s vast achievements which can be found online and in the various media, but a small tribute to a great man who shaped this country I now call home. 

Later today, I am going to take BB & GG with me to our nearest CC to write in the condolence book and in our own small way, honour the man, they have the privilege to share a birthday with. I always tell them even if they are able to do a fraction of Mr. Lee’s achievements in their life, they would achieve a lot in this life. 

 

Goodbye Mr Lee Kwan Yew and a heartfelt THANK YOU for making Singapore what it is today – a place we are proud to call home and be a part of. Each time I come home from a trip, when I land in Changi airport, I am so happy to be home. The Singapore efficiency, especially when you compare to the country you’ve just come from, makes you happy to call this place yours and it is all due to your foresight and planning.

To his family, be strong – the whole of Singapore is with you in your time of grief. 

#ThankyouLKY #RIPLKY #LeeKwanYew

In My Hands Today…

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My Mother-In-Laws Son – Josephine Chia

My Mother-In-Law’s Son centers round a Peranakan woman, Swee Gek, who is in an abusive marriage but is constrained by the limitations of women in her time to take positive action.

Her marriage is further strained by Choy Yan, the eponymous Mother-In-Law of the title whose values are archaic and patriarchal. Taking place in a 1949 -1950 Singapore that is just recovering from the onslaught of the Japanese War, Swee Gek’s Chinese husband, Wong Kum Chong, is inadvertently drawn into participating in Communist activity against the Colonial Government by a communist agitator, Teng Xin Nan.

Narrated from the perspectives of different characters, My Mother-In-Law’s Son is a revealing story of a Singapore and her people struggling to find their feet in the aftermath of a war. It also shows how people going through difficult circumstances can be susceptible to revolutionary ideas. Through Swee Gek’s personal fight against her oppressors, this novel also explores the meaning of love: of whether love can be unconditional or that it is always accompanied by possessiveness.

2015 Week 11 Updates

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A very uneventful week for us. The children has their school holidays about which I mentioned yesterday. 

Work has been pretty much in a suspended state for me now. My new boss comes in in the end of April and that’s when I plan to speak to him about my future here. But, I did start one thing though – I contacted a resume writing company and have started working with them to get my resume properly done. Even if I stay on here, I am sure they will want to see a copy of my resume. So it better to have a nice, polished copy 😊

Woke up today to learn that another of Singapore’s founding fathers (random thought – why are there hardly any founding mothers?) and Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kwan Yew passed away early this morning. He had been in hospital for more than a month now and in the last week had been deteriorating almost daily. 

 RIP Mr. Lee. 

You were perhaps the single person who was the architect of Singapore’s sucess and in my opinion the person responsible for making Singapore what it is today – a first world country! You will be sorely missed, especially since Singapore celebrates its 50th year of Independence this year.#RIPLKY

We actually share something with LKY – BB & GG were born on his 80th birthday and I remember the nurses in the hospital asking me if I had planned this! I always tell BB & GG that even if they achieve in their lives, a tenth of what Mr. Lee did, they would still have done so much and be so much successful…

PSLE Week 11 Update

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This week was the March School holiday week – note the emphasis on WAS!!

Poor kids – they had school for three days of the holidays and tuitions the other days 😥

But I think they are slightly better off than the others giving the PSLE exams – a work colleague mentioned that since her son (also a P6 student) does not have to go to school, she has scheduled two tuition lessons per day of the holidays. Others we know are giving up extra curricular activities which take maximum of an hour per week to concentrate on the exam. 

Are we doing too little in comparision?