Pic from Chinamates.com

You're 60 years old, holding on to a part time job after withdrawing your CPF.

Old, wrinkled, probably hunched and living alone in a 3 room HDB flat.

No one will take a second look at you when they pass you.

Then one day, a si peh chio 30 year old Zhong Guo lady (ZGCB), expresses interest in you.

You are elated.  There is justice after all ........

Next thing you know, ZGCB vacuums your $$ and disappears.

How many times have we read these stories, esp in New Paper?

Why do people fall prey to these seemingly obvious scams?

Some may say the Ah Pek may be lowly educated and susceptible to kena conned.

Pls lah (I hate to admit this) but men are hormonal creatures regardless of age.

The key is whether one is strong and smart enough to resist the temptation.

True Files 

I'll relate a true story of a man I met in Shanghai.

(names have been changed to protect to stoopid one).

Tim was a lecturer in a tertiary institute (a short, fat, ugly guy)

In 1990, he (40 years old then) saw an opportunity to start up a trading biz in China.

He sold his 6^th ave house to liquefy his assets and move his wife and kids to a HDB flat.

Armed with do$h, he left for Shanghai alone.

His biz was relatively successful and, of course, he courted the attention of the ladies there.

Jane, a ZGCB, became his confidant and later his mistress.

Because of some local laws, Tim had to set up a restaurant biz venture under Jane's name.

They did a roaring biz, the tills were ringing not stop.

In 2000, Tim returned to S'pore for 2 weeks to settle some Gahmen admin stuff.

When he returned to Shanghai, all his biz had been taken over by Jane.

She booted him out of the biz, bank accounts and all.

Tim kena played out and was left almost penniless.  Good thing he still had an apartment to his name.

For fear of losing face, he decided not return to S'pore.

He's now earning his keep as a pub manager in Shanghai.

Tim is a highly educated man …. Yet he was led by his loins.

Lessons learnt

1.  If a chio bu half your age hits on you, she's certainly not going for good looks (get real).

2.  ZGCB are dangerous, they really know how to stroke your ego, amongst other things

3.  Men are weak creatures.

At my previous job, I was offered to head up an operation in Shanghai on a one year posting (extendable to 2 years).

During which time, I had to be alone (ie. My wife will be in S'pore)

I turned down the offer as I refuse to knowingly subject myself to temptation.

While my friends will tell you that I'm able to resist the temptation, I'd rather not risk my marriage and happiness.

As the saying goes, water drop by drop will also break the boulder.

Look what happened to the Grand Canyon.

Point taken ?

I have a friend, let's call her PohPiah (PP)

PP is a graduate.

She also has a lot of extra curricula paper qualifications macam diploma for psychology, cert for ah beng staring, Japanese language, vulgar language (not!).

In school, PP never kena booked by prefect before.

In fact, she helped prefects book others (via secret notes under the desk).

Perfect product of the gahmen's education policy …. Which qualifies her for NMP nomination …. I'll come to that later.

PP works for a gahmen stat board …… are you surprised ???

Unlike other gahmen workers, she actually keeps long, productive hours.

(Those who stay till 9 pm because they go for 3 hour lunches and 2 hour coffee breaks don't count)

PP believes in giving her best @ work.

In her free time, other than studying and indulging in mental gymnastics (yes, she thinks things to death), she commits her time to social work.

She teaches prison inmates O level maths, swims with dolphins (no lah … kidding) etc.

In short, PP has a heart of gold.

Recently she informed me that she is leaving gahmen service (where she's doing very well) to go to NIE to train to be a teacher.

Wah lau …… what a big change in career …. Not to mention the huge paycut !!!

PP believes this is her own way of giving back to society.

Well, Poh Piah my friend, I salute you for taking a bold step to make a difference to young lives.

Don't worry about paycut.

I'm sure you will be well rewarded in heaven, where your treasures are stored.

I am proud to have a flen … I mean friend …. like you.

This brings me to the point again : why Eunice Olsen as NMP?

Pui ! Pui! Pui!

Poster @ Prince Cinema

Mee Pok The Old Rocker

I've been feeling under the weather for the past 2 weeks.

Started with a sore throat (tonsillitis)

Then become no voice (laryngitis)

Then kena chest infection (bronchitis)

Lucky never kena pookititis. (those who don't know Malay, nevermind)

When I fall sick nowadays, it feels like the end of the world.

When I was 18, high fever also can chiong at Fire Lisco or Sparks Lisco.

Don't sleep 3 days also no sweat.

Now don't hit the sack by 2 am, underwear wet wet.

In days of yore, my body was a temple.

Ok, ok, not the 5 star type like the Taj Mahal.

More like those small, smoke filled ones in China town.

But still, it was a temple.

I had 6 pack, defined biceps and ran like the wind.

Now I have one pack (XL size), flabby arms and I like to break wind.

I hate to admit this, I'm getting old.

Enjoy your long weekend while I mope in one corner (beside a mama-shop).

Dr Wee Kim Wee (WKW) passed away 2 weeks ago.

There was an outpour of grief from Singaporeans from all walks of life.

People are still talking about him…. The People's President.

Letters to ST Forum have asked for airports, roads, buildings to be named after him.

If my memory serves me well, I don't recall the same happening when Ong Teng Cheong (OTC) passed away.

Don't think gahmen buildings flew their flags at half mast for more than 1 day nor was there a state funeral.

OTC's track record of serving the nation was more illustrious than WKW.

MP, Minister, Secretary General of NTUC, DPM …..

Maybe, just maybe, the measure of a person's greatness lies in how he treats people around him and how they remember him.

Endless examples have been cited on how WKW reached out to the man in the street, touched lives of the less fortunate, buying paus for parents queuing up to register their children for kindergarten @ Siglap etc.

People probably remembered WKW for the man he was and not his status nor achievements.

Anyway, I'm going to find out where to buy nice big pork paus to give away.

May come in handy if I want to have a road named after me.

Jalan Mee Pok or Mee Pok Drive.

Not bad eh ?

Realistically, I'd be lucky to have a toilet cubicle named after me.

Quite sad right?  …. but what the heck…… No fish, prawn also good.

I am pissed.

Why can't people be punctual?

Is it very difficult to stick to a mutually agreed time?

I must admit I am sometimes late for appointments (cock-ups do happen but they RARELY do with proper planning).

But I make it a point to let the other party know when I'm expected to arrive.

This is basic courtesy.

On a typical day, I'm at least 10 minutes early for an appointment.

Personally, it just pisses me off when someone shows up late for appointments CONSISTENTLY.

Case in point: My wife.

I pick her up from work everyday (when I'm not travelling).

She'd give me a pickup time and she's almost never there at the appointed time.

(On very rare occasions is she early or on-time).

On a normal day, I wait for 10-15 minutes.

This can stretch to 45 minutes on a "Bermuda triangle" day, when she simply disappears from the radar.

Each time she'll come up with some silly excuse and, honestly, I've gotten sick of hearing them.

I like to pack my schedule and having to waste time waiting for her and listening to stoooopid excuses ABSOLUTELY KILLS ME !

I voiced my unhappiness last night and guess what?

She claims she's hardly late.

Yeah, right !

Anyway, to cut the long story short, I feel I've been taken for granted (as far as picking her up is concerned).

I've been too predictable, too reliable.

I'll be injecting some uncertainties into the equation.

Eg. I'm going to the golf driving range tonight and she can take a cab home.

Eg. 2, I will not cut my discussions with my colleagues short so I can be on time to pick her up.  She can wait.

Immature of me to engage in a tit-for-a-tat?

Maybe.

Sometimes I have to fight fire with fire.

It's only after you've lost a good thing in life that you appreciate it.

(Sad but true).

The Sunday papers featured anecdotes from Philip Yeo (PY) about scholarships, bond breakers and industry development thrusts and the controversy arising from them.

It was highlighted that people called him arrogant, Mr size 10 shoes, blah, blah, blah ….  for making these "larger than life" comments.

"Friends, Singaporeans, Countrymen, lend me your ears.

I come here not criticize PY, but to salute him."

PY was my big boss at one of my previous jobs.

To be honest, I was extremely inspired by his high energy, no-holds barred approach of doing biz.

With him, you will always get honest and sometimes brutal feedback.

I was with him in the US on a biz trip for 3 weeks in 1998.

During that time, I got to know PY the man, rather than PY "the motor mouth" as some have labeled him.

Nation before self

Here is a man who puts the interests of the nation before his own.

For any new initiative he champions, his key consideration is "How will Singaporeans benefit from it and how soon can we get it done?"

As such, he dispenses with political correctness (a waste of time, in my opinion) and makes personal sacrifices to move mountains (read: gahmen red tape) in order to get the job done.

In an era of superficial niceness and political correctness, his comments normally ruffle a lot of feathers in the gahmen service as well as the man in the street (who reads rubbish in the New Paper).

Cutting the crap

Put aside the sensationalism created by the press and read his comments again.

They are simple and straight to the point.

In essence: They make sense.

For example, I had dinner with PY and some gahmen scholars in London in 1999.

One of the more vocal and smart-alecky ones asked: "How I can succeed in my assignment at a stat board when I graduate?", expecting words of profound wisdom from PY.

"Work Hard lah! What else?", PY said and went back to whacking his noodles.

The relak man

To PY detractors reading this blog, unless you've met this man, it's hard to believe how humble and chin-chai (easy going) he can be.

In that same 1998 trip, there were people who want to suck up to him and arranged for meals at lavish and damn expensive places.

With my miserable pay, I could ill afford, for example, a US$25 breakfast in the hotel. (I still can't)

One morning in New York, he saw me leaving the hotel and aske where I was heading.

Told him I was going to a deli down the road where I can whack a good American breakfast for US$5.

From experience, a person with PY's seniority in the gahmen service is highly unlikely consider that as a palatable option.

He asked: "How come you never tell me?".

What was I to say ? "Errr ….. only low income people like myself eat there?".

Guess what, he siam-ed his breakfast appointment with some S'pore gahmen people and had breakfast in the small but clean deli.

He grabs hot dogs on the go, eats at often dingy Chinatown places (not biz engagements lah).

As long as the food is good, he's ok.

A role model

PY is an excellent example of a man who has achieved greatness without being superficially nice.

To me, he is Mr "call a spade, a spade" (turbo chargers and loud speakers included)

He is also role model (especially for the wishy-washy): Has integrity, decisive, efficient, loyal ……

In case you're wondering, no, he did not pay me to write this blog.

And, no, I don't think he remembers me after all these years.