TR EMERITUS

Many football fans in Singapore may have wondered why Costa Rica, despite having a population of 4.8 million, could manage to get into the quarterfinals of the Football World Cup whereas Singapore had failed to qualify for the competition. In this post, I shall try to figure out the reasons why Costa Rica did it and Singapore could not. Reason 1: Latin Americans tend to play better football/soccer than Asians. (This is not a racist remark. This is a fact. Look at Uruguay - a small country with a population size identical to SG's. They have been World Champions twice - 1930 and 1950 and they finished 4th in the 2010 World Cup.) Reason 2: Costa Rica is ranked No 1 in the Happy Planet Index rankings. Meaning: The country is the world's greenest and happiest nation. Their people, citizens generally lead very happy, fullfilling and healthy lives. Costa Rica had produced a world-class swimmer in Claudia Poll. Reason 3: Costa Rica is unique in Latin America as since 1947, the country has not had any military coups nor is ruled by any dictator. The country has a very long and proud democratic tradition and has enjoyed a long period of political stability. Unlike neighbouring Central American countries El Salvador and Honduras which had a Football War in 1969, Costa Rica is free from wars and conflicts. Reason 4: Costa Rica is the wealthiest Central American country and has a huge middle class. The country is known to have the best welfare system outside of Northern Europe. The living standard in the country is pretty high compared to many of her Latin American neighbours. BTW, Costa Rica is also the first Central American team to have made it into the last 8 of the Football World Cup and the only one to have qualified for the World Cup Finals 4 times (1990, 2002, 2006 and 2014). Reason 5: Costa Rica is in a smaller Football Confederation (CONACAF) where only the strongest teams are the US and Mexico. Reason 6: Singapore is in a much bigger Football Confederation (Asia) which has over 40 members. Standing in the way of Singapore qualifying for their first ever World Cup are teams such as Japan, North and South Koreas, Iran, Australia, China, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States. Also not forgetting teams from the South East Asian region - Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam. And just 4 World Cup finals places given for Asia. Reason 7: Costa Rica now have their best players playing for clubs in Europe. Even though many of them are playing for lesser known clubs in Northern Europe. But the best known players are forwards Bryan Ruiz who plays for Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven and Joel Campbell who plays for Greek champions Olympiakos. Reason 8: Despite Singapore importing many foreign-born footballers into its national side over the past 10 years,the best achievement they had in international competition is to be Champion of the South East Asia region in 2005, 2007 and 2012. Proving that the foreign players are good but not good enough when it comes to competing against teams from outside the region. Reason 9: Countries like Costa Rica and Uruguay have an excellent youth scouting and development systems. Potential footballing talents could be easily identified and be nurtured quickly. Countries like Uruguay tend to perform well at the World Youth Championships. Players like Luis Suarez would start their professional careers as early as the age of 19 with a top domestic club side like Nacional or Penarol. Reason 10: Most Singaporeans love only to watch football and don't really play football as a profession. Liew Chin Fu *  Submitted by TRE reader.  Read More →

This is a continuation of the saga of the ex-inmate taxi driver, Mr Goh Kok Gan: Singapore Prison Service "A 'Yellow Ribbon' plea from an ex-convict cabby"  and "Yellow Ribbon Project: It's all about second chances". If you will recall, Mr Goh, who now drives a taxi for a living, was asked by LTA to obtain a conduct testimonial before he could be considered for a taxi license. He requested for this from both his employer, SMRT, and SPS, but both turned him down claiming it wasn't their policy to issue conduct testimonials. Mr Goh then wrote to ST Forum on 25 Jun about his plight. This caused many people online to question just how genuine the authorities were in wanting to rehabilitate ex-offenders and if the Yellow Ribbon Project was not just for show and without any real meaning. Subsequently, SPS has responded in ST Forum, 3 Jul, "Testimonials for ex-offenders: Prison Service replies". The reply was from Mr Jimmy Lee, Senior Assistant Director, Corporate Communications and Relations Branch, Singapore Prison Service. We thank Mr Goh Kok Gan ("Tough for ex-convict to keep cabby job"; June 25), Mr V. Balu ("Help ex-offenders earn a living"; Forum Online, last Thursday), Mr Belsha Aibil ("Govt agencies should help ex-offenders more"; Forum Online, last Friday) and Mr Satish Chandar ("Clarify stand on ex-convicts"; Monday) for their feedback. The Singapore Prison Service provides testimonials to former offenders upon request. Since the situation came to our attention, we have investigated and found that there was miscommunication between Mr Goh and our officers. We have contacted him to clarify his request and handed him the testimonial to apply for renewal of his vocation as a taxi driver. We are also working with the Singapore Corporation of Rehabilitative Enterprises (Score) to look into Mr Goh's request to continue his job as a taxi driver. So SPS has admitted that they DO provide testimonials to ex-offenders upon request. Why then was Mr Goh given the runaround and had to make a fruitless trip to the prison to collect what he was told to be a conduct testimonial but found out later that it was not? What was the reason that the officer promised him but didn't really mean what he said? And also why did the second officer he was sent to tell Mr Goh that SPS did not write conduct testimonials for ex-prisoners? Was it a case of prison officers being clueless about policies and their own responsibilities? In any case, blaming things on "miscommunication between Mr Goh and our officers" doesn't quite cut it. Jimmy Lee of SPS continued: Testimonials are given upon request to assist former offenders who may use them to secure jobs or apply for admission to tertiary institutions. These testimonials indicate the programmes that former offenders attended and their general conduct during their period of incarceration. The Singapore Prison Service encourages the employment of former offenders who are committed to leading responsible lives. Sustaining employment is a key factor in helping them re-integrate. We recognise that the journey towards securing employment and acceptance is a challenging one for former offenders. As such, we work closely with Score to provide offenders with suitable skills training and job placement opportunities prior to their release. If testimonials ARE given upon request then we hope this is made known to all offenders who are scheduled to be released; also to SPS staff so that they can understand their own organization's SOP.   Editor's note: We would like to wish Mr Goh the very best in his new job as a cab driver and hope he will find happiness and enrichment as he rejoins back into society.  Read More →

(Photo SPH) As a former MOE teacher, I can attest to this and add on by saying this: Quitting the MOE system is the BEST CAREER MOVE I’ve ever made. I have seen colleagues of the same age and NIE intake break down in tears in front of her class because of the pressure of balancing CCAs, standing comms and whaterver else on top of her core teaching commitments (she had to subsequently take long leave of absence for psychiatric treatment, and subsequently threw in the towel). I hear my (now) ex-colleague who, just before lessons commenced and she was sitting in the staffroom, wished the whole school could just BLOW UP in flames so she didn't have to work a day ever again in it. I have seen an ex-colleague who was forced to resign because some idiot girl in his class forgot about the O Level D&T folio submission and blamed it all on him not clearing these things with her when he actually did (and yes, you can guess which side this rotten school chose to side with). I could tell you all the stories about the abuse the superior/seniors inflict on their junior ones, but you have to be one to see for yourself how a once-noble profession have been turned into a “every man/woman for him/herself” SURVIVOR series and the school, a once-hallowed institution have been turned into a DEN of SELF-SERVING CIVIL SERPENTS, hypocritical at best. Imagine these characters trying to “instill moral values” into their young students when they themselves are far from having a “moral mindset”. I shudder at that thought. After 2 years, I decided I wanted out. I would rather face the brutal vagaries of the private sector, returning back to the field I was trained in, engineering, than work a day more under such hypocritical, self serving tyrants. Asymmetric Warfare * Comment appeared in: SG Teachers are overworked, overstressed    Read More →