Ministerial Forum

had a long day today. i went for lecture a little late cuz i almost forgotten that that was peak hour when there was a long queue of students boarding the bus. it's only when i was on my way to boon lay interchange then i finally realised. but when i reached, the lecturer hasnt started his lecture. moreover, a guy went up to me and promote abt cervical cancer and HPV. it was an awareness programme and he gave me a token of flower, it was a rose, for a token of appreciation - in the midst of the time when i was rushing for lecture. but anyway. lecture was fine cuz we started on a new topic. finally, out of limits. but it's derivative and differentiation, something to do with limits again. hai...

mun jee bought us chicken rice! we had that for lunch cuz as usual, on tuesday, can B was flooded with people and it's quite fortunate for us to find a place to dine. after that we went for tutorial. and i was happy 1) both tutorials ended really really early. actually they could combine both tutorials to finish within an hour. it's possible! 2) i "presented" in econs tutorial today. thanks to zy gal who taught me how to do. and was kinda being called up to do cuz i was the only one in class. i think. who did the question. but it's not my effort anyway. and teacher helped me to present ( which is the reason why i put the " ") i wrote the answer and she helped me present. HAHA great life. i think my 10% marks is finalised. depending on how the teacher wants to grade me. cuz i already went up to present 2 times already! more than enought. and the teacher also may give us all 10% because the attendance was bad and it's always the same few people who responded to the tutorial session. i can slack my whole sem 1 econs tutorial liao haha... as in... slack down there, take notes and listen to the teacher thats all!

then we met for the highlight today! Ministerial Forum by Mr Lee : Is there room for more?
when we were there waiting, the queue was so so so damn long. outside nan yang audi all the way til the carpark (not a little bit at carpark, but it's towards the middle, reaching lt 19A) imagine how long the queue is? and that was just the security check. we have yet to queue up to put all belongings in tan chin tuan lt (initially it was lt 2, but we found out that there's no such place and later we got to knew that it has changed to tan chin tuan lt but we werent informed!)
poor zhiying gal have to rush here when her tutorial got delayed (why? our tutorial is so fast!)
but anyway. had a long time queueing up from the middle of the carpark til the entrance of nanyang audi security check.

finally we stepped into the audi and few mins later. PM Lee arrives and walked towards the seats. without any form of announcement! we were like.. huh? so random. at least the organising committee would want to give some form of announcement like.. pls switch ur handphones to the silent mode. and pls rise while the guests take their seats. this is so random. doesn't mark a good impression to the guests. but this was very punctual.

PM Lee touched on the issues on economy recovery, but mostly on the topic Is there room for more? but he somehow changed the question to, how can we change and adapt to rooms for more flexibility (cant remember what was it but something like that) and the majority of his forum today is about the issues of foreign talent, immigration and competition that locals faced.
and that we definitely need more foriegn talents to bring in income and create jobs for the locals. and to replace some of the jobs which are lack of people to perform. and the most important thing is to drive and spur locals on to work harder and compete more with this foreign talents so that they can improve and bring Singapore into greater heights. i kind of agree what his say. and also the topic is abt integration of locals and international students here in schools. like what we have observed in NTU, or even other local unis, there is a vast amount of international students studying in our schools, taking up a large population of the cohort. is this kind of competition useful for us? it may help in one way, but we think that it is too over. people are all striving to be the best out there. and what is the definition of best in the future? 200 /100? even if you get 100 marks out of 100. u may still end up in the average cases. and there's something abt the integration which one of the student pointed out this example abt the orientation camps for the various nationalities too. which PM Lee directed this issue to the various uni and SU to decide for themselves. since the country wants to promote cohesion among various ethnic groups ( we are all along promoting racial harmony) and also among foreign and locals. is there still a need for them to be so clickish? but wait, does we locals even give it a try to integrate with them in the first place?

there are some interesting issues to talk about: the HDB thing. there is this PRC who rant abt not being able to get a flat/ condo in singapore UNLESS is.... a PR and a Singapore citizen. everybody seems to get the joke fact abt what Mr Lee is talking. 1 PR cannot. 2 PRs. cannot. but 1 PR and 1 Singapore citizen. CAN. haha. though the guy is very nervous and couldnt articulate well cuz of nervousness. but he made a lasting impression on all of us right?
and there was this last question posted by a student studying English. he posted something, as he said. is too much trivial than what others are asking, about the country and about the global issues. but his question was the one whom we think that was the most relavant to the topic. and what we singaporeans are most concerned of. can you think of it? it's the MRT rule which says no drinking of water in MRT is allowed. is there room for more flexibilty and improvement? well. i seriously can understand why certain boards are restricting this and that, this and that rules. but i just cant understand why the LTA and SMRT want to impose such a rule for us to follow otherwise fined. there is no clear boundary stated where cant we drink and where can we drink. and where is the SMRT officer in red catches us for drinking water and so on... what if the person, like the student, is taking from one end to the other of the MRT line? faint of thirst? i think that's something the citizens should protest about. and there is another issue which i think i would also remember is about the teaching. teach less learn more. teachers are becoming auto pilots that they have to work more than 12 hours to clear this and that stuff. do this and that for the students til they have less time for taking care of the students' needs and concerns. which i think there is room for improvement. which i seriously think that that is one of the issue facing the realm of education. Mr Lee also said that. a large number of recruitments going on and which are the people that is of the chosen good quality. we need more good quality and rather than more quantity which will not make the education system work!

whole lots of interesting comments. and also there is this web session going on by the ntu public who can participate in the discussion. but after the session as the guests take their leave. some ntu students stood up and just left like that. which was very rude. well. and Mr Lee walked past us and we forget to stand up as well. but we finally did. and wave and clap for him. but in the meanwhile there still people wanting to go out. i mean. whats the rush? it's basic courtesy for the guests to take their leave before we can leave. and the MCs also didnt announce it until they think there is a need to. some problems occured which ultimately we agreed that the organising and planning got some problems that they have to take into account. just think that those students are embarrassing themselves and the school. well... hai...

after that we headed on to eat at xin cafe cuz all of us are hungry. we didnt take dinner except for the old chang kee tt karen bought. i ate some porridge. didnt want to take much carbohydrates cuz it's late at night. well, and i think i'm gaining weight! i want to maintain my 48 kg! =(

luckily tmr still can sleep later. but mid term for 801 is coming. hai...