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Whose fault is it if a child cannot read basic words in Primary School? A Singaporean woman posted about how baffled she was when her students could not read simple words e.g. he, she, it. She strongly believes it is the parents' fault for not dedicating enough time to teach their children basic things.

"I don't want to say which race is the majority lah. You know, I know can already ah.

Busy working but you CANNOT spend time with your kid? Then why have kids in the first place?! Buat anak tau, didik dan jaga anak tak tau.

Please, if you think you don't have the means, there are these things called condoms and birth controls. They're cheaper than raising a child."

Given her phrasing, it is no wonder people are angry that she blatantly puts the blame on others instead of being sympathetic. She has apologised for coming across as harsh and has left her teaching job. However, she also stands by her point of view.

She said that the post was simply to "raise awareness" and maintains that it is important for people to see the need to help children read.

While it is important for parents to commit to their child's education, it is unbecoming for a teacher to make those remarks. What, so if a child cannot read, he or she is not valued in this world? What is she insinuating?

If she as an educator cannot help her students and instead, finds the time to openly diss parents online, what makes her a better person?

It is inevitable that teachers may feel disheartened from teaching sometimes but it is another thing entirely to shame students online. One can raise awareness in many ways and it does not always have to be in a harsh way. As an educator, shouldn't she have thought of a better way to "raise awareness"?

In her words, "my journey with MOE may have come to a halt. But I will not stop teaching. I still stand by what I said."

Look, nobody gives a hoot whether you stand by what you said. For all you know, it may not be much of a loss that she left.

With contributions from a concerned Singaporean parent

In case you missed it, Chee Soon Juan has written a book "Never On Bended Knees" and has chosen to have a book launch at Lifelong Learning Institute's (LLI) event hall. The book launch was scheduled for 26 January 2019. He made enquired about the rental of the rooms with LLI on November 2018 and also gave details on his book launch to them. LLI then told him that his book launch event would be allowed at their premises. Chee then made the necessary application and paid in full for the rental of the event hall.

Things were quiet for about two months until 17 January 2019. Chee received an email from LLI stating that his booking has been canceled. A manager from LLI, Mr Dan Soh, informed Chee of the cancellation. Stating that the event and the book "do not appear” to be "related to training, skills upgrading and lifelong learning for the workforce."

Chee questioned why a book discussing national issues not be considered as "lifelong learning for the workforce" and claimed that last minute cancellations of such events by government bodies are troubling and does not speak well of the future of our country. 

This is not the first time he has met with problems regarding booking of a location for his book launch event. In a Facebook post by him on 21 January 2019, he mentioned that he also approached the National Library to book one of their seminar rooms for the event. National Library took a roundabout way to deny him of renting him any of their rooms.

Well, at least the book launch is still happening at SDP's office at 3 Ang Mo Kio Street 62, #02-30, Link@AMK. On the same date and time, 26 January 2019, Saturday, 2-4 pm. Do head down and show your support!

A Scoot flight from the Gold Coast to Singapore was diverted to Sydney Airport on Monday, after a drunken passenger on board punched another passenger. The plane was just 1hr 20 min into its 8 hour long journey when it got diverted.

The drunken Australian man was subdued with help from 5 other crew and passengers. Once the plane landed in Sydney, the man was handed over to the Sydney police. The passenger who was punched informed crew members that he did not need medical attention. Scoot said that all affected passengers were transferred to alternative flight for the passenger to make their way back to Singapore. 

It was not known what triggered the drunk man to start punching a fellow passenger. According to reports, the man seemed normal during boarding and take off, but started disturbing other passengers once the plane was in the air. Crew members were also specially instructed not to sell alcohol to the man during the flight. Reports also indicated that the Scoot flight itself was delayed for three hours before the incident, and the man was seen drinking heavily while waiting for the flight to take off. 

Blogger Leong Sze Hian and his lawyer, Lim Tean, is not going down without a fight. They are holding an Abuse of Process Rally at Hong Lim Park this Saturday (26 Jan 2019). 

After all that has happened, it is about time Singaporeans speak up and fight for themselves. It is only right that we demand accountability from those in their ivory towers.

"Amongst the speakers will be Leong Sze Hian who has demonstrated the utmost courage to turn back fear in his litigation against Lee Hsien Loong, who launched a defamation action against him for sharing a naked post on Facebook.

Singapore is at a cross-roads. It is time we either muster the courage to bring forth a better society or we can retreat into our shell out of fear from the powers to be and remain forever shackled to a smaller world."

What will Singaporeans do? If we do not fight for our own future, who will?

Everyone might have experienced a bad taxi ride once in their lifetime, but for one elderly woman, the taxi ride she took on January 17 was a straight ride form hell. The woman, who needed to go to Camden Medical Centre for an appointment, had gotten her son to book for her a taxi ride, as he was at work and cannot accompany his mom.

After booking a taxi, he got a discount of $5.00 out of his $20.50 fare. However, what transpired later shocked him, as hos mother said that the taxi driver had cancelled her booking, even though she was already in the cab. The cabby told the woman that he cancelled because she was late. So, the woman had to pay the full $20.50 fare. Upon hearing of this, the son sought to clarify matters with the cab company, Comfort Delgro. The cabby got to know of this, accused the woman and the son of having a bad heart, and dropped off the woman at a bus stop somewhere near AYE, even though it was far from her intended destination, it was raining, and the woman had a bad leg.

To add insult to injury, the driver threw the money the woman had given him for the ride, and insulted her by calling her a useless Muslim with a bad heart. Comfort Delgro has since got in touch with the aggrieved parties and apologised, and also gave them vouchers for free rides the next time. The cabby was also "severely reprimanded".

Singaporeans were treated to a regular dose of train delay on the North-South line this morning. Thanks to SMRT, commuters had no choice but to add 30 minutes more fo travel time due to a train fault.

Whatever that means.

The delay affected Woodlands to Yew Tee stations. Although SMRT provided free shuttle buses, angry commuters still took to Facebook to express their displeasure.

"Stuck in Mrt at sembawang for last 30mins and no proper announcement. Keep repeating 30mins delay after announcing 5 mins delay initially!"

"All these break down should be recorded in history. So when they say increase fee again, the citizens can question."

"Where's the transport minister? In the train or.....Creating massive inconvenience to the ordinary people!"

"I have been stuck here for more than 1 hour. And when i ended up exit from the station, additional travelling fee was charged!"

"The overcrowding today was seriously at a dangerous level... The day has barely begun and you have ruined thousands of people mood"

"Guess current govt has gone soft and inefficient, time for change!"

Is this what Singaporeans get after they raised public transport fares? What in the world is our Government doing, really?

Photo credit to Kenny