Blogging responsibly

The Singapore government has hauled up 3 of its citizens for 'seditious' blogging. Their blogs encouraged racial and religious hatred, which violated Singapore's laws on sedition. Now, issues of race and religion are sensitives issues in Singapore because it is made up of various races. Religion is also practiced relatively freely. What the government is careful about is that no discord is sown among different races and that religious practices remain a personal matter. Otherwise, there will be strive that will most likely destroy the country. What is alarming is that one of these bloggers is no more than 17 years old.

Now where did their hatred for other people's race and religion come from? I lay it squarely on parental influence, or lack of it. It is arrogant to assume that all other peoples and religions are inferior and evil, while yours is pure and superior. It is this kind of thing that led to the Second World War. The Germans and Japanese chauvinistic thinking led to a generation that wasted the prime of their lives in war. It is said that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. God forbid that there should be a Third World War, for human-kind may not survive it.

So, yes, prosecute these people vigourously to stamp out such arrogance. The world does not need another Hitler in the making. If this sounds harsh, its because the alternative is unthinkable.

Unrepentant

In a separate report, one of the masterminds of the Australian embassy bombing in Indonesia in 2004 was sentenced to death. Known by his alias, Rois, he was convicted of the charge of 'planning to motivate other individuals to carry out crimes of terrorism'. This is significant news as the Indonesia court has not often returned a conviction with the death sentence. Many, I am sure, will feel vindicated that justice has been served.

However, what disturbs me is Rois felt no remorse whatsoever. Instead, as he was being led away, he defiantly stated that those against him, and I suppose his cause, will 'receive heavier punishment'. What gives him the confidence, no, the audacity to make such pronouncements in the face of death? What are his justifications? I can only surmise that the kind of indoctrination he received must have been very powerful, and very dangerously wrong. Killing innocent people can never be right, however you argue the case.

Stand up and be counted

I was happy to read that Muslim militants in Indonesia has forcibly closed more than a dozen Churches in west Java this year. I am happy not about the militants' destructive and intolerant behaviour which I believe Islam does not teach. Rather, I am happy because 1500 people of the Nadlatul Ulema (NU) gathered in central Jakarta to protest these forcible closures by Muslim hardliners. Among those gathered was the former President of Indonesia, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid.

At last, a major Muslim organisation is willing to stand up and be counted against the violence that people perpetrate in the name of religion. While such violent acts are not a new phenomena in themselve - its has been happening throughout human history. It has been amplified in the last couple of years through the terrorist acts of Muslim extremists.

Let us hope that more moderate and sensible Muslims are willing to make a clear, unambiguous statement that Islam is not about violence, that jihad is not the only word in the Koran.

Club calamity

Slightly more than 10 years ago, I received a brochure in the mail inviting me to become a founding member of the Raffles Town Club (Singapore). The brochure was a good size book which detailed in rich and lustrious colours the planned club facilities and membership benefits. At that time, I already knew quite a bit about clubs, having worked on a software for a large and prestigious golf club a few years earlier. So when this offer was extended, I was tempted.

Fortunately or unfortunately, I did not have the kind of money to pay for it, so I gave up on the idea. Today, this same club is in trouble because it lost a class action suite brought by about 4900 of its members a few weeks ago. The club is now proposing to pay off the $3000 a-piece debt to these members using vouchers rather than cash. The members would have none of this. What's more, the other 15,000 members who didn't sue could be knocking on the management's door too. What a right royal mess. Fortunately or unfortunately, I am not one of the 4,900, depending on your point of view.

Today, it is reported that the value of club memberships have depreciated drastically from 10 years ago. Then, one of the much coveted 5Cs that spelled success in life (at least in Singapore) was a Club membership. Today, that one C spells Calamity.

Education in trouble

The private education business in Singapore is suffering one setback after another. The biggest name that go hit was Informatics Holdings - formerly the No. 1 private institution in Singapore where you would want to sign-up for a degree in IT / Computing - that is if you failed to get into the local University or Polytechnic or you are a foreign student. Even a prominent local millionaire investor seemed to have given up on them recently.

Then there was Nanyang Business School (not to confused with NTU's Business School), and just a few days ago, AIT closed its doors, leaving many private students, many of which are from China, stranded.

Singapore is supposed to be a reputable destination to get a good education. But it would appear these these high-profile failures are giving Singapore a bad name. In spite of these, Singapore is still the place to get an education - in its government supported institutions where the programmes and the administration have stringent quality controls in place. But for a person outside Singapore who may not know better, a rotten apple spoils the whole tray.

911 - In memoriam

Four years ago today, the world witnessed one of the most destructive MAN-MADE disasters in peace time - the vengeful destruction of the World Trade Center in New York, an icon to America's economic and financial success. On that fateful day, thousands of innocent lives were lost and as a consequence, children were made fatherless or motherless or became orphans. Many lives were changed that day, and certainly, many governments have since re-evaluated their strategy to keep the peace in peace-time.

On that fateful day, news programmes were re-playing the scenes of the 747 planes flying into the WTC buildings like guided missiles - only innocent people were on board these 'missiles'. As was my practice then, the TV was switched on to CNN as I prepared to leave for work. These scenes and images displaying the audacity and ultimately, the evilness of the act will long remain in my memory.

Hate and arrogance has never solved anything. If at all, it has brought on the destruction of the very parties that preaches hatred and acted arrogantly. History is replete with examples, such as Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan some 60 years ago. Yes, they were initially victorious, lording over their captors. Their swift success seem to validate their beliefs as the defeat of the British Empire - long a dominant power and influence in many parts of Asia - was complete.

Yet, history has shown that victories borne of hatred and arrogance are hollow and can only be transient. Similarly, I believe that the war on terror will certainly be won as right overcomes evil. Communism was defeated, not because of an atomic bomb, but because it was inherently a flawed doctrine. Today, Communist China is turning Mao on its head as the practice of capitalism has become pervasive in China.

It is therefore heartening to learn that New York is rebuilding around the destroyed area, to first commemorate the tragedy and, more so, to celebrate the fact that terrorism cannot break the spirit of peace-loving peoples.

The Fall of Communism?

A few days ago, I had lunch with a group of company directors. Amongst them was a person who was once a senior government official. He is now in the private education business and travels to China quite often. He pointed out that the newly rich and highly educated Chinese in China (the Chinese are all over the world nowadays) shun their fellow countryman who are less well-educated and certainly not rich. They would rather work with foreigners in their country than their countryman.

Indeed, China today is communist in name only. They are embracing capitalist thinking and approaches to advance their causes within the country as well as outside it.

Not too long ago, the Chinese government-owned and controlled CNOOC went to the heart of capitalism to attempt to acquire Unocal Corporation - the 9th largest oil company in the US. I wonder what Mao Tse Tung would have thought of it - victory of communism over capitalism in capitalism's own backyard? Deng Xiao Ping would, no doubt, have approved though - the colour of the cat didn't matter so long as it caught the mouse.

Coming back, the divide between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots in China is growing. It struck me that that was why communism in China became popular in the first place. Taken to its logical conclusion, we may yet witness the second communist revolution about 20 years hence?

Food for thought.

References:
Battle for Unocal
Uncharted Waters
China drops bid
What CNOOC Leaves Behind

Rise of the consumer

I was at the Comex exhibition yesterday (an annual end-user computer exhibition like the annual Comdex in the US). I can only remember a few exhibitors who where selling PC and PC-related products - Maxtor, Dell, Chamoxa, Pluto, Linksys. Most of the big name companies such as HP, Toshiba, Compaq were selling Notebooks and Printers. IBM was entirely missing if not for its Thinkpad. Panasonic was selling its DECT phones at generous discounts, and its PC Notebook - the first time I'm seeing this from Panasonic. All of only ONE exhibitor was selling Linux (Xandros) - and that only as a sideshow. The major software vendor was represented by Microsoft (then again, selling mostly X-boxes). There were a few other smaller software vendors plying software such as the Hans Chinese language software and I saw a promoter outside the exbition hall carrying some flyers on Peachtree accounting software. External hard disks are hot, although by no means new. It reminded me of external hard disk-like drives I was playing with some 16 years ago in my then organisation.

But the rest of the exhibition was overrun by exhibitors selling consumer electronics products, really, with brand names like HP (sells more cameras and printers nowadays), Canon, Olympus, Samsung, Fuji Camera, Nikon, etc. Even printers are considered consumer electronics nowadays. I came away from the exhibition with a greater impression of the tons of digital cameras, video cameras, Cellphones and MP3 players (plus speakers mainly from Creative Technologies) on offer. Starhub was literally giving away the O2 phones for new sign-ups and there was a perpetually long queue. Too bad I am already a Starhub subscriber!?

Will consumer electronics take over Comex one day? Is software dead? Is the open source / Linux a fluke? It doesn't seem profitable enough to afford exhibition space?

The times they are a'changin... (Bob Dylan, 1964)

P.S.
Jennifer Mandy found that the link above is broken, which indeed it is. A replacement was suggested, which I have added below. It is amazing that 13 years after I wrote this blogpost, someone still finds it interesting enough to read it!

Thanks, Jennifer!

The times they are a'changin... (Bob Dylan, 1964)

Returning a favour

My criticism of the situation in New Orleans in no way detracts from the dire needs of those still stranded and hurt. Seeing people on TV asking about the fate of their loved ones and pleading for help in locating them evokes memories of when South and South-east Asia were struck by tidal waves (tsunamis) caused by gigantic undersea earthquakes less than 9 months ago.

Then, the US provided assistance both in kind and in cash. I am sure it is time that Asia reciprocrates. Yes, we are not a very wealthy part of the world, but Asia has experienced tremendous growth over the last couple of years, with more to come in spite of the rising cost of oil. I would like to think that the US contributed partly to this through its benign policing of the world. It is the only superpower with the ability to extend its reach globally. Many prefer to see sinister, self-serving and arrogant motives in this.

No matter what your views are, it is time to put aside differences of opinion and look at the present needs from a humanitarian perspective. Whatever your political affiliations, it is time to be magnanimous.

Irony of a disaster

By now, the world is aware of the destruction wrought by Katrina on the southern coasts of the US. What disturbs everyone, I am sure, is not so much the destruction caused by the Hurricane, but by humans upon humans in this tragedy. Instances of looting, rapes, and willful destruction of property by people on other people within a natural catastrophe is incomprehensible and inhumane.

This disaster has certainly brought out the worst in people, and ironically, in probably the most developed country in the world. It just goes to show that humans are no nearer being better with developments in economic strength, social advancements in justice, equality and, dare I say, democracy? But perhaps this is an over-simplification as it does not take into consideration the cumulative deprivation of the very people that have been hurt of hurricane Katrina.

But then, in the Asian Tsunami of December 2004, Indonesia's Aceh population, which suffered one of the worst destruction not unlike New Orleans', were not much 'developed' either and are certainly a deprived lot. Makes you wonder...

Links to information on the Katrina disaster:
MSNBC
Fox News
CNN
Yahoo News
Satellite Photos
Skin Colour?
About Hurricane Katrina
The American Red Cross
Donate

Clarification: This blog does not received any part of any donation made through the links above. I have no affiliation to the American Red Cross. Please give as you are able and where conscience dictates.

Down the slippery slope

Of late, some have written to the local press about marriage and the marriage bond. A woman wrote of how she eventually divorced her husband due to his infidelity, to which another woman wrote of how you should look at yourself, if you have been 'there' for the husband in the first place, suggesting that when a husband strays, it may not be all his fault.

This naturally provoked a wave of response from the public, with one suggesting that since it is natural for man to 'stray' anyway, why not replace marriage with a contractual agreement for two people to 'live' together. This way, they will not be shackled by the requirements of a marriage bond. Someone pointed out that marriage itself is a contractual bond, and if people cannot keep to the terms of this bond, then what is the difference with a non-marriage contract, except that it takes away a lot of the 'safeguards', especially for women, that a marriage bond, developed over many years, comes with?

To which other writers pointed out the 'benefits' of marriage can be skewed heavily in favour of the women, should it go wrong. For example, in the separation of matrimonial assets, child custody and support as well as in the maintenance of wife and child, the ex-husband bears the bulk of these 'costs' - no matter if the infidelity is wife's.

Next, a writer suggested that since the 'natural' urge of man is for multiple sexual relationships, then why not legalise polygamy as this will effectively address the main issue of 'straying' man. The point was also made that woman tend not to stray, for certain psychological reasons (although this was disputed). This writer was quite serious and mapped out the conditions under which polygamy should be practised. Under the ideal circumstances espoused, it was claimed that polygamy will address the issues and present a viable solution - an ideal that, in my opinion, will never work, not least of which this position is based on several questionable assumptions.

One can see how the suggestions to address the issue of marriage and divorce through a story about infidelity is sliding down the slippery slope of morality from non-marriage to multiple-marriages. This descent is alarming, to say the least, but perhaps not surprising. Decadence in the modern society is already visible, if you look honestly.

I always caution against marital breakups, if only because the children end up suffering the most. I teach, and I have come across students, who are otherwise bright, suffer a drastic fall in their grades. And this fall is often (upon enquiry) symptomatic of the psychological hurt and confusion that a child faces when parents divorce, more so when the divorce is an ugly one. I believe that children of non-marital contracts and polygamous marriages will suffer like challenges.

Vegetarian fast food

It is interesting that while MacDonalds sells vegetarian burgers in the US, the same item is not available in Singapore. Considering that the majority of people in Singapore are budhists, we should have a sizeable number of people who are vegans. So MacDonalds (and other Quickservice restaurants) are missing out on this large consumer sector. I wonder why?

The additional cost in providing vegetarian burgers cannot be high. The buns, lettuce, tomatoes and french fries can be served up as is (with sauce if required) and it can come with vegetarian patties, if desired. And all QSRs today claim to use vegetable oil, so there's no issue about animal ingredients involved in the preparation.

So the additional cost of providing the vege menu cannot be significant. Why isn't vegetable burgers offered in Singapore, or is it because the vegans generally shy away from fastfood anyway? I'm not a vegan, so I don't know.

CDMA - GSM divide

Korean telcos use CDMA cellphones. This is not compatible with the European GSM type phones, which are used in Singapore. Besides Korea, Japan and the US also use CDMA.

What this means is that your GSM phone will not work in Korea or any of these CDMA supported countries. If your cellphone is the GSM type and you travel to a CDMA country, you have 3 options on phoning home:

1. Rent a CDMA phone from your telcos; or
2. Call from the hotel you are putting up in; or
3. Use phone cards at their public phones

I do not have any experience with 1, and I avoid 2, both of which can be prohibitively expensive, but I have some tips for the 3rd. Phone cards can be very expensive - about US$5 (roughly equivalent to W5000) that will give you about 6-7 minute talk time. These phone cards are sold at most retail outlets bearing the KT brand. Unless you are in an emergency, don't buy them. As a comparison, you get 3 minutes local talktime for S$0.10 in Singapore.

Instead take the subway to one of the larger subway stations (such as Dongdaemon) where there are pushcart vendors in the underground subway. They sell prepaid phone cards of various brands ('Leader' - a brand from Serome, is the best, I am told). These 'mega talktime' cards come in a range of prices (W5000, W10,000, W12,000, W15,000) with different talktimes for different countries. These are all listed prominently on display charts at these pushcart stalls as well as with the card when you buy them. The clincher is the talktime. A W10,000 phone card (about S$18) gives you 120 minutes (i.e. 2 hours) of talktime for calls made to Singapore using a fixed line phone. Talktimes for calls made from a handphone is less for the same destination. The talktimes vary for country to country too. In any case, the point is that an equivalent talktime using the normal phone cards would have cost me about W75,000 (or approximately US$75)!

What's the physical difference between these two types of cards? The mega talktime cards give you a number which you reveal by scratching off the covering paint. The instructions on how to make calls is written clearly at the back of the card. (Note: don't key in the country code as the card suggests - that's the only problem in the instructions on these cards). The other difference is that for normal phone cards, you need to insert it into the phone slot. You don't have to do that for the mega talktime cards. All you need to do is get a dial tone by lifting the handset, then key in a string of numbers (including the phone number) and you'd be connected.

The best thing about it is that, with 2 hours on the card, you can now take your time talking to your loved ones back in Singapore (or any supported country).

There is one caveat, though. The card expires one year from first use. But even if you use a quarter of the available talk time, it would still be far cheaper compared to the normal phone cards.

Korean subway gym

Subway systems generally have escalators to help move people up and down the subway stations. Human traffic is generally very high, especially during peak hours. People move at different pace, but seem particularly quicker during peak hours. A couple of years ago, the Singapore subway system (the MRT) encouraged commuters to use the left side of the escalator if they want to remain stationary on the escalator in order to allow others to walk up the moving escalators. This had limited success. Even today, not every commuter is cooperative.

I was therefore surprised to find that in South Korea, every subway commuter, without exception, spontaneously stands to the right of the escalator to allow others to walk by. My colleague and I, although foreigners in that land, automatically fell in line with that practice. It just felt like the thing to do.

I wonder how long Singapore commuters will take to achieve this. I am not sure what is required. When it was first suggested in Singapore, I was one of the uncooperative commuters, for I thought that nobody should be telling me how to ride an escalator, or which side I should be standing on to allow other commuters to pass me by. After all, I am a left-hander and tend to hold my bag with my left hand. So standing on the right side holding the handrail with my right hand was more natural. This argument for right-handers would be the opposite. For one reason or another, this wasn't an issue for South Korea's commuters. What is the difference between Singaporean and Korean commuters, I wonder?

On a different note, one of the most challenging things about the Korean subway is the miles and miles of staircases commuters have to 'conquer' to get from platform to the street-level and vice versa. There just seems to be so many of them, with so many steps, that the commuter can safely stay away from the gym so long as they take the subway everyday. It'll keep them fit.

Paranoia

I couldn't find a picture of the faregates at the Singapore MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) system on the internet. Those that I did find where too small compared with the picture of the Seoul faregate/turnstile in my last blog entry.

In this age of the digital camera, where you can capture almost any image on your own, taking a picture of the faregates at the Singapore MRT system may be a simple, even trivial, undertaking, particularly when the MRT station is downstairs where I live. However, it may prove a costly undertaking. That's because the MRT (subway) system in Singapore is now heavily patrolled by arms-bearing soldiers. It is now not uncommon to meet a pair or more of these soldiers either standing or walking through the tunnels carrying mean-looking automatic rifles where, usually, only commuters are seen.

So, no, I will not be taking any pictures in or around the MRT stations whether they are above ground or underground. It'll probably save me having to explain myself in the police station. Neither will I post any picture not taken by me to avoid any mistaken suspicion that this blog is anything but a personal journal. If you want to look at a Singapore MRT fairgate, you will need to surf over to the respective SMRT / Transitlink websites to look at them, if they are available in the first place.

I do not apologise for this paranoia, for as Andy Grove said in his book of the same title, only the paranoid survives. And this is exactly the approach that Singapore is taking with regards to the terrorist threat. I am all for it though it might take away some of my 'civil liberties'.

People Management Philosophy

There are many management theories today. Examples include Scientific Management, Total Quality Management (TQM), Management by Exception (MBE) and Management by Objectives (MBO). Each has its own merits and may be effective in certain environments more than others. Now, what has all these got to do with the Seoul subway?

If you have taken the Seoul Metropolitan Subway, you would have noticed that most of the automated ticket turnstiles are unblocked (see the picture below). When you slip your ticket into the turnstile, no gate needs to be opened to let you through - you just walk through. In contrast, in other subway systems such as those in Singapore, a valid ticket is needed to trigger open a gate in the turnstiles.

Seoul subway turnstile/fare gate

Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Seoul-Metropolitan-Subway

On reflection, the Seoul subway turnstile control is more efficient in that it doesn't have to open-shut a gate for EVERY passenger. Imagine if you have a million customers a day, a gate anywhere in the subway system must be opened-shut a total of 2 million times a day (once when you enter and once when you leave). Now these are mechanical devices which suffer wear and tear, and therefore have to be maintained fairly often to ensure that they operate optimally. This requires constant monitoring by humans, and I am sure you'll agree that that's never perfect. Haven't you ever had the uncomfortable and annoying experience of having these mechanical gates shut on you at the wrong moment in the wrong place?

In the Seoul subway system, the gates will only shut when you do not insert a valid ticket. Again, if there were a million passengers a day (more like 18 million according to statistics cited), none of these gates need to open-shut if every passenger possesses a valid ticket. There is lower maintenance cost and faster clearance of human traffic at these turnstiles.

Why are there two ways of doing things here? I suppose it boils down to your philosophy of people and people behaviour. In the Seoul system, the assumption is that you can trust people to do the right thing most of the time. In the Singapore system, you inherently distrust people, i.e. until they prove themselves in possession of a valid ticket. Ironically, passengers eventually bear the higher operating cost that results from nostly invalid assumptions made on their behalf (by the service providers). In management terms, the first operates on the principle of Management by Exception while the second is more akin to Management by Suspicion (sorry, this management principle has yet to achieve currency ;-)).

Can we have a change of management, please?

Anytime Anywhere

As I blog this, I am sitting in the 'business center' of the Ohmo-gyo Co-Op Residence Hotel in Seoul, Korea. Well, the internet access costs W500 per 20 minutes, which is quite reasonable for anyone to check e-mail and surf the net and blog.

Its been three days since I last touched the PC keyboard, and its ok. I am not addicted to this machine. One thing about the familiar Windows UI is that I can navigate around the Windows environment quite comfortably even though everything on screen is in Korean. If this were a character type environment, I'd be lost. So there's something to be said about pictures / graphics being a universal language of sorts. For example, I couldn't communicate with the restaurant waiter/owner about what I wanted for my dinner last night. The restaurant menu was all in Korean and there was not a picture anywhere where I could point to! So, after some pained attempt to-ing and fro-ing as to what I wanted, I grabbed a pen and drew a fish and a squid. Immediately, the communication gap was bridged and I had my dinner successfully. Truly, a picture is worth a thousand languages!

Ths restaurant is in the neighbourhood, a stone's throw from the hotel, and not in any of the tourist belts. The hotel itself is located in a remote area doted with many small time workshops, not unlike the JTC one-storey factories back in Singapore, around Eunos / Aljunied areas. Its really charming. In a way, it feels like home.

That said, the subway is about 5 minutes walk away and it will take you to virtually anywhere in Seoul. With 9 lines, its much more complicated than Singapore's

How to choose an apple

No, no, no, I don't mean Apple - the makers of the hugely successful products such as the Macintosh and the iPod, I mean apples - those that keep the doctors away type. I was reminded of the subject because of some prunes I bought yesterday at the supermarket - beautiful, red ones that rarely make it to economic (cheap) supermarkets such as Sheng Siong. They are so beautiful that I have captured them for posterity, or at least till the next big digital technology comes along.

The looks of these luscious prunes (yes, that's a picture of a prune, not an apple though it looks like one) reminded me of a wholesaler who imports and distributes apples to supermarkets such as NTUC Fairprice. He taught me that fully red apples cost more compared to half red ones. So the next time you visit the supermarket for fruits, bear this in mind when you choose your fruits. And please, please, don't spend half an hour handling the whole tray of fruits just to choose 5 apples. I really don't understand why people do that, really.

Do like what my mother advises - look carefully and select. Don't pick blindly and throw back half the tray of apples. I am certain the next person who really wants to buy apples from that tray will appreciate the consideration.

p.s. Those prunes had a hint of sourness when I ate them. Nobody promised that beautiful luscious looking red fruits must be sweet. I am sure there is something profound in this observation. ;-)

Serving Others

An article in the Today Weekend yesterday broached on the subject of the poor service culture among Singaporeans. It was pointed out that at many business establishments, the quality of service leaves much to be desired, that good service is lacking, is perfunctory in some cases, is missing in others. This is a great concern, given that Singapore is trying to chart its future in the more service oriented industries such as tourism and other customer facing businesses.

The analysis boiled down to rewards - that people will be more willing to serve if they KNOW and are ASSURED of a certain quantum of payment (commissions and other incentives) for the service provided. The key word is KNOW and ASSURED. In the Singapore shopping culture, especially in dining, customers pay the mandatory 10% service charge as a reward or tip for services rendered. Whether in fact the service is rendered, how good the service rendered was, are not important because the customer has to pay anyway. I have spent some time with retailers to know that this service charge does not always go towards rewarding the staff directly and when it does, there is no discrimination in rewarding those who provided really good service and those whose service were bad. Have you ever wondered why some establishments asked for a tip on top of the 10% service charge? Under these circumstances, there is simply no incentive to performing well in providing good customer service. I believe this is generally true of other service-oriented businesses.

In the same article, someone suggested that we switch to the tipping practice - i.e. remove the mandatory 10% service charge and replace it with voluntary tipping. This will ensure that good service is duly rewarded and bad service is punished by the withholding or lowering of a tip by the customer. This is as it should be. Service levels can conceivably improve when staff know that they must earn their tip by giving good service, that a tip is not assured, that good service is rewarded with better tips and vice versa.

I think this is the right way to move eventually. Some worry that their income will fall because Singaporeans generally do not tip voluntarily. But I think Singaporeans should be given greater credit. Yes, there may be some boorish people who would want to get everything and pay for nothing, but I believe that Singaporeans, and people in general, recognise good service and will to pay for it.

I was personally impressed with the warmth of a middle-aged motherly-looking waitress when I was having lunch with some coursemates in an ordinary diner in Sacramento, California some years ago (1997/98?). She showed genuine concern when she asked if we'd had a good meal, and whether she could get us anything else. I have never had anybody in Singapore ask me the first question except my mother and wife. And I think she would ask any other diner those questions. It is her way of rendering service. It makes you feel at home dining there and you would probably come back again. And no, there is no service charge in California - you tip whatever amount you wish. The Hawaiian among us gave a US$10 tip for a meal that costs not much more than that! So the service provider in Singapore may find his/her income increasing dramatically for good service if voluntary tipping is practiced, and not the other way around!

I agree that we should abolish the mandatory service charge and bring back voluntary tipping. It'll make the service industry more attuned to the needs of the customer and certainly bring out the best in people - never mind that it is all still driven by monetary gain.

Disappearing Blog

I was mystified yesterday when, after creating a new blog, my epilogos.blogspot.com page didn't display a single one of my blogs. I have already got about 6 - 7 blog entries created. I checked my account and the blogs are still there, they can be retrieved and edited, so what gives? I thought that I might be having the same type of problem I had encountered in Yahoo's 360 account - sometimes the blog displays and sometime it doesn't. By the way, 360 is still in beta testing, but its a great tool for blogging and other stuff, but I couldn't stand the instability. Anyway, to come back, I left it at that. Hopefully the next day (now), it would have sorted itself out.

But no, the blogs still were not there. I checked high and low, switched from IE6 to Firefox and was about to fire off a bug report to blogger when a lightning bolt struck! I checked the template I was using and indeed, the problem was with the template. Somehow, in editing and saving the template a couple of days ago, the CSS template got truncated right at the location where my changes to the template were made. I chose another template, applied it and republished by blogs and hey presto! the entire blogs were displayed.

One hindsight, this probably happened because I was encountering erratic wireless connection then, so the template I was editing probably got 'sliced' and the wireless connection failed. I am blogging this because it might be useful to some of you who may be having the same problem.

p.s. Whereas IE wouldn't display anything, Firefox displayed a load of garbage that looked like this:

margin:0; padding:0; font-family: Georgia, Times, Times New Roman, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align:center; color:#29303B; line-height:1.3; background:#483521 url("http://www.blogblog.com/scribe/bg.gif") repeat; } blockquote { font-style:italic; padding:0 32px; line-height:1.6; margin:0 0 .6em 0; } p {margin:0;padding:0}; abbr, acrony

This gave me the clue that the problem most likely was with the template.