Hotels, restaurants that offer views of NDP fireworks fully booked.

Singaporeans are getting ready for the nation's 45th birthday! Many people are willing to spend their money on hotels room just to see the fireworks on a bird's eye view, on the day of celebration. Those hotel rooms have special views of the parade and fireworks. A special one night stay in hotels are not cheap, but people are willing to pay to witness the National's Day Parade Celebration.

For example, a 55th floor hotel room in Swissotel The Stamford costs about $640. In exchanhge, the people will be able to have a spectacular view of the Padang and the fireworks that will light up the skies on the day of celebration.

*This picture shows the view from the 55th floor hotel room in Siwssotel.


All rooms with similar views are all fully booked since April. Singaporeans are really willing to slurge on hotel rooms and even made early booking for it. All they want is to have the best view of the celebration that happens every August of the year.

Swissotel The Stamford's restaurants locate at the 69th level are also fully booked, by customers who will pay for the good view. Window seat of the restaurant even cost additional $20 per table.

As singaporeans are all getting ready for the nation's big day, let not forget the meaning behind every national day, which is to celebrate and commemorate the nation's independance.

Written By: Chan Jia Yi

Floods in Singapore: Who should bear the responbility?

Recently, Singapore has encountered several floods across the island, particularly central Singapore. This is a rare phenomenon in this country as the last flood that occurred here would date back to some 50 years ago. The worst-hit area was Orchard Road, where traffic was halted, productivity was crippled and goods damaged. When this news struck me, I was marvelled by the mere fact that a flood could occur in Singapore. To me, Singapore was flood-proof, but the flash floods themselves proved my view wrong.

People say that the government is to be blamed for not developing the proper infrastructure to prevent such an overwhelming event to occur. However, I put myself against the grain here. The flash floods around central Singapore were nothing more than unpredictable, and as the word states, the government could not anticipate it. Moreover, why would the government want this destructive event to occur? It affects our society and economy.


Due to the flash floods, PUB is already investigating the cause of the floods and how to mitigate the impact of heavy rain. Therefore, I feel that we Singaporeans should take this as a lesson learnt, to be prepared for the unexpected, as well as to give the government time to carry out measures and strategies that benefit both you and I.

Written by: Chan Jia Yi

Do we have racial harmony in Spore? If yes, is it based on understanding or tolerance?

Racial Harmony, I remember the primary school used to celebrate. Every year, we will be taught the importance of having racial harmony in Singapore, which is a multi ethnic country. Also, we will dress up with clothes and costumes of different races on the celebration day. Items will be brought up by students of different races as well. There will be a strong demonstration of racial harmony, working together despite the differnet races through exhibits and activities for the students to attend. Since young, we have been taught and we have learnt to accept the different races in Singapore.

Ministry Of Education commerate Racial Harmony Day on 21 July every year to mark the anniversary of the 1964 racial riots. This is a day for students to reflect on and celebrate Singapore's success as a harmonious nation built on a rich diversity of cultures. It can promote inter-racial understanding among students as the celebrations are a reminder that promotes social cohesion and racial harmony among the different races.

The theme for this year's RHD is “Embracing Diversity, Building Community”. It reminds us of the different races, cultures and languages in Singapore. Hence I feel that racial harmony in Singapore is based on understanding, not tolerance.

As singaporeans, we should respect each other’s race and religion and celebrate Racial Harmony Day together. All the races should work together, in harmony, to create a better Singapore.

Written By :Chan Jia Yi

Is there any more room for privacy given the hyper-connected world of online social networking?

Everyone is now using social networking websites such as friendster,myspace, twitter, facebook. They are channels with allows people to connect to their friends, post information about themselves, post photos and viedos as well.

Privacy seem to be not an issue in this case. People are happily posting all about their lives, openbly to the public through these networking websites. I know of some people who can hardly leave these websites. They will check for updates every now and then and even have the applications in their smartphones so that they can use it everywhere they go. People are willingly showing their lives to the world, because they do not feel that it should be kept private. They feel that it is alright to share it with the world. Information of people have made their friends and followers intersted and they started to connect with them through these networking websites.

Some information may be comfortable with people, but nowadays, people are more and more daring as photos of couples being intimate, scandily clad photos, nude photos are spreading on the internet. I feel that there is no more privacy on these social websites as anyone and everyone can have access to a person's information as long as suffcient information are given, for example and name or email. However, I think people should not expose too much of themselves or give too much information about themselves online as it is very dangerous to do so. It is not safe to have your personal information all over the internet. Some networking websites allow private viewing for friends only, however, if people were to have bad intention towards someone, information can be easily found out and it is dangerous to do so.

Written By : Chan Jia Yi

World Cup 2010

World Cup season is here! It is driving all the football fans crazy. Everyone is watching World Cup, even if it is on the morning of a working day. World Cup 2010 was held at South Africa. Due to the time difference between Singapore and South Africa, World Cup matches are shown as late as 230am for a match.



Who watches World Cup? Not only working adults, but students as well.
Late matches deprived them of sleep and caused them to lose focus in work and school. People stay up till the morning of a working day, just to catch the match. This definately affects productivity of school and at work. When people sacrifice their sleep to watch the match, deep in the night which drags till the morning, they will not be able to concentrate in the day. World Cup fans may be too hooked up with the game that in school and at work, all the think of is to go home and watch the next World Cup matches.

Conversations in school and workplaces, will definately include World Cup. This affects productivity as well. This is because people lose focus on their work as they chat more and more on the topic "World Cup". I believe that this is an exciting topic which people will be discussing on. World Cup fans or anti-World Cup people will all be talking about it because it is the EVENT of the year. No one will miss World Cup, everyone will know about it. Hence, the conversations about World Cup cannot be avoided.


Also, World Cup may have given people an opportunity to start gambling and trying out their luck at the matches. Even after the World Cup ended, those people who gamble may not be able to cut the habit and continue to bet on other things such as TOTO and 4D. This is such a bad and harmful activity that World Cup can actually cause to people.

In conclusion, I feel that people should not get too crazy over the World Cup, but balance their fun time with serious school or work in the day. People should not indulge in harmful activity such as gambling even when World Cup have ended.

Written By : Jiayi

Singapore table tennis team wins championship. Is there any glory?

The Singapore Table Tennis National Women's Team made history by upsetting the defending champion, China in the World Team Championships at Moscow. The team which consist of Feng Tianwei, Wang Yuegu and Sun Beibei beat China 3-1 in the final of the World Team Table Tennis Championships. Thought representing Singapore, all the team players are from china, so the quuestion is: "Is there any glory in the winning?"

Quoated from a forum, a Singaporean said: "As far as i'm concerned, it was China A vs China B and the B Team won, that's all! These Chinese sportsmen representing other countries are just rejects that were not good enough to represent China and they sold their skills for foreign money, they have not the slightest shred of loyalty for their own country!!"

From this comment, it can be clearly seen that this singaporean do not feel proud about the winning of championship by our fellow Singapore team. He feels that the Chinese table tennis players are rejects of China and thats the reason why they are coming Singapore instead of representing China. He also stated that those players are not loyal to their country.

On the other hand, other Singaporean applaud for their success.
Quated from a forum: "I am delighted that our table tennis players have done Singapore proud. Congratulations to them!"

This shows that the people feel there is indeed glory in the winning of the championship. The word 'our' is used. It shows that people accept the chinese sportmen who come from China, as our own. They regard them as our table tennie team which represente Singapore in games and competitions, on a national level.

Several people look at the winning in this manner: "If u need a country to denote it, its Singapore, but still,the people who won it, are from China." While others may rejoice in the winning of our Singapore team regardless of the nationality of the players.

I feel that there is glory in the winning of championship. When they win, the country 'Singapore' was lifted up. People in the world, do not see them as 'imported talent', but acknowledge the winning by the country by its name which is Singapore.

I feel that people should not critise the nationality of the players because they have indeed made us proud by winning the championship. We should not critise or make remarks to comment on the 'fake glory', but take pride in the winning by being proud of it.

Written By : Chan Jia Yi

Flyers : Should they be banned?

What is a flyer?
Flyers are leaflets used for advertising. It is also a channel to make the public aware of any information through reading from a piece of paper. Flyer are forms of communications methods used for people who want to engage or inform the public but do not have the money or desire to advertise over the internet, or use other means of advertising.

Flyers is a one way communcation method. They will be no feedback given by people who reads it. I feel that it is not a very effective way of advertising.

Sometimes, flyers are seen all over the floor. These are done by inconsiderate people who throw them on the floor after reading and reciding that they no longer need that piece of flyer. This causes land pollution and affects the beauty of the environment that we lvie in. This should not be the way how flyers should be treated. The printing of flyers cost money. People should only take the flyers when they think they need it, instead of taking it for fun and throwing them on the floor after they finished reading it. This is litering and is not a gracious act.

If flyers are carefully treated and used, there will not be litres of flyers all around singaopore and resources would not have to be wasted to print those flyers.

Sometimes, old people are seen giving flyers in heartland areas of singapore. I feel that this is the only source of income they have and I will take the flyer from them even if I may not need it. However, I will make sure that I will throw it away only when I see a trashbin and not throw it on the floor.

Hence I feel that flyers should not be banned but they should be used carefully with consideration to cost and the environment. People should dispose it in the right place, if they do not need it anymore.

Written By: Chan Jia Yi

Do teens need etiqutte lessons in school?

'Please' and 'Thank you' are basic etiqutte that everyone should adopt. When requesting for something, it is only right and gracious to say 'please' and 'thank you'. However, it is not the common lanaguage among young people these days. Young people may feel that practicing etiqutte is not cool and they don feel it a need to do so.

Teenagers do not have good manners when they talk to their teachers or parents. This may be due to the upbringing they have at home. In school, we see that teenagers are talking back at teachers, not respecting teachers or even scolding the teachers. Even when teenagers are with their family members, they are not behaving themselves.

Nowadays, teenagers lack the basic courtesy and manners. I believe that teens need to be taught etiqutte in school. Schools can start introducing etiqutte classes which can be conducted outside of cirriculum timings. It can be in a form of workshops where a speaker will talk to students about the importancy of practicing etiqutte. Students can also learn to practice etiqutte through case study given by the workshop. I believe that it can give them a better idea on etiqutte and how it should be carried out. I think that schools is the best way to improve students's etiqutte.

The society can be such a better place when the young people of the country can be gracious people who practice social etiqutte.

Written By: Chan Jia Yi

Facebook is banned in Pakistan.

What is Facebook?
Facebook is a social networking website which allows people to connect to people from all around the world. Users can add people as friends, sent them messages, write on their profile, chat online and update about themselves!

Pros : Facebook is useful because its a website that people can talk to their friends, post their feelings and comments on their wall, friends can also comment on their friends' update. From there, a chat can happen as more and more comments from different people comes in. It is always interesting to read the comments that comes from different people. We can look at their point of view towards a certain subject. Users can also play games that are available in Facebook.

Facebook allow people of the same interest to join a group and they can discuss issues of their interest in the group. They can even put up photographs and viedos and share about their experiences. They can share pointers and views. Above all these, Facebook is free to use.

Cons: Through there are advantages of using Facebook, it also cause people to spend a large amount of time on Facbook. Students are actively using Facebook all the time, even during lessons times and this can disrupt their learning. Due to Facebook being so easily accessible, people start to abuse the use of Facebook by posting comments without being responsible for it.

An example of people mis-using Facebook can in seen in the recent Pakistan case. Facebook have been banned in Pakistan because of the creation of a group called "Draw Mohammed Day". Thr group encouraged a 'contest' of drawing caricatures of Mohammed, the highest prophet in the religion, Islam. I think this Facebook group is very biased and insulting to the religion.

Facebook should never be used to discuss religion or political issues as they are very sensitive. Discussion of such topics may easily arose unhappiness in the targetted group. In serious cases, fight or wars may occur in the country as people want to voice out and show their unhappiness. This cause instability in the country.

Hence, I strongly believe that every user of Facebook should be responsible for what they say. We must take into the consideration, the impact of our comments towards other people. Is our comment insulting or being biased towards any group of people? How would they react after reading the comments posted by us? All these are questions that we must ask ourselves before we post anything on Facebook. If every user of Facebook follows this rules and respect different religon or political views, we will not see Facebook being banned in another country anymore.

Written by: Chan Jia Yi

Social Etiquette of smartphones

Smartphone is more that just a basis 'feature phone'. It has abilities that surpass what a normal phone can do. A smartphone allows you to read and reply your email while you're away from your computer or laptop. Anywhere you go, as long as you're are carrying a smartphone and there is internet connection, you are able to reply emails and surf the internet too.

Whenever I am travelling on the train, I see people busying japping on their Blackberry or iPhone. More than just business personnel , non working youths and students are also using them. This scene can be seen during family meetings,class gatherings and even outings with friends. Instead of giving attention to the other party, people are so engaged with their smartphones that they may have neglacted their friends and family. Smartphone user use their phones even in situations that are inappropriate, such as meetings, dinners. This is disturbing to see. So, I believe we should respect the ocassion and the people around us and know when to use our phones. The convenience of smartphone have caused people to lack social etiqutte.

Though smartphones may be good and convenient, we should still practice social etiqutte and be wise while using them. I strongly believe that society should never neglate social etitutte no matter what they do.

Written by: Chan Jia Yi