The Voiceless Nation

The future of Singapore is bleak, it is coming to a dawn… to an end. The reasons are clear and simple; most Singaporeans do not have the basic knowledge of forming an opinion. They seem to have no opinions on whatever happens. They just take it without questioning, accepting it is (good) for them. It is frightening to know this occurring in a democratic country. They do not know their basic rights, their freedom to exercise free speech… and even a free will of thinking. With a nation that does not think, the future does not look rosy for it either.

After reading a post on Mr Wang’s blog about “More than half of workers in S’pore regret choice of study” i feel compelled to write an essay on this topic. Everyday we are bombarded with propaganda on trains, buses and streets. Recently, the government have been promoting the food and beverage industry as a lucrative career to be in. Needless to say, people in the f&b industry are probably work the most hours and the are the most lowly paid workers around. With so many false images implanted into our minds, no wonder we are the most disillusioned people in the world, studying for the sake of studying, working for the sake of working… not liking any bit of it and probably regretting our choice of careers and studies (as indicated by a survey by Kelly Services)

It all starts at 12 years old, we are streamed into different classes depending on our academic ability at that age, to be classified as “special” “express” or “normal”. Those who are streamed into “normal” are frowned upon as being “stupid”. They carry this label in their whole lives and it determines their destiny in the working world. Those who are “smarter” and “hardworking” will try to climb out of this label and try to excel with their “smarter” peers - with a longer route to take.

Singapore is probably the most regulated country in the world with every rule set in paper for people to follow - without much say in how things should be run in reality. There is a determined set of routes to take to succeed in life - to be an engineer, doctor or lawyer. To be an artist is seen as absurd…. the primitive nation does not seem to appreciate art… or even take a second glance at it… after all.. it does not bring them any pragmatic value.

A nation that does not think is certainty a dead nation. Like the vegetable state of a person lost in coma, he thinks he is alive but he isn’t in reality. He cannot control what happens to his body, the external world determines what they do with it - to put him to sleep or to put him on the life support machine. If there is no financial resources in doing so, they will put him to sleep like the animals in shelters - unwanted outcasts of the society. If he holds the knowledge to eternal life, they will keep him alive as much as possible - for the day he would “contribute” his knowledge to the society.

I hope one day the nation does wake up and realizes that he can take control of his life instead of letting others decide what to do with him. He will be playing in his own dreamland for now…

Defects

Society has its way of dealing with defects.

They are kept underground where no one can see.

Ignored like out casted beings on Earth.

Killing

If the killing is allowed to go on, the world will be littered with dead bodies. Every where you go, there will be markings on the ground, symbolizing a skeleton is lying underneath the very  grounds you are standing on.

After all, we are treading on the dead. The fossilized bodies of dinosaurs, the minerals of organic life and powdered skeletons of stone. The dead lies below the earth, the living walks upon it.
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Tools of A System

A machinery moves in an automated system. It runs like a clock, in fact, it is trying to beat the clock to produce faster and faster. Churning out goods at a rapid rate to meet the demand from the suppliers.

The employees working in an Multi National Corporation (MNC) are just tools of a machinery system. They are delegated specific functions in their respective departments. They work around the clock, the employees in the USA are working in the day while the employees in India work while they are asleep. Everything is part of a big automated system that ensures profitability of the stock holders.

Everyone is becoming part of the system, each one of us contribute to a bigger objective. Tall buildings dominate the landscape while workers scurry like ants on the ground level. CEOs play golf while entertaining prospective clients. Money is the bottomline. If it brings in profits, we will start production of the goods and services to the masses.

We are just dispensable tools of a system. You can be fired and replaced anytime. Unless, unless… you decide to control the system and stop running in the race like everyone else.

Averal Lim is a Business Undergraduate who examines the consequences of economy on the people that traps them in an invisible race for a “greater being”.

Want To Be A Star?

Picture of Gackt, a famous Japanese Singer

Humans sell everything and anything nowadays. As long you have the money, you can get anything (superficial). Human Products is a term i invented for the rising number of “artists” who are marketed by record labels into an “image” that people would “purchase”. It can also mean selling of one’s body (in a sick and twisted way).

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Where Has My Heart Gone?

He took a scissors and cut the veins towards her heart and threw it into a deep hole that no one could find.

There are no sadness in her eyes, they are just moving tear drops that don’t feel a thing

She looks at the world spinning around her while she sits still.

Waiting, waiting for the day that her heart can be found.

There is No Human Left

The world is getting faster - everyone wants it quick. Traditional resturatants are losing out to fast food, human labor is being lost to automated machinery. The bottom line of businesses is to deliver at a low cost and speed of delivery into the market determines competitive edge over the others.

Over the last decade we had seen the prevalence of automated machines in our everyday lives - ATM machines, vending machines and even driverless trains. The opening of 7 - eleven beside the station has led to a row of traditional mini-convenience shops to close their operations after being in the area for 20 over years. Our technology is killing the old, replacing with new, automated service “Good Afternoon Sir, how may i help you today?” by service staff over counters.

Gone are the days you will spot an uncle in a singlet scratching his back while serving you in his mini business. The human like characteristics of personal service is replaced by company scripts and models of behaviour is replaced with guidelines in the handbook, ensuring corporate identity. There is no more room for personal identity - after all, who said we were living anyway? We are just a small part of a big system that automates the supply chain work flow.

They say that globalisation has led to a growth of accumulated wealth that has been never been precedented for in the entire human history, that we have more liberties as compared to being peasants in monarchies. I say, we are all poorer in fact, we are losing our identities to the large corporate dungeon whereby masters would whip out any sign of rebellion to ensure the population conforms to certain roles that they are expected to perform. Liberties are replaced with conformity, individualism is gone. Who says we have a voice? The ruling party decides what to portray in the media, the sheep like mentality of the population gives greater powers to the shepherd leading the herd into the slaughter house while putting on a smile.

They say the human spirit is free, however, we had trapped ourselves in another game - the game of life. For more wealth, for more gains … while bleeding the ordinary to work for their riches. Welcome to the 21st century, lose your identity to the corporate world and be part of the faceless race.

Averal Lim is a business undergraduate who thinks that globalisation has repercussions that economists failed to see.

Music is Universal

There was once i asked my mum why did she take up classical piano.

She replied, “Music is a universal language, no other language can replace it.”

For my typically bimbotic handbag perfume loving mother to say something so profound shocked me initially, i recovered after a while and pondered about it. No matter how much i tried to argue within my heart, i couldn’t find a better argument for her statement (i am used to arguing with her when she says illogical stuff like sleeping with my cat makes me sneeze).

“There are so many barriers in languages, not everyone can understand the differences in language. For music, it is different, everyone can understand the emotions in music, and that is what makes it such a powerful communication tool.”

It is true, no matter how flowery or brilliant language can be, its impact is limited within that few words in a statement (that is if the person reading it has a good comprehension of the language in question). Music is different, its impact is so powerful that anyone in the world can be swayed with its emotions.

Which reminds me, when i was in St Francis doing my A levels, a teacher called up an “ah beng” from my class to play the piano. With tattoos all over his chest and tattered knuckles, i thought he was the least likely candidate to be able to play the piano (more like karate).

“Play us a song about how you feel” My music teacher kindly instructed. When he sat on the pedestral and started moving his fingers across the keys… i was astounded. I could feel his emotions as he played the notes… his body swayed with the melody as he transported us to another land. My impression of him changed drastically after that, i did not see him as a gangster, in fact, i admired him.

They Are Not

The world is full of people that pretend to be who they are not.
They boost of extraordinary feats when they are nothing

I call them fakers.

They are just living in denial.

An imaginary lie.

A sad sad one that is.

I hope they do realise that they need to DO something instead of not doing anything…. things happen for a reason. It needs a strong intention to manifest it into a physical form… that is real.

Sometimes they really make me sick in the stomach. Not everyone is dumb to believe in their fantasy world and i hope they stop trying to brainwash others into a “paradise” at the end of a cliff.

Bleeding

Cracked walls revealing tainted blood
Skies breaking revealing the odyssey

Angels falling from heaven’s height
Humans nailed on holy crosses

Devils laughing at worlds end
Spirits lingering at deads end

A giant web cast upon opened eyes
Noise distortions on broken drums

Wired hands tied behind bars
Brains electrocuted on iron chairs

A bleeding world of sinners
A hellish place where evil thrives.