YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

It is a proud moment in history that Singapore is hosting the 1^st Youth Olympic Games. The long wait and the detailed preparations resulted in the YOG become a reality.

The fireworks, the journey of the Olympic fire, the opening ceremony and now the start of the Olympic is something that would be imbedded in our memory.   

In years to come, the YOG would become part of the main Olympic Games. The Youth Olympic is platform for youth to excel in their sporting fitness and ambitions.

Fly The Flag

Year after year, on every National Day, the helicopter carrying the huge state flag with the accompanying helicopters steal the show. The fighter planes in aerial flight, in V-formation, signals the start of the parade on the ground. This year the parade is back to the Padang, the venue of the first National Day Parade in 1966.

This year, the public has the chance to see the mobile columns of tanks and other huge fighting machines. Each combat unit is proud to be represented at the Parade, either by weapon system or the unit flag. Years ago, I felt proud to hear the strain of music: “This country is my home ...” School pupils have to assemble to sing the school song and the national anthem.

The annual parade is part of the National Day activities. Then there is flag flying on all buildings and also on vehicles in the national month of August. The flag is our national symbol, our symbol of being independent. After the end of Japanese Occupation, the British came back to Singapore. On 1.4.1946, the Straits Settlements was dissolved and Singapore became a separate Crown Colony. In 1953, Sir George Rendall headed a British Commission to grant increased self-governance for Singapore. It was partial self-government from 1955 to 1959. The PAP swept into power in 1959 and it was full self-government from 1959 onwards. On 9^th August 1965, Singapore gained independence after leaving the short-termed federation with Malaysia (1963-1965).

The main priority of the government after Independence was housing, international trade, improving the port & airport, industrialisation, education and improvising the standard of living for the nation. Since the early days of 1965, we have never looked back but continued marching onward and forward. This has been possible with the excellent leadership of three Prime Ministers: PM Lee Kuan Yew, PM Goh Chok Tong, and now PM Lee Hsien Loong.     

It is important to know the history of our nation. Over the decades, the government has solved many problems and the industriousness and confidence of the people was an added positive factor towards nation building. Today we have reached the era of Information Technology and fast paced innovations.

The flag is the insignia of our Republic and it also flies at the United Nations. On this day of independence, I mean 45 years of nationhood, we have the opportunity to reflect upon ourselves how far we have moved on in life and how Singapore has improved over the years. I read the Straits Times, the New Paper and also Today and there are many reflections by the people how they feel so positive about this land and they are grateful to this nation. Our lives are closely knitted with the peace and harmony of Singapore.

As the flypast and the parade mark the start of our celebration, let’s salute with pride to Singapore for giving us so much. We love Singapore and we fly the flag with great pride and happiness.

Happy National Day!

Om Nath Panday

9 AUG 2010

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Pursue Your Dreams

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There is nothing wrong if you live in your dreams. I remember what my mother used to tell me about the story of James Watt. He seemed to be uninterested in his studies and would be seen idling at home. He would look at the kettle that his mother used to boil the water.

One day James took a small item and put it on the kettle lid. After some time, he found that the lid was able to lift up. He then increased the weight with more heavy items. Each time the lid was being lifted up. James then realised that it was the power of water steam and it has the ability to move it.

Young James then said to himself that if the steam moves an object, then why not I enclose the steam within a compartment and surely it would be able to move the whole box. Wow! What a box it would be: a moving one.  His imaginative mind then went on exploring further. Thought James Watt, “If I can move the box, why can’t I move the other boxes?” Surely this is possible according to James Watt.

What he thought was to align a few boxes in a line and link them. Thus it was the advent of the steam engine (the first compartment) and the coaches (the many compartments aligned with the first one). The coaches were linked to the steam engine with metal hook. The fire within the steam engine represented a moving power. To create steam, coals were used.

How to give movement? James further came up with the ideas of wheels i.e. the compartments and the steam engine would be fitted with wheels.  A wheel can move but then there must be a destination. So this idea led to the building of rail-road. Hence places were linked with railroad and in no time, the first trains rolled out in England.

What James Watt did was to move the world with his marvellous inventions. In History, we can see many examples of inventions or innovations. Isaac Newton postulated the three laws of gravitation. If Newton would have simply ate the apples, then perhaps today we would not see space shuttle in flight or mission to other planets.  Einstein came with his super formula E = mc2. Hence we are rich with the heritage of scientific inventions and knowledge.

We must not say that this current era lacks the scope for further inventions or innovation. In fact a critical and innovative mind would discover that there is a world of new opportunities waiting to be discovered and the discipline of knowledge is ever increasing. The idea of laying bricks and how to do it faster led to the birth of Management. Today management is used in many applications: the military, in astronomy, the economy, the board room, the office, the factory and etc.

For the common men and women, there is ample scope to discover or uncover new ideas. Do you know that the advent of drinking straw came about due to the question of hygiene when using glasses? The Styrofoam boxes are used as lunch packets. The plastic that hold your favourite Milo, coffee or tea is I think our local invention. The style of teh tarik @ mamak shop is Singapore style. The invention of bean curd or tahu is also local one. I think that we have underestimated our true potential.

No wonder I love to hear the slogan “Boleh” i.e. things are possible. The spirit of can be is important and essential for our progress. Many of the new ideas actually sprout from new way of doing the current things. You see that as one way of doing thing leads to another way and another way and in time you realise the first way were rather slow, rather cumbersome, more tedious and inefficient. Thus the chain of inventions or improvements makes our lives much better. A good comparison is the use of hand fan, then motorised fan and finally the in-built air-conditioning system. So you can see how ventilation has progressed over the years.

If you have any ideas, please don’t suppress it in your heart. Spill it out, talk to your close ones, write it down, improve it, draw it or chart it. As your efforts increased, an innovation is waiting to spread its wing and fly all over the world.

Allow your ideas to fly, to take shape and improve the lives of humanity. Therefore live in your dreams, allow it to take shape and make this nation a wonderful place to live in.

Om Nath Panday

9 AUG 2010          

Wishing

All Singaporeans A Happy

National Day

Pursue Your Dreams

&

Fly the Nation’s Flag

LIVE OUR DREAMS    

FLY OUR FLAG

Can we live to our dreams and not forget our roots? There are many trials and tribulations in life but one must not forget his links with the family, society and the nation. Read on to find what Om Nath has to say ...

Imagine that you make a wish upon a shooting star and within a few days it becomes true. You would consider yourself very lucky because of the coincidence of your wish and shooting star coming together and your wish being fulfilled. In bright city lights, you can see the stars except for the moon and one or two very bright stars.

In the kampongs of South East Asia where electric supplies, water and sanitation is still not available, the night sky glitters with the millions of stars and you can easily spot a shooting star provided if you are looking at the Heavens. It is said in folklore and religious teachings that paradise lies above and Hell is much below us.

However, if we choose not to be active and productive, then our living condition can worsen to a bad state that which is akin to Hell. To convert a place into Heaven requires a lot of ingredients, I mean the ingredients to achieve success.

It is from the dream that our vision emerges. To achieve success, the vision must remain constant and bright in our mind’s eye. The vision is our base, our platform from which we work out the details (calling it the work plan). The next step is the active engagement or carrying out the plan to achieve what we want.

It could be anything: buying/building a new house, climbing up the career ladder, going into own business or building a strong and loving family. Whatever we do to improve means our immediate present and near future would become better and better. When neglect set in, it is like the rust that steal away the shine and lustre of an object.

Never let your resolve waver or your vision become dull or blurred. If you are the head of the family, then the burden is great to steer the whole family to become successful. Being a social being, we cannot live in isolation. We have always someone in our lives to be concern about and take care while not forgetting our own life. It is the link between family members, the link between relations, the link between friends, the link between our fellow Singaporeans and the link with the nation that is most important. I say this because if we allow any of the many links that binds us in life to weaken, then we see that success is beginning to elude us and as the situation worsens, success and achievements become a far cry.

So do you wish to regress in life towards misery or progress with confidence for a bright future?  Thus we must focus on our vision, make the plan and put in the effort to progress while not forgetting our links with humanity. I have read on many occasions about theme like the call to strengthen the family bond, nurture the spirit of the young and help the underprivileged. Just consider what does all this mean? If we remain in isolation – thinking only of our individual selves, then the bonds that bind us with the world would weaken and the end result is we would be in misery – in mind, body and spirit. One cannot be a hermit and at the same enjoy everything while neglecting our family members and fellow people around us to suffer. If our own world becomes gloomy, it means we are in regression towards negativity.   

You may feel being lucky and successful but if it is at the expense of love and affection with the family, spending little or no time with them, then I wonder what kind of success is this. The basic foundation stone is the family because it is the family, the first institution from which we evolved. Happy are the parents in whose home a new born child graces. The priest is invited, friends and relatives come and there is joyful celebration. So our first link is the parents, then it is with the brothers and sisters and then progresses to our many relatives.

Next is the school – the teachers and pupils. Over the years, friendships strike and sad to say, it is broken up again after the PSLE result is released. We lose almost all of our friends and then make new friends at the new school (in Secondary One). The process is repeated at the Junior College, Polytechnic or the University. The same thing happens at the workplace and we find in advancing age that we have no real buddy. While some of the breakup is due to structural changes but then there are many which is self-imposed.

We begin to move away from our parents, treasuring jealously our new found freedom in the years of teen and then returning back temporarily to our parents as the demands of young adulthood increases. The parents are our best friends in time of new born child, shifting to a new house and setting down as a new family unit. They feel so concerned that they do babysitting and the many chores or run errands for the busy couple. As time passes on and things have long settled down, the poor parents are forgotten. The hum and grind of daily living, being busy on the job and solving the family problems make many of them forget their loving parents. I have seen in some families where the children have grown so big and earned so much good names and assets, that they ignored their parents.

When the news of the parent’s death comes, it is just a few days at the wake and then the tussle for the division of the parent’s wealth begins. Sometimes the fracas begins at the wake and concerned friends and relatives intervene in doing their best to calm them down. Once the division of monies and asset is done, the siblings return back to their own homes and lives and never meet with each other again except for another wake. What a sad thing to say.   

Imagine the brimming happiness that the parents felt at the arrival of the new-born child. The years passed on and the many dreams of the parents were fulfilled – the children did well in school, got a good job and started a new family. However, what pains them most is the separation and eventual forgetting them forever. We pray to God to fulfil our aspirations but then the first God is our parents and next in line the teachers who helped us to mould our future for a better one. Forgetting the parents, the gurus, the friends and relations, the society and then even migrating to another land - it is really a sad sequence. 

Having said that the family is the most important and basic institution, I move on to the work-place. Suppose you strike a million dollar in a big sweep, would you still want to work? This is a question sometime asked by friends and colleagues. You may brush aside such question by your curt reply: Do not count your eggs before the chicken hatches them. This reply is most unwelcome because it kills the discussion and the imagination to exercise making a plan if the reality arrives. Thus if the real day ever comes in one life, then many things can happen because the plan has never materialise. Chances are the money goes away in wasteful ways or if the person is not prepared, he may get a shock or even pass away instead of being happy. Extreme emotion is dangerous. 

No personal plan made, as you see, the above example was just an exercise to do a simple plan. The same goes for many other things. Focus on the job and doing it satisfactorily but then the self plan is neglected. I know of one colleague who did not plan retirement and as he was a friendly Father Christmas, all his monies were gone with the friends and relations. Finally he was resorted to begging. There are some people who may even resort to cheating others.

The work is not your total world. There also exists the social world. Some people come forward to do social work or contribute in organisations that help the people. Social work may not carry the glamour of the work-place like “I am Director of ABC Co. I have under me 1,000 staff.” It is the passion and humility that can bring achievement in the social world. Understanding people and solving the problem of the masses is what drives social workers to greater height.

Next we self-reflect our contribution to the nation. We are blessed with an excellent government. There is law and order in this land. Singapore is strategically well-placed on the international trade and business map. Instead of relying on import-export only, the nation has diversified over the years and we have ample research and development work in progress. In line with living up to our dreams, our scientists and professors are engaged in many useful projects. Innovation is one area we should not lag behind. Singapore’s progress is evident in the emergence of many hubs and existence of many opportunities.

There are many form of contribution to the nation like coming up with good ideas, helping in useful national programs, volunteering in disaster rescue mission and etc. However, if one is unable to contribute, I think there are still some things like not to spoil things or facilities provided by the state. Vandalism is a punishable offence. Graffiti is bad for our image. Littering is another area that should be of concern to all of us. Do not spoil our beaches and parks with ugly sore-eye litters.

We have come a long way from the days of many national campaigns like STOP LITTERING OR SPITTING, KEEP SINGAPORE CLEAN AND GREEN and so on. I hope that the salient points and good message has been ingrained in our mind. We have best and cleanest airport in the world. The Changi International Airport is a good testimony of our achievement.

The secret of success is being industrious, having a thinking mind, being thoughtful of others and working and living as a team. Imbibing a pride for the nation is essential from a young age. We must know the history of our nation and how we progressed since 1965.

I hear the tune of the National Anthem and balloons floating in the air in a celebratory mood. I then had a virtual spectacle. I can see the five stars rising upward rapidly in a crescent manner. The trail of red is a great sight to see.  As the crowd of people cheers loudly and say,

“Live our dreams, fly our flag”,

a wave of patriotism surges in the masses. We all fly the national flag in high spirit.    

By Om Nath Panday

AUG 2010

Shri Sivakant Tiwari (fondly called as Tiwariji by teachers and pupils of Hindi School) was a man of great distinction. He was the government’s top lawyer working with Attorney-General’s Chambers for 36 years.

In his years of long civil service career, he has chaired many enquiry boards like the World Trade Centre cable car accident, the Spyros Incident and the Hotel New World tragedy. An expert in international affairs, he skilfully negotiated the Pedra Branca island for the nation and was with the Law of the Sea Conference. 

PM Lee in his condolence to the Tiwari family expressed his deep-felt sympathy and noted his many distinguished contribution to the Republic. Condolences poured in from many quarters and the funeral ceremony was crowded with many people, and notably from the legal service. 

Tiwari’s departure made me filled with deep emotional grief at the sudden loss. I felt ill for some time.

Now as I reflect back into the distant past, I remember that my family was very close with Tiwari’s family. My father used to meet Mr. Thakur Prasad Tiwari (S Tiwari’s father) who used to work with a firm in Market Street. My father would regularly visit Mr. Alarak Rai (the paanwala @ Telok Ayer Street) and then proceed to see Mr. Thakur Prasad.  Sometimes he would go to Naina Mohamad Pharmacy Store to buy some medicines. In the sixties and seventies, there existed the Robinsons and also a mariner store, E J Motiwalla where you can purchase navigational equipments or sea charts.  Change Alley was booming with brisk business. Sailors from many nations visited Singapore and the landing point was Jones Pier or Collyer Quay. Mohamad Faroouk of Dinky Di store was popular with the sailor community.

The Tiwari family lived at Bendemeer Road then and a stone’ throw away was the Bendemeer Secondary School. Thakur Prasad Tiwari was a strict man and I remembered he loved to ask daddy our marks in school. I feared Tiwari Senior because we may not know what the future was in store and what happens if my marks were below our parent’s expectation. There was anxiety when I took the Senior Cambridge Exams and in later years of tertiary education, I became more confident. I remember those were the days when the school results were posted on the notice boards for everyone to see and the newspapers would run the whole series of GCE “O” and “A” level including that of private candidates.

Mr. Sivakant Tiwari was a brilliant student and he studied at Raffles Institution. He was also good in his sports and his cabinet was decorated with sports and academic prizes. In the late sixties, the Tiwari family moved to Joo Chiat Place. I can remember that S Tiwari’s children were playful when young but they were hardworking in their studies. Like his father, Mr. S Tiwari has always stressed the importance of good education and good human values.   

My dad also used to work in Attorney-General’s Chambers. I know that A-G Chambers is very busy. I have seen the vast amount of paperwork – the crafting of legal documents, parliamentary papers and other legal instruments being worked out. This is in reference to the era of pre-computer days. The typewriters kept on rattling away to churn thousands of legal papers.

Today with the age of computers & IT (the word processor was a transition phase that I saw), the Chambers operate with great efficiency. The baskets of law books, the reference/research into law files or books in the legal library, the smart suits and pants of lawyers and the wearing of legal wigs, the Supreme Court, the Subordinate Court, the cases being heard or brought forward and the handing out  of justice – all these forms the Singapore Legal System. The scale of justice is well-balanced and there is fairness and respect of the law in Singapore.

 Mr. Tiwari was fond of Hindi language and he requested that Hindi be taught in schools. Thus it led to the opening of the Hindi Centre in 1990. Mr. Tiwari became the school principal. Since then he has actively devoted to the cause of Hindi teachings during his whole life-time.

In his life-time, Mr. S Tiwari has devoted a lot of his time to helping people in as many ways as possible. The unfortunate in society would always remember him as he was like a saint to them. Mr. Tiwari’s style of leadership shown at work and in the community is most distinguished.

S Tiwari was a man of detail. His love for the legal system and justice in this land enabled him to work out the fine details with great brilliance especially in the Pedra Branca negotiations & the Law of the Sea Conference. It is an honour to remember Mr. Tiwari’s work of excellence in many fields.

Mr. Tiwari has, in his life, worked closely with three Prime Ministers:  Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, Mr. Goh Chok Tong and Mr. Lee Hsien Loong. On his retirement, he was visiting Senior Research Research Fellow at the Institute of South-East Asia.

As I remember the many moments with Mr. Tiwari, I feel very sad. I must say that Mr. Tiwariji was a noble man; one who was well-known both locally and abroad. I will always remember Shri Sivakant Tiwari.

My deepest condolences go to the Tiwari family.

By Om Nath Panday

27 July 2010

By steve fox @ 28/07/2010 8:44 PM Delete