YOU HAVE A CHOICE!

Yesterday, 27th March 2008, my mum received a surprise visit from two SCDF officers who is there to personally hand deliver a letter to me, but as i was working during that time, my mum received it on my behalf.

She called me up, sounding very distress and panicky, asking me whether i have deserted from National Service! I was shock for a moment, trying to digest fully my mum’s words. What the hell? Since when have i deserted from National Service? After that conversation, i couldn’t concentrate fully on my job, feeling distress, confuse and in shock. What the hell is going on here?

When i get back home later that night, i quickly reach for the letter from the SCDF. Its headline was, "FINAL WARNING"! and the sub-headline was, " ABSENSE FROM IN-CAMP TRAINING".

In point 1, it ask me to refer to the letter that was served to me dated 07/01/2008 and says that they have yet to hear from me despite the reminder.

In point 2, they says that they have consider me as having deserted from National Service and that upon conviction, i am liable to serve imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years.

In point 3, it stated that they are still prepared to take a lighter view of my offence if i respond to the letter immediately by contacting the unit, which is SCDF HQ 4th CD Division.

The letter was signed personally by the Officer In Charge of NSPAC, LTA Foo See Kum of the HQ 4th CD Division.

Well, of course when i have read through the letter, not once, not twice but over and over again, i really feel disgusted and angry with SCDF, for accusing me of something which i have not done! At the same time, there’s also fear in me, and i’m not in the right state of mind, feeling extremely confused and distressed! I keep asking myself of what is going on, what is happening and that night, i did not have a peaceful sleep.

This morning, i woke up early to call the cd division. A staff answered, and when i asked to speak to LTA Foo, the staff replied back that he’s in Civil defence Academy. Jolly well, as i was feeling extremely angry that time, i spoke to this staff of the letter which they hand delivered. The staff replied that i did not attend my In-camp training in December 2007! Hearing that, i immediately "exploded" at him. I also told him that i did not receive any letter from them  dated 07/01/2008.

Yes its true, i was to attend my reservist training in late December 2007. But as luck would have it, i had a foot infection and the doctor excuse me from wearing any boots/shoes for a week. On the very first day of the December reservist, i reported back to Civil Defence Academy and showed my excuse letter to the officers in charge. He then advice me to go back to the 4th CD Division to submit my excuse letter and reschedule my reservist date.  So i did that and my reservist training was reschedule to February 2008, which i attended. The staff then check my ic and then he admitted that there is a mistake. I was furious. I demanded for LTA Foo to get back to me.

LTA Foo eventually called and i reprimanded him and give him a piece of my mind. He admit about the mistake and apologise over the phone and gave 1001 excuses but i demanded that i want an apology letter in black and white and asked it to be hand delivered personally and for them to apologise to my family personally for the distress and alarm caused. This is a very serious matter as it had caused a lot of distress to my family. For me being accused of deserting from National Service duty is already a very serious matter. I also asked him for disciplinary action to be taken to those who cause this mess. what is worse, he signed the warning letter personally himself without any counter check!

I’m now planning to write in to the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding this unfortunate incident to ensure that action will be taken and that this kind of thing won’t happen again in the future.

Is this the kind of standard of a world class organisation which Singapore is proud of? Frankly speaking, i have totally lost my faith and trust in SCDF! Never ever in my life, from very now onwards…

I stayed up late this morning till about 4am just to wait and watch for the results of the 12th Malaysian General Election. Frankly speaking, i’ve been praying and hoping hard that the Barisan Alternatif, consisting of Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Democratic Action Party (DAP) will do some big damage to the ruling coalition of Barisan Nasional (BN).

And true enough, they do not disappoint! Not only they do some big damage, by retaining the state of Kelantan, and winning the states of Kedah, Perak, Penang and Selangor but they also denies the ruling coalition of the 2/3 majority in Parliament! Its a history in the making in Malaysian elections, some sort of political Tsunami, a revolution, People Power!There’s the wind of change, and the making of a new Malaysia…

Initially, i was a bit fearful that the state of Kelantan might fall back to BN, due to the promises made by the ruling coalition for the development of Kelantan,but as the result trickle out, i was fully overjoyed and relieve! Thank God, the people of Kelantan has not been swayed, in fact, PAS has become much more stronger winning 38 seats, PKR one seat,out of 45 seats in the state!This is the power of God! Semoga Kelantan sentiasa maju dibawah kepimpinan Ulama! Insyallah!

I was extremely happy and delighted as results came out that PKR has won quite a number of Parliamentary and state seats in the GE. In fact, it has improve its lots and shows that this multi- racial party, led by former Deputy Prime Minister, Yang Berbahagia, Dato’ Sri Anwar Ibrahim is making it big. Especially so when his wife, Datin Sri Wan Azizah Aziz manage to retain her Parliamentary seat of Permatang Pauh and his daughter, Nurul Izzah, winning the Parliamentary seat of Lembah Pantai, knocking out the Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, who is the incumbent. Heartiest Congratulations!

Not forgetting too the DAP, who has manage the form the Governtment in the state of Penang. Congratulations to one and all…

The people have spoken, the voices heard… Whatever unhappiness the people have with BN, they have spoken out loud through the ballot box. Hope that this will be a lesson to them. Abdullah Badawi is walking on a tight rope. He may not continue his term as the Prime Minister and i predict Najib will take over. Whatever it is, all the best.

Last but not least, what i want to say is that the results are already out. It is truely a humbling experience for both the winners and the losers. Hope that something valuable can be learnt from this GE. To the Barisan Alternatif, the people have given you and entrust you with the power to govern. Make sure that you govern with full of honesty and sincerity, free of corruption and cronyism and with the people interests always at heart. Dont ever ever be strayed and go the way of BN…

MAJULAH BARISAN ALTERNATIF!

Well, it has been a few days since the escape of Singapore’s most dangerous man, the terrorist who plan to crash into Changi Airport, Mas Selamat, from the ISD detention camp. Till today, there are still no news about his whereabouts, and i believe that the authorities are clueless too. Could he still be hiding somewhere out there or could he have manage to get out of Singapore? Well nobody really knows, not even our ever "vigilant" governtment.

Well, when the first time i heard about the escape, a lot of questions came into my mind. Well, he’s a terrorist and a dangerous guy, so where are the security? Where are the guards or Gurkhas who’s suppose to guard him? How could he have escape from the detention camp? Is the security in the camp too lax? WHAT HAPPEN?

How could Mas Selamat know about the layout of the detention camp when the movement of the detainees in the camp are restricted? Could it have been an insider job? Or could his family been providing him with information about the layout when they came to visit him? This terrorist walks with a limp, so how could he have manage to escape fast enough? Where are the guards/Gurkhas on duty? All this are just mere speculations but  i strongly believe that we need to know about what happen.

The security of Singaporeans, and the nation as a whole is at stake. We doesn’t know about what he is up to. Could he be planning something to cause panic and chaos to our belove nation?

Well, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Wong Kan seng has said sorry in Parliament regarding the escape of Mas Selamat. He also added that internal investigation is being carried out to find out how it happen, and how come it can happen. Well, its good that he apologise, but frankly speaking, in my own personal opinion, anyone can just say sorry. As simple as reciting ABC, as simple as that!

Mr Wong Kan Seng has failed in his duty as the Minister of Home Affairs to safeguard the Security of Singaporeans and Singapore as a whole.It may sound too harsh, but i strongly believe that once Mas Selamat is caught, investigations and inquiries done and once the whole saga is over, he should graciously steps down from his post.

He knows that he have failed the people, he have failed the nation so he should be responsible about it and step down from his post> It sounds harsh, but this is the reality and he should know it and he should face it.

I hope that Mas Selamat will be caught and hang to death for treason against this belove  and peaceful nation. I hope that the governtment won’t hide anything from the people as the people deserve to know the truth, nothing, but the truth. There shouldn’t be any cover up by the governtment to cover their mistake.

For Mr Wong Kan Seng, once again i would urge him to step down from his post once the saga is over. Be brave and face it like a man. You know you have failed, so you should take the responsibility. We can’t afford to have people like you as the Minister of Home Affairs.