phtthp:

Daddy

Wake me up when the verdict is out...

:snooze:

Time to wake up, Daddy D!
not so much to know the final verdict outcome of Kong Hee.
whether or not he goes jail - the issue doesn't end there.
But something far more grave, much more serious !
It is the growing, wide spread powerful wings of sphere of influence(s) from big, mega churches like CHC - penetrating into our school compound. They have infiltrated everywhere. Beginning from Primary schools all the way up to Secondary schools, Polytechnic(s), Junior College(s), Universities, that has begun to directly impact the lives of many children in schools. This is of utmost grave concern & worry to us, as parents.

In the market place right now - it has given birth to this religious theocracy where mega churches target to dominate into these 7 Kingdoms of most powerful Sphere of influence(s). This Domination theology, called the 7 Kingdoms Theology is a hot topic of discussion, the underlying factor behind Festival of Praise, Love Singapore movement, etc. City Harvest church is the main sponsor, at this Festival of Praise.

may read:-
http://forum.channelnewsasia.com/showthread.php?118252-City-Harvest-founded-by-Kong-Hee-and-Sun-Ho-not-a-normal-church

What are these 7 Kingdoms of strong, powerful Sphere of influence(s) ?
They are:-

1. Government
2. Business
3. Education

4. Arts
5. Religion
6. Media / Entertainment and

7. Family.

Today, we wake up and began to witness strong, powerful roots of influence(s) entrenched into 3 Key, major Kingdom that are directly impacting / affecting our daily lives as parents. These three great Sphere of influence(s) of concern closest to our heart(s) are -
Education, Family + a bold attempt trying hard to introduce Religion & to recruit young, highly impressionable kids from schools compound into City Harvest church, groom them up to become followers ....

Concerned Indian parent wrote to Mr. Heng Swee Kiat on CHC’s proselytizing activities in Singapore schools :-

refering to quote in this article, from this parent :-

“ He urged Mr Heng to take ‘decisive action’ against City Harvest Church.
I hope you and others in a position to do so, act to stamp out this unwarranted influencing of children and young persons by mega churches (and indeed by other religious organisations).

Please do not ignore this.
CHC claims to have penetrated 70% of schools in Singapore. I think it’s about time your Ministry acted decisively on this. \"

http://temasektimes.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/concerned-indian-parent-writes-to-heng-swee-kiat-on-chcs-proselytizing-activities-in-singapore-schools/

City Harvest Church's targeting of children and young persons at schools :-

http://bit.ly/Nk613P

http://singaporemind.blogspot.sg/2012/07/this-video-troubles-me.html
(click on the video to watch)

This parent stated (refer to quote) :-
\"The blog post features a video of a youth leader at CHC explaining the church's strategy. According to the youth leader, CHC's religious groups have been doing this for 10 years and have penetrated 70% of schools in Singapore, despite knowing that they are not allowed to operate in schools.

At 10:30 in the video, he proudly declares: \"So as you can see, most of my leaders, full time staff, worshippee [sic], they all came from the school revival. If you reach the school, you can build a church.\"

In the video, he said that poor children should be encouraged to make sacrifices to give. He told the story of one child in his church who woke up very morning at 5am to make food to sell to her friends in school, so that she can give money to his organisation's building fund.

You should watch the first few minutes of the video featured on the blog.
While the blog post focuses on CHC, I don't know whether it is safe to conclude it is the only mega church to engage in such practices. \"

http://www.facebook.com/notes/harveen-narulla/city-harvest-churchs-targeting-of-children-and-young-persons-at-schools/10151004047619722

Looks like soon, one day, we are going to see on the news that a parent has taken up court order against another child in school preventing him from from preaching to the son....

Just kidding... Technically, I don't what the government can do about this...

Dora1:

Hi Imami


Thanks a lot! :snuggles: I'm actually quite ok with it now. The 1st time round it happened it actually helped me to make up my mind to quit and stay at home to take care of my girl, which turned out to be the best decision ever. Now, I have totally changed my focus in life, so my job is just providing me an income, and I just do just enough and go home on the dot for my girl since I know that I will not be promoted no matter how hard I work anyway, so why bother? I'm not career minded now so I'm actually at peace with it. Just that PM 's speech last night was like opening up an old wound.
Haha you guys are so funny......

Too many Singaporeans take it on the face, escape into the hermit shell, find alternative way to deal with things phychologically and the issue are presumed to end right there..
The truth is, if every Singaporean does the same thing all the time, the future we leave behind for our kids will be unthinkable. There are also the issues that what if I am not the only one in Singapore facing such things? What if others are facing it too and suffering more than me? What if things carry on like this, what would it be liked in 20 years time when my child grow up and happen to be in the same spot I have been? There are just many issues that I feel its time Singaporeans need to deal with now, whether they like it or not..
I am not referring directly and only to Dora's post above, I am also thinking from a bigger picture about other areas of our life. Just to share one area of thoughts I have recently...
We elect members of parliament. PM recommend Cabinet ministers. PM and cabinet ministers in charge of the entire government, directly impacting our lives. All the talks now are forcused on PM and his cabinet ministers.. their policies.. more frigthening so is that many are only focusing on bigger issues such as housing, transport and imigration..
I was thinking.. since nation building days till now, we have gotten ourselves a complacent government who only wake up after GE2011. The truth is, since nation building days till now, we have also gotten ourselves a civil service who support the entire governing business and they are about 130,000 strong now with 77,000 supporting the various ministries. I am talking about the people who compile reports and recommend policies that dirctly affect us. So far, have not heard any news that there will be a shake up of the civil service or that they will change the way they work.. My thought is.. you can change the ministers, but if the whole civil service does not change, what changes are we talking about?

SH

What’s next? All men must wear red underwear on Sunday’s?

Strparent:

SilentHermit:

Then came the day when the water bag burst. My Wife and maid called ambulance, went straight to hospital. When all was settle and I was sitting down with the hospital staff, she worked out an estimated budget of the possible cost involved. She went.. hmmm... so this plus that plus this plus that.. hmm.. she shown me the calculator.. est. 44k... (Having mentally added up cash and medisave earlier, I was thinking.. phews.. manageable)..

I assume you did not heed yr gynae and went to a private hospital ?
44k for delivery is.....'manageable' ? :nailbite: :nailbite:
You the man, you the can.

Twins were out at 6 mths pregnancy, needed to stay at least 3 months in incubator, must be able to eat well on their own and reach certain weight before they can discharge. In fact, one of them have lung complication too and the elder one even has his heart stopped a few times. They were like so kittens in size...

SilentHermit:

Then she went.. \"Oh, you have twins... so X 2!!\"... Then I was like..

Anyway, she also told me, but dont worry, if you cant pay, someone will. If you have any problem, come talk to me. That was as far as I know..I do not know what she meant by someone will pay for it..

maybe she meant , if you cant pay all, your wife account also can. if not enough, your father, mother, brother, sister, auntie, uncle, neighbour, classmate,colleague,etc can all chip in ? :imanangel:

Oh, she did say immediate relative can help. But I think what she was saying was that they have some kinds of donors for such cases .. Not really sure, did not probe...

concern2:

SilentHermit:

[quote=\"3Boys\"]Nothing to do with the hospital. We should pay for it....with taxpayers money.


They knew it was a multiple pregnancy with high risk for complications, why did they not go to a g'ment hospital?

3Boys is right. Typically twins and above may have early delivery, thus ICU care, thus more cost. I think good gynie will know that. When my wife has twins, gynie advised, if there is any problem, call ambulance, go to KK striaight, do not rush to our hospital, KK has the best facilities and cost will be cheaper too. At that point, I do not know what she was talking about.

Then came the day when the water bag burst. My Wife and maid called ambulance, went straight to hospital. When all was settle and I was sitting down with the hospital staff, she worked out an estimated budget of the possible cost involved. She went.. hmmm... so this plus that plus this plus that.. hmm.. she shown me the calculator.. est. 44k... (Having mentally added up cash and medisave earlier, I was thinking.. phews.. manageable)..

Then she went.. \"Oh, you have twins... so X 2!!\"... Then I was like..

Anyway, she also told me, but dont worry, if you cant pay, someone will. If you have any problem, come talk to me. That was as far as I know..I do not know what she meant by someone will pay for it.. cos at the end I manage to settle the bills myself and it was lesser than what she budgeted for 2 babies..

SH

:yikes: 44k?! Mine was only 2k+ from KK inclusive of a 2 nights at the wards, and meals...(I thought I was staying at hotel )only it wasn't A wards, but C.

Anyway, 2 years after that I had DD, it was 2k up, but I delivered her myself, so down by 1k+, worked out to be almost the same as DS.. [/quote]
Hmmm.. My twins came out at 6 mth pregnancy, stayed in icu for 3 months each. Yours not the same type of case right?

3Boys:

Nothing to do with the hospital. We should pay for it....with taxpayers money.


They knew it was a multiple pregnancy with high risk for complications, why did they not go to a g'ment hospital?

3Boys is right. Typically twins and above may have early delivery, thus ICU care, thus more cost. I think good gynie will know that. When my wife has twins, gynie advised, if there is any problem, call ambulance, go to KK striaight, do not rush to our hospital, KK has the best facilities and cost will be cheaper too. At that point, I do not know what she was talking about.

Then came the day when the water bag burst. My Wife and maid called ambulance, went straight to hospital. When all was settle and I was sitting down with the hospital staff, she worked out an estimated budget of the possible cost involved. She went.. hmmm... so this plus that plus this plus that.. hmm.. she shown me the calculator.. est. 44k... (Having mentally added up cash and medisave earlier, I was thinking.. phews.. manageable)..

Then she went.. \"Oh, you have twins... so X 2!!\"... Then I was like..

Anyway, she also told me, but dont worry, if you cant pay, someone will. If you have any problem, come talk to me. That was as far as I know..I do not know what she meant by someone will pay for it.. cos at the end I manage to settle the bills myself and it was lesser than what she budgeted for 2 babies..

SH

Dear Beanbear,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, keep it coming if you have more. Being a mother of 4, your experiences are definitely valuable.
I have a dotta, wanted another kid and we ended up having twins. Into 6 months’ pregnancy, elder twin decided to come out and he broke the water bag and both boys ended up in ICU for 3 months.
Now they are 3 yrs +, looking at them now, I know everything that I have gone through is worth it.
I am just trying to figure out how life will be liked when the three of them gets to their 20s, 30s or even 40s. I do not want them to live in a Singapore will majority foreigners and minority Singapore. I also hope that by then, the economy will be sustainable and one clear factor is that we must have enough manpower. So, I am hoping that I can make that little difference to their generation, if possible.
Thank you so much for sharing!

SH

I am very glad some people have visited my blog. I thank everyone for their comments. I am really an amateur blogger and I am even having a hard time trying to figure out dashboard controls. Anyway, that’s besides the point.


I am seriously putting up a proposal to the authorities. Any feedback about the topics would be very valuable for me and help me do a better job.

I understand that this issue is a big one, but like I said before, if only all of us speak up a little here and there, it will help. I thought putting up a blog would create some responses, however, although I clock a hundred page views a day, comments, suggestions and ideas are not forthcoming. I receive zero emails till date. I do not care if the blog page sucks or my English is broken, all I care about is to gather enough information to put a comprehensive proposal together. So, guys, please flood me with your thoughts.

I promise this is what I will do:
1) Gather all the views, organize them into readable format
2) Upon compilation, send it to the respective authorities with credits saying this are info from myself, as well as public domains, esp KSP forum
3) I will publish my proposal online

Hope to hear more from everyone
Cheers

SH

3Boys:

1) I wish Singaporeans would think about the impact of policy changes before suggesting them and raising a hue and cry when ignored


2) I wish Singaporeans would think before they hit the 'post' button on forums

Governing a country is a complex issue. Not many people can see the complex network of things, of how a single policy can affect other aspects of the societies. Usually people speak up about issues that are directly related to their industry, immediate environment or families. The job to really understand the impact of policy is to be done by the 130,000 strong civil servants, only they have access to real data. However, they must learn to do polcy recommendations with their hearts and with Singaporeans' interest at the center. In any case, policies in Singapore are not put to vote. Even if all oppositions vote against it in parliament, their numbers are so tiny and will not make a difference. Internet and forums have become an avenue for people to voice their concerns, different from last time when only coffee shop talks take place. Government should learn to read what people are saying in such venues, otherwise, they are going to miss the points again, just like before GE2011. Meanwhile, people should continue to speak their minds even it those issues are related to only their immediate community.

3Boys:

3) I wish Singaporeans would think about getting off their bums and doing something about an issue before complaining about it to ah gong

4) I wish Singaporeans will regain their 'can-do' spirit and just get on with getting things done instead of always looking for handouts.

For many years since nation independence, the government was allowed to do whatever they want. While most of the policies were good, some of them sucks, but because of their strong mandate and strong track record, they listen very little to us Singaporeans. Then came 1995 when internet was introduced here, a more educated population emerged at the same time, now things have changed. People began speaking up and as more and more people do, others follows - some mild in tone, some harsher in approach. When people feel that they have a stong cause to talk about, they start by sharing with people who are liked-minded (more societies, associations and social groups/networks are formed over time to represent their point of views) (getting off their bums to do something).. Unfortunately, because these civic/social groupings are usually small in size, their voice cannot make much of a difference. The truth is major voices from big unions and organized groups are usually moderated. Just take NTUC for example, the largest workers union here, who are/were the main people heading it? Be it a union or an industry association, as long as they are mentally pro-government, do not expect them to make much difference for ordinary folks. I would like to think that all these members joining unions and associations thought they were doing something to make a difference (getting off their bums to do something).

Internet, on the other hand, is not regulated and is free for all to voice their concerns 24/7. This is when you see the out pouring of unhappiness from people from all walks of life over the last years. While they are complaining or higlighting their concerns here or there, Singaporeans definitely are doing it at the same time, working hard and moving our economy (think where all the growth come from if Singaporeans do not have the can-do spirit)

Another can-do spirit we are also seeing is the trend of people joining opposition parties. If one do visit a opposition rally in GE2011, it will be clearer that Singaporeans are beginning to speak up and also seen to be speaking up, unlike my parent's time when they were afraid of some repercussion after speaking up.

Talking about handsout.. well, the truth is, Singapore government is very rich and who makes it so? It is none other than Singaporeans, past and present generations. We are all economic resources, channelled into producing economic results. Taxes, COE, ERP, GST, corporate tax.. you name it, are nothing without us, Singaporeans. What we are saying now is, look here, things have become lopsided, areas where we need to pay atention, please do something about it. Example of a focused usse can be Singaporean population declining, do something about it. More general issue would be like - we are stressed up! We are all stake holders here, those money belongs to us, not the government. Asking injection of funds into somewhere needed is not asking for free handsout, we are merely saying, due to some stupid policies, inability to address issues early, poor foresight, you have created a mess, lets try to fix it now. If the fixing requires money, so be it. That is how government all over the world balance things in the society, absolutely nothing wrong about it.

3Boys:

5) I wish Singaporeans would stop this 'us versus them' attitude to the foreigners who help build our nation, consume goods and services, and pay taxes. The British welcomed Mo Farah (5K/10K gold winner emigrated from Africa, trained in USA) into their fold, we should do the same to our sportsmen holding red passports.

In the area of foreigners, I will talk about it next time. But on the issues of foreign sportmans, I personally see no glory in getting a medal when it is won by some imports. I would be very proud of a Singaporean climbing a mountain or getting a medal, but not some talent head hunted from overseas to help us get that title. Honestly, I feel nothing when a medal is won that way.

SH

I read those papers published by PMO and the data is frigthening. No wonder LKY say have more babies, if not we will have to fold up. Drastic actions are needed, wonder will this government live up to it.


I have some ideas, wonder if it would work. Have published them in my blog. Hope can think of more solutions soon....

http://silent-hermit.blogspot.sg/
http://silenthermit2.blogspot.sg/

(If its wrong to post links here to send people to my blog, pls let me know. Just that too much text involved, dont know if I should post them here too).