Introducing www.tomorrow.com April 26, 2007

I learnt about http://www.tomorrow.com when I started my blog. I was surprised that many of my friends and colleagues do not know about this website. Hence I am introducing this website to my local and overseas readers. You will read about the latest issues that concern our people... topics are varying from politics to social and issues highlighted in the news. It is also interesting to read comments from readers. Our people are now getting more vocal as opposed to the older generations.
You are free to give your comments and feeback in the website. Below is an example which I have chosen, as I thought the subject of cleanliness should be a topic of interest.


April 26, 2007
Forbes List of World’s Cleanest Cities, Where’s Singapore?
» singapore cleanest cities forbes
AEN DIRECT said:


Based on figures derived from studies by the Mercer Human Resources Consulting that cull from 300 cities, Forbes.com describes the top 25 cleanest cities in the world. Of the 13 countries listed, European and U.S. cities top the charts, followed by Japan, the only Asian country in the list. Singapore is not in the list. We try so hard to be clean but still we aren’t the cleanest, considering the size of our tiny island, we have such a small room to maintain compared to the larger cities. I guess the studies don’t just look at clean air and environments. Singapore probably lost marks due to our lack of clean people.

Recommended by AenTan: "We try so hard to be clean but still we aren't the cleanest, considering the size of our tiny island, we have such a small room to maintain compared to the larger cities."

Link

Related Blogs: (see all trackbacks)
- Cooler Insights: Are We Pigging Out?

Submitted by AenTan on April 25//11:40pm and published by jseng, Mr Miyagi :: add new comment | 331 reads | trackback (1)

Comments 22
In the US, Canada, Australia and lots of other countries, people there have a tendency to be clean. I had visited the wash rooms in the parks and amazingly, they were usually so clean. In these countries, there is no threat of fines hanging over the heads of the people.

In Singapore, we have to make an effort to be clean; hence the cleanliness campaign. Only when there is a threat of fines are people more conscious of where they throw their rubbish and cigarette butts.!

In our university cafeteria for example, students automatically cleaned their trays when they finished their meals. Over here, people would rather wait for the cleaners to come and clean.

It is not easy to keep public areas clean..... but at least we tried. There is certainly still room for much improvement.

Posted by Ganchau on 26 April, 2007 - 4:11pm
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I have no problems with Singapore not being in the list. It is sort of expected. The only clean places here are the places the government shows to the world. In fact, we aren’t really clean at all.

There are lots of places here that people don’t get to see. The suburbs, neighborhoods, coffeeshops, wet markets and shared lifts of HDB flats inhibited by multiple races. If you have observed, there are lots of surface polishing and deeper inside, it’s nothing like the outside. Places more exposed to passing eyes, e.g. Roadsides, Shopping Centres, Town Centres, public places are usually cleaner. When you get deeper into the buildings, farther away from town, you don’t see polished stuff anymore. Take for example my neighborhood, flats facing the main roads are more brightly painted and we have all sorts of decorations (though poorly designed and ugly). People driving pass will see the neighborhood as clean and attractive. If you live there, you’ll know it’s only the surface. Almost 3 days a week, at least one of the lifts of my block will be flooded by you-know-what from you-know-what people. For goodness sake! Singapore is so highly educated but we still have people peeing in lifts all the time. Block level, the lifts’ lobby and exteriors are all beautified with fake marble tiles and nicer lighting. The ground floor staircases are also tiled. From the 2nd floor up, what people don’t see, it is still the old plain grey concrete, with the occasional dog poo and litter.

That was what I meant by “lack of clean people” in my article. Singaporeans still have a long way to go before the garbage of our country dies out from natural selection. Fines and Urine Detectors (I still don’t believe our lifts have them) are not enough to deter them from routinely peeing in our lifts. What’s worst than smelly lifts? Like martyn said, it is smelly restrooms. I don’t know about the ladies but dirty males toilets are unforgiveable. We guys have dicks and no matter how tiny penises some of our males have, they still function well as a aiming device. How can you miss really narrow stream of pee on big urinal?? It’s like having a bull’s eye as big as the board itself and totally missing the board even at half a step away!

AEN DIRECT — Catalog of Creative Works & Writing

Posted by AenTan on 26 April, 2007 - 11:14pm
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who said singaporeans are highly educated people?

Posted by Anne Shintaro* on 27 April, 2007 - 7:09pm
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Was this reported anywhere in the media?

Oops' silly me!

Posted by Anonymous Coward* on 27 April, 2007 - 2:43am
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Trackback from Cooler Insights: Are We Pigging Out?:


Grrr.... I just realise that my home has been downgraded lately - from a HDB flat to a pig sty! ...


Posted by Cooler Insights: Are We Pigging Out?* on 27 April, 2007 - 10:05am
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I'm not convinced by the Forbes article at all. Take a look at the methodology/indicators used in the study cited by Forbes - you can see the survey from Mercer HR Consultants here (http://www.mercerhr.com/referencecontent.jhtml?idContent=1128060). Nothing concrete or quantitative is mentioned, and neither does the writer cite which indicators he selected for his "study". Rather lazy writing IMO.

Furthermore, the writer lists three factors that he feels makes for a "clean" city - regulations, waste control and transport infrastructure. As much as I despise the MiWs, IMO they and especially the MEWR have done a decent job if you were to only look at these factors.

Lastly - Minneapolis (!), Boston(WTF!!) and Pittsburgh (Wu yah bor?!?!?!?!?!) are "cleaner" than S'pore? Does Forbes (or the writer or Mercer) seriously believe that these cities have better waste control, ecologically-friendly environmental regulations and cleaner transport than back home? Having visited these cities recently...No f*cking way. IMO of course. :)

Posted by Leong15* on 27 April, 2007 - 5:15pm
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Those 3 cities are indeed cleaner than singapore, you need to be a world traveller to be able to comment on this article, and you're probably not one. I am, take it from me, there isn't a city or state in th U.S., that's dirtier than Singapore. I've had the misfortune of having to stay in singapore, and after 2 weeks, you get to see the real country.
Singapore ranks high on many surveys and rankings becaue people don't really bother to look beneath the surface, like the time singapore was ranked No.2 for worlds best nigh life, or was it No.3? please. And singapore was ranked as the best place for asians to live in asia, another load of rubbish, I've never heard of a non singaporean wanting to live in singapore. And you guys there got to get with the programme, stop hanging foreigners, any country in the world could take you guys out in a minute if they wanted to. Some citizen of a rogue nation comes in carrying a pound of herion, and word gets out that you want to hang him, they're not going to be diplomatic like australia or any other country that's had a citizen hung in singapore before. So please stop killing foreigners, and if you want to be extra good, and show that you guys are indeed a tad bit less uncivilized than the rest of the world thinks, stop hanging your own people too. 2 popes objected to the hanging of the australian, does the singapore government think they're better at making decisions than 2 popes?

Posted by Anne Shintaro* on 27 April, 2007 - 7:31pm
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Apparently, the government officials are the highest paid in the world, and must surely be paid higher than the two popes put together. So, I think that they think that they are better han making decisions than 2 popes.

Posted by OJT* on 27 April, 2007 - 8:02pm
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Popes don't get paid.

Posted by Anne Shintaro* on 28 April, 2007 - 1:01am
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Three quick points to your reply.

1) Define "cleaner".
2) Downtown LA (I currently work along the west coast and am based in Phoenix for the past year) has air pollution much worse than S'pore, and their public transport system (and the one here in Phoenix) pales in comparison to the MRT or SBS.
3) Please write better. What has the rest of your post, except for your first 8 words, got to do with the original post?

Posted by Leong15* on 27 April, 2007 - 9:26pm
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just getting rid of my frustration towards singapore.

Posted by Anne Shintaro* on 28 April, 2007 - 12:58am
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f you're a singaporean , i can understand why you want to defend your country. It's the way you guys are brought up, so you can't be counted on to have an objective opinion.
I was born in the US, and i'm half Japanese, but i'm not going to defend USA and Japan, i accept they've got their flaws, a lot. But finding a singaporean who will accept singapore's flaws doesn't happen that often.
About your clean air, maybe you've got clean air, but guess who starts all the forest fires in thailand and indonesia? Singaporean companies, and the singapore government keeps quiet about it because they're huge companies. I would'nt expect you to know, cos the government never tells you guys anything. Oh by the way, government is spelt that way, not gahmen or garmen.
This is off topic, but I've been to many, many places and countries, and singapore's the only one that made me hate it. The reason why other tourists don't feel the same way is becaus they don't spend much time in singapore, it takes a while to see the true singapore/singaporean. Even in countries like Tanzania and India and Philipines, where the environment kinda sucks, the people make you feel good, and you get to experience their cultures, in singapore all you get is a bunch of suck-ups that want to sound american. And they fail miserably. Can't you just Accept that you're not America, and maybe people will respect for what you are if you just be yourself?.....
Venting again, see how potent your country is(that's a bad thing, for you guys scratching your heads)

Posted by Anne Shintaro* on 28 April, 2007 - 1:27am
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I'm not so naive to believe everything that the PAP or the Straits Times tells me. Similarly, I am no so naive to believe you that S'pore companies started ALL the forest fires in the region. (FYI, most of the 1997 - 2006 fires in Sumatra were started by Indonesian companies/large-scale plantation owners that are/were owned by Bob Hasan) You have proof? Do tell. My knowledge is based on published data and reputable sources (e.g. http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/fire/Underlying_causes.htm), not on hearsay, rumours and malformed opinions.

Off topic, I feel sorry for you that your impression of S'pore is negative. But from what you say, it appears that you have not met enough S'poreans the last time you went there. Not all of us are SPGs or wannabe ABCs or blind gahmen supporters. Just like not all people from San Francisco are hippie tree-huggers addicted to the smell of their own farts, or all SoCal kids are arrogant ditzy wannabes with more money than common sense.

For a self-proclaimed "world-traveler" you appear to be very blinkered in your thinking. A bit of advice, freely-given. Dispose of your holier-than-thou attitude and you may find that we're not the stereotype that you think all of us are.

Posted by Leong15* on 28 April, 2007 - 2:22am
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I can't believe i'm actually engaged in a discussion with a singaporean. Like I said, you're just defending youe country. I don't know what an SPG is, or what an ABC is. My opinions are in no way 'blinkered' they're based squarely on what I experienced, everyone changes their accents the moment they hear me speak, and treat me a bit better. except some cabbies, who stopped talking and making eye contact once they figured out I was foreign, wonder why.
I'm not going to say every singaporean is like that, I met maybe 3 genuinely good people in singapore, but that's hardly enough, given I was loafing the streets day and night, and atleast met a few hundred people, and had a converrsation with about atleast 50.
i got things to do now.

Posted by Anne Shintaro* on 28 April, 2007 - 8:57am
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I agree with you. Old aunty has travelled to 168 cities and 38 countries.

Singapore is mediocre... not too clean and not too dirty lah. Don't always have to be the best. Let others top us once in a while. Relac lah!

Another Lau Ah Girl, a good friend of Lau Zha Bor

Posted by Ganchau on 28 April, 2007 - 3:53am
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hello, i am the sieteocho

i want to anows that my blog will self thistruck in 48 hours
i say i want to stop writing for a long long time
so please please visit my blog and read all my nauggets of wisdom before its all gone
i read alot so i must be very smart
i know i keep saying that i want to stop writing
i know i am attention whore
but this time i am serious

All this quotes are 100% from my blog, so here i store some of my wise sayings for prostarity

Why am I suddenly posting again? It's like going to the bathroom for the first time 1 month and finding all your shit piled up.

I now know why I always messed up in college

doing the same shit I was doing yesterday. Like repeating the grade over and over again. Will I get to graduate?

When I hear people... talk about... head... I start wondering whether it's all just... masturbation.

like the legs of a woman. First you spread them out, then you go in for the kill.

A great night... Without having to squeeze into a hot coffee shop with strange looking tipsy lao ah peks and beer eyes, some grumpy hawker assistant asking you to lift your feet... and the stale smell of half eaten garbage in the food bins.

"THE HOLE! THE HOLE! WHERE'S THE FUCKING HOLE?" And then he put his head down... everywhere looking for the hole.

I think maybe a combination of the... cock and the bigness... would be a nice pussy...

On another note, just read that Yong Pung How... Well heck no wonder he's such a prick.

I've had my fair share of pricks.

Best part is that I was supposed to be looking in her general direction anyway, so it was so easy to ogle her. And I wonder if I was spending more time on the TV than on her.

An exciting match nevertheless.

what I normally do with movies, which is to pontificate over them until I cum in your faces.

"You OK with cutting the cookies?"
"Yes mum."

"You masturbated this morning?"
"Yes mum."

"You washed your hands?"
"No mum."

"Please wash your hands."
"Yes mum."

I finally did it... Things that you should have done while a teenager... you finally get to do them when you're pushing 30. I'm so proud of myself.

Now in my younger, pre pubescent days I had faint... hair without knowing very much what to do with it. My mother refused to allow me to shave it, thinking that it would eventually become more coarse and hard to handle.

Yes, she's a real super bitch... She let this lecher fondle her for 5 minutes without any facial expression before she...

everybody has sex with each other, because it helps build community. Every now and then they have mass orgies where everybody fucks everybody else in the tribe.

End of the day. Typical day at work. Only bright spot was finding that my shitty... was less shitty than I initially suspected it to be. My nice boss offers a ride... I tell him that I'm getting a ride from somebody else. Who, he asks.

Oh loverboy
To you I belong
But maybe one day you'll wake
and you'll find me gone

When you are 20 you get your head stuck up your ass... In the meantime you try to avoid farting.


What the fuck is going on? What happened to all the intellectual self gratification that used to plague this blog?

Truth is, it's hard to keep on coming up with fresh shit to talk about when you've been at it for almost 4 years. That was the original purpose and now I've run out of new things to say. Perhaps I've also run out of fresh things to read.

Bloggers are cockroaches. You kill 1 cockroach, hundreds turn up at the funeral.

THIS BLOG WILL AUTOMATICALLY SELF-DESTRUCT AT THE END OF THE MONTH

So, please come to my funeral.
Read my blog before its all gone.

i, the sieteoCHO

Words to remember me by: I always knew the scout camps were tough.

Posted by s!eteoCHO* on 28 April, 2007 - 1:51am
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anyone got spellcheque?

Posted by s!eteoCHO* on 28 April, 2007 - 1:55am
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s!eteoCHO... I didn't understand a single thing in that comment. Hey and Anne Shintaro, I hope this makes you feel better. I'm a Singaporean and I don't like it here. I agree with all that you have said, absolutely everything about Singaporeans. Fellow Singaporeans please don't hate me! Something's wrong with our system, our mix of cultures and the way Singaporeans have been brought up. You guys won't know because this is your world and it works for you, nothing's too bad. But for someone looking in from the outside, they can see. Something's wrong and it is hard to change.

For me, I look at myself as an Earthling and just a human living on an island on Earth. I don't call myself a Singaporean nor even an Asian. What's the point? I don't agree with many things here and I always find myself in trouble because of that.

I'm no Christian nor even Atheist. What's the point of labeling yourself again? I don't think 2 popes can make good decisions either. The Singaporean government is like a Lion's Den (pardon the pun). The drug boys went in and became lions' food. Don't blame the lions. But stay away from the den you can.

I don't see myself spending the 2nd half of my life in Singapore that's for sure.

AEN DIRECT — Catalog of Creative Works & Writing

Posted by AenTan on 28 April, 2007 - 11:15am
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I didn't understand that comment either.

I mean, some stalker's trying to quote selectively from my blog. Somebody who supposedly hates me is putting up a fansite in my honour. Somebody who I thought loathes my presence on the net actually read every single word I had written to sift out the choice nuggets.

I'm a good person, I am. I try to do good to the world. But I am not a paragon of virtue, neither am I a saint. I'm wondering what wonderful deed I've done in order to get so thoroughly brownnosed like that.

This is damn scary man. I don't know whether I should fear for my life, or to fear for my getting fucked in the ass by some horny gay who has a crush on me.

Posted by sieteocho on 28 April, 2007 - 5:14pm
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Isn't quoting, by its very definition, selective? Going over your writings, I honestly wonder if you ever passed GP.

Posted by BrianZ* on 29 April, 2007 - 2:25am
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Dear Anne Shinataro,

Old aunty has lived and travelled to many parts of the world..... mm... maybe this gives me a little authority to share my humble viewpoints.

Canada is beautiful; I love the 4 seasons. It was also here that I learnt to downhill ski, skidoo, cross country ski and skate to my heart's delight! However, the winter is just too cold. I love the cold because I have natural double insulation! However, 6 months of winter in a year is just too much for vibrant economic activities.

USA is interesting, advanced and exciting, but I don't know when I will be mugged or robbed. I would not know if my children would come back alive from the schools and universities, given the easily accessibility of guns!

Japan and Korea are exotic! I would only enjoy myself more if I learn to eat more kim chi, sushi and speak the local languages.

Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand are great places to visit.... people there are gentle and gorgeously hospitable.... but I hate the rampant crimes and corruption in these countries.

Singapore ... a little dot... a melting pot of nationalities.... both permanent and visiting.
We are famous for our 5Cs and 5Ks. (In case you don't know what they are I will write about them in my next blog article). However, if you have been diligently reading our daily newspapers and popular magazines, you should know our culture and idiosyncracries. Sure, we don't have corruption, but we have ministers who feel they should be as highly paid as the CEOs in listed companies. In a way, I'd rather have them paid well.... at least I know exactly how much they are paid....for corruption, it could end up in unthinkable figures!

Despite their kiasuism, Singaporeans are a people with diverse and cute mentalities. On the one hand, we had people who rushed in Mercedes and BMWs to the now defunct $1.99 shops by Nanz Chong. Why? Because Mr. Sim Wong Hoo had kindly bought up all the items, and allowed people to pay any amount they wanted. Some paid 10 cents per item and just grabbed and grabbed! On the other hand, we had that rich, quiet, and unassuming gentleman, who just came to a funeral parlour and donated $200,000/- annonymously! Our people are as lovable as they are almost incomprehensible! But this is what makes Singapore such a unique and interesting place to live in.

We always try to be the best; to be the top - top airport, top container port, etc. Do not worry.... we are now learning to take things in our stride...to always keep on improving.

By the way, it is true that the forest fires are often caused by trees being burnt in our neighbouring countries. Of course, in our little country, we have more concrete than trees, and despite this, we are still known as a garden city. Our people are not naturally clean or courteous, and that is why the government (our young writers purposely spell the word as garment or garhmen) has come up with cleanliness and courtesy compaigns... am sure you've heard that Singapore is a fine country..... thank God, indeed we are really a fine country. Let us all count our blessings and name them one by one!

Anne, let us learn from one another, accepting each other's weaknesses and emulating each other's strengths. Life is too short to argue over trivialities.... let us get on with life and get the most out of every situation. When I was in Nepal, I enjoyed sleeping on the mud floors and sitting down with the Nepalis, eating with my hands. When in Rome.... do as the Romans do.... that's the way to live, hah hah! There is no perfect country on earth..... let us relish each other's cultures and uniqueness!

Posted by Ganchau on 29 April, 2007 - 1:55am
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Oops! Sorry Anne, I spelt your name wrongly. It should be Shintaro, not Shinataro.

Cheers!

Lau Ah Girl

Posted by Ganchau on 29 April, 2007 - 1:58am