President’s Star Charity Show - is there a need for artistes to perform stunts to milk the public’s compassion for more generous donations?

Let's just start with a question: Would you donate to charity?

If your response was an immediate, unequivocal 'yes', then what is the point of the series of performances during every charity show? Would there even be a need to have charity shows in the first place? Looking from a cynical perspective, I believe that many of us need to be bribed into making donations. We need to question our morals: What is the ulterior motive of the artiste's performances? Let us go back to the basics, what is the definition of charity? I believe that we can skip most of the fluff and the definitions and summarise it into a few word. Charity is compassion. It should be spontaneous, not something coaxed out of you.

I believe that these performances should be removed, lest, we are instilling in the younger generations false values. One might dispute, "NO! These are an absoute must! Without them, charity shows would be dead for!" If that is so, charity events are running on a distorted set of values.

Some might argue that after the NKF scandal, one might begin to have a stingy mindset and that all these life-risking events are to garner support for charity. However, wouldn't that equate to us sympathising the artistes instead? All these events should be rid off. Appealing to our inner compassion, we should not draw sweeping generalisations, and arrive at an uncategorical decision stating that all donations made to charity organisation end up in the pockets of others.
No, we should move along and not get swept away by a tide of the past.

On the other hand, one must take into consideration. If we were to hold these charity shows, and there were not to be any performances, what should be held instead? Personally, I can't come up with any answer. However, I have ended up wth a rather risky solution. We can stop airing charity shows, nd allow people to donate t charity organisations by thir own free will.

At the end of the day, would you want to look at the staggering figures and know that those numbers have no actual representation of our compassion? Eventually, we would need to correct that. Why not start now?

Regulation of political commentary on the Internet in Singapore

Modern technology has blessed many Singaporeans with the opportunity of "freedom of speech", giving us the ability to express our deepest, most innerfelt feelings through a myriad of internet forums where anonymity can be maintained.

Personally, I believe the human mind is always critical to a certain degree. Furthermore, with the continuous chain of events happening in the world, there would definitely be discrepancies and snide comments are bound to be formulated. With the need to express ourselves, the computer becomes the vehicle where our thoughts are encrypted into computer language and inscribed into the universal web for all to see.

The computer is a lethal weapon against any policy-forming organisation and in Singapore, what other organisation can that be? With a snap of the finger, the answer comes into mind: the Government.

With this in mind, the Government would have to take up precautions, stripping the people off their power to aminadvert on any of the implemented policies. However, in Singapore, the rules do not seem to apply. Many websites have popped up here and there, jeering and mocking some of the government's decisions. Yes, comments are absolutely capable of influencing a person's final decision, yet, if the comments are whimsical and have absolutely little or no relation to one, one would just take a secondary glance and move along. Intrinsically, I feel that most SIngaporeans are happy with their current standard of living. Pleased with the government's implementations, any revolutionary ideas might just be swept along and not taken into any deep consideration. I believe that with this, there is not much of a need for the government to worry much about the need for any regulation on political commentary.

Currently, the Singapore's government seems to know what it is doing. A large majority of the people are generally contented with the ongoing happenings and events. Though the PAP might be criticised once in a while, I believe that many of the Singaporeans believe in their government, reasoning why all the political comments seem to be categorised as jokes and are laughed at. In the end, it comes down to what the government is doing; if the government pleases the people, chaos would not erupt.