I READ with great interest on the Straits Times article "Teochew graveyard's buried treasures"(23 Feb).

The items unearthed and documented, with the permission of the families of the deceased, are jade bangles of the Qing Dynasty era, stacks of paper money and remnants of courtly robes. Jade beads with insignias seen on hats like those worn by Qing Dynasty officials were also found, which suggests that many of the dead buried at the graveyard were officials in the Qing Dynasty. Explains Dr Hui Yew-Foong of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, "Many of the Chinese elite here brought their official titles from the Qing government of the day and used these titles on their tombstones. So tombstones bearing such inscriptions were likely to have artefacts buried in the grave.

This finds are largely related to history, as the artefacts can help researchers piece together a social history of the Teochews here. The evidence suggests that the people in early Singapore lived together, and not as spread out like we are now.

Bus Fares decrease

THE Singapore Government recently announced that bus fares would decrease by $0.02 with effect from 1 April. A mere few cents.
When the Government increased bus fares, the fares increased by at least $0.05.
And the reason for the increase in bus fares? Oil prices were soaring high.
And even though oil prices had went down, the Government refused to decrease the bus fares, citing reasons like "oil prices are not linked to the bus fares".
It is only when the global economic crisis came that the Government finally decided to decrease the bus fares...
However, we should look on the 'bright' side. At least our Government decreased the fares. If one takes a bus to and fro 5 times a week, for an entire year, the person can save $10.44. Most of you would be thinking, "$10.44 is no big sum." Well, think again. $10.44 is enough to buy at least 3 meals in a hawker centre or coffee shop. Besides, the global economic crisis would most likely last for about 5 years, and if you save $10.44 for 5 years, the sum amounts to $52.20!

YESTERDAY, 14 Feb, I spent my afternoon doing homework. In the evening, my parents and I went to East Coast Park to cycle. After dinner at Sakae Sushi's Changi Airport branch, we drove to the Padang (We had intended to go to the Marina Barrage but we could not find it, so we went to the Padang instead) . It was already 9+ when we arrived.

Since it was Valentine's Day, there were many couples on the streets. Some even brought ponchos and sat in the open field. We walked around the Padang, admiring and reading on the history of the colonial architectures like the old Courthouse and Supreme Court. At the entrance of the old Courthouse was a group of rowdy teenagers hanging out. As we walked past them, they were blasting out rock music and there was even a whiff of alcohol. There was even broken glass pieces on the floor.

As we walked towards the Lim Bo Seng memorial, two women approached my father and asked if he wanted to buy a rose for my mother. But, my father had already bought a bouquet of flowers for her. At the river side, there were much more couples 'enjoying the scenery' or taking a walk.

It soon neared 10.30 and we walked back to our car. The rowdy group of teenagers at the old Courthouse were also leaving, with their litter strewn all over the floor.

Little Ironies: The Taximan's Story

IN THE first two pages of the story, the taximan keeps on complaining about the misconduct and attitude of the young people who hang out with foreigners at night clubs, especially by giving a personal example of his daughter and thereby making the reader feel his strong dislike for them. However, at the end of the third page and the last page, he showed his liking for them, as he said that the people who refuse to go by the meter and wait for even 10-cents made him mad in comparison to the young people who did not even wait for change and made love in the taxi without knowing that he had drove round and round, wasting their time to earn more money through the meter charge. The irony is the sudden change of his attitude towards the young people from strong dislike through his oral presentation, to a liking for them compared to "thrifty" people.


The main and most important theme in the story is the hypocrisy of human nature, which is clearly reflected from the taximan's attitude. Although he clearly did not like the young people to hang out at clubs, he likes them in a sense that they give him more money than "typical Singaporeans". The second last line of the text states him as saying, "Must go off to Hotel Elroy - there plenty of young people to pick up " shows a hypocrisy of him constantly complaining to his passenger how disgusted he is at how rebellious these people are, but yet he still goes to the places that they frequent to pick them up to earn their money. Such is shown of a hypocrisy of human nature for the greed of money.


I think this story is partially true, because an ordinary person would not easily tap on sensitive topics such as his own private life, like how his father beats him with a cane and how his daughter has been rebellious and lied to him about having coaching in Maths, which may be exaggerated parts to make his opinion of the rebellious young people more sound, to a total stranger. He may also be just trying to make the passenger's journey more interesting by cooking up a make-belief story. However, his story about young people hanging out in clubs and "making love in his taxi" should be true because such things do happen in Singapore.


Apart from his grammatical errors, I think the taximan is a very good speaker, with his ability to engage the "audience" in the conversation. If the story is true, the taximan has my full sympathy because he has encountered cases of rebellious young people lying to parents and clubbing all day daily via his work as a taximan and a father, and I am sure he strongly dislikes such attitudes and behaviours, and certainly does not want his children to behave and act in such inappropriate manners. Unfortunately, his smartest and supposedly most obedient child, whom he has expectations to do him proud as a father, has also lied to him about having coaching in Maths and had gone out hanging around in the streets after school with what he thinks are "bad influences" for her.


I do not really agree with the taximan, apart from his laments about his daughter being rebellious and lying to him. Most of the time, he is lamenting about the growing trend of young people in Singapore being rebellious and going clubbing, which he thinks is an inappropriate behaviour. I think that this trend is just part-and-parcel of growing up, as teens will be curious about how clubbing is like, and even if they are "addicted", it is just really not his business. Instead, he should feel happy that these wasteful people give him extra income and not lament.


I do sympathise with the taximan's daughter. Although she might have been hanging out with her friends and doing some "inappropriate acts", I do not think she deserved the slapping and beating from her father. I think counselling would have been a better solution for her.

CNY Holidays

ON the night before Chinese New Year, my grandmother and my uncles came over to have our "Reunion Dinner".
That night, I stayed up till almost one o' clock. I had planned to stay up later, but my mother insisted that I turn in early as we would have a busy day ahead.
On the first day of Chinese New Year, I went to my maternal grandparents' house, which is in the same block as us, to have breakfast. After breakfast, I went to visit my paternal grandmother, after which we left for the temple. The temple was less crowded that day, probably because we arrived at a later time. When we had finished praying, we left for my maternal grandparents' home for lunch, before heading back home. At night, we (my maternal cousins and I together with our parents) went to my cousin (my maternal second aunt) house to play. Time flies when you are having fun. We were reluctant to leave but we would definitely return some other time again (most of the parties are held at their house) .
The second day of New Year was quite fun. I went to visit one of my relatives who lived in a bungalow (I'm not sure how to address them) . They reared two dogs and named them Jessie and Ripsy. Jessie is a Shepard dog and would "bring Ripsy back" when Ripsy refuses to return from the garden patch after repeated calls by its owners. Unfortunately, Jessie is diagnosed with kidney failure and will not live long.
In the afternoon, I went to Sentosa with my cousins (the same ones as the previous night) to play the Luge and see the Flowers in Bloom. This years flowers were not as beautiful as compared to last year's and we left soon after taking a look at some of of the flower arrangements.