Comments on: MP wasn’t aware of herb garden removal

By: Donaldson Tan

Donaldson Tan — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:14:03 +0000

Members of the Town Council should be elected. – red_dot (#15)

Uniquely Singapore. Town Councillors are democratically elected in the UK.

By: Scoring Points.

Scoring Points. — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 20:57:28 +0000

Maybe the Sembawang Town Council people think that by removing the herb garden in Yishun, it would deprive Mas Selamat, who is still not recaptured, one additional place to play hide and seek lah.

Like that the Town Council Chairman can score points with his boss mah. Hahahahaha…….

Another idiotic action of unthinking men-in-white. Its happened, what to do?
Lets move on ….. but please give me another pay rise this December, okay?

Mother of all blunderers!!

By: JustMe

JustMe — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 14:01:58 +0000

I thought herb gardens were meant for de-stressing, now even this is thrown in the political arena =)

By: Ahgong

Ahgong — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:51:45 +0000

transparency? Maybe we can find it in popular bookstore.

By: sarek_home

sarek_home — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:00:24 +0000

Ironic

=====================
Singaporeans make a difference in society through gardening
By Ali Smith, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 31 October 2008 2121 hrs

Photos 1 of 1

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/386830/1/.html

SINGAPORE: Six of Singapore’s most passionate gardeners were honoured at the first-ever Community in Bloom Ambassadors Award 2008 ceremony on Friday.

One of the winners, Kamisah Bte Atan, has created six gardens for her community to enjoy, using a grant from the Southwest Community Development Council.

She said all six gardens are maintained by getting women of all ages involved.

“Some of the elderly have aches here and there, and since they started gardening, they have felt much better and they look forward to every gardening activity that we have,” Kamisah said, adding that her group aims to plant 100,000 plants in the next four years.

There are also others in Singapore who are using gardening to teach basic skills.

Less than a year ago, former chef Philip Li mobilised his students, who attend the Association for Persons with Special Needs, to create a garden using recycled plants and donated pots.

“Identification, observational skills and motor skills are involved because they need to identify what are the weeds, what are the plants and what are the things you are supposed to weed,” said Li.

In addition, he said gardening has paved the way for employment opportunities for the students. So far, three special needs graduates have landed jobs with landscaping companies in Singapore.

- CNA/so

By: red_dot

red_dot — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:49:01 +0000

Members of the Town Council should be elected.

By: Donaldson Tan

Donaldson Tan — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:41:27 +0000

Is the Town Council (TC) so bureacratic that internal communication from bottom to top can be cut off? The entire incident points out that there are over zealous middle managers in the system who undermine the transparency and responsiveness of the town council to its constitutents. I believe this is a systematic fault in how the TC is managed and how management values are interpreted and passed down.

By: blackfeline

blackfeline — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:32:52 +0000

well..she’s probably busy white washing her image with a special “damage control” interview with our local shit papers…(go read today straits times)

By: Singapore Resident

Singapore Resident — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:22:50 +0000

>>How come the Mass media always publish bad news that is related to bee wah…
>>My poor bee wah…

Your wish juz came true….today’s 147th (?) wrote her as an angel…

By: Jackson Tan

Jackson Tan — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:58:01 +0000

Hmm… I’m not so sure if the title of the article was quite appropriate. The content is more on the outcome of the meeting and the resolution of the entire incident.

The fact that the MP wasn’t too aware of the removal is, in my opinion, tangential to the issue. In any case, I do not expect the MP to be aware or informed of such stuff. The RC, maybe, but I think it’s beyond the MP’s attention.

In any case, thank you, Rafiz, for being so proactive in highlighting the community’s concerns. Many of us (and I definitely) can learn much from you!

By: Donaldson Tan

Donaldson Tan — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:45:38 +0000

Community spirit is a lost treasure in Singapore.

By: we should all be active aging gardeners

we should all be active aging gardeners — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:01:47 +0000

then we will not have time to play shares or buy toxic products and see our retirement funds evaporate. Since the elderly in your estate have time, why not engage then to rebuild the herb garden? Time is on your side and this time round, I am sure “it will be better handled”. Maybe Ms. Lee put a scarecrow of “someone” there to scare future careless herb garden removers.

By: patriot

patriot — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:28:33 +0000

Rafiz;

thank You very much for the Updates and much much more for your concerns for your neighbours and all Singaporeans, I believed.

Like to say to You and your sayang(wife), that You all have done a marvellous job and your raceblind integrations with the community deserve SPECIAL mention.

The Old Folks may get bored without the Garden and some may want to do planting again, do monitor them. And if they want to have a garden again, please do help them to get one officially sanctioned.

Yours Sincerely: patriot

By: jy

jy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:10:56 +0000

Why can’t we have Rafiz as our MP instead of Lee Bee Wah, who seems to be better in handling table tennis….

By: isa

isa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:24:01 +0000

Maybe someone up there wants to remove my Bee Wah.. :P
How come the Mass media always publish bad news that is related to bee wah…

My poor bee wah…

Mass media..while you are at it, maybe you can always do something abt Wee in AMK GRC…..

By: AhKao

AhKao — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:06:55 +0000

Jurong GRC apparently can function with ONE less team member and be appropriately apprised of their residents’ concerns.

Makes you wonder how come a fully staffed GRC elsewhere cannot.

By: sarek_home

sarek_home — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:28:47 +0000

“The MP, RC and residents are not aware of all these”, that is not a surprise.

First, I can’t image an MP will be able to know the TC operation at this level. I think in PAP TC, the MP leaves the manager to run the daily operation.

Second, I have seen enough needed repairs not done in my neighbourhood until I report to the TC. And I have seen enough changes in my neighbourhood done without being consulted. There is no communication with the residents on what the TC is planning to do and whether the residents think it is a good idea. One day you see some construction work started and you have no idea what is it able until it is finished.

By: gemami

gemami — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:25:39 +0000

Well, well . . . . Lee Bee Wah . . . . you won’t be getting into so much trouble if you could just take some time to be ‘aware’ of what is going on around you, would you? It’s easy to feign ignorance but that does not absolve you of the crime, does it?

Haven’t you learnt your lesson from the ping-pong saga?

How about sacking the TC manager like you did to the ping-pong manager? …….argh!!! ……….. speaking to 10 residents among 4 blocks of flats! ……. utterly lame ……..

By: have2change

have2change — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 04:18:33 +0000

Rafiz,
Are u formally from a school around strathsmore ave?

Anyway good work, keep speaking up for our elderly!

By: A Tan

A Tan — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:36:02 +0000

You are a gentleman.