Wednesday, June 27, 2012

City Harvest Church (CHC) Pastor Kong Hee, found misconduct and mismanagement in church fund

Screenshot from MCYS

Read the official report here.
http://app1.mcys.gov.sg/PressRoom/InquiryfoundmisconductandmismanagementinCHC.aspx


For quick summary, read the Infographics here, put together by Channel News Asia Connect. There are few missing points though, read the above report.

Source: Channel News Asia Connect

 Who is Ho Yeow Sun? This article from Yahoo sums it up, with the music video clip!
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/who-is-ho-yeow-sun--20120626.html



My Thoughts


Most religions are good. But, the problem arises when believers become "lazy" and leave everything to God, or worse the pastor who himself is just a human. The following comment that I saw in Facebook page sums it all.

"Stop delegating to authority. You are your own authority, stop outsourcing the work of thinking to someone else."

Donations

Donation to church is not a bad thing. But as a member of the church, its your job also to make sure the money is indeed channeled to those who are in need. Misuse of church funds happens when there is no transparency and proper procedures in tracking the expenses & expenditure of the church. After all, its us - human who manage the money. (I believe there are similar cases go undetected around the globe).


Epilogue

Don't be lazy. Stay smart. Be a responsible person to yourself, and those around you.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Good talk Between Kevin Rose and Brian Wong (19)




Enter University at 14 years old, Brian Wong is very amazing.

Created an app (Twitter tool) at 16 years old. Pretty amazing!

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Cool dad, brought back a computer for his kid. Not knowing what can be done using the computer, but just know that that's the future.

I'm going to do the same - supportive towards what my kids interested in, and try to guide them as close as possible. :)

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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

This happened because of the amount of FTs in Singapore...

"This happened because of the amount of FTs in Singapore..."

This comment by the owner caught my attention.
"This happened because of the amount of FTs in Singapore..."

To generalize crimes as a result of Foreign Talents is just so narrow minded. I worked with so many so called FTs everyday. So many local companies consist of FTs. Can't imagine what will happen to the economy without FTs.

No further comment since I'm a FT myself also. :)

Friday, March 09, 2012

Power of Internet... and Social Media - Kony 2012

The power of Internet, and in particular social media, has resulted in information widespread at a tremendous and scary speed.

Uganda's Kony
This is the best example.

The video was created and uploaded to Youtube by a charity group called Invisible Children 4 days ago on  5th March.


The video was very well produced and with the push of social media, the video has 52 million views in 4 days.


Invisible Children manage to raised $5Mil in 48 hours, reported by National Post.

A lot of people (I'm referring mostly to my friends) talks about supporting the cause instantly after watching the video. I was quite convinced with the video without second thoughts at first, until one of my friend posted on my Facebook wall.



I started digging down the rabbit hole. 

Some artist, including Justin Bieber supported the cause.


The are few news coverage on this viral video. Some supported, some critiqued on the financial transparency and expenses of Invisible Children, mislead the crowd and oversimplifythe situation in Uganda.
It stinks of easy answers, of foreign do-goodery, of over-simplistic interference that gives us all a nice warm fuzzy glow.
- Tory Shepherd
Invisible Children reports that in an official account of the $13.7 million raised in the 2010/11 financial year, $8.8 million was allocated for expenses - including filming costs, transportation and production.
- news.com.au

And another video spawned after a few days, titled Somebody is Lying.



Epilogue

Until the facts are made clear, I shall withhold my judgement on this issue. Indeed the video clearly delivered the information that justify the supports for arresting Kony. But on the other hand, the other video seems legit also.

Shall conclude this with this article that titled
"People Aren't Smart Enough for Democracy to Flourish, Scientists Say"
- livescience.com
The power of freedom is good, but sometimes it boils down to this fundamental problem - Are majority of people capable enough exercise critical thinking or... are majority of people still "lack the mental tools needed to make meaningful judgments".



References:
http://www.news.com.au/world/its-all-over-the-webs-but-what-is-a-kony/story-e6frfkyi-1226292956990
http://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/critiques.html
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.reviews&orgid=12429
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/07/joseph-kony-invisible-children_n_1326759.html
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/03/08/kony-2012-video-raises-5m/