Why should Singapore not be complacent in her achievements?

Singapore is a small nation and do not have much landmass or resources. We are easily targetable and can be easily conquered by other countries,hence if we get complacent and brag about our achievements,we will probably collapse as other countries target and attack us out of hatred and jealousy of our achievements.Another possible reason is that we should learn from this and continue to strive for better as a nation.Being complacent gets us nowhere,so we should improve from our achievements.

3 things i found out:
-The 2 child policy in Singapore worked out too well,,resulting in our population decreasing too rapidly.
-A backing reason behind the One child policy in China was to have a stronger working environment,wth less people occupied with their kids/too many kids.
-China's one child policy was to cap the number of children in China,and help couples cope with the limited respources they had.
2 perceptions i gained
-We should focus on long term consequences,instead of short term consequences for all situations
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1 Question i still have
- Back then,if someone already had one child,but secretly had another,and the foetus was 8 months old,was found out and forced to abort,is it considered murder? :)

Chingay Reflections :)

1.) I personally believe that the purpose of Chingay 2016 was to celebrate the 5 core values that attributes to Singapore's success,to infrom the parade viewers of the jubilant 50 years of exaltation,and many more blissful years to come. The theme,"Lights of Legacy,Brighter Singapore" in my interpretation means to look back at the trailblazers,our founding fathers,and learn from their beliefs and good qualities,follow the guiding light and keep the flame and soul of Singapore alive.

How? One of the many ways to accomplishing that is to simply embrace cultural diversities warmly,and not shun any special beliefs just because it is different. Instead one should make use of the divergent convictions and make it known to the public and appreciated for what they are. Chingay 2016 accomplished just that,by showcasing to the public a bedazzling multicultural performance,with almost 11,000 contingent members and volunteers. 

There were extravagant and breathtaking dances,colourful floats,daring acrobatics,soulful singing and many more multicultural events being shown.This helped our cohort understand the importance of national cohesion and multicultural-appreciative society to promote community improvement and to promote peace between races and the people of Singapore as one.

2.) Initially, Chingay was just meant to be a post Chinese New Year celebration,as a result of the dampened mood of the banning of firecrackers for safety reasons. This was to bring back some festive cheer even without firecrackers,and with its fair share of ups and downs of critique,it was a huge success. 

Now Chingay is basically an exhilarating and enriching learning course,of different cultures and beliefs,that now include a variety of different races of performers,floats,dances and songs,and not just for the Chinese. It is no longer "a Chinese New Year Concert" for fun, it is also a ride of inclusive environment of multiracial appreciation and true art-enjoyment. 

A flavour that is unique to Singapore (though cultures of other countries are included in the parade,less emphasis was put on them as compared to the 4 dominant categories of ethnicities in Singapore),an inspiration to all,and a colourful and interactive journey through cultural arts.

The performers then wore seemingly normal looking colours (like yellow and red ect),however now the performers wore loud and bright colours that were eye catching,and had extravagant costumes to go along with it.

As seen in the pictures below,put side by side without colours,the sheer scale of the one below (2016) is greater and the designs of the float is more intricate than that of its former.(1973)This shows that the advancements and improvements made were vast and not only is it more aesthetically pleasing in present times,it is also more technologically advanced,with LED lamps on current floats and mobile parts of the floats and decorations.

(below picture is mine)

3.) I firmly believe that the organizers fulfilled this purpose well.They meant to showcase what was 'Uniquely Singaporean',and made it a point to highlight the core values of what it meant to truly embody a good spirit of patriotism to help us improve as a nation and continue to see our flag fly proud,high and free.The organizers planned out the many interesting activities and lineups,all pointing to the main gist of Chingay 2016. The idea was to make it known to a larger audience that,however much of 'just a little red dot' we may be,our might and togetherness will pull us all through any hardships we face.Using the 5 pillars for defence,and the 5 core values learnt at Chingay,we can safely envision indeed,a brighter Singapore that shines with exuberance among others. The floats showcased different cultures and people of different walks of life,however they all pointed towards an inclusive and empowering culture,which leads to the right direction for a step towards a shining future,hence i think the organizers fulfilled the purpose well,not only by the parade itself,but talks conducted and pre-trip tasks for us students to learn even more about the need for national cohesion.

thanks for reading! :D

- Koh Si Min Kara (9) 2A

Blog post on poverty.

        No,i do not think that being rich necessarily gurantees happiness or equates to it.Singapore is doing economically well,for our size and amount of resources and land,but compared to China,we are lower than them on the HPI (happy planet index),at rank 90/151.Money cannot buy happiness,love,care,or friendship.Without these,one cannot truly experience joy.The rich will feel lonely and unhappy without these little things.Even if one is poor,with good friends and family,he/she will harness true happiness with these feelings from the heart.

平凡中的不平凡。

i chose this picture as it held many memories for me.be it good or bad,they were one of the most significant icons to me.seeing these black beads in class,it being a hassle to clean up from the floor,teachers yelling at us not to play with it during silent reading,that it was expensive to have,along with the joke that one handful cost a bomb,these memories of them added to my first year at rv,and will be for the next 5 years here.

The synthetic beads to me seem to symbolize us as rvians.one alone is seemingly insignificant,but with the right curcumstances it can be the most painful and cumbersome thing in ones shoe,for example.all together with a few more beads it is even more uncomfortable.

not saying we should cause pain,but thats the general idea.to come together and be stronger as one.

My 200 word self-introduction :D

               Hello :D My name is Koh Si Min,Kara,and my index number is 9.I was originally from Raffles Girls' Primary (along with 2 other current classmates of mine).I am currently in Girl Guides,and i am also one of the chairpersons of our class.My hobbies are mainly drawing,reading and listening to music (also mainly korean and japanese music :) )I also enjoy talking to other students around class and school,and being noisy and hyper together with them :D.Most people tell me that their first impression of me was an intimidating and cold person,who barely shows any emotions.However,I beg to differ,and i feel that i am willing to reach out to help and talk to others,if they give me the chance to,and not ignore/find me too 'eccentric'.Last year,I was the science rep,which was an extremely enjoyable experience,as i had the opportunity to work together with others to get things done in and out of class. 
             Moving on to family,I have 2 doting parents,and an equally 'noisy' brother,who has just stepped into adulthood(21yrs).We get along pretty well,considering the huuuuuuuge age gap,with many differences.Sometimes we settle things well enough and quietly,others they don't go too well,as we are both short-tempered.I am working on my self-improvement,and it has been going relatively well,with myself TRYING not to blow up at others,and keeping things to myself,though I learnt that bottling up emotions does not settle well with one (happened too many times),and we should let our frustrations out to our friends (not put anger towards them!!!).I personally believe that mutual respect,care and self-discipline is most important for good character building,and building and maintaining trust within friends.I hope to accomplish some personal goals of mine during OELP,and get to know my classmates even better. 
           I'm very excited for this year's journey,let's all have fun together!!! :D
~Kara