Category: Uncategorized

Last night’s dinner was organised by Michael Lau at the Four Seasons Chinese restaurant, Jiang Nan Chun.

We have not caught up as a group for a long time. The last time, 4 of us went up on a road trip to KL, but without San.

Michael had organised an exquisite dinner and I think it must have been pricey as the dishes he ordered were not only good but were also quality items.

I used to come to this restaurant regularly a long time ago, perhaps about 20 years ago at least. I remember them having a wonderful weekend, order from the menu, buffet. Even then, the food was good, but their standard dropped after a while because they lost their chef, thanks to some CPIB probe of a number of Chinese chefs, and then I stopped coming. Now of course it’s a Michelin starred restaurant and also has become pricey.

Conversation last night was varied from AI to travelling, but as always it was good catching up with friends!

Last night was my dinner to thank all the members of my Club 100 committee and my Lifelong Learning Committee at the NWCDC, together with some councillors who could not make the earlier dinner date.

Again I hosted it at Conrad at Millennia, and they arranged a beautiful private room for me with 2 tables, as we had 15 people for dinner.

The food was very good and the conversations were not just interesting but also informative. Dinner was well paced and we finished by about 930pm.

Yesterday morning I had breakfast with my friend, U-Zyn, at Sonder.

Always good to catch up with him. We have so many topics to talk about since he is knowledgeable in so many areas, and we ended up being there till after 1030am. Plus I am fascinated to hear his perspectives as someone who moved over from Malaysia to Singapore to understand how they view Singapore. Also it is good that he has a hearty appetite! And throughout that time we had the whole restaurant to ourselves.

At the dinner last Thursday, the banker next to me started talking about LKY.

He had met LKY in 2004 and he was seated next to him at a dinner. He was then a senior banker at Citibank. They used to organise an annual global thought leaders program and they have previously invited George Bush, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. That year they had invited LKY.

LKY had at that dinner said that the government in 1965 had to focus on 4 key things to make Singapore work. One of them was to ensure that there was a common language spoken and understood by all Singaporeans which would be English.

I was reflecting on this yesterday. When I was in school, primary school education was compulsory and we were all taught in English.

But I was sitting across a Chinese woman yesterday at Toast Box, who was clearly Singaporean who could not speak a word of English to me, even though she wanted to communicate. And this is not an isolated incident. There are many Singaporeans and especially the older ones of all races who cannot speak English. How did that happen?

Dif they not go to school? What did they learn in school or did they simply forget the language? Strange.

If this was meant to be a key principle underlying Singapore’s growth, then surely it has been a flop. There are many Singaporeans who cannot communicate in English. So how would Singaporeans communicate with each other?

The problem is now compounded by the fact that we now have brought in so many foreigners who cannot speak English. I have been to restaurants, especially Chinese restaurants, and the staff cannot speak a word of English.

It is strange no one talks about this in Singapore. Many countries now insist on language skills before they are allowed a work visa. In our case I suppose knowing a official language without English will suffice?

I was invited to their awards dinner which was tonight at the Shangri la Hotel.

I didn’t know anything about this organisation and I was very surprised when I received a WhatsApp from an unknown number a month back, inviting me to their awards dinner. I found out today that my invitor is the Founder and the current Chairman of this organization.

The GOH was Min Indranee Rajah and I was happy to be sitting next to Ambassador Kesavapany during the dinner.

Met quite a few people I know at this dinner and the food was actually good.

At the dinner I found out what the organisation does and the 6 award winners are truly inspiring and under normal circumstances I would not have know what good work these people do in the community.

This morning was our CDC retreat. The admin program said 8am and so I rushed down and of course it didn’t start till 845am. I should have known better.

It was held at this place called Changi Cove. I have never been to this hotel and so many things in Changi look so different. I used to be so familiar with this area. When I was in university, my friend stayed here at a place called Kenler Road. I remember coming here so many times and driving around here so often and spending so much time here. That would have been 1983 to 1985. This place has changed so much and I don’t think that road or all the houses there still exist. That whole area was populated with small single storey houses with large gardens and no fences. I think they used to house the British expats here working at Changi.

We discussed 3 topics. The changing economy and the employment situation, how to reach out to the young more effectively and how to connect social agencies better.

It was well attended. About 35 out of 56 district councillors attended and mostly the newer ones. Very few faces from my generation.

Lots of ideas were generated but I do hope at least some of these ideas are looked carefully and implemented. Otherwise its business as usual. I have never seen any retreats which have been useful but hopefully this time is different?

Last night, I was invited to this event by DBS at the Raffles Sentosa. I believe this is a new property at Sentosa.

It was a four hands dinner by Chefs Sam Yorke and Bjoern Alexander together with a fireside chat with their CEO Tan Su Chan and Sir James Dyson and a performance by Kit Chan. A small event for only 45 guests.

Both the chefs are Michelin starred chefs and both got their stars when they were quite young.

The ballroom was done well and clearly DBS had spent quite a bit of money and put in lots of effort for this event.

I found the food good. Just a pity with the main course cos it was pigeon and I didn’t want that.

The fireside chat was interesting though nothing profound. I wasn’t sure they needed this segment but it wasn’t boring.

The chat was followed by a performance by Kit Chan. I have never heard her perform live and so this was an interesting experience. She sang 3 songs, a Teresa Teng classic, Wind Beneath My Wings and finally Home. Nice performance but her age has caught up with her as her voice was a bit thin and her high notes were not perfect.

Overall a good evening although I had to give up my Yo Yo Ma tickets to attend this….

Some friends arranged for lunch and asked me to try out this restaurant. Apparently this place has just opened. A North Indian restaurant with a celebrity chef.

The chef is Varun Inamdar and his bio sounds super impressive.. personal chef at one time to PM Modi? And ranks 3rd globally on YouTube after Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay?

The place was half full when I arrived and the chef came out to chat and take pictures, which was nice.

We ordered some appetizers, most of which were nice. I didn’t care too much for the fried okra. The one comment I have is that some of the dishes were slightly salty, especially the tandori items.

Main course of roti and chickpea was decent and but the tandori chicken was salty.

We tried the chocolate dessert. Nice but I wouldn’t say that it was extraordinary though.

I would certainly give this place another shot, if I can find the right company.

Last night I watched this documentary which is on Prime.

The documentary is based on the travels by Chinese lady, now living in the US, who goes back to China after delivering her first child to visit her parents.

When she was born in China, the one child policy was firmly in place. She explores the reasons behind the policy, the way the policy was implemented and all the propaganda that went with it. She looks at the impact on families and women and mothers in particular. During that period, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of babies were abandoned on the streets, thrown into rivers or aborted. It is heartbreaking to hear a man talk about a baby that was born and abandoned on the street for 2 days before it died. He talks about how it bitten by mosquitoes and had bite marks all over.

It was also interesting to hear the reactions to the policy of the people who lived through that period. In particular that of a family planning doctor who says she must have aborted at least 50,000 babies. Most were alive when born. The mothers would be dragged there by village officials and she would perform the abortions.

It also notes the rise of forced kidnappings during this time. These babies were handled to state run orphanages who put them up for international adoption with lots of false paperwork. Lots of money made by everyone involved in this process except for the families of the abducted babies.

A simple documentary but thought provoking.

I really enjoy the drive back from KL. You can avoid all the traffic by picking the right timing.

So I left at 10 am this morning . Arrived at Tuas checkpoint at 130 pm with a 19% charge remaining and I was home by 2 pm.

And this was with a 5 minutes stop at Pagoh cos I wanted to buy muar otah for someone, which they didn’t have and they were not too helpful anyway.