Set clear targets to fight climate change

I applaud Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for his recent speech at the United Nations General Assembly (Leaders have a duty to youth to act on climate change: PM Lee, Sept 28).

As a parent, I am very concerned about climate change. 카지노사이트

Most of the estimated $100 billion bill needed by Singapore to adapt to rising sea levels will be borne by future generations. But the threat posed by rising sea levels is only one of the many potential adverse effects of global warming.

The true cost for our future generations could potentially be much higher.

Therefore, I hope Singapore can do more to combat climate change.

Singapore should start by setting an absolute limit on the amount of greenhouse gas it emits by 2050. Today the limit is based on carbon intensity, or emissions per dollar gross domestic product.

Singapore should also set a deadline to phase out the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles. Many countries and cities have already announced such moves.

As a major aviation and shipping hub, Singapore should set a deadline for transport companies to use fuels from only renewable sources.

The moves should be set on a 20-to 30-year timeline to give companies ample time to adjust to the changes. The measures will create demand for green solutions, encouraging innovators and entrepreneurs to develop solutions that are either too expensive or do not exist today.

Just as the Pioneer generation sacrificed so much to create a better future for Singaporeans today, this generation should do the same for the next. This is our duty to them.

I support the recommendation of the Committee to Review and Enhance Reforms in the Family Justice System for the courts and government agencies to collect data to track the effectiveness of initiatives and programmes implemented (Judges may get more power to prevent prolonged divorce cases, Sept 20).

Besides broad measures such as the general divorce rate, indicators which measure the health of the family justice system should be introduced.

Such indicators should be devised with a view to reduce the number of divorces in Singapore and achieve positive outcomes for children and families affected by divorce.

Some actions that could be taken include:

 • Tracking divorce rates across various cohorts, age groups and socio-economic backgrounds; 카지노사이트주소

 • Examining the age range of children affected by their parents' divorce;

 • Monitoring reconciliation rates after undergoing marriage recovery programmes;

 • Studying upstream resolution and settlement of divorce, for example, via mediation;

 • Investigating intergenerational effects of divorce and other family conflicts, that is, when parents divorce, are their children more likely to get divorced themselves?; and

 • Studying the proportion of juvenile delinquents who are children of divorce.

More qualitative measures should also be studied, and upstream countermeasures taken. They include:

 • Examining the real reasons for divorce and what alternative options were available.

 • Identifying high-risk stages of a marriage, and what programmes might have helped strengthen the marriage.

 • Devising measures that could be undertaken to reduce the intergenerational effect of divorce.

 • Reviewing if, in cases of family violence, infidelity and other compulsive behaviours, counselling and treatment options have been exhausted before divorce is granted.

These indicators should be made public so we can harness the efforts of a range of stakeholders in society to co-create solutions.

As Singapore society develops and matures, it is necessary to take a holistic approach to achieve sustainable outcomes for families in Singapore.

It is time for us to recognise the significant impact that divorce has on the family and society.

Wards without air-con too warm to rest well in

I thank The Straits Times' Senior Executive Content Producer Denise Chong for bringing attention to the issue of air-conditioning for subsidised wards (Air-con for subsidised wards: Debate gets another airing, Sept 29).

I went to the National University Hospital for an angioscopy, and had to stay there overnight. Fans were at full blast throughout the day at the B2 ward. It was so warm that it was not possible to sleep or rest well during the day, and there was some respite only after midnight.

It makes no sense for wards to not be air-conditioned. This policy was put in place a long time ago. Times have changed. Climate change has increased temperatures, with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong acknowledging that "Singapore is already palpably warmer than what Singapore was 30 to 40 years ago" (Govt on the side of youth concerned about climate change, Sept 29). 온라인바카라

As Ms Chong points out, many places are now air-conditioned. Today, air-con is a necessity, not a luxury.

There is an old argument that the elderly don't like air-con or the cold, which may be true. But this is not a binary issue, temperatures can be calibrated and set at a cool but not cold temperature, perhaps around 25 deg C to 27 deg C.

It is high time this archaic policy was revamped.

Much more thought needs to go into how Singapore can support the elderly.

I took my elderly mother to a recent Health Promotion Board road show in Tampines.

There were priority queues for the Pioneer and Merdeka generation visitors. But the floorboards in the tented area were uneven.

And when we were done, barricades had been put up at the entrance, which was closest to the taxi stand. To get to the taxi stand, the crowd had to get to the exit at the far end, and then walk along the road to circle back to the entrance.

Two young women manning the exit helped to walk my mother to the exit. By then, she was exhausted.

To make matters worse, while waiting for a taxi which the women helped us book, at least seven personal mobility devices zoomed past.

It is such minuscule details that are often overlooked that make a big difference to seniors.

There needs to be greater understanding as to what ambulant seniors need and find useful - from accessibility ramps to hand-holds for steps, and regularly spaced seating areas along walkways to more accommodation and flexibility in terms of closing off exits.

While things have improved for wheelchair users, the people who can still move about independently but tire quickly have been neglected.

It is one thing to encourage seniors to be more active and track 10,000 steps daily. It is quite another to ensure that they can move about safely, without falling.

Include funeral parlours at Woodlands Health Campus

I welcome the announcement that Ren Ci Hospital will operate a new nursing home at an upcoming health campus in Woodlands (Ren Ci's third nursing home to be at Woodlands Health Campus, Sept 29).

This move will build upon a new model of care that will see on-site acute and community hospitals, specialist outpatient clinics and long-term care facilities like a hospice integrated into a comprehensive ecology of care. 카지노사이트

The Woodlands Health Campus serves as a hub that fosters health promotion, engages patients with the larger resident communities and seamlessly connects them to community care providers in the northern part of Singapore. For a rapidly ageing population like Singapore, this is a much-needed development.

The Silver Generation Office under the Agency for Integrated Care should also consider situating one of its satellite offices at this health campus to ensure a more robust integration of health and social support services.

We should also include space for the provision of funeral parlours.

This will not only take funeral parlours away from industrial estates, but also integrate death care services as part of our present care and support networks and initiatives.

This can be done as part of a pilot scheme in collaboration with funeral parlour operators and, if successful, could extend to major public hospitals in Singapore.

Funeral homes in South Korea are located within the premises of hospital establishments, providing efficient services and a practical one-stop avenue to meet the needs of the grieving.

In land-scarce Singapore, this will be a sustainable and wise move.

More importantly, it will reshape attitudes and mindsets towards our relationship with the dead and reframe our understanding of death care and dignity as an extension of healthcare, as well as part of a comprehensive ecology of care.

Adjunct Associate Professor Tan Heng Hao in his Forum letter said that women receiving egg donation face psychological barriers (Menopausal women seeking IVF: Guidelines being worked out, Sept 28).

It is imperative that new legislation also addresses the psychological and ethical issues faced by sperm or egg donors, and donor-conceived offspring. With the Government lifting age restrictions on in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, it is anticipated that there will be a steady increase in egg donation cases.

There are strong cultural taboos against incest; as such, sperm/egg donors often worry about accidental incest between their artificially-conceived offspring, as well as with their own natural children. This has deterred many would-be donors and causes a perennial shortage of sperm/egg donors in Singapore, an informal survey by news portal AsiaOne a few years ago showed.

This issue is not trivial, considering the well-documented phenomenon of genetic sexual attraction - sexual attraction between close relatives who first meet as adults. There have been several such reported cases of accidental incest between siblings who were separated at birth and adopted by different families.

Given Singapore's size and high population density, there are even greater chances of accidental incest.

Additionally, personal and familial health information about the sperm/egg donor should be shared. For example, many diseases can be inherited, such as breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Sperm/egg donors may develop these diseases later in life, or they may remain healthy, but their close relatives may be afflicted. 인터넷바카라

Moreover, the advent of DNA home-testing kits and online genealogy databases based on such DNA tests have made it more difficult to conceal from donor offspring the truth about their conception.

Hence the Ministry of Health should set up a centralised sperm and egg donor registry to manage the collection and sharing of such confidential information. Former sperm/egg donors can be prompted to regularly update the registry with their latest health information as well as that of their family members.

Non-identifying information, such as the number of children born per donor, their sex and year of birth, should be readily disclosed to sperm/egg donors, their conceived offspring and recipient parents to avoid accidental incest.

Misuse of First World, Third World labels

Veteran diplomat Tommy Koh said that Singapore is a First World country with Third World people (Singaporeans can be more civic-minded, considerate, says Prof Koh, Oct 2).

The first paragraph of the article misuses the terms First World and Third World, which are used in reference to the economic development of countries and should not be linked with social graciousness or civic mindedness 바카라사이트주소

To judge people as lacking in civility and consideration just because they are citizens of Third World countries is a form of discrimination.

When my 15-year-old air conditioner finally died recently after failed attempts at repair (no parts available), I was told how lucky I had been as all new air-cons last five years at best.

Unfortunately, I was not as lucky with the many shoes, bags, equipment, household appliances and computer hardware that I had to replace in the past few years, often soon after the warranty expired.

I am disturbed about constantly buying new replacements while contributing to the global mountain of junk that can't be repaired or used anymore.

I am also piqued by the quality of building materials: Walls get mouldy, things break down easily.

The amount of waste generated way exceeds the entire volume of plastic bottles, bags and straws that I stopped using over the past two years.

I'm glad to learn that I'm not alone in feeling this way. From Europe to the United States, people are fighting for the "right to repair", with proposals to force manufacturers to make goods that last longer and are easier to mend.

This wiser use of resources will benefit the environment and save carbon emissions.

I am hopeful that as part of Singapore's drive to fight climate change, we can have a "Made to Last" set of quality standards for manufacturers and builders to attain, to assure end-users of product longevity and availability of replacement parts.

We should also study the use of ecologically friendly, traditional building materials like the Japanese Shikkui plaster, which is fire-resistant, naturally anti-static, dust-preventing, anti-fungal and mould resistant.

I am grateful for the Government's strong leadership on climate change.

I want to do my part to reduce my carbon footprint and will appreciate the support to do so. As a consumer, I will certainly choose a "Made to Last" product. It would be wonderful too if my HDB flat is fire-resistant, anti-dust, anti-fungal and mould-resistant.

China's drive to learn and relearn since the late 1970s was immense, and the transformation achieved, breathtaking (China learning, unlearning, relearning, Sept 28).

When its paramount leader Deng Xiaoping visited Singapore in 1978, he spent time to learn about our public housing and industrialisation programme.

In the early 1980s, two colleagues from Lianhe Zaobao and I visited the Wenhui Bao office in Shanghai to explore a cooperation project. There I gained first-hand experience of their humility and keenness to learn.

Circulation-wise, Wenhui Bao was a giant compared with Lianhe Zaobao; but it had very negligible advertisement income. 안전놀이터

Lianhe Zaobao's advertisement revenue was in the tens of millions of dollars, something out of their imagination.

They asked many questions about how we attained the revenue over the years. They were also keen to learn how we conducted market research to help our business and improve newspaper content.

A year or two later, a few Wenhui Bao staff and government officials visited Lianhe Zaobao. The government officials requested that we help arrange for them to visit the Singapore stock exchange. We did.

China re-established its Shanghai Stock Exchange in 1990, which is now the fourth largest in the world by capitalisation.

China is now a major investor in many countries around the world and is a leader in many new businesses, like the tech giants it has.

With its huge capability, China can act and advance faster than any nation once the environment allows.

To tap the opportunities China offers, more and more young people in the region are now learning Mandarin or going to China to study. These nations are taking increasing steps to adapt to the rise of China.

However, the sheer size of China with its vast advancement, not just in the economic but also geopolitical and military fronts, also poses certain threats to countries here.

South-east Asian nations used to adopt a very cautious approach when dealing with China in the 1960s and 1970s, when they were wary about China's political influence then.

China should be sensitive of this new wave of wariness entailed by its fast rising. More diplomatic, social and cultural interactions could help promote better understanding between China and the other countries, and China needs to take a major step in this area.

Suicide prevention requires national response

The prevalence of suicide mortality among the elderly, youth and males is a significant societal concern. 바카라사이트주소

There is a prevailing narrative that suicide remains largely a mental health problem, and organisations, including the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) and social and religious institutions, have stepped up their preventive efforts along with this understanding.

Suicidal behaviour indicates deep unhappiness but not necessarily a mental disorder. Many people living with a mental disorder are not affected by suicidal behaviour, and not all people who take their own lives have a mental disorder.

I welcome efforts by individuals such as The Straits Times copy-editor Linda Collins, who has taken us on a journey into her own experiences in the aftermath of her daughter's suicide in her book Loss Adjustment (Going briefly mad with grief, Sept 29).

It is also timely that SOS, tapping its 50 years of suicide prevention, has released a book resource, Do I Matter, for the public.

However, it is time that we work towards a comprehensive national response for suicide prevention.

This includes the enhancement of research into the local context, identifying and targeting vulnerable groups, improving the assessment and management of suicidal behaviour, increasing awareness through public education, improving societal attitudes and eliminating the stigma towards people with mental disorders or who exhibit suicidal behaviours.

The media should also play its part in adopting better policies and practices whenever it reports suicide cases.

There should also be greater support for individuals and families bereaved by suicide.

In fact, there is a need to consolidate our efforts under a government-led liaison office that addresses suicide prevention that involves non-governmental organisations, academic institutions and ministries across health, education, manpower, social and family development as well as communications and information.

Suicide prevention efforts require coordination and collaboration among multiple sectors of society. These efforts must be comprehensive, integrated and synergistic, as no single approach suffices for an issue as complex as suicide.

The first levels the playing field a little better for the LIPs, the second reduces some of the malicious delay tactics, and the third eliminates the influencing role of coached courtroom theatrics in decision-making. 안전놀이터

Indeed, divorce in our society has become a war of attrition, what with ceaseless filings of costly affidavits and lengthening of the divorce process by one party seeking to drain the resources of the other.

As Forum contributor Ian Chan Eng Kiat pointed out, attorneys should also be curbed from profiting excessively in family tragedies by fomenting acrimony between divorcing parties (Panel's recommendations for family law reforms not enough, Oct 1).

The ones who suffer the most in these wars of attrition are indubitably the children as they are left in limbo. Difficult parents who use their children as pawns will spitefully stall school and medical decisions.

Additionally, immoderate resources that could have gone to the children are wastefully diverted to a costly and lengthy divorce.

An elongated divorce also compounds the single parent's struggles by delaying both the interim maintenance and eventual division of assets; even more so if the same parent has sacrificed his or her career to care for the children.

Stuck in VEP gridlock

Since I first installed the radio frequency identification (RFID) tag as part of Malaysia's Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) scheme on my vehicle three months back, it has never worked at the Johor checkpoints (Malaysia halts VEP enforcement at Johor checkpoints, Oct 3).

I ended up using the Tap-and-Go card, instead. 인터넷바카라

I put in RM100 (S$33) into the e-wallet for the VEP system but now that Malaysia has announced that the system is on hold, I don't know if I will be able to get my money back.

My queries to the Malaysian authorities are still unanswered.

After going through all the hassle to register my vehicle online to obtain the RFID tag, making an appointment and then the installation, the system does not work. It just does not make sense.

Choa Chu Kang residents will have to wait even longer for their first hawker centre to be built.

It was announced that Choa Chu Kang will get a hawker centre in its town centre but that it will only be constructed after the Jurong Region Line construction works are completed in 2026.

A second hawker centre will be in the planned Yew Tee Integrated Development opening in 2026 (Choa Chu Kang to have two new hawker centres, Sept 23).

The challenges parents face while coaching children to keep up with academic rigour have been in the news recently (Families spent $1.4b on extra tuition for children last year, Sept 7; Some parents take issue with PSLE 2019 maths paper and call it 'exceptionally difficult'; ST Online, Oct 1).

I recognise that every parent has his children's best interests at heart, and wants to provide them with the best resources to get a head start in life.

At the same time, it is key that in the pursuit to help children thrive academically, parents also invest in building up their social and emotional competencies. This is best developed when they take time to foster greater parent-child connectedness through intentional communication and meaningful interaction with children.

When parents cultivate a warm, supportive and loving relationship with their children, the child is at lower risk of social and emotional problems and negative risk-taking behaviours later in life. He is also more likely to have positive and healthy relationships in both childhood and adulthood. 안전놀이터

As part of Focus on the Family Singapore's annual Children's Day campaign Race to Praise this year, it conducted an online survey with more than 600 parents, asking them to share their parenting styles, challenges and interactions with their children.

Focus on the Family observed that one in five parents experienced high levels of connectedness with their children. These parents spend one-on-one time with their children, say "I love you" and play with their children regularly. Most distinctively, they are also clued in to their child's thoughts and feelings.

Among parents whose children discussed their feelings openly with them, more than half of them felt that their children were also willing to tackle a challenge again after failure.

These findings suggests that children need their parents to tune in emotionally and not just physically. Parents' emotional connection with their children sets the foundation for the development of their emotional resilience, empathy for others, and other abilities, such as problem-solving and relationship-building skills.

Parents cannot shield their children from every test, obstacle and challenge, but they can cultivate in them the right tools of resilience and confidence to tackle life's problems.

Employers who widen hiring reach have an edge

We thank Mr Ankur Gupta for his feedback and agree with his call to employers (Look beyond proven skills and experience when hiring, Oct 2).

Indeed, employers who are prepared to consider a wider range of job-seekers have an edge. Also, these employers are more attractive to job-seekers as they are prepared to put in effort to train their employees.

To help employers and job-seekers find a match, Workforce Singapore (WSG) offers various programmes under its Adapt and Grow initiative, such as Professional Conversion Programmes (PCPs). The PCPs provide support for employers to hire and train job-seekers in the skills necessary for the job.

There are over 100 PCPs in more than 30 sectors, and new ones are being introduced in partnership with employers.

Last year, close to 5,000 locals took up new jobs through PCPs. These employees are doing well, and two in three now command higher wages than in their previous jobs. Helping our workers to be mobile enables businesses and workers to do better.

Forum contributor Guan Xuemei made astute observations about the mobility issues of senior citizens (Little details make big difference to seniors who can walk, ST Online, Oct 1).

Another conversation worth having is perhaps seniors carrying too many - or heavy - things, and the potential consequences. 안전놀이터

It's not uncommon, for instance, to see seniors struggling with groceries at supermarket checkout counters. They buy too much, and overestimate their ability to lug all the groceries back home, risking falls and injuries.

It could be helpful for supermarket counter staff to politely inquire if these seniors need help and to intervene as necessary, such as offering to call a family member or the domestic helper to come and help.

This was something I observed that supermarket staff would do quite frequently during my time living and working in Melbourne.

Once, I helped an old woman who was on a travellator on her way down to the basement carpark.

Her shopping trolley was overweight with too many groceries and the anti-skid mechanism of the trolley somehow malfunctioned. The trolley started to drag the woman dangerously down as she held on and refused to let go. It was fortuitous that I happened to be standing a short distance behind her and was able to reach out and grab the shopping trolley before it dragged her further down the travellator; the fall could have been fatal for her.

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, the same could be said for watching out for seniors as well.

So let's continue to keep the conversations going as we tackle together the ageing issues of our seniors and help them to age well and to live well.