An area for mothers to express their milk

With the knowledge that breast milk is good for babies, more mothers are now breastfeeding their babies. Thanks to the government, mothers now have 3 months maternity leave. But after the 3 months maternity leave, mothers who choose to continue to breastfeed their babies when they return to work need an area in their workplace to express their milk. What will happen when their workplace have no such area? Do bosses know that mother's breast will gorge when they can't express their milk? Not only is gorging of the breast painful, but can harm the health of the mother. Mother's plight have to be looked into if more women are to have babies and a career as well.

A most embarassing incident

A most embarassing incident happened some years back. I was among the 40 tourists touring a country. We had this very enthusiastic guide with us. He brought us to see many delightful places of interest. Then he brought us to a restaurant for our lunch. After lunch, each of us visited the toilet. We got a shock at the state of the toilet. Some even photographed it. Every one complained. The tourist guide was flabbergasted. I can imagine what he must be saying to himself. It must have been a very embarassing moment for the guide.

How can you let them die?

This title appeared recently in Straits Times. Bill Gates says the problem is complex. Here are some of my thoughts on the subject inspired from watching the movie "The Constant Gardener".

Set up an account for every individual who lives on a dollar or less a day. I shall call these individual accounts LTAD accounts, LTAD stands for Less Than a Dollar.

Each of these LTAD account will have a beginning credit of 100,000 points. Individuals who wish to donate say, $5000 will donate to the bank who will then credit a sum of $50 to each individual LTAD account randomly.

For each $50 given to a LTAD account, 5 points will be deducted. Priority will then be given to individual LTAD accounts with higher credit points. This means that those who have received some money paid into their LTAD accounts will have less priority than those who have not received or received less. Banks appointed to administer the LTAD funds will have a LTADD account. LTADD stands for Less Than a Dollar Distribution account.

Individuals who wish to donate can donate to this LTADD account. Any monies received in the LTADD account will redistribute the money to the LTAD accounts the following day. Verification officers and counter verification officers can be appointed to verify the authenticity of each of these LTAD accounts. Verification officers and Counter verification officers will be randomly paired together every year.

Do let me know what you think of this idea.

I did not receive my progress package

I followed the instructions set out in the progress package letter, but I did not receive my progress package. It seems that I have to make some other declarations which was not included in the progress package letter and so I have missed the progress package payment.


Boo-hoo-hoo

Work and Pay

Recently there has been much debate and publicity regarding pay and work. Who works the most?
Have you considered what a new mother with her new baby have to go through? A mother who has to breastfeed her new baby every one to two hours throughout the 24 hours, every day for 6 to 9 months. Do you know what she has to go through? For those new mothers who go back to work after the 3 months maternity leave, when they come back from work they still have to go through the next 6 months without continuous sleep to feed the baby throughout the night and go back to work the next morning. If you have experienced it you will understand why there are lesser and lesser babies.

How to improve bus travel time

Buses often find difficulty in coming out of bus stop bays due to ongoing traffic. This difficulty can be overcomed by drawing a box next to every bus stop bay to allow buses to have right of way. All vehicles when they see buses coming out of bus stop bays have to give way to buses.

If you like the above suggestion, please send a cheque to:

Joanna Leong Suet Fong
27 Jalan Chengkek
Singapore 369248

Where to find cheaper rental rates in Singapore

I read recently that some foreigners are paying more than S$20,000 per month for rental of their homes. Here's a tip where you can get much cheaper rental rates - at Balestier Regency located in the Balestier region. The rental rates for a 3 + 1 room apartment at Balestier Regency is going for less than S$2,000 per month. It is located behind a shopping mall with theatre and is only a 5 mins drive from the American Club. Balestier is also centrally located in Singapore.

Have a happy stay here in Singapore.
Best wishes to one and all.

Bank Interest Rates

Why can't banks have the same interest rates for fixed deposits whether it be renewal or fresh funds? It is mind boggling to have different interest rates for the above 2 mentioned categories. Loyal customers do not wish to be given lesser interest rates than for fresh funds. Why are banks penalising their loyal customers? Don't make sense to me.

What I think most people like about the United States

What I think most people like about the United States is their education system, their movies (some of them, those with some educational content), their innovation e.g. American Idol (this represents discovery of new talents), Survivor series, Extreme Fear, National Geographic, Oprah Winfrey Show (women's and other issues are frankly discussed on this program), etc.

How Insurance Companies can improve their business

Here are some suggestions for insurance companies to improve their business. Insurance companies can improve their business by giving their clients free, or subsidised yearly checkups or requiring clients to go for yearly checkups for cheaper insurance premiums. Insurance companies that follow the health of their clients yearly will likely have lesser payouts than those who don't. Insurance companies can tie up with health products companies and introduce these to their clients and offer health seminars for free or discounted rates to their clients and hence ensure that their clients are having the best of products and information available to keep a healthy lifestyle. For people who suffer from high blood pressure, if they know how to monitor their blood pressure daily or regularly, they can prevent a heart attack or stroke and avoid being paralysed.

If you find the above information useful to you, please send a cheque to

Joanna Leong Suet Fong
27 Jalan Chengkek
Singapore 369248

Thank you.

The way forward ...Friedman's way

In "the world is flat", Friedman attributes poverty to government policies which did not favour easy set up of business by individuals. According to him, if rules and regulations make it easy for individuals to set up business, this will enable individuals to create their own wealth.

Distance apart

Distance apart isn't as easy as when it is near.

Have you been to Changi beach or East Coast Park beaches recently?

Go take a drive to Changi Beach or East Coast Park Beach and see for yourself.....what has happened? .....guess many people have not been going there.