Say what?

SINGAPORE, Nov 24, 2008 (AFP) – Singapore’s prime minister is to lose 19 percent of his salary because of the global economic turmoil but will still earn almost two million US dollars a year, a report said Monday.

Singapore is in recession and the government said the economy could contract next year.

“In view of the clouded economic outlook and the likelihood that salaries will be lower next year, the government has decided to defer the January 2009 salary adjustment,” the report quoted the Public Service Division as saying.

The Division could not be immediately reached for comment.

With the pay cut, Lee will earn 3.04 million dollars (1.99 million US) a year, while ministers will see an 18 percent drop to 1.57 million dollars, The Straits Times said.

Rare public fury erupted in April 2007 when the government announced salary hikes for politicians and senior officials. In response, Lee said the government would pay him the higher salary but he would “donate” the increase “to suitable good causes” for five years.

The White House said at the time that US President George W. Bush got paid 400,000 dollars per year for doing his job.

Singapore officials have said high salaries are necessary to recruit and retain talented individuals, and to prevent corruption.

Teo Chee Hean, the minister in charge of the civil service, said the government last year introduced the mechanism linking a significant proportion of senior civil servants’ salaries to economic performance, a system which is working as planned.

“Public sector salaries follow the market up and down,” The Straits Times quoted him as saying. “This mechanism allows salaries to respond more rapidly to market conditions.”

- From Yahoo News

I’ve always like this song, from the Smashing Pumpkins, though the movie which it was a soundtrack of kinda bombed.

The job market out there looks bad. I guess I am experiencing my first recession while working. So many changes out there. For once, I fear for my job. Sigh.

Ai Ling’s company will be closing down. Thank goodness her company will still be giving their employees amply time to find jobs, as well as individual payouts. In a way, it’s good. She’s now expecting, and it’s so called, in time.

For me, though my job is getting more and more monotonous and annoying, I guess I have to strive harder, to beat competition and get a bigger piece of the pie. Starting my own company soon? Guess not. Times are hard. And, my clients are really bad paymasters. Kinda cheesed off. Having work done and not getting paid for it till everything has been resolved. Sigh.

I think I’m losing more and more hair as time goes by. Yesterday during RCIA, I realised that in a space of just 2 minutes, my hair, albeit short, dropped. 4 strands! In 2 minutes! I read somewhere when I was younger that an average adult drops an average of just 50 strands of hair a day! So, If this is a sign of things to come, I think I’m going to have to shave my hair ala Jordan, wax it a bit, and get a sun tan for my scalp. Double sigh.

Our Father in Heaven, Holy be Your Name, Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, Give us today our daily bread, forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sinned against us. Do not bring us to the Test, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

How many of us have forgiven someone who had hurt us badly? Forgiveness is a virtue. But an even bigger virtue would be to forget. Who can forgive AND forget? It’s hard. Human nature. An eye for an eye. That’s what I used to say. You hit me, be careful, I’ll hit you harder. That applied during basketball times when I was with Sin Kee. It helped that I had all that body mass. I loved my new found strength. But, everyone has an Achille’s Heel, and mine were my ankles. Opponents knew, and loved, to attack my ankles. Resulting in oh-so-many sprains and fractures.

Now? I can’t even play a regular game on weekends. It’s been tough. 3 times I’ve played, the whole of August, September, October, and November. Compared to 5 times a week 10 years ago… that’s a disappointment. And gym? Don’t even say it. From 6 times a week, to 2 times a week, to now, I have not gone to a basic gym in what, 5 months?

Just call me Garfield. Sigh.

An apparently disturbed worker was mauled to death by three tigers at the Singapore Zoo on Thursday when he deliberately jumped into their enclosure, the zoo said.

The white tigers pounced on the 32-year-old contract cleaner after he jumped into the moat surrounding their enclosure and then moved toward the animals, the zoo said in a statement.

The zoo, one of Singapore’s most prominent tourist attractions, described the victim as “apparently disturbed and agitated”.

Fellow workers reported that he “was acting a little bit erratic and odd, throwing papers around” before the incident, assistant director of zoology Biswajit Guha told Singapore’s 938Live radio.

Guha said the cleaner worked at the chimpanzee area and was on his lunch break when the tragedy occurred.

“Goodbye, I won’t be seeing you again,” Guha quoted the victim as telling one of the zookeepers.

“And they saw him riding off on a bicycle and coming back in through the front entrance again, and then about five minutes later, the whole alert came on the walkie talkie,” he said.

Horrified visitors screamed as zookeepers rushed into the tiger enclosure to try to rescue the victim.

They threw rocks to try to distract the animals, which dragged their victim toward a passageway, said Guha.

Zoo workers finally succeeded in luring the tigers away from the man and confining them to their pens, but paramedics later pronounced him dead.

The victim had injuries mainly to his head and neck, Lieutenant Colonel N. Subhas, the director of public affairs with the Singapore Civil Defence Force, told AFP.

The zoo identified the dead man as Nordin Bin Montong, a zoo contract worker from Malaysia.

“At no time was any visitor or Singapore Zoo staff exposed to any danger,” the zoo said.

Police said they were called to the zoo about 12:30 pm (0430 GMT) and were investigating the “unnatural” death.

The zoo said the moat and other permanent safety features at the enclosure meant there was no risk to visitors or staff.

“Nonetheless, we have temporarily closed the White Tiger exhibit to visitors to facilitate investigations into this unfortunate incident,” it said.

- Msn news

- My 2 cents

Wtf? When I caught this on the telly yesterday night, my thoughts were filled with, “What? Are they gonna kill the tigers for doing what they were born to do, thanks to some stupid fella who was suicidal?”

I’m sorry for the fella dying and all, but to jump into a moat filled with natural predators, that’s sheer stupidity on his part. Dying can be easier, right?