League of Nations

Essay on League of Nation

The League of Nations was established in April 1919 to deal with the difficult international problems.

The League, as well as the framework and structure is bounded by the covenant. It aimed to maintain peace through collective security. It consists of the Assembly, the Council, the Secretariat, Court of International Justice, the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Mandates Commission.

The Assembly was the League’s debating chamber, consisting of not more than three delegates from each member state, with each member only entitled to one vote. The members met annually, dealing with international problems brought before it. It admitted new members and controlled the budget. It also elected non-permanent members of the Council. Any decision taken had to be unanimous.

The Council consisted of 4 permanent members Britain, France, Italy and Japan. Germany joined later in 1926. It also started with 4 non-permanent members of which one was Poland. This number was increased to 11 by 1936. They meet at least three times a year, and dealt with problems when the Assembly was not in session. It could organize sanctions against an offending state. All decisions had to be unanimous.

The Secretariat consisted of permanent officials acting as salaried civil servants of the League in Geneva. They do all the administrative work, preparing agendas, and writing resolutions and reports for f the League. The Secretariat was divided into different sections, such as finance, drugs, health and disarmament. Its first Secretary-General, Sir Eric Drummond, succeeded in his aim to develop a body of international civil servants that were loyal to the League as opposed to individual states.

The Permanent Court of Justice was based at The Hague in Holland since 1921. It consists of fifteen judges of different nationalities, elected by the assembly. They represent the world’s different legal systems. It dealt with legal disputes, as opposed to political disputes between states. It also advised the Assembly and Council if asked. However, decisions were not binding.

The international labour organization aimed to improve the working conditions by fixing a maximum working day and week, recommend appropriate wages for workers and lay down minimum entitlements for sickness, injury and old-age benefit. It also worked to ensure freedom for trade unions to organize their members to enjoy rights. It is associated to all League members. Non members could be elected in.

Commissions and Special Committees (or if preferred: specialized agencies) were set up to carry out much of the League’s work. Each committee/agency specialized in a certain objective.

The disarmament agency aimed to reduce armament in a great scale. It mad little progress as members could not agree on the issue. However, it did manage to reduce the arms ratio of USA, Britain and Japan to 10:10:7 respectively.

The Commission for Refugees, supervised by High Commissioner, aimed to repatriate and secure the welfare of people displaced by the war. They managed to restore 400,000 prisoners of thirty nationalities to their homeland.

The Commission for Slavery was aimed to reduce slavery worldwide. It asked members to cooperate to stamp out slave dealing. However, there were still reports of slave dealings in 1937. The commission inquired all members about slavery in states.


Any Comments?? Please Tag or email me.

Syncronization

Oh.. Another thing...
Posts from this blogger account will be syncronized automatically with my MSN spaces account so I don't have to blog 2 times...

~ http://gyeojz.blogspot.com
~ http://spaces.msn.com/members/gyeojz

Nonetheless, the blogspot/blogger account will take precedence over the rest of my blogs as it is and will always be my main blog (unless someone can come up with a free blogging service with greater flexibility & also without ads).....

Temp down....

Thank heavens my temperature went down... thought it would stay at 37.8

Well skipped school today.. I think will be able to return tomorrow. Actually I must return tomorrow as it will be the last day of lessons before the prelims.

Will generate a better post next time... better rest now if I wanna go back to school tomorrow.
HOpe the Rehersals will go on well... Wonder if Darrick has found out what to do with the other 20+ people....

lolx

I'm Sick

Sighz..

I'm Sick...
Fever... 38.2 degrees celsius

Couldn't do much today... Didn't even touch my work...

Haiz...

One wasted day.....

Countdown..

Countdown begins towards teacher's day and also the English Prelim Exam which will be held on the day after that....

Had rehersals for teacher's day today. Two more rehersals left and still not polished. Stayed back until 6pm with Darrick, Shi Xian, Zhen Cheng to discuss what to do with the mass of 20 people. What is confirmed is that we will have a drummer, 4 guitarists, 8 lead vocalists on stage, while 2 of us will be in the control centre of the PAC (Performing Arts Centre). Jeremy skipped the rehersal as he was going to Malaysia for the weekend.

Talking about going away, looks like more of my friends will be going overseas at the end of this year...
First it was Andrew, he's going to New South Wales High School in Australia.
Than Abraham also said he would be going to Australia.
Shi Xian would also be going over to his brother (i think)in Australia....
Grace will also go back to Shanghai in a few days time...

Why is everyone leaving??

sighz....

Our elective humans (geog/S.S.) teacher will also be leaving at the end of this month... he has resigned from the school, for a reason not known to us... But from what we could gather, it was some "staff politics".... How can he bare to leave at this crucial time of the year?! With 'O' Levels drawing near, he has to drop this bomb...

Regarding bombs, thought physics practical was going to be easy. However, that was not the case... ok, I would say that we will be able to pass, but definitely not well...

The teachers had warned us that prelims will be "tough" as they want to "scare us", but we didn't know they meant mass slaughter. Maybe that is an understatment?? "Murder" would be a better word.



~~~~~~6 days to start of prelims (main papers)~~~~~~

Scored!!

First time!! first time my 2158 essay get a 15. And part 1 got 12/14!! Wow!!

Chemistry practical on Wednesday wasn't that bad, but I left my Nike bottle in the science lab... forgot to take it out... damn it!! Don't know if it is still there... SOoooo absent-minded... haiz.. Can't go back in as the labs are currently out-of-bounds to students. oh well...

hrmph... after so long -- about a year, never go into computer lab 1, we went there today only to find the school had changed all the computers again!!
hmm... thats like the second time in 4 years! And whats more?
All 34 computers are Pentium 4, 3.0 GHz, 400MHz 512Mb RAM and running on ATI Radeon Graphics cards!!
I'm SOooo jealous... and we don't get to use it too.... sobz...

There will be another rehersal for teachers day tomorrow after the physics practicals... Looks like will be another long day at school....

Just realized that Mozilla Thunderbird could manage podcasts and get RSS feeds. lolx... was just listening to the Prime Minister's National Day Rally. It was fun watching “tau gay not enough --豆芽不够” and “tau gay never enough -- 豆芽永远不够” again..

haha...

Anyway, that aside, Physics practicals tomorrow. Two screw ups and I really pray that this won't add on to the count.

I got Microsoft Vista?? + BIo practicals

Micorsoft Vista (formly codenamed longhorn) will be arriving next year, hopefully in the first half. Screenshots of it were released on Microsoft Vista's site.

However, I couldn't really wait, so decided to do some skinning...
Downloaded this theme from wincustomize.
Credit for this theme goes to KoL

Can say I am quite satisfied. Looks like the real thing too! Although I can never emulate the engine behind Microsoft Vista.

Below is a screenshot of my current desktop...

My Current "Micosoft Vista" Desktop...


Lolx...

Biology pracitical yesterday was quite screwed. Ask us to compare visible features between W31 (carrot) and W32 (onion). Can't see and similarities or differences except for the layered appearance. Hope Chemistry Practicals tomorrow won't be as bad....

=)

Pardon...

hmm.. feel so bad... no time to write a good entry.
Prelim biology practical tomorrow... taking a break from it to write this...

Chemistry and Physics practicals will be on Wednesday and Friday respectively...

However, did catch the National Day Rally... certain sections were quite hilarious... especially the short video by Nanyang Polytechnic..

must mug...

Some Updates....

On this blog:
~ I have changed the tagboard back to my sepwich hosted one as I found out that cBox would deliver a popup everytime someone visits my site... I just can't stand popups and could not tolerate having the sight of one on my blog.
~ By the way, I'm wondering, who is "sofia"?? There isn't a "www.bignews.com". I am curious what info she is referring to...
~ A few more history 2158 essays will be coming soon to this site as I prepare for 'O' Levels. I hope readers will give their comments on it.


In Singapore:
~ President S.R. Nathan has been elected a second term after a no contest as no one else was eligible.
~ Looks like the problems not solved when TT Durai stepped down.... The new interim board of National Kidney Foundation of Singapore has called in the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) to come in. The scene does not reflect well, especially when people had just recovered from the events that were revloving around NKF which has led to Mr. Durai resigning.
~ However, NKF will be reducing the overall monthly dialysis charge, from S$200 to S$164, comparable to KDF and private centers.
~ Victoria Secondary School students has started a petition against the school from going co-ed. Many feel that it would erode the schools 120+ year old tradtion of being an all-boys school. Discussions well be held with the students on the matter.
~ Project Superstar finals have ended. Kevin and Kelly won the male and female divisions respectively. They will be releasing their debut albums in a few days time. They will meet again in a final "battle" to choose the overall champion. Sales of their debut album will contribute to their scores in the overall finals.


Global:
~ Outbreak of a new worm on the internet: ZOTOB. More information on this worm can be found on anti-virus vendor's website.
A link to the details on Trendmicro's site can be found here


ok... thats all...

Rehersals.

Rehersals.. rehersals..

Yea.. thats right.. rehersals for the teachers' day concert.

Damn. waited until 4 p.m. and still couldn't get started. Ray encountered some programming errors.
ok..ok.... maybe because we tried to be "extra", choosing flash presentation rather than powerpoint. Well, we wanted to make an impact....
I couldn't help Ray much... Although I may know HTML (who doesn't??), Javascript, C++ (a little) and Visual Basic, I am a complete "noob" when it comes to flash programming....
Oh well... I am going to learn it after 'O' Levels.

Overall, I think we still need to "polish" up our acts. Need to do a little choreography, and also curb some of our stage "frights".

2158 essay question was quite unexpected. Instead of asking for political and economic reforms, they asked for political and economic progress in the 1950s to 1960s.... Got us stunned...
In the end, I resorted to writing everything I posted in the last blog entry and added and ending paragraph referring to that time frame stated in the question (e.g. 6% economic growth in 1950s and 11% economic growth in 1960s) .

The Maths E.Maths test also came as a surprise as we were not "fore warned". Anyway, it wasn't that bad..... although it would have been better if we were given some more time to do .

SCAP --- Post-war recovery of Japan immediately after WW2

What the heck... don't think I can finish this long essay in half an hour..

oh well...

*Start*

Japan’s post world war 2 situation did not look promising. Most of her major cities lay in ruins. About 30 % of her industrial capacity, 80% of her shipping capacity and 30% of her thermal power were destroyed. Industrial production was only 10% of pre-war levels. Territories were all lost. There were food shortages and inflation. However, the Japanese accepted the presence of foreign troops as people are urged by the government to gracefully accept defeat.

Allied forces were to remain in Japan for 6.5 years from August 1945 to April 1952. General Douglas MacArthur was promoted to become the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP). The aims were to help Japan recover from war, as well as the demilitarization and democratization of Japan, converting its wartime economy to peacetime economy. From 1948, this included strengthening Japan’s economy. The creation of SCAP and the aims reflected USA’s concerns about the growth of communism in China and Europe. The costs of helping Japan amassed US$400 million by 1947.

Major political changes were made. During the pre-war, there was a deep reverence for the emperor since ancient times. In theory, he was seen as divine and ruled Japan. In reality he just accepted advice of ministers and had little influence over policy making. As part of westernization, a Diet or parliament was created. Members were chosen by the emperor, and thus, not democratic. However, the Diet’s power was limited and Japan continued to be ruled by officials and the old ruling class. The military also had lots of power. After the post war, Japanese had surrendered, asking only that Emperor Hirohito be allowed to retain his title and authority. Allies accepted this on condition that he takes orders from the SCAP. Under constitution, the Emperor had to renounce his divine status and also had no power over the government and could only act in matters of state on the advice and approval of the Diet.

The Diet became the highest organ and the cabinet of the state. It consisted of the Upper and Lower Houses, with the Upper House having 150 members voted on 6 year terms and the Lower House having 457 members voted on 4 year terms.

The Prime Minister and his cabinet were drawn from the Diet. All of them had to be civilians and not militarists. Cabinet followed the British modal and was responsible to the Diet. Both Houses had to be fully elected to prevent perpetuation of the old ruling class. Different political parties were also encouraged so that different views could be expressed.

Under the new constitution, the Judiciary was made independent. Governors of prefectures were made elective. Local governments were democratized and given more power. Japan was required to renounce the use of force and war, leading to its demilitarization. The Japanese Empire was dismantled, with 7 million Japanese troops and civilians brought back from mainland. Armed forces were disbanded, weapon stocks destroyed. This includes the seizure of private arms. All activities with militarist overtone were banned. War industries were restricted. The 25 war leaders including Tojo were tried by an international tribunal. 7, including Tojo were executed. Others were imprisoned. 200000 former military officers and high officials in government were purged and were forbidden to enter into the government again. As a result, new men were brought in and also made democratic reforms easier.

Economic changes were also carried out. Land reforms, which aimed to breakup landownership monopolies held by the Zaibutsu as well as strengthen economic and social positions of the middle class. The Zaibutsu were powerful families with huge business combines and controlled 80% of Japan’s business. 1946, land commissions were setup by SCAP to select land for buying and resale to tenant-farmers. Resident landlords have to sell part of their land to the government, cultivating the remaining piece of land. Absentee landlords (landlords who don’t live on their land) had to sell it to the government. SCAP gave technological advice and financial help. Farm size was also limited to prevent concentration. As a result, tenancy decreased, dropping from 46% in 1946 to 10% in 1950. Standards of living in countryside increased.

Zaibutsu were broken up, destroying over-concentration of power. Families were removed from ownership, control and position. Shares were confiscated and sold to middle income families. SCAP tried to break up the combines into smaller companies and introduced business fairplay by setting up the Fair Trade Commission, issuing regulations to prevent monopolies. However, when SCAP left, many Zaibutsu firms had reunited. Thus, the measures to destroy these zaibutsu were ineffective. Japan’s political leaders were closely linked to the Zaibutsu. USA did not understand the nature of Japanese capitalism. In the end, in 1948, the Zaibutsu were allowed to reform.

Trade Unions were set up to strengthen democratic forces as well as bring about a more equal distribution of wealth. Law was passed in 1945 to guarantee workers the right to organize strikes and engage in collective bargaining. In 1946, a grievance procedure for settling labour disputes was setup. 1947, a Labour law, which sets a standard for worker’s safety, working hours, sanitation standards, accident compensation and also the restriction on women and child labour. Thus, workers acquired protection and rights that were used to be denied to them. Number of union and union members also increased. However, unions soon became pro-communist, with some being dominated by communist leaders. So, in 1947, Unions received a setback when SCAP intervened to prevent a strike. SCAP allowed the Japanese government to restrict employees of state-owned companies from striking. In 1949, a Trade Union law was passed to ensure democratic control and prevent a possible takeover by the more aggressive Communists.

*End*

hmmm... I must really think of a way to shorten this....

Mao's domestic policies

I wonder how many marks my history 2158 essay for Mao's Domestic Policies will score...

hmmm...
below is my essay:

*Start*

Mao implemented political policies along Maoist lines after the fall of Kuomintang (KMT). Economic policies were also implemented to prove Chinese communism would be a success in bringing about growth in China.

In September 1954, the National People’s Congress was formed, with Mao Zedong as the first president and Zhou Enlai as the Premier. The CCP controlled elections and monopolized membership of the governing bodies. The country’s 18 provinces were also re-grouped to 6 regions with CCP committees at every level of administration.

Social policies targeting Women, Religion, Education and Welfare were passed. Women were liberated by the banning of arranged marriages and child-bride system. Divorces were also made easy. In education, emphasis was place on simple literacy. In religion, the 100000 missionaries in China in 1949 had all left by 1951 as people were increasingly turned to Marxist beliefs and connections were cut. In welfare, the Trade Union Federation was set up in 1950, reforming work conditions.

To concentrate the public’s attention on specific problems, the party organized the three Antis campaign against corruption, waste and red tape, and the five antis campaign against bribery, tax evasion, fraud, theft and spying. Offenders are sent to labour camps for thought reforms. Interest groups like the Young Pioneers are set up to allow for talent scouting and spread of party propaganda.

In industry, the first five year plan was introduced. It aimed at the development of heavy industries. Emphasis was placed on targets as well as technical education. Full communication was restored. Inflation also came under control, but Mao felt industrialization not suitable for China.

The Hundred Flower Campaign was introduced in 1956 to convince people of righteousness of communism. It was also to prevent a possible counter-revolution by those badly affected by the five year plans, Mao allowed people to vent their frustrations by airing their views on him, the party and its policies. Although the people were wary at first, the situation got out of hand. When order was finally restored in 1957, Mao decided that there was to be no more future invitations to open debate.

In agriculture, land reform was introduced in 1950. It aimed to take land from the land owners and distribute to the poor peasants, to increase produce and help in development of China. However, because land holdings were less than one acre, mechanization and new farming methods could not be introduced. So though peasant support increased, productivity was still low.

The Great Leap Forward was aimed to develop Chinese-style democracy, increase agricultural production and also overtake USA and Britain as an industrial power in 15 years.

Communes were organized, aiming to make China self-sufficient. It was a unit of local government, consisting of peasants, party members and soldiers. A party committee was to ensure that party decisions were adhered to.

The Backyard Steel campaign placed emphasis on steel, with improvements being made to the infrastructure. 600000 backyard steel furnaces were set up.

Though there was an increase in production of steel, coal and fertilizers, the quality of steel was poor. Infrastructural projects were incomplete. Besides, agriculture became neglected, resulting in famines from 1959 to 1961. This period is known as the three bitter years. Mao had to step down but still retained position of party chairman.

The Cultural Revolution was aimed to restore prestige to the CCP and gain support for Mao by removing opposition. Mao launched the Socialist Education Movement to get people back onto the path of communism. Revisionists and intellectuals were purged. He gained support from Lin Biao, the Defence Minister as well as the People Liberation Army (PLA). The PLA played an important role in governing the country and shared tasks of government with communist councils.

Students in Beijing formed military groups called the Red Guards. Schools were closed as curriculum was revised to get rid of capitalist influences. Red Guards began violence against people, and the police were ordered not to stop them. They killed about 400000 with thousands injured and imprisoned. The cult of Mao was set up, where Red Guards memorized the Little Red Book.

The PLA controlled central and provincial party organizations. Education was hindered. As a result, 120 million people under 45 were illiterate. The moderates were removed. September 1967, Mao attempted to restore order. Schools were reopened and Red Guards were called to re-educate themselves. The revolution officially ended in 1659 but lasted till early 1970s. It had caused much upheaval, but restored Mao’s power.

*end*

Erm... Any comments??

English orals..

Just two words.

"screwed up"...

Nothing more to say.

Results are back!!!!

Finally!! *phew* After 5 months of intense drilling by the chinese department and 2 months of waiting, out results for this year GCE 'O' Level Chinese Exams are back!

With hands shaking and hearts racing, I didn't have the appetite to eat my recess.. It was an in-nerving wait. Made worse when our chinese teacher refuse to reveal anything... It was unbearable... Worst of all, the only thing the teachers we spoke to will reveal is that our class passed (with a some cheers on our part in view of our mid-year results..).

Finally, judgement came. Our form tutor walked in menacingly... Don't know whats worse, her short speech or the waiting. Blah..Blah.. we were all thinking:"oh please... spare us the agony. Announce our results already!!"

Oh boy, this is the only time you would curse being the last in the class list....
Zhi Wei, B3.... Zhen Cheng, A1...Blah..Blah *would she hurry up?!*
Zachary, A1... Zhi Kai, A1.. ..Shi Xian, A2... Jeremy Yueng, A2...
*I'm next!! Please... Please....* Finally...my name... A1...

It took a while to sink in... I was still processing the information..
In my mind, it was like... A1 >> you sure?? >> nope she isn't kidding... >>A1 leh... >> *wide-eyed* >> Yes!!! >>oh well... now i owe my chinese teacher a meal because of a promise i made....

However, the most incredible comeback was still Zachary.... he had failed the mid-year exam just before this 'O' Level, scoring a D7, but "rose to the occasion" scoring an A1... That is a 6 grade difference!! I am sure everyone in our class agrees, we are happy, or I should say, very, very proud of him... A classmate who could barely speak a full sentence in Chinese had came back up..... It was all really his hard work....

My good friend Jeremy also did a lot better than he hasd expected. He had assured me minutes before he had gotten C6, in the end, he got an A2. He even got a distinction for his Chinese Oral!!
Wanted to go out together, for a short break. However, couldn't find a day when we were both free... Its just too bad...

Oh well... one paper down, 8 more to go...

用功读书， A1 前进！


EDIT:
How can I forget... Our class, 403 is going to perform in the teacher's day concert!!! Looks like we got through the auditions!!!
Crenshaw's Band went in too!!

Woot!!

Communism = Democracy??

Hey, don't look so incredulous... That was exactly what the Bejing students on the exchange program said.

Ok, Ok, we didn't exactly hear that directly from them. Our teacher who was there with them in our secondary 3 class told us about it. She had asked them what is communism to them, and this was the answer she got: Communism IS democracy.

Many would view communism and capitalist democracy as 2 totally different matters. However, to them, both seems to be the same. It goes to show how the level of exposure they have. Not to forget, they are only secondary 2 students. Thus it also shows how much Marxist and Maoist ideas are drilled into them.

From what we heard, the students were willing to talk about communism and China, but when sensitive topics like the Tiannaman Square incident, they stopped short, refusing to say anything. Even the teacher, who lived through that era refused to talk about it.

Well, we cannot say much about all this. History as seen from their point of view and the western as well as our point of view will never be the same. We aren't living in China and may never be able to or even get a chance to understand them.

The day was not all about communism, the sec 3s manage to get the Bejing student's views on Japan and also the outrage at Japan's Prime Minister's vist to the War Shrine.

But it seems that the chance of us getting to meet them will be slim. The departments decided that they are not suited for these interactions as there are huge communication differences, making interaction difficult.

Anyway, there are more pressing matters for sec 4 students tomorrow. It seems that our Chinese 'O' Level results as well as the other Mother Tongue languages will be coming back tomorrow. Looks like many would not be able to sleep tonight....

Anyway, good luck to all who will be receiving their results tomorrow!!

Earth Wire

So unlucky. Came online later than usual. The freakin' Earth Wire in our riser got cut by, of all people, painters!!! Don't know how the hell they paint. Don't know what type of brushes they use.... Metal brushes?!
My dad called and waited for them since 1.10 p.m. When I came home at 4.00 p.m. the site foreman and technician still have not arrived. Saying we are displeased would be an understatment. Wasted so much time......

Anyway, National day celebrations in school today. Just the usual -- mass, assembly, multi-religious prayers, Principal address, Education minister's letter, appointment of new EXCO members etc.
oh yar... *take deep breath*..... "HARISH MENON!! YOU OWE ME AN MP3 PLAYER!!!".
*Grrrr*.... better not get into too much details, it is making my blood boil....

On the lighter side, went to watch Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Augustine and Jeremy today. Augustine and I had to drag Jeremy along as he wanted to go home and mug *evil laugh*.
The show is hilarious. You'll get stitches after watching it. Won't say too much, don't want to spoil the show for those who have not watched....

Got a neck ache after it... we were sitting in the front row. The cinema was packed with students. The group of CHIJ girls sitting behind us were laughing their hearts out. One of them started laughing from the singing "gnomes" all the way to the end of the show!!!

Our school's Uniform Group Annual Parade is going on now as I type. This year will be special as it will be recorded and burnt into a CD, to be given to all passing Secondary 4 cadets as memento.
I can imagine Nathaniel getting damn nervous now... He has been a nervous since this morning...It was after some time before he told us why -- his girlfriend is coming down.
haha... I wish him luck!!!

oh and Happy Birthday Singapore!!!

Arrrrrrghh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hrrrrrmph!!!!! This is not a good day....
Slept for 11 hours straight under the effects of Actimin and still feel so pooped to do anything, Didn't even have the mood to watch T.V. !!
Almost miss my lunch, thereafter logged in to check my mails.
Then I found my hosting account at Sepwich gone as Sepwich.com has been suspended!!!

*wide-eyed* That means my personal website, forum and all my tagboard posts which are hosted there are gone if Sepwich doesn't come back!!!! NOOoooo!!!!

Arrgh!!!!! Had to set up an account at cBox to take the place of my Sepwich hosted tagboard.....

*tearing my hair off* Dunno how much more I can take today.... Luckily, this will be a long weekend becoz of National Day.

*Sobz*

No choice. I'll just have to pray that by tomorrow, all will be back to normal.......

Rocket Fuel and IRO

I wonder whether the coming exams as well as the Chinese 'O' level results which will be coming back sometime this month has caused everyone to be acting strangely. Andy went round our class, trying to pass thru a tennis racket.

On the other hand, out form tutor seems to have taken rocket fuel. Slides after slides of the powerpoint presentatiion were flashing past our eyes as her "trigger-happy" finger tabbed on the 'enter' key. She didn't even stop much. As a result, we finished the chapter of 40 over slides within one lesson. We were clueless as to what she was teaching or talking about. A few were even sleeping!!

RME today was fun. The guest sheduled to speak, called in informing the school he was going to be late. By the time he arrived, it was the end of the lesson. However, it was quite a hilarious session as our deputy principal Bro Mike turned the whole thing into an part-entertainment lesson. All the talk about those "bloody" terrorists had us falling off our chair. It was not just all laughter. Bro Mike, as a memeber of the Inter-Religious Organization (IRO) talked to us the importance of IR relationship. He also told us about the 4 levels of IR relationship:

Level 1: building of inter-religious friendships, and accepting people of other ethic background as a friend.

Level 2: working together, whether it is for a common goal/cause or any other projects

Level 3: telling or explaining your faith to people. REMEMBER: the aim of this is not for you to convert them, but rather get them to understand you and your religion better. When you understand and respect other people's religion and beliefs, you have qualified to be in this stage.

Level 4, being a bible / Quran / Sutra or any other religious academic. This has a more far reaching effect than Level 3. The basic idea is still the same. Explaining your relgion to others abeit to a larger community. Conventions are also held to enable people to discuss the their / or others religion, allowing you to gain knowledge of others. It is important to remeber that the aim is NOT for you to convert others. It is only to educate others about the religion.

Most Singaporeans should have qualified for the first 3 levels since we are living in a multi-racial and religious society.
Overall, it was quite an eye-opener, especially when we found out that their meetings are held in Geylang....

Auditions for teachers day was held yesterday, but the results are still unknown. Don't know if we were able to get in. However, the comments were quite favourable...

Well... we just have to continue waiting...

Misunderstanding generated in the last post...

Got quite a few commnets on the last article especially on my other blog titled "reality is a persistant illusion".

I apologise if anyone has found that entry too generalized. It wasn't meant to be a blanket remark.

I don't condone nor even desire to try and stop the usage of such words.
I must admit there is little or even no other words which can replace the word in its expression of anger, stress or displeasure....

However, a few commenters stated that there are "other more pressing matters" to give your attention to. But I am sure it is doesn't hurt to watch your language....

Care of usage is the most important, which seldom anyone would actually think before using it. Thus leading to undesired misunderstanding.

A short entry on it has already cause misunderstandings of some sort. Won't it be worse if you use it in front of other people's faces??

That said, I hope this entry will clear up any misunderstandings generated in the last post.