Singapore is a land of ironies. It is also a place where SOPs and protocols must be followed to the letter, especially in the public sector. I remember an incident some years ago when I was communicating with an officer who gave me two options. I picked Option A and she replied, subtly hinting that […]

I’m passionate about cooking and I’m pretty good at making Singapore’s favourite breakfast – carrot cake. Those who have been following me @ravenous_writer and drchanskitchen.com would be quite familiar with images like this one. While there are some shallow folks who think that cooking is unbecoming of a man of my status – which is […]

When I first installed the TraceTogether app, I was somewhat excited by it. Sitting on a bus, I could tell from the app that there were 14 other active devices around me. After a visit to the mall and a side on the MRT, the app recorded over 900 contacts! Apart for facilitating contact tracing […]

It has been raining non-stop over the weekend, swelling our waterways, toppling trees, triggering mudslide and causing some cars to be submerged in some very big ponds. It’s excellent weather for steamboat and wine, but it’s also good for snuggling in bed or reading. During my primary and secondary school days, the year-end monsoon season […]

It is that time of the year again; to look back in wonder. How did we survive 2020? A pandemic swept across the globe, triggering panic and lockdowns. Our circuit breaker killed many jobs and businesses. Even with gradual opening into Phase 3 now, recovery has been slow. Covid-19 has been devastating and it completely […]

It has been a year since I received the following letter. My initial reaction was yao mo gao chor ah? Why can’t the library manage its own membership? Why must the PA get involved? What next? Knowing Singaporeans, they would obediently change their religions if there’s only one that offers goodies. Well, it’s been a […]

Once upon a time, there was a class of medical students going on their ward rounds at a local hospital. The topic to be covered that day was “heart murmurs”. Among them was student A, who had always been vying for the top spot in class. Their mentor brought them to a patient in the […]

Anthropologist Margaret Mead was once asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilisation in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about clay pots, tools for hunting, grinding-stones, or religious artifacts. But no. Mead said that the first evidence of civilization was a 15,000 years old fractured femur […]

Former domestic worker Parti Layani’s attempt to seek compensation for her wrongful conviction took a twist on 27 October 2020 when the high court judge who acquitted her suggested that the parties go for mediation instead. Ms Parti Liyani is seeking compensation from the Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) after her conviction for theft was overturned on […]