Communications gone PARANORMAL??

10 years ago, Toaist medium Lou Ai Pang was approached by a frantic housewife, who told him her husband had disappeared after leaving Singapore to seek his fortune. Mr Lou's psychic powers revealed that the man was alive and in Thailand. Shortly later, he added this news," If you don't find him quickly, he may not be able to return home with you" 

The women went to thailand and found her husband, finding him rail thin and begging on the streets. He had lost all his money in doomed business ventures and died soon after the couple reunited.

i read with interest in the The Straits Times on monday where they featured: The Police and the Paranormal. In it, the article introduces tapping into the spirit world to bust crimes. This topic of paranormal help was raised in a joint conference by Certis Cisco and Malaysia-based International Centre for Security Management. 

Malaysian criminologist Justin Loh recounted on an incident when a missing business man was found with the help of a bomoh. Although the police suspected him being abducted by foreigners, his family turned to mediums to find him. Some of them said he was dead, others said he was alive. Yet one of them accurately predicted where he was held, where his body would be found, and the race and nationality of the ones responsible. Investigations then concluded with his body found, and that he was murdered by a group of youths, who had robbed hiim and used his ATM and credit cards.

In such scenarios, are the police more reliable than the mediums? Concrete investigations versus spiritual help, which would be reliable and safe? Justin Loh shared with the local security firms about the types of paranormal policing: - 

1) Visions/Dreams: The psychic concentrates on the belongings of a victim and receives visions about how the crime happened.

2) Meditation: The psychic enters into a trance-like state and recounts details of the crime.

3) Psychic detectives: They operate in a manner similar to that of criminal detectives, sometimes working in pairs to solve a case.

 The mediums in SIngapore were interviewed, and they mentioned that it was rare to receive request to look for loved ones. Most peopole ask for help in getting rich or improving relations with family members. 

In a multi-cultural society like Singapore, where there are evidence of both individualism and collectivism, will the intrusion of mediums and bomoh help human relationships to get better? To my relief, the police in Singapore are still skeptical about this paranormal help. 

"pychics never helped had successfully helped the Police solve a crime in Singapore, but there certainly have been instances when victims have parted with lots of money to these mediums with no results" - Retired senior detective Lim Beng Gee.

"These leads will never stand up in a court as evidence. It's just rubbish" - PI Lionel de Souza

outward display of "love"??

prior to my previous article on teen pregnancy and sex disease, here we see more evidence of rising teenage intimacy. is the media at fault? or should we blame the raging hormones of the youh today?

'Shameful and immoral' to have teens frolic at playground like this. (22 sept)

Siglap secondary school students at a pasir ris playgound on a hot afternoon at 1pm. 

"It was 13:00 pm, I came back and heard some moaning noise and looked out of my window. 
"My wife and kids saw this teenage couple in uniform from kissing and performing immoral acts right under the sun at the play ground. " 

 - a local resident

"Educating and guiding our youths on responsible behaviour is a core concern of the school. 
"We have worked with the parents of the two students to provide counselling and guidance to the students. 
"The students are remorseful and have learnt from their mistake. 
"The school takes a serious view of this incident and we have reminded our students on the importance of responsible behaviour". 

  - Siglap secondary school principal

Heavy petting by young couple in public and in broad daylight. (6 Oct)

Says the STOMPer:

"My friends and I happened to be sitting beside them.
"They were smooching and we caught the boy squeezing the girl's breast, a couple of times."

Kissing so passionately in public -- the boy's 15 and the girl, only 14.  ( 7 Oct )

i don't mean to offend or arouse anyone from such photos. My purpose is to create awareness. in broad daylight, teenagers can already be so liberal in the way they express "love". how much so behind closed doors and empty rooms?

is this how we are going to educate future generations? to depict love as in the media? in this age where we encourage freedom of speech and liberalisation, will "love" be portrayed in the photos above? The hollywood displays "love" so openly, practically every couple ends up in bed.  How much more is the mass media going to influence values and beliefs?

death in NS...

death occurs in NS, result of groupthink?

according to our textbook, thinking through communications, it is defined as "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity ovverride their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action." 

in simpler definition, in groupthink, group members believe they can do no wrong to upset cohesiveness of the group. 

The Straits Times HOME on Wednesday screamed this headlines: NSF, 20, dies after routine workout. Today(thurs) it was confirmed that the soldier was already issued a medical certificate from Singapore General Hospital on Sept 28(sunday). He was given 3 days medical leave (att C), and 4 days of light duties. (att B)

But apparantly, he booked in back to camp on sunday night despite the MC. it was informed in the newspapers that 

"It was not clear at that time whether Pte Foo had submitted the MC or alerted anyone at camp about his injury or past seizure." - The Straits Times  (http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_285064.html)

Why? i would be so happy to rest at home for 2 more days. why did Private Joe Foo Wei Rong not reported the medical certificate to his officer in charge/seargent? if so, he would be resting at home and would not met with fatality on Monday morning's 5BX. 

- was it because it was his first week being posted to the camp and was afraid of the consequences of not booking in?

- was it because in order to instill discipline in newcomers(because it was only the first week) that the seargents were too fierce and unaccomodating to approach, hence the fear to not book in?

- was it due to groupthink? that because of the harmony and cohesiveness of the particular platoon or company, he didn't want to disrupt it? 

Under the effects of groupthink, this scenario will show if he had survived: he will be labelled as "garang" because he went on with training despite medical conditions.

If he was to combat groupthink, this scenario will arise: he will be labelled as "chao keng" 

its a sad reality, but are we all subjected to groupthink one way or another? 

(p.s do be lenient in your comments about this issue, the Military Security Department(MSD) is constantly on the lookout)