Did you know that registered TCM practitioners are not allowed to.....

They are not allowed to give any western medicine. Not even the Panadol that you can buy off the shelf at 7-eleven! If they are caught doing so they can be censured.

That also means that TCM practitioners cannot give any injections also.

I used to wonder why TCM practitioners sent their patients to western doctors to get blood tests done, eg Blood cholesterol levels etc. Why didn't they just do it themselves?

Well I guess for one TCM practitioners are not trained in phlebotomy and are probably not allowed to do such "western medical" procedures and investigations either.

But it is necessary to monitor the results of treatments and confirm that there is improvement for the patient.

My outlook of this has now changed ever since I started attending lectures at Singapore TCM College. I think western doctors and TCM practitioners should communicate more. But before we can have meaningful communication we must be able to understand the language we both speak.

TCM practitioners do study western medical school subjects eg pharmacology, physiology etc. So they can understand quite a bit of what we talk about.

On the other hand, I think 99% of western doctors have no proper understanding of Yin and Yang, Qi, Blood, Body Fluid, 5 Elements, Meridians, Wind, Cold, Heat, Dampness, Dryness, Fire etc.

In many ways, whether each school of healing decides to learn about other schools of healing begins with acknowledgement and recognition. And that step is highly political.

We can see that it has happened in Germany. Prince Charles wants to do it in UK, but is having lots of protests from the allopathic western doctors.

Will it happen in Singapore? It remains to be seen. But at the moment the TCM practitioners have taken the first proactive step by opening a course for us Western doctors to learn their craft. And I think we owe them a debt of gratitude.

I put a picture of your loved one on the floor to let everyone step on.....

From http://www.todayonline.com/articles/120191.asp

Movie posters a step on the wrong side of faith

Letter from Richard Koh

I FIND offensive the way in which the publicity for the movie, The Da Vinci Code, is being done.

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A copy of the Last Supper painting with the image of The Christ and the apostles is used in the movie poster together with the lead actors' photos. Two of these large posters have been placed on the floor of Orchard MRT station (picture), which sees a high volume of human traffic.

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Although there seems to be some kind of barricade around the face of Jesus to prevent people from stepping over it, it is still disrespectful for such an image to be placed on the floor. The relevant authorities should remove such floor posters.

This just goes to show how much blatant disregard Sony is showing to Christians in Singapore. I'm surprised the Singapore government with all their bold proclamations of racial and religious harmony and sensitivity are allowing such things to go on.

I doubt such a similar situation involving a certain other race and religion in Singapore would even be allowed to ever be thought of much less implemented!

I suppose terrorism has achieved its objectives.

The Da Vinci Code Controversy

I watched the movie recently.

The movie clearly challenges certain aspects of the Catholic Church, although I do not see how it challenges Christianity itself.

Dan Brown's work is controversial mainly for the following claims:

1) Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene.

2) The four gospels (Mark, Luke, Matthew and John) were chosen from among several (namely 80) that existed in the 4th century because the four gospels presented a divine Jesus whereas the excluded books depicted a human Jesus.

3) The divinity of Jesus became orthodoxy by a close vote at the council of Nicea in AD 325.

The key to the novel’s plot is that many in the Catholic church knew that Jesus was married. Somehow Dan Brown book implies that this "marriage" makes it impossible for Jesus to be divine. In The Da Vinci Code, the Catholic Church takes steps to protect Jesus's late emerging divinity status they "conspired", and not let it be known. Even to the point of committing murder.

As the whole premise of The Da Vinci Code falls on the claim that Jesus married Mary Magdalene and sired a child, I will comment only on this claim in this blog entry. The other 2 claims are mostly historical ambiguities that of course hold the possibility of error in judgement. However, if the first claim doesn't change Jesus's divinity nor the Christian faith, why the need to cover up at all? (Also to make this entry not so long! :))

So let's look at problem number 1
1)Was Jesus Married? The evidence for this claim comes from two extra biblical gospels, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene 17:10–18:21 and The Gospel of Philip 63:33-36. Both contain remarks that Jesus had a special relationship to Mary or that he loved her more than any of the twelve disciples. One text uses the term “companion” to describe her. This was a line in the movie as well. In addition, there is an appeal in the Phillip text where Jesus is said to kiss Mary on the lips. So the inference is that if he kissed her in public then he must have been her husband.

Now here are the facts. First, almost all scholars question whether these extra biblical gospels contain anything of value in terms of the historical Jesus. However, even if they did, the texts noted do not actually affirm that Jesus was married. In fact, the famous kiss on the lips text actually has a blank in the original manuscript right at the point where it describes where Mary was kissed. So it could be the lips or the cheek, which would simply refer to a kiss of fellowship. The term companion is debated as to its force. Most interpret the term as pointing to a spiritual relationship Jesus had with Mary because of the mystic character of the gospel in which it appears. So it does not allude to actual marriage at all, but to a fellowship that Jesus and Mary shared as believers.

More than this, we have volumes and volumes of texts about Jesus from the first five centuries. They are mostly all small print, single space, double columned texts of several hundred pages each. They include traditional orthodox texts and those that were rejected as heretical. In all of these materials not a single text describes Jesus as married and most assume he was not, as that was a basis for some arguing that priests should be single.

In 1 Corinthians 9, the argument appears that the spouse of those married should be supported. Had Jesus been married Paul could have clinched his argument by noting this fact. All of this leads to the conclusion that Jesus was indeed single.

Now some reply that 1 Corinthians 7 mentions believers being single and yet does not mention Jesus. However, here Paul only advises being single. Had he mentioned Jesus’ example that might have said more than Paul intended, by giving an impression this is what to do. So this is the likely reason Jesus being single was not mentioned.

One important final point on this though is that Dan Brown's book claims that a married Jesus would need to be covered up by the church because it would expose the fact that Jesus was not divine. Why? So what if Jesus was indeed married? Would that change his divinity status? Would that make him any less of "The son of God made man"?

The Catholic Church has always confessed the full humanity of Jesus. Jesus was a full blooded man who died on the cross. How would Jesus being married change any of this? In fact, the status of marriage would fit in nicely with such a claim. Thus, even the premise of the theological problem the novel sees for a married Jesus is false.


A lot of the movie depends very much on Leonardo Da Vinci's painting "The Last Supper". A lot is made about John looking like a woman. During Leonardo Da Vinci's time, men were simply drawn in that manner. They looked like women in many paintings and sketches.

Go to this website and take a look at Leonardo Da Vinci's sketches of men and see what you think.

As a sample, look at the picture below. That is a sketch by Leonardo himself of St. Philip for the Last Supper painting. It kind of looks like a woman to me too! So maybe we should look more carefully at Philip in The Last Supper instead?


Personally after watching the movie, I can understand why the Catholic Church wanted this movie to be banned. It does contain many damning protrayals of Catholics. Two ladies who were sitting behind me were talking throughout the movie and they kept going "Ohh! So like that har? I must tell my Catholic friends they are so stupid!"

Well this movie is a work of fiction. It insults the Catholic Church. It makes false claims and presents the claims in a misleading manner such that Jesus looks like a common man and not God. Hence you can see why the Catholic Church was so angry. As a Catholic I feel somewhat offended. However I view this more as a challenge on my faith than anything else.

I keep seeing articles in the Catholic News condemning The Da Vinci Code. I guess that's one way to do it. However why such a violent reaction? I think that by reacting so strongly, the Catholic Church may be playing into the hands of Dan Brown. After all, such strong responses fall in line with what the Catholic Church in Dan Brown's book would have reacted. If it indeed is a work of fiction and total lies, then why worry? Do we not have faith in our Lord to guide us through all this? Do we not have enough faith in the faith of our fellow Christians to rise up to these lies rather than accepting them?

I have learned that without doubt, there is no faith. "Doubting Thomas" will tell you that. In the gospels, the Apostle Thomas doubted when the other apostles told him that they had seen Jesus. Thomas replied that unless he put his fingers through the holes in Jesus's hands, he would not believe. And Jesus granted him his wish. It goes hand in hand. Doubt and faith. You cannot have one without the other. Just like winners and losers. There must be a competition, and then you must have both or else the "winners" somehow lose significance. But I would note that you can have all believers and no unbelievers. The two are not partners. For it is in the Lord God that we believe and have faith in, and it is every person's choice to believe or not believe.

Let us respect people's beliefs. We can argue, we can debate, But at the end of the day, faith is something that cannot be proven or forced. It is of your own free will to believe or not believe.

Anyway to put the Catholic Church's strong response in perspective, I wonder what would happen if there had been a similar movie called "The Rembrandt Code", which presented claims that challenged the Islamic Faith in the same vile manner as "The Da Vinci Code"? How would the Islamic world respond? Bombs? Terrorist acts of violence? Jihad?

I would bet my life that the movie would be banned in Singapore much less NC-16!

Sometimes life just isn't fair.

Lastly, I would recommend you watch the movie as it is an entertaining movie. 3.5 stars out of 5 for me. But remember that it is a work of fiction. In fact it reminds me quite a bit of the movie "National Treasure" which starred Nicholas Cage and talked about the Freemasons and the Knights Templar.

Popcorn anyone?

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Foreigners speak out!

I was listening to 93.8FM this morning. The topic for talk back was "how do you feel about the redevelopment plans for seletar airbase?"

Just some background for those of you who have never been to seletar airbase. It used to be the seletar airbase run by the SAF. There are also numerous single storey houses which are occupied by foreigners. A very nice tranquil estate to live in if you like nature and all. But I would say 90% of the residents in that area are foreigners. Driving around the estate, the homes have their own swimming pools, have big dogs which are of rare breeds etc....

Well anyway during this talk back session on the radio, for the first time since I started listening to the programme, the majority of callers were foreigners! Expats with thick non-Singaporean accents.

Well they were are pretty unhappy with how the government had decided to go ahead and redevelop the rustic natural surroundings where they live for the purpose of attracting aerospace companies, building retail outlets etc. Basically turning it into more or less of a "concrete garden" at best. At worst a "concrete jungle"!

One caller commented that there is a long waiting list to "get into seletar airbase". I take it she meant her fellow expats who are on the waiting list.

I must say the callers were very eloquent. They said their piece and also suggested ideas on how the government should consult the residents in the area before making such plans. One pilot also said that seletar airbase should be preserved as part of Singapore's heritage given that it is over 100 years old. All points were nicely put across by the very outspoken and well spoken expats.

The last caller in the programme, however was a local and he said that looking at more bread and butter issues, this re-development was for improving Singapore's economy, and creating more jobs for Singaporeans. He also ended his call by stating that the majority of the callers today were foreigners.

I do know seletar airbase. From my days in serving my NS as well as frequent trips around the area for leisure as well as work when I start my medical evacuation sorties from Seletar Airport.

To be frank I like the place and wished I could live there. Unfortunately the truth is that the place is mainly for foreign expats. There is a long waiting list if you want to rent a place there. For Singaporeans, it is virtually an impossibility to live there. I can understand why the expats like the place. In a concrete jungle like Singapore, Seletar Airbase is the closest you can get to living in suburbs in places like Australia for instance. And the best thing is that this "natural reserve" is but a 10 minutes drive away from the bustle and hustle of the city! So you get really the best of both worlds.

I wonder how many residents live there? What are the numbers? And what is the percentage of foreigners among these numbers?

Here are a few comments I have personally :

1) Seletar Airbase is more of a colonial vestige for foreigners living the "special" life in Singapore. It serves its purpose for Singapore as part of the package we sell to the foreign talent we so covet. Most Singaporeans don't live there. Most Singaporeans don't even go there.

2) Should the residents there have been consulted before the re-development projects had been decided? Yes of course they should have. But since when has the Singapore government consulted Singaporean residents on anything before deciding what they want to do? And for the matter even if they do "consult" it is merely at face value as the plans continue anyway, but they get to explain away the objections. So to the expats in Singapore, welcome to "Uniquely Singapore". Learn to live with it. You cannot have your cake and eat it.

3) Expats may say that their arguments are helpful to Singapore. Shouldn't Singaporeans support them in seeing this last vestige of rural peaceful living preserved? Well thank you very much. But somehow I don't buy that. I don't hear expats calling the talk back programme when we are talking about other Singapore issues. Where are they? Usually people who are unhappy tend to be the ones who call in to express their disappointment and lodge their complaints. And it was no different today. Interestingly you can look back and realise that expats probably have it real good in Singapore. They have little to be unhappy about and little to complain about. If they did, you can bet they would make their views known, just as we saw today. It's no open secret that Singapore is designed to please the foreigners more than the locals.

4) I am all for re-developing the seletar airbase area. Singapore is a land scarce small country. We cannot afford such "vestiges" for small residential purposes. It's just the realities that we Singaporeans have to face up to. Why should it be any different for foreigners? If you do not like living in a busy hectic concrete jungle like Singapore, then think twice before you come. It is the same for locals. Some Singaporeans do not like living in Singapore and prefer the lush greens and open spaces in other countries. For that, some would migrate to those countries. It would be ironic that they could actually have lived in similar surroundings in their very own country in Singapore only to have those homes taken up by foreigners from countries with large amounts of open spaces.

5) I wonder what happened to our racial quotas to maintain a nice spread of races living in harmony? There is clearly a strong concentration of expats in this nice place to live called Seletar Hills. Isn't that a time bomb waiting to explode also? Oh sorry I forgot, it's not a HDB estate. Expats don't deserve to live in HDB flats, only Singaporeans deserve that fate.

6) Lastly, I would not be surprised however if the Singapore government backs down and decides to leave Seletar Airbase as it is. I can almost picture some CEO of some big MNC calling our PM and say that if his Regional Manager is unhappy because his home is now next to a warehouse, he will pull his multi-billion dollar business out of Singapore and go to cheaper Malaysia! I wonder if Singapore would stand firm to such threats?

Did your wages increase by 3.5% last year?

Did you get a pay rise of 3.6% in 2003-2004? And another pay rise of 3.5% for 2004-2005? Apparently the authorities think we all did!

Today's news reported that the price hike for transport fares will be capped at 1.7%.

Apparently this 1.7% is calculated by a year-old adjustment formula expressed mathematically as
0.5 (CPI) + 0.5(WI) - 0.3 = fare hike in %

where CPI is the change in Consumer Price Index (in simpler terms inflation), WI is the change in average wages and the third element is the productivity gain of transport companies, fixed at 0.3% until the next review in 2008.

Hence this year's 1.7% cap is dervied thus :
0.5(0.5) + 0.5(3.5) - 0.3 = 1.7%
The CPI for 2004-2005 was 0.5%
Wage Change was 3.5%

Last year's 2.4% rise in transport fare was derived as
0.5(1.7) + 0.5(3.6) - 0.3 = 2.4%
CPI for 2003-2004 was 1.7%
Wage Change was 3.6%

Now I'm just thinking, how many people have had a WAGE INCREASE of 3.6% for 2003-2004 and an increase of 3.5% for 2004-2005? How many?

Man that's a WAGE INCREASE of 7.1% over 2 years! I certainly didn't get such a pay rise. Did you? Last I heard the problem was getting people jobs much less WAGE INCREASES!!!

How do they come up with such figures? It doesn't seem to reflect reality if you ask me!

I find George Yeo funny

I laughed out loud when I watched George Yeo try to speak in mandarin during a TV interview he gave on one of his walkabouts during the GE campaigning. He can't speak mandarin for nuts.

During the campaign he said that parliament was like a well run Swiss Watch. Why do you want to put in new parts to screw it up? Well that was his point then.

And then today in the papers he says that having the PAP win all 84 seats would be "unhealthy".

I guess politicians are like that. Whether they are PAP or not, Singapore or not, they are all the same.

Flash and Circle

While I was searching for logos and pictures of The Flash (the superhero) I stumbled upon this : flash and circle .










I thought it was interesting that the PAP's logo was modified from the logo of the British Union of Fascists (BUF)!

In the Wikipedia entry it is stated the Lee Kuan Yew was an acquaintance of Sir Oswald Mosley. I wonder how true this is.

I wonder why Lee Kuan Yew decided to use the logo of the BUF as inspiration for his own party logo? Any possibility that it was because he agreed with fascism?

I didn't dare post this during the elections period because it could potentially be misinterpreted as an attempt to influence voters or something.

Anyone know more about this logo and its history?

Is Medicine an art or a science?

We heard that phrase quite often in Medical School. But most of the time we didn't take it too seriously. The "art" side of Medicine seemed to be in the history taking, interpretation of symtpoms etc.

Well after attending lessons in Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine as part of our coursework for the Graduate Diploma in Acupuncture and reading the textbooks, I can say that the "art" side of healing is very much well and alive even today.

TCM is founded very much in philosophy and "art" rather than in science the way we popularly understand.

The way TCM explains the body, disease syndromes etc is based on the Yin-Yang theory as well as other theories like elements eg Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water. These are generally more philosophical in basis. Eg the laws of nature would explain that Wood would feed Fire, Fire would nourish the Earth, the Earth is where we find Metal, and Metals enrich Waters.

Diseases as well as bodily functions are explained using these philosophies. And these philosophies were written >2000 years ago.

Now there is no denying that TCM is an art. If you asked a TCM physician why he thinks you have a particular problem and the basis on which he prescribes certain herbs to you as treatment, you would get an explanation that is philosophical in nature. Eg you have excessive Earth Qi which has transmitted to the Metal Qi and thus you have a problem and so he has given you herbs to drain the Metal Qi as well as stimulate the Fire Qi to "dominate and control" the excess Metal Qi. Hardly sound "scientific" right?

Now the interesting thing is that for some diseases, the treatment eg choice of herbs and the organs associated with the elements affected in TCM principles are very closely correlated with the findings from scientific research in modern westerm medicine. It is amazing to think that the TCM treatment based on philosophies written >2000 years ago are actually scientifically correct!

Personally I look at it as the philosophy on Traditional Chinese Medicine being logical and sound and science being a means of "proving" these philosophies.

So the art of healing came a long time ago, because scientific techniques were archaic. But the healing arts were by no means wrong. Scientists merely help us better understand the arts in another way and therefore lend weight to the theories. The art and the science may still be wrong in some cases.

Many patients who do not feel well but do not present with typical symptoms or any palpable symptoms at all might be termed "Normal" by western doctors in the past. Today we have an emerging new category of diseases termed "subclinical" diseases or "functional disorders". These problems are hardly explained in scientific terms, but we do know that there is a problem.

This is where the true art of healing should be applied. If one understands the philosophies and basics of TCM, you can deduce and explain a disorder or symptom or syndrome using those concepts. And in so doing, you can then deduce the appropriate best treatment.

I'm glad I signed up for the course. I had always suspected that there were many inadequacies in my western medicine training. The TCM philosophies complete my education in the healing arts. Similarly I would have felt inadequate had I completed TCM training but not training in western medicine.

I look foward to completing my course and helping my patients better in the near future.

How will the results be?

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Possible fallout after the elections

Teacher: Nicole, you didn't hand up your project assignment.

Nicole : But I did. I thought I did my project assignment and passed it up to you in class yesterday.

Teacher : No you didn't. I can't find it among the ones handed in by the rest of the class.

Nicole : But I thought I did! Teacher it's very important you know. If you don't mark my homework then I will lose marks for the final exam because this is counted as part of the final assessment. Do you know the implications of it?

Teacher : Ok I will go and check again.

The next day........

Teacher : Nicole come here!

Nicole : Yes teacher?

Teacher : The classroom CCTV which MOE installed after the 2006 Elections has captured footage of you doing your project assignment in class but you then put the work into your bag and did not hand it up!

Nicole checks her bag ....: Oh yeah hor! It's really in my bag all this while. I'm very sorry teacher!

Teacher : Anyway the project is no longer counted in the final assessment so it doesn't matter whether you handed it up or not. But Nicole you are a liar and a dishonest person and will never make it in any respectable field of work.

Nicole : I'm very sorry teacher. Please accept my sincere apologies if my mistake has caused distress and inconvenience to you Mrs Ong.

Teacher : I have discussed with the school's principal and we have decided to expel you from school because we both agree that you are a liar!

Nicole : But I am not a liar!

Teacher: Then you are implying that the school principal, Mr Li and I are liars? That is a defamatory remark Nicole. You are implying that Mr Li and I are unfit to be teachers in this school! We'll see you in court.

Nicole's family is sued for several hundred thousand dollars and become bankrupt.

Transparency

There's a lot of talk in the papers right now about transparency, hidden agendas, people with things to hide etc.

One thing I am sure many people in Singapore would want to know is how much does it cost to build a HDB flat in Singapore?

No, I do not want to hear that it is based on market price of land, contractors, building materials and be told to work it out myself. I just want the figures.

Please tell me how much it costs the HDB to build a HDB flat. Is it that complicated?
I mean we are told that there are tremendous amounts of subsidies given to us when we buy a HDB flat too. In fact reports have said that because of these subsidies the HDB loses millions of dollars a year. I can't imagine how much my flat actually costs then considering HDB charged me $367,000 for the flat AFTER subsidies!

Come on HDB. It's a simple question. "How much does it cost to build a HDB flat?" The answer should be eg $X or X dollars. It's that simple.

This is something that HDB knows that we do not. Instead of asking others whether they know something that we do not, please HDB, come out and tell us the facts that we do not know but we know that you definitely know but for some reason do not want to tell us.

Please live up to the claim of being a transparent government.