Dear ASS,

I was told this story by my friend. She was a singer who worked in KTV. She was really nice so many men liked her and she was new girl so more popular at that time. Everything was going well until one day she met the Singaporean man that day outside the washing room.

She was drunk, the man told her no need to work and he would pay her whole night. But the girl asked I would not go hotel with u at last, do u still want me to sit with u? The man said yes. The the man sent the girl home as promise. So many times like that. Slowly the girl fell in love with the man. She thought the man loved her.

Finally when the man asked her to go his home, the girl agreed. Then they made love that night and the girl gave up many customers because of her boyfriend. She wanted to change her job and everything. After a few months the man told her that he go oversea for a few days. Then he disappeared until one day she saw him in the same KTV.

She was thinking of him every day. She rushed to hug him as usual. All people in the room was quiet suddenly. The man pointed to a girl in white and said: My girlfriend is there. Days ago the man was just calling her "laopo" (wife) and told her how much he loved her every day. Y he changed so soon she can't accept she ran out of the room.

The tears was dropping. Cried whole night. Fucking love, Fucking forever love. The next day she went back to China with her tears.

Yumiko
A.S.S. Contributor

Dear Editors,

As a waitress, I’ve seen the ugly side of the service industry in Singapore. Indeed, Singaporeans are hard to please. Many of them place high emphasis on the fact that they paid for a service, hence they are entitled to any demands that they have. These people think that money can rectify any wrongdoings, that it can deaden people to any moral issues.

The “customer” status deluded some people into treating service crews like thrash, and it is okay because the rules of basic respect don’t apply to them. Yes, servers are paid to serve. But we are not paid to slave.

Most villains are bad because they cannot handle power. They got addicted to the exercise of power and become a conceited control freak. It seems rather understandable since the supposed power comes with supernatural abilities and world domination. However, some people simply have insignificant rights claimed on the basis of service charge and they are behaving like an imperious autocrat. It is distressing how materialism handicaps a person from empathy.

Some people might think that it is “normal” to be scolded at work. If bullying is an issue that people is constantly trying to solve, then why is verbal bullying brushed aside in the service industry? Does it mean that customers also bought the rights to bully a person when he or she paid for service charge?

"To Serve, Not Slave" is a social media campaign run by students to instill graciousness in people towards workers in service industry.

The objectives of this campaign is motivate the servers to do better in their job & develop better customer-business relations in the long run.

To join us in the efforts in supporting graciousness towards service crews, please follow & like us on our social media platforms!

Twitter: @toservenotslave
Instagram: @toservenotslave

To Serve, Not Slave
A.S.S. Contributor

Dear Editor,

I refer to the 'latest' never ending twists and plots of the former "AHPETC" saga, now known only as "AHTC" and the over utilized excuses of both the PAP and WP in pinning blame on each other, which we will see the repeated telecast over CNA again when the courts hear this later today.

I do not actually know if these 2 parties take the people of Aljunied as fools but we can certainly see through the rhetoric and know what are the issues at hand (which was why we still halfheartedly returned the WP)! As a resident of 704 Bedok Reservoir, I am getting a little tired and hope both parties will just take the decisive moral courage to end it here. It's either the President dissolve the seats of Aljunied and Hougang if the problem remains unresolved on 29 Feb 16 or the MPs of both wards tender in their resignations and come to us again with renewed candidates (similar to what GCT did in 1992). I personally am a little exasperated with the current slot under-representing us due to fear and the PAP with their "wayang" in conducting fruitless MPS in our wards as lame duck "advisers".

A slot consisting Prof Daniel Goh, Mr Firuz Khan, Ms He Ting Ru, Mr Foo Seck Guan and Mr L. Somasundaram will be best poised to retain Aljunied and put this matter to rest, for the government cannot question the intelligence of voters which the Town Council Act aims to protect in the first place (HDB cannot claim to be doing the same as it represents the PAP government in fixing alternative parties that comes to power).

Lucky Tan
A.S.S. Contributor

Dear Editors,

I went to Kopitiam@Bukit Panjang Plaza. The stall name that I patronised is JELEBU MEE HOON KUEH and I bought a bowl of "Ah Ma Mee Hoon Kueh". As I had forgotten to add the "Dried Small Fish" to be as seasoning for the soup, I went over to the stall and request a small bowl from them. I then top up the "Dried Small Fish" onto the small bowl. Then the lady in the attached picture saw what I am doing and rudely shout at me.

Rude Lady shouting : "Why are you taking?".
Me : "I bought a bowl of "Ah Ma Mee Hoon Kueh from you. Why I can't take ?".

I stopped taking and walked back to my table. Then I heard the auntie talking loudly to the next customer in queue.

Rude Lady : "Siao, if everybody keep taking extra, my stall will go bankrupt".

I immediately turned back and question her.

Me: "I did not take extra. I did not even took it earlier on upon receivinmg my food from you."
Rude Lady : "Then you should have told me you didn't took it"
Me : "You should have ask me and not to be so cynical assuming that everyone is trying to take advantage of you by getting extra stuff from you"

The lady dumbfounded and immediately serve the next customer. To Kopitiam and Management of BPP, I hope you can treat this incident seriously. The lady attitude is intolerable. Thank you in advance.

Angry Customer
A.S.S. Contributor

<Credits to Joanne>

A teacher after the dinner she started checking homework done by the students. Her husband is strolling around with a smart phone playing his favourite game ‘Candy Crush Saga’. When reading the last note, the wife starts crying with silent tears.

Her husband saw this and asked, ‘Why are you crying dear? What happened?’

Wife: ‘Yesterday I gave homework to my 1st Standard students, to write something on topic -My Wish-.

’Husband: ‘OK, but why are you crying?

’Wife: ‘Today while checking the last note, it makes me crying.

’Husband curiously: ‘What’s written in the note that makes you crying?

’Wife: ‘Listen. My wish is to become a smart phone. My parents love smart phone very much.

They care smart phone so much that sometimes they forget to care me.When my father comes from office tired, he has time for smart phone but not for me. When my parents are doing some important work and smart phone is ringing, within single ring they attend the phone, but not me even...even if I am crying.

They play games on their smart phones not with me.When they are talking to someone on their smart phone, they never listen to me even if I am telling something important. So, my wish is to become a smart phone.

After listening the note husband got emotional and asked the wife, ‘who wrote this?’. Wife: ‘Our son’.

Gadgets are beneficial, but they are for our ease not to cease the love amongst family and loved ones.

Children see and feel everything what happens with & around them. Things get imprinted on their mind with an everlasting effect. Let’s take due care, so that they do not grow with any false impressions.

Dear A.S.S,

My brother and sister-in-law treats my mum like their maid. They like to go hotel & high class restaurant for dinner. Always go pak toh ie. Movies, shopping. Buy branded bags like Chanel.

Sometimes they also go out during weekends. They would normally have lunch at nice restaurants before dropping their son at my mum's place. They dont even ta pao for my mum. Even though my mum has eaten, she can still reheat the food for dinner later. My mum still have to cook for her son.

The wife doesn't have any laundry to do at home except under garments & sleep wear. All her clothes are branded and sent to dry clean. She doesn't do housework. My mum & my bro do the housework. My mum still have to cook for them & sleep with her grand son. Whereas they enjoy peaceful night without the child crying & making noise especially when the child is sick.

My mum has a job but quit because of them. They gave her a miserable few hundred dollars. My mum was ok because my dad was still working. Later, my dad started to have the symptom of parkinson. No choice but to retire. So my mum asked my bro for allowance. Guess what my sil said to my mum "I can give you but why should I. Tell me why I should give you?"

Anyone came across daughter in law like my sister in law?

Steadyberry

Dear Editors,

My good friend had recently gotten married, and we were chosen to be her bridesmaids. We had a tough time deciding on our matchy dresses, so the bride decided to go with Fanurly Couture, a "well-known designer", at Tanjong Katong Complex for made-to-measure dresses for us.

We had one meeting to pick the colours, design our dresses and that was it. At our one and only fitting session, I wasn't too happy with my dress and voiced out my concerns, but "designer" was too busy with another client. Since I was really tired, I chose to bring the dress back home, try it on again and have other people be the judge.

Two days after collecting the dress, I wanted to try it on again. I inspected the hemmings and everything else, I wasn't impressed. I thought ironing them out will help, but nope. I tried on the dress, took a really long time figuring out what was wrong with the dress, and I finally saw it all. I discussed with the other bridesmaids and we decided to send back to her to have them altered. I have attached pictures of the said dresses as proof.

I contacted the "designer" to arrange for alteration. She asked me to come back on the 31st of December to have my dress altered. So, I got back from my vacation and immediately went over to TKC. I checked their operating hours were till 9pm. I arrived at 6.50pm, to find the shop CLOSED.

The wedding was on the 1st January, and we had to look for someone who was willing to work on our dresses at the eleventh hour, on the night of New Year's Eve! This particular designer had to reconstruct the entire dress to salvage as much as possible and it costed us a bomb! Talk about ruining someone's year end. I kindly requested for a reimbursement from Fanurly, since I believe it was her fault. She had asked me to come on the 31st, but her shop was closed. So a conversation over Whatsapp ensued.

I am not here to ruin someone's business, but if a person is being irresponsible and unprofessional after being given the trust, other prospective clients should know. She pushed it by being defensive from the very beginning and refusing to come to an amicable settlement. I demand for a refund and a reimbursement for my alterations. In return, she can have the dress to be a constant reminder of a job terribly done and as a motivation to improve.

Disappointed Brides Maid
A.S.S. Contributor

Dear friends the previous post got deleted accidentally. Sorry! Please help share and spread the word Thank you!!

I’m loss for words and disappointed with Money Max’s service. We redeemed a Rolex Submariner Hulk from Money Max(Rivervale Plaza Outlet) on the 30th of Oct, roughly at 730pm. Asked the staff if we could view the watch first before redeeming because we bought over the pawn ticket.

As we are considered the 3rd party. Staff reply was “No. You have to redeem it first. And you can hug IT and sleep with it for the whole night” referring to the Hulk. Before redeeming we asked her whether it was authentic OR NOT. She said, she doesnt know. Fine. We were skeptical about redeeming it but still we went ahead because HELLO ITS MONEY MAX ITS A REPUTABLE COMPANY LEH!!!!! So after redeeming we went to look for a friend who is specialize in watches and after much inspection at it he said we got duped, Its fake.

Firstly, if its fake why would Money max let the owner pawn it and even give him the money??? The owner pawned it for 6,000$SGD. Its 6000$ not 6$. I didn’t know a fake watch can be valued at 6000$.

Secondly, we asked since it was less than 12 hours can we pawn back the watch? They say impossible cause theres no valuer to inspect the watch. Less than 12 hours, the pawn ticket serial number matches the one with the watch STILL NEED INSPECT MEH?

Thirdly, we demanded to speak to the in charge. We told her we are going to report this matter to the police and she told us to go ahead, at the end of the day we confirm lugi not her. K can. She still told us to try pawning the watch at other outlet as her rivervale plaza’s outlet only take in gold & NO WATCHES. And so we went to other MM outlet and the valuer refuse to take in the watch stating that the piece DO NOT LOOK AUTHENTIC. We showed him the receipt and tallied the serial number and he confirmed that both the serial number on the watch and the receipt is the same and is also puzzled why did the rivervale plaza outlet let us took out a NON authentic watch, as i believe that the staffs there were aware that the watch was NON authentic as she said as I mentioned above that she said she do not know if the watch is authentic or not.

See the thing now is, MM’s policy is you get back what you pawned. But I’m confused to HOW CAN SUCH A REPUTABLE COMPANY ACCEPT A NON AUTHENTIC WATCH? And if Money Max checked thoroughly they would not have taken in this watch, and none of this would have happened & we wouldnt have to go through all the troubles of verifying and making a police report. Policy is use mouth say one theres no black & white and even if there is I HAVE NOT SEEN IT. All I know is that the watch I redeemed from Money Max is NON authentic and the company refuse to be responsible.

By the way, there’s no law in Singapore which state that buying a pawn ticket is illegal. WE DO NOT KNOW THE OWNER. This post is to let others know that even such a reputable company cannot differentiate AUTHENTIC AND NON AUTHENTIC. Such a disappointment. Money max has failed terribly at its service.

After visiting the police station and CASE Ive finally come to a conclusion to why the manager told us to go ahead with the report its because basically theres nothing CASE & SPF can do.

We know every company has their own policy but are you being fair to your consumers? How can you not check the authencity of the watch beforehand? This is so unethical for such a big company to make this kind of mistake.

We are posting this to warn the people & to seek advice on what we should proceed on this case.

Police case ref: G/20151031/2043

Just to clarify that the stated name in the statement, Seamus was not the one that cheated me. He’s a good friend of mine he got cheated as well.

Dear A.S.S,

Been dating a girl for quite awhile, she's an international student from China(pls don't judge), come here to study uni, no scholarship or anything.

Only recently just met her parents since she staying with relative here in SG. I can feel that their first impression of me wasn't very good when I told them my job. They will hint things like that work no future, low income etc. Like I wanna leech their family or what knn.

After we got past that, another barrier, my mandarin isn't very good, so often they get a little frustrated when they see I keep relying on her to translate some stuff. Overall the impression wasn't very good.

How would you guys try to salvage this? I'm hoping I can try to improve my mandarin before CNY where I will most likely meet them again. What is the best way to improve mandarin quick?

For now I'm listening to Chinese songs and watching Chinese drama with my gf, she will then explain to me some of the complex words that I don't understand while.

Blue_marble91

Dear everybody,

A very happy 2016 to all of you! I hope the year has been treating you well so far. Unfortunately, 2016 has been nothing less than a cornucopia of exhaustion, worry and frustration for myself, my family and all 21 tour mates on my winter vacation.

[This is the shortened version of our terrible encounter with Turkish Airlines & Ataturk Airport. For full version, videos, pictures and how I was asked to give a blowjob in return for using a public toilet, please visit my post at https://goo.gl/yMpSP4. If you are impatient, scroll all the way to the bottom for a TL;DR.]

For those of you who don't love me enough to frequently see my content on your Facebook feed, I've been in Eastern Europe on a tour package with CS Travel since 17 December 2015. The first fortnight was rather enjoyable; our Singaporean guide Alex Fong made sure we visited, ate and experienced the necessary. But I should have sensed trouble from the beginning.

My mother's luggage with her winter wear was rerouted to God knows where from Istanbul where we took the national carrier Turkish Airlines to Prague. There's a happy ending in here (but it's the only one) - her luggage was delivered to our hotel some 8 hours later. Turkish Airlines - TK from here on - also managed to completely break off the top handle of my Samsonite.

And now we get to the crux of my long and going to get even longer rant: I am currently writing this with my ass planted on a very cold and very dirty tiled floor right here in Istanbul Airport. [Edit: I continued after touching down in Singapore.]

Trouble first arrived on 31st December, the day of our departure. We were booked to leave Munich to Singapore via Istanbul. Most of us already knew that Ataturk Airport had cancelled all flights so we were mentally prepared to spend the night at the airport hoping for a flight out.

The queue at TK's counter at the airport rivaled a free Hello Kitty giveaway. There were hordes of angry customers that weren't just our group demanding explanations from very unresponsive staff. Accountability seemed to have been on holiday somewhere far away from us.

While I understand that there are certain protocols to follow when there are cancelled/delayed flights, I don't think its any excuse for rudeness or neglect. It got to the point where counter staff ran away when they saw one of my tour mates (let's call him Dr. O) approach to ask questions. Its not that any of us were deliberately hounding them, we weren't getting any updates unless we queued for hours to ask.We also received €10 for a day's meal as compensation in a place where 500ml of water cost €4.

Things got worse after we finally arrived in Istanbul. The transfer area in Ataturk Airport looked like what I imagined a luxury building in a 3rd world country would look like. Trash everywhere, sporadic splotches of various liquids, food/dirt smears all over the floor and countless passengers sitting or lying around. Little did I know that I was soon to become one of them.

The transit area at this godforsaken airport had nothing. By nothing, I mean they had no places to buy food or drinks. And I easily spent 5 hours with no food, no water, no money, no credit cards, no ciggies and no luggage because TK forced us to check in all our luggage as a group and now they have no idea whose is whose and it would be too much of a hassle to pull them out.

Alex found an airport staff to help with getting us something to eat or drink. This man came back with complimentary sandwiches & cans of soft drinks that were supposed to be handed out in times of delay. He asked for money in exchange for this favour. I'm not sure how much was paid up but many of us saw Alex pay him in Euro.

Everyone had to sleep with their valuables clutched tightly in their hands or stay awake like we did. The floor was so cold that even the younger folks started complaining. The was a TK lounge with chairs and bedding in there that we could have made use but it was "fully booked". We were also told that we could ask for small pillows and blankets from the same place so we went to get some but were told they have "none left" by the receptionist who was standing directly infront of bags and bags of brand new bedding.

A few hours later, the airport finally deigned to release some pillows to us. By release, I mean a pile of pillows just thrown in the middle of nowhere that we had to walk a good distance away to pick up. And they were saturated with urine. Other stranded passengers alongside us started grabbing them. We managed to get a few, but some were lost during the night as they were sneakily stolen or given away to people who needed them more than we did.

Then the impasse happened.

We were told that only 20 seats would be available on SQ the following day. We had 26 pax in our group, including Alex. I was expecting chaos and quarrels over who would get to leave but everybody was very calm and reasonable when it came to allocating family members who could leave first. We all agreed to let half of each family fly home to Singapore.

It was a very painful decision and my brother and I still feel guilty about this but we were the ones who came back first. We were the only Singaporeans left there and our embassy was not able to help us at all. We knowingly left our aged parents back in Istanbul with no fresh clothes, no luggage, no confirmation of any flights out or accommodation.

You see, TK promised us that our luggage was in the airport, and would be on the same SQ flight as us. There was no way my parents - who has a combined age of over a century - would be able to handle 150kg of luggage by themselves when they arrived in Changi Airport.

The story doesn't end here. There was no luggage at all when I touched down today. According to the staff at Changi Airport, the luggage tags that we were holding on to doesn't even exist in Istanbul. We abandoned our parents for nothing. We had just spent 9 very happy hours on an SQ flight with beautiful FSS, comfortable seats, delicious food and bingeing on cocktails to have our world crashing down on us again. Suddenly, we could feel every germ particle on our 48 hour old clothes once more. But then we were now on local soil. There were plenty of airport staff willing to go the extra mile to help us sort out this issue. We lodged reports for lost luggage and were told that they would be delivered to our homes if/when they arrived. There was nothing more we could do but based on the service standard differences between SQ & TK, and Ataturk vs Changi, I wanted to kneel down at the feet of my fellow countrymen and thank them more than they deserved.

The last communication I had with my mother was that they had problems checking in at Istanbul Airport for their SQ flight home to Singapore. They were also told that our luggage would not be able to fly with them. I haven't had any new updates in the last 6 hours and everybody is uncontactable so all I can do is pray that my parents and the remaining tour mates are right now flying home to us in comfort.

For TL;DR -

> Delayed luggage upon arrival with winter clothes inside, damaged Samsonite case and 15 pieces of lost luggage thanks to Turkish Airlines (TK).
> Rude and not compassionate TK employees who laughed in our faces when they cancelled all our flights and we had to beg to get new flights.
> Stranded at Munich & Istanbul Airport for more than 48 hours. Elderly and young children had to sleep on cold hard floors in winter with no access to food, water, or our own luggages as we were forced to check them in by TK.
> Repeated broken promises of flights out to Singapore, TK staff completely not willing to talk to any of us. Singapore embassy unable to help us.
> Sexual harassment in Ataturk airport and extortion for using public toilets.
> Forced to abandon our parents in Istanbul with no personal belongings as TK promised to send luggages to Singapore with only 15 of our 26 member tour group.
> Said luggages did not appear in Changi Airport when we touched down, Changi has told us that our luggages don’t even exist in Istanbul.

Moral of the story: Don’t fly Turkish Airlines, and don’t trust anything anybody in Ataturk Airport says. This post is public, so please feel free to share.
-

Update: My parents and rest of the tour group have arrived in Singapore as of this morning. Not surprisingly, our luggage didn't appear.

I've been told that the same fuck shit happened in Istanbul Airport when they were trying to board - they weren't booked at all and weren't allowed on the flight. Fortunately, there was an Istanbul-based Singaporean at the SQ counter today who went beyond his duties when he discovered that my left behind group was having trouble. He manually keyed in every single one of the 11 pax's details to book their seats, personally escorted them to the plane, and found out where out luggages were. He refused to put the on the first available flight which was TK, and promised to send them out to us by SQ tomorrow. He left his contact number with my tour guide and told him to inform him anytime we would need any help for the luggages. Thank you Mr Lim, and Singapore Airlines should be proud to have you onboard with them.

<Contribution by Y.J.>

Dear all,

Please heed my advice and avoid eating all kinds of raw food (fish especially!!!!). Unless you want to end up in the hospital like I did with a fever edging over 40 degrees, shivering till my lips turned purple.

Backstory: I had 20 slices of sashimi at Sushi Express Singapore Seletar Mall. Some of the slices had traces of blood on them which I returned back to the belt untouched.

NEA has started investigations into this incident and collected samples of salmon for lab testing.

<Facebook post by Teo Soh Lung>

Do you realise that the tax imposed on water and electricity consumption in Singapore is very high? Just examine this bill of a very careful consumer.

Waterborne fee $4.45

Sanitary Appliance Fee $6.61

Water Conservation Tax $1.34…

Total $8.01

On top of these taxes, water and electricity consumption is added GST of $3.11 thus making a total tax of $11.12 or 23.24% of the bill of $47.73. Taxes are called by various names and Power Supply is smart to call them waterborne fee, sanitary appliance and conservation tax.

Water and electricity are basic essentials and basic rights of human beings. The poor in Singapore pays as much tax as the rich.

The local males have an albatross around their necks when they compete with, first, male foreigners, and, second, their female Singapore cohort. Young male Singaporeans lose out in so many ways. They lose out in seniority to the girls, not a few even find our boys downright unattractive, compared to foreigners who come in on the fast track.

(To rub it in, the girls do not have to do reservist training. Local males also lose out to all foreigners because they have to spend much time doing reservist. If they work in the civil service, fine, the gahmen will take care of them.

But out in the private sector, they are at the mercy of their employers; they suffer great disadvantage since they have to spend so much time doing NS. Of course, we hear employers pledging their undying support for the defence of the country but, in reality, they have bottomlines to worry about and targets to meet. Rah-rahs do not translate into dollars.

Even right now, after so many years of NS, I do not believe all male Singaporeans actually do NS with wholehearted enthusiasm. Especially when, deep in their hearts, they know not all are treated equally. It is time for a thorough and open public debate on the inequities of NS for boys.

<Contribution by VoteWisely>

Just witnessed this incident at amk hub foodcourt. Saw this amdk family (couple pushing a baby pram with their baby)looking for seats. They walked pass this young sinkie couple who was enjoying their meal.

Suddenly the chiobu OL of the couple saw the family, she tell the family to come take their place, while she herself grab her bags and her bf's arm and stand up.

The bf complain "why so fast go? I havent finish my bah cho mee leh!!" The girl just say "aiya give up your seat lah u eat so much for what?"

Then the bf give in and stand up, and they leave with their half eaten food on the table

While the family thank them. After sit down the amdk say to his wife "haha, stupid singaporeans"

Dear Sir/Mdm,

I am writing to you in reference to a Facebook post by Randall Heng dated Wednesday 30 December 2015 regarding consumption of raw food items from our establishment at Seletar Mall. This post was subsequently referenced on your website on 7 January 2016. http://www.allsingaporestuff.com/article/man-hospitalized-high-fever-aft...

I would like to offer my company’s perspective on this matter. Firstly this was an isolated case as out of the approximately 500 customers who dined at this particular outlet on that day, we did not receive feedback of similar issues. I wish to highlight that our food items are regularly sent for 3rd party (including NEA) testing. NEA and MOH has been reported on The Straits Times ( http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/man-hospitalised-after-eati...)
that they confirmed that there is no hygiene lapse in our outlet.

I would like to add that the original author of the post (i.e. Randall Heng) has since removed this post from his Facebook account. Despite our efforts to reach him to better understand what had happened on 30th December, Randall remains uncontactable.

All Singapore Stuff is becoming a key medium in Singapore today with significant reach to target audiences of different age groups and gender. Similarly Sushi Express recognizes the importance social media has to our business. We hope to be able to leverage on increasing trends to enable greater customers’ understanding and appreciation of Japanese cuisine and lifestyle.

Nathaniel (Sushi Express)

<Facebook complaint by Alvin Huang>

Dearest Groupon,

This made me speechless. This is the ultimate. We made a reservation yesterday for today at Fung Ding Hung. We bought a Groupon voucher for this place. I brought my mother in law, wife and daughter for dinner. We were greeted with this. An empty shop.

I don't understand how a vendor of yours could take in my reservation when they have ceased operation. (Note that we called in yesterday at the number 6333 9846) I checked with a neighbouring restaurant and they said they have closed since 10 Dec.

I understand business is bad for retailers and yourself too. But at least if a vendor closes. The least you could do is to notify all voucher owners. Rather than have us happily going to dinner together but facing an empty shop.

Speechless. I didn't expect something like that to happen in Singapore. LOL

Dear Editors,

I would like to report a case over allegation from a catering company named rasa rasa catering after 6 months later they call to informed me i had not paid for a catering that was done in 31 jul 2015.

The accounts called n insist that i did not pay n demanded for the receipt.

Fortunately i did keep but definitely furious about this allegation. The manager called later on to apologise n claim its a routine for the accounts to call customer but question is..to call a customer over paid bills?

A.S.S Reader
Victor Chua

Dear ASS Editors,

We are now in the year 2016. As we leave 2015 behind and begin anew, I would just like to share some observations about the results of GE2015 in which the opposition was trounced by PAP. These observations are based on my conversations with some friends who feel no strong inclination to vote for the PAP or the opposition.

The results of GE2015 should not be seen as just an endorsement of the PAP but also as a complete rejection of the more left-wing politicians and civil society activists. WP is seen as the just acceptable alternative that the swing voters want. Barely acceptable, but still preferred when compared to the scenario of an all-PAP parliament.

I have some friends who are swing voters and I have listened to their views both during GE2011 and GE2015. I was quite surprised after GE2015 when my friend who voted for the PAP in the constituency where she stays expressed sadness about WP's Lee Li Lian losing in Punggol East. I asked her why she felt that way. She said that it's because Lee Li Lian looks like a good person unlike the grumpy-looking old man from PAP whose name she could not remember.

I realized then that swing voters do not really bother to find out about current affairs, policies or party ideologies; they just vote based on their impressions of people running for office. That is why it is so critically important for opposition parties to be on the ground early and to make themselves familiar faces in the constituency where they want to contest.

People like Tan Jee Say, Goh Meng Seng, Sebastian Teo, Kenneth Jeyaretnam and Chee Soon Juan can talk as much as they want at rallies but still lose elections. This is because they do not work as hard on the ground as they should. They rely too much on their speeches. Chiam See Tong spent years on the ground in Potong Pasir, visiting houses and coffee shops till he finallywon. He was not a great orator and yet he won because of the personal connection he had with the voters of Potong Pasir. I asked my friend why she thinks the opposition lost so badly. This is what she said. "Besides Paul Tambyah and the Workers' Party candidates, the opposition slate was truly terrible". When I pressed further, she said that from her point of view, what she saw were all the hooligans of Hong Lim Park coming forward to run for political office.

Now do you see why opposition politicians should avoid protests at Hong Lim Park? Swing voters see those who protest at Hong Lim Park as hooligans. Singapore is still a conservative country and protests and civil disobedience are frowned upon. Politicians like Goh Meng Seng and Kenneth Jeyaretnam who frequently spoke at Hong Lim Park lost by huge margins in the GE. Civil society activists like Roy Ngerng, M Ravi, Janet Low Wai Choo and Han Hui Hui were soundly defeated. The voters clearly did not see their contributions at Hong Lim Park as anything worth rewarding. The majority had decided that they were definitely not heroes.

So the lesson is clear. Anyone seeking political office in Singapore should stay away from Hong Lim Park. Get your act together. Be active on the ground and explain what your party stands for. Most importantly, be concerned about residents and get to know everyone on a personal level. Get out of Hong Lim Park and get to work visiting residents and talking to them.

Singapore is not Malaysia. In Malaysia, many civil society activists have successfully become politicians. That is because Malaysia has a culture where a vibrant civil society can thrive. This is not the case in Singapore. Protests are not common here and protesters are not respected by the majority of Singaporeans. Civil society activists should know better than to think that their activism is going to win them votes.

There is absolutely no point in writing an excellent manifesto for a GE. Nearly all voters do not bother to read manifestos. Voters in Singapore don't care about political ideologies and tend to lump opposition parties together.

As for Tan Jee Say and SingFirst, my friend did not see them as serious politicians. The fact that they just appeared out of nowhere for the GE made her feel that they were opportunists. She was furious at the way they told voters not to vote PAP out of 'gratitude to the father' or they would end up 'in servitude to the son'. She found it very disrespectful. She didn't have a good impression of Tan Jee Say since he seemed unable to make up his mind on which election he wants to run for. First parliamentary election, then presidential election, then parliamentary election again, then what next?

There was no point asking her about NSP since the silly antics of some NSP politicians during the lead up to GE2015 is well-known. NSP has the problem where a bunch of old 'veterans' refuse to give way to young faces and want to contest elections till the day they die. These grandpas believe that they will someday succeed. They do not accept that their time has passed and that they are no longer relevant or popular. Unlike GE2011 where NSP had a fresh new candidate in Nicole Seah, this time round nearly all the opposition candidates were the same dull old warhorses again and the new candidates just did not seem credible. Think Choong Hon Heng and his 'handshake is basically a promise'.

I asked her about SPP. She said that she would have voted for SPP in a heartbeat if Mr Chiam was running for election. But she said that she has seen Sitoh do a lot of good work for the residents of Potong Pasir, and he is indeed active on the ground. He has been more visible in Potong Pasir than Mrs Chiam. The fact that SPP allied with DPP and fielded ex-NSP members in the GE showed their lack of candidates and members. She grimly said that the Chiam era is over, SPP is a spent political force and has no relevance to Singapore politics. WP was more prominent in parliament than Mrs Chiam due to the media attention given to them. The rise of the moderate WP has unintentionally spelt the end for SPP because they have no space left in the political scene. They cannot distinguish themselves from either WP or SDP.

She still did not trust Chee Soon Juan but she admitted that he has changed for the better. SDP's shift to a more moderate but 'willing and ready to confront if needed' stance paid off and that was why they were the second-best performing opposition party. On balance, her view towards SDP was neutral since her cautious view of Dr Chee was balanced by her very positive opinion of Dr Tambyah. She said that it would be good if SDP continued to attract likeable professionals like Dr Tambyah.

As for WP, she admitted that she had lost some faith in them because of the confusing town council issue but she would still have voted for them since they are new at managing a GRC and PAP started off that way too. She said that the WP candidates came across as simple and likeable.

The conclusion from my conversation with my swing voter friend is this. In tough elections like GE2015 where the ruling party has a lot of positive momentum due to the passing of LKY, SG50 and the Pioneer Generation Package among other ground sweetening policies and initiatives, a moderate oppositionparty will always do better than a confrontational party. SDP improved because they adopted a more nuanced stance. SPP lost their political space and were wiped out.

NSP, PPP, SingFirst and RP candidates were seen as too extremist, unappealing and unelectable. Most voters, including the opposition supporters just did not think these candidates had a realistic chance of winning. Hence these parties failed to even secure the full 30% core of opposition voters in any ward they contested.

Ajay
A.S.S. Contributor

Dear Editors,

Singaporeans are well respected around the world and we are unique. We deny racial discrimination and accept multi-culturalism in our society. We adopt a social model that brings Singapore to prosperity, peace and harmony. Many countries do not adopt this model, resulting to social unrest and instability. We are thankful that our founding leaders who foresaw the ensuing unrest due to racial discrimination steered the direction of Singapore’s future to a state that is well-respected by many countries around the world.

I have been teaching and helping Vietnamese spouses in Singapore for 2 years and I am certain that they play a part in building the future of our country.

Vietnamese spouses are special because they blend into our society well: they speak Mandarin or simple English and practice core values that are readily accepted by many of us in Singapore. They believe in building up a family and work hard to make ends meet for their family. They are also capable of looking after their children. I believe we can help them to integrate into our society easily.

The next time you meet a Vietnamese in Singapore, just say a “xin chao” (Hello in Vietnamese) to him or her!

Daniel (A Singaporean Son)
A.S.S. Contributor

In Nov 2015, the Ministry of National Development and HDB lost 2 lawsuits against AHPETC. WP's town council was ruled to have the right to appoint any qualified accountant for their audit.

Now, HDB has renewed its complaints against AHTEC (former AHPETC) and disputed WP's choice of accountant. HDB claims that the accountant appointed by AHTC was unreliable and inexperienced in handling audits for public institution. Instead, HDB wanted WP to appoint one of the big four accounting firms which would drastically cost more to conduct the audits.

New MND Minister Lawrence Wong has declined comment on the lawsuits. Chief Justice Menon had ruled in favour of WP confirming that they do not need to pay the legal fees of the Singapore Government. As a result, MND's lawyer fees will be paid for by Singaporean taxpayers.