To Director Jack Neo

I want to appreciate our local Director, Jack Neo for his movies and comedy variety shows.

His most recent TV variety show, "Gao Xiao Zhi Zun" has a segment that explores small coffee shop talk and current issues in Singapore.

I believe that you can experience the singapore culture and life most in the setting of the coffee shop, where the bulk of singaporeans hang out each day, from the youngest of children to teenagers who budget their meals to the adults and families who choose to eat at the local hawkers after work while some ta-bao them home.

Yesterday, I was eating with my family at a Jurong West St 51 coffee shop and I had the 'privilege' of witnessing a squabble among a Chinese family. I saw a defiant child being threatened by an aunty gripping a cane in her right hand.

She kept saying, "I tell your mom ah".

The defiant child bravely replied, "tell loh! I will call the police and ask the police to arrest you!"

It surprised me that a child not older than 10 could use the police as a defense button.

Another woman soon came up and say, "Wa! You brought a cane out ah!......"

(and just when I thought she was about to talk about what an unappropriate place to cane any child)

She holds up HER cane in her hand, proudly exclaiming, "...... I also brought a cane out to look for my daughter!"

You can imagine what follows the conversation between the two woman.


As our family drove off from the carpack after our dinner, we saw the same boy along a side of the road alone, with rebelliousness in his eyes, imitating a gangsters' style of walking and the swaying of his hands by his body, while pretending to hold a cigarette in one hand. He stops by a corner and brings the 'cigarette' to his lips, sucking in the tabacco and exhaling out the smoke through his mouth...

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Who is to blame for this boy's mischief?

What will become of him when he grows up?

Is this an adequate representation of society? Or is this just the minority?

What example are we being to our young today?

They are impressionable and as matured adults, we need to be the models to our children. They are our future generation and they listen to us - how we talk to them and to others, they watch us - our actions and what we do, they follow us.



If you want to visit his blog, click on the link below:
http://jackneojackneo.blogspot.com/