De l'assemblée annuelle du FMI à Singapour
The title translates to: Of the IMF annual meeting in Singapore.
As you might have realised, IMF to us English-speaking people is the FMI to the french. This is not an isolated case where the abbreviations in English and French do not quite concur. In fact, our UN is their l'ONU and our NATO is their l'OTAN. This disagreement in abbreviation is largely due to the fact that in french, the adjectives come after the nouns (most of the time) rather than in front of them. This discrepancy was very much a source of distress for me last week because I was given a list of 200 plus french abbreviations and was told to memorize all of them for a test on friday.
Only on the night before the test did Roy, my senior - he had been through the same class that I am going through now - told me that we would only be asked to list down any 5 abbreviations and write down what they stand for. We were asked for 10.
In any case, the test - my first in ENPC- went by ok because I just memorized the abbreviations with not more than 2 letters. This wasn't very difficult, since, for example, CD is just Compacte Disque and CB is Carte Bleue (Blue Card) etc...
Anyway, I really want to write about the IMF from my perspective in france.
Before I took flight from Singapore 2 months ago, the preparations for IMF were already ongoing ru2 huo3 ru2 tu2-ly with Singaporeans being urged to send in photos for the Four Million Smiles Campaign. Although I didn't quite respond to our country's call, I thought it was a good idea and still think it is. Rather regretfully, the 4 Million Smiles Campaign did not generate the kind of positive international publicity expected of it. In fact, I was told by my senior that there was an article on the BBC website that came with a picture of a poster of the '4 million smiles' behind the barriers or fences that had been set up around Suntec for security purposes. The nuances of that picture is opened for interpretation.
In any case, there were definitely at least 7 Singaporeans who were left smiling by the campaign. They are those who had posted their pictures and had won the 2nd to 8th prizes of SIA tickets. The 1st prize of OSIM IDesire, I am not sure if it was that desired.
Last friday, Les Echos, one of the main economic journal in france, dedicated 2 full pages of report on Singapore. Roy and I were naturally excited to find news of Singapore in french papers.
The article, though, does not make pleasant reading for Singaporeans.
The author, Gabriel Grésillon, questioned the legitimacy of Lee Hsien Loong as the prime minister because he is the son of LKY, otherwise known to the french as "the father of independence" of Singapore. He highlighted the fact that in Singapore, a gathering of more than 5 people in public places require a permit. He states that we have a reserve of 130 billion US dollars, which is 'unequal' (whatever this means) for a country of just 4.4 million people. That the government employs an excessive budgetary structure so that when we register a deficit, it serves as a reminder not to rest on our laurels.
He also talks about Singapore's attempt to constantly attract foreign "talents" when at the same time, we are unable to retain our local "talents". The article features a quote from LKY in which he had affirmed that the Singapore government does interfere in every aspects of its citizens' lives - who is our neighbour, what is our language, how do we live - and that the government does decide what is best, that 'it does not matter what the people think' (Babel Fish-translated). The article even has a report on the blooming 'secret banking' services in Singapore, referring to us as 'the Switzerland of Asia'. Finally, Gabriel refers to us as the Simcity.
To me, it was a refreashing read after being limited to Straits Times all my life. The criticisms of Singapore were not exactly new - the arguments are almost always the same...that we are not a true democracy patati et patata - but I felt that the manner in which the article was written, it was extremely biased against Singapore.
For instance, while it is true that by law, a group of more than 5 people in public places constitute illegal gathering, the law is seldom enforced in reality. And what is wrong with having 130 billion US dollars in reserve when it's the money the siao-on working ethics of Singaporeans probably deserve?
I had wanted to send a letter in response to Gabriel's article. In the end, I thought better...since with my current level of French, what I write would probably turn out incomprehensible to him. Moreover, at the back of my mind, I am questioning myself if the law of illegal gathering exists as a convenient tool for our government to clam down on protestors when the day comes that people are no longer contented with their decisions, if it would be better to take even just 1% of our 130 billion US dollars to improve the lives of the needies in Singapore rather than leaving them in the reserves, if terrorist organizations are using our secret banking service to finance their activities, if my life so far has really been a PAP story.
While doubts may linger in my mind about the current manner in which Singapore is governed, there is one thing I would have no difficulty telling Gabriel in the eyes. I would say to him, "Even though I do not know if there's a serious problem of brain-drainage in Singapore, there is at least one Singaporean here in France who will definitely, guarantee-chop plus stamp, eventually return home. That's me, CHYE!" And I'll say my name in its french pronunciation, which would be Chi-ye, which is basically 'shit you' in French.
And as I turn my back to him, I hope that the underlying meaning of my statement gets to him - that I belong to one of the brains=)
As you might have realised, IMF to us English-speaking people is the FMI to the french. This is not an isolated case where the abbreviations in English and French do not quite concur. In fact, our UN is their l'ONU and our NATO is their l'OTAN. This disagreement in abbreviation is largely due to the fact that in french, the adjectives come after the nouns (most of the time) rather than in front of them. This discrepancy was very much a source of distress for me last week because I was given a list of 200 plus french abbreviations and was told to memorize all of them for a test on friday.
Only on the night before the test did Roy, my senior - he had been through the same class that I am going through now - told me that we would only be asked to list down any 5 abbreviations and write down what they stand for. We were asked for 10.
In any case, the test - my first in ENPC- went by ok because I just memorized the abbreviations with not more than 2 letters. This wasn't very difficult, since, for example, CD is just Compacte Disque and CB is Carte Bleue (Blue Card) etc...
Anyway, I really want to write about the IMF from my perspective in france.
Before I took flight from Singapore 2 months ago, the preparations for IMF were already ongoing ru2 huo3 ru2 tu2-ly with Singaporeans being urged to send in photos for the Four Million Smiles Campaign. Although I didn't quite respond to our country's call, I thought it was a good idea and still think it is. Rather regretfully, the 4 Million Smiles Campaign did not generate the kind of positive international publicity expected of it. In fact, I was told by my senior that there was an article on the BBC website that came with a picture of a poster of the '4 million smiles' behind the barriers or fences that had been set up around Suntec for security purposes. The nuances of that picture is opened for interpretation.
In any case, there were definitely at least 7 Singaporeans who were left smiling by the campaign. They are those who had posted their pictures and had won the 2nd to 8th prizes of SIA tickets. The 1st prize of OSIM IDesire, I am not sure if it was that desired.
Last friday, Les Echos, one of the main economic journal in france, dedicated 2 full pages of report on Singapore. Roy and I were naturally excited to find news of Singapore in french papers.
The article, though, does not make pleasant reading for Singaporeans.
The author, Gabriel Grésillon, questioned the legitimacy of Lee Hsien Loong as the prime minister because he is the son of LKY, otherwise known to the french as "the father of independence" of Singapore. He highlighted the fact that in Singapore, a gathering of more than 5 people in public places require a permit. He states that we have a reserve of 130 billion US dollars, which is 'unequal' (whatever this means) for a country of just 4.4 million people. That the government employs an excessive budgetary structure so that when we register a deficit, it serves as a reminder not to rest on our laurels.
He also talks about Singapore's attempt to constantly attract foreign "talents" when at the same time, we are unable to retain our local "talents". The article features a quote from LKY in which he had affirmed that the Singapore government does interfere in every aspects of its citizens' lives - who is our neighbour, what is our language, how do we live - and that the government does decide what is best, that 'it does not matter what the people think' (Babel Fish-translated). The article even has a report on the blooming 'secret banking' services in Singapore, referring to us as 'the Switzerland of Asia'. Finally, Gabriel refers to us as the Simcity.
To me, it was a refreashing read after being limited to Straits Times all my life. The criticisms of Singapore were not exactly new - the arguments are almost always the same...that we are not a true democracy patati et patata - but I felt that the manner in which the article was written, it was extremely biased against Singapore.
For instance, while it is true that by law, a group of more than 5 people in public places constitute illegal gathering, the law is seldom enforced in reality. And what is wrong with having 130 billion US dollars in reserve when it's the money the siao-on working ethics of Singaporeans probably deserve?
I had wanted to send a letter in response to Gabriel's article. In the end, I thought better...since with my current level of French, what I write would probably turn out incomprehensible to him. Moreover, at the back of my mind, I am questioning myself if the law of illegal gathering exists as a convenient tool for our government to clam down on protestors when the day comes that people are no longer contented with their decisions, if it would be better to take even just 1% of our 130 billion US dollars to improve the lives of the needies in Singapore rather than leaving them in the reserves, if terrorist organizations are using our secret banking service to finance their activities, if my life so far has really been a PAP story.
While doubts may linger in my mind about the current manner in which Singapore is governed, there is one thing I would have no difficulty telling Gabriel in the eyes. I would say to him, "Even though I do not know if there's a serious problem of brain-drainage in Singapore, there is at least one Singaporean here in France who will definitely, guarantee-chop plus stamp, eventually return home. That's me, CHYE!" And I'll say my name in its french pronunciation, which would be Chi-ye, which is basically 'shit you' in French.
And as I turn my back to him, I hope that the underlying meaning of my statement gets to him - that I belong to one of the brains=)
posted by le chye at
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