My list of Threes before Melbourne.

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The peritoneum is the serous membrane that forms the lining of the abdominal cavity or the coelom—it covers most of the intra-abdominal (or coelomic) organs—in amniotes and some invertebrates (annelids, for instance). It is composed of a layer of mesothelium supported by a thin layer of connective tissue. The peritoneum both supports the abdominal organs and serves as a conduit for their blood and lymph vessels and nerves.

The abdominal cavity (the space bounded by the vertebrae, abdominal muscles, diaphragm and pelvic floor) should not be confused with the intraperitoneal space (located within the abdominal cavity, but wrapped in peritoneum). For example, a kidney is inside the abdominal cavity, but is retroperitoneal.

Although they ultimately form one continuous sheet, two types or layers of peritoneum and a potential space between them are referenced:

• The outer layer, called the parietal peritoneum, is attached to the abdominal wall.
• The inner layer, the visceral peritoneum, is wrapped around the internal organs that are located inside the intraperitoneal cavity.
• The potential space between these two layers is the peritoneal cavity; it is filled with a small amount (about 50 ml) of slippery serous fluid that allows the two layers to slide freely over each other.
• The term mesentery is often used to refer to a double layer of visceral peritoneum. There are often blood vessels, nerves, and other structures between these layers. The space between these two layers is technically outside of the peritoneal sac, and thus not in the peritoneal cavity.

Previously my medical knowledge of the peritoneum was limited to an oncological perspective – ascitic fluid buildup as a result of carcinomas. Granted, I’m not a med student nor did I take biology classes… But anywho I learnt today that the thin layer of what I was told to me as “pig skin”, which formed the wrap for the Cantonese ngoh hiang at tonight’s reunion dinner that I helped prepare, was essentially the butchered peritoneum of a pig.

With Wikipedia, any run-of-the-mill dumbass (i.e. me) is empowered with access to knowledge without having to reference library interfaces.

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Intellectual property legislation is relatively new, yet its rigor has been intensively tested for a couple years now by multiple enforcement bodies. This has in turn led to developments such as Digital Rights Management, which, as current technology permits has proved to carry the burdens of device ubiquity and compatibility issues on the back of copyright protection.

Yet, these developments are considerably telling. Legal proponents are not willing to set any precedent that might jeopardise current legislation, and/or impede the creation of new laws. It has been clearly defined that copyright protection must be enforced as much as possible, and through multi-faceted approaches to circumvent the idiosyncrasy of the Internet as a ready and reliable conduit of information intellectual property. Such approaches include improving the accessibility of paid-for media (expanding the iTunes store), tightening anti-piracy or plagiarism laws, and packaging the legit purchasing of otherwise copyable material as a lifestyle (the Kindle).

But I think that Wikipedia is different. It is an encyclopedic portal which, since its inception, managed to accumulate a large information endowment brought about by the vested interests of numerous”net librarians” pooled from an international community of information sharers. It promotes education, to some extent altruism (being non-profit and open source), and has encouraged the flourishing of Web 2.0 – the facilitation of participatory information sharing and interoperability.

Would be kind of sad to see blacked-out sources and its pages replaced with copyright enforcement notices reminiscent of those on song lyric repositories. Ominous thought? Well, that’s the power of legislation. We’ll see how this one plays out.

“I think that as human beings we quite naturally take for granted what is similar among human beings and then pay attention to what differentiates us. That makes perfect sense for us as human beings. I suppose that frogs pay no attention to being a frog. They take it for granted. What interests a frog are differences among frogs. From our point of view they are all more or less the same, from their point of view they are all radically different.

Similarly with us. For us, we all are very different, our languages are very different, and our societies are very different. But if we could extract ourselves from our point of view and sort of look down at human life the way a biologist looks at other organisms, I think we could see it a different way. Imagine an extra-human observer looking at us. Such an extra-human observer could be struck precisely by the uniformity of human languages, by the very slight variation from one language to another, and by the remarkable respects in which all languages are the same. And then he would notice, observing us, that we do not pay attention to that because for the purpose of human life it is quite natural and appropriate just to take for granted everything that is common. We don’t concern ourselves with that, all we worry about are differences.”

- Noam Chomsky, on Democracy & Education (pg. 62)

I said a lot of harsh things today. It hurts every time, okay.
Time will only tell if these words were necessitated or not.
Ah… and now the rain.

I was thinking about how school is about to start, and thought I would just flip to the back pages and see what I could expect at the end. Found a valedictory speech from commencement day at UniMelb way back in 2007, delivered by then-fresh PhD graduate David Nayagam, now a neuroscience researcher. Here is an excerpt of his speech.

Throughout my PhD I had stuck to the wall next to my desk a quotation from the late Carl Sagan. I’m not going to read it all out now, but if you haven’t already I suggest you look it up someday. It describes a photograph on the Earth taken from deep space by a probe launched many years ago just as it left our solar system. That photograph of that pale blue dot suspended in a sunbeam reminds us of our place in the universe. It is a humbling and profound image, and always helped me put things into perspective when faced with difficult times… We are the universe, and despite being an insignificant mote of dust on a mote of dust; our atoms are the same atoms that make up the trees, the mountains and the stars. We have a right to exist. Take comfort in that.

- Dr David Nayagam, BSc/BE(ElecEng)(Hons), PhD, The University of Melbourne, 2007

With finality
Our clasped hands waver sadly
In poignant goodbye

In light of the recent backlash over the use of workaday analogies by prominent politicians in parliamentary debates - such as a well-mocked chai tow kway one by former army general Chan Chun Sing – many Singaporeans have been calling for a halt to the seemingly uncharacteristic exemplums that seem to increasingly mark the speeches delivered by our country’s top echelons.

Last we heard, PM Lee Hsien Loong let loose the quirky quip mee siam mai hum in response to a comedic podcast by Internet satirist mrbrown over the James Gomez saga back in the 2006 general elections.

I felt the need to write about this after hearing broadcasted excerpts of the parliamentary debates over the radio while I was in the car back from JB today.

An analogy is a figure of speech. If well-crafted to substantiate a point (and of course it should be analogous to the point being made), an analogy could enhance clarity in delivery or better – augment the cogency of one’s argument.

Just so you know, Chan Chun Sing just doesn’t work for me. We all know that he’s brilliant, and we also know that he’s trying too hard to be the proletariat’s aristocrat.

Look, the difference is this: the analogy should support the point, and not become the talking point. You’re a diplomat; don’t expect to say something weird and still be afforded a quiet exit with a flash of your goofy smile. How tawdry!

That said, I’ll leave you with an excerpt from MP for Jalan Besar GRC (and prominent PAP backbencher) Denise Phua’s speech on the same issue.

I’ve personally met Denise Phua and have had several engaging phone conversations with her. A straight-talker, Ms Phua works in the half-full/half-empty metaphor rather cleverly (even complementarily raising her glass of water) as a primer to introduce the recommendations she made towards the end of her speech.

It’s not great orating, but who really needs that anyway? Kee chiu! \o/

HALF-FULL OR HALF-EMPTY – ANALYSIS OF THE REPORT ON MINISTERIAL PAY REVIEW

Sir, I would like to turn now to the specifics of the Report on the Ministerial Pay Review, from a leadership and HR professional’s perspective.
Sir, I hold this glass of water in my hands. Is it half-full or half-empty? Some of us optimists will declare it is half-full. Others who are less positive will say it is half-empty. The cynics amongst us will wonder who drank the other half. I say it is both – half-full and half-empty.

HALF-FULL – POSITIVE RECOMMENDATIONS

Although I do not completely agree with the recommendations carried in the Report of the Ministerial Salaries Committee, I cannot, in good conscience, say that the Committee has done a poor job. By boldly recommending pay slashes up to 50% – measures which are hardly cosmetic, the Committee has moved in the right direction.
Like many in Singapore, I thought it was important that if reference was drawn from what I felt was a more punishing private sector in terms of pay and accountability, then it was only right that common compensation principles in that sector be applied.

I am heartened that some of the recommendations I made were considered and applied, and in some cases, enhanced.

1. An independent and external Salary Review Committee was set up, for the first time so that executives do not write their own;

2. The line of sight linking an incumbent’s Pay and his Performance is now clearer;

3. The previously simplistic link of Bonus to GDP growth rate is now expanded;

4. The Salary Benchmarking formula now targets a much bigger group of 1000 instead of 48 top wage earners;

5. Keeping the annual base pay package to comprise only monthly salaries and a 13th month bonus by removing items like Special Allowance and Public Service Leadership Allowances is a more acceptable compensation practice; amongst others.

HALF-EMPTY – ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Sir, to help further fill up the Glass, I would like to offer 5 recommendations:

1. Peg Pay to a Broader Base of Income Wage Earners and Discard Discount
The proposed salary benchmark of the entry level minister, is now pegged to the top 1000 wage earners, instead of 48, in Singapore. A discount of 40% is then applied.

Sir, the selection of the 1000 top wage earners, albeit more reasonable, is arbitrary and smacks of elitism because the base is about 0.05% of the workforce, assuming a workforce size of 2 million. The application of the discount, whether the current one-third or the proposed 40%, is also arbitrary and often forgotten and unappreciated.

I propose that political leaders’ pay be pegged to a simple top percentile income bracket, eg 10% of 20% of Singaporeans.

A quick poll I conducted revealed that more Singaporeans are likely to understand and accept that their leaders belong to the top 10-20% income bracket in our country.

2. Strengthen the Line of Sight between Pay and Performance

a. Remove 1 of the 3 components of the Variable Pay Component ie the Annual Variable Component (AVC) and retain only (i) Performance Bonus which relates to the performance of the individual portfolio; and (ii) National Bonus which is linked to how the country performs;

b. Publicise the Key Performance Indicators or KPIs for individual portfolios so that Singaporeans have a better understanding of how they are linked to Performance Bonuses of the office bearers. Developing and publishing KPIs that relate to both the routine operations and new initiatives in, especially essential services such as housing, transport, social services, and education, are important for better understanding of the size of the individual portfolios and promote better quality dialogues;

c. Expand the National Bonus indicators which are now 100% linked to jobs and incomes. This is to reduce the potential of excessive risk-taking or undesirable tactics to boost the numbers. For instance, starting a third casino to boost the economy may well boost all 4 components of the National Bonus – real median income growth rate; real grow rate of the lowest 20th percentile income; lower unemployment rate; and enhance real GDP growth rate; but the move may well be an easier path to developing or own tourism products and is detrimental to the long term competitiveness and social well-being of our people.

3. Review the Benefits Package and Not Over-Extend the ‘Clean-Wage’ Principle.
Sir, it is a little ludicrous that the dental benefit of our Prime Minister and Ministers is $70/- per year and outpatient subsidy capped at $350 a year. Consider the provision of common benefits such as car and annual health screening packages that are typically provided to executives. Do not over-extend the application of the principle of ‘Clean Wage’ so far that it becomes artificial.

4. Clarify the job scope and expectations of Political Appointment Holders.
Sir, one of the underlying factors leading to the constant unhappy undertone when the subject of political pay is discussed in our country is the lack of awareness of the duties of political appointment holders from Members of Parliament to Ministers and even Speakers.

a. Members of Parliaments have differing views of their roles. The latest episode during which several Opposition MPs opine that it is the job of Government to help their poor and needy residents and referral is the right strategy; caused a debate of its own outside the House. The clarity of duties and goals would be useful even to MPs of the ruling party.

b. The man in the street, for instance, does not understand the role of the Speaker of the House and does not have sufficient information to comprehend how it equates to a Cabinet Minister.

c. Clarity is also useful in the case of office bearers who hold multiple portfolios, sometimes up to 3 roles. It takes more than a human being to do 3 roles effectively and leave little time and space for the incumbent to reflect and reform policies where needed.

Sir, instead of sweeping these under carpet, it is needful to clarify the job scopes and expectations of political appointment holders.

5. Conduct a Review of the Civil Service Leadership Pay

One of my deepest concerns is that the Review excluded the some 300 top civil servants in the elite Admin Service. The title of the Report is entitled “Salaries for a Capable and Committed Government” but the review has deliberately excluded top civil service leaders specifically the Permanent Secretaries and others in the elite Admin Service. This is the group that has been often been kept below the radar from public eye though they play a significant role in supporting the Prime Minister and his Cabinet in the development and execution of national policies. Due to their critical role, some of these elite talents are pegged on the same salary band with the ministers.

Sir, if and when the recommendations of the committee of political pay review are accepted, some civil servants will receive much higher packages than their ministers. Unlike the political appointment holders, they will continue to enjoy the retention of benefits such as the pension schemes which will be removed from the former.
a. Sir, paying for top talents especially for those who opt for a career in the civil service is not an issue. However, the same principles of rigour in job evaluation, accountability for KPIs and disclosure must be applied. If private firms and charities are expected to disclose the highest paid executives and their salary bands, there is no reason why there should be a cloak of secrecy over the Admin Service incumbents.

b. Sir, I ask the Prime Minister to conduct an independent review of top civil service leadership that will go beyond pay to attract, develop and retain talent for a capable and committed government.

I know nothing stays the same
But if you’re willing to play the game
It’s coming around again.
So don’t mind if I fall apart
There’s more room in a broken heart

I believe in love
But what else can I do, I’m so in love with you.

- Coming Around Again, Carly Simon

What it means to study at Yale… yet this spirit of knowledge sharing is prevalent amongst American universities.
Kinda makes the rest of the world appear selfishly corporate in comparison.