16_Dominic+Lau+Wei+Xiang

Dominic Lau Wei Xiang

media type="file" key="Recording 1.wma" width="120" height="120"media type="file" key="Recording 2.wma" width="120" height="120"media type="file" key="Recording 3.wma" width="120" height="120" Assignment 3 1) In many countries, husbands divorce their wives easily (often instantaneously through oral repudiation.) This is because of the belief that women are not as important as men are more superior. Wives’ access to divorce is extremely limited and they frequently confront near insurmountable legal and financial obstacles. In Lebanon, battered women cannot file for divorce on the basis of abuse without the testimony of an eye witness. A medical certificate from a doctor documenting physical abuse is simply not good enough. Although women in Egypt can now legally initiate a divorce without cause, they must agree to renounce all rights to the couple’s finances, but must also repay their dowries. Essentially, they have to buy their freedom. In Israel, a man must grant his wife a get, a Jewish divorce writ that can only be given by a man to his wife-never the other way around. 2) In some countries, married women do not have the right to leave the country. This is because the people believe that married women should accompany their husbands everywhere they go. Also women do not have the freedom that men have. Husbands in Egypt and Bahrain can file an official complaint at the airport to forbid their wives from leaving the country. In Iraq, Libya, Jordan, Morocco, Oman and Yemen, married women must have their husband’s written permission to travel abroad, and they may be prevented from doing so for any reason. In Saudi Arabia, women must obtain written permission from their closest male relative to leave the country or travel on public transportation between different parts of the kingdom. 3) In many countries, no specific laws or provisions exist to penalise domestic violence, even though domestic violence is a widespread problem. Domestic violence is generally considered to be a private matter outside the states’ jurisdiction. Women’s unequal legal rights increase their vulnerability to violence. Battered women are told to go home if they attempt to file a complaint with the police. Few shelters exist to protect women who fear for their lives. Spousal rape is not considered criminalised; husbands have an absolute right to their wives bodies at all times. Penal codes in Israel, Iraq, Libya and Saudi Arabia also contain provisions that authorise the police and judges to drop charges against a rapist if he agrees to marry the victim.

After revision: 21/30

Assignment 4 Q1) It may be argued that being able to tell lies occasionally is important to maintain a healthy relationship. However, I do not agree as lying leads to many worse things which will eventually break the mutual trust and respect of the other party. For example, you may think that lying to your best friend once is alright. But, you will just keep having that mentality that it is alright, but after many lies, you won’t be able to feel anything. You will continue lying to your friend. As time passes, your friend will know that you have lied to him constantly, and his trust of you will be gone. As people say, once trust is broken, it is difficult to earn it back. Your friend may never trust you again, or he may, after a long period of time. Another example is that in a relationship with the person you love, you may lie to him/her, so that the other party will be happy. This is known as a ‘white lie’. But when something else you say or other people say contradicts your lie, she may question you, and you have to lie again, to cover the first lie. For example, when you and her are going to a party, and she asks you if what she is wearing looks good. You may think that it is ugly, but you tell her that it is nice, so that she will be happy. But when you go to the party, and people start talking about what a bad dress sense she has, she will be upset, and she will question you and your judgement. This is where you will lie again. As time passes, the lies become bigger and grow in number, thus resulting in the whole relationship to be a lie. This, when found out by the other party, can be very painful emotionally, and the relationship will come to an end. Thus, I do not agree that being able to tell lies occasionally is important to maintain a healthy relationship. Q2) It may be argued that it is better to be a student in our parents’ time as students nowadays have to face too much stress. However, I do not agree as there are many forms or answering your doubts nowadays. As a student, if you have a question on a certain topic of a subject, you can always send a text message to your friend or teacher for help. You can even go online, and use the internet. It is so much more convenient now as compared to our parents’ time where there were no text messaging, no internet and phone calls were expensive. Also now, teaching skills and the syllabus has been improved. Therefore, if a student listens attentively in class, and does his homework properly, he will not be that stressed as he does not have to study that much. Statistics have shown that 90% of students who hand in their homework on time and do their work properly, do better for their examinations. Lastly, if a student has to face too much stress, there are many people whom he can talk to, for example, a councillor. They can help a student deal with his stress. But if one is a student in our parents’ time, there is on one to help him. Even if there is a councillor, he will have to pay a lot of money to get his advice as councillors were not common back then. Therefore, I do not agree that it is better to be a student in our parents’ time. Q3) It may be argued that organ trading should be allowed in Singapore as nothing can be important than saving a life. However, I do not agree as the organ trade will mean the survival of the rich and the extinction of the poor. This is because most donors are the poor as they need to redeem their family from poverty. Also, a donated organ can save a life but at someone’s expense. Somebody can be duped, coerced, pressured, offered incentives or even killed to have their organs extracted for the recipient. For example, in India, many of the poor have their organs removed without their knowledge. They were told they were going for a check-up, and then they are given anaesthetics. When they wake up, their organs are gone. The patient may not have been given enough information, and made to understand what life will be after post-transplant surgery. Some risks of donating an organ, such as a kidney, are higher blood pressure and protein in the urine, which can signal early kidney failure. If you donate a liver, there may be small bowel obstructions and bleeding problems. Therefore, I do not agree for organ trading to be allowed in Singapore.

After revision: 20/30

Assignment 5 By definition, casinos are facilities that allow legalized gambling. It benefits a country in many ways. For example, in tourism and the economy. People say that it was a correct decision to allow casinos in Singapore. However, I do not agree. A casino incurs some social problems and hence, a rise in social costs. Those problems include crime, cheating, compulsive gambling addiction, suicide, child abuse and bankruptcy, to name just a few. It is a fact that people who get addicted to gambling may cheat in casinos. It is shocking to hear, but in the first week after the opening of Resorts World Sentosa, already there has been a crime committed. According to Straits Times web page, the first person was accused of five offences including attempted cheating, cheating by impersonation, theft and giving false information to the police. The consequences of addiction to gambling are enormous. One who suffers from this disorder thinks about gambling all the time and does whatever in necessary to get money for gambling. In time, spending more and more money on gambling may result in bankruptcy. The worst case could be that one cannot accept the truth of losing so much money or having a financial problem and may commit suicide. A casino also robs people of its money. Statistics show that 130 million dollars was collected just on the levy. This shows that the levy is useless in deterring Singaporeans from going to the casinos as many people still go. In the Straits Times, it is reported that a Singaporean woman spent one hundred thousand dollars just to earn back $500 that she lost. In the Sunday Times special report, it is reported that a Bangladeshi and an Indian worker’s salary was $800, but they spent it all on the casino, leaving them with no money to send back home. Is it right for us to rob people of their money? Statistics show that the number of gambling addicts has increased from 5% to 17%. This is because of the new casinos that have opened in Singapore, and more people are going there to gamble. Some may say that having casinos in Singapore will generate more jobs for Singaporeans. However, this view disregards the fact the currently, more jobs in the service industries are filled by non-Singaporeans from neighbouring countries. Therefore, the casino is more likely result in a deeper reliance on foreign labour. Furthermore, social problems in a country are more important than its revenue. Imagine a very wealthy country, but its streets are filled with crime. Many people are addicted to gambling, there are many robberies going on. How is the country going to be a country when this happens? This would deter tourists from visiting Singapore due to the high crime rates, and thus there will be a drop in revenue. Therefore, social problems are more important than revenue as it indirectly affects the revenue of Singapore. From this essay, one can see that having a casino in Singapore was a wrong decision. There are so many negative effects that will affect the people in the community. Thus, I feel that having a casino in Singapore is a wrong decision.

After revision: 24/30

E-Learning: Is it a good idea to use avatars to replace humans as teachers in school?

I do not support replacing humans with avatars for teaching. This is because of the simple fact that technology and machines do not 100% work all the time. There is always a chance that the avatar can malfunction. Can you imagine if you replace a teacher with an avatar and during lesson, the avatar just stops working and drops to the ground, what will the students learn then? Also, what happens when avatars are invigilating an examination, and halfway through, it malfunctions, and then it will be a window of opportunity for students to cheat during the test. Avatars can be used to replace other jobs, where humans are not necessarily needed to do the job. However, for a job like teaching, where the future of the nation is in concern, replacing a human with an avatar just should not even be considered. Therefore, I do not support replacing humans with avatars for teaching. 