China's One-Child Policy's Ripple Effect on Singapore and Beyond?

Outrageous. On Sunday, 18 March 2012, a PRC couple attempted to kidnap a Singaporean boy in the suburbs of Ang Mo Kio. Read reports here(CNA), here(ST), or here(inSing).

It is shocking that such an attempt was carried out in a public mall, during a Sunday afternoon with an ongoing event and high human traffic. The PRC couple was so brazen to strike during the few seconds a child was unsupervised, and if it were not for the mother's immediate confrontation with the PRC woman leading her son away, who knows what would have happened to the boy.

In China, the strict One-Child Policy restricts parents to only one child, and when compounded with the traditional Chinese preference of a male heir, adoptions of baby boys are commonplace and highly sought after. In this article (China frees 24,000 abducted women, kids in 2011), the report stated that the PRC Ministry of Public Security said that Chinese police have rescued 8,660 children and 15,458 women in 2011.

These children and women are all victims of human trafficking, and more than 2,000 children were discovered to have been abducted and sold for adoption. Additionally, adoption in China is seemingly less-regulated (there is a China Center of Adoption Affairs overseen by the Ministry of Civil Affairs) where couples can adopt children from any source.

Tellingly, the article also paints a grim picture of the fates of children and women abducted by human traffickers. Abducted women are forced into prostitution, even all the way to freaking Angola (which is in Africa by the way), and in 2007, Chinese authorities discovered and freed thousands of people forced into slave labour in brickyards and mines.

Read more about Slave Labour in China here(Time World/Slave Labor in China Sparks Outrage) and here(New York Times/Child slave labor revelations sweeping China).

In short, victims of human trafficking in China end up either as adopted children, slaves, or prostitutes (for the women only, I hope). And so far, all reported cases of abduction were domestic and confined within Chinese borders and territories. And if the PRC couple are part of a global syndicate, expanding abduction operations outside of China, I shudder to consider the consequences. Will more children be led away by women misleading them into believing that she will bring them back home, or worse, forcibly kidnapped or bought from impoverished and rural families in our neighbouring nations?

3 Years and more than SGD8000 later...

I've graduated with a Diploma.

Can't say I'm too pleased with the results of my final semester released today, but at least it marks the end of a journey.

In the pursuit of a perfect score each semester, I would become a monster, flaring up over tiny imperfections or misdemeanors of my classmates and group members. In the last semester, the internship was equally challenging even without tests and projects.

But in the end, as I glance at my graduating GPA, I ask myself, was it all worth it? Sure, 3.6 is above the average, and it qualifies me for local universities, although getting into a course in a local university is another issue altogether, but then, that's just it. 3.6 is not good enough.

And yes, there are no more chances left. I've graduated. So boom, this 3.6154 (down from 3.6205, it's all in the details innit?) is set in stone.

And that's it, there is nothing I can do about it, besides bitching and cursing at the opacity of grading internships, other than looking forward to the next stage of my life. And maybe put my feet down and finally start driving lessons to get that license.

The School of Financial and Business Reality

If our past experiences define our future, then clearly my life is one not meant for business. Specifically, financial success in business.

When I was 15, I naively spent all the capital granted to us for charity, and made a huge loss.

When I was 8, I had my first taste of entrepreneurship by offering my services to help my classmates buy the "cool" stuff they wanted but were unable to buy personally due to their parents' close surveillance. I failed to deliver.

From ages 12 through 13, I got caught up in the sale of digital music online and offered to buy and then burn songs my classmates wanted for a fee. Greed got to me pretty soon after.

Age 20, foolishly got scammed in an advance fee fraud case for several IT products. Wiped out half of my savings.

If I do continue doing business, will I ever taste success? Will I be able to look back one day and laugh, appreciating all the above experiences life has afforded me? Or will I just end up destitute and disillusioned?