29 November 2008

Form: Feedback for Credit & Debit Cards

Form URL: https://www.dbs.com/contact/cards/


Reply:

Dear Mr XXX

Thank you for your feedback of 28 November 2008 and we appreciates your
concerns.

Our charity partner, Focus on the Family (Singapore) is a non religious
and non political organisation. It is a voluntary welfare organisation
supported and endorsed by the National Family Council and the Ministry
of Community Development, Youth and Sports in Singapore. Socially
responsible corporate citizens such as MediaCorp, Far East Group, to
name a few, have also supported its community programmes.

The contribution from DBS will go towards supporting the children's
programmes in Singapore. This is part of our efforts at DBS to support
families and children during this festive period. We have supported
various local charities in the past such as The Children's Society
during Christmas in 2006.

DBS will continue to play its part to support the community at large and
we hope to have your kind understanding and support.


Yours sincerely
XXXXX XXX
Customer Care & Feedback Management
Consumer Banking Group
DBS Bank Ltd


My reply:

Dear Ms. XXXXX,

I shall highlight that Focus on Family Singapore is founded by Dr. James Dobson, part of the international Focus on Family organization. A fast Google on his name will lead you to the facts that he is indeed a clearly influential and evangelical Christian with conservative views on theology and politics in the United States. So in rebuttal to the first point, it is strongly and firmly an organization rooted in Christian values.

The endorsement by National Family Council and Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports does not nullify that fact. In actuality, it is also a very weak argument as many groups are under the umbrella of Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports regardless of it being a religious organization.

Mediacorp and Far East Group's endorsement is irrelevant to your endorsement of Focus on the Family and does not concern me. I am not a shareholder of either commercially listed companies, but my funds are parked in your bank, and the fact that I have a stake in your bank, I should be given a more satisfactory explanation as to the way my funds are handled, especially if they are in support of causes that are contrary to my personal beliefs.

Please look at the following sites and see what Focus on Family advocates for:
http://www.christianmentalhealth.com/Singapore.htm
http://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues/sexual_identity.aspx

I understand the corporate social responsibilities of DBS and applaud your previous efforts in helping these societies, but why did you choose such a society when there are so many others more worthy of your help? Your choice not only undermines and degrades a part of your customer base but also goes against the grain of a secular, open and accepting society. I am truly, deeply disturbed and disappointed by your response.

I would like to know how I can go about closing my accounts and I will be strongly urging all my friends and relatives to do the same. Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,
XXX XXXXXXX

D woke up at 11/29/2008 11:59:00 PM [comment]

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25 November 2008

D woke up at 11/25/2008 10:44:00 PM [comment]

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D woke up at 11/25/2008 10:18:00 PM [comment]

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16 November 2008

本來不是很想談這篇“新聞”，但是收到好多朋友及家屬的慰問，所以還是做一個小小聲名。

是的，新明上的綠衣男子是我。

如果你看了報道還是毫無頭緒：
‘聽眾’call-in熱線投訴在早班廣播中，我用了‘有趣’來形容白虎咬死人的事件。
澄清：我指的‘有趣’不是老虎咬死人，而是拍攝紀事過程的尼贊在早報說他自己“一邊拍，一邊感到內疚”的心裡狀態，因為對我而言那牽涉到攝影紀實的ethics。所以我所謂的‘有趣’其實是‘發人深省’，‘引人深思’。我的好搭檔也有在節目中做出立刻的詞語替代，說這是‘引人深思’的一句話。

所以這裡出現了兩個狀況：
1. 我直譯了英文的"Interesting"為‘有趣’。
2. ‘聽眾’斷章取義。

這讓我覺得廣播有時候真的像在玩 broken telephone － 收訊不好，或沒有專注貫神聆聽其實會造成誤會，不解。朋友啊，如果有不滿或有想要澄清的，你其實應該立刻尋求當事人的回應，而不是找第三者來釐清頭緒。第三者總是置身事外的，他的介入應是最後的選擇。當然，在沒有第三者的狀況，我也慶幸我還有招對的機會，老闆的支持。

如果你誤解了，我鄭重道歉。因為我真的並無輕浮之意。

D woke up at 11/16/2008 04:30:00 PM [comment]

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06 November 2008

Been busy with a couple of things on top of my school + radio combination. School is also hitting its high note now, i.e. we're closing in to exam time after these two hellish weeks of submission deadline concentration.

On top of that I've also not picked up the camera for a while, just because I think I bore myself.
I've been trying to see new frames of light, new composition, new subjects.
But somehow I don't find them.

I also met a few strange people over the course of my work. There was a performer who thinks too highly of himself. (We don't need the interview if you don't want to be interviewed. We can simply not feature the show.) There are those who think the media has an obligation to PR firms and their press releases. And then there are the school kids who are just, well, too smug but not smug enough to want to do all the work.

I haven't seen my mother for a week now because of our differing and erratic schedules. She sends me an email and tells me to take care of myself.



Photo by: Koo Chia Meng


Man in a Snowglobe is my first attempt at being a Director of Photography. It's shot on a HDV camcorder that's rather no-frills: no fully manual mode, a small manual focusing 'roller' that has no distance meter, placed on a portable dolly and a creaking tripod and shot mainly over two full nights which were supposed to look like day.

I am always blind to the emotional context of the film when I am involved in production, but when I viewed the key scene, I shivered. And Darren's music continued to ring in my ears,

I like this photo of Kelvin, a scene which doesn't happen in the film. But I like the stillness of everything. And I wished I had time to contemplate the silence.

D woke up at 11/06/2008 04:49:00 PM [comment]

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