Public Relations, What's That?

It all started when an ex-colleague who teaches tourism and resort management called and asked if I could talk to her student and enlighten the teenager about public relations and just what it is that we, practitioners, do. 

Public Transport: Shareholder or Public Interest, First?

The Straits Times report, 3 May 2012

How much beating can one's reputation endure?

Following a dip in the share price of the SMRT, projected lower dividends and increased spending on upgrading Singapore's 25-year-old rail system, analysts have suggested to the news media that Singapore's rail system could be nationalized. 

Should the SMRT - or the state - run something as critical as a country's public transport system? Is nationalization the answer? Not according to the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, quoted in media reports. 

A Lesson from Hainan

Famed Yalong Bay in Sanya

There is a lesson to be learnt when there is over-promise - and failure to deliver the goods. A case in point - Hainan island in the Republic of China, touted to be the Hawaii of the East. 

My recent holiday to Hainan blew to pieces whatever illusion I had of this supposedly enchanting jewel of the East  that so proudly fashions itself after Hawaii, from its glossy marketing of tropical and sandy beaches to its greeting of "Yanuda" inspired by Hawaii's "Aloha".

Of Euro 2012 goodies and models in sacrilegious wear...

The Straits Times report, 10 April 2012

When things start breaking down in our very own backyards, naturally we make it our business to complain. Not the very least because it affects us on a personal level.

These days, Singaporeans are speaking up on many things that bother us. Crowded MRT trains that frequently break down. Telcos that give better perks to expats. Event organisers who have models dressed as a Christian nun or a Taoist priest.

Two recent examples come to mind.