NO COUNTRY FOR LITTERERS, OLD MEN

                 Grandchild Jasmine Julian, daughter of Rene Rafael
            who works in a multinational company in the island-state

SINGAPORE--We were waiting for an underground train at an MRT station in the Serangoon area when my recurring cough irritated my throat, and I was about to expel phlegm. My son, who works in a multinational company here, restrained me, pointing to the closed circuit TV camera above us.

Personnel of the Manpower Services are nearby, ready to pounce on the would- be phlegm thrower, hail him to court that will impose a fine of no less than S$500. Of course, after a quick due process.

In this rules- based island, the 6th wealthiest nation on earth, the law is the law. You can not escape it. Remember the Flor Contemplacion case? Death was her penalty for the killing of fellow Filipina Delia Maga. No amount of representation from the Philippine government stopped the implementation of their death penalty.

What did I do to my phlegm? Think about it and laugh aloud. Like the former Prime Minister of India who used to drink his own urine? For health purposes, according to some medical journals. I don't know if phlegm has health benefits.

My friends have asked me whether life in this expensive country is easy for everybody-- citizens and permanent residents.

I have seen old men--Chinese, Tamils, Malays, Indonesians--driving cabs and wiping tables and floors in restaurants.

I have seen old women--Chinese, Tamils, Malays, Indonesians--waiting on tables. Sometimes they look at me with their said, sunken eyes and my heart is broken.

They have to work to keep with the rent and the high cost of living here, says one of my sons who will be married to a Canada-based Ibanag maiden in December.

Singapore not a country for old people?

Quote of the week: "One who pursues spirituality alone goes into great darkness; one who pursues spirituality alone goes into even greater darkness. Yet one who pursues materialism and spirituality side by side (like the two wings of a bird) is happy in this world and the next." --Isopanishad