2 Indonesians who were involved in the recently publicised kidney-for-sale racket had been officially charged, jailed and fined. While the news seemed a little hazy, but this has implications on sale of organs. Mr Wang Says So (yes, my fellow competitor in the OMY.SG blog awards) provided a rather in-depth personal perspective (despite him being really humble about it) on this issue a few days ago - on whether organ sale should be legalised.

Personally, I feel that organ sale is already taking place when Singaporeans travel to other countries to get their organs transplanted - although I understand that there’s a fair bit of hassle which may be easily circumvented. The repercussions of this is of course on the “quality” of the transplant, and if there is any high risk of the receiver getting secondary infections from the operation. The other issue is of course care of the donor after the operation has taken place - which the receiver will usually take care of as part of a “package”.

As the surgery takes place overseas, Singapore may totally displace itself from the equation by stating that it is happening out of its jurisdiction. The next question that comes to mind is whether organ sale only for the rich? Outright, it does seem to be the case; and if such sale were to be legit, then does this affect the number of willing donors now that the latter know that they can possibly fetch a handsome sum?

It’s a Pandora’s Box.  I feel that Singapore is currently not ready to move into organ sale because of the various implications that will surface. Remember that there’s a Singapore Human Organs Transplant Act (HOTA) where Singaporeans have to opt out if they are unwilling to have their organs harvested upon death? If organ sale is legit, then will we end up having more people opting out of HOTA - resulting in a possible reduction in donors upon death and possibly an auction-style sale of their organs in times of monetary need?

While I agree with Mr Wang Says So to a certain extent that regulation may be a good solution (just like prostitution and gambling), what we should be looking into should be the overall effects that legalised organ sale will bring about, rather than just regulating the sale and possibly restricting organ receipt to only the rich and influential. Thus, I may support organ sale, but only if the welfare of the poor (on the organ receipt waiting list) can be looked into at the same time. Only through such means will opportunities be present for both the rich and poor.

Of course, this is just a broad perspective of things. Like Mr Wang Says So, there are many fine points that have to be looked into for a holistic solution.

Kidney-for-sale racket : Indon duo jailed and fined

By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent

TWO Indonesian men who are the first to be prosecuted for a kidney-for-sale case were jailed and fined on Thursday.

Sulaiman Damanik, 26, who had earlier admitted to entering into an arrangement with Wang Chin Sing to sell his kidney to CK Tang’s executive chairman Tang Wee Sung for about 150 million rupiah (S$23,700) last month, was jailed for two weeks and fined $1,000.

He also admitted to falsely declaring that no money was paid and that Mr Tang’s niece’s brother-in-law married his aunt.

The operation did not go through as the authorities stepped in after the transplant ethics committee had approved the application for a live kidney transplant based on the false information given.

The other Indonesian, Toni, 27, who acted as a liaison man between Sulaiman and Mr Tang, was jailed three months and two weeks, and also fined $2,000.

His kidney was successfully transplanted into Ms Juliana Soh who paid him 186 million rupiah (S$29,390) in March.

He was to have been paid 20 million rupiah (about S$3,200) for being a ‘runner’ if Sulaiman’s operation was successful.

The other two offences he pleaded guilty to were for selling his kidney to Ms Soh and making a false statutory declaration that no money was paid and that Ms Soh was his adopted mother.

Source: Straits Times Interactive, http://www.straitstimes.com/Latest%2BNews/Courts%2Band%2BCrime/STIStory_254226.html

Article extracted on 3rd July 2008

There’s much much speculation that Mrs Lee Kuan Yew has rested in peace and the topic was brought up over the coffee table again. In fact, the news "leaked" out as early as 26th June 2008 in some popular forums. As the last news of her being admitted was announced 3 days after it happened (admitted to hospital on 12th May 2008, announced in papers on 15th May 2008), netizens have been using the 72 hours lag as a guidelines as to when news of her demise will come.

72 hours is long, gone, over and there had been no news. Although we spotted some ang chias along North Bridge Road yesterday, we don’t think it’s got anything to do with Mrs Lee. So… shall we all move on? News will be news when it’s newsworthy. =)

But seriously, we are really so looking forwarded to it? Shadowfox highlighted some forums where this is apparently going on. Some hate her simply because she’s the wife of Mr Lee Kuan Yew, while others have grudges against her for setting up the Women’s Charter in Singapore. The apparent grudges for the latter was simply because the charter empowered "even into the most undeserving women who cheats in marriage and fully capable of fending for themselves".

This, of course is not necessarily true for all cases, bearing in mind that the initial purpose of the charter, extracted from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women’s_Charter_(Singapore), was to:

… improve and protect the rights of females in Singapore and to guarantee greater legal equality for women in legally-sanctioned relationships (but not those of Muslims). Definitions of the rights of husbands and wives in marriage, as well as outlining legal potentialities with regard to divorce and separation, and the banning of polygamy are some of the major elements of the Act.

An amendment was passed to the Women’s Charter in 1996, which focused around rights regarding domestic abuse and matrimonial assets.

While some may argue that this is outdated as women are gaining more (very equal?) education and working opportunities that it should be abolished altogether. However, we have to remember that there is now another group of women coming into Singapore: foreign brides. This may of course open up another Pandora’s Box, where some think that foreign brides are here for another purpose; but I shall not visit that issue yet.

Essentially, the charter may be amended again, just like how car owners get their money back after scraping their cars. If we, according to the discussion forums in Straits Times Interactive, have such belief in the feedback system, I think the system will change gradually. Perhaps nothing drastic, but I think Singapore needs some time to adjust properly to a global change.

PS: For digging out whatever’s on the net (hey, it’s still quite a dig), have you cast your votes today? =)

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Someone: Ya, cast already… but you didn’t say cast for who. kekeke… =P

Editor: Yikes! Please cast for Simply Jean. =P

How many times have we came across a "Eureka!" idea but realised that we didn’t have the resource to do it? How many times have we thought of some silly ideas but waved it off just to discover that someone else did it later on? How often have we "talked cock sing song" with friends over the coffee table only to discover that all the sing-song could have spun off into a product?

If any of these have hit you at least once, then you will want to consider penning it down and sending it ACE (Action Community for Entrepreneurship) for a chance to see their ideas come to life. ACE (http://www.ace.sg) is currently encouraging every man on the street to blast their ideas to them. If you think that your idea is silly, have you considered how many uses can be made out of a paper clip? If you are going to say that it can be used as a fish hook, or a book mark… then you are not letting your creative juices run! How about using it as a cutter to open your packet of Twisties, or as a pimple squeezer?

Silly? Hey, you might just be hitting on a pot of gold! Imagine if you were the patent holder to the invention of the simple paper clip, you’d be sitting back and enjoying royalties paid to you every year. Still, nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing your own name appearing on the US Patents and Trademarks Office (USPTO).

While the ACE website may quote more "high tech" innovations such as the Online Business Licensing Service (OBLS) (for which I was personally involved too!), the concept of Duck Tours and the F1 night racing, simpler ideas that can improve the daily lives of many others are never too small to be suggested. After all, it didn’t take too much of a genius to figure that since "Drive-Thrus" worked for McDonald’s, it may just work for banking! (Guess where in Singapore you can get drive-through banking, although the one I knew is already defunct now).

So why not hurry up and get your creative juices running! After all, typing is free and submission is just a click away at http://www.ace.sg/acewhynot/webpages/whynotform.aspx. More importantly, you should do so by the 17th July 2008 and that’s when you can stand to win prizes of up to S$1000. If ideas are free, why not cash in on yours today? =)

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1. Creative Technology Limited collected US$100 million from Apple for a grant to use a Creative patent on hierarchical user interface on the latter’s products that was originally used in Creative Zen’s players. Source: CNet, http://news.cnet.com/Apple-settles-with-Creative-for-100-million/2100-1047_3-6108901.html
2. This post is made possible by Blog2U @ http://blog2u.sg, who, amongst others, figured that if advertising works for papers, magazines and bus stops - then why not blogs?