IRAS persuasion letter

This letter, dated in 2002, was issued by Inland Revenue of Singapore, IRAS. They are responsible for the handling of citizen's income tax. The main purpose of this letter was to notify the reader on how to use the e-filing system. However, there is also an underlying intent of persuading the reader to switch from paper-filing to e-filing for their income tax return.

Although this letter displays all the relevant information, like letterhead, in the proper section, I find the paragraph organization relatively poor. The sender should dissect the content of the opening paragraph so that it only contains compliments of the recipient to make him feel appreciated. Furthermore, this letter lacks the appropriate closing paragraph. The statement, "Your effort in e-filing is much valued and we hope for continued support from you" could have been included. Since there is an element of persuasion, the sender should personalize the letter by including the name of the recipient in the salutation. Also, there is an unnecessary statement in the first paragraph which can be omitted as indicated by the red line.

Amidst the faults that I observed, I admit this letter clearly explains to the reader of the actions that can be taken by them. The reader can always refer to the URL of the official website or hotline services for assistance. In the last paragraph, I feel that the green underlined statement is impactful. To encourage the reader to switch to e-filing, the sender again reiterates the point that it is easy to use. In addition, the cash prize incentive will also attract the reader to use e-filing.

A malay wedding story: What goes on behind the scene

The local Malay community has a tradition of holding their wedding banquets under HDB void decks. Guests will have an enjoyable experience as they will be pampered with sumptuous food but it is a rush hour for the working staffs.

I have personally gone to numerous such banquets, both as a guest and as a working member of staff. During my cousin's wedding, my friends and I volunteered to assist in kitchen operations. As we were still young and energetic, we were specifically assigned to wash the dishes which was a laborious job. Space was a constraint since we had to share our working area with the cooks, mainly comprising of the older generations. Unfortunately, we had disputes over the arrangement of items in the kitchen area. It was aggravated when the cooks ordered us to help them wash the ingredients. As busy as we were with the dishes, we still had to comply with their demands. The waitresses also added to our burden as they did not follow instructions to place the used cutleries at the designated spot. As a result, we became inefficient in our task. As lethargy sets in, we began to vent our frustrations on one another.

Shouldn't the cooks and waitresses be more considerate towards us? I feel that if all of us were focussed in our roles, none of those disputes would have occured. However, if this situation is inevitable, how then can we keep our emotions in check despite all odds?