夢中的橄欖樹

Mirrormask

2006-12-31T23:29:00.000+08:00

mainstream.

2006-08-04T08:49:00.000+08:00

The Government recently ticked off a columnist-blogger going by the moniker of 'mr brown' for airing what were deemed to be cynical and non-constructive remarks. A minister argued that because the views appeared in the print medium, the writer had to be more responsible, as compared to the case if those views had remained Internet chatter.

Clearly, the Government feels that bloggers have more wiggle room than mainstream journalists whose vehicle can 'push broadcast' to millions while bloggers can only 'pull narrowcast' mainly to the converted.

Some ask if bloggers are journalists at all or merely self-indulgent, opinionated folks expressing their views. This invites the question of what a journalist is in the first place.

Journalists are those who primarily do two things, maybe one more than the other in each individual case:
First, they get accurate information about something new - thus the news - and disseminate it. Secondly, they analyse issues of public concern that this piece of news evokes and comment upon it.

For both of these, but especially the first, that which sets the professional journalist - whose first obligation is to be accurate - apart from the blogger - whose first obligation is to be interesting - is an editorial structure.

This structure entails questioning and challenging assumptions, and editing to ensure that established standards of, among other things, accuracy, truth, objectivity and fairness are upheld.

Most bloggers, on the other hand, do not generally report on something new. Typically, they report on what reporters have reported.

Thus, at best, they are 'meta-reporters'. Yes, in stories like a 9/11, or the July 7 London bombings, where there are crowds, citizens armed with always-on wireless connections, powerful yet inexpensive mobile digital devices as well as easy-to-use, free Internet publishing tools, citizens in many countries can do first-person, grassroots reporting.

This they then publish on their own blogs using tools such as photo-sharing on Flickr, video-sharing on YouTube, or blog-sharing on Technorati.

But this amateur horde will tell few new stories about something newsworthy but which does not have too many people around since they won't be on the scene either. For example, a bomb alert that turns out to be, mercifully, a false alarm has little for them to capture on video, so they will have nothing much to 'report'.

Likewise, the Guardian newspaper's Blair Watch Project - where citizen journalists were asked to contribute mobile phone pictures of the British prime minister on the hustings in 2005 - failed to deliver since that campaign took place mainly before party members, not the public. So bloggers do little news reporting.

A random glance at several blogs will show you that they depend on the mainstream media for their talking points.

They feed on traditional media for content, remaking news the latter may have overlooked or handled (in)differently. Its purveyors are more interested espousing views not regularly covered by the mass media.

The blogging world has no professional writers, publishers, printers or distributors. There is no top-down structure. So who weeds out inaccuracies, lies, spoofs or plain bad taste - and bad writing? Other blogs? If so, who determines the hierarchy of blog believability?

What readers end up with, at best, is truth by majority vote - assuming they have the time to read several blogs on the same matter to carry out a poll of diverse views on a particular issue.

In regard to the journalist's other duty - that of offering fair comment - democratic deliberation and constructive dialogue represent hard work that few bloggers can afford the time to do, even if they had the knowledge and the skills needed. As a result, much of what bloggers offer is either misinformed, self-indulgent opinion or thoughtful but unargued ones.

Of course, bloggers occasionally come up with gems. But in the main and on the whole, we over-romanticise all that Internet chatter if we think that somehow the alternative media will rise up and supplant mainstream media.

For now, that is.

For the blogosphere continues to expand. The significance of the fact that publishing on the web has become so easy is that the barriers of professionalism and specialisation have been removed such that 'ordinary' people come to see media production as something they can do and as part of the everyday, according to Dr Chris Atton, a reader in journalism at the Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland.

As Dr Atton told The Straits Times, participating in this alternative media can 'shape one's political awareness by raising one's consciousness'. How? Liken the activity to glue, he suggested, but one that is subject to refinement to make it a more effective social glue.

The activity itself provides an opportunity to research, write and reflect on issues that impact upon our status as citizens. It also encourages a more thorough going relationship with one's community.

Finally, that communication also works outwardly to government bodies, city councils, business corporations and nonprofits, Dr Atton added.

Essentially then, blogging provides an opportunity for citizens to reflect on their place in the world and develop solidarity with and communicate their needs, demands or desires to others, he said.

At the heart of this activity is creativity. It is not about joining a protest group or going to a demonstration. It is, Dr Atton said, about developing a personal voice through which to make sense of the world, both for oneself and for one's community.

So while blogging may not impact government institutions in radical ways for now, it has the capacity to change the polity in small, indiscernible ways that may accumulate to make a difference - even at the polls - some day down the road.

With Technorati, the blog search engine, showing more than 940,000 blogs that are associated with the search word 'Singapore', it may be high time the Government began to take this more seriously than just chatter.

As seriously as the mainstream media, perhaps.
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By Andy Ho, Senior Writer Aug 02, 2006 The Straits Times

lodged.

2006-07-16T23:38:00.000+08:00

These are the reactions of handphone users who have seen a video-clip of three girls assaulting another girl.

The 4 1/2-minute-long clip, taken on a handphone, has caused a stir because the assailants and victim appear to be young teens.

The victim is kicked, slapped and punched by her assailants, forced to take off her shirt and almost has her shorts removed.

A voice can be heard in the background orchestrating the attack.

The calm voice giving instructions on how to hurt the girl is chilling.

The victim can also be heard faintly at one point saying, 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry.'

The attack appears to have taken place at an HDB staircase landing.

The brutality of the assailants' actions have horrified those who have chanced upon the video.

Mr Andre Rosli, 29, was shocked when he saw the clip.

'It's one thing to beat someone up and another thing to strip and humiliate her in front of other girls and film the entire act,' he told The New Paper.

'I'm repulsed by their violent actions. It's totally sick and made me feel like vomiting.'

Although he doesn't understand part of the Mandarin dialogue, and other bits are inaudible, he was shaken by how the assailants took turns to taunt the victim.

The New Paper received two Hotline calls about the video and understands it is making its way to handphones here. Checks showed that several students in one ITE had received it.

It is not known if a police report has been made by the victim or anyone who witnessed the assault.

It is also not clear if the assault was staged, although those who have viewed it felt that it's genuine.

Mr Andre, an ITE student, said: 'The actions are enough to convince me they are not putting on an act but are really attacking a helpless girl. It is cruel because the victim cannot retaliate as she is outnumbered.'

Miss Noor Azima Amir, his classmate, agreed.

The 19-year-old said: 'It's especially shocking as the assailants are girls, and they are laughing and giggling while beating the girl up!

'I wouldn't be too surprised if guys are behind such acts because they're more rough, but seeing girls behind such acts is unbelievable.

'I feel sorry for the victim because she was still ridiculed and abused even though she apologised.'

Another student, Miss Hong Mei Rong, 19, added in Mandarin: 'I've never seen such a violent clip.

'I can't imagine what the victim might have done to warrant the attack.'

Such aggression is not new, said Mr David Kan, counsellor and executive director of the Family Life Centre.

All that is new is how assailants are using handphone cameras to record their actions, as such video recording becomes more commonplace.

Mr Kan said: 'Kids who record their acts of torture do it not only for gratification. They also want to draw attention to themselves and seek approval from others.

'Many of them feel that their lives have been overlooked and hope that by engaging in such actions, they will be able to get the attention they crave.'

Mr Adrian Lim, the managing director of Tyem Academy which equips out-of-school youths with career academic programmes, has seen videos showing girls beating up other girls.

He explained that such clips are the teenagers' way of saying 'don't play punk with me. I'm quite fierce; see what I'm capable of'.

Mr Lim said: 'This is reality TV brought to the handphone level.

'The assailants may find it fun - they may giggle and laugh when they're doing it because it would not occur to them that they would be identified.

'The repercussions of their actions would not hit them at all, and even if you ask them if they are behind it, they might challenge you to prove their identity. It's an act of defiance.'

Lawyer Peter Low described the assailants' actions as 'cruel and vicious'.

They could be charged with assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour the victim and intent to outrage modesty, as well as voluntarily causing hurt. Each carries a jail sentence and/or fine.

Mr Low said the assailants could face a custodial sentence because of the aggravating factors:
It was a group attack.
The assault went on for more than four minutes.
The victim was vulnerable and defenceless.

He added: 'If they're minors, they could be sent to a girls' home.'

Police spokesman Cheryl Foo said: 'The police will look into the matter when a report is lodged.'
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Dawn Chia, June 16 2006, The New Paper

Singapore’s falling living standards

2006-07-08T01:29:00.000+08:00

Singapore - A local Singapore newspaper, Today, just suspended one of its regular columnists after the government gave him a tongue-lashing for his writings about the deteriorating state of the local economy.

Lee Kin Mun, who writes under the pseudonym "Mr Brown", wrote a harsh, though humorous, commentary on June 30 concerning Singapore’s rising cost of living, mentioning that latest official statistics showed that one in every three Singaporean households had suffered a reduction in income over the last five years. The irony, which was not lost on the island state’s government, was that Lee cited official statistics to bolster his argument.

On June 28, the Department of Statistics (DOS) issued a press release with a slew of new data from its general household survey. The most striking result was that only 50% of Singaporean households enjoyed any significant improvement in their income over the five-year period spanning 2000 to 2005.

Moreover, the bottom 10.1% of households reported no or negative income, a marked deterioration from the 2000 level when 8.7% of the population reported they were in the red. The DOS explained that a possible factor for the notable increase was the aging of Singapore's population and that an increasing percentage of the population was retiring.

More striking, perhaps, the 11 to 20 percentile group saw their household incomes fall a whopping 19.7% over the same five year period. On average, these households had S$1,180 (US$744) monthly incomes last year, compared to S$1,470 (US$927) five years previously. On an annualized basis, their average household income fell 4.3% each year. A smaller income fall was recorded for the next up percentile group.

The DOS suggested that the decline in household income in these two groups "was partly caused by the larger number of households with retired persons and no incomes". "It could also be partly due to the higher unemployment in 2005 than 2000 ... and lower income from employment," the statement said, which acknowledges both structural unemployment and depressed wages in less-skilled jobs.

The data on household income notably excludes government hand-outs, which the ruling People’s Action Party doled out just before the general elections they resoundingly won earlier this year. The most recent round of hand-outs, which targeted the lower-income households, was called the "Progress Package". In contrast to the one-third of households which witnessed falling household incomes, the top10% of households saw a 14.8% improvement in theirs. In Singapore dollar terms, their monthly household incomes leapt by an average of S$2,120 (US$1,337) over the period.

The figures show clearly that income inequality in Singapore is increasing rapidly. The DOS reported that the Gini coefficient increased from 0.490 to 0.522 from year 2000 to 2005. The Gini coefficient is a statistical measure of income inequality, whereby the higher the number, the more unequal the distribution.

The Straits Times, Singapore’s government-influenced major English language newspaper, reported that members of parliament were, "not surprised by the survey findings, noting that these reflected the effects of globalization." This response was consistent with the Ministry of Information, Communication and the Arts' letter to Today explaining that the government "had told Singaporeans all along, that globalization would stretch out incomes".

However, most Singaporeans would probably have taken "stretch out" to mean that incomes would universally rise but at differential rates, not that a large percentage of the population would get poorer. The increasing cost of living was one of the major issues in the May 2006 general election, but the data from this survey was conspicuously not released in time for the May polls.

In his commentary, Mr Brown alluded to how convenient it was that the survey results, together with recent announcements about increases in electricity rates and taxi fares, have come out after rather than before the elections. "We are very thankful for the timing of all this good news, of course. Just after the elections, for instance," he wrote, tongue in cheek. "It would have been too taxing on the brain if those price increases were announced during the election period, thereby affecting our ability to choose wisely," he wrote.

On July 3, a stern rebuke from the government appeared in the form of a letter published in Today. Signed by Miss Krishnasamy Bhavani, the Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts, she denied that the release of the survey data was in any way delayed for political purposes. She took Mr Brown to task for writing a piece that "poured sarcasm on many issues", and claimed that his views "distort the truth".

Characterizing his commentary as "polemics dressed up as analysis", Bhavani accused him of calculating to "encourage cynicism and despondency". "Instead of a diatribe," she continued, Mr Brown "should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly."

This statement echoed the government's growing concerns that anonymous bloggers on the Internet have found a venue to criticize the PAP-led administration in ways which otherwise would be impossible in Singapore’s tightly-controlled society. The government's response has been to try to frame all anonymous posts and blogs as “irresponsible and discreditable”, and is now exploring new laws and regulations to rein them in. Mr Brown also runs one of Singapore's best-known blogs, even though he also writes a regular column for the print newspaper.

But immediately after the government's outburst, which included a reminder to the newspaper that, "It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the government," the editors of Today told Lee his column would be suspended indefinitely. Left with only government-influenced mainstream media, Singaporeans will likely be left to guess if their economic lot is improving or deteriorating until the DOS’s next 5-year survey is released - unless their wallets tell them first.
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Alex Au is an independent social and political commentator and freelance writer based in Singapore. He often speaks at public forums on politics, culture and gay issues.

balanced.

2006-06-18T14:11:00.000+08:00

Jun 17, 2006, Straits Times
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The report, 'Entrapment: Lawyers say narcotics officers crossed the line in quest to nab offender, but any method of entrapment is legal here' (ST, June 9), suggested that the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) had acted unethically in the apprehension of Adrian Yeo for drug possession.

This led to various letters from concerned members of the public on the entrapment issue.
The Straits Times followed up on the subject with an editorial, 'Entrapment: Fair or not?' (June 14), advocating that CNB's action against Yeo was somehow wrong because 'fair-minded people are entitled to point out it seems neither fair nor ethical to encourage a person to break the law, just for enforcement agencies to gather evidence'.

The ST article published on June 9 regrettably did not report all the facts of Yeo's case. A diligent reading of Yeo's mitigation plea which was presented in court will show that he had been consuming drugs even before he came to the attention of CNB.

In fact, he would not have been of any interest to CNB otherwise; it was his drug abuse which led CNB to investigate him in the first place.

When Yeo was asked if he had any drugs, he volunteered to take drugs to the hotel where he was subsequently arrested with Ecstasy, 'Ice' and Ketamine.

Yeo was, therefore, not a law-abiding person enticed into committing an offence by CNB.
In omitting to highlight the fact that he was a habitual drug abuser, the ST report has misled readers into thinking that CNB had acted unethically when the circumstances of the case clearly showed the contrary and that CNB had acted professionally.

The ST editorial suggests that law-enforcement methods like entrapment should be reserved for only more serious offences involving drug trafficking and 'national security', rather than drug abuse. This demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of the situation.

Drug abuse is a serious threat. The battle against drugs in Singapore faces a new challenge - even as we succeeded in addressing the serious heroin problem of the past, today we face a growing potential problem of synthetic-drug abuse.

A majority of those arrested for synthetic-drug abuse are first-time offenders. One of the concerns this trend raises is the mentality of certain segments of our society who think that synthetic drugs are 'soft' drugs which should be tolerated as they are acceptable as part of a modern 'cool' lifestyle. This is a dangerous attitude which we must not allow to take root in our society.

The ST editorial also suggested that because Yeo is a taxi-driver's son who made it as a doctor, but whose future is now uncertain, the action taken against him will 'reinforce in some people a sense that natural justice had been violated'.

This is a strange argument. Surely, the ST is not suggesting that the CNB action would be fairer and more just if Yeo had been related to a person of high social standing?

This cannot be the way our criminal-justice system should work. Indeed, if the application of our criminal laws and the actions of our law-enforcement agencies were to be dictated by factors such as an offender's family connections, income and social status, it would be highly unjust and perverse, and no Singaporean will stand for it.

Finally, the ST editorial concluded by referring to the 'entrapment' case of insurance agent Teo Ya Ling as another illustration of unethical action by the authorities. This is wrong and without basis.

Teo was not an innocent law-abiding party tempted by CNB officers into committing an offence. She was a small-time drug dealer who had all along been supplying drugs to her clients in return for their buying insurance policies from her.

While a time-honoured tenet of natural justice is audi alteram partem - 'to hear the other side' - the ST reporter chose not to obtain and verify the facts of the case with any of the relevant enforcement agencies, other than to ask whether CNB polices chatlines and the Internet.

At no point did the reporter seek the views of any relevant enforcement agency on the issue of entrapment.

If the reporter and the person who wrote the editorial had done their research, your paper would have been able to present a more balanced perspective.
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Ong-Chew Peck Wan (Mrs)DirectorCorporate CommunicationsDivision for Permanent Secretary (Home Affairs)

equal.

2006-06-10T13:14:00.000+08:00

Politicans and civil servants around the world share the view that voters are always unhappy (and ungrateful)

From Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair to Malaysia's former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, politicians grumble that people are never happy for the good things the government does for them Voters always want more

One explanation is that politicians are often wrong Things are bad The other explanation for this unhappiness is that it all has to do with rising expectations

But there is more, it seems — it also has to do with wanting to be better off than others

Lord Layard, an eminent British economist, explained in a series of lectures in London, in 2003, that we are often more concerned about our income relative to others than about our absolute income

He quotes a Harvard University study that showed that people were happy with less, as long as others were worse off

Students at Harvard were asked if they would prefer a salary of (a) $50,000 a year while others got half that or (b) $100,000 a year while others got twice as much A majority chose option (a)

"Many other studies have come to the conclusion — that people care about other peoples' incomes as well as their own We are all upset when others get a raise but we do not And the only situation where we might happily accept a pay cut is when others suffer the same fate," he says

Our behaviour at bonus or pay-rise time shows that Lord Layard is on to something here

This means that our efforts to make ourselves happier, by working harder so as to earn more and spend more, are often self-defeating because others are also earning and spending more We do not get much happier and neither do others

And working harder in order to be wealthier could make us more unhappy if we do not have enough spare time For, interestingly, rivalry over income does not extend to leisure, as the same Harvard study shows

Students were asked to choose between (c) two weeks' holiday, while others have only one week and (d) four weeks' holiday while others get eight weeks A clear majority preferred (d)

What has all this to do with Singapore?

It may explain why, in good times, with the economy roaring ahead, the bulls charging and property prices setting new records, most Singaporeans were (and are) never happy, always grumbling and moaning

They showed this by voting in greater numbers for the Opposition in General Elections in 1988, 1991, 1997 and this year

This, despite the Government's attempts to put into practice Bentham's utilitarian principles — "The good society is the one where people are happiest And the right action is the one which produces the greatest happiness "

Most Singaporeans have a more or less equal standard of living Yes, there are some very rich people and some very poor people But most Singaporeans live in almost similar HDB flats, take the same form of transport and so on This means most Singaporeans know no one among their peers who is much worse off than they are

At best, the owners of private condominiums can feel better off than their friends in HDB flats, five-room HDB flats can sneer at four-room flat-owners and so on

Worse, because most Singaporeans are working hard so that they can maintain their life-styles, they have less leisure time This may make them even unhappier

Add to that the feeling that most foreigners working here have better standards of living than locals (forgetting that most foreign talents here are maids and labourers), and I'm surprised that Singaporeans are not rioting in unhappiness

Happiness, in Singapore as elsewhere, has come to be defined in materialistic terms — increasing Gross National Product, bigger flats and so on But as Lord Layard has argued, the exercise is self-defeating because other people are also going well

What with the need to adapt to the new economy with creativity and working smart rather than hard, now may be time for us as a society to try to define what we mean by "happiness"

There's been talk, even, of a Gross National Happiness index along the lines practised by Bhutan

Now that things are better for most of us, isn't it time to relook our values? Time for a "Redefining Happiness" committee?

Better still, let's start debating on what we, as a society, define as "happiness" Already, it seems that things may be moving this way

According to a recent Institute of Policy Studies survey of voters, contrary to popular belief, issues such as the cost of living and jobs were not what mattered most to them The efficiency of government and fairness of government policy mattered more
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http://www.todayonline.com/articles/123283.asp

failed.

2006-06-10T13:04:00.000+08:00

Singaporeans and Malaysians studying overseas are readily identifiable, it seems, because of their kiasu attitude.

And this attitude apparently prevails even when they are steeped in the liberal culture of the American East Coast colleges such as Wesleyan, Wellesley and Harvard, said Professor Linda Lim, a Singaporean who has been teaching in the United States for more than 20 years.

Ms Lim — an economist and a professor of strategy at the University of Michigan's School of Business — recalled asking a recent batch of such students after a lecture at Brown University, including government scholars, if they were afraid of failure.

"Nearly all of the audience of 70 students raised their hands," Ms Lim told her audience at an Institute of South East Asian Studies seminar yesterday.

Ms Lim, who spoke on the topic, "Singapore — Place or Nation? Implications for Economy, State and Identity", evoked lively interest from her audience made up mainly of academics and diplomats.

She contended that tolerance of risk and acceptance of failure are required for political democracy, business entrepreneurship and scientific discovery — all of which Singapore aspires to.

She said that such a culture could even have an impact on the economy. Many foreigners here, she argued, did not see Singapore as a "nation" but a "stepping stone".

Over the last 10 years, she got to know many Chinese and Indian nationals who studied at Singapore schools and universities, often with scholarships provided by the Singapore government.

They worked in Singapore for a few years and then applied to the US MBA programmes such as the one at Michigan University.

"To my knowledge none has ever returned to Singapore after graduating with MBAs, their goal all along having been to use the place as a stepping-stone to the US job market," she said.

Singapore to them is just a place to study and work — like Ann Arbor, Chicago, New York, San Francisco or London — whereas their nation remains China or India or, for some, eventually the US, she said.

"This is only to be expected of a place which is not a nation, at least not for those passing through," said Dr Lim.

National identity, she felt, has its basis in an emotional affiliation rather than pragmatic self-interest. A person who opts for Singapore because it gave him or her a good job, good lifestyle, good education for the children, is only interested in Singapore as a place.

Then there are those who stick around when Singapore is in trouble and cannot guarantee a good life, and those who are concerned with the welfare of others, or try to improve things even at personal risk. These people are of the nation, and not just the place, said Ms Lim.

What is the way forward? Promote active civic and political participation, and inculcate the "sense of ownership".

"As parents and teachers, we know that the best way to develop our children and students is to let them 'own projects' and make their own mistakes while 'learning-by-doing' even though we are more efficient and better at doing everything than they are," she said. So there was no point in encouraging citizens to be contented, apathetic and dependent on the state.

"That would perhaps be a greater threat to nationhood and national identity," she said
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http://www.todayonline.com/articles/123359.asp

first-tier citizens

2006-06-04T10:22:00.000+08:00

I find it disheartening that a table tennis star such as Xu Yan would choose to leave Singapore after obtaining her citizenship a few years ago (Xu Yan may play for German club - ST, May 26).

Despite Singapore Table Tennis Federation's push to train her as a top player by sending her to overseas matches, she has chosen to leave Singapore to search for greener pastures elsewhere.

While she may have her reasons for doing so and I am in no position to judge her patriotism towards Singapore, it is saddening to learn that she could be replaced by a more well-deserving local table tennis player who may not be better in skills but has the heart to play for Singapore.

Singapore has always been under pressure to buy off-the-shelf foreign talent rather than invest time and resources in developing our own talent. In cases such as awarding bond-free PhD scholarships to foreign students, or hiring foreign talent to play for Singapore sports, these have always have sparked debate.

The issue is always 'build or buy?'

One of the six messages in national education for school children includes 'No one owes Singapore a living. We must find our own way to survive and prosper.'

This message is self-contradictory in some ways. If Singapore has to find her own ways to survive, the first survival instinct is to look to her own people for help.

If Singapore has always relied on outside help, it implies that we are no good, that we are always second grade citizens. For national education is to be effective, we have to ask what is it in a nation that creates loyalty in citizens and what alienates them?

Issues such as sending our scholars overseas for studies, providing bond-free scholarships to foreign students, allowing foreigners to take part in the Singapore Idol contest, and talent-hunting foreign students to come to Singapore to study only serve to alienate citizens.

With the reverse migration of students from India and China going back to their homelands, Singapore will face another uphill challenge to attract more talented foreigners.

It has been said that first-tier foreigners go to America and Europe while the second-tier foreigners come to Singapore. Very soon, Singapore can attract only third-tier foreigners because many of the brightest foreigners from India and China will be talent-hunted aggressively.

If this is the case, rather than attracting third-tier foreigners, we may as well do more to nurture our own people because we have the capability to be first-tier citizens as well.

Once Singapore can achieve that, even first-tier foreigners will be strongly motivated to come to Singapore to contribute.

It is easier to take a sapling from the greenhouse to grow it rather than planting from seeds. The fruit-bearing phase is shorter for the sapling than for seeds. However, if the seeds grow successfully into strong healthy fruit trees, other insects will travel from afar to the flowers for pollination, thus enhancing the quality of the next generation of seeds.
--
Edmund Lim Wai Hoong

scour the land

2006-06-02T06:47:00.000+08:00

Where should veteran politicians go when they have moved beyond their prime executive leadership years? That is, when they have moved from the "bronze" medal, entry-level sphere of neophyte politicians, and even beyond the "silver" medal level of "seasoned" senior politicians?

Those who have excelled and still have their physical and mental faculties intact should consider, for the sake of contributing to the highest levels of nation building, serving within the "gold" medal realm of supra-partisan politics That is, in the neutral domain of true statesmanship, offering their wisdom in the management of public affairs

Veteran political personalities today — who are largely from the ranks of one political party — have much more to offer to the future of our nation by rising above their partisan roots, to help build what the younger generation wants and deserves to have: An intellectual space for a multiplicity of responsible leadership voices aimed at achieving the best for Singapore and her people

The recent elections indicate that Singaporeans do want to have alternative views expressed in Parliament, but such alternative views must come from capable people of integrity

They are hungry for more voices from citizens who may not necessarily agree with every policy of the dominant party, but who are nevertheless honest, constructive critics with national interests above partisan or self interests

They want this because they know instinctively that having some degree of creative tension in a Parliament house filled with such members will help the long-term process of coming up with the best options for the country and making optimal decisions

On the economic front, we are now witnessing unprecedented levels of global competition To stay still is not an option, as those who are not moving upwards will find that decay sets in swiftly

All who are without intellectual property (IP) ownership of processes will eventually become the production outhouses working for those who own the IP What this goes to show is that we need to organise ourselves as a nation optimally and put in place the best possible systems that will draw out the best ideas for Singapore

Thus far, we have had the People's Action Party scour the land for whom it considers to be the smartest people Clearly, the party has been successful

But ought we to continue relying only on this mechanism? Looking ahead, women and men of calibre may well find stronger resonance with credible alternative parties of the future

My call is, therefore, for our current band of elder politicians to consider anticipating our country's political needs, draw upon their store of pragmatic nation-building wisdom and pitch in now to lay down the infrastructure for a robust multi-party Parliament in Singapore

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, on a couple of occasions in the last two months, had dished out recipes for a First World opposition He had also acknowledged that a First World parliament not only needs a First World government, but also a First World opposition

What elder politicians like him can do is to transcend partisan politics and step up into a "Council of Elder Statesmen" Be available to guide the future process of governance, neutrally Be readily available to counsel and groom women and men of conviction and responsibility to build a career in politics, regardless of party platform

Their guidance will help fertilise the ground for responsible future leadership in Parliament, whether through one dominant party or a multiplicity of credibly-led parties

This council could have within its charter an aim to equip incumbent and aspiring political leaders with certain critical attributes For example, historical perspective and depth vis-a-vis prevailing domestic and foreign issues, long-term planning and fostering national cohesion

The council should not have the force of law It could operate ideally and most effectively through the sheer force of respect for the experience and judgment of such elders

Some parallels could be drawn with the roles that the revered Nelson Mandela and the King of Thailand play in their countries today — they speak from non-partisan positions, yet are devastatingly influential in the realm of nation-building and in fostering cohesion across the ranks

In short, this is an argument for leveraging on the wisdom of our founding and veteran political leaders to try and create stable systems of governance that ultimately help ensure we have the best and brightest working for the ultimate good of Singapore

The writer is founder and group CEO of business consultancy DSA, Dinesh Senan
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http://www.todayonline.com/articles/121472.asp

intoned

2006-05-28T21:05:00.000+08:00

I wish to comment on the issue of the deferment of national service for violinist Ike See.

As an amateur violinist, I want to point out that violinists differ from other musicians, for example pianists.

Firstly, after eight years of playing the violin, I realise that good intonation is most important for a violinist. That basically means playing in tune as opposed to out of tune. The violin is one of the hardest instruments to play in tune. The piano, on the other hand, never goes out of tune if it's tuned properly from the start.

For good intonation, a violinist relies on his hands and ears. His left hand is required to control the pitch, while his ears check whether the notes are in tune. This sounds easy, but I will attempt to explain how difficult it actually is, and how NS may damage the fine tools of the musician (ie his hands and ears).

The ears of a violinist must be extremely sharp, able to discern between two notes which are 1/10 of a semitone apart at least. Mozart was able to do so for 1/24 of a semitone. The mathematician Euler had proved that even if the violinist goes out of tune by a fraction, the dissonance produced will shoot up to almost infinity.

In fact, experiments have shown that professional violinists are often more accurate than machines in discerning pitch.

Recently, reports have been going around on how Ipods and other MP3 players can cause permanent damage to the ears. In fact, science has shown that sounds above 120 decibels cause permanent, irreversible harm to the ears. If Ipods can harm ears, I am sure the sound of rifles, grenades and heavy machinery will not be beneficial to the ears.

Secondly, the fingers of a violinist, as opposed to a pianist's, must be very accurate in pressing the strings, as even 1mm of difference will cause a huge difference in pitch. Piano keys, on the other hand, are quite wide so where a pianist hits a key with his finger won't make that much of a difference to its pitch.

Hands that become rough from exposure to the elements and field work will cause distress to the violinist, as his notes will be permanently out of tune.

Ike is destined to hold a bow. But whether he will carry a bow and arrow and fight in the battlefield or hold a bow and violin and enthral audiences with his playing, that remains to be seen. Dawn Goh Noi Swee (Ms)
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http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/story/0,5562,395733,00.html

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2006-05-25T21:58:00.000+08:00

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2006-05-25T21:52:00.000+08:00

we are singapore

2006-05-25T21:39:00.000+08:00

we have a vision for tomorrow

we have a goal for singapore

wayang

2006-05-25T18:03:00.000+08:00

They had questions to ask, issues to be addressed. And the teenagers couldn't wait to be heard in front of politicians and political commentators.

But theirs wasn't the ranting of hot-headed youth. Despite their age, the teenagers' views were carefully thought-through and clearly articulated.

Arhshath Kaleni, 17, and his friends had strong views on the recent General Election and had no qualms voicing them at a dialogue session hosted by the NUS Society (NUSS) last night.

Entitled The Singapore General Elections 2006 - Post Mortem, the session was moderated by NUSS president and former Nominated MP Chandra Mohan K Nair.

The five panelists were Dr Chee Soon Juan of Singapore Democratic Party, Ms Denise Phua of the PAP, Mr Perry Tong of the Workers' Party, and political commentators Dr Catherine Lim and Assoc Prof Ho Khai Leong.

Before an audience of 250, their lively exchange touched on the change in attitudes among voters who paid more attention to what the parties offered, the need for more press freedom and changes to the electoral system.

Arhshath, a JC1 student at Raffles Junior College, picked up on the issue of having a 'balanced view' while airing one's views online.

Ms Phua had earlier noted that most online sentiments during the GE were negative to the ruling party.

Arhshath saw this as not a balanced view but 'a double standard', citing as his example what he saw as the pro-PAP coverage in the mainstream media.

'What this seems like is that you just want the views that paint the PAP in a good light and you'll be criticising it when it paints the PAP in a bad light,' he said.

'...I think that a lot of people will agree with me in that what you're saying with this call for balance that the PAP is purporting is just a wayang, it's just a show.'

Ms Phua disagreed that the media did not give the opposition coverage.

Arhshath then asked Ms Phua, who had earlier talked of how her Kampong Glam residents only recognised the PAP logo, if she agreed that the only way Singaporeans could get a balanced view was through the liberalisation of the media.

He asked: 'Our society cannot allow the people, such as your Kampong Glam residents who only recognise the PAP logo, to actually go on like this.

'I say this is the failure of democracy where you have people who only recognise one party.'

His questions drew thunderous applause.

It wasn't the first time Arhshath has taken part in a dialogue session.

Over the last year, he has attended at least five such dialogues and participated avidly because he 'cared deeply for political issues'.

Arhshath, who was a debater in secondary school, told The New Paper: 'When I started going for these political dialogues, I had my points but didn't know how to bring them across.

'But as time went by, I learnt to organise them well, became more confident and it just got easier to convey my thoughts.'

Although he left feeling a little frustrated because he didn't get answers to all his questions, Arhshath said he'd still participate in such forums in future.

Sabrina Szeto, his schoolmate, raised the importance of having an external auditor to keep an organisation effective, citing the National Kidney Foundation as example.

She said: 'Ms Phua, you said that for an organisation to be effective, you do not necessarily need a good, external auditor.

'But the best way to ensure an effective organisation is to have a good and clear leadership selection and training process to groom these leaders.'

Ms Phua, however, felt the leader and those who work the ground would know the organisation best, instead of having someone come in to run checks.

It was Sabrina's first political dialogue but she had gone for four rallies during the GE - three held by the Workers' Party and one by the PAP.

Referring to the teenagers' questions, Hwa Chong Institution student Ong Sin Hwee said: 'By questioning the PAP, we are not against it. Neither does it mean that we are supportive of the opposition. It just shows that we want certain choices and balances.'

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,107166,00.html

tomorrow

2006-05-25T17:57:00.000+08:00

They are 17 years old and four years shy of even voting in an election.

But that has not stopped a group of students from getting involved in Singapore politics. In fact, the group of 15 is already looking ahead to the next decade, and the possibility of standing for public office and even forming their own political party.

The group, which is made up of junior college students who either met online or through mutual friends, has one overarching aim: To see changes in the civic and civil life in Singapore.

Over the past few months, they have been noticed at public forums on politics, asking thought-provoking questions, seemingly unafraid of the more seasoned politicians they were debating with.

Some of them, such as ex-Raffles Girls School students Sabrina Szeto and Ellen Kan, gained public exposure earlier this year when they and their ex-classmates tried to sell "Save the White Elephants" T-shirts.

However, it was the General Election (GE) that led to a group of mutual friends, augmented by online networking, to eventually decide that entering the political arena is one of the ways to go.

But what exactly do these English-educated students from some of Singapore's top schools, such as Raffles Junior College and Hwa Chong Institution, want to change?

Well, for one, the upgrading policy.

At a political dialogue session last month, Arhshath Kaleni took on People's Action Party (PAP) MP Indranee Rajah and argued that since upgrading comes under the Housing Development Board, it was wrong to blur the line between political parties and Government agencies, as it would distort civic needs.

On Tuesday night, at another dialogue session on the GE, he quizzed PAP MP-elect Denise Phua on whether there could be balanced views in Singapore society without media liberalisation.

Sabrina, who also attended the session, chose to debate with Ms Phua about checks and balances.

However, despite focusing their line of fire on the ruling party, the teenagers firmly believe they are "not anti-PAP, just anti-PAP domination" because "a dominant voice is unhealthy".

"We are motivated by issues and policies, not parties," said Sabrina yesterday, in an interview with four of the politically-inclined teenagers.

Now that some of them have attended several forums, they believe the next step would be to hold forums of their own so they can further the discourse on important "macro issues" and to increase their numbers.

"What we want are feasible, concrete ideas to turn into action that can benefit the people and we are looking at how all of us, young people are able to materialise the ideals that we have," said Soh Yi Da, stressing the importance of community work.

After that, though, the youths are less sure about what might come next, or how long all of them will stay the course.

According to Kaleni, though, if in the years to come they still feel there is a lack of "genuine engagement" by the Government, a lack of alternative voices, and a lack of change, that plan to stand for elections or form a party might come closer to reality.
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http://www.todayonline.com/articles/120459.asp

the principle of equity

2006-05-25T17:55:00.000+08:00

May 25, 2006, The Straits Times

I refer to the letters 'Give Ike a chance to pursue his dreams' and 'Mindef should grant teen violinist NS deferment' (ST, May 17).

Under the Enlistment Act, all male Singaporeans and Permanent Residents are liable to serve National Service upon reaching 18 years of age. However, Mindef has exercised flexibility by not insisting that all NS-liable males enlist immediately upon turning 18.

In determining when a person is to be enlisted, Mindef considers two main factors: the need to preserve equity in terms of educational attainment before NS, and the need to enlist NS-liable males for rigorous military training while they are young and fit.

Mindef has therefore allowed students to attain educational qualifications up to 'A' level, polytechnic diploma or their equivalent before requiring them to serve NS.

Students taking up such courses may be granted deferment from NS for a reasonable amount of time until the completion of their courses.

NS-liable males will therefore be enlisted at the earliest opportunity after turning 18 or when they have finished such courses.

Mindef is prepared to grant deferment to pursue university studies under very exceptional circumstances. Such cases are rare and can only be considered when there are exceptionally strong reasons.

Mindef has to ensure that the principle of equity is upheld when considering applications for deferment so as to uphold the commitment of the vast majority who dutifully fulfill their NS obligations before pursuing university studies.

This issue was thoroughly debated in Parliament in March and the principles under which equity is maintained for national service were reaffirmed.

In the case of See Ian Ike, Mindef has given due consideration to his appeal. However, we are unable to accede to his request for deferment to pursue his university studies before NS.

To do so would be unfair to others who have put their personal aspirations and goals on hold to serve NS when called upon to do so.

Mr See may wish to consider applying to enlist for NS earlier, under Mindef's Voluntary Early Enlistment Scheme (VEES).

This will allow him to complete his full-time NS earlier and proceed for further studies thereafter. He may contact the Central Manpower Base at 63733120.

Col Benedict Lim
Director, Public Affairs
Ministry of Defence

awake.

2006-05-24T10:31:00.000+08:00

I live in a HDB block that has a residents' corner. It has a tiled floor with benches and tables.

There used to be a television but it was removed a few years ago. In February, I saw a sign put up at the residents' corner by the Residents' Committee. It states that no wakes are allowed to be held at the residents' corner. Now that's strange to me.

If the residents' corner does not serve the needs of residents, such as holding a wake, I do not know what the corner is for.

From the explanation given by the RC's head, it is an official rule that no wakes are allowed at any residents' corner. If that's the rule, fine.

Last Saturday I returned home to find that the RC members were having a karaoke-cum-dinner celebration at the residents' corner. Now I get it. No wakes for residents, but yes to karaoke for RC members.

Why care that the bereaved residents with a deceased family member need to seek an alternative place to hold the wake?

The sad thing was that while the RC's karaoke and merry-making was in progress, there was a wake at the opposite block which was one-third the size of the residents' corner.

The family in mourning did not have adequate space to put tables and chairs for their relatives and friends who came to pay their last respects to the deceased.

The HDB block in question? Block 289E Bukit Batok Street 25
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http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/story/0,5562,394945,00.html

smutocracy

2006-05-21T22:29:00.000+08:00

When will Lee Kuan Yew die? Sadly, that is the question now on the minds of many Singaporeans. At 82, Lee retains a cabinet post, with the title Minister Mentor, continues to dominate the Government and shows no sign of quitting. But many believe that although he has done much for Singapore, he is now the greatest impediment to reform, and that little can change until after he is gone

Last week, Lee admonished the younger generation for not fully supporting the People's Action Party at the elections the weekend before. It's a usual claim: young Singaporeans are insufficiently grateful for all that the older PAP leaders have done for them in developing the economy. It's as if a country's progress should be measured only by material comfort. The problem for Lee is that young people in other developed countries have money and freedom of expression. But in Singapore, all they have is money. Young Singaporeans are beginning to see that a gilded cage is a cage, nonetheless.

To combat this growing restiveness, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong — Lee's son — talks of political regeneration in his efforts to make the PAP appeal to younger people. But it's the same old tricks, if last week's elections are anything to go by. The ruling PAP won two-thirds of the votes. The real surprise is that it didn't win by more, given all the petty restrictions designed to head off opposition.

The PAP faced two main opposition parties: the Singapore Democratic Party and the Workers' Party. The SDP's leadership was hit with a series of defamation writs from the two Lees soon after the elections were called. It managed to win one of the two seats not won by the PAP.

The Workers' Party won the other seat. James Gomez, one of its leading candidates, blamed the elections department for losing one of his required polling forms at the start of the campaign. He moderately chastised a member of the department's staff for the apparent loss. But it turned out he had put the form in his brief case and had left the building without lodging it. He claimed this was an oversight — he was distracted — and he publicly apologised. But the PAP accused him of attempting to set up the elections commission.

The incident dominated the nine-day campaign. The Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, other ministers and the Government-controlled media raised it repeatedly. The highly litigious Lee Kuan Yew publicly labelled Gomez a liar.

The day after the election, Gomez was detained at Changi Airport. His boarding pass and passport were confiscated and police questioned him for eight hours. The next day he was questioned for five hours. A day later he was questioned for another three hours. That's 16 hours of police questioning over whether or not he intentionally put something in his brief case. The Public Prosecutor announced on Friday Gomez would not be charged but would be let off with a "stern warning".

Certainly, it's true that integrity is important in politics. That's why so many people were surprised back in 1996 when it was revealed that Lee Kuan Yew and many family members had accepted large discounts on a series of expensive apartments in Singapore from a local property developer, on whose board sat one of Lee's brothers. Lee and Lee Hsien Loong received more than $S1 million ($A829,000) in discounts, discounts that were in excess of the usual discounts offered in the market.

The company was later censured by the local stock exchange for not seeking shareholder approval for favourable transactions with related parties.

Lee has claimed that the election result demonstrates to foreign investors that Singapore is politically stable, which is good for business.

But his argument is simplistic. North Korea is politically stable but who wants to invest there? And Australia periodically changes government, has a free media and attracts plenty of investors, including many from Singapore.

But how good is Singapore, really? As every expatriate in Singapore knows, Singapore's media is appalling. Sex is covered endlessly. Rape and incest cases are described in unnecessary minutiae, as are instances of alleged sexual deviance ("Oh, isn't it dreadful?" is the line usually taken before the incident is recounted in slavish detail.) In essence, Singaporeans are fed a regular diet of soft porn, perhaps as compensation for precious little political debate. That's not democracy. It's smutocracy.

Academic freedom is also stunted. Daniel Bell, a prominent writer and academic who has taught at universities in Singapore and Beijing, writes in the latest issue of the respected intellectual journal Dissent that for him, "China is a paradise of academic freedom" after Singapore. The governments of both countries practise media censorship but after a newspaper in China ran some of his comments in an interview, but not others, the editor rang him to apologise. Not so in Singapore, where according to Bell, "public humiliation is a more common tactic for dealing with those who do not toe the party line". Singapore might be rich but it is out of step.

Meanwhile, Thailand faces fresh elections after the Thai courts declared invalid those that were held last month. Prime Minister Thaksin had called the elections due to huge public disapproval of the sale of his family's massive telecommunications assets to an arm of the Singapore Government. Tax changes meant that his family saved millions on the sale.

And this weekend there are elections in the wealthy Malaysian state of Sarawak. The family of Chief Minister Abu Taib Mahmud has accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars in timber concessions and public works contracts while he has been in office. No doubt he is heading for a landslide win. Stability is indeed good for business.
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http://www.michaelbackman.com

moving on

2006-05-21T22:12:00.000+08:00

I refer to the letter, 'Is politics all about pursuit of party interests?' (ST, May 16), by Mr Jason Phan Shiaw Hwa.
I am not sure why Mr Phan thinks I am making a 'serious and derogatory claim' when I stated the fact that the opposition's ultimate aim is to replace the ruling party.

The opposition itself has stated that this is its aim. The simple fact is that, if an opposition party were to form the government one day, all of us will have to live with the consequences. Much is at stake. In the end, politics is about our lives and our future as a people. The PAP's unwavering aim, since it became the ruling party in 1959, has been to improve the lives of the people.

Now that the General Election is over, let us move on and work together as one people to build a better home and a brighter future for all.

Irene Ng (Miss) Member of Parliament-elect
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http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/story/0,5562,393558,00.html

the benefit of law

2006-05-21T21:29:00.000+08:00

In Iran an 18-year-old named Nazanin is sentenced to be put to death by hanging. Her crime? Defending herself and her 16-year-old niece from being raped by three men. During the attack she drew a knife and stabbed one of the attackers. In doing so she succeeded in driving the attackers off and saved the two of them from whatever fate awaited them at the hands of the three men.

She was subsequently arrested, tried and found guilty of a crime. At her trial she said in her defense; "I wanted to defend myself and my niece. I did not want to kill that boy. At the heat of the moment I did not know what to do because no one came to our help." Her appeals have failed and without severe pressure from outside sources she will die for this "crime".

The girls' only alternative would have been to submit to the rape and not report it. Why? because if they reported it and could not produce enough male witnesses to confirm that it had indeed been a rape, then the Sharia Court would treat it as a case of adultery and the girls would have been severely punished, especially if a child had been conceived through the rape. The punishment for women or girls who have premarital sex is 100 lashes. Since it was a rape, the real (mental) punishment would have been much more severe than that, and lasted for the rest of the victims' lives.
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http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/05/17/170310.php

expediency

2006-05-14T11:53:00.000+08:00

`We have to be realistic. There is a limit to how much re-training we can do for some workers, so we have to look overseas. Look at my generation, more than half of them didn’t even complete primary school education. What are we going to do? They are not going to conveniently die off`
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`The Americans were deluded, it doesn’t mean we supported them because we thought it would work. I believe the question you are too polite to ask is, did we suck up to the U.S? Well, yes, our basic interest was to show support for the USA, you are right. But what did we really commit to it? How much of our assets did we lend to Iraq? We put one plane in the air and one ship in the sea. And were we more of a target because of it? To which I reply ..we were already a target before the invasion`
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http://i-speak.blogdrive.com/archive/158.html

Disneyland with the Death Penalty

2006-05-11T00:30:00.000+08:00

People will be allowed to occasionally mention the election -- but do it too often and they'll be required to register and then abide by laws that ban any kind of political advertising by the media. The reasoning is pretty straightforward: "In a free-for-all internet environment where there are no rules, political debates could easily degenerate into an unhealthy, unreliable and dangerous discourse flush with rumors and distortions to mislead and confuse the public." That's funny, since it's always seemed like that's exactly what politics was all about
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http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060404/1038233.shtml

Singapore's young challengers beg to differ

2006-05-11T00:25:00.000+08:00

Speaking to his young questioners on television, Lee was at pains to describe some of the challenges Singapore had overcome on this racially mixed, resource-poor island. But his examples, dating from before they were born, may not have resonated with them.

In the last chapter of a long and successful career of nation-building, Lee seems to have little patience with critics who, in his view, see only part of the picture.

"You are not going to intimidate me, ever," he told a questioner at a recent meeting with foreign reporters.

"We're not going to allow foreign correspondents or foreign journalists or anybody else to tell us what to do," he added. "There are very few things that I do not know about Singapore politics, and there are very few things that you can tell me or any foreign correspondent can tell me about Singapore."
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http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/05/news/sing.php

meritocracy

2006-05-11T00:21:00.000+08:00

Despite the system's meritocracy, top schools are filled with children of the Chinese middle class who can afford to pay the extra tuition, he said.

The PAP not only recruits its future leaders from the civil service or the army; it also scouts doctors, lawyers and business people -- as long as they're successful.

During deputy prime minister Wong's presentation of one such bunch of achievers, they were asked whether the PAP's attempts to clone its successful leadership did not carry a risk of falling out of touch with a rapidly changing world.
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http://in.today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-05-05T160816Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-247865-1.xml

overtones

2006-05-10T23:16:00.000+08:00

It became a cause of heated online debate, with some supporting Hu, but others accusing the secretary of being stubborn, irresponsible and unprofessional. Some of the attacks on EMC have nationalist overtones, as the firm, and Loke, are foreigners.

"Foreigners come to China to lord it over others, not to help China's economic development," said one forum participant. "They want to keep down our wages and give the profits to foreign executives and their headquarters."

Another pointed out that the boss had made the error of cc-ing several other staff on his original email to the secretary, thus turning a private reprimand into a public humiliation
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http://www.whatpc.co.uk/vnunet/news/2155655/china-email-embarasses-emc

the 7th day

2006-05-08T00:12:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE : James Gomez, the man at the centre of a controversy with the Elections Department over a minority candidate certificate, has been detained by police.

In a statement, police said they were investigating after receiving a complaint against Mr Gomez from the Elections Department.

Mr Gomez was stopped at Changi Airport on Sunday afternoon and prevented from leaving for Sweden.

Channel NewsAsia understands his passport and boarding pass have been confiscated.

Mr Gomez was taken to the Police Cantonment Complex at 4pm to have his statement taken.

During the hustings, Mr Gomez was embroiled in a controversy over his application for a minority candidate certificate.

He claimed to have submitted an application at the Elections Department, but security camera footage showed otherwise.

People's Action Party leaders later accused Mr Gomez of trying to discredit the Elections Department by claiming its staff had misplaced his form.

In a statement, Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng had charged that Mr Gomez stage-managed the entire episode from the start.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew called Mr Gomez a liar, a charge he repeated on Sunday before police confirmed they had detained the Workers' Party candidate.

Said Mr Lee, "When I call a man openly, you're a liar, you're dishonest, and you do not dare to sue me, there's something basically wrong. And I will repeat it anywhere and you can't go and say, oh, I have apologised; let's move on. Can you commit a dishonourable -- maybe even one which is against the law -- an illegal act and say, let's move on because I've apologised? You may move on but you're going to move on out of politics in time."

Mr Lee said that whether other Workers' Party members connived at Mr Gomez's doings was a matter still to be determined.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was asked to comment on Mr Gomez's detention during his victory parade in Ang Mo Kio.

Mr Lee said he was not aware of what had happened, since the Elections Department filed a police report against Mr Gomez.

He said the matter was now in the hands of police.

At about 8pm, Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim was seen entering the police headquarters.

It is believed she is helping with investigations. - CNA /ct
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/207083/1/.html

More Poly Places

2006-04-27T22:35:00.000+08:00

During the last direct admissions exercise for entrance to polytechnics last month, I applied to Singapore Polytechnic (SP) and Temasek Polytechnic (TP). I was a TP student before I dropped out. I admit I did so because I was not mature then and constantly skipped classes. I decided to enlist in national service as I did not want to waste time and I wanted to add discipline to my character

I planned to apply for entry to a polytechnic after I finished NS. I served my country and even went overseas to Brunei to serve in an isolated camp for a whole year.

I was therefore surprised when both SP and TP told me there were no vacancies. I know the polytechnics give priority to students who apply under the joint admissions exercise, a policy which I support as they have just finished their O levels. When I called TP and asked if I have to compete with foreign students, its reply seemed to indicate that foreign students do receive priority over Singaporeans.

SP gave me the same reply and added that 10 per cent of places are reserved for foreign students.

My question is, why give foreigners priority over Singaporeans who are determined to study and have served their nation?
--
Mohammed Shaffiq Sarudin, April 24 2006, ST Forum

Suffering Singapore's slings, arrows

2006-04-23T21:49:00.000+08:00

Suffering Singapore's slings, arrows
Michael Backman, April 19, 2006
--
Does Singapore have a sound legal system or is Singapore just another autocracy with a leadership that subverts the law to preserve its own power?

Should its court orders relating to commercial and other matters be enforced in countries that do have excellent legal systems? These are matters over which a Canadian court has been asked to rule in a case that is hugely embarrassing to Singapore's Government, particularly in an election year.

Singapore does well in Transparency International's annual survey of perceptions of corruption, but it needs to be remembered perceptions are surveyed, not reality. Sure, it's unlikely you will ever be asked for a bribe or a kickback in Singapore, but should corruption be so narrowly defined?

Canadian oil and gas company EnerNorth Industries set up a joint venture with Singapore's Oakwell Engineering in 1997 to finance, build and operate two mobile power plants in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

The Indian Government, at various levels, was obstructionist, and by 2002 it was clear to EnerNorth that plans for the power plants would not be realised. EnerNorth did not secure the agreed financing and so Oakwell sued it in a Singapore court in 2003, obtaining a favourable $US5.4 million judgement. EnerNorth appealed unsuccessfully.

EnerNorth has few or no assets in Singapore, so Oakwell next applied to Ontario's Superior Court of Justice in Canada for the Singapore judgement to be enforced there, so it could pursue EnerNorth's Canadian assets. The Canadian court ruled that the Singapore judgement should be enforced. EnerNorth appealed, which was heard last week.

What was the basis for EnerNorth's appeal? In 2003, Canada's Supreme Court said Canadian courts can only recognise a foreign judgement if the legal system that produced the judgement meets Canada's constitutional standards. And so EnerNorth's lawyers, in their written submission, argued that Singapore's legal system is not on a par with Canada's and so the Singapore decision against their client should not be enforceable in Canada.

The submission says the Singapore judgement "was granted by a corrupt legal system before biased judges in a jurisdiction that operates outside the law".

It presents evidence that it says reveals "Singapore is ruled by a small oligarchy who controls all facets of the Singapore state, including the judiciary, which is utterly politicised. The judiciary bends over backwards to support the Government's and ruling elite's interests."

Dr Ross Worthington, an expert on governance who has written extensively about Singapore, and is employed by the World Bank, said in an affidavit on behalf of EnerNorth that "all aspects of the governance of Singapore, including the judiciary, are carefully manipulated and ultimately controlled by a core executive of individuals who use their powers to maintain their own power and further their own political, economic, social and familial interests".

EnerNorth's submission also cites the regular use of defamation actions by senior Government figures to bankrupt opposition politicians, thereby disqualifying them from sitting in Parliament. Mentioned is the case of J. B. Jeyaretnam, when as Singapore's only opposition member of Parliament, was sued for defamation by a Government minister and ultimately bankrupted. Today he can often be seen selling copies of a self-published book near the underground train station exit, close to Raffles City Shopping Centre, a broken, lonely figure past whom many Singaporeans rush for fear of being seen near him.

EnerNorth's submission also cites the Societies Act, which requires that organisations of more than 10 people must have a Government-appointed representative, and no public meeting can proceed unless the police first issue a permit that specifies the duration of the meeting, the names of the speakers, their topics and the length of time they will speak.

Also cited is the state of Singapore's media — all outlets of which are owned either directly or indirectly by Government-linked companies — as is the change to the constitution so that Singaporeans who remain outside the country for 10 or more years can be stripped of their citizenship. It is a move that takes aim at Government critics who have gone into self-imposed exile.

Judicial independence is questioned: it is pointed out, for instance, that up to half the Supreme Court judges at any time are under contract and do not have security of tenure, including the chief justice. They are appointed by the executive and beholden to it.

A further EnerNorth contention is that Oakwell is part of the Koh Brothers Group, which is heavily reliant on Singapore Government contracts. EnerNorth also says that at the time of the first judgement, directors in the group included a former member of the Government's Inland Revenue Authority, a senior parliamentary secretary, a senior minister of state and ambassador, and a former president of the Government-affiliated National Trade Unions Congress.

And then there is the matter of the first presiding judge. Before his appointment to the bench, he practised at the law firm Lee & Lee, the firm founded by former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and later run by his wife. It was this same judge, who on J. B. Jeyaretnam's appeal from a lower court, increased the fine that he was required to pay that led to his expulsion from Parliament.

So does Singapore have a fair and independent judiciary on a par with Canada's or, for that matter, Australia's? Should its decisions against Canadian or Australian companies be enforced in their home countries?

This is particularly pertinent given the huge and highly intrusive role that Singapore's Government plays in business matters in Singapore, and if judges are biased in favour of the Government as EnerNorth contends. The Canadian appeals judge has reserved his decision. But you don't have to. The full submissions of Oakwell and EnerNorth are available at www.enernorth.com/litigation.

html. How the legal system operates in Singapore makes for extraordinary reading.
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www.michaelbackman.com

surgery needed

2006-03-29T00:16:00.000+08:00

If it looks, walks and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck, as goes the old axiom.

And as effigies of Singapore's leaders burning in the streets of Bangkok suggest, millions of grumpy Thais haven't needed a zoology degree to work out that Singapore's Temasek Holdings is a government-owned duck.

Temasek's $3 billion deal to buy Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra out of his family business, Shin Corp, has precipitated Thailand's most serious political crisis in more than a decade.

Thais have poured into the streets demanding "Asia's Berlusconi" resign his five-year rule and pay taxes from the deal on his way out. Thailand's baht wobbles - its collapse prompted Asia's 1997 financial crisis - and worries economists, while deals are put off. The twitchy Thai military stays in the barracks, for now, while Thaksin toughs out this high-stakes game of brinkmanship versus the people.

But what of Temasek, Singapore's self-styled paragon of transparency whose opaque deal making has precipitated South-East Asia's latest economic crisis?

One of the world's most powerful investors, boasting an $US80 billion ($110 billion) portfolio, its Thai adventure is looking increasingly like a spectacular misjudgement for its boss, Madame Ho Ching. She's the wife of Singapore's Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, whose family's authoritarian 50-year rule of Singapore inspired the inner autocrat in Thaksin that could now prove his undoing.

Temasek's tactic is to effect an air of "Crisis? What crisis?" and deny it has anything to do with Official Singapore. Indeed, its descent to duckdom is never more absurdly displayed as when its army of immaculately groomed spinners demand the world's press and market analysts stop referring to it as "Singapore government-owned" and call it instead an "Asian investment company".

But Thais simply join the dots: Temasek is 100 per cent owned by Singapore's Ministry of Finance. Singapore's Finance Minister is its Prime Minister, Mr Lee, and his wife is Temasek's chief executive.

Thais would probably be furious with whoever did such a backroom deal with Thaksin. But every insistence by either Singapore side that they have nothing to do with the other simply further ignites the Thai touchpaper.

"Come on," says Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "We Thais aren't idiots."

Indeed, as Asia moves to wind back government involvement in the private sector, Thais view with alarm what they see as Thaksin's sell-out to the Singapore Government of their economy: hotels, banks, airlines, property and, now, the main telephone company, a strategic communications satellite and a popular television station. Notes one columnist in the Thailand's The Nation newspaper, "Singapore might change Bangkok's Sathorn Road into Orchard Road and declare it a bubble-gum-free zone".

Sometimes Temasek is its own worst enemy. As Thais raged, a placatory Temasek presented its "managing director, investments," Mr S Iswaran, as the go-to guy to explain the Shin deal.

As a veteran Singapore civil servant, Iswaran was once responsible for Singapore's negotiations at the World Trade Organisation and APEC. He is also the Parliament's deputy speaker and a loyal lieutenant of the Lee family-led People's Action Party. A more faithful flack of the ruling clique would be hard to find.

Singaporeans aren't Thais but they know a good deal when they see one, and many would like to see Temasek out of Singapore's economy too, where government companies control as much as 60 per cent of the action.

They privately question what in fact it was that Ho brought to Temasek in 2001, apart from a powerful husband they already knew. She was hired in 2001 to enliven Temasek's sluggish returns but, in Bangkok at least, the value she purchased for Singapore disappears by the day as protesters vote with their pockets by cancelling subscriptions to Shin's main asset, Thailand's leading mobile phone company, AIS.

Shin shares have fallen 25 per cent since Ho's deal. Her stewardship of Temasek since she became CEO - an appointment her spinners insisted was on merit - has been unremarkable, with some big misses offsetting a handful of medium successes.

Many of Temasek's deals have a strong whiff of national interest about them and Temasek's forays abroad come as Singapore's political leaders worry their developed but tiny economy is maturing, exhorting its business community to secure the city-state's future offshore.

In Jakarta, influential politicians want the Singapore Government to exit its two-year-old investment in one of Ho's better deals, the communications giant Indosat, particularly as another Temasek company, Singapore Telecom - owner of Australia's Optus - already has half of Indosat's competitor Telkomsel. That's too much strategic telecommunications in Singapore hands for their taste and Jakarta has offered Temasek $1.2 billion to buy back the Indosat stake.

But as dissent simmers with the threat of political sanction hanging over it, Temasek has so far refused to sell.

In Beijing too, bureaucrats are questioning last year's wisdom of allowing Temasek a $2.5 billion stake in the Bank of China, believing it might have got it too cheap while wondering what Singapore brings to the table apart from cash.

In New Delhi, the Indian Government recently denied Temasek approval to buy into mobile operator Idea Cellular, India's fifth largest, because SingTel already part-owns another, Bharti, the largest.

Temasek struggles too in the US. It paid $US250 million in 2003 for 62 per cent of ailing cable operator Global Crossing, believing it got a bargain for a fibre optic network that cost $15 billion to build. But the company has since been dogged by one disaster after another and Global Crossing lost $US600 million in 2004-05.

There have also been setbacks in Australia, where Canberra recently denied Temasek's 57 per cent owned Singapore Airlines access to the lucrative route between Sydney and Los Angeles.

Surgery is needed at home too. Temasek-controlled DBS Bank recently took an unexpected $700 million charge on its Hong Kong operation, the former Dao Heng Bank.

Its wafer business, Chartered Semiconductor, has been a headache on Ho's watch, accumulating losses of more than $1 billion, while its share price has fallen 90 per cent since 1999.

Temasek's own figures described shareholder returns of just 1 per cent over the five years to March 31, as against the gain in Singapore's Straits Times index of 2.7 per cent over the same period.

Still, at least Singaporeans now know what's happening to their money. Notoriously secretive, Temasek only first publicly revealed its accounts in 2004.

Says Thai academic Pongsudhirak: "This is the last straw. Temasek has underestimated the political fallout here. This deal has not been transparent, everything has not been fully accounted for. Whether they like it or not, Temasek has made itself a player in Thai politics and that puts its investment at risk."

Meanwhile, Asia looks on with a bemused combination of mild concern that Thailand's worries could again spill outside its borders as in the late 1990s but more Schadenfreude at Singapore Inc's discomfort. As many in the region tactfully like to say, wealthy Singapore is admired by its neighbours if not necessarily always loved.

Eric Ellis is Fortune magazine's South-East Asian correspondent
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http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/singapore-inc-on-the-nose/2006/03/26/1143330929676.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

grass roots

2006-03-28T23:39:00.000+08:00

`But in the long run the general public might become sensitised; the key is for someone or some people to interpret and simplify the issues for them` Supinya Klangnarong
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`This criticism is certainly coming from the middle class intellectuals who are likely to criticise Mr Thaksin anyway. I don't think people at the grass roots level understand the issues, or even care` Senator Jon Ungpakorn
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http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=37821

benefit of friendship

2006-03-27T02:40:00.000+08:00

Singapore's business-minded leaders say they want to be friends with everybody. That makes sense for a tiny island state of 4 million people trying to make a living in a volatile region increasingly dominated by China and India.

But as protests in Thailand against the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, have intensified, Singapore has found itself on the receiving end of a highly unamicable barrage of insults and threats from its large neighbour to the north.

Posters of Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, have been burned in public; the Singaporean embassy in Bangkok has been besieged; and a boycott of the country's products has been urged. Protesters brandish placards saying: "Thailand not for sale" and "Singapore get lost".

Sondhi Limthongkul, a leader of the Thai opposition People's Alliance for Democracy, accused Singapore of "economic imperialism", and warned of serious consequences this week. "If you don't stop, should the Thaksin government change - and he will go down soon - we will make sure that your activities in Thailand go down with him," he said.

Thai anger centres on January's tax-free $1.9bn (£1bn) sale of Shin Corp, a telecoms conglomerate founded by Mr Thaksin and owned by his family, to Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government's state investment arm.

The opposition portrays the deal as a threat to Thai sovereignty and control of key national assets such as satellites. It wants the sale rescinded and allegations of insider dealing investigated as part of its wider campaign to strengthen democracy and public accountability.

But Singaporean officials say the Shin Corp row has nothing to do with them. "Temasek operates like any other company," said Angelina Fernandez of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country's central bank. "Even though it is government owned, it is not government directed. The ministry of finance does not tell Temasek what to do."

Lim Hng Kiang, Singapore's minister for trade and industry, said the sale had become enmeshed in domestic Thai politics but admitted the government had been caught on the hop. "Obviously we were surprised," he said. "We didn't expect it would provoke such a reaction." Mr Lim said the opposition's boycott had "not gained traction" and predicted bilateral relations would suffer no lasting harm.

Singapore's hard-nosed brand of free-wheeling, free-market capitalism, and what critics see as a concomitant lack of concern for democratic rights and civil liberties, has caused controversy before. Campaigners say significant Singaporean investment in Burma, which is run by a military junta, undermines UN-led efforts to encourage reform.

And Singapore's enthusiastic pursuit of regional free trade agreements is not wholly shared by some fellow members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) concerned at the social and cultural impact of too-rapid economic change. Mr Lim would like to see Asean function as a European-style common market of 500 million people. "Others don't share Singapore's sense of urgency," he said.

Majority-Chinese Singapore's be-friends-with-everybody policy is further complicated by history. The prime minister urged expanded trade with China during a recent visit to Beijing. But the former British colony remains an important western ally that affords naval facilities to the US Pacific fleet, keeps on good terms with Japan, and harbours secret sympathies for Taiwan. As Sino-American strategic competition in Asia hots up, it may eventually be forced to take sides.

Singapore's precociousness has also fuelled regional jealousies, illustrated by a bizarre row with Malaysia (from which it broke away in 1965). Malaysia wants to replace the causeway linking the countries with a bridge. Singapore has not agreed so far. It cites the high costs - but deeper concerns about its "over-bearing" neighbour are also in play.

Impatient at the delay, Malaysia has now decided to build its half of the bridge anyway, regardless of whether it actually leads anywhere. "Singapore is the most insolent neighbour in the world," one Malaysian MP said this week - showing once again that friendly bridge-building is uphill work.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1738319,00.html

benefit of conscription

2006-03-27T02:36:00.000+08:00

Singapore : A colonel from the Singapore Armed Forces died while participating in the Singapore Biathlon at East Coast Park on Sunday.

Colonel Bernard Tan Cheow Han, 39, collapsed and died after nearly completing the 10-kilometre run.

He was just 600 metres away from the finishing line.

The colonel had earlier finished a 1.5-kilometre swim before the run.

SAFRA which is also the organiser of the event says immediate medical attention was given to Colonel Tan at about 10am.

He was sent to Changi General Hospital and was pronounced dead at about 11am.

The cause of death is still being investigated by the police.

More than 1,700 people took part in the biathlon which included the chiefs of army and navy.

Colonel Tan was the Assistant Chief of the General Staff in charge of army personnel matters.

He was married with two young daughters aged two and seven
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/199996/1/.html

benefit of seizure

2006-03-26T04:34:00.000+08:00

To hasten the lift upgrading process in Housing Development Board (HDB) estates, Town Councils will soon have the power to seize and sell homeowners' moveable property or flats to recover such improvement costs from recalcitrant residents who refuse to pay up.

Sound drastic? Town Council chairmen and members of Parliament don't think so.

The amendment to the Town Council Act, which may be passed in the parliamentary session which begins today, will also allow Town Councils to use their sinking funds for lift upgrading work.

It effectively extends the Town Council's duty to include lift-upgrading work — similar to what the HDB does in its Lift Upgrading Programme (LUP), which the Government launched in 2001 and aims to complete within the next 10 years, instead of the projected 10 to 15 years. However, it does not increase the Town Council's powers to any degree, say Town Council chairmen and MPs.

Dr Amy Khor, Southwest CDC mayor and Government Parliamentary Committee chairman for National Development, said: "The existing provisions in the Act already allow Town Councils, with the prior approval of the HDB, to sell the resident's flat if he is not able to pay his service and conservancy (S&C) charges."

Hence, the amendment grants Town Councils the same powers that the HDB has in the recovery of such arrears — defined as contributions left unpaid after three months. As of last January, town councils were owed a total of $24.7 million in S&C arrears.

So, just how much more in terms of LUP arrears can Town Councils expect to chalk up and chase residents for?

The HDB told Today that it had billed three LUP precincts at the end of June after the upgrading work was completed, hence it has no outstanding LUP arrears.

But there is another issue. Unlike monthly S&C charges — which range from $18 to $80 per household for maintenance services such as grass cutting, cleaning and lift-maintenance — not everyone may be in favour of the LUP, or benefit from it. The maximum co-payment cost for the Town Council LUP will range from $263 to $714 for residents, depending on the type of unit.

At least 75 per cent of residents must vote in favour of lift upgrading work before it can proceed. So what if the remaining 25 per cent don't want to pay up or can't afford to?

Dr Teo Ho Pin, Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council chairman, said: "All PAP Town Councils have an arrears recovery system where we work closely with our community partners such as grassroots organisations or voluntary welfare organisations to assist needy residents who face difficulty in paying their fees or charges."

The procedure, he said, starts with a notice of reminder to house visits. Then a claim is lodged with the small claims tribunal. A writ of seizure and sale of moveable property — such as television or hi-fi sets is issued. The sale of the flat is a final step, to be taken only if all efforts at recovering the arrears fail.

Mr Chew Heng Ching, East Coast Town Council chairman and coordinating chairman for PAP Town Councils, said: "This provision is basically the last resort by the Town Council for those who have defaulted on their payments for improvement contributions. The Act serves to empower the Town Council to take action against residents who can afford to pay but are not doing so."

Or, as some Town Councillors call them, chau kuan homeowners — a Hokkien phrase referring to someone with a bad attitude.

Dr Khor agreed: "As Town Councils are familiar with the profile of the flat dwellers, such a sale would only be resorted to after all other avenues have been explored and exhausted."

Some observers note that the Town Council's function, role and relationship with residents will change.

Said one: "With HDB as the landlord, Town Councils have hitherto just managed and maintain common property in HDB estates. It remains to be seen how this enlarged function will change its relationship with the residents it serves."
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todayonline

benefits of nepotism

2006-03-20T21:25:00.000+08:00

Mixing business and politics was a winning strategy for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra back in 2001.

A self-made billionaire, Thaksin called himself a new breed of politician, a "CEO prime minister" who could revitalize Thailand by running it like a company.But there were early signs of trouble. A week before the 2001 election, Thaksin was charged with concealing assets in his telecommunications empire by transferring shares to relatives, his chauffeur, maid and others. At one point, two of his domestic servants were among the top 10 shareholders on Thailand's stock exchange.

Five years and many corruption allegations later, a growing number of Thais say they're fed up with Thaksin. Thousands of protesters are demanding his ouster, saying his business ties have hurt the country.

At the center of Thaksin's problems is Shin Corp., the media conglomerate he founded. It was his transfer of Shin shares that raised eyebrows in 2001 and the sell-off of the family's controlling stake in January that triggered the current political crisis.

"It's an ironic downfall," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University."

The sale of Shin Corp. was supposed to clear him of nagging conflict of interest accusations. But in the end, it was the last straw."

Thaksin's family sold its 49.6 percent stake in Shin to Singapore's state investment company, Temasek Holdings, for 73.3 billion baht (US$1.9 billion), and found loopholes to avoid paying any tax on the sale.

The 56-year-old leader, who denies any wrongdoing, indicated Wednesday for the first time that he would consider stepping aside temporarily to defuse the protests, though it remained uncertain if or when he would do so.

Critics say the Shin deal involved insider trading and tax dodges and complained that national assets - including communications satellites - were sold to a foreign government.

Thaksin rose to power on a raft of nationalist policies, winning over voters by accusing the incumbent prime minister of failing to lift Thailand out of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and of neglecting the poor.

The new prime minister's corporate management approach to government became known as "Thaksinomics" - heavy spending to promote growth and wean the country from dependence on imports and foreign loans. Critics say it's a recipe for long-term debt.

Thaksin, a former police officer, cast himself as a champion of the poor. He introduced virtually free health care, a three-year debt suspension program for farmers and low-interest loans for poor villages."He used taxpayers' money for massive handouts to the poor. What poor person wouldn't vote for that?" said Sompop Manarangsan, an economics professor with Chulalongkorn University.

The country's rural majority, which accounts for more than 80 percent of Thailand's 63 million people, propelled Thaksin to another term in 2005; his party won 377 of 500 parliamentary seats.The victory made Thaksin the first civilian prime minister to finish a full four-year term in Thailand. It was also the first time a single party had swept a majority of the legislative seats.

However, discontent has been brewing for years among the educated classes.

Since taking office, Thaksin has battled accusations of corruption and cronyism. Critics accused him of crafting national policy to benefit Shin and handing out mega-project contracts to wealthy friends.

He quickly showed an intolerance for criticism, trying to muzzle what was once Asia's freest media and blocking Shin-owned television stations from broadcasting anti-government content.

In one case that had a chilling effect on freedom of speech, a prominent media critic was sued for 400 million baht (US$10.2 million; euro8.6 million) for suggesting in 2003 that Shin Corp. profited from government connections. The critic, Supinya Klangnarong of advocacy group Campaign for Popular Media Reform, was acquitted Wednesday on criminal charges, but the Shin suit is still pending.

Thaksin also came under fire for his handling of a Muslim insurgency in southern Thailand, and drew criticism for being authoritarian, arrogant and brash.His war on drugs left 2,300 people dead during a three-month period in 2003. Human rights groups complained police were turned loose to kill drug dealers and users at will. Thaksin defended the police, saying drug lords turned against each other, and he noted that drug use dropped.

When the U.S. State Department joined critics of the crackdown, Thaksin called Washington a "useless friend." And when the United Nations worried that the killings amounted to summary executions, Thaksin said the world body "isn't my father."

Critics also complained that Thaksin routinely failed to honor the reformist 1997 constitution, which was aimed at promoting democracy.

He was accused of filling independent bodies - the Election Commission, the National Counter Corruption Commission, the Constitutional Court - with allies. It was the anti-corruption commission that indicted Thaksin in 2001 for hiding assets and the court that acquitted him by an 8-to-7 decision.To defuse protests, Thaksin dissolved parliament last month and called for elections April 2. The opposition has vowed to boycott the vote.

"Thaksin hasn't yet come to realize that the boycott of the snap election is not a rejection of democracy," The Nation newspaper said in an editorial. "But, rather, a reaction to his refusal to accept fundamental democratic values like transparency, honesty and freedom of speech."

extracted from http://www.financialexpress-bd.com/index3.asp?cnd=3/19/2006&section_id=4&newsid=19151&spcl=no

2006-03-20T07:13:00.000+08:00

Understanding that capitalism can be 'predatory' and that globalisation may not always be fair to all parties involved does not mean that one automatically has to reject capitalism and globalisation. This is a false dichotomy. As you have said, it is not the concept of globalisation that is wrong, but the way it is being practised. Globalisation can be more than just exploitation of a poorer nation's labour or resources, it can also be tempered with regard for the needs of other nations.We, as consumers, are not helpless victims in a grand scheme that is inexorable or irreversible. We make our voice heard every time we excercise our choice and vote with our wallet. We are not 'obliged' to go for the cheapest or fastest goods or services. We can pick the ones that come from a business where workers are treated fairly, or that which harms the planet less. We may spend more, or have to put up with less efficiency, but we have a choice.What I am advocating is an awareness that efficiency do not always equate to happiness, and that profit do not always equate to good
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extracted from http://angrydr.blogspot.com/2006/03/comparative-advantage-2.html

A Poor Decision

2006-03-19T02:41:00.000+08:00

Anti-Thaksin demonstrators yesterday burned pictures of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife, Ho Ching, in front of the Singapore embassy to express displeasure with the takeover by Temasek Holdings of Shin Corp. Mrs Ho is executive director and chief executive officer of Temasek, the Singaporean government's investment arm.

Nearly 1,000 demonstrators massed at the embassy again yesterday after failing to get the Singaporean government to ask Temasek to pull out of the deal when they gathered there last week.

Wearing armbands and headbands bearing words such as ''National Salvation'' and ''We Love the King'', the demonstrators marched from King Rama VI statue at Lumpini Park to the Singapore embassy on Sathorn road while chanting ''Thaksin Get Out'' and ''Temasek Get Out''.

They also burned a drawing of the Merlion, Singapore's national mascot, with its face replaced by that of caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and models of Singapore Airlines planes.

Rosana Tositrakul, core member of the People's Alliance for Democracy, read an open letter addressed to the people of Singapore asking them to ''assist us by scrutinising the business conduct of Temasek Holdings and the rental of military bases in Thailand, as well as applying pressure on the Singapore government to adhere strictly to transparency and good governance and to abstain from interfering in other countries' internal affairs by cancelling the purchase of Shin Corporation's shares.''

The Lee Hsien Loong government, Ms Rosana said, had colluded with the government under Mr Thaksin in renting military bases in Udon Thani and Nakhon Ratchasima under 15-year leases, instead of year-by-year as in the past.

The Singaporean army has permitted the US army to share the bases and this caused concern among Thais and other countries in the region, Ms Rosana said.

Somsak Kosaiyasuk, another key PAD member, said Singapore's failure to intervene in the purchase of Shin Corp could cause a rift in relations between the two countries.

Nimit Tien-Udom, director of the Aids Access Foundation, appealed to Singaporean people to understand that the boycott of Singaporean products and services, especially those linked with Shin Corp, was a necessary measure to preserve Thailand's sovereignty and national assets.

''We firmly believe Singaporeans would rise up in the same way if faced with the same situation, as you did for the cause of independence in 1965,'' Mr Nimit said.

A 27-year-old woman Chinese language teacher led a chant in Chinese of ''Thaksin, Get Out'', ''Temasek, Get Out'' and ''Singapore, Get Out''. She said that she and her father had joined every rally since they started over a month ago.

Several cars and motorcycles honked and their drivers shouted in support of the demonstrators.

A group of businessmen who have launched a rally against Mr Thaksin was also met with cheers from hundreds of people from all walks of life along Bangkok streets yesterday.

Some 300 members of the Businessmen for Democracy group, led by Prasarn Maruekkapitak, drove a fleet of 100 cars from Lumpini Park to Makkhawan bridge, where they joined PAD demonstrators.

People on the streets cheered them on and shouted ''Thaksin, Get Out!''
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http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/18Mar2006_news14.php

disabling enumeration of sid

2006-03-13T19:25:00.000+08:00

Open the Active Directory Users And Computers console.

Right-click the domain, and select Properties.

On Group Policy tab, click the Default Domain Policy, and select Edit.

Drill-down to Computer Configuration Windows Settings Security Settings Local Policies Security Options.

Double-click Additional Restrictions For Anonymous Connections, and select the Define This Policy option.

Select Do Not Allow Enumeration Of SAM Accounts And Shares from the drop-down list.

Click OK, and close the console.

Go to Start Run, enter cmd, and click OK.

At the command prompt, enter gpupdate, press [Enter], enter exit, and press [Enter].

寒夜 - 宋杜耒

2006-03-13T02:12:00.000+08:00

寒夜客來茶當酒
竹爐湯沸火初紅
尋常一樣窗前月
纔有梅花便不同

benefit of roots

2006-03-12T23:09:00.000+08:00

Grassroots leaders reacted strongly to the Workers' Party's recent charge that grassroots organisations are nothing more than appendages of the ruling People's Action Party. They stated emphatically that their organisations are fundamentally independent of any political party

The March 4 edition of The Straits Times provides some insight into the relationship. In the article, 'Now 'married' and a believer in self-renewal', veteran MP Tan Cheng Bock said he had 'groomed a few grassroots leaders and hoped some of them might make potential MPs'.

In the article, 'Hands-on MP' points to changes in Bt Panjang', it was stated that 'many (grassroots leaders) were excited at... the prospect of taking on the opposition at the coming general election'.

Plainly, the connection alluded to by the Workers' Party is not as tenuous and unreal as some might want us to believe.

Tham Li Jing, ST forum, March 7 2006

penalty for subversion

2006-03-09T01:36:00.000+08:00

March 8, 2006Ex-detainees took part in communist subversion

IN 'EX-POLITICAL detainees want their story told' (ST, Feb 27), The Straits Times reported that ex-ISA detainees Tan Jing Quee and Michael Fernandez claimed that they and fellow ex-detainees should be recognised as 'loyal citizens, contributing to Singapore's progress', and that their detentions were not justified.

In a subsequent article, 'Time to let dissidents' tales out of the closet' (ST, March 3), Ms Chua Mui Hoong argued that 'it is time for these other stories to come out of the closet' and only then 'can Singapore truly live up to the stirring slogan of an 'open and inclusive' society - embracing not only those with similar views but also dissidents'.

Mr Tan and Mr Fernandez were not political dissidents or opposition members engaged in the democratic process. They belonged to the Communist United Front (CUF) which supported the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM). The CPM was an underground organisation which used terror and violence to subvert the democratic process and overthrow the elected governments of Singapore and Malaysia. Many innocent lives were lost, victims of the CPM's armed struggle.

The CUF was a key part of the CPM's strategy to infiltrate, subvert and exploit legally-established organisations, such as trade unions and student associations, to create civil disorder and destabilise the country.

Together with the CPM, it was responsible for violent demonstrations, sit-ins, boycotts, illegal strikes, sabotage and riots that resulted in deaths and injuries, destruction of property, political instability and economic losses. Mr Tan and Mr Fernandez took part in this communist subversion. They were detained for threatening the security, stability and economic well-being of Singapore, and not for holding different political views or pursuing lawful, democratic political activities.

Mr Tan and Mr Fernandez were arrested in October 1963 and September 1964 respectively for carrying out CUF activities in the University of Malaya (Singapore) and in trade unions.

Mr Tan was released in 1966 and Mr Fernandez in 1973. Both were re-arrested in February 1977 for joining a group and undertaking activities which aimed to rebuild the CUF to support the CPM's continuing violent struggle. They were released later that year, and both renounced communism.

With the communists having lost the battle for the hearts and minds of the people, Mr Tan and Mr Fernandez are now trying to project themselves as nationalists and democrats who also contributed to Singapore's progress. They may be hoping that a younger generation of Singaporeans with no personal memory of the past will be taken in. As they had renounced communism, the Government had let them put the past behind them, and enabled them and their families to enjoy the progress and prosperity of Singapore, like everyone else.

However, they and other ex-communists and supporters cannot be allowed to re-write history by watering down communist atrocities, subversion and other unlawful activities and glossing over the harm they caused to so many victims and the threat they posed to our country. Had the CUF and CPM succeeded, Singapore would never have achieved what we have today - a peaceful, prosperous and multi-ethnic democratic society.

Ong-Chew Peck Wan (Mrs) DirectorCorporate Communications Division for Permanent SecretaryMinistry of Home Affairs

benefits of enlistment

2006-03-07T00:22:00.000+08:00

Time is GMT + 8 hoursPosted: 06 March 2006 2150 hrs
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No more NS deferment for pre-enlistees to pursue overseas studiesBy S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia

Mindef is going back to the basics in its policy of allowing deferments from National Service for school leavers.

Starting December last year, no more deferments are allowed for those who want to pursue an overseas degree. They will have to finish their NS before they go abroad.

Those pursuing basic qualifications like 'A' levels, polytechnic diploma or below, are still allowed to apply for deferment under certain criteria.

Male Singaporeans begin their National Service at the earliest opportunity once they turn 18 years old.

But Mindef has been granting deferments to certain categories, like those starting full-time study before 18 years old in the case of local courses and before 17-1/2 years old for overseas courses.

Deferment has also been granted for those pursuing 'A' level and polytechnic diploma courses if a person is able to start the course before he turns 19 as at January 1 of the year the course commences.

But now Mindef has decided to rationalise its deferment policy based on operational needs and the primary goal of National Service.

Second Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said: "In rationalising our policy, it is understood that NS is a sacrifice which may mean that Singaporeans would have to defer their university studies till after they have completed their National Service.

"We applied the principle of universality, equity to ensure that everyone within the same cohort receives the more or less the same treatment in allowing them to attain their educational qualifications."

Dr Ng went on to say: "Educational opportunities have expanded exponentially in the past few years. We now have a proliferation of institutions with a variety of modules in Singapore.

"New compressed integrated courses have also been introduced, so that students could theoretically start anytime within the year.

"The opportunities to study abroad and at different times of the year have also increased as Singaporeans have become more affluent. Many more Singaporeans would be able to start universities or other courses before ages 17-1/2 abroad or 18 locally. It is therefore no longer tenable to grant deferments based on past criteria."

"Therefore, Mindef will only grant deferment for pre-enlistees to gain their basic educational qualifications of 'A' levels, polytechnic diploma, or below. This is reasonable as most of our 18-year-old NS enlistees would either have completed their basic qualification programme or are about to complete it," Dr Ng said.

"As university degrees are considered higher educational qualifications, deferments for university studies will no longer be allowed. This new policy for deferments has been in place from the end of last year," he added.

As for those who would want to pursue their university education overseas, the Defence Ministry says the vast majority would not be affected by the changes to the deferment policy.

Under the old policy, less than a 100 a year were granted deferment for university studies.

Another group to benefit from the new policy are those enrolled in the Institute of Technical Education.

They can now proceed to study for their polytechnic diploma before they enlist.

This is provided they are below 20 years old as at January 1 of the year their course begins.

Mindef has also decided to allow in-service disruption for national servicemen with ITE qualifications to pursue their polytechnic diploma course - a basic educational qualification - if they meet the specified criteria.

Close to 500 NSF men are expected to benefit from this change.

Besides ensuring a fighting-fit army, Mindef has also kept the SAF up-to-date with the latest technology like the pocket-sized portable, remote-controlled surveillance ball - which is equipped with cameras, microphones, sensors - and other equipment.

The surveillance ball can be rolled or tossed into target areas for information gathering without putting servicemen in physical danger.
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/196500/1/.html

native advantage

2006-03-06T05:51:00.000+08:00

John Wanstall

AFTER listening to the media, schoolchildren and hundreds of coffeeshop patrons, it seems to me the continued effort to get Singaporeans to adopt correct English is more than an uphill struggle — against the forces of peer pressure, Singlish and SMS.
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Take the local experience of international banker Peter Havelock, a former English teacher from New Zealand who was perturbed when, four months after setting foot here, his daughter Emily "came home spouting a stream of Singlish".
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"She said all her mates at school spoke the same way, and she wished to become popular and not stand out."
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Then there's filmmaker Craig McLeod whose youngest son began talking about mixing "flah" and water.
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"He pointed out the word "flour" on his work sheet — his teacher always pronounces it as "flah"," he said.
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"My kids often come home with worksheets full of grammatical errors," Mr McLeod complained. "The poor kids do not know where they stand."
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As a frequent bus commuter, I often listen to and chat with students on my journeys into town. I was appalled at the standards of communication — that is, if they bothered to talk at all to one another.
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Many of our students are happier holding SMS conversations with the chums sitting next to them.
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I queried them on this, only to be informed — in a mixture of Singlish, Mandarin and Malay — that it was not cool to talk, SMS-ing was far more efficient.
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Today columnist Neil Humphries put his finger on the pulse of a problem some time ago, when he wrote that SMS-abbreviated English was beginning to appear in students' exercise books.
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Singlish may be acceptable for informal social communication and SMS has its uses.
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However, pidgin English — for that is what Singlish really is — has no place in our commercial environment.
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A prolonged diet of Singlish must eventually weaken the speaker's ability to speak English correctly. Hence, the SMS — because people cannot find the words to converse.
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When I spoke of such things to my old English master, Dr E V Bennett, the head of English at Hastings Grammar in the United Kingdom, he was adamant that languages can only be really taught successfully by a native speaker.
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There was always a problem in multi-lingual societies, he said, as grammar and tenses get mixed up in the direct translation of a Chinese dialect, say, into English.
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Indeed, our former French master had come from Paris; our Greek master from Athens University. And Latin was taught by our headmaster, Dr R E E Jones, who had studied Latin and French in Italy for ten years.
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Mr Bennett felt that if Singapore's English teachers spent a year in the United Kingdom, taking a crammer course in teaching the language, it would help them immensely.
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Teachers in Singapore, however, are concerned about the more urgent need to halt the SMS malaise of "short-cut English", or "lazy English", which threatens to send language standards here into a deteriorating spiral. But how do you counter a habit among the tech-savvy young that you can't outlaw, tax or fine — the typical Singaporean responses?
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Back in my old school, we would listen to hours of recordings of actors speaking in perfect English. Eventually, even the dumbest in the class was able to read out loud to our English master, and receive high marks for pronunciation.
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It may sound boring, but listening to presenters on good English radio programmes — such as the BBC World Service — is effective. If parents can get their children to spend half an hour a day listening to how English should be spoken, they might see a rapid improvement.
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What's the rush, you might ask? While we are struggling with our English, the rest of Asia is going full steam ahead in their efforts to master the language of commerce.
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If the study-English trend continues, within a decade, two billion people will be studying English, and about half the world will speak it.
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In China, non-native speakers are learning English at a younger age. Last year, primary schools in major Chinese cities began offering English in the third grade, rather than in middle school.
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Here in Singapore, former English teacher and textbook author Steve Hogan thinks necessity could actually make the unthinkable happen — Singlish could disappear, or at least fade into the backdrop, once students discover that without a good command of the English language, they are likely to be shackled to Singapore.
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"I recently ran a course for a group of Malay girls who all wanted to appear on television," he said. "Because they wanted this so badly, they learnt very rapidly to speak English with excellent grammar and pronunciation."
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The lesson? All kids need is the right motivation

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/51350.asp

taking a risk

2006-03-05T23:13:00.000+08:00

Diversity will affect how the people and the Government relate. If Singapore is to become a place where people can fulfil their aspirations, where they can explore many different things, it will no longer make sense for the Government to always control and regulate every activity. The parents among you will understand. There comes a point where you must take the risk and let go, in order for your child to grow and learn

Of course, the shelter cannot be permanent. Just where that line is between shelter and lodging will be the subject of continual discussion and calibration. No country can guarantee that its citizens will always be employed, wealthy and healthy. But for Singapore to be a true home, our citizens must feel better protected here than any other place on earth.

http://www.contactsingapore.org.sg/nm/global_talent/speeches/listPressReleaseNews.jsp?ReleaseID=155

knocks & scrapes

2006-03-05T23:11:00.000+08:00

"Sometimes as parents we have to let go a little. Take some risks as parents so that the child can also learn. Let them take knocks and scrapes as they grow up."
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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/102455/1/.html

errant students to go braless

2006-03-05T23:00:00.000+08:00

Parents upset by school's order for errant students to go bra-less
The New Paper5 March 2006
By Santokh Singh And Liew Hanqing

Take off your coloured bra.

Now spend the rest of the school day without it.

And go home without it as well.

That is what some students in a secondary girls' school had to go through.

The problem is which is worse: Wearing a coloured brassiere in school or going around without wearing one at all?

The school does not allow coloured bras. The bras were confiscated and kept by the school.

Other schools where coloured bras are banned sell white ones in their bookshops so students can replace them immediately. (See report on facing page.)

But in this school, there was no such alternative, until The New Paper queried the practice.

Girls from the school told The New Paper that some protected their modesty by using their files or school bags. Others borrowed brassieres from their friends 'as there are male teachers in the school'.

Some parents are unhappy with all this. We are not identifying the school or the parents as we do not want to embarrass the girls any further.

One angry parent said: 'This is almost tantamount to an outrage of the child's modesty.

'The school is lucky that the parents of these girls did not take the matter to the authorities and seek legal redress. I'd certainly not want my daughter to come all the way home feeling so naked.'

'WENT OVERBOARD'
Another, whose niece studies in the school, felt students should be handled in a dignified manner.

She said: 'I think the teacher went overboard with this. Yes, the girls may have broken some rules and I am told that some may have been recalcitrant.

'But surely there are other ways of handling the situation. Why not get the parents involved? Why embarrass the girls?

'It is only coloured bras after all, not taking drugs or prostituting themselves. Let's have some perspective here.'

Students were no less upset.

A Sec 4 girl said: 'It's quite a silly rule. I don't quite understand the reason behind it.

'When you're made to remove your underwear, especially in a place where there are male teachers, it's embarrassing.'

Some students said it was purely for the look that they wore coloured bras. Others said they wore sports bras for comfort and claimed it was not easy to find white ones.

A student from another girls' school agreed that it was humiliating to go without a bra.

The Sec 4 pupil added: 'I guess we're lucky that the school bookshop sells white bras. Our uniform is translucent, so going without a bra would be humiliating.

'I think if the school wants to implement a rule like that, it should explain the reason behind it so that we can appreciate its value.'

The school involved did provide its rationale to The New Paper.

'As a school we are concerned with the development of good values in our youth,' said the principal in an e-mail reply.

'The school would like our students to develop a sense of decorum and modesty.'

The rule, she added, is that all brassieres worn must be white, beige or light grey, and not visible through the uniform or PE attire.

She said: 'This rule is in place because the sharp contrast between dark, bright-coloured bras and the white school blouses and PE T-shirts would draw attention to what students are wearing under their blouses.'

Harsh

Students are regularly reminded of the rule and the rationale behind it.

The school does not object to the use of sports brassieres in school.

The principal admitted that the punishment may have been harsh.

She said: 'We recognise that the action taken on a couple of students who did not comply... was strong.

'We have since addressed this issue and have standardised the school's approach to teaching our students the importance of appreciating the rationale of this school rule.

'One of the ways in which the school has addressed this issue is to provide white bras for students who are not dressed appropriately.'

Student: My 4 coloured bras confiscated

One girl told The New Paper about her brush with the school authorities.

She was caught flouting the coloured bra rule during PE lessons.

Said the Sec 4 student, who declined to be named: 'We're allowed to wear only white or grey bras.

'But I didn't really bother with the rule until my bra got confiscated.'

She added that the school's discipline mistress spotted the coloured bra through her PE T-shirt, and made her remove it.

'I went through the rest of the lesson without a bra on,' she said.

She added that while it was uncomfortable going bra-less during sports class, what was worse was having to dodge male teachers around school.

And she recalled how she would try to run from the discipline mistress every time she wore an illegally-coloured bra to school. 'But it never worked - we always get caught,' she said.

She knows of a few other girls who have been punished the same way.

And she herself has been punished for the coloured bra offence four times.

Each time, she was made to remove her bra.

All four of her coloured bras were confiscated.

But she said that recently, some girls have found a way of circumventing the bra rule.

On days when there are PE lessons, some girls borrow white bras from their friends in other classes which don't have PE lessons on the same day.

She said: 'We go around asking who's wearing a white bra, and then we switch bras until PE is over.'

And how does she feel about being punished this way for wearing the wrong underwear?

'I'll be so happy if this rule is removed. It's so silly,' she said

benefits of honesty

2006-02-26T03:40:00.000+08:00

The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) yesterday confirmed an earlier report in The Straits Times saying that it would not take legal action against Deloitte & Touche.

It was the consultant involved in calculating SingTel's compensation for early loss of monopoly status in 1997.

IDA spokesman Jennifer Toh said that the regulator has 'no plans' to take legal action against Deloitte 'as the government officers involved had made a mistake in not seeking advice from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore on whether the compensation to SingTel was taxable or not'.

What had happened was 'an unfortunate but honest mistake'.

She added: 'IDA will ensure that similar mistakes do not recur by consulting the specific authorities on technical issues such as taxation.'

On Monday, IDA had said that it would not appeal against a High Court ruling in favour of SingTel over the disputed payout.

IDA had taken SingTel to court over its refusal to pay back $388 million which the regulator said was a tax element it included in the $1.5 billion payout for the early loss of the monopoly status
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Denesh Divyanathan , Straits Times4 Jul 2002

benefits of death

2006-02-26T03:25:00.000+08:00

The NKF's finances won't be the only thing under scrutiny in Parliament, starting today. Overshadowed, but not forgotten, the Auditor-General's 2004-05 report has also caused concern

FIFTEEN people continued to pay for their insurance premiums from their graves.
By Tan Mae Lynn

FIFTEEN people continued to pay for their insurance premiums from their graves.

Yes, the premiums for their Dependants' Protection Scheme (DPS) continued to be deducted from their CPF accounts even though they were already dead.

This startling fact was revealed in the 5 Jul Auditor-General's report.

In total, the CPF Board collected $2,996 from them. It continued the deductions as it didn't know they were dead. So, the insurance claims due to their families were not paid out either.

There were 201 others, too, whose claims were not paid by the CPF Board.

The report revealed that the insurance claims of 216 people, amounting to $7.4 million, were not given to their next-of-kin.

The policies include DPS and the Home Protection Scheme (HPS).

What's more, half of the 216 people had died more than two years ago, including 43 who died more than eight years ago.

Singaporeans who use their CPF funds to pay for their HDB housing loans have to be insured under HPS, provided they are in good health.

The scheme helps their families pay off any outstanding loan on the flat should they die before the age of 65 or if they become permanently incapacitated physically or mentally.

Under DPS, a CPF member's family can receive up to $44,000 in insurance claim if he or she dies or become physically or mentally disabled.
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19 July 2005, The Electric NewPaper

Benefits of citizenship

2006-02-25T16:03:00.000+08:00

MOHD Rizuan Ali, 34, was jailed for nine months yesterday for trying to steal a table from a rubbish collection centre last month. The nasi lemak seller wanted it to display his wares.
He and two friends, Mohamad Said Johan, 17, and Juraimi Abdullah, 29, broke into the centre in Bukit Merah on Jan 7. Juraimi was jailed for 2 1/2 years last week. The court sought a probation report before sentencing Said

benefits of permanent residency

2006-02-25T15:58:00.000+08:00

Feb 25, 2006Attacker in spat over pets fined
Man is fined $1,000 for punching and shoving woman after her dog had attacked his
By Chong Chee Kin

WHEN her golden retriever dashed out of her Siglap house and into the path of a man walking his dog, 40-year-old Madam Mindy Tan Lay Eng was prepared for a telling-off.

WALK WHICH ENDED IN AN ASSAULT: Sampovaara (above), a Singaporean permanent resident of Finnish descent, claimed he was trying to protect his wife, who was in "imminent danger" from "the fangs of the rogue dog" (below) which attacked his shar-pei. -- WONG KWAI CHOW

Instead, she was stunned when the man kicked her dog when it attacked his shar-pei. Then, when she tried to pull her dog away, he floored her with a punch to the eye, causing her to bleed. As she struggled to get away, he shoved her from the back, causing her to fall face first. Madam Tan was left with a 2.5cm-long scar on her eyelid that her doctors say is likely to be permanent.

The man, 35-year-old property investor Mika Johannes Sampovaara, was fined the maximum $1,000 after he admitted to a charge of causing hurt to Madam Tan. Another similar charge was taken into consideration.

Madam Tan said: 'I was shocked, speechless. I never expected to be punched.'

Assistant Public Prosecutor S. Pushpa told a district court the attack happened at about 8pm on Feb 4 last year, when Madam Tan was about to take Stormy, her retriever, out for a walk. As she opened the gate of her house in Roseburn Avenue, the dog ran out and attacked Sampovaara's shar-pei. At no point did the retriever turn on Sampovaara or his wife, who was accompanying him, the prosecutor said.

Sampovaara, a Singapore permanent resident of Finnish descent, claimed he was trying to protect his wife, who was in 'imminent danger' from 'the fangs of the rogue dog'. He also claimed he had retaliated after someone pushed him to the ground. 'He could not see who the person was...He got up immediately and launched himself at the person and hit the person once. It was then that he realised that the victim was a woman,' said his lawyer, Mr Edmond Pereira.

Speaking to The Straits Times yesterday, Madam Tan rubbished Sampovaara's claims and said she was disappointed with the punishment which was nevertheless the maximum allowable.
The attacking dog's owner, Madam Tan, was floored by a punch to the eye when she tried to pull her dog away. -- CHEW SENG KIM

At first, she said, Sampovaara wanted to compound the offence, but she turned him down.

After giving it some thought, she informed him she would agree only if he offered a written apology and $50,000, an amount Sampovaara's lawyer described as 'scandalous'.

Madam Tan, who helps her husband run a business dealing with household appliances, said it was 'never about the money', which she would have donated to charity if he gave it to her. She quoted a high figure because she wanted him to 'learn a lesson'.

Stormy, whom Madam Tan had kept as a pet for about two years, was timid and had never attacked another dog before, she said. She has since given the dog away.
cheekin@sph.com.sg

Island state not as advanced as neighbour, says academic

2006-02-25T01:18:00.000+08:00

Derrick A Paulo
derrick@newstoday.com.sg

It is not often that Singapore comes across as the sleepy fishing village compared to the advanced buzzing metropolis of Malaysia.
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It may sound even more counter-intuitive when the analogy is used to describe the cyberspace experience of both countries.
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But when it comes to one aspect of the Internet landscape, one Singaporean academic suggests no less.
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Former journalist Cherian George believes that, in the domain of cyber activism, the Republic is a poor cousin to its neighbour.
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"Singapore to this day, 10 years after the Internet became public, does not have a single professionally-run, stand-alone website delivering local news," he said on Wednesday at the launch of his book, Contentious Journalism and the Internet. "Malaysia has several more well-organised activist sites on the Internet than Singapore."
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He calls it a "penetration/participation paradox", given the online opportunities available to Singaporeans.
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However, for all the hype about the Internet, Dr George is convinced neither online access nor media laws, which are similar across the Causeway, can account for the differences in both countries.
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The answers can only be found in the offline world and in the old-fashioned political terrain.
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"(Firstly), the existence of social networks and activism outside of the Internet is far more advanced in Malaysia than in Singapore. Secondly, the reformasi factor: The fact that there was a form of political awakening in Malaysia which didn't take place in Singapore around the time the Internet arrived," he said.
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For those reasons, online newspapers like Malaysiakini and Harakah have survived all this while in Malaysia.
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There is another factor, though, why the popularity of alternative media in Singapore trails its Malaysian counterpart.
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"The local media have been at least able to do a professional enough job such that, by and large, they remain relevant to readers. If that were not the case, I have no doubt that large numbers of the public would migrate to alternative media," he told Today.
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Nonetheless, the presence of alternative media worldwide has highlighted how "the mainstream has in certain systemic ways failed to deliver on its promise for democratic communication", he said, citing how mainstream media is prisoner to the market and to organisational hierarchy.
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"You'll find (alternative) groups that are, I think, rightly troubled by this idea that objectivity is all. Some of these groups say it is better to be biased than pretend to be objective and in fact subject yourselves to agendas from outside," he added.
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In Singapore, Dr George highlights the online journalistic activism of Think Centre and Sintercom's harnessing of the virtual community as the "flickering reminders of alternative possibilities".
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While the impact of these groups on formal matters such as elections, voting and institutions may be marginal and indirect, Dr George believes they have allowed for self-expression, the sharing of ideas and socio-political commentary.
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"At the very least, (the groups) have been a democratic experience for the practitioners themselves, who are able to express themselves in a way that was hitherto not possible," he said.

extracted from http://www.todayonline.com/articles/102989.asp

Book Sale

2006-02-20T23:43:00.000+08:00

(Totem Books)
Introducing Sociology
Introducing Freud
Introducing Chomsky
Introducing mathematics
Introducing Melanie Klein
Introducing Psychoanalysis
Introducing Lacan
Introducing wittgenstein
--
The impossibility of sex
Sexuality and society
Lust
people like us - sexual minorities in singapore
What Jung really said
Plato not Prozac
Friedrich Nietzche
Routledge philosophy guide book to Kierkegaard and fear and trembling
How to choose
Killing the Buddha a heretic's bible
Think like a shrink
The consolations of philosophy
Kiekegaard for beginners
reading people
Fifty Key Thinkers in Psychology
going mad
101 key ideas psychology
The 100 simple secrets of happy people
The 100 simple secrets of successful people
The 100 simple secrets of great relationships
--
(Oxford University Press)
Augustine A very short introduction
Marx a very short introduction
The Bible a very short introduction
Paul a very short introduction
Sociology a very short introduction
--
Pocket dictionary of apologetics & philosophy of religion
The single issue
The Unique Woman
Cultic & occultic movements
Truth to proclaim
A hear ablaze
the bait of satan
The Bible Code
--
The Zahir
The valkyries
The pilgrimage
Manual of the warrior of light
The Devil and Miss Pyrm
Death: At Death's door
The man in the cupboard
Life is elsewhere
--
For the glory of God
Islam A short history
The middle east
Intimate knowledge - women and their health in north-east thailand
women in asia
Imperial ambitions
The dynasties of china
China condensed
The making of singapore sociology
The boxer rebellion
--
The Blank Slate
How the mind works
The History of western philosophy
What I believe
Why I am not a christian
Totem and Taboo
The protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism
--
Numerical Methods 2nd edition
Introduction to linear regression analysis, 3rd edition
Elementary Linear Algebra
Elementary numerical analysis 2nd edition
Operations Research an introduction 6th edition
Computer Organisation & design - the hardware / software interface
The Mathematica Book 4th edition
Calculus 9th edition
The Calculus 7
Discrete mathematics with applications 2nd edition
--
How to do everything with dreamweaver 4
Macromedia flash advanced for windows & macintosh

a loaf of bread

2006-02-18T02:16:00.000+08:00

Letter from Leo Lee, General Manager, Silver Bird Foods (S) Pte Ltd
--
We refer to the news report, "20 workers resign to protest boss' removal" (Feb 8) and seek to clarify some issues raised in the article.

First, 19 workers resigned and not 20 as reported in the article. Second, the article also indicated that one of our drivers had been sacked for wrongly recording the number of loaves sent to a supermarket.

It was further reported that the driver's supervisor, sales executive Jackie Ong — who had tried to cover up for the driver's mistake — was also sacked by the company.

We wish to clarify that this was not the case.

We deliver freshly-baked High 5 bread daily to our vendors and collect any unsold loaves from the previous day's delivery.

With reference to the reported incident, the driver collected 29 unsold loaves from the supermarket but recorded only 19. This left 10 loaves unaccounted for.

After conducting an extensive internal investigation, the findings warranted a termination of the driver's employment.

We also found that Mr Ong, the driver's supervisor, had been privy to his mistake and failed to proactively report it to the management.

We reviewed the severity of the matter with Mr Ong and reached a decision for both parties to part ways.

Silver Bird also waived his notice period and further compensated him with a pro- rated salary, bonus and commission package.

Several of the workers who resigned have since contacted Silver Bird to pledge their support for the company and have asked to be reinstated.

We are happy to say that five were reinstated last week. We are in discussions with the rest.

extracted from http://www.todayonline.com/articles/100878.asp

Puzzle of migrating S'poreans

2006-02-04T15:18:00.000+08:00

Puzzle of migrating S'poreans
Are they put off by foreign talent or lured by less stress?

Letter from Lim Boon Hee

It has been a new spring that left me with mixed feelings about what it really means to be a native-born Singaporean.

I realised that two of my cousins' families have migrated without saying a word or leaving any contacts.

Whether it means leaving Singapore for good or not I don't know. One has gone to the United States and the other to Australia after living in Hong Kong for two years.

Another first cousin is suffering in silence the heartache of her eldest son not returning home after completing his university studies overseas.

Had she not been rich and able to send him overseas, she would still have had her eldest son beside her to see her to a ripe old age.

This set me thinking.

Why are so many middle-aged university-educated professional Singaporeans leaving?

Is it the National Service, our education system or the changes in our society that are pushing them away?

Has the influx of foreign "talents" from India and China made them feel that being citizens count for very little nowadays or is it the pull of greener pastures where life is less pressurised and less stressful?

Friends tell me that in Canada, you are very well taken care of by the state insofar as education, medical and welfare are concerned.

The children there do not have to be dragged to school before the sun is up and "forced" to stay in school till 6pm or even later for co-curricular activities.

That my cousins left quietly the soil where they were born and educated without any fanfare or leaving any form of contacts can only mean one thing — they are cutting all ties with their motherland for good.

Are our policies inadvertently driving our own talents away while taking in foreigners as new citizens?

This vicious cycle cannot be good for Singapore. Yes, we welcome foreign talent but not at the expense of our own sons and daughters born and educated here.
Are they put off by foreign talent or lured by less stress?

Letter from Lim Boon Hee
- extracted from http://www.todayonline.com/articles/98739.asp

Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression

2006-01-26T03:46:00.000+08:00

Strong, credible allegations of high-level criminal activity can bring down a government. When the government lacks an effective, fact-based defense, other techniques must be employed. The success of these techniques depends heavily upon a cooperative, compliant press and a mere token opposition party.

1. Dummy up. If it's not reported, if it's not news, it didn't happen.

2. Wax indignant. This is also known as the "how dare you?" gambit.

3. Characterize the charges as "rumors" or, better yet, "wild rumors." If, in spite of the news blackout, the public is still able to learn about the suspicious facts, it can only be through "rumors." (If they tend to believe the "rumors" it must be because they are simply "paranoid" or "hysterical.")

4. Knock down straw men. Deal only with the weakest aspect of the weakest charges. Even better, create your own straw men. Make up wild rumors and give them lead play when you appear to debunk all the charges, real and fanciful alike.

5. Call the skeptics names like "conspiracy theorist," "nut," "ranter," "kook," "crackpot," and of course, "rumor monger." Be sure, too, to use heavily loaded verbs and adjectives when characterizing their charges and defending the "more reasonable" government and its defenders. You must then carefully avoid fair and open debate with any of the people you have thus maligned. For insurance, set up your own "skeptics" to shoot down.

6. Impugn motives. Attempt to marginalize the critics by suggesting strongly that they are not really interested in the truth but are simply pursuing a partisan political agenda or are out to make money (compared to over-compensated adherents to the government line who, presumably, are not).

7. Invoke authority. Here the controlled press and the sham opposition can be very useful.

8. Dismiss the charges as "old news."

9. Come half-clean. This is also known as "confession and avoidance" or "taking the limited hangout route." This way, you create the impression of candor and honesty while you admit only to relatively harmless, less-than-criminal "mistakes." This stratagem often requires the embrace of a fall-back position quite different from the one originally taken. With effective damage control, the fall-back position need only be peddled by stooge skeptics to carefully limited markets.

10. Characterize the crimes as impossibly complex and the truth as ultimately unknowable.

11. Reason backward, using the deductive method with a vengeance. With thoroughly rigorous deduction, troublesome evidence is irrelevant. For example: We have a completely free press. If they know of evidence that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) had prior knowledge of the Oklahoma City bombing they would have reported it. They haven't reported it, so there was no prior knowledge by the BATF. Another variation on this theme involves the likelihood of a conspiracy leaker and a press that would report the leak.

12. Require the skeptics to solve the crime completely. For example: If Vince Foster was murdered, who did it and why?

13. Change the subject. This technique includes creating and/or publicizing distractions.

14. Scantly report incriminating facts, and then make nothing of them. This is sometimes referred to as "bump and run" reporting.

15. Baldly and brazenly lie. A favorite way of doing this is to attribute the "facts" furnished the public to a plausible-sounding, but anonymous, source.

16. Expanding further on numbers 4 and 5, have your own stooges "expose" scandals and champion popular causes. Their job is to pre-empt real opponents and to play 99-yard football. A variation is to pay rich people for the job who will pretend to spend their own money.

17. Flood the Internet with agents. This is the answer to the question, "What could possibly motivate a person to spend hour upon hour on Internet news groups defending the government and/or the press and harassing genuine critics?" Don't the authorities have defenders enough in all the newspapers, magazines, radio, and television? One would think refusing to print critical letters and screening out serious callers or dumping them from radio talk shows would be control enough, but, obviously, it is not.

-- David Martin

Be a world-beating S'porean, Mr Brown

2006-01-24T01:05:00.000+08:00

Serve your NS proudly, roll your 'r's when convenient

I wish to congratulate our President for the adjustment to his salary to $2,507,200, an increase from the last adjustment in February last year.
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I really feel Mr President deserved it. And it is also a good sign for all Singaporeans because it was done in view of "higher projected bonuses", which is the case because the economy has performed better than expected.
-
I am sure many Singaporeans are looking forward to adjustments to their salaries too.
-
It is a good time to be in Singapore. The headlines are carrying good news.
-
COE prices are at all-time lows. Consumer confidence is up. Low-wage earners are getting $1 billion in help. Our foreign trade hit a record of $712 billion. Low-wage workers will be getting a housing grant to help them own flats. Even Buangkok Station has opened — rejoice!
-
Other good news includes stiffer penalties for National Service (NS) evaders.
-
Hey, every Singapore male should experience fond memories of NS camaraderie. Don't think of it as tougher sentences, think of it as encouragement to partake of nation-building.
-
Sure, there are some who think that we should allow NS to be served in other non-military forms, if people have other talents such as piano playing and scientific research.
-
I agree wholeheartedly! Singaporeans who are world-beaters (our latest buzzword) in piano playing should be allowed to serve their NS in their area of talent.
-
I don't think we should let all that world-beating talent go to waste. The young fellow can serve his NS days playing piano.
-
It will be good for the morale of his comrades if he plays in the rest period between the 24km route march and the four-day field exercise (without a shower).
-
I recently read a letter in the press written by a young man who has a Thai father and Singaporean mother.
-
The writer, Pavin Limanont, who is one year away from serving his NS, said that he has plans to emigrate to the United States.
-
He grew up watching American movies and cartoons, and listening to American country music.
-
His paternal aunts and uncles are Ivy League students who "speak with a slight American accent and use American grammar in speech". He has plans to renounce his Singapore citizenship and hang on to his Thai one.
-
Given all these factors, and also that he feels no allegiance to Singapore, Pavin suggested that those who plan to emigrate, like himself, should be allowed to opt out of NS.
-
After all, he argues, if war breaks out between the US and Singapore after he has made the US his new home, he will defend the US and fight against Singapore if necessary.
-
Wah! Strong words indeed. I too grew up on American movies and cartoons, and did listen to some American country and gospel music. In fact, I believe there are only two kinds of music worth listening to: Country and Western.
-
And sometimes, I even speak with a slight American accent when I am around Westerners. I got that from my paternal aunts and uncles, who let me watch American TV shows at their homes whenever I visited. So sometimes, when I am not paying attention, I roll my "r"s and speak with a nasal drawl.
-
Too bad, both my parents are Singaporeans. So I cannot make as strong a case as Pavin. I wish him all the best in convincing the Government to allow young people who plan to emigrate the choice to opt out of NS.
-
No, really, I hope he gets to opt out. Because it is not a good way to start NS after declaring in the papers that you would fight against Singapore in a war.
-
There was a banner ad above that letter when I read it online. It was an ad for getting a US Green Card. I am sure that was unintended, but I thought it was quite funny and apt. (Incidentally, I just checked and the banner ad is not there any more.)
-
In Singapore, you have to be 21 before you can renounce your citizenship. But by that time, you would have served NS.
-
Maybe, parents who want to avoid that can fly to another country just one month before their kid is due to be born. Some enterprising businessman can set up a Choose Your Own Citizenship Tour package for these parents.
-
The only hiccup I can foresee is that most airlines will not let heavily pregnant women fly. So, I think you will have to choose a country near by. Somewhere you can drive to — like Malaysia or Thailand.
-
On a totally unrelated note, Singapore's blood banks need you. They are running very low on blood supplies, to the extent that elective surgeries are being postponed. So give blood, people!
-
I remember giving blood as a child and how fun it was. You always got some hot Milo and some biscuits to eat. As well as a packet of iron pills.
-
In JC, when there were blood drives, the boys had to ensure that they showed courage, since there were girls present. Guys had to pretend they were not afraid of the needle. Fainting from a blood donation was social suicide.
-
But really, don't be afraid. Donating blood is easy and a good thing to do. As long as you are above 18 and healthy, you can give blood. If you do go, get a few more packets of biscuits for me, can? I miss eating those.
-
Thanks y'all, mighty kind of yer.
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mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website that has been documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He thinks Johnny Cash is da bomb
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http://www.todayonline.com/articles/96314.asp

National service a universal obligation

2006-01-24T01:00:00.000+08:00

I REFER to Mr Pavin Limanont's letter, 'Let those who intend to emigrate opt out of NS' (ST, Jan 18).

All male Singaporeans are liable for national service (NS). This universal obligation to serve, including the appropriate way to deal with those who default, was debated fully in Parliament and reported in the media, including The Straits Times.

Should Mr Limanont or his parents have queries on his specific case, they may contact the Mindef Feedback Unit on 1800-760-8844 or at mfu@starnet.gov.sg.

Col Benedict LimDirector, Public Affairs Ministry of Defence
http://www.straitstimes.com/forum/story/0,5562,365887,00.html

Let those who intend to emigrate opt out of NS

2006-01-24T00:55:00.000+08:00

I refer to the Insight article, 'Doers & dodgers: Time to heal the rift?' (ST, Jan 14).

I share the same sentiment as Mr Paul Wong, feeling no allegiance to Singapore and not being able to assimilate into Singaporean culture even though I was born and raised here.

As a child, I grew up watching classic American movies and cartoons, and listening to American-genre music like country, southern gospel and classic American oldies.

My paternal aunts and uncles are Ivy League students and speak with a slight American accent and use American grammar in speech. I was influenced by them.

Because I am the child of a Thai father and a Singaporean mother, I am a citizen of both Thailand and Singapore. I hold a Singapore passport and will have to serve national service next year.

I do not intend to live in Singapore and, in fact, have made serious plans to emigrate to the United States in future.

Many friends of mine who have gone overseas to study intend to settle down in their host country after serving national service.

I do not support the evasion of national service but I appeal to the Government to make some changes to the policy.

For those who do not intend to live in Singapore, there is no purpose in serving national service. It is a waste of resources for the Government and a waste of time for those affected.

In my case, I will renounce my Singapore citizenship at age 21 and take on Thai citizenship. The US will be my home in future and if a war breaks out between Singapore and the US, God forbid, obviously I would help to defend the US and fight Singapore if need be.

Therefore, I do not see the purpose of training men who might 'turn against' their country in unforeseen circumstances.

Perhaps the Ministry of Defence could come up with a policy to permit those who intend to emigrate to opt out of national service but if they do not leave by a certain age, then they would be drafted.

Patriotism and loyalty cannot be forced. It is ultimately up to an individual whether he wants to serve the country.

Pavin Limanont
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/forum/story/0,5562,365664,00.html

DBS leaves $1

2006-01-14T18:40:00.000+08:00

Jan 14, 2006
--
DBS Bank deducts payment from NS allowance, leaves only $1 in account
--
For a lot of NSmen the few hundred bucks they get credited into their bank accounts on the 10th of each month mean a world to them.
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Just imagine if one unfortunate guy goes to a bank teller and finds that his $400 missing from his account?
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I took a DBS study loan a few years ago for my polytechnic school fees. My father had not been supporting my family since he ran away to Malaysia when I was 14. My only elder brother left for Hongkong to work since I was 16 and he pretty much has a life there himself. -Since all my mother's CPF savings had gone into paying the instalments for the flat we were staying in, I could not use her money for my studies.
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I started working since I was 14. I had endured the stress of working and studying all this time until my call-up for National Service five months ago. Sad to say, the work I did affected my studies and I failed to graduate with a diploma.
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It is stated in the contract, which I did not realise initially, that when I fail to graduate, I have to pay the entire sum owed to DBS Bank. I was at my wit's end. The amount came to $8,000.
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I desperately looked for options from DBS Bank but to no avail. My mother presently works as a cleaner. She hardly makes enough money for the family. So when I went into National Service last September our income fell greatly.
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Luckily, one of the officers in DBS Bank agreed to help me look into my appeal to defer the loan till after my National Service. I had the impression that the repayment would be suspended temporarily as I had already paid almost $500 for interest and other charges last year.
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That had already taken its toll on me. In October last year, driven to desperation I went to one of the bank's branches and authorised it to debit my account at $100 a month out of my $350 National Service allowance.
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I felt relieved as I thought the bank would allow me to spread out my repayments. On January 10, I went to the teller thinking that I would finally be getting my first pay packet that exceeded $350, as I had just graduated from my recruit's phase.
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But I found that my account had only $1 left in it. No one can imagine how desperate I was. I called the bank, explained my situation one more time and asked for the money to be credited back into my account.-The officer explained that the deduction was for penalty and interest payments. But she said she would ask for authorisation from the higher authorities for the money to be put back into my account.-Chinese New Year is coming. I wonder how much I can give my mum for the new year with this meagre allowance and $1 in my bank account.
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I did not get any notice about the deduction from my bank account. I could not think of anything but begged that the money be put back, but the bank's higher authorities has said no.
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I understand that DBS Bank is not a charitable organisation. It runs a business but how can it debit from my account just like this? Where's the sympathy that makes Singaporeans donate millions of dollars into charity every year without fail?
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I am not asking for charity here and I will not accept any charity either. I'm just asking for a deferment till a better time to repay my loan. What is $8,000 to DBS Bank? What is $400 to DBS Bank? I have no idea how much it is going to deduct from my account in the days to come.

--Wan Ee Voon

the wealth of a nation

2006-01-08T04:47:00.000+08:00

In an era where funding is critical -- even a microscope can cost half a million dollars -- wealthy Singapore has the money. That, say scientists, has been Singapore's attraction, along with speedy grant approvals and lack of burdensome paperwork. "We don't want to spend the rest of our lives writing grants," said Copeland, adding that Singapore's quick access to funding was key. The couple's colony of 20,000 mice costs some $1 million a year to maintain

- Reuters, Jan 5, 2006 -

"Unemployed and single, 37-year-old Koh Hock Choon has been hit by so many medical problems, he wonders why he's still alive. 'I am just waiting to die,' he told The New Paper despondently. Mr Koh suffers from severe heart ailments that hinder his movement"

- April 5, 2005, TNP -

flickr - SIP, IMS & Weblogic

2006-01-05T15:04:00.000+08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kyhuang/

merits of music

2006-01-05T14:42:00.000+08:00

"People were quite surprised to find that I only played the fortepiano, and I began to realise that my repertory had, in fact, been very restrictive, all of it written within a period of eighty or so years. My school days had been so steeped in French nineteenth- and twentieth-century repertory, and I found myself wondering what it would be like to do all that again, so I did!"

http://www.musicteachers.co.uk/journal/index.php?issue=2000-12&file=tan&page=2

"If people do not perform their duties properly then they will have to take responsibility for it and answer for it in the appropriate way. But military training is such that it has to be realistic for it to be useful, and the people will be ready. From time to time, there will be incidents and accidents, even with the best of efforts. I think the Singapore public is mature enough to understanding it."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/186299/1/.html

Chahaar sanduq

2006-01-03T17:46:00.000+08:00

Chahaar sanduq (Four boxes; Tehran,1979), written in 1967, is a study of how a society manufactures its own dictators. Four characters appear on stage as four colors: yellow, green, red, and black, symbolizing intellectuals, clergy, merchants, and laborers respectively. At the beginning, in order to safeguard the interests of his own class, each contributes to the making of a scarecrow as guardian against some unknown external threat. Soon, however, the scarecrow comes to life and is able to break their alliance and force them to build four boxes, in which each is confined. This confinement is, however, self-imposed, for each character is more afraid of the others than of the despotic scarecrow

finding number of files in a directory

2005-12-20T15:33:00.000+08:00

find . -type f wc -l

In defence of multiculturalism

2005-12-17T22:28:00.000+08:00

A polycultural society can flourish if all its members play a role in establishing its core values
Dec. 15, 2005. 01:00 am, Salman Rushdie
--
Multiculturalism has always been an embattled idea, but the battle has grown fiercer of late. In this, as in so many other things, it is terrorism that is setting the agenda, goading us and forcing us to respond ? terrorism, whose goal it is to turn the differences between us into divisions and then to use those divisions as justifications.

No question about it: It's harder to celebrate the virtues of polyculture when even Belgian women are being persuaded by Belgians of North African descent to blow up themselves and other people.

Comedians, among others, have been trying to defuse ? wrong verb ? people's fears by facing up to them: "My name's Shazia Mirza, or at least that's what it says on my pilot's licence." But it will take more than comedy to calm things down.

Britain, the most determinedly "multiculturist" of European nations, is at the heart of the debate. According to some opinion polls, the British people avowed their continued support for multiculturalism even in the immediate aftermath of the July 7 bombings. Many commentators, however, have been less affirmative.

David Goodhart, editor of Prospect magazine, asks the old philosophical question "Who is my brother?" and suggests that an overly diverse society may become an unsustainable one. Britain's first black archbishop, the Rt. Rev. John Sentamu, accuses multiculturalism of being bad for English national identity. And the British government has announced that new citizens will have to pass a "Britishness test" from now on.

A passport will be a kind of driver's licence proving that you've learned the new rules of the nationalist road.

At the other end of the spectrum, Karen Chouhan of the 1990 Trust, a "black-led" human-rights organization, insists "We need to move forward with a serious debate about how far we have to go in tackling race discrimination in every corner of society, not move it back by forcing everyone to be more (white) British."

And professor Bhikhu Parekh redefines multiculturalism as the belief that "no culture is perfect or represents the best life, and that it can therefore benefit from a critical dialogue with other cultures ... Britain is and should remain a vibrant and democratic multicultural society that must combine respect for diversity with shared common values."

It's impossible for someone like me, whose life was transformed by an act of migration, to be entirely objective about the value of such acts. I have spent much of my writing life celebrating the potential for creativity and renewal of the cultural encounters and frictions that have become commonplace in our much-transplanted world.

Then again, as people keep pointing out, I have a second axe to grind, because the Satanic Verses controversy was a pivotal moment in the forging of a British Muslim identity and political agenda.

I did not fail to note the ironies: a secular work of art energized powerful communalist, anti-secularist forces, "Muslim" instead of "Asian." And, yes, as a result the argument about multiculturalism, for me, has become an internal debate, a quarrel in the self.

Nor am I alone. The melange of culture is in us all, with its irreconcilable contradictions. In our swollen, polyglot cities we are all cultural mestizos, and the argument within rages to some degree in us all.

So it is important to make a distinction between multifaceted culture and multiculturalism.

In the age of mass migration and the Internet, cultural plurality is an irreversible fact, like globalization. Like it or dislike it, it's where we live, and the dream of a pure monoculture is at best an unattainable, nostalgic fantasy, and at worst a life-threatening menace ? when ideas of racial purity, religious purity or cultural purity turn into programs of "ethnic cleansing," for example, or when Hindu fanatics in India attack the "inauthenticity" of Indian Muslim experience, or when Islamic ideologues drive young people to die in the service of "pure" faith, unadulterated by compassion or doubt.

"Purity" is a slogan that leads to segregations and explosions. Let us have no more of it. A little more impurity, please, a little less cleanliness, a little more dirt. We'll all sleep easier in our beds.

Multiculturalism, however, has all too often become mere cultural relativism, a much less defensible proposition, under cover of which much that is reactionary and oppressive ? of women, for example ? can be justified.

The British multiculturalist idea of different cultures peacefully coexisting under the umbrella of a vaguely defined pax Britannica was seriously undermined by the July bombers and the disaffected ghetto culture from which they sprang.

Of the other available social models, the one-size-fits-all homogenizing of "full assimilation" seems not only undesirable but unachievable. What remains is the "core values" approach to which Parekh alludes, and of which the "Britishness test" is, at least as currently proposed, a grotesque comic parody.

When we, as individuals, pick and mix cultural elements for ourselves, we do not do so indiscriminately, but according to our natures. Societies, too, must retain the ability to discriminate, to reject as well as to accept, to value some things above others, and to insist on the acceptance of those values by all their members.

This is the question of our time: How does a fractured community of multiple cultures decide what values it must share in order to cohere, and how can it insist on those values even when they clash with some citizens' traditions and beliefs?

The beginnings of an answer may be found by asking the question the other way around: What does a society owe to its citizens?

The French riots demonstrate a stark truth. If people do not feel included in the national idea, their alienation will eventually turn to rage.

Chouhan and others are right to insist that issues of social justice, racism and deprivation need urgently to be addressed. If we are to build a plural society on the foundation of what unites us, we must face up to what divides.

But the questions of core freedoms and primary loyalties can't be ducked.

No society, no matter how tolerant, can expect to thrive if its citizens don't prize what their citizenship means ? if, when asked what they stand for as Frenchmen, as Indians, as Americans, as Britons, they cannot give a clear reply.
--
Salman Rushdie is the author of The Satanic Verses, Fury and many other books.

The ideological basis of power

2005-11-27T23:20:00.000+08:00

"The content is often political, but not directly political, in the sense that you are not advocating anything, but at the same time you are undermining the ideological basis of power." New York Times, Nov 2005

grep

2005-10-18T00:42:00.000+08:00

find . -name "*.c" -print xargs grep -l foo

Initially

2005-10-17T23:09:00.000+08:00

The pigtail was originally a symbol of subjugation, imposed by the conquering Manchus at the start of the Qing Dynasty. A long braid hanging down from the back of the head resembles a horse's tail and symbolized the speed and endurance of the animal that made the Qing conquest of China possible. The hairstyle consisted of a long braid at the back of the head, with a half-moon shape shaved into the hair above the forehead. Thick hair was fashionable, so the hirsutely-challenged added false hair and even entire false braids. Although the pigtail was initially an unwelcome imposition on Han Chinese men by the invaders, criminals and undesirables were forbidden to wear a ponytail so the style became a status symbol. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, resurgent Han nationalism made cutting off the ponytail a patriotic duty representing the casting off of the yoke of the Manchu Empire
-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_Chinese_clothing

-

2005-10-10T11:04:00.000+08:00

-

2005-10-08T15:39:00.000+08:00

hajib

2005-09-27T06:42:00.000+08:00

The respected scholar, Muhammad Asad6, commenting on Qur'an 24:31 says " The noun khimar (of which khumur is plural) denotes the head-covering customarily used by Arabian women before and after the advent of Islam. According to most of the classical commentators, it was worn in pre-Islamic times more or less as an ornament and was let down loosely over the wearer's back; and since, in accordance with the fashion prevalent at the time, the upper part of a woman's tunic had a wide opening in the front, her breasts were left bare. Hence, the injunction to cover the bosom by means of a khimar (a term so familiar to the contemporaries of the Prophet) does not necessarily relate to the use of a khimar as such but is, rather, meant to make it clear that a woman's breasts are not included in the concept of "what may decently be apparent" of her body and should not, therefore, be displayed.

The Qur'anic view of the ideal society is that the social and moral values have to be upheld by both Muslim men and women and there is justice for all, i.e. between man and man and between man and woman. The Qur'anic legislation regarding women is to protect them from inequities and vicious practices (such as female infanticide, unlimited polygamy or concubinage, etc.) which prevailed in the pre-Islamic Arabia. However the main purpose is to establish to equality of man and woman in the sight of God who created them both in like manner, from like substance, and gave to both the equal right to develop their own potentialities. To become a free, rational person is then the goal set for all human beings. Thus the Qur'an liberated the women from the indignity of being sex-objects into persons. In turn the Qur'an asks the women that they should behave with dignity and decorum befitting a secure, Self-respecting and self-aware human being rather than an insecure female who felt that her survival depends on her ability to attract or cajole those men who were interested not in her personality but only in her sexuality

hijab

2005-09-27T06:39:00.000+08:00

In Surah 24: 31(Ayah), the Qur'an advises women to cover their "adornments" from strangers outside the family. In the traditional and modern Arab societies women at home dress quite differently compared to what they wear in the streets. In this verse of the Qur'an, it refers to the institution of a new public modesty rather than veiling the face

When the pre-Islamic Arabs went to battle, Arab women seeing the men off to war would bare their breasts to encourage them to fight; or they would do so at the battle itself, as in the case of the Meccan women led by Hind at the Battle of Uhud. This changed with Islam, but the general use of the veil to cover the face did not appear until 'Abbasid times. Nor was it entirely unknown in Europe, for the veil permitted women the freedom of anonymity. None of the legal systems actually prescribe that women must wear a veil, although they do prescribe covering the body in public, up to the neck, the ankles, and below the elbow. In many Muslim societies, for example in traditional South East Asia, or in Bedouin lands a face veil for women is either rare or non-existent; paradoxically, modern fundamentalism is introducing it. In others, the veil may be used at one time and European dress another. While modesty is a religious prescription, the wearing of a veil is not a religious requirement of Islam, but a matter of cultural milieu

"The Middle Eastern norm for relationships between the sexes is by no means the only one possible for Islamic societies everywhere, nor is it appropriate for all cultures. It does not exhaust the possibilities allowed within the framework of the Qur'an and Sunnah, and is neither feasible nor desirable as a model for Europe or North America. European societies possess perfectly adequate models for marriage, the family, and relations between the sexes which are by no means out of harmony with the Qur'an and the Sunnah. This is borne out by the fact that within certain broad limits Islamic societies themselves differ enormously in this respect."

boxer rebellion

2005-09-25T23:17:00.000+08:00

An obscure, ill-organised sect that claimed to possess supernatural powers, it drew its members mainly from the poor and dispossessed of northern China. The foreigners called them "boxers" because of the ritualistic martial arts they practiced

boxer rebellion

2005-09-25T23:11:00.000+08:00

Their lives had long been a losing struggle against cycles of flood, drought, and famine. The arrival in China of increasing numbers of foreigners had only deepened their misery

Some foreigners came in pursuit of commerce, and the new technologies they brought with them - steamboats and locomotives, telegraph systems and mining equipment - not only offended the spirits of earth, water, and air but also robbed many chinese of their jobs

Often ignorant, dissmissive, or contemptuous of the native culture, they (christian missionaries) and their aggressive proselytising threatened the very fabric of chinese family and village life. The boxers despised their chinese converts as traitors, "rice christians" who had sold themselves for a square meal

boxer rebellion

2005-09-25T23:01:00.000+08:00

The boxers' simmering resentment erupted across the northern provinces of Shantung, Shansi , and Chihli in the summer of 1900

Chanting mobs surrounded the mission stations and dragged out their terrorised occupants

Some they killed on the spot; others they took to boxer temples to be slowly tortured to death. Tens of thousands of chinese converts, protestants and catholic, were murdered - hacked to death, skinned alive, set alight, or buried still living

The foreigners in Peking - nearly 900 men, women, and children from the eighteen most powerful nations in the world - were beseiged in the diplomatic quarter. Established in the 1860s following China's defeat in the war with Britain and France, the quarter was by 1900 a commerical as well as a diplomatic district

The beseiged cooked and ate unappetizing, indigestible meals of rice and horsemeat and were glad of them. Nearly everyone got dysentery. In the heat of the humid Peking summer, thick swarms of black flies and the sickly sweet stench of rotting flesh were everywhere

boxer rebellion

2005-09-25T22:46:00.000+08:00

Watching and waiting on events from within Peking's fabled pink-walled Forbidden city was the "Old Buddha", Tzu Hsi, the sixty-five-year-old Empress Dowager of China. A reactionary to the core, she had recently incarcerated her nephew the emperor for daring to lead a reform movement

She shared the boxers' loathing of the foreigners in china and was astute enough to realise 2 things: first, the boxers could help her sweep the hated interlopers out of china, and second, their genuine social and economic grievances had to be harnessed or they might be turned against her and the manchu dynasty. It proved her greatest mistake

Both Tientsin and Peking were thoroughly and indiscriminately looted by all nationalities and all classes. Many innocent civilians commited suicide rather than face being raped and akilled. Moats, rivers, and wells became clogged with bodies. It was a bloody bloodbath and it backfired badly on Tzu Hsi.

In her final years she was forced to embrace the very reforms she had earlier resisted and indeed to introduce them so quickly that they undermined the dynasty she had fought to preserve

The last emperor, Pu Yi, was deposed in 1911, just three years after her death

boxer legacy

2005-09-25T22:37:00.000+08:00

As China underwent her metamorphosis, the events of 1900 continued to resonate. The boxers were lauded and indeed reinvented for propaganda purposes. They achieved deeper significance as a metaphor for chinese pride and patriotism than their activities in 1900 deserve

In 1903 the republican Sun Yat-Sen praised the boxers for rising up in the face of an impotent court to prevent the dismemberment by the foreigners. During the 1920s the chinese communists depicted the boxers as anti-imperialist patriots

In 1955 Chou En-lai called the boxer revolt "one of the cornerstones of the great victory of the chinese people 50 years later". In 1960, to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of the rising, a play was written about the boxers by a Manchu whose father had been in the Imperial Guard at the time

That the boxer rising was a kind of harbinger of the people's revolution was part of the official folklore of the cultural revolution. The rhetoric in one booklet published towards the tail end was typical: "Armed with swords and spears and shouting anti-imperialist slogans, they [ the boxers ] stood erect before the imperialists and their lackeys"

During the democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in 1989, young protesters told foreigners they felt like the boxers of old, invulnerable against bullets

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2005-09-25T22:18:00.000+08:00

-

2005-09-25T22:04:00.000+08:00

red

2005-09-17T01:49:00.000+08:00

Like the Red Guards, the Red Lanterns were young, consisting mostly of teenagers, and they were rebellious, with a decided preference (as mythologized) for behaving outrageously toward civilized idols

The red lantern became a powerful emblem of the revolutionary spirit in the hands of Jiang Qing, who wrote a political opera titled The Red Lantern

red lanterns

2005-09-17T01:12:00.000+08:00

During the latter stage of the Cultural Revolution the Red Lanterns thus became not just an emblem of revolutionary ideals but also an empowering feminist symbol

red lanterns

2005-09-17T01:08:00.000+08:00

The Red Lanterns reemerged as symbolic historical figures of the late Cultural Revolution during the anti-Confucian campaign of 1973. This campaign was an effort to eradicate ideas such as the low status and subordination of women which were associated with Confucianism

urban men

2005-09-17T00:03:00.000+08:00

this is one ambitious urbanite

probably couldnt make 200 that day

urban men

2005-09-16T23:51:00.000+08:00

There were many urban males in the shop

There is finally a shop for urban men

Meiji Restoration

2005-09-16T01:28:00.000+08:00

The Meiji Restoration (明治維新; Meiji Ishin), also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution or Renewal, was a chain of events that led to a change in Japan's political and social structure.

The Tokugawa bakufu came to an official end on November 9, 1867, when the 15th Tokugawa Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu "put his prerogatives at the emperor's disposal" (Beasley, 52) and then resigned his position 10 days later. This was effectively the "restoration" (Taisei Hōkan) of imperial rule, although Yoshinobu retained considerable power

The leaders of the Meiji Restoration, as this revolution came to be known, claimed that their actions restored the emperor's powers. This is not in fact true

The Meiji Revolution can be seen as a catalyst towards industrialization in Japan that led to the rise of the island nation as a world power by 1918, under the slogan of "National Wealth and Military Strength"

Red lanterns

2005-09-15T07:11:00.000+08:00

Attacks on Westerners and Chinese Christians were a prominent feature of Chinese society during the late Qing

Typically these attacks have been attributed to xenophobia, a fear of foreigners, or seen as a response to imperialism in its many forms - religious, social, economic, and political.

Historians have also pointed to Western imperialism as an explanation for the hostile treatment of Westerners and Chinese Christians in the nineteenth century

To be sure, imperialist expansion by Westerners in Chongqing elicited hostility that was targeted against their foreign identities

Taking advantage of new privileges exacted in the post-Opium War treaties, Western missionaries and Chinese Christians were much more aggressive in their efforts to encroach upon the local power structure

the conflict between Boxers and Christians was not regarded by the Boxers as a purely military confrontation. Instead, it was seen by them as a contest pitting their magic and the efficacy of their gods against those of the Christian missionarie

Although (married) adult women, who had been polluted by menstruation, intercourse, and childbirth, threatened the efficacy of the Boxers' magico-religious ritual, not all females were seen by the movement as being of negative influence

In fact, corps of female adolescents called the Red Lanterns played a role counterpart to that of the Boxers

The Red Lanterns were typically young enough that they had not experienced marriage, intercourse, or childbirth, and in the near famine conditions of the time many had not yet undergone menarche

This lack of female pollution ensured their purity, upon which their potent magical powers were based

When opponents of the Boxer movement wished to a cast aspersions on the Red Lanterns, for example, they called their morality into question by implying that they engaged in promiscuity or illicit sexual relations, rather than doubting the possibility of the magical powers which the Red Lanterns claimed

the Red Lanterns have been mythologized in several different ways in order to serve the needs of two distinct phases of the Cultural Revolution era

The Red Lanterns were emphasized because the Red Guards identified with them and because they possessed a potent revolutionary symbolism

- Recant -

2005-09-15T07:01:00.000+08:00

I have decided not to speak anything that might be misconstrued as seditious. I love my nation, I love my people, I'd even prostitute myself and betray my friends if it were being asked of me by my beloved nation. To those who are genuinely disappointed, I pray you will learn to do the expedient thing and emulate the sycophants who managed to please the right people
--
Thus begins a series of blog entries about the food, culture and history of other nations
--
"More probably they feel that their own version was what happened in the sight of G-d, and that one is justified in rearranging the records accordingly" - George Orwell

books

2005-09-13T23:28:00.000+08:00

The reason why despots succeed

Red.. the blood of angry men

I chanced upon a seditious publication

this was clearly not written for sycophants

why would we want competition?

Another seditious publication

the author does not seem to like despots

some despots are known to jail their detractors

leading nowhere

2005-09-13T14:27:00.000+08:00

vacant

2005-09-13T14:14:00.000+08:00

futile

2005-09-13T14:07:00.000+08:00

vigilant

2005-09-13T13:53:00.000+08:00

The owner of the $1.00 paperclip understood the value of vigilance

theocracy

2005-09-13T07:35:00.000+08:00

"A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practise, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened. Then, again, every major change in policy demands a corresponding change of doctrine and a revaluation of prominent political figures" - George Orwell

Sedition

2005-09-13T07:02:00.000+08:00

This book undermines the cherished values that this nation is built upon

The character is clearly guilty of sedition and prodigal living

This author might be joining his peers in prison soon

earthly attachments

2005-09-13T06:56:00.000+08:00

even goddesses may be subject to samsara

Pledged as one united people

2005-09-13T06:17:00.000+08:00

I bow to the publisher's aesthetic sensibilities

Annabel Chong put us on the map, and then we put down the baton

This is the best evidence that it isnt

we are still very much a colonial state

Not recommended for history majors

we should first get a book to explain what chinese are

why would serfs read about museums?

He could have learnt some valuable lessons from us

The Emperor's new clothes

2005-09-13T05:48:00.000+08:00

Here in the slums of St Michel

2005-09-12T06:29:00.000+08:00

Look down and see the beggars at your feet

Look down and show some mercy if you can

Look down and see the sweepings of the street

Look down.. look down upon your fellow man

See our children fed.. help us in our shame

something for a crust of bread

In Holy Jesus' name

Here in the slums of St Michel

2005-09-12T06:07:00.000+08:00

Not much to look at.. nothing posh

nothing you'd call up to scratch

This is my school .. my high society

Here in the slums ..of St Michel

we live on crumbs of humble piety

tough on the teeth but .. what the hell

think you are poor.. think you are free

Here in the slums of St Michel

2005-09-12T05:45:00.000+08:00

when its going to end

when are we going to live

something's got to happen now

or something is going to give

it'll come

The rest of my life

2005-09-12T05:22:00.000+08:00

This bear did not choose to be single

The latter sounds good too