Author: Grievous

Current Affairs – New licensing requirements imposed by the Media Development Authority

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As long as they [the public] go onto online news sites to read the news, I think it is important for us to make sure that they read ‘the right things’…” – Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister of Communication and Information


Courtesy of Joshua Chiang

It is almost comical when Yaacob said the above in the BBC Video (at around 1 min 40s). It also reminds me of Dr Evil from Austin Powers, or the Cylon known as “Brother Cavil” from Battlestar Galactica.

It is my considered opinion that policies should be made with the sole objective of achieving a positive outcome that benefits the people. It is clear to me from Yaacob’s comment that there is no obvious benefit in these new regulations other than to further the ruling party’s agenda. Regardless whether this would control our freedom of expression on the Internet, what gave the government the right to decide what is the “right” thing for us to read? With Singaporeans being more educated these days, aren’t we more capable of discerning what is right or wrong regardless whether our society is more matured?

Those in support of these regulations said when Yaacob said “the right things”, he meant “accurate reporting”. Does the government believe those reports which put the various ministries in a difficult position or portray them as incompetent to be “inaccuracies”? Does it believe that new regulations enforcing that sites put up only “accurate articles” will make us believe Singapore to be a bed a roses, and that all the government ministries, departments and agencies are doing their job? If that is the case, then Yaacob is right to make quotation marks with his hands when he said “the right things”. Because it simply isn’t right at all! Anyone should rightly object to that because that means they are being fed only officially approved reports by the media. What is there to prevent us from being fed outright lies? If the government finds it difficult to convince the general public, then it is a crisis in trust and confidence where regulations will do nothing to improve.

Some people would say that the new MDA regulations are good, because it gave them confidence on what they read online. But they are missing the point. How can I have confidence in what I read when it forever presents a one-sided view – that of the government? For e.g. Am I to believe the bullshit that a person earning $1000 can indeed own a HDB flat, based on what the papers have shown me? Yet at the meantime it does not present the facts that this person will then be in debt, technically “enslaved” for at least two decades and by the time he finish servicing his loan there will be almost nothing in his CPF and on paper he still owe himself interest for the money he took out from the CPF? Am I to believe that we have a World Class Transport, when the experience of my daily commute says otherwise? Am I to believe that Singaporeans are given equal consideration when applying for a job if some so-called anti-government pages or sites did not expose classified ads where employers discriminate against Singaporeans by specifying that only Filipinos or Indian nationals need apply? In fact, if I wasn’t present at the Jurong East Stadium for Singapore Democratic Party’s Rally during GE2011, how would I know Dr Chee Soon Juan did not attempt to stage a march as The New Paper had reported? As far as I am concerned, regulation has not made our media any more truthful. In fact, not only has the “approved media” presented half truths, I would consider some of them to be blatant lies!

Considering all of the above, is it a wonder why our Press Freedom Index ranking is 149th, and also our Freedom of the Press ranking is 153rd? Not only am I against any further regulation of online news, I felt the pre-existing regulations should be lifted. To even accept that current printed media needs to be regulated would be to accept the argument that we need the thought control or even “approved news” in the first place. Frankly, why is there even a need for these new regulations, when the government already has in its arsenal so many tools to deal with rogue postings – from defamation lawsuits, to the Sedition Act and even the Internal Security Act [ISA]?

Some would quote the likes of The Real Singapore [TRS] as an example of why the Internet should be regulated. But the point is that if we have confidence in our “approve media”, what would provide the fertile ground for such sites to flourish? I know some of my friends still read the vitriol on TRS with a whole bucket of salt, if they have not stopped reading it already. As for those people who still believe the hatred or the so-called “outright lies” on TRS and hold it as the gospel truth, the fact is that such people exists in the form of those who consistently voted against the ruling party even before the advent of the Internet. Incidentally, that is also why I despise TRS, because it provided the perfect excuse for new regulations. Well done TRS, for an own goal!

Furthermore, there is a threat that these new regulations will now provide the legal framework to shut anyone down in the future. After all, it will only be a technicality to re-classify a blog or even a forum considered to be difficult and unfriendly to fit the description so that these new regulations would fit. There will be those who would say it is too far-fetched to imagine that it will be used to gag dissidents. My friend Roger Tan describes it best with this interesting analogy – “There is a reason why our officers punished us for pointing their weapons at another soldier during our National Service [NS] days, even when we know it is not loaded.”

If you need me to explain this analogy, then we are either on different channels, or you did not serve NS.

Before I end, a group of bloggers collectively called #FreeMyInternet, will be staging a peaceful protest at Hong Lim Park from 4pm to 7pm this coming Saturday. If you feel strongly about this matter and would like to be counted, please feel free to go and lend your support.

Navy Open House 2013

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It’s been two weeks since the open house and I finally got my lazy ass to pen this blog post.

It was a sunny day at Changi Navy Base on May 18th, and I was happy the transit from Singapore Expo to the base was pretty uneventful. I am pretty surprised to see that many ships at the base, and for a brief moment I contemplated that fateful Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941.

I can’t remember when was my last Navy Open House visit. I believe it was at least more than 2 decades ago since I only remembered going there with one of my secondary school classmates. Those were the days when the navy was still at Pulau Brani, and the Singapore Navy’s largest warships were “missile Gun Boats with radars that looked like water tanks” armed with Israeli Gabriel anti-ship missiles. Yep, it has been a looooong time…

The Republic of Singapore Navy [RSN] has come a long way since then. It now has capabilities that I couldn’t have possibly imagined when I was a teenager. These days we have submarines, huge transport docks that has circumnavigated the earth, and even sent our warships to the Gulf of Aden to participate is counter piracy operations. The RSN has gone from a coastal defense force to one that is now fully capable of operating alongside some of the world’s most advanced navies.

I am no military buff so I will not go into details about the navy ships. For those who are interested it is best to perhaps read some of the posts [1] [2] [3] [4] from one of the experts here. David Boey’s observations are much better than mine, and his insights are far better than anything I can imagine to write. After all, I can’t even be bothered to visit all the ships of the same class…

Meanwhile, enjoy some of the photos I have taken.

Travel Journal – Phuket, Again…

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It has become almost an annual pilgrimage since my first visit in 2009, with only a break in 2011. I had wanted to post this right after I came back in April but only these few days I had only found time to sort out the photos I have taken over the past few months. No thanks to Ingress, in particular.

I almost had to cancel this trip because for the better part of the week before my flight, I was down with flu. It was particular bad two days before, when I was shivering in cold in spite of the warm weather. It would have been really sad if I had to cancel the trip, because I love Phuket and I would miss it dearly if I can’t go.

This time round I stayed again at the Woraburi Resort. There wasn’t much changes and the staff are still as friendly. What has changed, is that some of the staff can now speak Mandarin, perhaps as a reaction of the tourism industry in Phuket due to the number of mainland Chinese tourists flooding all parts of the world. Two of them attempted to speak to me in Mandarin even though they heard me conversing in English with my companions. When I told some friends of this, their reaction was horror, and even revulsion for being mistaken as mainlander Chinese. I have to say that Singapore appears to be the only place in the region that rejects the new reality of a resurgent China, even though we had no problem adapting to the influx of Japanese and Korean tourists in the past. For a predominantly Chinese place to reject Chinese, it has got to be another first for Singapore! The eradication of Chinese education in Singapore has been so successful that many Singaporean Chinese have become OCBC – Orang Cina Bukan Cina. Well done, PAP!

Anyway, rants aside. I had once again visited Phuket during the Songkran. The reason being that is the only time where I can play with water with abandon and not worry about getting soaking wet. While I would admit I hated being sprayed in the face and eyes with high-powered water guns, that doesn’t really happen very often anyway. It helps a great deal to get the stress and frustrations out of me as well.

I will end here and let the pictures speak for themselves. Unfortunately I ain’t very good at photography so I might not have captured the essence of what I saw very well. But I do hope it manages to bring out the beauty of the place so others may visit the place to experience it for themselves.

Random Discourse – Since the last post…

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Malaysian General Elections 2013

By 2pm on 5th May, I was in the opinion that it is unlikely the Pakatan Rakyat [PR] would win a simple majority. I am not making this up. The reason I said so was by 2pm I saw a number of photos of votes being posted online. A quick glance and I saw 75% of these votes were going to Barisan Nasional [BN] (see below).

I agree that just a few votes like these doesn’t mean BN is winning. But what caught my attention was that these are more or less tech savvy people which means it is not all pro-PR on the Internet. It also reminded me that while I have seen a lot of anti-BN videos or postings on Facebook, they are predominantly in Chinese (or some Chinese dialects). In particular, I had seen only one in Malay, with English subtitles. In other words, is the PR reaching out enough to the Malay majority? It might not have been a “Chinese Tsunami” but clearly the main bulk of opposition vote must have been Chinese. With the Chinese population mostly for the PR, I am not surprised that it actually provoked a reaction from the Malays – at the very least by turning out to vote for BN. Would they not be concerned the status they enjoyed would be threatened, when there seems to me the PR had done very little to reach out to them, and to assure them otherwise?

Malaysia, unfortunately remain segregated along racial lines. One part of it is caused of national policy, and the others because of history, and racial prejudice. Sadly, the parts themselves are not mutually exclusive. I need not elaborate much about the 13 May incident in 1969, and the subsequent New Economic Policy [NEP] that came into effect in 1971 for the next 20 years.

The racial divide is deeply rooted even though the PR leaders may not want to admit it. I came to this conclusion from a friend’s account. Being Singaporean Peranakan, he easily mixed with both Malays and Chinese and had friends from both sides in Malaysia. He understood the aspirations of the young Malay professionals, and also how some of these capable ones are themselves unhappy with the NEP. While we would look up to any Malay person who had done well here in Singapore, the Chinese in Malaysia would be skeptical regardless how capable those Malays are on their own merits. Many Chinese in Malaysia would have believed they got to their positions as a result of nepotism or national policies. Thus, even some of these young Malay professionals are in the opinion that UMNO and its racial politics are dated and has to go.

When this was discussed with a female Chinese Malaysian, my friend suggested that perhaps the Chinese can reach out to these Malays and work together for a better Malaysia. To his shock, the response was very negative (and I am being polite here) because the Chinese person considered these Malays to be hypocritical. She even insisted that there is no reason to work with anyone who benefited from the policies. She isn’t an isolated case, because among my Malaysian Chinese friends, a number of them often spoke of the Malays derisively. I personally felt it is racist and unhealthy, but I doubt if I openly correct their views it would be taken amicably. Incidentally, that is why when Amy Cheong made those comments about the Malay Wedding, my first response was that she must have been a Malaysian-born Chinese.

I am sad to say that if both races in Malaysia cannot see beyond their own prejudices and work together, then the road to political change will be long and even painful. Thus, the outcome of this election was fairly predictable regardless of all the fraud allegations.

~ * ~

Gang Rape is democracy in action?

A PAP MP quoted the following:

Since he has quoted it without any comment or input of his own, it is simply assumed he agreed (or even endorsed) whatever he has quoted. I am not surprised that denunciations and condemnation flew fast and furious there after, and he was ultimately forced to apologised for it. Whether he subsequently removed it from his Facebook account is immaterial because anyone who looked hard enough will still be able to find screen shots of it.

Zainudin Nordin hopes that netizens “will see the quote its in entirety”. And my question is, what is there to see?

Terry Goodkind “gang rape analogy” has no leg to stand on. First of all, it suggests to his readers that the plight of those who voted against the current government in power is caused by those who voted for it. It is nothing but divisive. Even if it maybe partially true that some people suffer because of the choices of the majority, it ignores that fact that political parties and politicians in a representative democracy can at times also have agenda of their own and take actions which may not be in line with the voters’ wishes. Thus, it might actually be a very small group of politicians screwing the people over. Let’s not forget political parties that wins simple majorities to form governments without winning the popular vote, or even governments that insists in pushing so-called “non-populist” policies “for the good of the most people”.

None of these is democracy in action. It is not much different from a monarchy, a feudal society or a dictatorship where everyone is raped by one or a collective leadership regardless they liked it or not. And it is of no wonder some Singaporeans often felt violated as well.

Talking about apologies, at times it is best for some people not to apologise at all if they do not already accept they are in the wrong. Maybe I am reading between the lines here but this says a lot about the earlier “apology” (see below).

It’s high time I read up on Freud and that bit about moral projection again.

And so… AIM good, FMSS bad?

I am more annoyed than surprised that instead of getting a detailed explanation on the entire AIM-gate matter, the ruling party tried to obfuscate and divert attention to other issues. A certain Teo Ho Pin made an issue out of the Workers’ Party [WP] awarding their management contract to FM Solutions and Services Pte Ltd [FMSS], and a whole lot of other matters as a result of that.

Teo Ho Pin isn’t exactly the paragon of virtue. I haven’t really forgotten his spectacular “fully answers” over the 8-month bonus received by one of the North West Community Development Council staff, and the losses Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council suffered in their Lehman-linked investments. As far as I’m concerned, and even without considering the role he has in the sale of the Town Council Management System [TCMS] software to AIM, he’s the least qualified to raise the questions against the WP. For him to do so would be like a common prostitute questioning the chastity of the nun in the monastery. And that, would be an insult to prostitutes who are often forthright in declaring the price of their services instead of playing coy and act like a virgin.

From the release of Town Council Management Report [TCMR] to the whole lot of questions raised by the $8 Cow Khaw Boon Wan and Teo Ho Pin, the whole agenda appears to be to create the impression that WP is incompetent and has mismanaged the towns under its charge. Some might be fooled but as far as I am concerned, what exactly is there to complain about when the town council isn’t dipping into the reserves or making the resident pay more to cover the cost, and that service standards have been maintained?

In other words, whether public interest has been served is not in how the WP answered the questions but in the accounts of the town council itself, and whether services have been provided in good order to the residents. I would have preferred Teo Ho Pin should simply shut up and sit down and not waste precious time in Parliament. After all, I personally remain unconvinced that the deal with AIM had in anyway served public interest at all!

But on second thoughts, it is good he raised it because I also loved to see how this so-called “elites” shoot themselves in the foot. The residents of Tampines are now questioning why their conservancy charges went up while management fees are down, and Kim Jong-Un expressed my sentiments perfectly.

Short Takes (March ~ May 2013)

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There’s quite a bit of things happening in the past two months since my last “random discourse” post on Hate-The-Chua… erm, I mean Heather Chua. I simply am too lazy to put them down in words as I am either lazing at home or walking around parts of Singapore playing Ingress. I have finally gotten my lazy ass to write down my thoughts on some of the recent events.

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May Day Protest on the Population White Paper

Unlike the one on February 16, I gave this one a miss. Not that I have lost interest but rather I personally felt there is no meaning whatsoever to keep nagging at the same thing again and again. To be frank, back in 2006 when my friend Jon asked me what I think about a larger population in Singapore, I said it wasn’t a bad idea as it might create more opportunities in Singapore, as an increase in domestic demand may allow some people to run their own business and provide services and goods. It might actually allow some Singaporeans to be bosses of their own, though not necessarily millionaires, and seek their own future without needing to worry about employment or the lack of paper qualifications. I hadn’t at that time consider the problems that is associated with population growth – i.e. demand in housing, over crowding, strain on the public transport etc.

What is the point I am trying to make here? The point is that I personally felt all the unhappiness isn’t so much about the 6.9 million population figure itself, but has a lot to do with how we felt about the here and now. That is why back in 2006 I was for growing the population but I will not be singing the same tune today. Nevertheless, I am not surprised that a lot of that unhappiness may simply evaporate if the outcome we desired is achieve. That primarily includes fixing the following:

  • Public Transportation – easing the congestion and eliminating (not just reducing) the breakdowns;

  • Housing – doing something about the housing supply and its affordability, and also the perception of diminishing personal space;

  • Employment – taking a serious look at the competition at the PMET level (and not the cheap labour) and also do something about the unfairness and discrimination against Singaporeans (real or perceived) in employment;

  • City Redevelopment – looking at how the rapid development has impacted the drainage system and stop blaming it on nature (e.g. climate change) for the flooding; and

  • Income growth – all of us accepts that inflation is an inescapable evil, but resentment grows when income cannot keep pace with paying for the same necessities

We may all argue about how we want to achieve that outcome we desired, as long as that outcome is beneficial to Singapore. However, we must also accept that not everyone has something meaningful or sensible to say to take our country down a better path even though we feel all of us should all be given a say in deciding on how to work towards that outcome. Unfortunately, the ruling party does not seem to be doing very well in listening to as many people as possible to have a better idea how that outcome can be achieved. Resentment thus continue to build because we cannot agree on the steps it is taking to achieve it, or even worse, perceived that they are doing nothing to change the statues quo.

So the question now is, what are we going to do about it and whether what we do is going to be effective in achieving the outcome we desired. I personally felt there is no longer any reason to waste more time in protesting at Hong Lim and listening to some speakers there who may have agendas of their own.

~ * ~

Singapore cartoonist Leslie Chew arrested for alleged sedition

Let me just categorically say, I think the Leslie Chew (aka Demoncratic) comics stinks.

I often see these comics reposted and I generally ignored them. I also keep my opinion of them to myself even though my gut feel is that he is heading down a path of confrontation with the authorities. Whether it was for martyrdom, or to raise his profile even further, the authorities would simply bring more awareness to his garbage by taking him to task. The best action the authorities could take may actually be to ignore him. Sadly, the preemptive stand taken here by the law enforcers is not universal. A lady friend who was harassed repeatedly online made a police report was told they can’t take anything action until she is harmed. I would clearly love to see the police to be more proactive in protecting individual citizens instead of swatting flies like these.

The Demoncratic comics are popular among those leaning towards the opposition because they say some of the things that perhaps some of us only discuss privately among our friends, or even express some of our most angry thoughts. Other than that, it is nothing new or inspiring. It does nothing in encouraging us into thinking about how to achieve a different outcome from what is portrayed. At best, it only increase the anger we already felt about certain matters. Perhaps, the author felt this is a way to fan the stove so that the fire of anger and resentment doesn’t burn out before the next general elections.

Anyway, I have no clue whether this Leslie Chew person is Singaporean, or Malaysian since at times I see on his comics his need to go back to Malaysia. Regardless whether he was an ex-Malaysian or now naturalised, at times I can’t help but felt he is a foreign agent provocateur. (That does not mean I agree with sticking sedition charges on Leslie Chew, however!)

If Leslie Chew is an ex-Malaysian, I must say I felt a little ironical since the Singapore government brought this upon itself with its many years of liberal immigration policies. On the bright side, I will not only take comfort that not the support from new citizens is not that one-sided, but that Leslie Chew has more or less integrated into our society.


Click to see Full Size

From what I gathered, Leslie Chew was arrested for one particular comic he made which I have taken the liberty to repost here (the disclaimer which Leslie Chew uses allows me to do so without permission). Well, I personally felt there isn’t an issue for his comic to repeat what a politician has said because it would be factual. No one can disagree that the statements made against the Malay community – both implicit and explicit – harms whatever efforts we have made towards our social integration. But, it is another matter entirely when I labels that person and government as being racist and the problem arises when Leslie made those statements in the comic which I have marked out with red boxes. Regardless whether his allegations are true or not, can we really expect the government not to respond? Above which, is this comic made with a genuine interest or concern for our fellow Malays or simply to make them even more unhappy (if not angry)?

That said, no matter how much I disagree with the methods of Leslie Chew and how much I dislike his comics, I disagree with charging him for sedition. The government cannot and should not decide for us how to think. While I may feel this particular comic strip does somewhat incite anger against the government or a particular person – and as a non Malay I also feel somewhat uneasy – I still have enough confidence in my fellow Malay citizens not to over-react.

It’s high time the Singapore government allows the citizens to prove they have grown up.

~ * ~

MND review gave AIM deal all-clear:

Was anyone expecting a different outcome? I wasn’t. I was however thoroughly disappointed that no new crap to be cooked up to justify this. The only thing that was new was that there was “a different understanding” of the execution of the termination clause in 2011 by the then-Aljunied Hougang Town Council (AHTC) and Action Information Management (AIM). In short, it is all a misunderstanding.

It is clear to me the stand of the ruling party has not change a single bit from the day Teo Ho-Pin released his statement. It’s the same old crap that everything is above the board, no money’s been lost etc. To quote a friend of mine: ” Looks like the AIM to disregard integrity and ethics, so long as it is not illegal within the framework of law, has been achieved. “

The ruling party definitely knows as well as some of us the difference between “legal” and “right”. There are things which can be legal, but might not be right. There are things which are right, but not legal. But the perception it has given in this review is that as long as it is legal, then it must be right. Many are quick to accept that, and even go so far to say it is no different from what the Workers’ Party [WP] has done to appoint one of their own member-owned firm to manage their town councils (see below).

On the surface, yes. But the fact is that the FMSS (FM Solutions and Services Pte Ltd) has a website. Can we say the same about the shady, and even dodgy AIM whereby it declined to give details of its track record and business dealing according to the Straits Times?

Most of us would have a really hard time trying to find information about AIM on the Internet, not to mention even a rudimentary search online in directories like the Green Book or even the Yellow Pages revealed nothing. Regardless of whether FMSS was owned by a WP member, there is also the question whether FMSS was fully financed by the WP as compared to AIM. In truth, whatever that many felt was wrong with AIM has very little to do with it being a $2 company and that its directors are ex-PAP MPs, but the very fact that AIM itself also gave no confidence to anyone who even bothered to try and look at the entire matter objectively.

The reaction from this one person shows how easily some people are taken in by the concept of “legal equal right”. The ruling party clearly knows this as well, and it probably believe that the majority will be taken in to let this matter pass. It must be immensely pleased that some even turned it around to attack the WP.

Here’s some news for the ruling party. Not all of us are so daft, and the opinion that just because it is legal doesn’t make it right is not limited for the pro-opposition on social media. The silent majority is no longer necessarily on your side anymore. There used to be a time when I believe the Internet community does not represent general sentiments and that the opposition supporters are simply more vocal online. It is no longer so when I start hearing it from people whom I normally would avoid having a discussion about politics and current affairs now taking the initiative to not only talk to me about these things, but actually agreeing with some of my views.

Remember Mas Selamat. This matter will only return and bite even harder in the next election. Some of us are not that forgetful.

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