Month: June 2013

Current Affairs – Indonesian Smog

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Indonesia.

Right now, it is synonymous with a lot of unpleasant things and words in my mind. That is the result of some of the idiotic and insensitive things said by their so-called leaders in government, and my annoyance towards an annual problem that has gone for almost 20 years since 1994. I really have a lot to say in response to those idiotic swines, so forgive me for not being able to keep it short.

First of all, I have to say I often felt a pang of guilt for not making any donations when natural disasters struck Indonesia. Now I felt “vindicated” for my decision because Minister Agung Laksono from Indonesia is saying that it can fend for itself and deal with it from its own national budget unless it’s more than a million dollars. Frankly, I can’t even made anything close to 1/20th of a million dollars every year so I should not feel any guilt for not giving. Furthermore, Mr Laksono expects us to not complain because this accursed smog originating from Sumatra is the work of nature. I take it that his country is made of sterner stuff and they will suck it all up when natural disasters struck. If Indonesia see less donations for any future natural calamities, I fully expect Mr Laksono to obtain the shortfall from the national budget.

The same minister even called us children and chided us for protesting about the smog. He seems to even suggest we should be thankful for our fresh air, as if Indonesia supplied it free to us. I wouldn’t go into the details to educate this moron about the relationship between the Earth’s supply of oxygen and plankton, but whatever his political agenda was, his words will do nothing to achieve them. Be it the extradition of corrupted officials of former regimes or tax-evading businessmen, or even ratifying border treaties, it is my considered opinion that Singapore should not bow to such blackmail regardless we are in the wrong or not. Two wrongs won’t make a right and this is simply environmental terrorism. For Indonesia to allow its own people to suffer even more in its attempt to force us to capitulate on those issues tells us a lot about the priorities (or the lack thereof) of their current political leaders. It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that Indonesia, which is almost as populous as the United States, failed to reach greater heights due to the lack of vision of its leaders. It definitely deserved better.

As if one moronic minister isn’t good enough to demonstrate the wrong priorities of the Indonesian government, there is also a Hadi Daryanto who tried to deflect the issue by saying that Singaporean and Malaysian companies are also responsible. This useless chap isn’t even a minister to begin with and is just a secretary in the forestry ministry. To put it in analogy, what good is accusing your neighbours of arson when the fires rage in your own house unabated? Regardless whether the allegations are true, what needs to be done is to put out the fire. I am quite sure when I am already feeling quite miserable and angry where I am, then the people at “ground zero” – regardless whether they may or may not be guilty of setting the very fires that brought this calamity upon themselves – are having it even worse. Strangely, even when I can remind myself of this, and finally set aside the hatred and anger I have felt in the past three days, Mr Daryanto is incapable of coming to the same conclusion. He even asked us to pray for rain, which I will do not only for our own sake, but for the people in Sumatra. It really says a lot about the caliber of some of those in the Indonesian government!

That being said, I am rather curious whether the management of those Singapore-based companies in Sumatra allegedly responsible for this man-made disaster are Singaporeans or Indonesians. It is my considered opinion that any company accused and found guilty should also end the employment of their regional managers responsible to show no tolerance to such nonsense. I sincerely hope that the minister in-charge of the Indonesian labour ministry will not be unhappy when some of his fellow countrymen lose their jobs. After all, companies do have their corporate image and name to maintain and they should justifiably take swift action according to the feedback of the Indonesian government! On top of which, I would expect some concrete action from Indonesia itself, to put these criminals on trial and put them away in the darkest jails in Indonesia for the longest time. Hopefully, no one will make a mockery of their country’s laws and also its resolve in tackling the issue by making a scapegoat out of some poor farmers while the real culprits go scot-free.

If we think that there are just two morons in the high level of Indonesian government, we can’t be more mistaken. Even their own foreign minister joined the fray to convince us just how grossly incompetent and lacking in direction the Indonesian leadership is. Mr Marty McFly Natalegawa says Indonesia will not be apologising to Singapore for the haze pollution. Well, Mr Marty… I personally certainly don’t want any of your stinking apology. I just want your country to fix the problem. Which part of that is so difficult to understand, because it appears that even your esteemed colleague Mr Zulkifli Hasan from the forestry ministry was more sensible in his response. If I heard it correctly on the news, Mr Hasan asked for patience because Indonesia is doing whatever it could to put an end of this problem!

From the looks of it, we will probably have to live with this nonsense for many years to come. Indonesia will certainly be the least of my choice as a location for holiday, even though I understand that punishing its people will not bring about any change in the attitude of its retarded leaders and officials. Nevertheless, we must take collective action against any Singapore based companies which have been named as partly responsible for this. Even when I personally do not think boycotts will work, I will start to avoid buying or using products and services from not only the companies named but also their partners. That is perhaps the best we could do right now because I doubt there’s much Singapore’s government can do against them in spite of all the strong words. After all, legislation must first be in place before judicial action can be taken and I am unaware or ignorant of any of such laws in place. It is my personal opinion that the government should seriously consider environment protection laws to punish such companies. I am quite sure when we have laws to punish even individuals who consume narcotics overseas, we can have laws to deal with companies committing environmental offences overseas.

Next, Singapore should re-evaluate our energy dependency on Indonesia since it supplies the natural gas used to generate electricity in this country. If going nuclear is the only way to go, I am even willing to bear all the associated risks of having a nuclear reactor. Energy is a strategic resource and having just one source of energy supply can be fatal. Imagine Indonesia turning off the supply of gas which brings our power plants to a halt. Just how much damage would that be to our global reputation and a safe haven for investments and business? There is no point to even bring Indonesia to justice in an International Court and obtain compensation when the damage has been done.

Even though there is not much the government can do at the national level other than ensuring a supply of masks since this problem is likely to be ongoing annually, I am in the opinion that the reaction of the government has been too slow. For comparison, the Human Resource department of my employer announced that N95 masks are being flown in from Hong Kong at the company’s expense and they will be distributed by Friday to every employee. I would have expected the government with the highest paid ministers in the world to not only have more foresight, but also be more proactive than my HR colleagues. In other words, the plans to bring in more masks should have kicked in by Thursday after the PSI hit 321 on Wednesday evening, so N95 masks would have been readily available by the weekend. That said, I am glad that the government did take action and is proud of the Singapore Armed Forces in playing a part to increase the availability of N95 masks the public. Note, I am not asking the government to deliver the masks free to my home. I am just asking for them to be readily available so I can buy them when I needed them!

On top of that, the Singapore government should perhaps review some of its contingency plans, such as reviewing its ‘Total Defense’ policies. Since we already have plans in place to ensure the supply of basic foodstuffs and to prevent profiteering in the event of war (as a reaction to our forebears’ experience during World War II), the plans should also be revised to cover the outbreak of diseases and ecological / environmental disasters. It is clear that some unscrupulous people have profiteered from the current smog crisis by jacking up the prices of N95 masks, and there is no reason to believe that the same wouldn’t happen to other medical supplies during epidemics. If our leaders have more sense than their counterparts in the Indonesian government, they should be aware disease, and ecological / environmental disasters can destroy our country too.

Let this crisis strengthen our people and make us more united as one nation. I do hope the government learn some valuable lesson from this instead of portraying the impression of being caught with their pants down whenever this smog problem gets worst. Before I end, I want to point out that this thrice-damned “haze” should be more aptly called smog. The current, unfortunate and politically-correct misnomer is used thanks to our local media which only presents the “right” news with the “right” choice of words. When some Indonesian leaders do not believe in playing nice, there is no reason why we should mince our words. Let’s us call a spade for what it is.

Random Discourse – #FreeMyInternet

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I was at Hong Lim Park last Saturday for the above event. The turnout wasn’t really spectacular, but at least healthy. There were about 1500 ~ 2000 people there even though I did not expect this to attract a crowd as big as the protest against the Population White Paper. In fact, there was a carnival feel about it and at some parts of the park it even looked like a picnic.

I went not because I agreed with all the points raised by the organisers and the speakers. I went because I felt no one should decide for us what “the right news” should be. Whether that refers to doctored, or accurate news reports is moot. What truly offended me is that not only does the government treat us like children who aren’t capable of making the right decisions, it actually had the audacity to believe it had the moral authority to decide what is “right” for us. I felt strongly no one should modify our input in such a way whereby it affect our ability to come to an informed decision, or to “guide” us to only one particular conclusion about a matter. To but it very bluntly, that is simply mild or subtle brainwash.

So, my presence at Hong Lim was merely to make myself counted. However, I have to point out that the organisers may have missed one important point because I wasn’t really paying attention. While it is true the expansion of these regulations to cover online media can be used to stifle free speech online (and Tan Chuan Jin’s response that blogs which carries news can thus be covered by the expanded regulations clearly enforces that opinion), the fact is that the pre-existing regulations are already insidious on their own.

We are all aware that before the Internet came along, it was way more difficult for us to obtain counter opinions apart from that of the government, much less a detailed and well thought out one. Clearly, governments all round the world realised a long time ago it is far better to be able to affect how another think, than to control what he can or may say! Thus, media control is put in place because when counter opinion or another point of view is overwhelmed and drowned out, the public is left without enough information to decide, much less say, otherwise!

If that is done very, very well, the powers-that-be can not just pay lip service to ensuring the right to so-called free speech, it can even enshrine it in the Constitution! So, the Media Development Authority [MDA] is not really a watchdog at all and is in fact trying to live up to its name of “developing” media – the way the government wants it. Since that is the case, the matter of “quis custodiet ipsos custodes” that often pops up in the ongoing discussion of the expanded regulations is completely irrelevant. Simply do away with the first watchdog (i.e. the existing media regulations) and there will be no need for more watchdogs to keep an watchful eye at all.

Anyway, I arrived late at around 5:30pm to meet my colleague and friend who was already there. I couldn’t remember much of what the speakers said between then to the time I left. The only thing I could remember was one of the speakers mention that the government continue to treat us as if we were still in the 60s or 70s, which went on to inspire this piece. My personal opinion is, regardless whether there are those who have failed to behave maturely, it is high time for the government to relax its grip on this area. Even parents need to let go and let their child fall when he learns to walk, though that fall may hurt, and is rather unpleasant to the child.

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.