I find this hilarious article while flipping through my dad’s Shin Min a few days ago. I quote:

I sincerely hope Shin Min Daily News [新明日報] was just blowing its own trumpet when it claims that Goh Meng Seng has made his UFO claim after seeing that article. The fact is, the article in question was not found in any other major newspapers in Singapore, other than making a brief appearance on the online version of the Straits Times. As far as I know, it was not reported on TV either. In other words, the article is false. It is about as true as the news of Facebook closing down in March 15 (or April 1st). Just how people can get suckered by that after Goldman Sachs Sux invest US$500 Million into it and valued it at US$50 Billion is beyond me.

The first point I want to make is this, whenever I come across such outrageous or shocking news, the very first thing I will do is to simply ‘google’ for it. Had the news been real, it would be all over CNN, MSNBC, BBC and the likes. Yet, I turned up completely nothing on the main stream media. The second thing to do is look it up at snopes.com. While snopes.com may not be the final authority in the topic, at least it would digest the article and explain what is true and what is not.

So what is the point I want to make here? The point I want to make is that Goh Meng Seng is not some nobody Ah Beng but the secretary-general of the National Solidarity Party [NSP]. He claimed that he does not really know whether the news about the three gigantic spaceship is real or not, but as I have mentioned earlier the news is easily verifiable. If he had indeed made this claim after reading just the Shin Min article without having even check how true this article is, I would consider him a fool. I would count myself fortunate that he had made it clear he would be contesting only in Tampines GRC, and not anywhere else. Had he made it known he’ll be contesting in my constituency, I would be forced to do something that is against my principles – i.e. to cast a bad ballot in the coming elections.

Frankly, just how can I trust someone who never verify the facts before making a statement? While it maybe statistically true that out of the billions of stars in the universe, there could be other life bearing planets and thus space-faring alien races, I am not particularly enthusiastic about meeting any of them. In fact, I would consider fleeing to Tora Bora to live in a cave just like a Osama Osalah Bin Laden if an alien arrival is imminent. The aliens can hunt me down and kill me like a rat in the caves, but I will not be slaughtered like cattle while gathering around with everyone else to welcome the ‘visitors’.

It makes me wonder what was Goh Meng Seng’s objective in making his UFO claims? Was he trying to reach a “certain segment of the electorate” using these outrageous claims? According to the Shin Min Daily’s article, Goh Meng Seng allegedly claims he is not worried to be considered a loony for making his ‘UFO sighting’ public. In spite of that, this reinforced my personal opinion that some of our local opposition politicians have some kind of mental (if not moral) problems. It reminds me of Dr Chee Soon Juan barking screaming madly at Goh Chok Tong and Steve Stiff Chia taking photo of his maid.

Perhaps, the rabid opposition supporters would dismiss this as yet another attempt by the local main stream media to discredit the opposition. After all, the local main stream media has always been considered a lapdog and propaganda machine of the Tali-PAP government gahmen. Fortunately for them, they can all flock to the biased sites like Temasek Review Terbalik Revue and The Online Citizen.

The SPH’s yang to the TOC / TR’s yin. Both sides have to exist to maintain the balance.