Commentary: Internet Radio Cessation

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Since the end of February, I have been wondering why I can no longer get Internet streaming of SAFRA’s 88.3JIA FM. I realised that it isn’t a network / technical issue only after someone on Plurk said something about the Internet streaming by Mediacorp radio stations were also suspended as a result of pending legislation. But no matter how hard I looked I remained clueless about this legislation. Finally, here’s something on the mass media that tells the general public what is going on.

Is it RIP for Singapore internet radio?
Channel NewsAsia – Wednesday, March 11

SINGAPORE: She lives in China, yet it’s a family of familiar voices from Singapore that have kept Jennifer Seah informed and entertained.

For the past two-and-a-half years, the Singapore housewife, whose husband works in Shanghai, has been tuning into MediaCorp’s Internet radio streaming service which has been online since 2000.

“It’s wonderful to be able to tune in to familiar voices from home when you are abroad,” she told Today. So she was very disappointed when, earlier this month, most of the Internet radio streamed out of Singapore suddenly went offline.

The reason: It is going to cost broadcasters thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars each year in licence fees depending on the number of stations they operate.

After an amendment to the Copyright Act in December, broadcasters here have been locked in talks with the Recording Industry Performance Singapore (RIPS).

RIPS is the collective licensing body of 13 record companies that issue licences to broadcast music. The new fees come at a time when the global economy is in turmoil and advertising, the lifeline of media companies, has been badly impacted.

A MediaCorp spokesperson explained to Today that, previously, radio stations were exempted from paying record companies when the songs played over the Internet were part of a radio simulcast, but now this exception only applies to broadcasts over the airwaves.

“The service will be resumed if we can come to an agreement with RIPS,” said the MediaCorp spokesperson. “We have received feedback from Singaporeans tuning in from overseas as well. The public have been concerned and requested to know the reasons behind the cessation.”

So far, MediaCorp’s 18 radio stations as well as Safra Radio’s two stations – Power98 and 88.3JIA FM – have stopped their Internet radio streaming service.

Sources told Today that SPH UnionWorks, which operates Radio 91.3 and Radio 100.3, is still in talks with RIPS and has a few more days to reach an agreement on the new licence fees. Mr Jamie Meldrum, 39, programme director for Radio 91.3 declined to comment, citing the fact that negotiations were still ongoing.

In the United States, the debate over royalty fees for online radio streaming has raged for years with commentators lamenting that the fees will one day kill Internet radio. A day Mrs Seah hopes she will not witness. “I hope the streaming service will come back soon and be even better,” she said. – TODAY

Ahh… record companies again. It has always been in my opinion that these record companies are nothing more than greedy little blood suckers. It is also my considered opinion that with artistes living an extravagant lifestyle, there is no reason why the consumer should continue to be fleeced to pay them. They can call it by some grand name, like protecting intellectual property or encouraging creativity or whatever, but I simply won’t buy it.

In fact, why are we paying these performers again and again for a one-off performance? For their talent?

Here’s some facts you might not already know. It is no longer like the past where artistes must do it over and over again, and only the best recording is replicated onto the media to be sold. With modern technology today, the artiste can make 100 recordings of the same song, and a technician can pick the best parts out of them to create the perfect digital recording, or the artiste can just repeat the part necessary and the same technician will replace it on the digital recording to make it more perfect. And this is even more true for music videos.

And it is not as if all that many technicians are also going to be paid the millions and enjoying the extravagant lifestyle, right? Not to mention the technology providing these capabilities will simply be a one-off investment and after a few recordings the ROI [Returns On Investment] will be achieved.

If you don’t believe me that these artistes aren’t all they are cracked up to be, consider the many occasions where artistes are caught lip-syncing on stage. How about the many artistes caught breathless and panting, and that’s not even in a concert but some times just one-off public performances?

Oh… if you are wondering how all these had to do with the licensing, I am simply pointing out the one thing I cannot agree with – i.e. these people are paid for their ‘talent’. In short, I am asking, what talent is there when these people at times failed to rise to the occasion or sing much worse than the usual karaoke pub regular? Consider why should someone who isn’t any more infallible than you and I be paid millions to enjoy a lifestyle you can only dream about!

Did I also mention, that there are also some performers languishing and complaining how they are ripped off? I mean, if all these licensing stuff is going to protect intellectual property and encourage creativity why do we always just see a few individuals dominating the scene for long periods of time and not relinquishing their position on top? Clearly it’s more like the money is taken to make a concerted effort to keep them up there to create the impression of rarity, isn’t it?

Really, I think radio stations should just go back to short-wave (SW) broadcasting, so people overseas can pick up their transmissions. And these blasted record companies can suck vacuum, or their little fat thumbs.

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Photos: Fort Canning Park

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I have always wanted to do this and so I went to Fort Canning Park with xinyun, her friend and chillycraps last Saturday [07.03.2009].

I personally hasn’t gone on Fort Canning for a long time – probably for 2 decades at least since the last time I went up there I was still in secondary school.

Anyway, we had coffee at the Dome in Park Mall for probably 1 ~ 1.5hrs as it was raining heavily. Even though we have umbrellas, we stayed put there for our own safety as there were lots of lightning and thunder throughout, not to mention that it might be slippery on the tracks.

When the rain subsided, we took a quick walk around and took as many pictures as we could, just in case the rain would return. Here are some of the photos we took. And thanks to the rain, it was a cooling and refreshing walk. I believe if time allowed we would be planning for another walk, this time at either the Botanic Gardens or the treetop walk around Mt Faber.

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Commentary: Dialects and the Bilingual Education Policy

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If the lightning strike on the back of the Merlion’s head is meant to be a wake up call, it certainly hasn’t gotten its desired effect. Instead of the Merlion, that bolt of lightning might have better effect if it fell on the collective heads of some of these bureaucrats in the higher strata of the civil service, such as the person who wrote the below.

Foolish to advocate the learning of dialects

I REFER to yesterday’s article by Ms Jalelah Abu Baker (One generation – that’s all it takes ‘for a language to die’). It mentioned a quote from Dr Ng Bee Chin, acting head of Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies: ‘Although Singaporeans are still multilingual, 40 years ago, we were even more multilingual. Young children are not speaking some of these languages at all any more.’

To keep a language alive, it has to be used regularly. Using one language more frequently means less time for other languages. Hence, the more languages a person learns, the greater the difficulties of retaining them at a high level of fluency.

There are linguistically gifted individuals who can handle multiple languages, but Singapore’s experience over 50 years of implementing the bilingual education policy has shown that most people find it extremely difficult to cope with two languages when they are as diverse as English and Mandarin.

This is why we have discouraged the use of dialects. It interferes with the learning of Mandarin and English. Singaporeans have to master English. It is our common working language and the language which connects us with the world.

We also emphasised the learning of Mandarin, to make it the mother tongue for all Chinese Singaporeans, regardless of their dialect groups. This is the common language of the 1.3 billion people in China. To engage China, overseas Chinese and foreigners are learning Mandarin and not the dialects of the different Chinese provinces.

We have achieved progress with our bilingual education in the past few decades. Many Singaporeans are now fluent in both English and Mandarin. It would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin.

That was the reason the Government stopped all dialect programmes on radio and television after 1979. Not to give conflicting signals, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew also stopped making speeches in Hokkien, which he had become fluent in after frequent use since 1961.

Chee Hong Tat
Principal Private Secretary
to the Minister Mentor

First of all, this high level civil servant serpent ‘self-owned’ (or ‘self-pwned’) by writing this extremely stupid piece which suggest to everyone that our language policies are as such because Singaporeans are linguistically challenged. I’ll make a daring prediction that he won’t survive by the side of our illustrious Mentos Minister Mentor for too long as the MM does not to suffer such fools lightly. As a personal advice I would suggest Chee resign on his own so as not to tarnish the MM’s good name.

Either way, let me politely correct the secretary’s misconception regarding mother tongue. I define mother tongue as either the tongue in my mother’s mouth, or the language my mother teaches me to speak when I was an infant.

Thus, Mandarin is neither of those. At best, Mandarin serves as a common language among the Chinese. It has the least to do with the language I use to speak with my mother, or even with living relatives of my grandparent’s generation. It also has very little to do with the province of my ancestors – Guangdong in China. If I recalled correctly, I read on the papers that when a new party secretary or mayor in Guangzhou attempted to eliminate Cantonese from the public announcements in their subway system some time last year, the public was outraged. The common public opinion is this: 广州不讲粤语，讲咩? [Translation: If Cantonese is not spoken in Guangzhou (Canton), then what should be?] There was so much outrage and it was so unpopular that Cantonese announcements were eventually restored to the trains to avoid massive social unrest.

Next, I consider the forced implementation Mandarin as ‘mother tongue’ an impediment to the passing on of knowledge and Chinese culture from the older generation to the younger. It creates an artificial disconnect between non Mandarin speaking grandparents and their grandchildren. In effect, a lot of Chinese culture were lost and some interesting sayings with great punchlines were lost. For e.g. the Cantonese phrase: 神枱猫屎 – 神憎鬼厌 [Translation: Cat shit on the altar – detested by both gods and demons], generally used when we refer to a detestable individual or certain actions.

It is such short sayings which relates deep meanings that makes the Chinese language interesting, and they served to nourish the interest of an individual in the language. It also pass on years of wisdom and also part of our cultural heritage. Taking the phrase 神枱猫屎 for e.g., it would have allowed us to connect with the stories of the deities.

I grew up listening to Cantonese stories told on Rediffusion (麗的呼聲) – a wired box where broadcasts are heard. My interest in 封神榜 – the story on the Chinese pantheon of gods – led me to read up on some parts of it. It was from there I knew about the Shang (商) and Zhou (周) Dynasties, and it led me to read up on Chinese history. In short, my ability to speak and listen to Cantonese (a Chinese dialect) had in reality firmly connect me to Chinese, and it served as the driving force behind my learning of the Chinese words and thus Mandarin – the common spoken tongue.

In short, it is my considered opinion that the above article suggesting that Singaporeans are linguistically challenged, and dialects being detrimental to the dual language policies, showed a lack of understanding and disconnect in the higher level gahmen with the problem. In fact, I had always considered the continual deterioration of Chinese language standards to be in part related to the Speaking Mandarin Campaign encouraging its use.

All that being said, I will move on to the point on foreigners learning Mandarin and not the dialects of the regions. While that maybe true, dialects still serve their own purposes. Some time back I called a vendor’s tech support which is located in Hong Kong. The lady on the line speaks good English, albeit with a Cantonese accent. After I reported my name and contact number, she asked if I could speak Cantonese because she could tell I am of Cantonese descent. We switched over to Cantonese and the matter was resolved quicker than it would have normally. My friend who does business in China mentioned that knowing the dialect allows you to connect with the locals there. In fact, learning a Chinese dialect and speaking it is almost as learning an European language and even better. The reason being that knowing Mandarin may allow you to get around China, and knowing the dialect gets things moving even quicker. This is unlike knowing English but not knowing French in France, where you will be ignored.

To end, I must say the above letter showed just how Chee and some of the bureaucrats appointed by our elected leaders lea-duhs despised the very people they are tasked to serve. If that is the elitist attitude that most of these bureaucrats generally espoused, it is of no wonder why some of the problems are never solved. Their elitist attitude blinds them to the very fact that they are not infallible. They are a problem in the system which needs to be expunged, the sooner the better as our elected lea-duhs relied on them to provide accurate and useful information to make proper decisions.

Related Articles:
Xtralicious: Don’t tell me what my Mother Tongue is

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Commentary: Aftermath of the NTU stabbing

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I was shocked when I was told that a professor (Chan Kap Luk) was stabbed in NTU by a Indonesian Chinese student, and the perpetrator himself has jumped to his death on Monday, 2 March 2009. I would have considered the matter to be water under the bridge by now until I chanced upon these rumors.

There’s really nothing much to talk about these rumors but it reminds me that when the perpetrator is a foreigner, rarely is his community sympathetic to the real victim of the case. Very often, his community will some how find the ‘reasons’ to portray him as a victim. In the particular incident in NTU – he is now a victim of conspiracy and coverup. How intriguing!

I will not go into the details of these rumors nor will I bother to refute hearsay passed on by simpletons who are usually simply too lazy to verify what they have been told. But let us look at some other cases involving foreign nationals, in which there were more sympathy – in my opinion without any reasoning or evidence – for the perpetrator charged with the crime.

We first look at the case of Michael Fay, who was caned by Singapore for theft and vandalism. The matter had massive media coverage, and in most cases, the public opinion was against Singapore. Then President Bill “I did not have sex with Monica Lewinsky” Clinton called the punishment prescribed by Singapore as extreme and mistaken, and the U.S. Embassy even tried to argue that the punishment does not fit the crime as vandalised cars can be repaired while emotional and physical scars from the caning can never be removed.

So, instead of being guilty of vandalism, Michael Fay now becomes a victim of excessive punishment. Neat, isn’t it? Fortunately for us, Michael Fay went home and vindicated the verdict of our courts with his own actions.

Next, we look at the case of Flor Contemplacion. For those who are unfamiliar with the case (and I suspect that means much of the blogging community who are probably still children when this case happened), you may refer to the Wikipedia article here.

1995 was the year when I first got my SingNet dialup account. I recalled the heated arguments in the newsgroup soc.culture.singapore on USENET. If I am not wrong, there was strong resentment among the Filipino community pertaining to this case. Relations between Singapore and the Philippines was strained and a C130 Hercules of the Philippines Air Force flew into Singapore to pick up any Filipinos who chose to leave.

What was most interesting was that two Filipino witnesses claimed that the father of the murdered child, Nicholas Huang, framed Contemplacion. Thus, Flor Contemplacion became a victim of wrong judgement under the harsh and inhuman laws of the Singapore, if not an exemplary heroine who fought against the abusive and exploitative working conditions that many Filipino domestic workers and laborers suffered abroad. Unfortunately for us, it will never be proven to satisfaction for those who disagree with the verdict of the court that Flor Contemplacion is guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Finally, we look at the case of Caleb Nguyen Van Tuong, an ethnic Vietnamese from Melbourne, Australia. Nguyen confessed to have in his possession 396.2g of heroin when he was caught in transit at Changi Airport on 10 December 2002. Since anything more than a mere 15g would mandate a death sentence under Singapore’s Misuse of Drugs Act, the Singaporean High Court sentenced Nguyen to death for this crime on 20 March 2004.

As the day of his execution draws near, it triggered a massive response from Australia and there was intensive media coverage. The Australian government, Amnesty International, the Holy See, as well as other individuals and groups all pleaded for clemency on his behalf.

And what was the general impression of Singapore? Singapore is called the ‘Death Capital’ of the world, where we are accused to have executed even more people when compared to *gasp* the People’s Republic of China! Caleb Nguyen becomes a victim of a country not only with the laws of the Dark Ages, but incapable of pardon and forgiveness. It doesn’t matter how many lives that 396.2g of heroine will ruin if he was never caught!

I am thinking, if I commit a capital offense in a country with death sentence, and I am proven guilty and sentenced to death, few Singaporeans except my parents and some of my closest friends would have shed tears, much less make a big fuss of the issue. In fact, I would probably have been condemned as vehemently by my fellow Singaporeans, just like the poor guy sleeping on the priority seat of an MRT with his photo taken and posted on STOMP.

Here’s the best part… why aren’t the jokers making all the noise keeping it up for my fellow Singaporeans sentenced likewise?

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Talking Nonsense: On “The Matrix”

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I have only read Book two of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe. But I remembered reading the following in one of the other books in the series:

This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

Of course, the small green pieces of paper is referring to money, and money – or rather, the lack of it – definitely makes many people unhappy

But do you know how much is your money really worth?

Nothing. In reality, the pieces of paper in your hand is really worth absolutely nothing. They are ‘worth something’ because the government gahmen decreed that it’s worth something, as it is what it will accept for taxes, and the people around you only accepts it as payment for goods and services. Because of this, people believed and have confidence that these little pieces of paper is worth something, and they become much desired. In short, if there is one day everybody suddenly decide that it is not even good enough for wiping the ass, it will become worthless overnight just like the ‘Banana Notes’ (currency printed in Singapore during the Japanese Occupation) when the Japanese surrendered.

You might want to protest, and say that every single Singapore dollar in circulation is backed up with reserves, unlike the ‘Banana Notes’. In fact, the Singapore dollar is backed by billions of dollars in foreign currency – most probably in US dollars. But what really are these foreign reserves? In reality, they aren’t even pieces of paper. They are nothing more than a figure that exists in the computers somewhere. And even if that money exist as stacks of paper, it is also backed up with absolutely nothing as well.

If you don’t believe it, here’s something you should watch which will blow your mind away:

  – What is Money?
  – The mechanism of money creation
  – Where money is ‘created’

So, if the ‘backing’ of all the money is really nothing more but thin air, then what really gives it value? Well simply, it is ‘backed’ by the fact that we find it inconceivable that all these money is really worth nothing.

In other words, we really do live in the Matrix. In our case, this Matrix is not a simulated reality created by sentient machines, but our very economic and financial system.

Instead of the machines tapping our bodies’ heat and electrical activity as an energy source, our economic and financial is nothing more than a system of modern slavery that lays claim to our labor. Sadly, this is a Matrix in which there is no Neo, no red pill to swallow and no Zion to wake up to. It’s the equivalent of a nightmare you can’t wake up from.

By the way, if you think Obama’s going to be that Neo, dream on… selling more US Treasury Bonds to raise more debt is simply giving the green light to the Federal Reserves to print more worthless pieces of green paper. That, is hardly salvation.

Let’s simply hope that the nightmarish parts of this Matrix we can’t wake up from will pass away soon… and hopefully these parts won’t return with increase frequencies.

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