Wayang

"As an East Asian looking at America, I find attractive and unattractive features. I like, for example, the free, easy and open relations between people regardless of social status, ethnicity or religion. And the things that I have always admired about America, as against the communist system, I still do: a certain openness in argument about what is good or bad for society; the accountability of public officials; none of the secrecy and terror that's part and parcel of communist government."

~~ Lee Kuan Yew in an interview with Fareed Zakaria, March/April, 1994.

The haze has cost our country USD50 millions economically, reported by CNA. Hopefully it will soon be cleared by end of this month.

At the mean time, you may check out the PSI reading at NEA website.

While we are being smoked out, Singapore Media Watch highlighted the response from our Environment Minister to a press release from an opposition party leader, urging our government to act on the smokey issue.

A few other blogger sites also posted their takes on this:

• conformityisdead


• Kitana

The full press release and how local press reported it can be found here:-

1. Full press release at WP Website


2. Straits Times


3. TODAY Online

Here are some of my observations:

• You must be constantly providing suggestion/feedback to every policy and every problem there is, or else you will be regarded as trying to score point or opportunistic when you come up with one.


• Being equipped with the solution is the precursor of engaging the government with regards to certain problem.


• If you find the progress of the work on a problem unsatisfactory, please be assured that the goverment has put in their best effort dealing with it and there is no one else better in handling it.

Reference:

i. Fareed Zakaria website

ii. Definition of wayang.

The Andy Xie Incident

"In a different world we need to find a niche for ourselves, little corners where in spite of our small size we can perform a role which will be useful to the world. To do that, you will need people at the top, decision-makers who have got foresight, good minds, who are open to ideas, who can seize opportunities like we did. ... My job really was to find my successors. I found them, they are there; their job is to find their successors. So there must be this continuous renewal of talented, dedicated, honest, able people who will do things not for themselves but for their people and for their country. If they can do that, they will carry on for another one generation and so it goes on. The moment that breaks, it's gone."

~~ Lee Kuan Yew, in an interview with CCTV on June 12 2005, stressed the need to have a continuous renewal of talent in the country's leadership.

Mr Wang gets a step ahead of me in seeing something interesting in the recent news. You can catch a glimpse here.

Back in July 2006, there was an unflattering article on our country's state in becoming a regional/global financial hub. The point is revisited in one of our neighbour's news interactive website this month.

A leaked email message from AsiaPacific economist Andy Xie, critical of our little island economic progress for past decade, might have sparked the community attention on the issue. A few people, including Andy himself, lost their jobs as an aftermath.

We are not so sure if his comments come with a tinge of nationalistic sentiment. However there is no smoke without a fire and this article (take note of the 8th paragraph) in a South Korean internet news could give an idea of how far off is Andy's parting shot.

Term I learnt today:

Money laundering

is the practice of engaging in financial transactions in order to conceal the identity, source and destination of the money in question.

洗钱

Conspiracy Theory

In ten days time will be the 5th anniversary of the 911 Incident.
An Oliver Stone movie, WTC, set during that period, will be out soon.

There are rumours that the incident is not what it seems.
Suggestions of it actually being staged by the US government have been around for some time.
There is no way Uncle Sam will inflict such a heavy bodily wound just to go to war, most might say.

Anyone heard of Operation NorthWood?
It was a plan to generate public support for military action against the Cuban government of Fidel Castro drafted by the top US military leaders in 1962. It was not implemented at that time though.

Recently American actor Charlie Sheen came out and cast doubts on the official story concerning the incident. Try googled/yahooed it and you may not find any respectable news sites carry it.

Here are a few places that talked about it:-

1. Alex Jones' Infowars site.
2. Alex Jones interviews Martin Sheen.
3. A video clip on what could have hit Pentagon at this OdinPatrick blog.
4. Free Press International on 911.
5. A comprehensive while oddly organised Alexander James blog.

Rabid Dog

The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to one category.

~~ Adolf Hitler


Chee Soon Juan is someone local people love to hate. He proclaims to be a hard-core democrat and appears to champion the cause for human rights in our little island.

These ideas are not so appealing to the popular mass who are embroiled in the Rat Race, where proletarian livinghood and materialistic gratification remain high up on our to-do-list.

His ferventness and pertinacious stand on such ideals do not win him too many fans, and certainly do not win too many lawsuits as well when he is perceived to have stepped out of line from time to time. Hence he is rarely depicted in the best light by the local media.

He is a trained neuropsychologist while heard some people call him something along the line of a rabid dog.

His interview with a foreign publication has landed the publication with a libel suit recently.

Some lights on his own recent lawsuit:-

SingaporeDemocrat

Today Online

Word I learnt Today:

bourgeois

n., pl. bourgeois.

1. A person belonging to the middle class.
2. A person whose attitudes and behavior are marked by conformity to the standards and conventions of the middle class.
3. In Marxist theory, a member of the property-owning class; a capitalist.

adj.

1. Of, relating to, or typical of the middle class.
2. Held to be preoccupied with respectability and material values.

中产阶级的, 中产阶级, 资产阶级

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

"Right now we have Low Thia Khiang, Chiam See Tong, Steve Chia. We can deal with them. Suppose you had 10, 15, 20 opposition members in Parliament. Instead of spending my time thinking what is the right policy for Singapore, I'm going to spend all my time thinking what's the right way to fix them, to buy my supporters votes, how can I solve this week's problem and forget about next year's challenges?"

~~ Lee Hsien Loong at Lunchtime Election Rally, 3rd May 2006.

"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."

~~ Lee Kuan Yew commenting on James Gomez, an opposition candidate during rally, 30th April 2006

There are a number of people who had moved on, either out of politics or out of the country.

He who was voted in by the people and thrown out of paliament by the authority.
He who stands un-wavered in the face of bankruptcy and marginalization, with the belief that what he is standing for is worth the trouble.
One Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam.
He even has a blog.

His fellow comrade, Tang Liang Hong, had a short but eventful political career as well.
He has 13 defamation suits against him alone.
His story mimic twists and turns of typical TV drama.
His impact on deteriorating relations between two neighbouring countries can be found here.

Another quitter from paradise goes by the name Francis T. Seow.
The former Solicitor General of Singapore has been critical of our judicial system.
Perhaps that gave us a glimpse of why he was ousted.
Today he remains in touch with affairs in his homeland and gives his view from afar.

Finally, we have this foreign economist, Christopher Lingle, who fled the country after being questioned for publishing this.

They are some better known names. The list is far from exhaustive.
Today, I hope the list does not grow any further.
I hope.

Word I learnt today:

in absentia
adv.

While or although not present; in absence: was tried and convicted in absentia.

审判等的缺席

Distorted truths?

"First...you attack only those whom your Special Branch can definitely say are communists. They have no proof except that X told Z who told Alpha who told Beta who told the Special Branch. Then you attack those whom your Special Branch say are actively sympathising with and helping the communists, although they are not communists themselves. Then you attack those whom your Special Branch say, although they are not communists or fellow travellers, yet, by their intransigent opposition to any collaboration with colonialism, they encourage the spirit of revolt and weaken constituted authority and thereby, according to the Special Branch, they are aiding the communists. Then finally, since you have gone that far, you attack all those who oppose you...

The first time there may be pangs of conscience, a sense of guilt. But once embarked on this course with constant repetition you get more and more brazen in the attack. All you have to do is to dissolve organizations and societies and banish or detain the key political workers in these societies. Then miraculously everything is tranquil on the surface ..Then an intimidated press and the government-controlled radio together can regularly sing your praises, and slowly and steadily the people are made to forget the evil things that have already been done, or if these things are referrred to again they're conveniently distorted and distorted with impunity, because there will no opposition to contradict."

~~ Lee Kuan Yew, speaking in the Legislative Assembly against the arbitrary executive powers of the colonial state, Oct 4, 1956

I came across a few websites that contain precious little information of what's wrong with our precious little island.

I am smart enough to differentiate between diatribe and constructive criticism, between polemics and analysis. Whatever these mean.

For those who are not smart enough, please avoid reading them.

1. Won't Get Fooled Again by Anon.

2. 9 reasons why Singapore is a Pathetic Place by Hemlock.

3. Pushing for babies by Sara Webb.

The reason why I include the 3rd webby is the mention of relaxing of ethics quota of HDB flats, which interests me.

I hope I can get one soon.

Words that I learnt today:

diatribe
n

Bitter or angry attack in speech or writing.

恶骂, 诽谤

polemics
n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

1. The art or practice of argumentation or controversy.
2. The practice of theological controversy to refute errors of doctrine.

辩论, 争论

Social engineering?

"One of the crucial yardsticks by which we shall have to judge the results of the new abortion law combined with the voluntary sterilization law will be whether it tends to raise or lower the total quality of our population. We must encourage those who earn less than $200 per month and cannot afford to nurture and educate many children never to have more than two. Intelligent application of these laws can help reduce the distortion that has already set in ... we will regret the time lost, if we do not now take the first tentative step towards correcting a trend which can leave our society with a large number of the physically, intellectually and culturally anaemic. "

~~ Lee Kuan Yew, then Prime Minister, in a speech in support of the 1969 'voluntary' sterilization bill

龙生龙，凤生凤，老鼠生来会打洞

Words I learnt today:

eugenics
n. (used with a sing. verb)

The study of hereditary improvement of the human race by controlled selective breeding.

anemic
adj.

1. Relating to or suffering from anemia.
2. Lacking vitality; listless and weak: an anemic attempt to hit the baseball; an anemic economic recovery.
3. Being weak in quality or substance.

Reference:

1. Yayapapayaz
2. Exporting Sterilization by Stephen Trombley
3. Eugenics – Singapore’s Version

Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free.

".. these walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, it gets so you depend on 'em. That's 'institutionalized'...They send you here for life and that's exactly what they take, the part that counts anyway."

~~ Ellis Boyd Redding on life behind bars.

Word that I learnt today:

autarky

A policy of national self-sufficiency and nonreliance on imports or economic aid.
A self-sufficient region or country.