Weekend • April 29, 2006
WHO says Singaporeans are apolitical? The buzz on the Internet about the Singapore election should dispel all such talk.
According to a report by Nexlabs, an information management company which scanned election related postings on the Internet, there have been about 1,200 reports on GE 2006 published on blogs since January.
Since the Election Writ was issued the week before, the volume of postings about the election has also gone up. The week before the Writ was issued, about 280 related postings were tracked on blogs over six days; after the Writ was issued, over 400 postings were tracked in the six days that followed.
The most prolific of all the blogs is www.singabloodypore.blogspot.com, which, as of Thursday, had posted 232 articles since the beginning of this year.
The issue of an open society was the most widely discussed election theme on blogs, making up almost 18 per cent of all articles and postings about GE 2006. This differed from issues news websites focused on — defamation suits and the National Kidney Foundation scandal. The most commonly discussed Group Representation Constituency (GRC) on blogs is Sembawang GRC , while the most oft-mentioned Single Member Constituencies were the two Opposition-held wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang. — LIN YANQIN
13 comments:
The PAP wants you to believe that the people are apolitical, they have been trying to criminalise politics since the 1960's. But the youth of today were not alive then and so they are more willing to stand up and speak, or blog.
I only wish that more people would follow the lead of Yawning Bread during this election period. There is nothing to fear.
You are right. There is nothing to fear. I vote for the first time when I started my NS. My vote goes to Mr Chiam (when he was Secretary general of SDP), and I subsequently got into OCS and finished serving my NS as an officer. Thereafter I signed on in the navy as a navy officer. The following election, again my vote goes to Mr Chiam. Upto today, nothings happened to me. So feel free to vote and vote with your heart and what is good for Singapore, not fear.
I wonder why Sembawang GRC has been most often cited. It seems to me like the action's happening in Aljunied.
And no one who was at the WP rally in Hougang earlier tonight to see the thousands of people throng the field, cheering and waving WP flags, or even the spectators in the nearby flats who filled up every stairway and every landing to watch the going-ons, could say that all Singaporeans are too rich and bored to care. I think we just need to know where to look -- look at those in need, who are suffering now, to find those who care, and look at those who have been disenfranchised by the system and jaded by political inertia in the country for far too long, to find those who don't. And even there, things are changing and coming alive. Magic seems to be in the air.
Of course there was never anything to fear, for voters. It's just the gov't trying to engender that kind of climate. For example, I doubt any site had registered with MDA. That was just the PAP wanting you to believe they're watching 24/7.
yes i was at the hougang WP rally too..i see families and alot of youngsters..a large number of them carrying little WP flags and chanting WORKER PARTY! from where i standing i estimate the crowds to be around 30,000!what a sight..i have a good feeling...
Hopefully the good feeling will translate into votes for the WP and other opposition parties.
People have to realise that for the first time in over 20 years they actually have a choice.
During this election there is a definite increase in a feeling and acceptance of politics, a little taste of democracy until the 6th May.
But for now - enjoy it, live it and make the most of it.
But on the 6th of May make your vote count. And vote without fear of retribution.
A real choice, not a choice of which handbag to buy, which shirt to buy, not a consumer choice but a real choice that will make a difference to Singapore and to their own lives and their childrens lives. Stand up for Singapore and be counted on the 6th May.
PAP does not want you to believe people are apolotical - they want you to believe people are enthusiastically behind PAP
people are apolitical because they dont think they can change anything and it is more profitable to spend their energy making money, chasing girls, shopping; when they see a chance to make a difference (like waving WP flag and getting picture into newspaper, or putting up a blog that actually get read) they would do it
Ditto - Soci, very well put.
You have a choice this May 6 and you can effect a change at the way things have been run by the pap. You are empowered this May 6 so those that can vote, Make your vote count.
I am very heartened to see the huge crowds at the rallies of the opposition parties.
I think the tide are turning slowly but surely against the pap, the more moronic rhetoric they spewed.
Actually, I also felt the same. I'm quite relieved when i saw the crowds. I dun wana see a fight but a worthwhile contest.
Surely every org. needs an audit which is INDEPENDENT and with no interest with the govt. undoubtfully, it should be the opposition who holds the least interest.
However, I've got a query through the youth n MM discussion. Is it true that foreign countries are playing at an extreme unlevel playing field like us? I hope some1 can clarify for me and put forth some comparison between here and there. Thanks.
It is a bit puzzling how WKS is going on about integrity....
Straits Times 27 May 2004
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong sent a letter last month to all ruling party MPs outlining
new rules for holding directorships, which stated that MPs should not sit on the boards of
companies owned or chaired by grassroots leaders they have appointed.
Accord Customer Care Solutions, an electronics services provider, announced two weeks
ago that MP Wang Kai Yuen had resigned as an independent director because of the new
ruling.
Singapore ST 3rd June 1999
Choo resigns as MP, then pleads guilty
By ELENA CHONG
PEOPLE'S Action Party MP Choo Wee Khiang resigned his seat in Parliament yesterday before pleading guilty to abetting his elder sister's common law husband to cheat a finance company into granting an $830,000 loan. His lawyer, Senior Counsel K. Shanmugam, broke the news of his resignation when he asked the court to impose a fine rather than a jail sentence on the businessman. District Judge Jasvender Kaur will sentence Choo, 44, on Monday and give her reasons in writing. Choo can be jailed up to a year, or fined up to $10,000, or both. A fine of more than $2,000 or a jail term of more than a year would disqualify him as an MP under the Constitution. Commenting on the resignation, Acting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that Choo had "done the right thing" by quitting Parliament, as well as the PAP, before pleading guilty. "Honesty and integrity are fundamental values of Singapore's political system. "Political leaders must be beyond reproach in their personal ethics and integrity," said Brig-Gen (NS) Lee. Choo tendered his one-line resignation letter to Speaker of Parliament Tan Soo Khoon at 8.45 am yesterday. About two hours later, at the Subordinate Courts in Havelock Square, he pleaded guilty when the charge, under Section 417 of the Penal Code, was read out to him. This is an amended charge which carries a less severe punishment than the original one that he faced: Up to seven years' jail and a $10,000 fine. The prosecution's case: Choo, a director of Mei Marketing, issued a false company invoice in November 1990 to show UMBC Finance that his company had sold $1.18 million worth of equipment to Wong See Kee's Canspar (S) Pte Ltd. He did so even though he knew that there was no such sale. UMBC was thus deceived into granting an $830,000 hire-purchase loan to Canspar. A second similar charge involving a $1 million loan was taken into consideration. Pleading for leniency, Mr Shanmugam highlighted his client's unblemished record, plea of guilt, significant contribution to society and popularity with his constituents. He also submitted a letter, signed by 18 Whampoa grassroots leaders, attesting to Choo's character and how much he had done for the ward. Choo's resignation means that Jalan Besar voters will have three MPs to serve them: Dr Lee Boon Yang, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim and Mr Peh Chin Hua. They have been shouldering his duties since he was granted leave of absence from Parliament on Dec 2, a day after he first appeared in court. Choo, whose wife was with him, declined comment when approached by reporters, saying in Mandarin: "Let me live peacefully."
Business Week Online
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_27/b3739052.htm
JULY 2, 2001
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
As a youth, Tharman Shanmugaratnam loved a game of field hockey or soccer. "I've always enjoyed nothing more than playing as hard as I can as part of a team," says the recently appointed managing director and CEO of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the nation's central bank. Indeed, Shanmugaratnam won a reputation as a "clean player" that followed him through Cambridge University, where he earned a masters in economics, to the MAS, where he carries the torch of financial reform.
True to form, Shanmugaratnam didn't get where he is without rolling with the punches. In 1994, he was fined $1,000 for violating the Official Secrets Act, after economic growth projections were leaked to the press. He was exiled to the Ministry of Education for three years before returning to the MAS.
Ahmad Khalis under disciplinary inquiry by Law Society
man this election is boring; even your scandals are old ones, and moleholes like the Gomesh form thing
You can go to the following link to view the graphs on what we bloggers talk about regarding this GE.
http://www.nexlabs.com/election
Top of the buzz is Open Society.
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