When GP teachers blog

Aside from infantile topics, political comedy and "scurrilous" anti-Whiteshirt posts, the blogosphere is for serious thinking and a medium for staging discussion.

We turn our attention to blogs operated by GCE A level General Paper teachers.

Mr Wang is dizzy and delirious that his blog is featured by a GP tutor. "Go, me!" he seems to say.
The Poblemengrish team note the substandard, almost pidgin English in a GP tutor's blog.

I'd like to feature an excellent post from a GP tutor's blog, though.

Media Literacy

Five Key Questions

“Who created this message?”
“What techniques are used to attract my attention?”
“How might different people understand this message differently from me?”
“What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented in, or omitted by from, this message?”
“Why was this message sent?”

And far more importantly, “Media have embedded values and points of view.”

Whenever you read a newspaper, a press release, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, whenever you watch a piece of news, a public forum, a dialogue session on television, or pore through a minefield of survey findings from the IPS or the ST survey team, do you ask yourself these questions?

What conclusion is XYZ article trying to lead me into making?
Who does the message assume it speaks to, who is its 'ideal audience'?

The entire ST will lose its power as the propaganda unit of the Whiteshirt Party once Singaporeans are able to deconstruct its messages. Media literacy, the awareness of how messages are massaged and spun, will enable people to be immune from propaganda.

Singapore

Political Comedy Meme: The Singapore Politics Drinking Game!

Agagooga has written a hilarious post that might outdo the brilliance of Mr Brown's National Education series.

It is called The Singapore Politics Drinking Game.

Excerpts follow:

Every time the Party, the State and the Government are conflated, drink once.

Every time you see a stupid ST Forum letter about how democracy and Freedom of Speech are bad for Singapore, drink once. If the letter ends with "Majulah Singapura", drink twice.

Every time you see the archived shot of MM Lee crying, drink once. If it is accompanied with moving music in the background, drink thrice.

Every time a new buzzword is thrown up, drink once. Every time we have a new silly acronym ("SPRING Singapore"), drink twice. Every time a new false dichotomy is introduced ("Stayers" vs "Quitters"; "Heartlanders" vs "Cosmopolitans"), drink thrice.

Every time someone talks about Asian Values, drink once. Every time someone talks about the decadent West, drink twice. Every time we want to emulate the decadent West, drink thrice.

Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to add new rules to the Singapore politics drinking game in your own blogs, and link your post here, as well as add the following HTML code <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/singaporedrinkinggame rel="tag">singaporedrinkinggame</a>

I'll get the ball rolling now:

Every time someone talks about radical English-educated intelligentsia or ivory tower academics, drink once.
Every time someone accuses detractors as armchair critics, drink twice.
Every time someone invites critics to start their own political party, drink thrice.
Every time someone invites critics to start their own blogs, smash a bottle over your head. If the blogger is found to be evading taxes or being seditious/racist, smash two bottles over your head.

Every time the Whiteshirt party holds elections at the peak of the economic cyle, drink once.
Every time the ST reports the stock market rose the next day "because the Whiteshirts won", drink twice.
Every time the economy and stock market start tanking 6 months after the elections, drink the entire bottle.

Every time a Whiteshirt MP proclaims that a minor local accident or major international incident (that incidentally never affected Singapore) has brought Singaporeans together, drink once.

Every time NUS attracts an aged genetic researcher past the peak of their careers, drink once. If Papalee becomes the first successful test-subject for a bleeding edge life-extension technology invented by a pharmaceutical MNC based here, smash the bottle over your own head. If Papalee becomes a "negative outcome", buy everyone a round of drinks!!!

Singapore, singaporedrinkinggame

Bloggere i Singapore - politik på kanten (Danish)

I believe a few of our contributors were approached to take part. As I currently have no access to a sound card, I cannot listen to the Danish programme so hopefully someone will come up with a transcript soon.

Published Sunday, June 04, 2006 by Singapore Election

03. juni 2006 kl. 20:55 på P1

This one is for our Danish Speakers. Features Dr. Randy Kluver and do check out his blog.

[Listen] 1 hour 27 minutes(in Danish)

Singapore er et af Asiens rigeste lande, og er, i hvert fald på papiret, et demokrati. For selvom der er frie valg, så har den siddende regering indført en så skrap medielovgivning, at det faktisk umuligt for kritikere og oppositionspolitkere at kommer til orde. Hvilket selvfølgelig også er meningen, og det er da også en af de væsenligste grunde til, at regeringen vandt det netop overstået valg stort, med ikke mindre end 82 ud 84 pladser i parlamentet.

Men for første gang debatterede almindelig mennesker faktisk valgkampen, for selvom regeringen havde forbudt politiske pod- og videocast, så glemte den at forbyde politiske blogs. Og det har ændret Singaporianernes indstilling til deres politikere.

In English:
"Singapore is one of the richest countries in Asia, and at least on paper, a democracy. Even though there are free elections, the government applies so strict media laws that it is actually impossible for critics and opposition politicians to voice their opinions, which of course is the idea, and that is obviously also one of the most important reasons that the government won the recent elections with a huge margin; no less than 82 out of 84 seats in parliament.

But for the first time ordinary people actually debated during the election campaign because even though the government had made political pod- and videocast illegal, they forgot making political blogs illegal. And that has changed the attitude towards the politicians."

Singapore

Blogs and Freedom of Speech

Worldpress.org
June 6, 2006

A global phenomenon — blogging — has exploded in popularity to the point where there are now more than 20 million blogs being tracked around the world. They have risen in prominence as well as in numbers, with some leading blogs challenging the established order of the mainstream press. Indeed, at times the mainstream media has been put in the unusual position of reacting to news that bloggers generate.

The term 'blog' is a blend of the terms 'web' and 'log,' leading to 'web log,' 'weblog,' and finally 'blog.' Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog has been dubbed 'blogging.' Individual articles on a blog are called 'blog posts,' 'posts,' or 'entries.' A person who posts these entries is called a 'blogger.'

According to online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the term 'weblog' was coined by Jorn Barger on Dec. 17, 1997. The short form, 'blog,' was coined by Peter Merholz. He broke the word 'weblog' into the phrase 'we blog' in the sidebar of his weblog in April or May of 1999.

Since 2003, blogs have gained increasing notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping, and spinning news stories. Bloggers provide nearly-instant commentary on televised events, creating a secondary meaning of the word 'blogging' — to simultaneously transcribe and editorialize speeches and events shown on television.

In 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. Appropriately, that year Merriam-Webster's Dictionary declared 'blog' as the word of the year.

'The Blossoming Of Citizen Journalism'

London's BBC (June 5) welcomed the new Internet craze in an article titled, "Why we are all journalists now," which said: "The blossoming of citizen journalism stands as one of the Internet's most exciting developments. With millions of bloggers, tens of millions of Internet posters, and hundreds of millions of readers, online news sources have radically reshaped the way we access our daily news. While mainstream news organizations initially expressed doubt about the news value of online sources such as blogs, in recent months many have launched their own blogs, frequently maintained by some of their most distinctive voices. Indeed, the remarkable growth of the blogosphere is enough to convince even the most die-hard skeptic that something important is afoot. Technorati, a blog search engine, reports that it tracks 75,000 new blogs each day."

A more detailed look at blog growth was provided by British business Web Site, Vnunet.com (May 26): "A new blog is created every second, adding to the 37 million that already exist, according to David Sifry, founder of the Technorati weblog data-set and link tracker/search engine. This staggering rate of increase equates to a sixty-fold growth of the 'blogosphere' within the past three years. There are no geographic or demographic boundaries to blogging. Ray Valdes, a web services analyst at Gartner, observed that the total number of bloggers worldwide makes it difficult to conclude that one geographical region could have a higher concentration of blogging activity than any other.

There are a number of blog formats, but according to Singapore's SDA Asia Magazine (May 25), the dominant computer operating system manufacturer has taken the lead: "MSN Spaces, Microsoft's free blogging platform, launched in Dec. 2004, has taken off in a big way in less than two years of existence. According to a data released by comScore Networks Inc., an independent Internet audience measurement and consulting company, MSN Spaces is the most widely used blogging service worldwide with more than 100 million unique visitors.

People all over the world have discovered profitable ways to incorporate blogging into their personal and business lives. OhMyNews International (May 11) reported: "In Africa, there are ways to extend the Internet as part of other methods of communication. This can be through SMS on mobiles or conventional radio for local relays. There is a flourishing blogging scene, featuring such blogs as Kenyan Pundit by Ory Okolloh. The Mail and Guardian hosted a blog for all politicians in recent local elections. This resulted in many comments and helped to encourage debate. There is also the start of a citizen journalism site at Reporter.co.za. The session started with a protest at the Reuters selection of images about Africa that reinforced assumptions about poverty."

Some blogosphere demographics were provided by India's Hindustan Times (June 2): "According to an Internet survey, blogging has more female addicts than male, with over 68 percent of bloggers being women. Although it is picking up in popularity with adults, blogging is still largely the domain of teenagers with nearly 58.8 percent of bloggers worldwide falling in the age group 13 to 19. … Blogging has its benefits even as far as one's emotional and mental health is concerned. When a number of people worldwide gather to express like viewpoints on an issue, it helps in collective ventilation whereby one derives confidence by sharing the same sentiments with others. Said Rahul Dewan, a blogger and a student of engineering, 'I find it (blogging) better than writing a book, because you can say exactly what you want, without interference from anyone else. You have your own space on the Internet, which people visit, read and comment upon. This way you also receive feedback over your post which can be used constructively.'"

From the Caribbean, the Jamaica Gleaner (May 3) reported: "Blogging, which might be a new word to many readers, is being grasped both here and abroad not only as the future of press freedom but also as an opportunity to develop media careers. … Peter Dean Rickards is a Jamaican photographer who, since 1999, has used his website The Afflicted Yard (www.afflictedyard.com), which includes a blog, as an online portfolio leading to work and recognition from leading international style magazines such as Fader, i-D and Vanity Fair. 'The Web's been a very effective tool for me. It serves primarily as a portfolio and allows me a great deal of independence as it relates to my own work,' Mr. Rickards said. 'It's allowed me to compete with writers and photographers around the world who have the advantage of being able to walk into offices and present their work in person.'"

Free Speech

The issue of free speech is a very important in discussions about blogs and blogging, as noted in London's business-oriented Web site Silicon.com (May 15): "In the same way that the Internet and technology provided the original facility for both sides — those who want to be free and those who want to constrain — it also provides new opportunities for communication and anonymity. IP tunnels, proxy servers, encryption, phantom email accounts and spoof addressing are among the obvious examples — not to mention the hiding and/or embedding of data in apparently passive files! And then there are all the tools used by the spreaders of viral infections and bot networks. All could be turned and used to keep free speech alive and safe."

World events have exterted a major influence on the growth and influence of blogs, according to Australia's The Age (June 2): "Although the technological capacity had existed for some time, and pioneering blogs such as the Drudge Report had been active since the 1990s, Sept. 11 fueled the explosion of what we now call the blogosphere — millions of websites operated by opinionated amateurs with access to the means of digital media production. Today, bloggers and citizen journalists increasingly shape the global media agenda. During the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Baghdad Blogger provided global audiences with a glimpse of what life was like for ordinary Iraqis stuck between an invading army and a brutal dictator. The Asian tsunami of 2004 was a global news story told largely with home video footage."

Reuters South Africa (May 6) reported on one of the hottest blogging scenes: "Blogging is booming in China with the number of bloggers expected to hit 60 million by the end of this year. China is the world's second-largest Internet market after the United States, with more than 110 million users. A survey by Chinese search engine Baidu.com put the current number of blog, or web log, sites at 36.82 million which are kept by 16 million people, the official Xinhua news agency said. But the Communist Party's propaganda mandarins are obsessed with control and have closed down some outspoken blogs. Chat forums and online bulletin boards are routinely monitored for controversial political comments and sensitive words such as 'freedom' and 'democracy' are censored."

As Silicon.com (June 5) reported, the censorship debate has heated up: "… Internet companies have also come under fire lately for some actions in China, including Google for saying it would block politically sensitive terms on its website in the country and Microsoft's MSN for shutting down a blog under Chinese government orders."

Government Censorship

A bulletin from France's Reporters Without Borders (May 3) presented a foreboding look into the possible future repression of bloggers' freedom of expression: "Dictators would seem powerless faced with this explosion of online material. How could they monitor the e-mails of China's 130 million users or censor the messages posted by Iran's 70,000 bloggers? The enemies of the Internet have unfortunately shown their determination and skill in doing just that. Censorship of the Web is growing and is now done on every continent. Traditional 'predators of press freedom' — Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Libya, the Maldives, Nepal, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam — all censor the Internet now. In 2003, only China, Vietnam and the Maldives had imprisoned cyber-dissidents. Now more countries do.

"A score of bloggers and online journalists have been thrown in jail in Iran since Sept. 2004 and one of them, Mojtaba Saminejad, has been there since Feb. 2005 for posting material deemed offensive to Islam. In Libya, former bookseller Abdel Razak al-Mansouri was sentenced to 18 months in prison for making fun of President Mohammar Khaddafi online. Two Internet users have been jailed and tortured in Syria, one for posting photos online of a pro-Kurdish demonstration in Damascus and the other for simply passing on an e-mailed newsletter the regime considers illegal.

"A lawyer has been in jail in Tunisia since March 2005 for criticizing official corruption in an online newsletter. While a U.N. conference was held in Tunis in Nov. 2005 to discuss the future of the Internet, this human rights activist was in a prison cell several hundred miles from his family. It was a grim message to the world's Internet users.

"The situation has worsened in the Middle East and North Africa. In Nov. 2005, Morocco began censoring all political websites advocating Western Sahara's independence. Iran expands its list of banned sites each year and it now includes all publications mentioning women's rights. Some Asian countries seem about to go further than their Chinese 'big brother.' Burma has acquired sophisticated technology to filter the Internet, and the country's cyber cafés spy on customers by automatically recording what is on the screen every five minutes."

In Iran, the situation appears to be particularly dire. According to London's Online Press Gazette (June 5): "Locking up bloggers remains a favorite practice of the Iranian authorities. In January, Arash Sigarchi received a three-year prison sentence for 'insulting the Supreme Guide' and for 'propaganda against the regime.' Sigarchi has kept a political and cultural blog since 2002."

Things are no better in Egypt, as an article in the Middle East Times (May 19) detailed: "As internationally acclaimed blogger Alaa, of www.manalaa.net, sits in prison waiting to be released, bloggers in Egypt have begun a new campaign to educate Egyptians and the entire world on the situation facing Egyptian bloggers. Manal, the other half of manalaa.net and Alaa's wife, told the Middle East Times, 'Lots of bloggers find freedom of expression attainable with blogs.' Last year Reporters without Borders awarded Manal and Alaa the freedom of expression award for their blogging efforts in Egypt. At the time, Egypt had only a few dozen blogs, but since then, an explosion of bloggers has been witnessed in Egypt. The number is now thought to be in the thousands.

"Alaa has snuck messages out of his prison cell and those have been posted online, in Arabic as well as English. His imprisonment has led more and more bloggers across Egypt to join the bandwagon calling for freedom of expression. Since April 27, blogs have sprung up throughout the country, all calling for action in order to free activists from prison. Among the thousands of blogs, Freealaa.blogspot.com and Freedroubi.blogspot.com are the most notorious. These blogs attempt to expose the ruling regime's tactics and call for people to take action in order to free the activists from what they call unlawful imprisonment."

Fighting Back

Fortunately, there are forces fighting back against the tide of Internet censorship. London's The Observer (June 4) reported on a celebrity-led, collaborative effort: "Chris Martin, Martha Lane Fox, Bob Geldof and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are among nearly 20,000 people who have backed The Observer and Amnesty International campaign to end repression on the Internet. This remarkable response to the launch of Irrepressible.info last week included support from around the world. The campaign — 45 years after a powerful article in this newspaper led to the founding of Amnesty International — recognizes the Internet as a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. It demands that governments stop censoring websites, blocking emails and persecuting and imprisoning bloggers. It also calls for major corporations to stop making it easier for them to do so. … More than 1,000 blogs are already linked to the Irrepressible.info website, and the campaign has been welcomed by bloggers who have suffered under oppressive regimes. Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian now living in Canada, whose blog Hoder.com has been censored in Iran, said: 'By censoring the Internet and specifically blogs, governments are depriving themselves of amazing sources of information about what their population thinks of them and what they are up to.'"

Repressive governments are now being called on to account for their Internet policies, as AllAfrica.com (May 24) noted: "Reporters Without Borders has called on Ethiopia's information and culture minister, Hailu Berhan, to explain why several websites critical of the government have been inaccessible in the country since May 17. Ethiopians have also seen all publications hosted by Blogspot.com disappear from the Internet.

"Even though the authorities have made no announcement, it is likely that the disappearance of the sites is the result of political censorship and not technical problems. 'We would like to know if your government has deliberately blocked access to online publications, a list of which we enclose, thus taking the course of filtering the Internet,' the press freedom organization asked Hailu Berhan in a letter. 'The Ethiopian Internet is dynamic and has seen the development of an extremely active blogging community. It is your responsibility to ensure that all opinions can be expressed online, even when some Internet users directly criticise government action. Preventing debate and controlling news and information circulating online will only aggravate an already very tense political climate. … We also wish to draw to your attention the consequences of filtering a blog tool such as Blogspot.com, which is currently inaccessible in Ethiopia. Blocking access to this service has the effect of censoring all publications which it hosts, the vast majority of which do not deal with politics or with Ethiopia.'"

There have already been some successes in the battle for a censorship-free Internet. According to the Philippines NQ7.net (May 6): "Pakistani blogger Dr. Awab Alvi, on May 3, after almost two months since the initial ban was imposed, the Alvi-e Team — supported by bloggers worldwide joining under the 'Don't Block the Blog' banner — are pleased to report that they again have access to Blogspot blogs in Pakistan. Dr. Alvi said that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had blocked access to Blogspot on March 3, disallowing access to a number of websites for the Internet users in Pakistan. The ban was in response to a list submitted by a Supreme Court decision on March 2 that instructed the PTA to ban 12 offending websites which highlighted the blasphemous cartoons on the Prophet Muhammad.

"Alvi and his fellow bloggers said that the collective efforts of dozens of free speech activists of the 'Don't Block the Blog' campaign and the Action Group Against Blogspot Ban in Pakistan had successfully pressured the government to lift the ban."

An important U.S. court decision was also lauded as a step in the right direction in protecting bloggers' rights. Reporters Without Borders (May 30) noted: "Reporters Without Borders today hailed a Californian appeal court's 'historic' decision on May 26 that online journalists and bloggers have the same right to protect their sources as other kinds of journalists. The ruling was issued in a case between the U.S. electronics manufacturer Apple and websites that posted confidential information about some of its products. In his ruling, the appeal court judge refused to make a distinction between 'legitimate and illegitimate' news reports, warning that any attempt to go down this road would jeopardize the goals of the First Amendment.

Enjoy a fascinating trek through blogs from all over the world in Worldpress.org's World Blog section.

Singapore

SINGAPORE: Policeman who nabbed racist blogger gets award

Wasn't the charge 'Sedition' and not racism? I am also somewhat stunned into disbelief that the only way the Singaporean authorities can track a blogger down is with a lone police officer sitting at a computer.

Please tell me that the online security system is trying to play down their capabilities?

Station Inspector Mohamed Zulnizan Mohamed Arsis arrested blogger for comments against Malays

Straits Times
Monday, June 5, 2006

By Khushwant Singh

Station Inspector Mohamed Zulnizan Mohamed Arsis stayed awake for the better part of two days tracking down the blogger who posted racist remarks in October last year.

For his devotion to duty, he will be among the 335 police officers to receive commendation certificates today from Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui.

The 32-year-old inspector started tracking the blogger when a police report was made about his comments against Malays.

Inspector Zulnizan said: "I knew I had to check that particular blog every two hours so as not to miss any posting by the blogger's friends. If not, some of the postings would be replaced with new ones.

"Within a day, I found out what school he was in. Then I found out his address and he was arrested."

The 17-year-old blogger pleaded guilty and was placed on probation for two years and ordered to do 180 hours of community work for Malay welfare organisations to clear his misconceptions about Malays.

Inspector Zulnizan, a father of two sons aged four and two, said his teacher wife used to complain about his irregular hours but has now come to realise how much he enjoys his work.

Sleuthing also suits another award winner -- 32-year-old Staff Sergeant Mohammed Juanda.

"Every assignment requires a different approach -- a different cover," he said.

He is one of the five members of the Orchard Task Force, commended for making 27 arrests last year in cases involving theft, pickpocketing, credit card fraud, robbery and rioting in the Orchard Road area.

Date Posted: 6/5/2006

Singapore

Singapore opposition summoned for speaking without permit

Tue Jun 6, 2006 12:23 PM IST

By Koh Gui Qing

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore opposition politician Chee Soon Juan and two supporters have been summoned to court by the police for speaking in public without a permit between November 2005 and April 2006, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.

Chee, leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, and Yap Keng Ho and Gandhi Ambalam have been told to appear in court on June 20, police spokesman Victor Keong said.

Public speaking is prohibited in Singapore unless speakers have been licensed by the government.

"Our officers observed that Dr. Chee and other SDP-related persons were giving extended speeches and not merely making a sales pitch to sell their publications," Keong said.

Chee, who was served eight summonses, could not be reached for comment.

"The SDP is determined to break the PAP's stranglehold on free speech and peaceful assembly in Singapore," the SDP said on its website.

The wealthy city-state has been criticised by Amnesty International for its tight controls on political expression, but the People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965, says that firm regulation of public debate and the media is necessary to maintain law and order.

The SDP did not win any seats in the May 6 general election, but won 23 percent of the votes in the wards that it contested. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's PAP won 82 of the 84 seats in parliament, keeping the same number of seats as before.

Chee's sister, Chee Siok Chin, has appealed to the court to annul the results of the election on the basis that it was not free and fair, but the Attorney-General has asked the High Court to dismiss her application, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.

Chee and his sister also face a defamation lawsuit, which was launched by Lee and his father, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, over an article in the SDP's newsletter.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

Singapore

Goh Chok Tong speech decoded

3 May 2006 - Washington, speech to reporters

"The PAP is not out to have a clean sweep. What we are trying to offer is certainty of good government and good people in charge. So my message is this: Have your desire for opposition fulfilled, but never to the extent of changing the government."

--- Peanut Goh

Get your decoding rings ready!

1. "I do not have the calibre to function in a true democracy."
2. "In Singapore, the PAP decides how many opposition MPs Singaporeans are allowed."

Peanut Goh should grow up and accept the challenge of governing in a democratic country, where the voters decide how much of an opposition they want in Parliament. If he's unable to deal with the decision of the voters, he should either step down or work for peanuts.

My question to Peanut Goh: Let's cut to the chase and forget about elections, in this case. How many opposition MPs do you allow us to have, at maximum? Please, I want some more.

3. "We will do what we can to prevent Singaporeans from voting in more opposition MPs."

Peanut Goh admits he wants to control how Singaporeans vote! We need a clarification on what legal or extra-legal means he is contemplating. Does this include fixing opposition candidates? Or finding more ways to buy his supporters votes?

4. "The PAP will never allow voters to change ruling parties."

But Peanut Goh, you have no right to make this kind of statement. It is not your place to dictate to voters who they can and cannot vote for; how many seats the opposition is allowed and not allowed to win. It is not your place to tell voters they can vote in opposition politicians, but not too many.

Need I say that this is scandalous? Peanut Goh should withdraw from Marine Parade GRC for the insult to Singaporean voters he has made. The PAP should take clear, unambiguous steps to do the right thing, to sack Peanut Goh from the party before he damages their credibility any further.

"We can't fight the next battle using today's strategies," says Peanut Goh. But it is clear that the objectives of the Whiteshirt battle still remains the same as yesterday's battle. It is clear that the Whiteshirts still view voters as frightened children who must be told who they can vote for, and how many sweets they're allowed. It is clear that the Whiteshirts continue to be wildly out of touch with reality.

Singapore

Remember - People's Army turns against the people

Monday June 5, 1989
The Guardian

It is, for all who watch and wonder about the Communist world, the ultimate obscenity. Worse even than Hungary or Czechoslovakia or Afghanistan for there the tanks and troops were alien invaders, rolling across borders in the fashion through time immemorial of big powers knocking little powers into line.
But in China it is the People's Army turned against the people: shooting them indiscriminately in Tiananmen Square, on the streets, on their doorsteps, crushing them beneath tanks. A bankrupt, desperate, geriatric government, an edifice of ideology and aspiration, flaking and toppling before our eyes. We have been confronted, this week-end, by one of the great punctuation marks of 20th-century history.

No-one in the largest nation in the world will ever forget the first week of June in Beijing. A surge of desire for greater freedoms - not democracy as we know it, but an opening of society, a spirit of glasnost - has posed ultimate questions to a group of old men and, ultimately, at whatever cost, they have moved to stamp it out.

There was a chance, only a handful of days ago, that a more liberal strain of thinking within the Chinese Communist Party could, by its success in the backroom struggle for power, have harnessed the yearning for glasnost. But the old men won.

Are the manifest death throes of the Communist monoliths manageable? Can they be predicted and relied on? Could Tiananmen Square come to Red Square and savagely end a period of burgeoning hope?

The point is a starkly simple one. We, sitting comfortably in the West, assume that a spark in the individual human condition - a spark called freedom - must, in the end, make a bonfire of the system that seeks to snuff it out. We assumed, from Nixon on, that China could gradually evolve, that the business culture, the Americans with cheque books, would inevitably bring some form of democracy in their wake. Tell that, this bloody, awful morning, to the marines.

How frail is the Soviet spark? The Soviet people - because glasnost came first - may have acquired a patina of sophistication that the students of Beijing lacked. The Soviet Union is seeking to devolve power, to provoke argument, to manage change. The pensioners of the Chinese establishment had, long since, run out of ideas.

They must not get away with it. In the eyes of the West, because of the spark. And in the eyes of those who watch from Moscow, too, because the nightmare of Deng is theirs as well. We all, at root, know the Chinese march towards liberty must be resumed.

[From Angry Chinese Blogger]

Tiananmen Square

Good governance is top concern for voters in post-GE survey

For my own records.

Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 02 June 2006 2042 hrs
By Farah Abdul Rahim, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE: Close to 1,000 voters surveyed have said "good governance" is the key factor in shaping how they vote.

Bread-and-butter issues, as well as upgrading, had less sway over them.

The Institute of Policy Studies survey also found that the pre- and post-independence generation were not all that different when it comes to views on the elections system, including whether it was a fair one.

The results of the survey came as a surprise to many political watchers.

The average Singaporean voter was more concerned about having an efficient and fair Government with alternative views in Parliament.

Even the personality of candidates came before bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living and jobs.

Upgrading was dismissed as not too important by more than half of the respondents polled.

"The lower bands of the social class, those who are poorer did not rank jobs, cost of living highly either. The ranking increased as you went through the higher income, that is a bit intriguing as you think those in the lower income band would be more interested in pocket book issues but you will notice that they rank question of fairness of government policy higher. In the end, people don't really look to the Government for their pocket book issues to be settled at the vote or ballot boxes. What they do want is a Government that is fair, that will treat all citizens equitably," said Dr Gillian Koh, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies.

Nearly half of those surveyed felt it is important to have elected opposition members in Parliament.

This sentiment was marginally stronger among the pre-independence generation, especially those between 40 and 54, compared to the post-independence generation.

About a third of all surveyed want to see some change, in terms of political reform.

Nearly 1 in 3 above 40 prefer the status quo, and a fifth of the post independence group is similarly conservative.

While the rest have not made up their minds.

The majority felt the election system is fair to all political parties, with no need for change.

This includes those aged 65 and above, the working class, and those with primary education and below.

One in two surveyed were also of the view that the policy to link votes to upgrading was not fair - those under 40 were more inclined to feel that way.

"A big band of the post-65ers are in the swing category, for want of a better term. They haven't decided one way or the other, I suspect then that the other issues weigh more heavily when they cast their vote - the question is where will they land as they move further up the age bands. The post-65ers were not all out-and-out liberals, that the profile among the conservatives, pluralists, and the in-between swing categories was somewhat similar across the band from the post-65ers to the pre-65ers," added Dr Koh.

As for the quality of candidates, voters looked for honesty and people skills, rather than the candidate's credentials and even the party.

Voters continued to rely on television coverage and newspapers to help shape their voting decisions, followed by election rallies.

The Internet was least used for this, but the survey also showed that many in the post-independence generation also went online, while also depending on online sources of information.

On their assessment of political parties, the People's Action Party was deemed the most credible political party - it won strong support from those above 40 and the working class.

Those in the service industries, and a high proportion of those between 21 to 54 felt the Workers' Party was credible, while a bigger group among the 21-29 year-olds felt the same about the Singapore Democratic Alliance and the Singapore Democratic Party.

The Institute of Policy Studies said the results will help to better understand the Singaporean voter.

985 Singaporean citizens aged 21 and above made up of both voters and non-voters were polled almost equally to reflect the fact that 52 percent of the voting population actually exercised their vote in the May 6 General Election. - CNA /dt

Copyright © 2006 MCN International Pte Ltd

[ using terms like 'many' - is rather inaccurate and makes me wish I could get the actual data set. I know that before I even ask, the answer is NO]

Singapore

PAP rethinking strategy for Potong Pasir, Hougang: SM Goh

Washington DC: The People's Action Party is re-thinking its strategy for the opposition-held wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang in the wake of the recent General Election results.

Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who had been tasked to help win back these two constituencies in the May 6 polls, shared his ideas with reporters during a news conference at the end of his 2-day visit to the United States.

He also revealed that the defeated PAP candidates might not stand in those wards in the next election.

Over at Hougang and Potong Pasir, it has been quiet on the PAP front since last month's General Election.

There were no Meet-the-People sessions.

And it looks set to continue that way.

For a long time, residents there had enjoyed the so-called 2-in-1 effect - an elected opposition MP and a PAP man who also worked for their interests.

But Mr Goh said that could change as the PAP assesses its next move in the two opposition wards.

He said: "They would have to revise their strategy. For the time being......do what is minimal. That is what the opposition have been doing - do minimal, only criticise and have been able to get support. See what happens for the time being. At least half way through, may change tactic."

The tactic for now, though, is for the PAP grassroots organization advisers to look critically at whatever may not be working in their respective constituencies.

Mr Goh also revealed that PAP's Eric Low and Sitoh Yih Pin might contest other constituencies in future.

Mr Goh said: "While they'll be fielded in the next elections, may not be in Hougang and Potong Pasir because in our view, as party leaders, it's unfair to field Sitoh and Eric Low if we think they don't have a chance."

So who will stand there instead?

Mr Goh said: "Doesn't matter, can field new candidates and after 1-2 elections, that person would have his teeth cut. He would be a better person - he has fought and he can be an MP elsewhere.

"So why not Hougang? Since the residents have chosen to have an opposition MP, let them continue to have an opposition MP because the desire for an opposition is strong and the PAP is not out to have a clean sweep, but at the same time not wanting to let opposition grow."

But at the end of the day, Mr Goh said, he hopes that Singaporeans understand that stability and good governance is important.

Turning to the role of the Internet, he said that the government would have to liberalise the use of podcasting in future and learn to work the system to its advantage. - CNA/ir

1. Why was this announcement made in Washington D.C, of all places? It doesn't quite make sense, to be talking about such a relatively small issue over there, when perhaps, the order of conversation should have been FTAs or bilateral relations.

2. Look closely at the bolded words.

• For a long time, residents there had enjoyed the so-called 2-in-1 effect - an elected opposition MP and a PAP man who also worked for their interests.

  The opposition wards have NOT been enjoying a 2-in-1 effect. They have been deprived of the basic privileges extended to every other constituency in the country. Why aren't the PAP men there campaiging for upgrading, if they were really working to better the constituency?

• That is what the opposition have been doing - do minimal, only criticise and have been able to get support.

The opposition candidates have NOT been doing minimal, and simply criticising. If that was the case, the politically seasoned people of those constituencies would not be voting them in every single time. That's the PAP's job - criticising the opposition at every election, and having no real election issues.

• Doesn't matter, can field new candidates and after 1-2 elections, that person would have his teeth cut.

So those constituencies don't even matter to the PAP anymore - they are a training ground, it seems.

• but at the same time not wanting to let opposition grow.

Oops! Looks like someone let slip the true intention behind PAP.

Cutting through all the rhetoric, one message emerges loud and clear: if the opposition wards want to commit suicide, the PAP will only stand and watch. The exact same message was repeated in 1984, after a particularly "shameful" un-landslide election. See here for details.

Now we know how much they care.

3.

Turning to the role of the Internet, he said that the government would have to liberalise the use of podcasting in future and learn to work the system to its advantage.

Let me translate please, I speak the language of PAP very well. Learn to work the system to its advantage? Clearly, this, coming on the heels of Denis Phua's message about "managing" the internet, is PAP for learning to "control" the internet, and the bloggosphere. And note, this was left at the end of the article, almost as a casual remark. Kind of off-topic too, in what is an article about elections.

Singapore