More Than Meets The Eye

Mel! Remember the spoilt-brat that we read on Straits Times on Sunday when we were slacking at Gloria Jeans Coffee?



Dude! She has been framed by ST!

For those who doesn't know what's going on: please read

http://www.asiaone.com/Business/News/My%2BMoney/Story/A1Story20081028-96636.html

After that - please read this:

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2008/10/toc-exclusive-agnes-lin-a-victim-of-the-st/

***

Moral of the story - an honest media is an oxymoron.

The media kinda made a bimbo out of her - once again, it has proven that our 'propagandized news' ain't as 'reliable' as it seemed to be.

The truth will never be out without the Internet.

We need press freedom.

Cheers

Wrath Of The People

I know I am a little late on this, but it really heartening to witness how the online community retaliate in this latest Wee Shu Min saga, which provoked many Singaporean. I sense an accumulated frustration between the common folk with the government and I am pretty sure the incumbent party will suffer more lost of votes in 2011.

This is the original content wrote in the blog, before it was closed down:

http://forums.hardwarezone.com/showthread.php?t=1435572&page=1&pp=15

And below are some funny comics drawn, with regards to the 'elite' comment incident.








But what really tickles me is this (joke probably only understood by Magic players):



ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!

Cheers

Blind Compliance

A national blot: Blind compliance

Singapore can't go very far when people accept policies with unquestioning faith.

After years of prodding its citizens to think more and be more creative - even making it a school subject - Singapore has succeeded in moving the ground by, maybe, a few inches.

In other words, things have hardly changed and the majority of people remain largely content to leave the thinking to the government, accepting policies with unquestioning faith.

For the government, this compliance is both an asset - it makes for a governable country - as well as a liability, because countries nowadays compete on ideas rather than hard work.

It often works, but on those occasions when it fails, it could have painful results for Singaporeans.

At any rate, this leave-it-to-the-government trait - the result of years of top-down government and an obedient press - is no panacea for handling modern challenges.

Example: When Lee Kuan Yew spoke of a six to seven million population by 2030, no one questioned its rationale or asked: "Why seven million and not four-and-a-half million" or "How can we reach this target with declining birth rates?" or "What are the social costs of rapid foreigner intakes?"

Nothing. No questions from the mainstream media or the academic community (as far as publicly known). Everyone seemed to have accepted it as inevitable.

Singapore's foreign relations, in particular, have never been much of a public subject, either. That's for the government to decide.

Singaporeans would prefer to talk about shopping than ties with the world, considering it none of their business, lamented the late S. Rajaratnam, the first foreign minister, years ago.

One blogger observed, "When Lee Kuan Yew said something that angered Malaysians recently, almost the entire Malaysian nation reacted. But in Singapore, people left it to Lee's lone voice to fight the battle."

During Lee's rule, this environment was considered an asset. He simply wanted obedient students and obedient workers, whose job was to follow orders unquestioningly.

This is, of course, no longer a desirable trait, but shaking off this apathy is next to impossible.

When Singaporeans read the news, they simply nod their head and figure out how they can benefit from it or run. Few would look beyond the headline to ask whether the announced measure is really necessary or whether there are better ways.

Early this year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appealed to Singaporeans: "Speak, speak out, be heard, take responsibility for your views and opinions ... We don't mind if you have different views, but you must have some views.

"If you have no views, I have a problem. If you have different views, we can talk about it and let's do something about it together."

The response was a deafening silence. Some genuinely fear that criticising policies will get them into trouble, while others simply don't know how to articulate.

This could be a natural consequence of decades of top-down rule, or even conditioning, when saying the wrong things could be harmful.

"So why not play safe by keeping quiet," explained a blogger. "Anyway, the government isn't much of a good listener."

For some time now, schools have been teaching students how to think critically, a seemingly ridiculous idea but actually very much needed - except the results have been very slow.

Recently, a mother complained angrily to the press that her child, in Primary 6, was asked to write "a report" in her English paper. "She has never been taught how to do it!"

The people's unquestioning obedience of government policies sometimes causes pain.

Six years ago, when the government launched the S$2bil project to develop life sciences into one of five pillars of growth, parents rushed their children to get a college education on the subject. Few really questioned what it really meant or how many jobs it could generate for first-degree holders or polytechnic graduates.

If the government was behind it, it must surely be a great career! Even with growing signs that many life sciences graduates in the United States were jobless, they plunged ahead. Interest in the biomedical studies in the universities and polytechnics boomed.

Last year, life sciences became the top choice for students seeking polytechnic entry with 26.6% choosing the subject, compared to 17.5% for engineering. There were a total of 23 life sciences courses, offering 2,863 places.

Today the investment is beginning to pay off for the government, but not for many of the graduates. They have found the Promised Land is just not there; the job market can't absorb so many.

The first batch of life sciences students have graduated and many have ended up in junior research positions or manufacturing and sales jobs in the industry, where a degree is not required. Others are forced to work outside the field.

Edmund Lim, 27, who graduated two years ago, and now works as a property agent, told the press: "One of my classmates is working illegally in Australia, peddling psychotropic drugs to clubbers."

Some have gone into teaching or work in pharmaceutical or equipment sales. At least one found a job at a tuition centre.

An educator blogged that he often heard his undergrads commenting, "I enter into life sciences because my parents think that it is the best course after law and medicine" or "the government is promoting it".

This led a Taiwan legislator Li Ao to describe, "Taiwanese are scoundrels, but lovable, Hong Kong people are craftier and Singaporeans are stupider. They don't break rules, but they don't stand out."

National Service

I have finally completed my national liability - truly ORD (and I was placed in MINDEF reserve)

I guess people who served their due understand this very much - the notion of freedom and liberty we used to enjoy freely was greatly suppressed during service. Self expression was abandoned in exchange for regimentation.

I had promised myself to write a lengthy essay about my experience when I leave the service and the occasion arises, suddenly, my thoughts are whirling - I didn't know where to begin.

Asked any NSmen out there about their feelings in NS and most likely, it is a congregated mass of mixed feelings that goes beyond simple words. They are likely to grin at the querent:

'Good luck... go in and you will know...'

Somehow, it seemed sadistic, but we all know it wouldn't be a bed of roses in there.

To be frank, I held high regards for our military force before I was enlisted, but this ideology has changed significantly after service... till the point of disillusionment. In the end, I realised, what I believed in once was but propaganda instill into the young minds before maturity and wisdom enter into those minds. It was like early insinuation until it became a blind faith. Back then, although I know nuts about Singapore military, but somehow, we are taught, by mass media, that it was the best in the region (in terms of equipment and military technology, I still believe it is).

I realised that the passe philosophical quote, overly used by SAF '...when boys becomes man' - actually doesn't completely transform the 'man' in Singaporean boys I encountered during service. From those newly enlisted to others going to ORD - it appeared more like '...survival of the fittest...' and people are seeing NS more like a passing phrase in their life than national duty to service the nation.

The heartware is precariously missing and you find people going through the motion or vanishing into the background when REAL issues, REAL stuff are needed for REAL man to tackle, handle and resolve - nothing comes before the thought of covering their ass first. Absolutely nothing. Everyday, everyone is only interested when the clock strikes 1730 hrs... all the way until they have amicably post out or discharge of service.

Leaving the rot for the people of integrity to cleanse them. And integrity doesn't exist in the service - even the core values are nothing but airy words told by commanders who doesn't even live in accordance to what they are preaching.

The 'boys' are still inevitably visible in the traits of those conscripted soldiers and worsen through regimentation. The 'top-to-down' or 'centralised' approach merely trained our boys to become more well behaved and not becoming 'man' as the quote suggested. My BMT sergeants always mentioned about 'thinking soldiers', which I have always thought it was oxymoron.

Thinking soldiers?

Only human thinks; soldiers are only taught to follow orders - somewhat a servile approach.

I spoke to many people, of all backgrounds and education level, throughout my enlightening journey and when I figured out how much they 'understands' about their country (and of course the Army), I was ghastly appalled by how nonchalant everyone's attitude towards it. This is inclusive of regulars, whom are supposed to 'buy' the military propaganda sold to them psychologically and live according to the insinuation.

In fact, most regulars are more interested in the money aspects of their career that it actually blinds their vision nothing wider than a dollar note. There aren't genuinely interested in serving the nation, the public and the people because this is how it was portrayed to me strongly. Like a pyramid model - the apex represents the commanders or leaders, while the bottom represents the work shouldered and done by the NSF.

Credits were stolen by higher management and blames are splattered across board when things goes awry. I even encountered certain junior commander misusing his newly discovered powers and several senior commander/s overly depending on NSF and exploiting them to perform their level of job.

I am completely at ease with warrant Al asking me to buy coffee on his behalf or even performing mundane tasks like photocopying, but obviously I wouldn't be expecting him to shove me the training program and asking me to handle it.

I can't even be bothered to pen down the identity of those riffraff being paid in multiples of my pay and requesting me to do their level or share of their work. Should ISD/MSD accidentally come across my blog and read this post, I could picture the look on their face as 'duh-we-knew-that-long-ago.'

This pseudo-world class organisation is nothing but a hush-hush organisation ran by incompetent leaders. The skeletons in those cupboards are well hidden and pry-protected by public eyes. So insidious that should we have an external, non-government audit, this can of worms will open up like how NKF did. The internal audit done are but facade and histrionic methods to ensure quality. Even the ISO are nothing but falsification and untrue to the actual picture.

And you expect me to entrust my life to a bunch of unproven commanders, who are probably only paper-smart and devoid of empathy for the common folks? I see this phenomenon crystal-clear DAILY when our RPs, after their fatigue duties, walking that stretch of road out of Sembawang Airbase and I see scores of commanders, in the comfort of their branded Mercedes or BMW cars, whizzing past the poor soldiers, without sparing a single thought of reliving them off that drudgery journey towards the gate, which ALL cars would essentially passed through as well.

So far, it is always the contractors (civilian) who have been helping the RPs unconditionally, mixed with few rare occasions of military personnel (usually WOSA). And when you have a young lady (half the time needed if she is pretty) going through the same thing, it wouldn't take long before somebody stop by and ferry her down.

Pray tell how do I respect someone for nothing? Commanders don't even fucking give a damn to lift their tiny finger to relieve these man, or fellow Singaporean as a matter of fact. If I have a car and I see someone walking that damn stretch of road out, I would kindly fetch him down, regardless of whether is it a man or woman, private or major because it doesn't even take much on my side. Even such little gestures are missing, then tell me how the respect is earned? Just because they are scholars or have been through OCS? Even base commander's position is an allocated spot for scholars so nicely placed when they sit in the system, everything else will run auto-pilot. SAF tried to force respect out of us via appointment or rank, but I cannot see myself respecting them simply because they have done nothing significant.

And sadly, the NSF man at the bottom of this 'food chain' are slave tools to serve those master above them through the element of fear in carefully disguised regimentation. Regimentation is but an excuse used by the organisation to reinforced the fear mindset into the minds of the NSF to follow the rules and constantly be placed on a tight leash on their conduct and behaviour... even till reservist.

I came across several NSman who were on pending charge case for missing his IPPT, RT, ICT, etc. And whenever I hear their story, I had nothing but a heart of sorrow for their predicament. One NSman was in the brink of bankruptcy when RSAF decides to charge him for missing his IPPT.

'Charge me? The bank is going to repossess my house anytime and you think I have the mood for IPPT? Charge me? Charge lah! I no money liao... or you want me go commit suicide to prove it to you??'

Another NSman was illiterate and the people around him are also uneducated. He cannot read English and I had to translate to him what his letter meant in chinese because my S1 was an Indian.

It was a charge letter.

Then you have one NSman who was charged for missing his RT.

'I work night shift and the afternoon is for me to rest and recuperate so that I have the energy to work later. You expect me to take RT in the evening and sacrificing my sleep? Then who is going to compensate me? My boss will fire me off my job!'

I feel for them, as fellow Singaporean, but there was simply nothing I can do. Regimentation is brought over into their civilian life, an intergal part of a larger plan, by this authoritarian government.

This is not a rant; more like statement from a disillusioned Singaporean, who went into National Service in good faith and came out devastated. Somewhat like realizing your father has kept a mistress behind your mother's back kind of feeling. In an instant, the loving figure shattered into millions of glass fragments and you know nothing will restore the perception ever again.

This is my National Service.



P.S: For those stupid enough to reckon that it is real - that is a toy gun.

Cheers

The MIW behind our MIB

The stand-off between the protesters and the police a few days ago revealed more than the PAP's authoritarian ways. It gave Singaporeans a glimpse into how our men-in-blue (MIB) handled a situation that didn't come with clear, by-the-book instructions.

Take the time when the protesters wanted to hand out flyers to passers-by on the morning of 18 Sept. The officers scrambled to block the activists from continuing on. It was only after some frantic communication with HQ that they were allowed to proceed.

The protesters then positioned themselves at the corner of Upper Pickering Street and South Bridge Road, and started handing out flyers.

"Dr Chee, I have to advise you that what you are doing constitutes an offence," came the familiar refrain.

"How so?" Dr Chee asked.

"There are six of you here with a common intention and that is not allowed," was the reply.

"But we are the same people who were at the other corner on the same sidewalk," Mr Gandhi Amalam interjected.

"But this is an offence," the policeman insisted with his killer instinct for dud-replies.

After a period of trying to extract some answers from the officer that one could deem as even remotely intelligent, the protesters gave up and passed out the pamphlets in a group of four.

Meanwhile Mr Hassan, the officer in charge of Operation Stop Chee With Stupid Answers, was quickly summoned. He's the same guy that tried to take the flyers from Dr Chee when the Team was distributing them at Raffles City the Sunday before.

When Mr Hassan appeared, Dr Chee told him that the protesters wanted to distribute flyers at Raffles Place during lunchtime.

Mr Hassan buzzed HQ.

"Yes, you can go to Raffles Place to distribute flyers," officer Hassan came back. "But how are you going to go there?"

Strange as the question was, Dr Chee obliged, "We're going to walk there."

"You have to walk one a time then," Mr Hassan said.

"Let me get this right. The six of us can go to Raffles Place to distribute flyers which your colleague just told us was an offence, but we cannot walk there together," Dr Chee tried to sought out.

Mr Hassan tried to look composed as he reached deep to come up with an answer. All the while a younger officer kept whispering into his ear, obviously offering tips and precautions.

After a few seconds, Mr Hassan came back: "If you want to distribute flyers at Raffles Place, I will allow you."

"But your colleague just stopped us from giving out the flyers in a group of six," Dr Chee pointed out. "Its obvious that you guys are just making up the rules as you go along."

Silence.

"I'll get back to you," Mr Hassan replied and buzzed HQ again.

"Dr Chee, your objective is going to Raffles Place right?"

"Yes."

"We will allow you to do that but you cannot walk there. You have to take a taxi."

There was a momentary silence when Team Empower Singaporeans tried to figure out what in the world possessed our MIB.

"But Raffles Place is just a short walk away," explained Dr Chee. (For those of you unfamiliar with downtown Singapore, Raffles Place is about 400 metres from Upper Pickering Street.)

"I'm sorry but that is the only way you can go there."

"Okay, we will only take the taxi if the police pays for it. We're certainly not paying for it."

Mr Hassan hesitated. The HQ radio buzzed one more time.

Mr Hassan came back with bad news, "No we can't pay for it." But he offered an olive branch, "Okay you can walk there, but you and Ms Chee cannot walk together."

"Why?" Dr Chee asked.

"Because you might attract people and that would become an illegal procession," Mr Hassan said. One had the feeling that the poor officer was just mouthing the words and was by now feeling quite silly having to say what he was saying.

"You mean the six of us can walk from that corner to this corner but we cannot walk from here to Raffles Place?" Dr Chee asked.

All these questions were making Mr Hassan confused. Even the activists were getting dazed from all the twists and turns.

In the end, the Team agreed and decided that Ms Chee Siok Chin would go first. But as she was halfway across the road, her chaperons blocked her way for the umpteenth time. A standoff in the middle of South Bridge Road?

Mr Ambalam then shouted to Mr Hassan and co., "I thought we had agreed?"

"Sorry, sorry," one of the officers mumbled as he ran ahead to tell his female counterparts to let Ms Chee proceed.

Already feeling hot under the collar, Mr Hassan erupted at one of his subordinates when the unfortunate junior officer tried to approach us: "Get back over there!" Mr Hassan tore off his police flak-jacket and stormed ahead towards Raffles Place, without even waiting for Dr Chee and Mr Ambalam.

The distribution of the flyers went ahead without a hitch – after more than two hours of negotiations. Who said that our MIB didn't have much to do?

Permission to let them sit, over

The competition for the silliest police action was just hotting up.

On the morning of 19 September, Dr Chee and a fellow protester had sauntered to another spot to have a discussion. They were of course accosted by the police (thank goodness it wasn't Mr Hassan again).

By the way, the police had decided to wear their civilian clothes after photographs of uniformed and menacing-looking police officers ringing around the activists were embarrassingly splashed around the world.

Dr Chee, pointing to some steps, said, "We just want to sit there."

Officer: "Let me get clearance first."

The two activists looked at each other. The feeling was not one of surprise for nothing the police did could surprise them anymore. It was more a sorry feeling for the officers who were made to undergo such silliness by the MIW, aka PAP.

The two protesters moved forward and reached the steps. They were immediately held back by two officers. "We just want to sit here," Dr Chee repeated.

"Let me just get permission first," the officer matched.

"You need to get permission for us just to sit here?"

"Okay, sir, you can sit here," said the officer obviously quite happy to get the all-clear from HQ.

The people behind

To be sure Mr Hassan was not the bad guy. He's probably a stand-up bloke and a straight shooter. He and his colleagues were just placed in an impossible situation and made to look like fools.

On the very first day when the standoff first began, Mr Hassan and co. were obviously told that the group must not be allowed to proceed to Parliament House at all cost.

But the Team suggested that they would walk singly to the venue. Oops! No instructions on that one. Mr Hassan initially said okay.

The protesters than started walking whereupon someone must have hollered through their earpieces "No! No! Stop them!"

Mr Hassan quickly ran up and blocked Dr Chee who by then had walked several metres to the corner of North Canal Road and South Bridge Road.

Ms Chee Siok Chin, a little faster on her feet, had stomped a hundred metres ahead. Initially some of the male officers were trying to stop her but when someone shouted that policemen were trying to handle Ms Chee, the MIB scrambled for cover and were quickly replaced by WIB.

At the stand off, Dr Chee repeatedly asked Mr Hassan why they were not allowed to proceed.

"You had announced that you were going to have a rally at Parliament House. I cannot allow that," Officer Hassan said.

"And why is it an offence to have a rally outside Parliament House?" Dr Chee enquired.

Mr Hassan's lips started to move but no words came out. He gave up.

"Tell me the reason why we can't have a rally outside Parliament and if it is reasonable, we will accept it and will disperse immediately," Dr Chee insisted.

"Dr Chee, I cannot allow you to proceed," the officer repeated.

"Yes, I know that. What I want to know is the reason why. Why don't you call your superiors and then tell us the reason? We'll wait."

He and his colleagues seemed to radio back but apparently didn't get any help.

His superiors, nestled in their air-conditioned offices couldn't, or wouldn't, give their poor colleague an answer. As a consequence, Mr Hassan was left to stand stoically and face the crowd.

Using psychology on a psychologist

Throughout the standoff, Mr Hassan and his female counterpart were probably given instructions to use psychological warfare to wear down Dr Chee and Ms Chee.

At every opportunity, they would summon up their sweetest tone and tell the Chees: "Are you okay? I know you are very tired. You must miss home very much. Your family must miss you too. Why don't you go home and get some rest? Just give us the word and we'll get a taxi for you."

Extremely sugary but a tad amateurish.

On one occasion, Dr Chee was bent over getting some respite when Mr Hassan approached him and repeated the we-care-for-you-so-much-that's-why-we-want-you-to-go-home lines.

"Thanks, I'm okay. You guys should be the ones going home. Why do you insist on doing all this?"

"We're just doing our job."

That opened the floodgates. "No you guys cannot always hide behind this excuse. I may except that kind of talk from my four-year old when she tells me that her sister 'made her do it'. But coming from a 40-year old who can discern right from wrong, that is not acceptable."

By now, the journalists who were milling around surrounded the two clearly enjoying the exchange.

"You see, our local reporters tell me the same thing every time I ask them why they do what they do," Dr Chee continued. "It is no longer good enough to say that you are just doing your job.

"If your jobs say that you have to write lies and prevent citizens from knowing the truth, and you the police stop citizens from speaking up, then you have a moral duty to tell your masters: 'No I will not obey you any more.' and have the courage to quit.

"Remember, all of us have to answer to God at the end of the day. Fear God, not Lee.

"Let me not go on anymore. But when you have a quiet moment just before you go to bed or when you are saying your prayers, think about what I just said.

"Now please let me rest for a while in peace."

Mr Hassan never asked Dr Chee how he felt or whether he wanted to go home again.


The 72-hour standoff threw up some gems that underscore the point that exam-smart technocrats that the MIW love to recruit in the civil service (including many of our ministers) may be good when standing orders are clear and when all the instructions have their i's dotted and the t's crossed.

But when confronted with a situation that requires cognitive adroitness and flexibility, the entire machinery grinds disastrously into dysfunction.

And we're just talking about six people armed with only 'Democracy Now' T-shirts.

***

OMFG! ROFLMAO!!!!!!

I recalled a similar incident when CO blew his top during parade because one RP was directly confronted by another base personnel breaching security rules and all he said was: 'Sorry sir, I don't know... I am just doing my duty.'

Now we know that this is not an isolated case; it's homogenous throughout all dimension and level of our civil servant.

I had to agreed strongly with Atobe, who mentioned:

A structure in which the field men will only react with the instruction from Central Command can only result in initiative and creativity being blocked.

At a time when the IMF-World Bank was in town, extra pre-caution had to be taken by MIW and MIB, to prevent any adverse publicity from occurring, after Singapore had a breadth of foul air being blown in the face with the banning of the 27 Civil Society Activists.

It will look silly for any MIB with a rank more senior than an Sergeant to deal with CSJ and his small crowd; as any MIB with a higher rank than that, will give CSJ too much credit and importance.

In dealing with CSJ, how high up does the chain of command go - over the 2-way radio used by the MIB ?

The confusion and constant 2-way communication with Central Command - (and possibly a Higher Command) - is similar to the structured central planning and execution of the Communist System, in which no one will move without authorisation from Central.

No one is allowed to exercise initiative or imagination in executing their assigned tasks, which has to be mechanically executed according to plans; and when hiccup occur, Central will have to be informed, and alternative approved methods will be given.

This is the First World Talent which exist in our Singapore Government when dealing and engaging with Singaporean Political Activists.

Singapore will go to the dogs, if the Scholars at MINDEF manages the SAF to defend Singapore in the same manner as these MIW managing the MIB.

Cheers

NDP

Today is National Day and once again, I have to remind everyone that SINGAPORE is indeed bigger than PAP (Singapore > PAP). We have what we have now because of EVERYBODY, not just mere effort of our seemingly clean government.

Using 9 Aug 1965 0000 hrs as details, I am just checking, using my limited knowledge in Mundane Astrology. (Interestingly, Lion represented our National Identity, which coincide with the Sign of Leo).



According to today's Transit; transition Saturn conjunct Sun in 4th house in Sign of Leo and progressed Saturn opposed radical Uranus in 5th house. The sunny lion Singapore (likely represented by PM L.S.L) would face situations that would mellow its proud ego. [This is probably represented by the huge lost of votes in AMK as WP's younger, untested team score an incredible result when it is supposedly a suicide mission. This probably also mean that we shouldn't even be spending mundane purchases like acquiring missile defense (for ego sake) against a non-existence threat, which may spark off an arm race in S.E.A]. Affliction to Uranus 5th house, also suggested a growing outbreak of political tension. Singapore is resisting its inner call for changes and individualism - this would create friction between children of the country and their leaders, whom would be voters in the future.

Country likely to experience economic depression/lost of some sort relating to land, buildings and agriculture. Investment into such areas in Singapore will likely to suffer. Saturn's rigidity and fixedly nature will also generate an aura of fear as the future of Singapore is hit by uncertainty. Progressed MC conjunct Saturn in separating aspect of 1 degree also suggest that the Country's progress of global standing is still pretty stagnant, though getting better. In fact, this will greatly affect the elderly citizen of the nation, with the country's refusal to bow to its pride and extend additional lookout for them [My deduction is with the recent country's 'progress' with the increase cost of living, affecting more to those without income - GST to become 7%? perhaps].

Happy Birthday Singapore.

Cheers

Online Media

If blogs and online forums are made up of the common people, it will be words right from the heart. What information can be better than true words from the common man on the street? Unless our ruling party can't handle those truth... which is why they practice self censorship because you got to nip the danger in the bud, before it 'enlighten' more people and degenerate public confidence in the PAP.

Everyone knows this old fact: our media is heavily controlled and moderated, therefore it is bias in its reporting - the same argument that is retorted back at the online community.

There is no smoke without fire; if I can see PAP-slamming topics and posts in every speaker corner styled forum, this is indeed a call for greater concern.

The effect is brewing (resentment and discontentment) and if the government continues it's deterrence measure to clamp down on its citizen, it will probably sprout Mr Red, Mr Blue, Mr Yellow, Mr Green and all other colours other than Mr Brown.

The government still has the 'I know what's right for you' sort of mindset. By default, the government presume that the people can't think for themselves and differentiate facts from friction.

And that the man here are old enough to carry arms and fight for your country, but not old enough to differentiate facts from friction (and not old enough to watch RA too).

Wonder when will Singapore grow up...

Cheers

An open secret?

Wow... the person who wrote this is incredible (political tune). Reminded me of Ray after he has ORDed and 'certain' reputable big company actually low balled him on his salary.

So what if you have gotten your COS? And after your hand shake and word of thanks for your service from CO?

You are on your own to feud for yourself dude... fighting at a 2 years disadvantage with FT and people trying to cut throat on your salary.

Somehow, it seemed better to being a foreigner-coming-here. Afterall, my studies are almost equally subsidize.

I don't believe in monopolizing of power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Please vote with your eyes open - you can't really trust the media with the truth here.

Disclaimer: I do not belong to any political affliation, so ISD... please forget about checking on me and yes, I have no money, so can forget about court cases. I am just a normal citizen - not elites btw. And this blog is mainly for Aunt Agony, therefore I don't have to register.

Cheers