3/23/2018

More power to the police to stop people anyhow take pictures

A new law is being tabled in Parliament to forbid the public from taking images, video or still, of serious incidents aka like terrorist attacks. Under this new Communication Stop Order law, it says as reported in thenewpaper, ‘the commissioner of police when authorized by the home affairs minister’ can invoke this law.
 

I hope I am reading this correctly, ie, the home affairs minister must authorize first, then the commissioner of police can give the order. If not, any police officer on the spot can suka suka stop anyone from taking video/pictures using their mobile phones or anything in hand. Is this correct? I can still remember a police officer arresting a photographer, I think a reporter, from taking pictures of a flood, or was it something else, ponding?
 

And some MPs were raising the issue of abuse of power in Parliament. I think this would not be the case. Singaporeans are born with a special DNA and abuse of power would never happen to them. You can never find a single case of abuse of power in the history of Singapore. Everything is done legally. How can there be abuse of power when things are done legally, eg ministerial salary, compulsory CPF insurance schemes? Please don’t accuse the govt of abuse of power to do anything. It is just not in their DNA. They are also Singaporeans and have this exceptional DNA in them.
 

The CSO is to prevent ‘irresponsible communication’. Actually if this is the case, taking pictures and videos should be alright as the intent is to prevent people from communicating irresponsibly like fake news. Tiok boh? Let people take lah, just make sure they do not anyhow post it to shame anyone for irresponsible behavior like anyhow park or anyhow shit or shit anywhere should be good enough. Tiok boh?
 

Ok, get the intent and purpose of this CSO right from the start. What is it supposed to prevent? Irresponsible communication? I read this in thenewpaper. ‘Mrs Teo said this is not its intention as it is meant to stop “irresponsible communication” when asked about forbidding people from taking pictures. So if people take pictures and videos but did not communicate or communicate responsibly, like passing them to help the police to work on the case must be ok right? And if passing to the police is ok, then they must be allowed to take right. If cannot take how to pass to police to help the police? You tell me lah.
 

So what is the real intention, to prevent people from taking images or to prevent people from communicating irresponsibly?
 

PS. I was thinking of including incorruptibility as part of Singaporean’s exceptional DNA. But on second thought, this one is conditional, that they be paid out of this world’s salary or else. So this Singaporean exceptionalism no count.

19 comments:

Virgo49 said...


They are just afraid that the same will happen in the First Little India Riots. SOC personnel with Full Body Armour and armed with the most modern weapons for Riots Control scurrying like Rats and fleeing the scene.

Let them burn the Properties of The Singaporeans. Our Safety more important.

Just see the 60s and 70s to the 80s Reserve Units Personnel.Just three quarters pants with Baton and Rattan Shields only.Just maybe Full Faced Helmets.

The Rioters ran instead of they ran.

So they scared Lau Koou.

If videos goes viral in YouTube.

The whole World be laughing


Anonymous said...

Blame the 69.9% lah.

Now the unimpressive 4G PAP elite at will to set new laws to ring fence themselves.

Anonymous said...

60% like to be ruled by many traps that some days they walk into poli s kai giuam and get arrested without knowing what is the reason behind. Kai giuam for what when little india riot happened like fire burning? Inquiry told public clearly poli could not contact polic chief due to poli comms jammed. Hollow, jammed comms caused the main problem, every body could know that. But new laws said kai giuam means cannot know what happen inside. Got injury or not, outsiders not inside kai giuam area cannot know and cannot take picture to show public. What if someone living inside got injured by poli s action. Trust the poli lah. Every thing u want to be safe, yet u want to have so many foreigners living inside to make trouble for polic. Poli is not perfect or u want to be poli. U tell me lah.

Good lah, more kai giuam better. At night kai giuam cannot drink at park after 5pm. Safer to jog. But they dare not to kai giuam on Personal Mobile units running at lighting speed, those are ang mor s privilege on walking path. Kena vege brain is your problem, tio boh? No accident on walking path? Where got such thing on earth? Only the most highest paid ministers on earth can decide. They think walking path is compatible with high speed PMU, u say cannot meh. Better say sorry now or regret. Practical advise to 60% is not to go out to walk lah. No kai giuam will affect u. No vege brain for u when walking on walking path.

Dont go out on sinkieland, dont buy handphone with camera. U will be safe from arrest and save lots of money. Retailers cannot make money, is their problem. Who ask them to vote for 60%, u tell me lah.

Anonymous said...

Who is John Bolton? Is there a John Bolton in Singapore?


Earlier this month, Donald Trump tweeted: "I still have some people that I want to change". He wasn't kidding. Remember? He is an Apprentice President and he is enjoys saying, "You are FIRED!"

Early this morning, Trump tweeted:

Donald J Trump@realDonaldTrump

[ I am pleased to announce that, effective 4/9/18, @AmbJohnBolton will be my new National Security Advisor. I am very thankful for the service of General H.R. McMaster who has done an outstanding job & will always remain my friend. There will be an official contact handover on 4/9. ]
6:26 AM - Mar 23, 2018


In two weeks, the Chief Economic Adviser (Gary Cohn), Secretary of State (Rex Tillerson), his Personal Chief Lawyer (John Dowd), and now National Security Adviser (HR McMaster) have been told "You are FIRED!" So far, in just over one year of his presidency, how many has he fired? I have lost count.

One explanation is that the President is paranoid with the perception that he is being "handled" by those around him, and is installing men who acts on his command instead of telling him to be careful.

When Iran is concerned, John Bolton and Trump are on the radio frequency. With Tillerson and McMaster gone, the US is heading toward a more Confrontational Foreign Relation with the rest of the World. There is no doubt in my mind.

It is very ought that Trump has chosen Bolton, because he has frequently said the Invasion of Iraq and the killing of Saddam Hussein was a "colossal mistake". Yet Bolton was the active promoter of the Invasion of Iraq when he was in George W Bush's Administration,

Candidate Trump regularly espoused non-interventionism. Bolton is a war hawks' HAWK!

Is there a hawks' Hawk in the Singapore Cabinet? I am beginning to feel that there are at least THREE!

What do you think?


(Credit to BBC)

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

Uncle RB,

As many Singaporeans as possible have to lobby those sensible MPs who are against the incumbent govt's abuse of The State's Power.

For the unsure and uninitiated a quick primer: the ABSOLUTE POWER in a territory comes from The State (for nation states), by fiat/ definition/ decree of the constitution. The govt is elected by the people to apply the state's power. The constitution is the highest law of the land and everyone is forced to be ruled by it. The govt doesn't "rule". All of us are Ruled By Law---including and especially the govt.

The govt is ENTRUSTED to enforce the Rule Of Law. When they abuse that trust, they break the law. The govt is only a temporary custodian, put there by the will of the people. By the same will, any govt which "misbehaves" can be, and should be thrown out...Just as you would if you were a boss and owner of your business and discovered that an employee was fucking around damaging your business.

Here's the argument (or one of them) the govt will use, and there is evidence (Google is your friend!) to corroborate this:

During terrorist attacks (use Mumbai for an example), the terrorists were using Whatapp/ Telegram etc to send video of the location and actions of security forces. They were also using news feeds and live reports from the media as part of their ingenious active intelligence. That is why in the Mumbai attack, so many victims were killed.

IMO, the PAP is going to use this as an argument to shutdown the right of "active citizens" to document and share whatever the fuck horrible things are happening to the people and their beloved cuntry.

So whomever is going to make the case for "abuse of power" needs to be aware of the STRONG CASE the govt will make.

Let's keep Singapore a rocking awesome place, not a dystopian nightmare from a George Orwell novel.

jjgg said...

Aiya RB.. U so funny.. if the public can anyhow take pics n let the whole world see then how is the ministry of disinformation gg to tell the government version of events ..( remember the story.. singapore was a fishing village before lky came n resurrected our wretched lives?) You see the live broadcast of parliament n current commission of something or other n you will see that the warts n pimples of the miw laid bare.. no amount of pimple cream gg to help them..silence the internet!!! this is what they trying to achieve .. another agenda gone pppfffftttt ...)))

Anonymous said...

This hectic and paranoid sped of introducing excessively more and more new draconian laws to deprive and obstruct the citizens, residents and visitors of their free will and freedom is a clear sign of the "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" that has gone bonkers. Looks like all these are being done by Black Panters in powerful positions?

With this kind of Gabramen in power, the road ahead is full of pot holes - very risky, dangerous and life-threatening. One can easily, unknowingly and innocently walk into a trap laid down before the path in front or at he back, any day, any night, any moment, any time, anywhere and anyhow! This is extremely serious for everybody.

The time has come to start to take personal precautions to protect ourselves from any unfortunate untoward incident or event. To do less or nothing will be foolish and regrettable!

God Save The People!

Anonymous said...

Constitutional laws held or suka suka Law Minister becomes Law? You chose by your Erection votes. Voters think leh.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@Morning Glory

>> The time has come to start to take personal precautions to protect ourselves from any unfortunate untoward incident or event <<

Since you understand probability, you'll know that is damn near impossible, or more precisely improbable ;-) Whatever you decide to do to lessen your chances of being hit, the govt will get in your way anyway.

On a mass or collective level, cold hard acceptance of reality is difficult to attain. However, on the individual level, it is possible, because every individual can (if they work at it) moderate their emotions (fear), toughen their spirit and do as much as they can IRL (in real life) to make themselves safer.

Here's a road safety example:

You cannot prevent yourself from an out of control truck careening into your vehicle from your blindspot, and squashing you like juiced sugarcane. But you can take care as a pedestrian or driver to use the roads safely. Every time we venture onto the public roads, we implicitly accept a level of RISK. (a probability). We act defensively, stay alert and conduct ourselves safely, but no matter how safe we are, we simply cannot prevent "out of the blue" horrific accidents from occurring, and ruining our lives permanently.

IMO, applying these proposed draconian measures is merely SECURITY THEATRE. Yes, it's a thing. Look it up!

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

P.S. SECURITY THEATRE potentially makes us more UNSAFE. In the worst cases, it can be used against you. For e.g. fingerprint scanners on phones invite violence. Bad actors can simply capture you, hold you down and force your thumb to unlock your device. The good old high-entropy password/ pattern is a huge pain in the ass, but it is (used properly) a much more secure method.

For the ultimate in mobile digital security and the best countermeasure against surveillance: don't use a phone ;-)

Morning Smirch said...

Now my morning is no more glory but "Smirch"!

Anonymous said...

Yesterday, my son told me he wants to resign from the Police Force. I asked him for the reason why.

He has been so proud being a mata-kia in uniform or in plain clothes on covert operations.

He told me that now his job is getting tougher and more complicated. He has to strip women. He has to touch naked women's body. Hw has to look out for people who create fake news. He has to shoot people who sit at Hong Lim Park to do a sit-down protest if they intrude into public places or make too much noise, even if they are his own family members. He has to .....

I told him that those are great opportunities for him as a young man. I told him he could shoot me if necessary for the safety of the state. I told him he should be over-joyed that he has been given the power to strip women and "search" their body. I said I wish I could join the Police Force at my age now.

He just laughed and walked away ......

Anonymous said...

Facebook's representative was grilled for three solid hours by Shanmugam yesterday. These are part of the exchange ad reported by CNA:


“We’ve been absolutely clear that this was a significant breach of trust with our users and we are determined to address it,” he said. “We are clearly accepting responsibility. This should not have happened on our watch.”

Bringing up various news articles, Mr Shanmugam had also asked Mr Milner repeatedly about Facebook’s statements in parliamentary proceedings in other countries, which prompted the latter to ask how his line of questioning was appropriate.

“This committee is looking into the issue of deliberate online falsehoods here in Singapore,” he said. “Myself and my colleague, and other people on this panel, have come here prepared to answer questions on that and help the committee understand it.

“I don't think it's fair to ask me detailed questions about evidence given by my colleague to a different parliament in a different country about activities associated with that country.”

In response, Mr Shanmugam stressed that the questions before the UK parliament were “very relevant” in “exploring the degree to which Facebook can be trusted to answer questions”.

“And one looks at the sequence of conduct from 2015 to 2018, and the very first time you accepted responsibility for Cambridge Analytica publicly - when did that happen, why did that not happen earlier and to what extent can we take seriously all these protestations that you can be completely trusted to apply your internal guidelines,” he added. “We're all sovereign parliaments, but we look at your conduct all around the world, and we have to understand.”

Mr Shanmugam later added that he sees Facebook – and the other companies – as valuable partners whom the Government hopes to work with to find a solution to the problem of deliberate online falsehoods.

“You want to make profits, which is not a bad thing, and in the process if you can do some good, you would want to do some good as well,” he said.

“We do not have the levers that the US Government might have, or a much larger government in Europe might have. But from our perspective we want all of you to succeed, to continue to make money and do well in Singapore.”

“But in the course of the hearing and of writing our report, we will have to identify what it is that you will be able to do, what it is that we think you will not be able to do, and it would not be proper for us if we hadn’t tried, at least, to give you an opportunity to deal with some of those things that we may have to deal with in the end. So take it in that context,” he added.


Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/we-made-a-wrong-call-facebook-says-it-should-have-informed-users-10067144

b said...

Freedom of speech is made for civilised societies. Limited freedom of speech is for not so civilised societies such as the medieval age. Perhaps the gahmen think we are not living in civilised societies.

jjgg said...

Anon@313.. very impressive eh.. but in the interest of not reporting fake news .. U should perhaps report the exchange in totality.. loll

b said...

March 23, 2018 2:40 pm>>

Just tell him he may be checking on another mas selamat wannabe who like to disguise like a woman under a burka.

b said...

@918

A strict society is not perfect but does have its advantage. Compare to south america, many will prefer a strict society like singapore where drugs and gums are kept away from people and kids.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

@ b

These days, if you talk about "culture", you're immediately labelled as a racist.

Singapore "strict society" is a lot more nuanced than what you propose. Singapore govt's tacit policy is, "if we hear about it, and we deem it to be harmful, we will interfere". That's why there's a lot of "fun stuff" going on in Singapore than there is in most cuntries, but it is all hush-hush. Let's face it, Singaporeans are wealthier than most of the world. They know how to have fun, on the "down low".

Which is a great attitude: "take cover, avoid the cheng hu". I used to get invited to several of the "gentlemen's messes"...many in the River Valley/ Balestier areas. There you can fuck, gamble...essentially do whatever you host will allow. Now messes are almost all gone as the men who own them are in their 70s and 80s or dead by now.

So much for you "strict society" theory.

Every male in Singapore knows how to clean, fire and dismantle firearms...specifically assault rifles. Every male child will be forced to learn about guns and how to kill people with them. The only difference between S America and Singapore apart from S America having more civilian firearms, is that we are probably better shooters when it comes down to "either you die or I die" situation.

You call Singapore society "strict". I call Singapore society AWESOME, but with a few dysfunctional aspects about it. Whether these dysfunctional aspects magnify themselves and eventually drive the society and nation to EXTINCTION, is a moot point. 🤑 Meanwhile, enjoy the money lah!

Other cuntries: bo lui. Our cuntry and it's sheeple: oou lui. Which do you prefer?

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

P.S. S American and Singapore cultures are vastly different. That's why one cannot change to be the other, and stuff which is "allowed" or "disallowed" in each respective place, will never work if introduced into each other's cuntry.

For e.g. if you had more drugs in Singapore, you won't get a spike in stoners. Drug users in Singapore are a minority...it isn't part of the culture. Similarly, if you tried the PAP super-control shit in S America, there will be numerous assassination attempts on your life.

In Singapore, physically attacking the power structure by attempting murder is simply unthinkable.

Cultural differences. They are at the HEART of every societies success or failure. We succeeded, because the Peranakan culture (a bit of Confucius, a bit of western influence..."banana rojak" culture) is far superior to S American Catholic + ancient gods bullshit + socialism culture.

Call me a "cultural chauvinist"...and you'll be CORRECT. 🤓