5/11/2006
behavioral change in people
There seems to be a noticeable behavioral change in the people immediately after the election. No, I am not seeing people looking over their shoulders every now and then. But people are seen exercising their necks in another way. They turned their heads up and turning it around, with their eyes making a wide scan across the ceilings, as if looking for something.
Then there is this reticent even among friends. Everyone appears inquisitive but guarded. Before a conversation starts, a lot of preliminary probing questions were asked, like who are your friends, whether one is involved in community services or grass root activities, etc.
This is a very strange development to date. Why are people getting so cautious. Don't they trust what they said to their friends any more? Maybe my deduction of an innocent inquisitive nature of people is wrong. People are just more concern of their friends, with so much love around us.
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I find myself being more cautious too. Maybe it's coz pple are growing weary of pappies tactics on opposition members.... eg. Gomez was taken in for police questioning for a blur mistake which he apologised for. But i suspect it's more to do with this article (not sure if u have seen it);
Singapore
Volunteers act as eyes and ears for PAP
393 words
3 May 2006
Straits Times
English
(c) 2006 Singapore Press Holdings Limited
WHEN Dr Chee Soon Juan and other members of the Singapore Democratic Party turn up within Sembawang GRC to garner support for their team, which is contesting there in this election, PAP branch activists get wind of it quickly.
This is because of a wide-ranging network of people on the lookout for opposition activity in the area. They include senior citizens, students, ice-cream vendors and even road sweepers, who quickly pass on the information through cellphone short messages.
According to Mr Malik Maksudi, 42, head of the feedback and intelligence unit at the PAP's Marsiling branch, volunteer informants keep PAP candidates up to date with information on their opponents in electoral contests. They also gather feedback on residents' sentiments.
Every PAP branch has such a unit, he said. When SDP conducts rallies in Sembawang GRC, the volunteers also record what is said, using digital recorders and handheld cameras.
'They buy their own equipment. We don't even have to buy drinks for them,' he added.
In the course of a three-hour rally, Mr Malik himself could get 40 messages on his mobile phone. If he spots something worth passing on, he tells Mr Hawazi Daipi, who is one of the incumbent MPs and heads the PAP Marsiling branch.
Mr Malik said he works with a team of 35 'team leaders' from his branch, but he does not know who make up the volunteers in each of the teams as team leaders recruit their own helpers.
Last November, when there were rumblings that an election would be called soon, his team conducted 'Operation Naked Eye', where the volunteers kept their ears close to the ground to find out which opposition party would contest in the GRC.
'At that time we were not sure if it was going to be the SDP or Workers' Party. We wanted to get feedback from the ground, to find out what topic of interest they would want to address,' he said.
Mr Malik, who is a businessman, said he started volunteering with PAP because Mr Hawazi was his teacher in Commonwealth Secondary School.
Mr Hawazi taught him English and physical education when he was in Secondary 3 and 4.
'He taught me a lot of things. Now, it's payback time,' he said.
TAN HUI YEE
wow, reminds me of the days of the Red Guards and communes.
the strength of the pap is in an organisation built up over the years. collecting intelligence is a very helpful operation to gauge the feel of the ground and how to react and plan their strategies.
but what is of greater concern is for your friend to whisper what you said to be used as evidence against you. then our society is doomed.
if we cannot even trust our friends or people whom we think we can trust, we will degenerate into a society like the communist states or nazi germany.
As i see it.... slowly but surely this phenomenon is become more prominent in singapore.
A distinct feature of such centralised secret intellegence collecting network is that the members do not tell/warn their friends that what they say can be used against them. The authorities would do that. Now.... that is freaky. Though many have heard whispers so such actions done by "they who shall not be named"... i do believe that there is some truth to it.
I totally agree that such wld cause sg to degenerate into a society like the communist states or nazi germany. Such organisations would only tear the fabric of a nation apart. That is if it commands a strong enough fear amg the community and power to transfer & gather information. Sons & daughters against parents. Silbings against silbings. Neighbours against neighbours. Friends against friends.
There is a strong need for opposition to make sure there are checks and balences before it is too late.
Sons & daughters against parents. Silbings against silbings. Neighbours against neighbours. Friends against friends.
Funny I just quoted this from the bible and posted in soc.cul.spore : )
Lets hope we do not become like Myanmar. Then ASEAN will come in and demand that we be more civilised and respect human rights, or there will be a regime change from outside, if Geroge Bush is still around.
Haha... great minds think alike ;)
Well... i do hope that that day wld never come. I feel that Singapore being dependent on foreign investment cannot afford such a mishap.
the nation will evolve, people will evolve, and mindset will change.
but the older one gets, the more set our mind becomes and the more stubborn one becomes.
the world, the future, always belong to the young and it is theirs to shape and live. everyone must pass on.
nothing is permanent. everything is transient, to borrow from the great buddha's teaching.
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