ge: round eleven

the stakes get higher.. choktong is now putting his weight behind two grcs and also to help eric and seetoh to win back hougang and potong pasir.. fortunately he did not commit to resign if he did not achieve what he sets out to do. unlike choktong, steve chia said he will quit politics if he did not win.. what happens if all politicians adopt the same approach, quit if lose? we would not have many politicians left. maybe i will volunteer when all quits and no one else is left standing : )

crooked bridge: how easy to raise tension

what can really happen if things are allowed to go wrong? no agreement after several rounds of negotiation on the bridge.. malaysia continues to build the bridge and went ahead with the u shape crooked bridge, and its end is reaching the causeway. increasing noises to cut causeway to join up with the bridge. tension rises. strong words were said. malaysia awarded contract to cut causeway.. singapore side protests and bring matter to the international court. malaysia ignores and claims that they are cutting causeway inside their territory.. it is their right to do what they want to their part of the causeway. contractors sighted at the causeway. singapore protested strongly.. more heated words on what actions singapore will take to defend the causeway. contractors seen cutting the causeway.. singapore send police to chase away contractors. contractors reappear with police protection and continue to work.. singapore send soldiers to the causeway.. tension builds up. malaysia also sends troops to the causeway.. contractors continue to work and warning shots were fired. both sides mobilised troops and state of emergency declared. could all these happen? a potential for war, all because of a crooked bridge to benefit a few people.. has anyone asked how much it will cost the commuters once the bridge is operational? $10 ringgit on the malaysian side and $5 on the singapore side per trip?

the english media's world view

reading any english newspaper, locally or overseas, one cannot run away from the fact that all the reportings, or the majority of the reportings on international issues involving the superpowers, were written by europeans and americans.. not that there were no asian writers or asian views.. but either these views were not considered worthy, or they were consciously not reported to avoid giving them an airing.. another reason is that the english media, including many asian local english media, are more comfortable with views articulated in english by westerners.. mentally most of them are western biased as many have been bred in a western intellectual environment. then there is also the reason of paying to be published, for certain official views to be heard.. and you need a rich agency to do that. so what happens in the english media world today is the same song being sang by the same group of writers, journalists, reporters and editors.. some editors just borrow or buy articles that are readily available and for convenience. but they would not borrow or buy articles from other asian news agencies.. the favourites are of course nyt, washington post, reuters, afp, and all the broadcasters. and the english reading world is led to believe that the usa is the ultimate model and the paragon of goodness. it can never do wrong and nothing it does is wrong.. or simply no western writers or news generator would want to talk negative things about it.. it is a one way process, a whole propaganda machinery in support of the american empire. there were a few voices in the wilderness that were heard once a while.. but not often enough, and not many to present a fairer and more balance treatment of the evils of empires.. how could it be fair and balance when many of the writers were paid just to do what they are doing.

the crooked bridge can be a flash point

now najib and a johore mp shahrir samad were heard saying that they would do it their way and the causeway must go.. this is a very serious statement.. cutting the causeway as a unilateral move is a very hostile act as it would also affect the water supply. what could happen is that after a year or two of negotiation and when no agreement is reached, the malaysian may just send in their contractors and start hacking at the causeway.. now what? when is a trigger point reached when actions take precedence over negotiation and a drastic act such as the cutting of the causeway is no longer tolerable? what should the singapore govt do? by then singapore cannot keep trying to contact kl and asking for more talks while the contractors keep hacking at the causeway.. it would not take more than a day when the causeway is cut. it is very important that an understanding be reached at this point for both sides to agree that nothing shall be done to the causeway without the agreement of both parties.. and should it need be, go to an international court to settle the issue.. and that a unilateral act of cutting the causeway is a hostile act and never to be attempted. let's hope no one is push to this point to attempt such a rash act.

workfare and neglected housewives (cont)

there was an official reply from the ministry to the issue of neglected housewives in the workfare bonus scheme.. and the reply was standard and contributed to nothing new.. it is as good as 'we heard you, we know you are grumbling.. this is what has been decided and nothing can be done.' the explanation that housewives will get all the other top ups is like telling every citizen that they will get their top ups.. but it fails or refuse to deal with the issue of workfare bonus and the inequality of it.. neither does it want to talk about it.. the real issue is why are those men, who work half heartedly in odd jobs or part time jobs, be considered working and productive while full time housewives were not considered productive or interested in becoming economically independent and not relying on the charity of family or state.. and why are these men considered more worthy of a workfare bonus and not the housewives whose full time commitment and chores are more noble and with a real economic value? if no workfare bonus is declared for the menfolk, then there is no issue.. now there is a demeaning of the contribution of housewives to the economy.. and a kind of sneering that housewives are not worthy or less worthy than men who contributed half heartedly to the economy. what could have happened is that during the preliminary process of forumulating the workfare bonus, the whole issue of housewives was either forgotten or written off.. if it is the latter, and now with the outcry from many quarters, they cannot simply brush it aside and refuse to acknowledge a bad judgement on their part. if it is a case of being overlooked, there is still time to make some corrective recommendations to lessen the impact on a very angry housewife workforce.. unless it is considered that there is no need for damage control. all viewers are invited to www.redbeanforum.com to post their views.