myth 13

I might as well add this to the list of Singaporean myths. 'The richer one gets, the more magnanimous one becomes.' I would expect rich people to be more generous than the poor people. I would expect them to be kinder and less petty as well. But if we were to look at the persistence and the tenacity shown in trying to implement means testing only to catch a few stingy not so rich people, maybe not the right words to use, prudent people who are careful with their money, it clearly shows that rich people are anything but magnanimous. They are so mean and so petty.

myth 12

'Singaporeans are highly dependent on government initiatives.' This is a myth that Li Ao, our Taiwanese friend, said in his latest story on Singaporeans. He illustrated his point by the story of 3 men stranded in an island. The Hongkie will start to pick fire woods and look for food. The Taiwanese, the smartest, will think of how to build house and water supply to sell to the two. The Singaporean will be lost, waiting for a govt to tell him what to do, or to build the house for him. Now this can't be true right? All Singaporeans will disagree with it. Singaporeans are just too organised and prefer things to be orderly. Not that Singaporeans have no initiative. Just look at the HDB flats. If every Singaporean were to paint whatever colour they want on their windows or the facade of their flats, we will have a riot of colours. And if we allow hawkers to do business anywhere, we will have a mess. Neatness, systematic, and staying together, moving ahead are our strength. We will do everything together, organised. Ok, we will now all smile together. Now you see the impact of 4 million smiles! No country can behave like Singaporeans, to be able to act as one people. It is not that we have to wait for the Govt to tell us to smile then we will smile. We are organised and discipline.

a dangerous combination -internet and freedom of speech

Freedom of expression is bad. It allows anyone to take potshot at anyone at will. Look at what Mahathir is doing to Badawi. Worst still is freedom of expression and internet, a very dangerous combination. Humans, being what they are, everyone is a combination of a host of biases and historical baggages that he grew up with. And anything, any issues, especially govt statements and policies, are going to elicit all kinds of responses. The good are not going to say much. The silent majority will just remain silent. Only the vocal minority who have something nasty to say will have their voices heard, loud and clear. In the past, when information was controlled, when the media was controlled, there was only one voice talking down. Nothing allowed to talk back unless vetted and found agreeable. Today, anything spoken, no matter how innocent or how clever, will receive an equal amount of brickbats from all quarters. And the favourite targets of such brickbats are celebrities, business honchos and, yes, yes, the govt, the MPs and senior officials. When they are not careful, or even very careful, they will still get it. Splurge...shit coming from everywhere. There is no longer comfort in authority. Everything can be ridiculed and every policy can be poked with millions of holes. Before the advent of internet and the freeing of expression, stupid policies and rubbish talks could still get away and the originators still appear high and lofty, looking like a smart alec. No mistakes were broadcast or exposed. Now they cannot run away. They can be made to look so ridiculous, so fallacious, so ah ah... This is the age of the internet and cyberspace, and freedom of speech. Maybe, huh, maybe, it is better to control the media and freedom of speech before it gets too dangerous.

hi all the anonymous bloggers

i am getting quite a number of bloggers using the nick anonymous, and often i am confused with who i am talking to. for easier reference, could you fellas use some nicks, anything. call yourself sun, moon, stars, flowers etc. it will make chatting easier. many thanks. and welcome cherche and alex. thanks for the views. we are all hear to chat and all of us have different views. some very extreme, some funny, some unique, some cheekly, cynical, etc etc. that's how to make a blog interesting. lets have more varieties and differences in looking at things. it adds colour to our discussion. because of the nature of blogs, sometimes i may miss out posts that were too far back. i apologise for that if i did not reach them and reply. that's the reason why i started www.redbeanforum.com. it is easier to retrieve messages as new post will be pull up and easily recognised. please feel free to post there as well.

myth 11

'Citizenship is attractive. We treat our citizen well.' Below is posted by anonymous which i reposted here. i'm sure many of you have heard the story of the shepherd tending to his sheep when a storm intrude and the shepherd and his flock seek shelter in a cave laden with food for such an emergency. in came a few lost goats and the shepherd gladly took them in and fed them with the only food he had and calmed them when they were afraid of lightning. after the storm, when no one came to claim the lost goats, the shepherd decided to make them his but the goats refused. the shepherd was angry and denounced them as ungrateful. the goats replied that they were grateful to the shepherd for taking care of them but they do not want to be a part of his herds saying:"you took good care of us and gave us your only food but you did not take care of your own flock. therefore, we do not want to be a part of your herd." i think the above story says it all. to attract foreigners to take up citizenship, we need to demonstrate that citizens are valued about foreigners. when citizens, PRs and foreigners are treated equally, is there any reason to take up citizenship?