shssssh...let's not talk about it

The Malaysian Minister for Information, Zainuddin Maidin, was unhappy about the spat between Mahathir and Badawi. He was deeply concerned that this will expose all the cronies in the system and tell on the weaknesses of the bumiputras. In his view, the changing of the PMs is only a transfer of cronies. And since the cronies are endemic in the system, it is better not to talk about it so that nobody knows. The lesser people know about it the better for the country. This is a very wise minister.

training courses for bloggers

Bloggers need to go for courses, less they be killed. Well not in the battle field of course. But killed in different ways. Professional training for journalists have proven that it saved their lives, as quoted by anothor professional trainer. That must be the most valuable training the world can ever have. All the armies in the world should send their soldiers for such training and they will be less likely to be killed in battle. Back to bloggers training. The first advantage I can see in this is that I am going to set up a training school for bloggers and get some income. And to boost my income, all the bloggers must be licensed, issued by me. That's another source of income. Another advantage is that bloggers will, after the training, confine themselves to safe topics like food, entertainment and sports. That would raise the level of bloggers in these fields. Next is to set up a task force to enforce the rules and regulations and licencing. Now this will create more jobs. Cyberspace inspectors and cyberspace police. I strongly support the call for training for bloggers, on condition that they attend my school and the licence be issued by me. Others can take on the policing role.

latest: we are opening up!

Latest News Following Hsien Loong's National Day Speech and his citation of Talkingcock.com, a sign of official sanction of the talking cock site, it is no longer blocked. All Singaporeans can now visit Talkingcock.com freely. Now this is no talking cock. Hsien Loong is walking the talk and showing the way. Welcome to cyberspace, Cyberspace citizen Hsien Loong! PS: I hope this is not just a slip by those responsible for blocking it.

the 6-8 million squeeze

With the kind of traffic jams that are increasing by the days, and with the policy change to allow more car ownership by removing COEs, how much more can our roads take before they will all clog up? With 4 million people, we are all feeling the stress, resources are stressed, road are stressed, jobs are stressed. Can we imagine how the island will look like if we are to have 6 to 8 million people? Khairy, Badawi's son in law may be right. When the people feel so squeezed, when property prices go beyond many, the lower income Singaporeans may find it a natural alternative to move into Johore, that is if they are welcomed. These poorer cousins of the rich Singaporeans cannot migrate to Australia or further. Would they eventually find the Southern Johore Corridor a welcome location and make way for other richer Singaporeans? When there are 6-8 million people in Singapore, can cars and flats still be affordable? Will there be enough jobs to go round? Or is this one of the reasons why the room size of HDB flats are getting smaller and smaller? Obviously they are not looking into a future where Singaporeans are all 5 feet tall and need lesser room to move around.

hsien loong's national day speech

A little light moment to remember. The most animate moment when he mentioned the name of Lim Kim San, he instinctively looked skyward to see if Kim San was there looking at him. I don't think he choreographed that. And anyone want to buy him mee siam, please don't. Mee siam apparently is not his favourite food. He didn't know that 'hum' do not go with mee siam. Now what is interesting in his speech, things that forumers will want to know? He spent quite a bit of time talking about the digital age and cyberspace. He discussed about how and why they did that to Mr Brown and the need to engage the people in cyberspace. He came out really fired up about this. But this is an area that he wants to do something differently but did not know how. This is best described by him quoting Deng Xiaoping, groping for rocks, one at a time while crossing a river. A case of wanting to let go, to engage the people but not having a formula to do it. Much as he wanted to talk to the people, or for his ministers/ministries to talk to the people, the big stick is still in his hand. He invited criticisms, and even talking about debate. But would there be any debate? In his view there was debate in Mr Brown's case when MICA responded. If that was the kind of debate that we are going to see, then one can expect nothing new. He talked about the new digital age and how to respond to this new challenge. But would the ministers/ministries think they are up to it to debate or discuss an issue over cyberspace? So far only one senior officer from the Foreign Ministry had the confidence to respond by writing back to Gayle Goh in her blog. Would there be more to follow suit and talk to the people instead of talking down to the people, or using the big stick? We will have to wait and see how they go about groping around, and carrying a big stick.