Bloggers, this is your time

Bloggers, this is your time For seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, Time's Person of the Year for 2006 is you. Times Magazine voted the bloggers as the Person or People of the Year. The role of bloggers and citizen reporting is playing a very significant and increasingly important role in writing and commenting about events and news, and is getting the recognition of an important international magazine. With millions of bloggers in cyberspace, the amount of information generated is unbelieveable and they will present a serious challenge to the main stream media when news and information are expected to be packaged in an expected manner. Three cheers to all bloggers.

eleanor wong - a quotation

I like this quote from Eleanor Wong 'Having something to say that might mean something to someone, change how they see things, or at least make them ask different questions.' That's what writers or bloggers should try to do.

Citizen Banerjee

Citizen Banerjee A foreign talent turned citizen, and he said it simple and clear. '...holding a country's passport is not what binds a person to the place - it is the emotional ties that do....' He added that we don't necessarily need everyone to be a citizen. The real supertalent can go anywhere they want. Do we need a foreign talent to tell us these? Isn't everyone in cyberspace been saying the same thing? What I would want to add it that a pink passport is nothing without the emotional ties and without the benefits or values that come with it. Emotional ties are also dispensable when citizenship is no difference from being just a PR. There is greater need and urgency to make citizenship more meaningful and valuable, to be a treasured and wanted item. Our own supertalents, if they are really worth their salts, too will leave for greener pastures, pink passport or not. There must be a host of things that make citizenship meaningful to the people. Something like getting 10% more discounts or subsidies for medical fees and education. Imagine that is how valuable our citizenship is.

Lift my veil and what do you see?

Lift my veil and what do you see? This is the title of an article by Irfan Husain in the Today paper. And in the following pages you have the new Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf taking a stand that he would oppose the cutting of the hands of thiefs. Next to this was another headline, 'Islam debates worry Anwar.' The three names are muslim intellectuals who are not your normal laypersons or average kids turned mullahs. It is a pity that such intellectuals did not take up the profession of being religious leaders. For their views and interpretation of the Koran will definitely make a mark in the development of Islam. The things they lamented are serious doctrinal issues that only muslims are best to discuss among themselves. As non interested parties or non muslims, our views are definitely unacceptable no matter how we rationalise about them.

$3,400 psf properties

$3,400 psf properties How could Singaporeans afford such properties when the top 20% population have a monthly per capita household income of $3000, according to some statistics that were splashed across the MSM? At $3,400 psf, it will mean a 1000 sq ft condo will cost $3.4 million. But these units built for the rich and famous are not going to be 1000 sq ft but 2000 or more. A 2000 sq ft will be a blooming $6.8 million. With the $3000 per capita income a month, Singaporeans would have to go and steal from some where if they can afford one of these units. How is it that about 70% of these properties are bought by Singaporeans? Unbelieveable! Something is seriously wrong here. Either the statistics are wrong, or something got to do with our corruption index. To buy such a property, one would need a monthly income of at least $30,000 and for many years. Where to find such animals in Singapore? Maybe there are, but can't be that many. The reality is that once these few Singaporeans have bought their shares, that's it. The rest will be bought by foreigners as the developers are going to build more. Surely with our miserable income of the top 20% at $3000 per capital household income they would not be able to afford such price tag. Maybe one day we will have to follow the footstep of Malaysia, and reserve 30% of all high end properties, or all privately developed properties to be sold to Singaporeans at a discount.