Dr Wong Wee Nam - notable quote

'It is not for any individual to decide who is fit to stand for election. It is for an informed and intelligent electorate to decide who should be elected. This is a very fundamental principle of the democratic process.' Dr Wong Wee Nam. Have Singaporeans been robbed of this right to decide who can or cannot run for election and who can or cannot be elected?

Singaporeans obsession with preparing for tomorrow

'Living longer, must work longer, must draw down later, must save more, and must take care in case you live beyond 85.' Lee Hsien Loong Hsien Loong is talking about CPF and the need to keep more money for beyond 85. What I would like to tell Singaporeans is to prepare for life after 85, after death. What happens if one goes to hell? Singaporeans must prepare now, what they should do in case they go to hell or to avoid going to hell. Going to heaven is a happy problem.

The rise of Alternative Media

Below is an extract from littlespeck.com showing how important is alternative media and how hypocritical main stream media has become. We are gradually seeing the demise of msm when serious news is concerned. The credibility of msm is at stake and soon it will be buried for good. Coverage News blackout With the press silenced, Ma;aysian city-folks rely on new media and foreign agencies for protest coverage, but not so for many rural Malaysians. Nov 13, 2007 By mediaslut The Malaysian government was reported to have ordered a blackout of any news and photos in the country’s main-stream media of the BERSIH rally held in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, on Saturday, Nov 10 2007. The rally was well publicised and with a blackout in old media, where did the curious or concerned go to get information about the protest? They went to the blogs of Malaysians and protest participants who took photos and wrote their account of the demonstration online. They went on Technorati and searched the keyword “Bersih” and probably visited one of the 493 blogs post tagged with the keyword “Bersih”. Jeff Ooi reported a spike of visitors to his blog, Jeffooi.com, over the weekend. From an average of 5,000 - 6,000 visitors on sleepy weekends, Jeff reported 24,600 page-views with 21,000 unique visitors to his blog on that Saturday itself. There was a time when the medium was only the radio, television and papers. The cost of producing anything for them was expensive and out of the reach for the common man and woman. The cost of distribution was also exorbitant. Today, the medium is the Internet and the tool they call a blog. Another can set up a blog and go “live” on the internet within minutes, for free. The cost of distribution has also gone down with blog search engines such as Technorati or Google. The cost of creating such content’s also now affordable to the masses. A mobile phone is even touted as the ultimate journalist tool and could be bought at a relative low price depending on the plans provided by the service provider. It takes photos, records audio and video, and can be uploaded to the blog in minutes. How effective is a government ordered old media blackout today? Ahirudin Attan, the person behind rockybru.blogspot.com and a former journalist, called the blackout a severe blow to Malaysian journalism as “people had to rely on foreign TV stations, blogs and wire news to know what happened at the rally”. (mediaslut) Meanwhile, Jeff Ooi wrote in his Screenshots blog: - The BERSIH rally remained top news of the hour, every hour, since 3.00pm on Al-Jazeera International yesterday. I was in the Al-Jazeera studio to give live commentaries during the 3.00pm, 4.00pm and 6.00pm bulletins over Astro Channel 513. There will be a live crossover with Anwar Ibrahim during the 8.00pm prime time news last night. There are visuals that show Al-Jazeera correspondent getting doused in the chemical-laced waterjets the Police shot at the crowd.. One blogger wrote, “Malaysian journalism took a severe blow. People had to rely on foreign tv stations, blogs and wire news to know what happened at the rally. ”There was hardly any report in the government-controlled media.” Another, anil netto, added: “Mainstream media coverage was pathetic. I woke up this morning expecting it to be front-page news. After all, news of the protest gathering had flashed across the globe yesterday. ”But when I saw the front page of The Sunday Star today… zilch, nada, nothing…. Was this for real? It seemed as if I must have been on a different planet. ”It was only reported half-heartedly on page 8. Tens of thousands of people had brought Kuala Lumpur to a virtual standstill the day before and .. Page 8!” Nov 13, 2007

UMNO lacking in confidence

Reading from Malaysian PM’s speech, Sin Chew daily columnist notes ruling party is short of confidence. By Tat Tian Yan Does anyone know the title of the opening speech by part president and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to the just ended UMNO General Assembly? Not many people will realise it. Here it is: “Strengthening Confidence – Venturing Into A New Era”. The most important word is “confidence”. “Confidence” is the weakness of UMNO. In fact, UMNO has everything, be it power, resources, party members, the vote and so on. However, they are lacking confidence. Abdullah knows this as a fact. But the majority of the party members, and even the high-level cadres are not aware of it. They feel insecure because they are lacking confidence. Their tough look is very often used to hide their deep unease. Therefore, we can see a lot of “terms” in the UMNO General Assembly. The most common terms are “Do not challenge us”, “Our patience is limited”, “We have already sacrificed too much” and so on. "They feel insecure because they are lacking confidence." These “terms” reflect the collective psyche. The above is an extract from littlespeck.com I rather see this lack of confidence from a different angle. What UMNO needs are able leaders who are development minded, take on projects to develop the country, introduce positive and pro business and development policies to drive the economy. What UMNO now has is a bunch of politicians who spend their time politiking and how to line their pockets. How many of them have come out with ideas, serious development and economic ideas and push them through? Practically zero. And worst, any big idea, other than the stupid crooked bridge, will be torn down to pieces for fear that they make less and the investors make more. With this type of frog in the well mentality, Malaysia cannot progress. And as it starts to regress and go down the hill, the politicians will keep on inciting the people to raise tension. That is what the Malaysian politicians in UMNO are good at and are doing everyday to keep their bank account growing.

$2 billion projects delayed

The delay is to reduce the reliance on more foreign workers. Has the message of the presence of a sea of foreign workers sank in? The daily commentary and expression of views in the msm are signs that the welcome is wearing thin. The agitations and discomfort will grow as time goes by. Now what it needs is for some foreign workers to be recruited into organised crimes and the wrath of the people will just explode. And when hostility blows into the open, it can become ugly. Let's manage this foreign presence and don't think that we are a country like American or Australia. We are too small and we have already too huge a foreign presence to test our tolerance. Up to a certain level, foreigners are welcome. Once the limit is exceeded, some kind of xenophobia will appear. It is only natural.