The sacrificial lamb

The COI Report is a statement of failure. It is an open admission that the people managing the detention centre are amateurish, idiots, untrained, unthinking and simply did not know what they were doing. And the centre is designed to assist detainees to escape. It is that bad. Why would such a blatant admission of fault be made public? Who is the one who paid the heaviest price as the guilty party? Who is the sacrificial lamb? Some called the report bold, some horrendous. It was a revelation of an unpleasant truth that is waiting to be told, of a system that is failing but still believes that it is the best. Like the NKF, it is a miniature replica of the failure of a larger system. A system built on the belief that everyone is supertalent and need to be paid like superman. Maybe I am wrong. There are many supermen and superwomen, but all flying around in the cloud nine. At ground zero, it is another world. The world of the peasants and workers who are good enough to tighten belt everyday and with a head that is as empty as their stomach.

Singaporeans are control freaks

We are crazy in this area. We want to control everything. And if we are not controlling others, we want others to control us. We cannot leave things alone. There must be rules and regulations to guide our life. The internet is formless and without boundary. It is literary in vitual space. It is only a little more than what is in our mind, our thoughts, because of the network it resides in, the server and memory disc. Why then should it be regulated? Why is it that Singaporeans expect that it should be regulated? And why ask for it? This is a wrong premise to start with. Asking to be controlled is conceding that it should be controlled. There are enough rules and regulations, laws etc to manage our life. Slanders, libels, mischiefs, frauds, vandalism, whatever, in cyberspace can land one in the court of law. Cyberspace should be left alone as it its. Caveat emptor, the bloggers or forumers are owners of their posts and responsible for themselves. Let the offenders and offended parties track down the culprits and bring them to the court. It will be another lucratic economic activity for the business minded. My view is to leave cyberspace alone. There is no need for additional rules and regulations. Cyberspace has no physical footprint, no territorial space, and should be that way. We must remove this control mentality in us. Why allow people to control us? Is it so good to be controlled? Actually cyberspace cannot be controlled. At best one can blog out the site or go after the owner by tracking him down if he violates any existing laws. Do we want people to control our thoughts?

What an Editorial piece!

TOC Editorial: Government’s lack of accountability bad for the PAP, worse for Singapore Posted by theonlinecitizen on April 23, 2008 The above TOC article is something that the msm cannot match. It has so much bite and so much common sense. If cyberspace is going to keep churning out articles like that, who would still bother to read the msm?

Crisis in leadership

We went through the NKF fiasco quite successfully. When the issue was in the open, Boon Wan quite decisively made a statement that no one will be spared. The message was clear that the wrong doers would be dealt with. They were dealt with. There were attempts to link it to the govt as a failure to prevent it from coming. But this did not hit off as the line was clear, a NGO charitable organisation. The current crisis is about the Home Ministry. There was a moment when no one was sure where it would lead to. Now the target is Kan Seng. There is even a petition calling for his resignation. A reminder of what happened in the NKF crisis. The subsequent events, the way the COI was delivered in Parliament, were not received well. It was the fault of the window, it was the fault of the Gurkhas, the poor design of the detention centre and many other lapses. Yes, a confluence of failures that led to the escape. It gave the impression that Kan Seng was a third party looking into the matter. And this was noticed earlier when the COI was formed. The Home Ministry investigating its own affair, unlike the Health Ministry investigating the wrongdoings of NKF. Wonder if it would help if Kan Seng had said, it was my men, my ministry that committed the lapses. Anyway, when Hsien Loong absolved Kan Seng and stopped the buck at the detention centre, the reaction was kind of a, what's that? The scene shifted. It is now a leadership issue. Would this issue develop into a full blown leadership crisis? The tension on the ground is simmering. This could be worst than the NKF crisis. I think damage control is in operation. I just browse through this morning's Today paper and there was not a single news on the issue. The silence is very telling.

A new era of cooperation

The wind of change is blowing strong, and positively. Abdullah is pondering on the possibility of cooperating with the opposition. Why not, 'If there is no clash in policies, then perhaps it opens the way to cooperate.' He said. This is in response to the opposition offering Gerakan's Lee Kah Choon to head two opposition run development and investment organisations in Penang. The conciliatory gestures are healthy for democracy and the increasing maturing of a polity and the politicians. Politicians can clash during election on issues, but can still work together. In fact this is the basis on which democracy is supposed to work. Confrontation and vindictive politiking belong to third world countries when the rulers are basically thugs or mafia chieftains.