What if there was no alternate media?

Goh Meng Seng seems to think that the better performance of the opposition parties this round should be credited to the main stream media and that alternate media was redundant. There were obviously many factors that turned the tide against the govt this time round and not any single factor would have done it. The PAP had done itself in after years of aloofness for sure. From the word go, their presentation of new citizens and the own goal scored against Tin had already forced them on the defensive. But just look at the role of alternate media in this discussion in particular. Why did the main media take a more agreeable role of having a little more coverage of the opposition? Why were there lesser personal attacks on the opposition? The main media knew that if they did not give a more balance coverage, the alternate media would do it for them. Not only would they be seen as biased, they would lose readership if the readers found them wanting. Not only that the alternate media blew the trumpets of the opposition candidates, they forced the news on the main media. With the alternate media, without the twits and facebook, how many would be able to see the huge followings of Nicole? And in the absence of such news, how much coverage would Nicole be given in the main media. There are many other roles that the alternate media were performing. One of its major roles was to keep the ruling party candidates in check. Anything garbage they said would be amplified to an embarrassing level that they had to be very careful themselves. And if they dared hit below the belt, they could be assured that the alternate media would be there to tell all. The alternate media was the watchdog, the guardian, the rascals that would play foul if tempted or invited by foul players. Do not underestimate the alternate media. Think of the past elections when the alternate media was not there and coverage was the monopoly of the main media. That could be repeated with impunity if there was no alternate media. Any unfavourable news or remarks today would go viral in an instant. This is much more effective and efficient than going through the printing press and waiting for the news to be broadcast. Alternate media is instant media. Ignore them at your own peril.

One last chance

The professional reporters and journalists have a last chance to write about this newsworthy article before Leong Sze Hian starts to bang his abacus. The people must all be eagerly waiting to know how much George Yeo and Lim Hwee Hua will be getting for their pensions in the next 40 years, assuming they live till the ripe age of 90 or more. Their salaries are public knowledge and the formula for calculating their pensions too are available everywhere. The point now is who will be the first to claim credit for putting this as a piece of news and earn the right to put his/her name to it? Without even cracking my head, I think the ballpark figure will be $1m and $2m per annum for Hwee Hua and George respectively. The best part is that they will not have to lift a finger to get this sum of money, which incidentally, is more than the dumb ass sitting in the White House sweating his guts out to prove that he is a worthy President. It is so pleasant to live life on such a pension. Working for 15 and 23 years respectively, and they earn the right to millions for life. I wish I could be in their shoes. I will say a very big thank you to the people of Singapore for the dole. Now to step back and see whether TOC or which main media is going to claim this honour. I am sure it is newsworthy. The world too will be eagerly waiting to get a hold of this news.

Plague of the locusts

After the heat of fire, there shall be rain and flood. The third sign shall be the plague of locusts. They shall come, all 900,000 of them, to devour everything in their path. No one will be spare. The first 60,000 shall come from the West, the next 60,000 from the East, and they will take turns, with more and more in numbers, until all 900,000 have swarm the land. There shall be no other churches except the church of the father. And you shall call no one father. You shall have only one father and he is in heaven. This is my promise, for your disobedience.

Notable quote by redbean

'I have my ears on the ground, but I hear nothing'. Redbean

What a shame

In 1955, when David Marshall was elected as the Chief Minister of the island, he was not given an office to execute his duties. The mean British, who were the colonial masters then, gave him a small table and a chair next to the staircase, like the desk of a security guard. That was the contempt the British rulers had for a locally elected leader of the people. David Marshall took the insult in his stride, for he knew that there was nothing he could do against the masters of the day. And it seemed that we have learnt from the British well, not be better masters, but on how to continue with the tradition of not providing an office to our modern day elected representatives of the people. It must be a wise practice of the colonial masters that we must retain, if not good, as a reminder of how things were then. Last night I watched the news and was shocked to see Yaw Shin Leong, the newly elected MP of Hougang, conducting his meet the people’s session in a void deck. Doesn’t the elected representative of the people deserved to be given a proper place to serve the people? I can only hope that I am wrong, that it was a temporary arrangement as he is a newly elected MP. I believe that in all decency, no matter which party the MP comes from, once he has been elected by the people to be their representative, it is only proper that the state provides him with an office space to carry out his duties to the people. Depriving him of such a facility is an insult to the office and the people that elected him to office. A people’s elected MP is not running his own private business. He is there to serve the people for the well being of the state. It cannot be that an office of the state, a representative of the people who can sit in Parliament to discuss national issues, have to meet the people in the void deck, or to pay for his own office. It cannot be that the country, with all the billions in reserves it has, is too poor to afford such an arrangement. Sounds very third world really. It would be interesting if the MP of Jalan Besar or Joo Chiat should set up his office in the back lane of Desker Road or on the five foot way outside a bar in Joo Chiat. I think I am wrong, and all elected MPs will be allocated a reasonable office for sure, in respect of the office and for him to carry out his duties to the people. But if this is not the case, then Yaw Shin Leong and all the MPs must be very grateful that the HDB did not charge them rent for the use of the void deck or to chase them away. I had a dream last night. I was walking along the void deck of some HDB flats and came face to face with some sign boards. One read ‘No football allowed’. Another one read ‘No meet the people session allowed’. Then I woke up only to know that it was a bad dream. I know that a first world country would not allow such things to happen when we can pay ministers in millions and with world class offices in the heart of town. Are we willing to continue to live with this shame?