How to create a nation of stupid people?

Is it possible to create a nation of stupid people? I don’t think this is an easy task. You can train people to do things but training people to be stupid is quite a remarkable call. The more formidable task is to educate them, give them the best tertiary education, let them think they are smart, but actually stupid without knowing it? Now that is really something isn’t it?

In communist, totalitarian or authoritarian countries, I think the task is so much easier. Just clamp down on the news and information and feed them with all the information that the state would want them to see and hear. Keep repeating that their lives are the best in the world, everything is fine, and the rest of the world are suffering, in poverty, with bad govt, and no dear leaders to help them. After a few generations of not knowing what is happening to the outside world and only seeing a world within, the people will be convinced that they are living in paradise.

Now, how can this situation be recreated in a cosmopolitan and open democratic country? Can it happen, that people living in a democracy, cosmopolitan, well travelled and well informed, and stupid at the same time? Really, it is impossible to do so. Such well educated and informed people will not be gagged, will not be fooled, will not allow to be blinkered. Any attempt to do so will be met with violent protest, unless they are really stupid.

A stupid people will elect a govt to be their masters, to control them, manage their lives, squeeze every cent from them, and tell them it is for their own good. And only a stupid people will believe such things without questioning and live happily ever after, and keep going to the poll to elect the same people to be their masters, to control them, to threaten them, to sue them, to keep them in fear, to keep their money from them, year after year.

It will be one of the major wonders of civilization, an achievement no one has ever done in human history. I am still wondering if it is possible, to train or create a nation of stupid people.

Mysingaporenews will be closed for the month

Apologies, mysingaporenews will be out for the rest of the month. I just make a check on the counter and the visitor number is nearly 50,000. Cannot exceed this magic number.

Also, my quota for writing on Singapore News has exceeded for the whole year. From now onwards I will be writing about dog rearing, how to groom puppies, how to walk the dogs with muzzles on....and on my photography as a hobby. I will not post any photos that have street scenes of Singapore in case they are mistaken as photojournalism or news on Singapore.

When 6.9m White Paper is not enough

The anger of the 6.9m White Paper has not subsided and now comes the clamping down on social media. Though this is a gingerly step taken, no one is blind to see what will come next. And the uproar in social media is predictable. Everyone is anticipating what will come next and when the blogging community will be hit.

Looking from another angle, these two moves just go to show that the Govt is still very confident that it can do whatever it wants without fear or any repercussion from the people. The lost of two by elections too did not register that things are not going its way and pushing too hard will only elicit stronger resentment and resistance.

The ruling party must have made all the necessary calculations and played out the different scenarios on how the people will react to this latest curb. The negative reaction is expected and is a case of how bad. Not doing it now to rein in the social media must be seen as unacceptable. So, is it a case of paying the price now while there is still time for the anger to fade in three years prior to the GE?

This cannot be a case that the ruling party believes it can get away with it. So what is the story? Is the situation that dire that not doing anything will only see things getting worst and doing it can only be better and not worst? It is likely that the fight is on, starting from now, to win the ground or hold the ground in cyberspace. Or is it a case of cutting losses, blow up the bridge and hold the ground, give up some ground but still have enough to make a stand and win the GE?

The problem is that if the reading is wrong, the backlash in 2016 could be devastating. The incremental moves in the implementation of unpopular policies that may not be necessary, like the Population White Paper, can be counter productive and ended with digging its own grave.

A blogger by the name of Roy in TRE wrote an appeal letter to Tharman to reconsider this new media regulation. Among the ministers, Tharman seems to be the only one left that is more people oriented and willing to listen to the people. This is what Roy said among many things in his long letter,

‘On behalf of a segment of Singaporeans, I would like to seek your understanding in this matter. For many of us Singaporeans, we are only beginning to realise the stake that we have in Singapore and how we need to take ownership and be empowered over our own lives. My own journey began only last year. We genuinely want to also shape a Singapore which belongs to us all. Many Singaporeans might sound “angry” online but I hope that you can understand that this is because we feel that we have finally regained our ability to speak up, after years of seeming inability to do so, and it would take some time for us to learn to use it more constructively, just as it would also take some time for a government which had not been used to feedback to also learn to adjust to receiving them. It is a two-way process.’

The awakening of the Singaporeans is a good thing (or a bad thing) after falling asleep or kept under blinkers for so long. The social media and its role to facilitate the Singaporeans to discuss national affairs must be positive, right? Wrong? Stifling the growth of social media is a regressive step towards choking the voice of the people and killing the seed of an aware and politically involved citizenry. Or is this not to be nurtured, not to be encouraged? The citizens are best to shut up, to be led, and to do as was told? How far are we from the ignorant third world unenlightened citizens if we try to gag the citizens from discussing national issues, from empowering them to help to shape the future of their country? Oh no, I am mistaken. The new regulations are only to provide clarity of ground rules of what can or cannot be written in space. Nothing to do about controlling what the people can say, read or hear.

A level playing field for Singaporeans and foreigners

When the Govt talks about a level playing field for Singaporeans and foreigners, it is saying that Singaporeans and foreigners should compete fairly and equally in employment opportunities, in business opportunities, in education opportunities except for a few exclusive areas like driving taxis, right to serve NS, places in schools and maybe subsidies in housing and medical care.

On face value this is about a more balanced and right thing to do by our Govt in taking care of Singaporeans, PRs and non residents. The Govt has to carefully calibrate its policies to ensure that it is fair to everyone, citizens, PRs and non residents, just like when the Govt is thinking of introducing anti discriminatory employment laws, it has to consider the interests of employers and employees, Singaporeans and foreigners.

Our Govt is about the fairest Govt you can find on earth. Why are Singaporeans still unhappy and complaining that fairness is being unfair, a level playing field is unacceptable, equal opportunities are unequal and unfair to Singaporeans?

Singaporeans must put themselves in the shoes of foreigners and PRs to appreciate what the Govt is doing. Then they can appreciate the fairness of our Govt in treating everyone fairly, citizens, PRs and non residents are all human beans and deserve fair treatment by a fair govt.

International websites to apply licence

The new MDA regulations have extensive coverage on international websites that report on Singapore news and have Singaporean visitors and needing them to apply for a licence and put up a bond of $50k. This means that an African in Africa that set up a such a site will have to apply for a licence fee from Singapore. So would an Eskimo in the Artic. If not, I can presume that their sites will be blocked or the editors PNG or arrested on entering Singapore.

Reuter online reported, ‘The MDA identified sg.news.yahoo.com, a service run by Internet giant Yahoo! Inc (YHOO.O), as among 10 sites that would be affected by the new requirement, based on criteria such as having 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore a month over a period of two months.

Yahoo! declined to comment when contacted by Reuters….’

So eventually CBS, CNN, BBC or websites all over the world that reported on Singapore and met the two conditions would have to apply for licence and put up a bond. Would they? Should they? Of would they show their middle finger?