Two controversial books/films eyeing for attention

The main media is showering praises to the book ‘Battle for Merger’ daily and everywhere. Another book or film, ‘To Singapore With Love’, on the same period of our history has been banned for factual errors. One can safely conclude that the first book, more like a compulsory reading for all Singaporeans and locals, is free from factual errors. And it will be turned into a film too. It may become our official history book in schools in time to come.

Now take a look at the title of the banned film that sounds more like a romantic fiction. Were the errors that made the govt saw red errors of history or errors of personal CVs that have little or insignificant impact on the course of our history? Or would such errors change the course or perception of our official history? No, not that serious. But they would have serious implications on our national security. My God, this must be very powerful material that could be of the same realm as religious scriptures or terrorist literature on DIY bomb making or how to bring down a govt! Otherwise how could this book/film be so dangerous to our national security?

Assuming that the film contains hypnotic doctrines that could inspire or hallucinate readers to bring down our govt, it would still take a certain kind of readers to believe in it and to be converted. Would the film be powerful enough to convert readers like those marching to Syria to join ISIS? Do we have any faith in the intelligence of our people to discriminate truth from falsehood, good from evil, what is good for the nation and people? Or is the assumption that Sinkies are really daft and could become dangerous after viewing the film be real?

According to Han Fook Kwang, it is not like that. To him this book is anything but dangerous. For in his Sunday Times article he advocated that the people be allowed to view both and make sense out of our history. It is good for the people to know both sides of the story to form an educated and informed opinion and to learn from our past. A good example is the recent fiasco at Hong Lim Park. Without the social media, what kind of impression would readers have by just reading the main media? They could even stone or lynch Roy and Hui Hui for heckling the Special Needs Children, for being irresponsible, inconsiderate and even behaving like hooligans.

In today’s electronic world of social media, no govt can stop the people from reading what they want to read. No one can shut their minds, blindfold them and hold their hands like little children to the ice cream stall. The people will read what they want to read/see and will want to form their own opinions of things. They would not be gagged, be blinded and be told what they can read or what they cannot read. Only those living in the Stone Age will think they can do that to a city of modern and well educated population.

If the film ‘To Singapore With Love’ is dangerous and untouchable, then Han Fook Kwang is advocating something very dangerous. Cannot be lah. He cannot be so stupid to do such a thing. He does not have an Imperial Medal that would spare his life from persecution. He is simply telling a simple truth, that it is better for the people to find out their own truth normally than to keep them from a different truth and getting irritated by the process of banning them from seeing the other truth.

The citizens are not daft, not little unthinking children anymore. The children have grown up.

Kopi Level - Yellow

Hong Lim Affair – What is the truth?

Han Hui Hui has told her story of the midnight visit by the Police to serve her the notice to assist in an investigation on the Hong Lim Protest. In her article that was circulating in the social media she mentioned that the interview was from 2pm to 10pm though it started at 2.30pm. During the interview she was not given any food or refreshment. Her note book was seized by the Police and they even attempted to take her handphone away

In the Sunday Times today, the Police replied that they had tried to contact her many times by phone. When this failed, they went to her home at 9.30pm to serve the notice to appear at the Police station. They also said that it was Hui Hui who asked for the interview timing to be changed but later she turned up at 2.30pm. The interview lasted until 9.30pm. During the interview the Police provided her with refreshments and she took several breaks except for dinner. No dinner?

The Police are conducting the investigation as someone had made a police report. The Police did not disclose the identity of the person making the report or the nature of the complaint. It must be important, whether the person reporting/complainant or the nature of the offence. If not, how could the Police justify spending so many resources, manpower and time to investigate this incident?  And they took 7 solid hours to interview Han Hui Hui alone. The matter must be real serious.

Would the Police also interview Teo Ser Luck, the NPark Director, the YMCA officials and Police Officers at the scene to get the hole picture? Oops, typing error, I meant the whole picture.

Whatever, now that the two sides have given their stories, and obviously the facts from both parties are miles apart, someone is going to be charged for lying or making false statements. The facts can be easily proven in this case, I think.

I am not going to ask what do you think. Facts are facts and shouldn’t require thinking when the facts are still hot on top of the stove.

Kopi Level - Yellow

Hong Lim Affair – Who entraps who?

There is this theory going around that Roy Ngerng and Han Hui Hui walked into a trap set up for them. I have another theory, that unwittingly Roy and Hui Hui had allowed a counter trap to fall in place and many fell in without know that the hunter is now the hunted.

The first theory was quite obvious to those who saw it that way. There was this huge party for Special Needs Children and senior citizens. These were vulnerable people and everyone should take special care not to encroach into their area of activities to upset or disturb them. And there were all the good reasons to let this party to be held side by side with Roy and Hui Hui’s protest. And it was very tempting, whether in the heat of the moment, intentionally or unintentionally, or being provoked, to wander into the forbidden zone and to be seen to be disturbing the peace, violating the space of the vulnerable. And finally, to irritate and agitate them, the authority appeared at the last moment asking them to move to another corner of the Park when this could be done well in advance.

Roy and Hui Hui apparently fell into this entrapment, marched into the forbidden zone to be seen as ‘heckling’ the Special Needs Children. Now they must face the music.

The other entrapment theory is that both Roy and Hui Hui would go as planned and let the authority mess up themselves in the eyes of the public by appearing as overbearing and intimidating two young persons. The authority would have to handle themselves very well and proper, with decency but without looking like thugs and gangsters bullying two youngsters. It would be a matter of how the law were used and interpreted and how the process of the law was being applied.

Now let’s recap this unfortunate incident to see if the authority has fallen into an entrapment by chance. The verdict would be in the eyes of the beholder. There would be those who would want to look for all the reasons to entrap Roy and Hui Hui. There would also be those who want to see how fair is the authority towards the citizens and whether there is an abuse of power, and to judge how the authority is behaving.

The granting of the two events with incompatible agenda and dynamics has already raised many eyebrows with many yelling entrapment. It was an event that could easily be avoided but allowed to happen for whatever reasons.

With Hui Hui and her party fully prepared with their video cameras to protect themselves, there came marching, a group of men that required serious make ups to look nice and friendly people, all caught in camera, towards a scrawny little girl that was less than 5 ft tall. It was like a scene from a gangland movie. And while some ruled that the little girl was in defiance, some would not look too kindly on the group of men muscling over the little girl.

The flurry of news splashed on the main media, followed with all the condemnations of ‘heckling’ of Special Needs Children, even from ministers and MPs appeared the next day. It made a very strong first impact on the readers. As days passed and more evidence was produced in the social media, this overload of news in a media that has low credibility rankings by international agencies started to turn rancid. No one believes that there was any heckling in the first place and the accusation was overdone and hardly could hold any water. It backfired and supported the conspiracy theory.

Everyone thinks that it would be blown over when sanity returns. But no. The social media is now filled with coverage of the knocking of doors in the quiet of the night by the police to serve notice to some participants at the protest rally, this time for suspicion of being members of an unlawful assembly. Many eyeballs are rolling. This is going to rattle nerves, and if the authority knows, would not go down well with the public. In the past it was easy as there was no social media. Today, everything comes under the glare of a spotlight.

I shouldn’t use any strong or emotional words on how this is being received by the public, especially the netizens. Comments in the social media have been one way, furious, totally negative, uncalled for, puzzling and exasperating. The authority got to be very careful in what it is doing and how it carries out its law enforcing duty. The people are watching and questioning, very cynical and unforgiving, if not very angry over the latest development.

Maybe the feedbacks in Reach are cheering and clapping at how successful was the first entrapment and failing to see the second entrapment.

Looking at the whole picture, has the authority fallen into an entrapment that puts a spotlight on them in a very negative way? If this is what the public/netizens are perceiving, this unwitting entrapment is going to be more serious and more costly to the govt. The govt must not be seen to be harassing the people or turning against the people. The govt is for the people, to protect the people, the guardian of the people. The authority is everything about the rule of law, fairness and justice to the people. The govt has to be extremely careful not to be seen to be bullying the people, or it will fall right into the entrapment.

Now we have this double entrapment theory, or entrapment within an entrapment. How would they turn out and who would end up the loser? Who is the heckler? Who is entrapping who?

Kopi Level - Yellow

Protesters at Hong Lim on 27 Sep called up by Police for investigation

Below is part of an article posted in TOC on the investigation by the Police for ‘Unlawful Assembly’ at Hong Lim during the ‘Return My CPF’ protest rally on 27 Sep.

‘Several participants of the Return Our CPF protest at Hong Lim Park on 27 September have been called up by the police for questioning with regards to the event….

In its letter to the participants to present themselves at the Police Cantonment Complex to assist in the probe, the police said it was investigating “an offence of unlawful assembly” committed on 27 September at Hong Lim Park.

The Online Citizen (TOC) understands that at least 5 of the participants were called up for the investigation on Thursday. Plainclothes officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) had visited them at each of their homes to serve them the “notice to appear” at the police station.

Two of them told TOC that they were served the notice at midnight on Thursday, just hours before they were required to appear for questioning.

“They knocked on my door at 12.20am in plainclothes,” one of the participants told TOC. “My parents panicked and thought I had committed a crime. They are still kind of panicky now too.”…’

A few points in question. 1. Is Hong Lim Park legislated for such protest and demonstration? 2. How did the gathering of protesters at Hong Lim become an illegal assembly of people? 3. Was the permit withdrawn for the protest rally that made the protest illegal? 4. If the Park is legislated for such purposes, does it require a permit or just a confirmation to use the Park would suffice?

Those being called up must have quite a frightening experience to have people knocking at their door in the middle of the night be they strangers or the police. No one welcomes knockings at their doors in the wee hours of the morning. It is so eerie and scary, like being visited by an owl.

Kopi Level - Green

Insecure politicians

The ruling party has made it clear many times by telling the opposition parties that they are not there to help them get into Parliament. The opposition parties must work for it to win the votes of the people. Why should the PAP make it easy for them?  This is politics. You expect the PAP or any ruling party to make things easy for the opposition? Grow up. And it is a fair statement and position to take for the ruling party or any ruling party.

Similarly, it is not the job of the opposition parties to make it easy for the ruling party. Their job is to oppose any policy and expose their flaws. Of course no need to anyhow shoot when a policy is good lah. That would only make the opposition unreasonable.  But can always keep quite or say that it was expected, good policies are expected. And after being paid obscenely still expects to be kissed and patted on the head? What if bad policies?

It is not the job of opposition parties to praise the ruling party. If they chose to, it is ok, but it is not their duty to do so. Just because the ruling party asked them to praise them does it mean that they must obey, and dutifully praise the ruling party? Are they that easy to train?

And it is not their duty to jump the gun to prove that they are reasonable, to attack anyone from the opposition or critics of the govt for any missteps or mistakes.  Reasonable they must be but no need to be compliance. Why is it the duty of the opposition politicians to appease the ruling party to prove that they are good boys? And to jump to attack anyone that they think have crossed the line and must be whacked, and to whacked first to look reasonable, to justify themselves to be in the good books of the ruling party? Idiots.

There is no need to put yourself in the good books of the ruling party if you are on the other side of divide. Unless you want the ruling party to give you a pat and say  ‘good boy’, or you want to cross over.  In the eyes of any ruling party, the opposition parties are opposition parties, waiting to replace them, not friends in politics and the struggle for power, and could even be regarded as ‘enemies’ to some with very strong views.  That is why they will be attacked and attacked ruthlessly when they crossed the line or make a mistake. Apologies not enough, must also explain.

In realpolitiks it is a competition of opposition camps for the right to rule. Though it is good to be on friendly terms on a personal basis, there is no need to score brownie points to be on the good side of the opposing parties. It would be silly to attack fellow opposition members or critics just to prove you are reasonable. You really think the ruling party will appreciate that? Or would they be laughing themselves silly at your stupidity, so quick to draw the sword to kill your comrades in arms for your enemies.

Do I make any sense? Should opposition politicians prove that they are whiter than white to be dictated by the whites, to please the whites?

Kopi Level - Green