Wednesday, April 19, 2006
what rubbish.
this is not a political blog lor. simi si politics?
i only discuss things tt i feel strongly about leh. like reactions to readings newspapers and watching tv. if they say tt ignorance is bliss, i can understand why because the more i find out the worse a taste in my mouth it leaves.
it seems everyone is entitled to their own opinions. just as i am entitled to mine. i mean. i'm actually excited by the prospect tt i'm actually getting debates on my comments page. this blog was meant for the eyes of friends, but i think i had a parent(!!!) reading this, although i don't know how or why tt would be the case (i don't think i know anyone tt old well enough either. hmm).
but nonetheless, it's exciting. and well... i don't really feel like engaging in anything too discussive this morning since i gotta go out and get my poor stressed bf his lunch, and i intend to do some long 90 min (or 120 min, according to my fitness or lack thereof) run later.
so regarding the disturbing letters in the forum page to the straits times this monday, read mr wang's comments on the one about "terrorists in parliament":
Terrorists in Parliament
When I see letters like this in the ST Forum, I really worry for Singapore. IMHO, it shows a severe lack of critical thinking, which really can't be good for the nation whether you're pro-PAP or not.
It's really absurd how they keep suggesting that progress, stability and security will be destroyed if you vote for the opposition. It's as if the opposition members are from Al-Queda or something, constantly plotting to blow up a few key installations.
Frankly, if I were an MP in Parliament and for some reason, the devil is in my heart and I have a clear, outright intention to destroy the progress, stability and security of Singapore, I really wouldn't know how to go about it. How would YOU go about it? Would YOU possess such awesome powers?
Does any MP in Parliament, Opposition or not, REALLY have the capability to cause racial riots, start a cult, build a bomb? Do you think that by standing up in Parliament and making a speech or asking some questions, you can take even a quarter of a point off the year's economic growth; cause the unemployment rate to rise; dissipate our foreign reserves? Do you think that as an MP, you could have any adverse effect on private sector companies' productivity and determination to keep on making money?
Count yourself lucky, if you can get just ONE lousy white elephant of a Buangkok MRT station to open on time.
(Which, by the way, I do not regard as a small achievement).
And really, what is so wrong about the suggestion that MM Lee quit the Cabinet and 'not to pull strings from behind'? MM Lee himself talked about the need for leadership self-renewal waaaaaaaay back in 1990, when he voluntarily stepped down as Prime Minister (**sincere applause to him for that**). How bad an idea can that really be, if HE thought of it himself.
Now it's 2006, SIXTEEN YEARS later, and Lee Kuan Yew is still in the picture. Maybe he needs a gentle reminder of HIS own wise words?
and i can only feel my parents' sadness when they find out tt once they retire and become old and infirm, they have been told to leave the island and go to either "johor, batam or bintan". taken from the singapore elections blog:
PAP wants to send old folks away
Khaw Boon Wan:
"My personal view is, our land is expensive. But we have nearby neighbours in Johore, Batam and Bintan. The elderly want to reach their doctors within half to one hour. So retirement villages in neighbouring countries is possible, barring the cross-border hassle. It is best to find cheap land on short leases."
it might be said tt blogs are untrustworthy and can post rubbish. it might be said tt blogs are biased and unobjective (i for one, am so not objective), and who is to believe everything tt blogs say per se?
however, i believe tt in an age of a single regulated media monopoly, whereby dissenting voices have no platform to express themselves outside of the unregulatory sphere such as the internet, blogs are the new cornerstone of what i consider to be the freedom of expresion, and with tt freedom the freedom of thought, tt comes with what should be considered a democracy. blogs are in themselves a democratic movement, with ideas and thoughts and expressions tt come from the ground, and not from the top-down. and while such ideas lack the polish and maybe the far-sighted vision of ideas tt come from the top, these blogs more than make up for it in terms of belief, passion and conviction tt the layperson has for what he thinks and what he believes in. if we are able to generate a plethora of different viewpoints and different opinions, such tt we are able to become like the western media - newspaper publishing different angles and viewpoints on different issues, thus allowing the discerning reader to make an informed choice about what he percieves to be the truth, then i saw, blog and comment and disagree and dissent away!
because to deny tt we need these freedoms in the first place, suggests a narrow view tt does not understand the very idealogies and foundations of democracy. "freedom" isn't just a word, and it isn't just a word for the ang mohs or the so-called rich who can afford it. i think it's available to everyone be you a first-world country or a third. and unfortunately i don't think we are a third-world country anymore.
this was taken from diana, who took it from the nation:
From The Nation:
Editorial
LES JEUNES--UNE VICTOIRE!
Sam Graham-Felsen writes: Bowing to insurmountable pressure from France's students and labor unions, President Jacques Chirac has repealed the CPE law. The students won because they put together an extraordinary protest movement. Witnessing hundreds of thousands of youth from all different ethnic and class backgrounds marching together, chanting in unison for seven straight hours was one of the most remarkable experi-ences of my life. I vividly remember, around the sixth hour of the protest, students chanting: "We are not tired! We are not tired!" These students aren't delusional. They believe in markets and support globalization and trade. They simply refuse to accept that for capitalism to function, it must be totally unregulated and unharnessed. Despite its numerous protections for workers, France is the world's fifth-largest economy, and despite its lifetime employment laws, thirty-five-hour workweeks and seven-week vacations, France has the highest worker productivity in the world. The students are anything but conservative; they're visionaries. They refuse to inherit a society of savage capitalism in which workers' rights are undermined in the name of efficiency. They've won the first major victory in what I believe is the great moral struggle of my generation: taming global capitalism.
they scoff the french, saying tt democracy and demonstrations are tools of disorder, instablity and insecurity. these so-called spoilt young french would rather waste their time and energy marching on the streets disrupting the economy and causing social chaos, rather than work hard and just allow the new laws to be passed.
but yet, no matter how incorrect these ideals might seem, it is clear tt they are not. these students demonstrate a passion, an idealism and more than tt, they demonstrate tt they can get the government to listen; they can get people elected by people to listen to what the people want. they're not just a bunch of spoilt self-serving brats. they believe in something, and something tt we too ought to believe in. maybe because i wasn't born during the '50s or '60s; i never went through those so-called trying times and i don't understand how they work. therefore i see those times as exciting. dangerous, unstable, disruptive, and unsafe, but exciting. because it was during those time tt people actually had passion for their country and for what they believed in.
now playing: hotel costes - cafe de flor
i only discuss things tt i feel strongly about leh. like reactions to readings newspapers and watching tv. if they say tt ignorance is bliss, i can understand why because the more i find out the worse a taste in my mouth it leaves.
it seems everyone is entitled to their own opinions. just as i am entitled to mine. i mean. i'm actually excited by the prospect tt i'm actually getting debates on my comments page. this blog was meant for the eyes of friends, but i think i had a parent(!!!) reading this, although i don't know how or why tt would be the case (i don't think i know anyone tt old well enough either. hmm).
but nonetheless, it's exciting. and well... i don't really feel like engaging in anything too discussive this morning since i gotta go out and get my poor stressed bf his lunch, and i intend to do some long 90 min (or 120 min, according to my fitness or lack thereof) run later.
so regarding the disturbing letters in the forum page to the straits times this monday, read mr wang's comments on the one about "terrorists in parliament":
Terrorists in Parliament
April 18, 2006
Wrong to take progress and peace for granted
AFTER watching the dialogue between Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and a group of post-65 Singaporeans, I fear for Singapore's future if their views are representative of the younger generation. Many of them take Singapore's progress, stability and security for granted. They want 'a level playing field', 'alternative views' and even suggested that it would do Singapore good if MM Lee were to quit the Cabinet and 'not to pull strings from behind'.
When I see letters like this in the ST Forum, I really worry for Singapore. IMHO, it shows a severe lack of critical thinking, which really can't be good for the nation whether you're pro-PAP or not.
It's really absurd how they keep suggesting that progress, stability and security will be destroyed if you vote for the opposition. It's as if the opposition members are from Al-Queda or something, constantly plotting to blow up a few key installations.
Frankly, if I were an MP in Parliament and for some reason, the devil is in my heart and I have a clear, outright intention to destroy the progress, stability and security of Singapore, I really wouldn't know how to go about it. How would YOU go about it? Would YOU possess such awesome powers?
Does any MP in Parliament, Opposition or not, REALLY have the capability to cause racial riots, start a cult, build a bomb? Do you think that by standing up in Parliament and making a speech or asking some questions, you can take even a quarter of a point off the year's economic growth; cause the unemployment rate to rise; dissipate our foreign reserves? Do you think that as an MP, you could have any adverse effect on private sector companies' productivity and determination to keep on making money?
Count yourself lucky, if you can get just ONE lousy white elephant of a Buangkok MRT station to open on time.
(Which, by the way, I do not regard as a small achievement).
And really, what is so wrong about the suggestion that MM Lee quit the Cabinet and 'not to pull strings from behind'? MM Lee himself talked about the need for leadership self-renewal waaaaaaaay back in 1990, when he voluntarily stepped down as Prime Minister (**sincere applause to him for that**). How bad an idea can that really be, if HE thought of it himself.
Now it's 2006, SIXTEEN YEARS later, and Lee Kuan Yew is still in the picture. Maybe he needs a gentle reminder of HIS own wise words?
and i can only feel my parents' sadness when they find out tt once they retire and become old and infirm, they have been told to leave the island and go to either "johor, batam or bintan". taken from the singapore elections blog:
PAP wants to send old folks away
Khaw Boon Wan:
"My personal view is, our land is expensive. But we have nearby neighbours in Johore, Batam and Bintan. The elderly want to reach their doctors within half to one hour. So retirement villages in neighbouring countries is possible, barring the cross-border hassle. It is best to find cheap land on short leases."
it might be said tt blogs are untrustworthy and can post rubbish. it might be said tt blogs are biased and unobjective (i for one, am so not objective), and who is to believe everything tt blogs say per se?
however, i believe tt in an age of a single regulated media monopoly, whereby dissenting voices have no platform to express themselves outside of the unregulatory sphere such as the internet, blogs are the new cornerstone of what i consider to be the freedom of expresion, and with tt freedom the freedom of thought, tt comes with what should be considered a democracy. blogs are in themselves a democratic movement, with ideas and thoughts and expressions tt come from the ground, and not from the top-down. and while such ideas lack the polish and maybe the far-sighted vision of ideas tt come from the top, these blogs more than make up for it in terms of belief, passion and conviction tt the layperson has for what he thinks and what he believes in. if we are able to generate a plethora of different viewpoints and different opinions, such tt we are able to become like the western media - newspaper publishing different angles and viewpoints on different issues, thus allowing the discerning reader to make an informed choice about what he percieves to be the truth, then i saw, blog and comment and disagree and dissent away!
because to deny tt we need these freedoms in the first place, suggests a narrow view tt does not understand the very idealogies and foundations of democracy. "freedom" isn't just a word, and it isn't just a word for the ang mohs or the so-called rich who can afford it. i think it's available to everyone be you a first-world country or a third. and unfortunately i don't think we are a third-world country anymore.
this was taken from diana, who took it from the nation:
From The Nation:
Editorial
LES JEUNES--UNE VICTOIRE!
Sam Graham-Felsen writes: Bowing to insurmountable pressure from France's students and labor unions, President Jacques Chirac has repealed the CPE law. The students won because they put together an extraordinary protest movement. Witnessing hundreds of thousands of youth from all different ethnic and class backgrounds marching together, chanting in unison for seven straight hours was one of the most remarkable experi-ences of my life. I vividly remember, around the sixth hour of the protest, students chanting: "We are not tired! We are not tired!" These students aren't delusional. They believe in markets and support globalization and trade. They simply refuse to accept that for capitalism to function, it must be totally unregulated and unharnessed. Despite its numerous protections for workers, France is the world's fifth-largest economy, and despite its lifetime employment laws, thirty-five-hour workweeks and seven-week vacations, France has the highest worker productivity in the world. The students are anything but conservative; they're visionaries. They refuse to inherit a society of savage capitalism in which workers' rights are undermined in the name of efficiency. They've won the first major victory in what I believe is the great moral struggle of my generation: taming global capitalism.
they scoff the french, saying tt democracy and demonstrations are tools of disorder, instablity and insecurity. these so-called spoilt young french would rather waste their time and energy marching on the streets disrupting the economy and causing social chaos, rather than work hard and just allow the new laws to be passed.
but yet, no matter how incorrect these ideals might seem, it is clear tt they are not. these students demonstrate a passion, an idealism and more than tt, they demonstrate tt they can get the government to listen; they can get people elected by people to listen to what the people want. they're not just a bunch of spoilt self-serving brats. they believe in something, and something tt we too ought to believe in. maybe because i wasn't born during the '50s or '60s; i never went through those so-called trying times and i don't understand how they work. therefore i see those times as exciting. dangerous, unstable, disruptive, and unsafe, but exciting. because it was during those time tt people actually had passion for their country and for what they believed in.
# posted by Kitana @ 4/19/2006 02:32:00 AM 
