TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent A  YPAP activist Ibrahim Hassan has published an article on the official YPAP website heaping generous praises on the Budget unveiled lately by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. (read article here) The key message in this year's Budget is to boost the productivity of the Singapore workforce which had declined consecutively for the last three years due to the relentless influx of cheap foreign workers into the country. Mr Ibrahim praised the Budget as one which enabled Singaporeans to "help themselves", repeating a classic PAP rhetoric used over the years to instill a sense of "self-reliance" in the populace: "When you consider the fact that many are expecting this to be an election year, there was some expectation of the government to deliver some goodies - namely a cash handout. Instead of delivering goodies, the government decided to focus on something far more important - helping Singaporeans to help themselves. This budget is all about teaching people to fish rather than giving them the fish." He called on Singaporeans to work "smarter" and "harder" to compete with other developing nations like China and India: "The main theme of this budget was 'productivity.'  The more cynical of us might see this as a drive to get Singaporeans to worker harder for less......With increasingly 'hungry' nations like China and India pushing for higher growth, it is essential for Singaporeans to work smarter as well as harder." Mr Ibrahim described the hike in foreign worker levy as "an example of how the government strives to create less dependence on foreign workers." However, the increase is not substantial at all and employers can easily passed the extra labor cost back to the workers and consumers themselves. There are no wholesale changes in the dependency ratio for the employment of foreign workers which lump citizens and PRs together as one category - "resident workforce". Mr Ibrahim ended his article by declaring that the government "cares" about Singaporeans: "Clearly, this budget shows that the government cares about Singaporeans. It offers us opportunities to invest in ourselves rather than to expect direct aid from the government. This budget is about sustainability and empowerment. It is about teaching us how to fish in the new economy." Singaporeans never expect direct aid from the government. What they want is a level playing field for them to compete directly with the foreign workers. No matter how smart or hard Singaporeans work, they can never compete with foreigners in terms of cost and the males are further handicapped by their mandatory reservist obligations. Mr Ibrahim Hassan seemed ignorant of the reality on the ground that many Singaporeans are suffering because of the discriminatory policies being promulgated by the PAP. He offered nothing new or insightful other than parroting the usual rhetoric spewed forth by PAP leaders - that Singaporeans should be self-reliant, not depend on the government for aid and compete directly with cheap foreign workers while being "cheaper, faster and better" at the same time. Though Singapore is the richest nation in Asia after Japan and can afford to lose billions of dollars of reserves in failed overseas investments, Singaporeans enjoy few social welfare benefits from the government. The state is obscenely rich, but not the ordinary people who have the lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among the Asian Tigers according to a UBS report released last year. With such sycophantic, unimaginative and one-dimensional articles, it is little wonder that the YPAP website is becoming a ghost-town. At last check, it does not even have an alexa traffic ranking based in Singapore due to low readership. The Temasek Review is ranked 168 and has a higher readership than some SPH and Mediacorp-owned websites.   The UBS Series: >> Part 1: Singapore has lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among Asian Tigers >> Part 2: Moving towards a Russian standard of living >> Part 3: Why Singaporeans are paupers in a first world economy  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent A visibly upset Foyce Le Xuan had hit out at Jack Neo for denying that he had ever made sexual advances towards her during her stint with his entertainment company. Foyce was the first woman to step forward in support of Wendy Chong after the latter leaked her affair with Jack Neo to the press. She said she decided to come forth with her story to show the public what kind of person Jack really is. According to Foyce, Jack had made numerous sexual advances towards her including inviting her to a hotel room to share "personal" and "quiet" moments with him. She also claimed that she was gradually dropped from acting assignments and projects because she had rejected all sexual overtures from Jack. Jack Neo has since denied the allegations. In an interview with The New Paper yesterday, Jack said that he had only one affair with Wendy Chong and questioned the motives of other women who had told the press of their involvement with him including a 16 year girl and a transsexual masseur, Lai Meiqi. “As for the others who have surfaced to make all kinds of claims, I wonder what their motives are. Is it because they think I am down-and-out now that they can join in to cast stones at me?” he told TNP in an agitated tone. Speaking to Lianhe Wanbao, Foyce said she had kept the SMSes Jack had sent her as evidence. "It makes no sense that so many women besides me have accused him of sexual harrassment too. Jack's denial shows that he still has not realized his mistake and remain unrepentant," she added. She insisted that she was quite traumatized by the recent turn of events and almost had a "mental breakdown" when she received phone calls from strangers warning her to "keep off" Jack Neo. When told about Jack's denial, Ms Lai who had earlier claimed that Jack got "special service" from her during a massage session in 1988 said: "I know what I am saying. Only he and I know the truth." After keeping away from the limelight for a week since the scandal erupted, Jack finally broke his silence and spoke to the media, but it appeared no more than a publicity stunt win sympathy and to limit the damage done.  Read More →

OPINION Speaking in Parliament two days ago, Minister of Communication, Information and Arts Rear-Admiral Lui Tuck Yew praised the online community for "self-regulating" itself and being skeptical about a blog post by dissident blogger and lawyer Gopalan Nair on Lee Kuan Yew suffering a heart attack. With due respect to Mr Lui, his use of the term "self-regulate" is highly inappropriate and misleading. "Regulate", be it self or otherwise implies there is a body, group or authority which is in charge of monitoring, scrutinizing and giving its mark of approval to the content produced, found or shared in cyberspace. There is nothing special or commendable about netizens expressing their skepticism against Gopalan Nair's audacious claims which is simply part of a human natural reaction to unverified rumors and hearsays. The key reason in netizens being skeptical about Gopalan's claims lied not in the identity of the writer nor the type of medium which carried the news, but in the fact that he was unable to quote a source or substantiate his claims with irrefutable proof, e.g. medical records of Lee in SGH. Had the mainstream media published the same story without quoting any sources as well, not many readers will be convinced too. It is disingenuous of Mr Lui to link two entirely different matters - Gopalan's post and the ability of the new media to "regulate" itself together. The new media is not owned by any individual or organization. It is a free marketplace of ideas where everybody is able to participate and contribute on an equal footing. Nobody has the monopoly on wisdom and none is wiser than the other. While blatant lies, hoaxes and myths may stir a storm temporarily, they will eventually be demolished completely when the truth comes to light. That is exactly how the New Media works - there is absolutely no need for it to "self-regulate" itself or for bloggers to take the moral high ground and condemn others for failing to obey the rules set by the PAP. Mr Lui added that while he reaffirmed the Government's position on approaching new media with a light touch, it was not a sign of weakness: "It's worthwhile to remember that a relaxed grip is a sign of a strong hand," he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times. He also sent a stark warning to netizens to the repressive laws of the PAP extend to cyberspace too: "They take courage from the cloak of anonymity in cyberspace and sometimes that can have repercussions beyond what they imagine it to be." It is unsure if Mr Lui is making use of the Gopalan Nair saga to illustrate its "light touch" approach to the new media. In any case, there is no action the PAP or Lee himself can take against him. There are no laws anywhere in the world which criminalize cursing somebody to suffer from a heart attack on the internet unless they want to make a fool out of themselves again. As the arrest of the three Chinese youths by the police for posting racist remarks on Facebook has demonstrated, Singaporeans are irked by the heavy use of the law to regulate and control online speech and behavior. Unless one sprouts nonsense which may threaten national or social security, there is no reason for the authorities to be involved in every single "transgression" offending their sensitivities. While the PAP can always arrest a few netizens who cross the OB markers to teach the rest a lesson, such unpopular, irrational and harsh reactions are likely to cost it politically and further alienate it from the younger IT-savvy generation whose votes are crucial in future elections. For an obsessive, insecure and paranoid Stalinist regime bent on all forms of control, its "light touch" approach to the new media stems more from the inability to regulate the New Media rather than out of natural goodwill as Mr Lui would like us to believe. Still, it doesn't stop Mr Lui from promoting the state media now and then as a "trusted" source of news and junior leaders like Zaqy Mohamad for casting doubts on the credibility of the New Media. Frustrated and worried at the increasing readership of some alternative news sites which are beginning to threaten the monopoly of information enjoyed by the state  media for decades, the PAP is resorting to a "divide and conquer" strategy by endorsing some blogs and promoting them as "credible" sites for others to follow. Bloggers should not fall into the trap set by the PAP or the Singapore media and end up being made use of by them eventually to serve their own agenda. There is no free lunch in this world. The state media will not give bloggers free publicity for nothing. We should only engage them on our own turfs and not play according to the rules set by them.  Read More →