TR EMERITUS

OPINION For all his follies, MM Lee Kuan Yew is probably right in his frank acknowledgement that Singapore's bilingual policy has been an abject failure as more than amply demonstrated by the English comprehension skills of Lianhe Wanbao journalist Mr Xu Xiangyu. As SPH has not yet resorted to employing PRCs like most other industries in Singapore, we presumed that Mr Xu is a Singaporean who has gone through the Singapore education system like most of us. That he can completely twist and distort the truth and conjure a fairy tale out of nothing to suit the interest of his political masters is a damning indictment either of Singapore education or the training he received as a journalist here. In an article published on page 5 of Lianhe Wanbao on 8 January 2010, Mr Xu tried desperately hard to exonerate the PAP from any blame in the ongoing saga involving YPAP members Sear Hock Rong and Fong Yoong Keong's business dealings with Eunos grassroots organizations and to assassinate the character of the messenger Alex Tan who made the complaint to various key government agencies such as PA, CPIB and AGC. One basic tenet of journalism is to always provide accounts from both opposing sides to allow readers to judge the matter for themselves. Mr Xu has contacted the two YPAP members to provide their side of the story, but not Alex at all. Furthermore, instead of contacting the MPs in Eunos grassroots organizations such as Mr Zainal Abidin to solicit their views on the matter, he chose to interview two MPs in other constituencies which are not implicated in the controversy in the first place. (Notice that the Chinese papers have been giving Lee Bee Wah frequent interviews to repair her battered image in the eyes of Singaporeans ahead of the next GE which will be another story for another day) Lastly, he made the most juvenile mistake of mis-spelling Alex's name. The second Chinese character of his name should be "zhi" for "intelligence" (智) and not "zhi" for ambition (志). Now let us dissect Mr Xu's forgettable article and debunk its inherent factual inaccuracies and outright lies one by one: LIE #1: Alex Tan bears a grudge against Sear Hock Rong for a long time FACT: Alex did not even know Hock Rong in real life and so how can he possibly bear a "grudge" against him and somemore for a "long time". In fact when Hock Rong kept taunting Alex about his past detention in National Service, Alex did not even bother to rebuke him at all. LIE #2: Alex Tan was banned from YPAP Facebook for hurling vulgarities at its members FACT: YPAP banned Alex Tan from its Facebook because its members are unable to handle the embarrassing and sensitive questions posed by Alex on its wall and none of them are able to defeat him in a debate. Though Alex has been rather vocal, sharp and unforgiving in his criticisms of the PAP, there was not once in which he used foul or abusive language against the YPAP members. It was Hock Rong and the YPAP members who started flaming Alex in a lame attempt to discredit him by bringing up his DB record during NS. Hock Rong kept addressing Alex sarcastically as "Alex Tan Zhixiong who was charged with 'general disobedience', but Alex simply ignored him and chose to focus on the issues. In short, it was the YPAP who resorted to dirty underhanded tactics commonly employed by PAP leaders to smear the character of their opponents. Some of the exchanges between Alex and YPAP members are still available on YPAP Facebook. Unless Mr Xu does not understand English, how can he possibly not be aware of the truth? LIE #3: It was Alex who revealed his DB record on his own blog first FACT: Alex has already clarified on his blog that it was Hock Rong and not him who first revealed his DB record on the YPAP Facebook. It was only after the Hock Rong used that to attack Alex repeatedly that Alex made the comment that he is unfazed by the punishment as he felt he has done nothing wrong. Till today, Hock Rong still hasn't explained how he obtained this confidential information about Alex and whether he has contravened the Official Secrets Act by doing so. LIE #4: Alex made the complaint about Hock Rong out of personal animosity It was not Alex who exposed Hock Rong's business dealings with Eunos grassroots organizations, but 3in1kopitiam forumers and it was its moderator Kojakbt who first wrote an email to Eunos MP Zainal Abidin to feedback on the matter. The fiasco sparked a massive outcry in cyberspace with many netizens questioning if there are conflicts of inerest between Hock Rong's company doing business with the grassroots organizations in which he is serving in. We have provided Hock Rong ample opportunities to clarify himself on our site, but he had refused to do so. It was he who challenged netizens to lodge a complaint against him and this crucial fact was omitted from Mr Xu's article. Below is a comment posted by Alex on our site: "I made the second complain because I received many feedbacks by the internet community that the establishment will probably ignored Kojakbt, who posted the first complain as an internet moniker. I merely proved to the Government I meant business by laying down my personal particulars, 5 days later on 1 Jan 2010. Alex Tan Zhixiang" The entire purpose of Mr Xu's article is to exonerate the PAP from any blame in the controversy and to cast aspersions on the character of Alex by portraying him as some petty, malicious and vindictive hooligan whose words cannot be trusted. Mr Xu could have contacted Ms Adlina Jaffar, the Head of the PA’s Corporate Communications Division who replied to Alex, Mr Tan Boon Huat, PA's CEO or the MPs in Eunos to solicit their views on the matter. He can even do some background research on his own to find out the number of grassroots leaders who have direct business dealings with the grassroots organizations they are serving in and write an article on it. It is absolutely deplorable, disgusting and demeaning that the PAP has to resort to using the state media to fix a young man who is merely expressing the views shared by the majority of netizens and is of no political threat to them. While we are hiding behind the cloak of anonymity, Alex has taken the brunt of the PAP's vicious attack on our behalf. Are we going to stand by idly and allow Alex's name to be smeared again and again by the PAP's mouthpiece? This unwarranted attack on Alex is an attack on each and everyone of us who have voiced out against some unethical, unfair and dubious practices within the grassroots organizations which are after all part of the PAP, as admitted by MM Lee himself lately. Let us stand in solidarity together with Alex and show our support for him by spreading the truth far and wide to every corner in Singapore blogosphere to make sure that all netizens know that Alex has been character assassinated by the PAP for daring to question their authority. With due respect to SPH journalists, we do know of the limitations you face in the course of your work, but such an unfair, lop-sided and inaccurate article from Mr Xu is really unacceptable. We do not bear any personal grudges against Mr Xu or any other SPH journalist, but it is our duty to correct the wrongs and injustices perpetrated by you in order to serve the interests of your political masters. We will be scrutinizing every article published by the state media closely and expose all the half-truths, myths and lies you are churning out. In the end, it is your credibility and professionalism as a journalist which will take a beating. As of now, our readership is on par with TODAY Online and is nearly 25 per cent that of The Straits Times' digital edition. You no longer have the monopoly on the "truth" and it will make you look extremely bad when we dissect, rebuke and announce your hogwash piece by piece to the world. Think about it. Please don't try any funny tricks to demolish Alex or any other critic of the PAP again. You are just giving us free bullets to shoot at you and helping us boost our readership in the process.   Copyright © 2009 – 2010 The Temasek Review (If you are going to reproduce this article on your blog or forum, please provide a link back to ours) Related articles: 1. Complaint against YPAP member Sear Hock Rong reported in Lianhe Wanbao 2. PA launches investigations into Sear Hock Rong 3. Sear Hock Rong berates TR for “associating” with Alex Tan 4. PA’s operating guidelines for acquisition of services 5. Netizen questions if there is a conflict of interest between Mr Sear Hock Rong’s job and grassroots work 6. YPAP member demands Temasek Review apologize for “putting PAP in a bad light” 7. Identity of YPAP member who leaked Alex Tan’s DB record on Facebook 8. Alex Tan to YPAP members: Don’t be cowards on Facebook 9. Alex Tan challenges YPAP to public debate at Speaker’s corner 10. YPAP member slammed by netizens for revealing critic’s detention record 11. YPAP member resorts to smearing critic’s character to silence him 12. PAP MP De Souza: More robust debate from PAP than opposition MPs  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Despite being portrayed unfairly as a brash and uncouth young punk by the state media Lianhe Wanbao, Alex Tan appeared to be unfazed by the negative publicity and even thanked the "141th media" for the "free advertisment" in his latest blog posting (read article here) Alex first shot into fame a month ago when he publicly embarrassed two PAP MPs with difficult and sensitive questions at a YPAP forum which made the headlines in The Straits Times. He was subsequently banned from posting on YPAP Facebook on the grounds of "indulging in name-callings and vulgarities". Alex claimed that it was a YPAP member Sear Hock Rong who started the flame war first by mocking him for his past detention record during National Service for a minor offence. 3in1kopitiam forumers found out that Mr Sear's company has business dealings with Eunos grassroots organizations where he is serving in which sparked an outcry in cyberspace on possible conflicts of interest. Mr Sear declined to clarify matters and challenged netizens to lodge a report against him to the authorities which Alex duly obliged by writing in to several government agencies including the PA, AGC and CPIB. The People Association has replied to Alex that it will be conducting an investigation into the matter. Stunned by the negative publicity arising from the fiasco in cyberspace, Lianhe Wanbao published an article yesterday in a lame attempt to exonerate the PAP from any blame by portraying Alex as a "trouble-maker" with an axe to grind with Mr Sear. There are glaring factual inconsistencies and loopholes in the article which omitted important facts such as Mr Sear's open call to netizens to report him to the relevant authorities and his endless taunting of Alex on the YPAP Facebook. The journalist did not even bother to contact Alex at all to hear his side of the story or the PAP MPs from Eunos and instead interviewed two PAP MPs from other constituencies to defend Mr Sear on the grounds that there are no rules forbidding grassroots leaders from doing business with the grassroots organizations they are serving in. However, the article did publish a snapshot of Alex's blog "Utopia8787" without the URL which Alex exploited to publicize his "Vote PAP out" Facebook which has since garnered nearly 2,000 members within two weeks, more than twice the membership of the YPAP Facebook. It turns out that the Lianhe Wanbao article has unwittingly helped Alex promote his political cause. In the posting, he continues his exhortations to Singaporeans to vote out the PAP: "This year is 2010. The General Elections will be held this year. Show your protest vote against the PAP simply by voting for the Opposition Parties or by spoiling your votes.......Hurry. before Temasek Holdings and GIC lose more billions in our kitty fund and Singaporeans ended up paying for their gambles......or PAP raise their Ministerial Salaries by another Million because they are oh-so-talented and rare..........or PAP raise another 2% GST and tell you it is to help the poor.......or Singaporeans will have their CPF withdrawal date deferred later because "new statistics" shows Singaporeans are living forever......or Singaporean males will have to serve more National Service Reservist Training, while the PRs and Foreigners can't serve because "it is economically unwise for them to do so"..... Vote for Change, vote the PAP out." Instead of employing the usual "slash and burn" tactics to defame, discredit and demolish their critics, the PAP should seriously reflect on why Alex is so vehemently against them and judging from the overwhelming response from young Singaporeans to his "Vote PAP out" Facebook, he is definitely not alone.   Copyright © 2009 – 2010 The Temasek Review (If you are going to reproduce this article on your blog or forum, please provide a link back to ours) Related articles: 1. Complaint made against Sear Hock Rong in Lianhe Wanbao 2. Sear Hock Rong berates TR for “associating” with Alex Tan 3. PA’s operating guidelines for acquisition of services 4. Netizen questions if there is a conflict of interest between Mr Sear Hock Rong’s job and grassroots work 5. YPAP member demands Temasek Review apologize for “putting PAP in a bad light” 6. Identity of YPAP member who leaked Alex Tan’s DB record on Facebook 7. Alex Tan to YPAP members: Don’t be cowards on Facebook 8. Alex Tan challenges YPAP to public debate at Speaker’s corner 9. YPAP member slammed by netizens for revealing critic’s detention record 10. YPAP member resorts to smearing critic’s character to silence him 11. PAP MP De Souza: More robust debate from PAP than opposition MPs  Read More →

By Benjamin Bland from Asia Sentinel Given the Singapore government's oft-repeated mantra that it has taken the city-state "from third world to first," you would not expect to find refugees fleeing the island's shores and gleaming skyscrapers. But despite the prosperity, the decent health and education systems and the lack of crime, a steady trickle of Singaporeans have felt the urge to abandon their homeland and seek asylum in nations such as Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Canada over the last few years. (That of course doesn't count the thousands of Singaporeans who leave every year to settle elsewhere. By one estimate, the number who put the Lion City behind them is as high as 15 percent of annual births. In 2006, the Transport Minister, Raymond Lim, expressed concern that 53 percent of Singaporean teens would consider emigration. One website survey put Singapore's average outflow at 26.11 migrants per 1,000 citizens, the second highest in the world - next only to East Timor (51.07). ) Canada, the refuge of choice for noteworthy politically fed up Singaporeans such as pioneering writer Goh Poh Seng, who left the city-state in 1986, seems to have a more sympathetic ear for those fleeing the Lion City or, at least, a more deserving slate of applicants. Twelve of the 29 who fled the Island Republic for Canada between January 2005 and September 2009 were given political refugee status, a success rate of 44 percent. Four applied in Canada in the first nine months of 2009 and three of them accepted. It isn't known who they were or why they were seeking asylum. Another 26 have been granted asylum in the United States, according to the US Department of Homeland Security. At least some are believed to have sought asylum because they were being persecuted for being gay. But these are the lucky ones. With genuine refugees from strife-ridden nations such as Afghanistan, Burma and Sudan often denied asylum status by the stringent immigration authorities in the Western world, most asylum seekers from Singapore are turned back. Of the 50 or so Singaporean refugee applications identified by Asia Sentinel in Australia, New Zealand and Canada over the last decade, the vast majority were rejected. Ten have applied for refugee status in New Zealand since 1997, according to spokesman for the country's Department of Labour, and all were rejected. Another 15 applied for refugee status in Australia between 2004 and 2009. All were denied. The fact that there are so few successful asylum applicants from Singaporeans is testament to how perceptions of Singapore's approach to human rights have improved over the last 20 years. In that period, the government has made some small but significant steps toward meeting globally-accepted democratic norms, abandoning the detention without trial of political opponents and trying to combat institutional and societal discrimination against women, ethnic minorities and gays. Singapore's 21st- Century refuges are driven by a variety of motives including political oppression, racism, persecution and the desire to avoid military service. Some, no doubt, are economic migrants who hope for a better standard of living in New Zealand or Canada, far away from the rat race of the Lion City. A few are clearly mentally unstable, with others fleeing debt or using political repression as an excuse. Read rest of the article here  Read More →