TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent A video clip circulating in cyberspace depicting a young girl being groped by a few men at the Siloso Beach Countdown on 31 December 2009 has caused a massive outcry among Singapore netizens. The clip which was posted on Youtube twice had since been taken down. A discussion thread started on Hardwarezone forum about it was also deleted. It showed a girl in her twenties clad scantily with only her bra and a mini-skirt dancing to the tune of the background music with four men surrounding her: [imagebrowser id=62] [Source of photos: Hardwarezone Forum] One of them was filmed hugging her from behind while the other appeared to have groped her right breast. The girl was obviously in distress and had tried to leave the group, but was stopped by the men from doing so. Over at ClubSNAP photography forum, netizens expressed outrage at the flagrant groping of the girl. iMAC08 said: "this kind of things.....but I am surprised why nobody stop them. I can see some chinese or white hands below the girls." Ninja23XX felt the girl has to shoulder part of the blame: "Ermm, who asked her to dress down till like that. It was asking for trouble." His sexist comment drew a strong rebuttal from Dream Merchant: "According to most cultures in the modern age, wearing a bikini or swim-suit at a beach or near a location where swimming is reasonably expected to take place seems to be an accepted norm, whether a person clad in such outfits actually do swim or not. An exception might be if a person wore the same outfit say in the middle of Orchard Road or Little India during exceptionally crowded periods. That might make the statement a little more accurate, but not a justified one. It's akin to saying that if a prostitute wearing the pre-requisite alluring work outfit is raped, she was asking for it so therefore the rape was justified, or if any person dresses in a suggestive or attractive manner, he or she is specifically looking for trouble. Such statements are potentially dangerous because they may lay a foundation of misplaced rationalization for any number of violations, including rape and murder." Stuffed was shocked that nobody went to the aid of the girl: "It's appalling that there were so many people but no one went to help the girl, when its clearly seen and heard that she is under distress." It is not known if a police report was lodged against the molesters. Such incidents are not uncommon at Singapore's crowded countdown parties which provide an excellent opportunity for gropers to "stick" their hands in. Last year, there were complaints from some Singapore girls of being "groped" by Bangladeshi workers at Clarke Quay. No action was taken against the perpetrators.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent The insidious cyber-war launched by certain quarters from the establishment to silence public dissent and criticisms of the ruling party in cyberspace rages on as Temasek Review becomes its latest victim. Last week, a complaint was lodged against another socio-political blog for a "seditious" article posted on its site. Complaints were also filed against forumers of 3in1kopitiam for "infringement of copyrights material". At around 8.30a.m. today, somebody by the name of "Desmond Quek" called up our host to request it to shut down Temasek Review "immediately" and "permanently". This is the same Desmond Quek who filed a complaint against us on 19 December 2009 resulting in our IP address being banned by China Telecoms and our site being inaccessible for 9 hours. We attached below the official warning sent to us by our host RTG Asia: "Desmond Quek" claimed that "sensitive personal" information of "other persons" is posted on our site, but failed to provide any concrete examples when asked to do so. As far as we are concerned, we did not post any confidential information of any individual on our site and neither did we receive any complaints from anybody requesting us to remove it in the last few days. We had earlier published an article yesterday about an exchange between YPAP member Eric How and the moderator of 3in1kopitiam forum Kojakbt on the YPAP Facebook. Mr How was reminding 3in1koptiam forumers that he will be “monitoring” their postings to ensure they do not “infringe any copyrights materials.”: “I am not mocking you guys on being banned on your own home ground. In fact, do not think that you can hide behind the keyboard doing all those weird stunts like posting pics of our members etc. I will be monitoring you guys and just be careful if you did infringe any copyrights materials.” All the information quoted in our articles are obtained from elsewhere. It is already present in the public domain available to anybody who does a google search. We doubt that "Desmond Quek" is genuinely offended by the articles posted here. It is obvious from the malice he has displayed towards us that he is more interested to get Temasek Review shut down for good. "Desmond Quek" is most likely a fictitious character who does not exist in real life or he would have stated his particulars in his complaint against us. The modus operandi adopted by "Desmond Quek"  bears uncanny similarities to "Janet Wee" and Eric How - to get a site shut down or forumer banned by filing frivolous complaints dressed up as some "serious" offences to mislead the authorities. In fact, he may be the same person who has been intimidating us with emails that he had lodged "numerous" complaints about our site to several government agencies. The Temasek Review will not be intimidated by such cowardly underhanded tactics to derail us from our mission to debunk the myths, spins and half-truths propagated by the mainstream media and to provide Singaporeans with an alternative source of news minus the PAP propaganda. If our readers have any objection to any articles or comments posted on our site, they can always write in to feedback to us and we will take the appropriate action to edit or remove the article/comment if there are sufficient grounds in their complaints. However, if you are going to resort to such childish antics to get external agencies to shut us down, then we are sorry we will not be able to entertain your requests. In today's wireless world, it is impossible to control let alone stop the dissemination of information. Unlike in the past, the state media no longer owns the monopoly on the truth. The Temasek Review was shut down intermittently countless of times in the past. We have been attacked mercilessly in one particular internet forum. Baseless and malicious accusations were hurled at us by some anonymous jokers to smear our name in the hope of destroying our credibility, but each time we survive and emerge stronger. The ruling party should not make the same mistake as its UMNO counterpart in Malaysia - the more it tries to shut a site down, the more popular it will become. Malaysia Today's Chief Editor Raja Petra Kammarudin became an instant hero overnight after he was detained under the Internal Security Act for posting "seditious" articles about Prime Minister Najib Tun Abdul Razak. The articles posted on Singapore's socio-political blogs are really mild compared to the Malaysian blogs. After all, Minister of Information, Communications and Arts Lui Tuck Yew had promised to adopt a "light touch" to the internet and so why should its acolytes get so worked up for nothing? We shall wait and see if we receive a formal DMCA complaint from Mr "Desmond Quek" and then we will know if he is a YPAP member whose surname starts with a "S", "H" or others. If you see a "suspended" page on our site in the next few days, you will know what has happened: But don't worry, for no matter how long The Temasek Review is shut down, "WE WILL ALWAYS BE BACK!"  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent The online petition started by Singaporeans to the Romanian government to make ex gratia payments to the victims of the double hit-and-run accident at Bukit Panjang three weeks ago has garnered more than 1,000 signatories so far. One of the victims, 30 year old Mr Tong Kok Wai has since died from his injuries. Another victim, 24 year old Mr Bong is still in hospital. The petition also calls on Dr Silviu Ionescu, the charge d’affaires at the Romanian Embassy and a suspect in the incident, to be handed over to the authorities here if he is found to be responsible. Dr Silviu Ionescu had since returned to Romania for treatment of his diabetes where he claimed he had nothing to do with the case in an interview with online daily click.ro. He also promised to return to Singapore in the middle of January to assist the Singapore police in its investigations. While the case has stirred a furore in Singapore, many Romanians remain nonchalant about it though it was reported widely in the local papers. One Romanian netizen by the moniker of "John" wondered why many people are accusing Dr Silviu Ionescu of causing the accident when he is only a suspect: "All who have posted above have already given their verdict! But the judges have not ... the man is a suspect, not guilty yet. Before the conclusion of an investigation, it may be anybody else..... He reported the theft of the car anyway ... Why pronounced him guilty?" Another netizen "Justice in Singapore" urged Romanians not to be "taken in" by the Singapore press: "Do not believe everything you are told officially about a country super clean Singapore, where the police is not visible but is present everywhere....The periphery of the roads are quite badly lit and the streets are full of pedestrians. In conclusion, the Romanian diplomat did nothing wrong to return." Muciflenduri asked Romanians to go to "civilize" Singaporeans instead: "Talk to Singapore as if it were a lost tribe in the jungle. Look at some figures, compared to Romania: Area of 335 times smaller. Population of 4.5 times smaller. GDP is 88% that of Romania. Hmm, so a tribe with a country smaller than Bucharest (Romania's capital), with a population of 4.5 or less is 88% of Romania. Yeah, the Romans go to civilize them." Some Romanians pointed out a similar case which happened in its capital Bucharest a 5 years ago. A rock musician Teo Peter was killed in a road traffic accident at Dacia Blvd Polona street by a vehicle driven by U.S. Marine Christopher VanGoethem. The representatives of the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest sent the soldier home immediately. VanGoethem was subsequently tried in a U.S. military court which acquitted him for causing the death of Teo Peter. He was only given "a letter of reprimand for obstructing justice and making false official statements." The case sparked a massive outcry in Romania, but the Romanian government did not pursue the matter as the U.S. is its key ally. [Source: hitnews.ro, translated using Google Translator with editing for grammar] A quick check at the petition found a few Romanian names on it such as Tudor Hanea, Calin Mihail and Emanuel Aldea. Though public sympathy is largely on the side of the victims, it remains to be seen if the petition will have any impact on the case at all. In another twist to the saga, one eye witness Mr Tay claimed he saw a man resembling that of Dr Silviu Ionescu quarreling with a young Chinese girl in the Romanian embassy car minutes before the accident. (read report here) Mr Tay had expressed his willingness to assist the Singapore police, but with Dr Silviu Ionescu already out of the country, his latest revelation may not help much. After three weeks and the loss of one life, the Singapore police is still investigation the case. There are no comments from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs either. Under the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations, Dr Silviu Ionescu enjoys diplomatic immunity in Singapore. The Singapore government must first apply for a waiver of his immunity if it is proven that he was the culprit. According to a Romanian news website, there is no extradition treaty between Singapore and Romania. There is nothing the Singapore police can do if Dr Silviu chooses to remain in Romania. Related articles: 1. Online petition calls on Romanian govt to make ex gratias payment 2. Dr Silviu Ionescu: I have no connection with the case 3. Dr Silviu Ionescu flagged taxi at Sungei Kadut 4. From Romania with love: The Great Singapore escape of Dr Silviu Ionescu 5. Singapore police has not ruled out Dr Silviu Ionescu as a suspect in its investigations 6. Romanian diplomat suspected to be driver of Audi in hit and run accident at Bukit Panjang  Read More →