TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent The Temasek Review will be imposing more stringent criteria in moderating comments posted on its site following the latest offensive by the PAP to quell rising public criticism and dissent against its repressive rule in cyberspace. A few days ago, a YPAP member and moderator of the YPAP Facebook Network Mr Koh Ming Yeong allegedly lodged a formal complaint against Delphi Forum to delete threads critical of the PAP on the popular 3in1kopitiam forum. Yesterday, a report was filed against a prominent socio-political blog for a "seditious" article on MM Lee Kuan Yew to various authorities. As a matter of fact, the Temasek Review almost got into trouble on three different occasions in the last four weeks. It appears that the PAP internet brigade is upping the ante to frustrate and intimidate its online critics. 1. 27 November 2009: We have one loyal reader who likes to discuss about "race" in our forum. As far as we are concerned, we do not think his posts are "racist", but some are offended by his comments. One reader emailed us no less than 3 times claiming that he had already lodged numerous complaints to the Media Development Authority to intimidate us to delete the "racist" comments which we would have done so anyway. 2. 9 December 2009: A reader posted the phone number and residential address of a YPAP member Mr X on our site. His particulars are already available in cyberspace. Anybody can simply do a google search and retrieve them. Mr X emailed us to complain that he was "harassed" by our readers after the comment was posted. He threatened to make a police report unless we delete the comment which we did eventually. 3. 19 December 2009 Temasek Review was inaccessible from 12.50pm to 7.15pm because our IP was banned by the China ISP. Apparently, a person by the name of "Desmond Quek" had faxed an official complaint letter over to China about us "revealing" his personal details on our site. The China authorities claimed they were unable to reveal more information as the case is still under investigation. We moved the site immediately to the United States. We had published an article about YPAP member Mr Sear Hock Rong's business dealings with Eunos grassroots organizations a few days earlier. The Temasek Review received on average 400 - 600 comments daily, or about 20 comments in one hour. We only have three active moderators now and we do not have the time or energy to read through all the comments one by one thoroughly and carefully, some of which are long enough to be classified as articles proper. As such, we would like to appeal to our readers for their kind understanding to exercise some form of self-restraint especially now that our site is under intense scrutiny from you know who. They are waiting for a chance to "fix" us and we are not in a position to fight back at all. Once our name is smeared by negative publicity of a police report or lawsuit, it will be very difficult for us to continue to grow and attract new columnists to write for us knowing how timid and conservative Singaporeans are by nature. We are one of the most liberal sites around. More than 95 per cent of comments posted here are approved with little or no moderation. We sincerely urge you to follow these simple guidelines when posting comments here: 1. Please do not post any comments discussing race and religion in a potentially inflammatory manner. What is "acceptable" to you may be considered as "heretical" to others. 2. If you are going to quote any names, please make sure you are able to substantiate your allegations. 3. Please do not hurl vulgarities and obscenities here. They will be deleted immediately. While we understand your unhappiness and frustration against the PAP, please do not go to the extent of "harassing" PAP members in real life. We should have the maturity to agree to disagree without resorting to underhanded means to discredit or demolish our opponents. Ultimately, the Singapore new media is still in its infantile stage of development. Our readership still lags far behind the mainstream media. Right now, our priority is just to survive and we hope you will protect us and keep us in operation for as long as possible.  Read More →

I refer to the letter by Sam Ahmed published by the Straits Times on 7 Nov 2009. Sam said that although he has lived in Sydney, Paris and Tokyo, he has never felt more intimate with any of them than he has with Singapore.  He sounds like the man who has had many lovers before but who professes to feel most intimate with his latest conquest. He is not happy that Singaporeans do not share his "passion" for Singapore and he blames them for losing the big picture which is that Singapore has come a long way from a backwater trading post.  He takes issue with taxi drivers for their incessant complains and graduates for talking about moving to Spain or Italy. It is Sam however, who does not see the big picture, for he has come to narrowly focus on the good life that he enjoys in Singapore while ignoring the sufferings of the less fortunate.  Unless, Sam gives up his cushy life and takes on the hardships that the taxi driver endures day in day out, he has no right to criticise taxi drivers for their complains.  The long way Singapore has come is down a slippery road of widening income gap where the poor gets poorer while the rich gets richer.  Sam may feel the "passion" while the going is good now but will he continue to feel the "passion" if he were reduced to driving a taxi some day? If only Sam's "passion" for the history of Singapore is as strong as his "passion" for the good life he enjoys here, he will realise that Singapore was already a major international port of call back in the colonial days and not some backwater trading post. Many graduates choose to leave this country not because of lack of love for the country, but because the country doesn't love them as much as it loves foreigners like Sam. All first world cities offer safe, ecologically aware, advanced technology, excellent transportation and infrastructure and a thriving arts scene.  If these are what Sam sees as criteria for "passion" for a country, then Sam's criteria is indeed shallow.  For true "passion" endures even if this land were reduced to mere mud and soil. Sam ends by asking why Singaporeans can't see what foreigners all over the world can see.  It is not that Singaporeans can't see.  Many of them can only see but can never taste the good life that Sam enjoys. Thank you Ng Kok Lim  Read More →

Source: ZapBoom Consulting According to USINFO, a publication of the Department of State, alternative media played a key role in the March 8 parliamentary elections in Malaysia. The ruling Barisan National (BN) party received a surprising blow when it lost 58 seats in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat. Although the BN still holds 63% of seats, it lost its commanding two-thirds majority. The BN has ruled Malaysia for 50 years. At a forum on April 1, at the University Malaya, columnist Datuk Johan Jaffar noted that alternative media had a crucial effect on the election outcome. In Malaysia, people trust the Internet more than official sources, the [opposition] election campaign was conducted unconventionally and quietly, and added that he hopes the recent campaign and election results will be a wake up call for the government. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, a member of the BN, acknowledged on March 25 that his coalition certainly lost the Internet war, and added that it was a serious misjudgment for his party to rely solely on government-controlled newspapers and television in its efforts to attract voters. The influence of alternative media on the election was partly due to the mainstream media's lack of credibility. In a post from March 19, blogger Kalinga Seneviratne of Malaysiakini.com noted that Malaysias mainstream media (newspapers, radio, and television) are predominantly owned by business people with close connections with the countrys ruling coalition. This creates demand for less biased sources of information (or at least different perspectives). Unlike the mainstream media, blogs discuss issues such as government corruption and cases of judicial impartiality. In addition to its value as a source of alternative information, the Internet was also used for campaigning and getting out the vote. According to Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who owns malaysia-today.net, the Internets biggest contribution to the election was motivating Malaysias middle class to turn out at the polling places on March 8. "Alternative media cured the apathy the middle class has. They were no longer saying: Let's not bother. Suddenly, it was let's go and give the opposition a chance," Kamaruddin said. Opposition candidates' effective use of the Internet to turn out the vote is no surprise given that five of Malaysia?s newly elected parliamentarians are bloggers. (Malaysia has approximately 500,000 active blogger total). By contrast, the online presence of the establishment Barisan National (BN), was extremely limited. According to the article, the BN and its allies had only two Web sites and one blog in 2004. (The article does not give more current figures.) The article also gives interesting information about how CDs and cell phones were used for campaigning in rural areas where there is lower Internet access than in urban areas: The widespread distribution of cellular phones in rural areas enabled the effective use of SMS (short messaging system) text messages, and campaign activists copied Internet-streamed television programs onto video CDs (VCDs) and circulated them in the countryside where VCD players are popular. It is also worth noting that University Malaya media professor Abu Hassan Hasbullah announced on April 1 that he had conducted research which indicated that 70% of the election results were influenced by information in the blogs. This is a very impressive statistic, though the article did not give any information about the nature of Prof. Hasbullah?s research methods or sample, so it is impossible to evaluate the reliability of this dramatic figure. Regardless of the credibility of that particular statistic, alternative media clearly played a dramatic role in the elections.  Read More →