TR EMERITUS

By Fang Zhi Yuan While MOE appeared to be caught unaware by the torrent of criticisms from "concerned parents" prompting it to suspend sex education programmes by external vendors, Dr Ng Eng Hen's revised approach to sex education in schools has set the record straight and salvage the situation which is threatening to spiral out of control. Taking over the education portfolio only this year from Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Dr Ng was given a hot potato almost immediately to handle with the controversy caused by the much maligned and misunderstood comprehensive sex education of Aware. Political considerations may have featured prominently in MOE's decision to suspend Aware's CSE in order not to alienate an important bloc of voters who will not hesitate to resort to aggressive lobbying to convey their message to the government. The main thrust of MOE's swift response is to address the concerns of these parents and to limit the negative publicity from the fallout. Though it appears that the ministry has capitulated to public pressure to review its sex education programme, the fundamental principles and philosophy behind it remains essentially unchanged. In a media interview, Dr Ng Eng Hen released data on teens’ sexual habits to underscore the need for it and how it has changed, for example, the MOE recently included the use of contraception in the curriculum which was a contentious issue with the "pro-family" conservatives led by Dr Thio Su Mien. He explained that MOE's sexuality education cannot simply take only a "moralistic approach" as espoused by certain religions which will have little or no effect on school kids. In a direct rebuttal to protests from Aware's detractors that teaching contraception, e.g. use of condoms, might actually encourage teens to experiment, Dr Ng said this is not true, quoting a study from UNAIDS. He added: When we started, the key message was abstinence, reflecting the conservative social tone of our Asian society where liberal values on sex are not espoused. This is not a negative facet of our society. It is not prudish, regressive or naive.’ ‘But it was clear that abstinence as the only focus was not an effective strategy in reducing the number of teenage pregnancies and STIs. ‘In 2007, messages were added - beyond knowing how to say no, students were also taught the repercussions of unwanted pregnancies and STIs and HIV and how to prevent them. This is now a key focus of sexuality education, and should continue to be moving forward.’ (read article here) I applaud Dr Ng for his progressive, sensible and balanced perspective on sexuality education in schools which encapsulates the gist of Aware's CSE. It is reassuring that MOE will not make wholesale changes to its sexuality education to cater to the demands of a vocal minority of Singaporeans who are insistent to impose their values on mainstream society. MOE has already given them the option to opt out of the programme for them to educate their children according to their own religious teachings and so they have no grounds  to change the programme to suit their own belief system. Dr Ng said the programmes must reflect mainstream values which means encouraging heterosexual married couples to have healthy relationships. Parents will be given more details on the sexuality education programme conducted in schools, with information posted on the websites of the ministry and schools by August. This additional transparency will prevent fringe groups from distorting and misrepresenting the contents of the programme to generate "moral paranoia" in society in order to push for the case for their religious agenda. In a veiled warning directed to the Christian right, Dr Ng stressed that the programme in schools must remain secular and schools cannot become proxy battlegrounds for groups with contending ideologies. Stressing a conscious need to keep schools and education institutions here away from contending groups, Dr Ng said this applies both to external agencies, and also to teachers and principals. Though it is unfortunate the Aware has suffered collateral damage and a blow to its reputation in the process, the fiasco has revealed the identities of these "pro-family" religious conservatives previously lurking quietly in the background. The government will now be more alert and vigilant to the astroturfing tactics employed by these groups to pre-empt them from further interference in the governance of the nation. Recent comments by ministers Wong Kan Seng and Dr Ng are unanimous that Singapore society must remain secular in nature and politics should be kept separate from religion. In spite of some quarters hailing the latest development as a victory for the Christian right, nothing much has changed - they did not gain any ground at all. The suspension of Aware is only temporary to take off the sting of their momentum to prevent them from causing more division and tension in our society. MOE's sex education programme retains the same framework as Aware's CSE: contraception will be taught in additional to promoting abstinence. Homosexuals will not be discriminated against and are assured of their own private space. The substance remains the same, only the form differs. Aware need not fret over MOE's decision to drop it as an external vendor. MOE said it will not be able to use AWARE to run sexuality education programme in schools until it's gained the public's trust for its sexuality programmes. It did not say it will be suspended indefinitely till further notice. Dana Lam, president, AWARE, said: "I think it is grossly unfair that the programme has been so misrepresented to the public by a few people who have picked up isolated phrases and then brandied it around. So parents out there may now have a skewed understanding of what the programme is about." Instead of feeling aggrieved, Dana should get MOE's hint and embark on a PR campaign to gain the public's trust and confidence for its CSE. I believe that the majority of Singaporeans will be able to judge for themselves. By being completely open, transparent and honest to Singaporeans, Aware need not fear another unwarranted attack on its programme by the religious conservatives. The ball is now in Aware's court to pick itself up and move on.  Read More →

By Lee Chong Meng, Guest Columnist Zheng Qing Jin was named Coach of the Year 2004 by Singapore National Olympic Council. Liu Guo Dong was a potential winner of the Coach of the year 2008 but not nominated by his association. Zheng is a Singapore citizen since 1996 and Liu is a Singapore PR but both came from China. They are both well-versed in their respective sports, Zheng was a former national player. Zheng was fined in Dec 2007 for abusing his position as technical director to accept bribes totalling $ 6000 from a China coach he introduced to the post. Liu made the decision to sacrifice the male table tennis team for the woman table tennis team in order to bring back a medal for Singapore. Zheng is under the Singapore Badminton Association which is helmed by Lee Yi Shyan, a Minister of state while Liu was under Singapore Table Tennis Association which is helmed by Lee Bee Wah, a MP. These two coaches brought honour to their respective sports. Under Zheng's reign, Singapore women’s team won the gold medal in the 2003 SEA Games. In the same period, Ronald Susilo won the Japan Open, qualified for the All-England semi-finals and beat world number 1 Lin Dan to advance to the Athens Olympics quarter-finals in 2004. Liu brought back the first silver Olympic medal since the days of Tan Howe Liang. However, their fate were different under different masters. Zheng was re-hired in Oct 2008 as Technical director. I quote SBA President, Lee Yi Shyan comments "Between now and the Olympics in 2012, we have a very tight timeline to reshape our national team, groom our younger players to maturity, and strengthen our training methodology and process. We have to continue to do well in the immediate tournaments and yet put in place a succession plan for players and coaches so that we will continue to do well in four to six years’ time. Mr Zheng’s joining of the leadership team of SBA will help us achieve our objectives. I am confident that Mr Zheng’s experience, network, commitment and his good health will help us build a strong team." Liu did not win over his association with his results, he was forced to resign by Lee Bee Wah. Worse of all, Lee Bee Wah threw mud at him when speaking to media about the reason for not nominating him for coach of the year. Why was he treated differently when his offence seem to have been minor compared to Zheng? This boils down to the fact of one's open-mindedness. Lee Bee Wah in order to be seen as "fair", decides to teach Liu a lesson. (there is a Chinese saying, a new official has 3 fire to set) She refused to accept Liu's explanation and axe him to show everyone that no coach is allowed to hold Singapore table tennis to hostage. But, she forgot the way of a leader, to make use of a talent's strength and ignore his weakness. She could have sought a better way to resolve their dispute, for e.g., hold Liu to account for better performance from the men's team if he sought absolute power over the men's team deployment. Instead, she chose to focus on Liu's unfairness and put him on her blacklist. Singapore badminton association was much better in handling Zheng's issue. He was re-hired after a while and was not criticized in public. They know that Zheng's talents could be put to good use for the good of Singapore's badminton. This reminds me of a historical episode in which a China king's concubine was molested by his drunken general during a feast but the king chose to ignore it and later the general saved the king in a battle. There is another leader who forgot to reward his subordinate and was betrayed by his subordinate. See the facts in Chinese below 楚庄王一次举行宴会，君臣喝得都很尽兴，于是庄王把宠姬许姬叫出来给群臣敬酒；谁知突然刮来一阵大风，把大厅上的蜡烛都吹灭了，全场漆黑一片。这时有一员武将因垂涎许姬的美色，趁着酒兴，凑上去摸了许姬一把。不料许姬也很聪明机警，顺手就把那人头盔上的缨络给扯了下来。许姬随后悄悄来到庄王身边向他哭诉刚才的经过，并把帽缨交给庄王，请求等点上蜡烛以后当场察看在场的群臣，帽上无缨者即为那无礼之人,要严加治罪。谁知庄王沉思片刻，却对众人说道:“今天大家都喝得这么高兴，我看还是都放松放松吧，干脆把头盔帽子什么的都摘下来，那样喝得更痛快些。”蜡烛点上以后，庄王谈笑风生，没有追查冒犯宠姬的人。这个人，就是后来在郑楚之战中立下赫赫战功的猛将唐狡,他为报答庄王大恩,拼死血战。并且最后救了庄王的命.(庄王觉得，酒后乱性，可以理解，毕竟不是罪不容赦的敌我矛盾，睁一眼闭一眼也就过去了；要是换了一个心胸狭窄的君主，唐狡恐怕早就人头落地了，将来还如何杀敌立功？)这一段故事，就是春秋史上著名的“ 绝缨之会” 宋与郑战前,宋国的主帅华元在战前杀羊犒赏部下,独独把他的指挥车的御者----羊斟给忘了.羊斟怀恨在心.等到开战了,他对华元说:"畴昔之羊子为政, 今日之事我为政."说完就把车赶到郑军的阵地里面去了.华元因而被俘  Read More →

This is written by Darkness of the Brotherhood   Recently, when NMP Botak Siew proclaimed to the whole of blogoland with great fanfare how he was going sue the astroturfers who posted some “defamatory” statements regarding him on the net, I was asked, whether there was any truth in this?   I laughed – why? Because I couldn’t help but think Botak Siew may have fallen for the oldest trick in town and what might that be?    The fine art of how to sell a gold plated fire engine – now if you’ve never heard of this con job before this is how it plays out – first start a fire, better still start plenty of fires and if possible burn everything right down to a cinder – then roll out the gold plated fire engine and ask any price: I guarantee you, its sold – a surefire deal - that's the long and short of the gold plated fire engine con job.   You see the way I see it; the people who may be behind this whole idea of trying to paint botak Siew as some hairless wonder James Bond for the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) may actually be trying to sell you and I the idea online anonymity is the personification of Satan; to me the whole idea of him being some secret agent is really just a side dish - to understand this, one needs to buy into the idea there are well dressed foolish ideas, just as there are well dressed fools, and the discerning man must be able to recognize them as such.   How do I know this? Because both me and Singaporedaddy rank within the top 100 gamers in spycraft – and we all know the chances of Botak Siew being a mole is roughly equal to a paraplegic winning a gold medal in the hundred meters dash –sorry lah, he just doesn't fit the bill; for one to excel as a secret agent, one needs to have real hair; not the toupee variety of buy one get one free in Mustafa, as the first rule of spy craft requires the operative to blend in – and how could you possibly even do that if you go around like some fluorescent traffic cone? Think about it.   In summary, this whole idea of Botak Siew being a secret mole has as much credence as a tornado whipping through a junkyard and magically assembling a Boeing 747 – probabilities; don’t ever make for possibilities.   And this brings into stark focus the irony of the situation: why did Botak Siew threaten to sue a motley crew of lunatics that nobody in the internet even believes for one moment in the first place? Was he trying to protect his reputation? To paraphrase, would you even consider arguing with two drunkards in a dark alley on whether we should all consider our appendages as five fingers instead of one thumb and four fingers? Get my drift now?   It’s a stupid enterprise! As history informs us all, for any great enterprise to take wing; what is required isn't just the mere appearance of nurturing a sterling reputation or for matter fashioning the chimera of order and symmetry or even mythologizing one's worth (if you want to do that, then go and build a ten storey statute in the padang! But as Sadam found out even industrial grade cables can bring it down in a flash); if "what has to be seen to be right" holds the promise of a better society, then countries like North Korea  where everyone seems to resemble obedient dogs would have been been to produce flat screens TV's and talking toasters that most people would willingly vote for with their wallets - my point is a nation can only progress by continually nourishing and respecting the idea of basic human rights and civil liberties, even if it comes at a cost to one's reputation or for that matter the right to ride your bicycle on the pavement - it must be able to transcend the form and embody the content - these values are not disimilar to fragile structures like coral reefs and they should never ever be tampered with in the name of whatever; that to me will always remain a facile argument as what is at stake goes way beyond the issue of individual to embrace a broader sphere - here the danger is clear if one overacts by calling on the police to protect one's reputation would that lead to the unremitted license to enable the rich, influential and powerful to play the unending game of power to further their nefarious means? This I leave to for you to consider.   I am not saying for one moment Botak Siew is not justified; neither do I discount that he has every right as a citizen to even invoke the law; but what we are talking here is not the idea of what is right or even wrong; ratherwhat's at stake is the jugular property that must be protected at all cost: the crumbly conception of the value of how we should never ever resort to the path of least resistance by using the hammer and instead try to fashion ever more inventive and clever means to get our point across when come across those who are out to fix us.   I admit this is never easy. It may even come at a terrible cost. But the dangers are real, as if we resort to the hammer to solve all our problems, then in no time, the world will all be nails and that would really be the only tool that we would have mastered as the solution to all our problems - going to the cop shop in my view amplifies rather than manages this urgent crisis intelligently - it merely sharpens and heightens the divide and may even precipitate a classical arms race.   I dont doubt at times this idea of taking on the many slings and arrows that many may choose to lob at us present may even go slightly awry and in certain cases ruin businesses in the way a colleague who I happen to know was once labelled as an adulterer, much to his detriment than even affected his business prospects - but my feel is it still remains our besetting sin if we fail to cultivate a reason habit of thinking things through and instead resort too readily to the hammer to right wrongs; it may in the long run produce more bad than good. As all it can do is breathe life the multi headed hydra to endorse the corrosive ideal, "the means justifies the end" and what's even graver is there is never ever any shortage of justification that could be confected to warrant skipping these higher principles.   IA case in point: if you really want to know why the Bush administration was able to declare war on Iraq by mesmerizing the American public - it was precisely because they confected the illusion of war against terror very much in the way the marketing manifesto sells flouride toothpaste - here no one disputes terrorist are dangerous but what remains disturbing even today after so many years is never ever once was the whole matter of going to right a wrong discussed with regard to scale, perspective and the more importantly the need to keep to these higher principles at every cost - had all this been given a proper airing then most Americans today would not have felt cheated as they do when they feel that familiar sense of estrangement that can only come from the wool being pulled over their eyes once upon a time; fact remains the twin towers was not brought down by some great Islamic super power; it was masterminded by a confused man who lives in a cave in Torah Borah and commutes to work on a donkey!   As it stands today the US finds itself in a moral hazard that's no different from a man who has managed to lock himself in the basement while leaving the keys outside - it will be a long and dark road and here despite Obama's best intentions to change the corrosive culture that once allowed Bush to skip the constitution - do think for one moment it will be easy; as it has permeated the very marrow of the very system to make his a forlorn task - at this point; we need glean the lessons here and if possible even extrapolate what similarities might this bear on the manner in which Botak Siew once reacted to these allegations. Again you go and connect the dots yourself.   My point is we cannot live by gross national product alone or nor can we even benchmark the mental bearing of a society by global surveys or even the chase the whole conception of what may be right or wrong to its logical end; anymore than we can expect New York to be New York or Paris to be Paris without having to bear the perpetual grime, sludge and even occasional mugger - but bear in mind these are also the very places where great ideas are born and dreams take flight - my feel is for great things to emerge; we should trust that good can win over evil and this in part requires hope - this may sound idealistic but it isn't when you consider the internet is not an dead zone as it is the equivalent of a frontal lobe that growing exponentially very much in the way a baby begins to pick up new ideas and thoughts and given time it will even be able to synthesize its own opinions - so Botak Siew should have left it to the wisdom of the net as the final arbiter; instead of strenously trying to right the wrong by calling in the police - again I will leave to your finer judgment whether the right thing had been done.   My personal take is stark and I will not mince my words Botak Siew was dumber than dumb (please go ahead and sue me, as I have so much money, I don’t even know what to do with it these days, I dare you! And I have real hair wouldn’t you like to see me decked out in $3,000 Zegna suit with my hair slicked back in court surrounded by the likes of Missy Dotty & Co in Victoria Secrets?) – as the corollary of his petulance to sue not only highlights how he came across as thin skinned as he has absolutely no compunction even to dish out the same manner of resolving disputes that he so often feels obliged to point out as a character flaw that characterizes a particular political party – the irony.   If the truth be known; the net will always be filled with the good, bad and ugly; that I can assure you will be always be a veritable bell weather fact of life before, during and after despite the tomes of disquisitions by the likes of Cheong Yip Seng et al to state that it should be otherwise – why is irrelevant, but for the goal of this 10 minute write up what this account demonstrates aptly to every single netizen remains only this: knowledge indeed is a great treasure, but there is one thing higher than knowledge is understanding that comes from crossing a line. As what happens when a line is crossed is simply just the giving way to a new way of thinking.   Rather as Betrand Russell once ruefully observed,   "There is no nonsense so arrant that it cannot be made the creed of the day...man can justify anything given the slide rule...in the absence of (keeping) good ground for belief, he will be even satisfied with bad ones."   In simple English it just means; whenever we believe; we have a right to cross a line (or for that matter any line), be it something as benign as picking up the phone and calling the cops to help us to put an end to our source of misery (which may even be very real) - what we may actually be doing is triggering dangerous tremors to work their way through the subsoil of how we may wish to build a free, independent and better internet -  somewhere in this story that I can only describe as Greecian tragedy - we have somehow forgotten internet "crime" be it's tendency for brutishness or just being a plain destructive is not only a problem for the police but it is one that has to recruit every single netizen! If such nonsense is to be stamped out! - and this naturally raises the question: do we want to set the course ourselves and define it very much in the way the founding fathers of the Bill of Rights onced gathered beneath a cherry tree in a July morn to discuss how to fashion a better society - or do we just want to outsource it to those who may come in at the risk of eroding the very character of what makes the internet what it is - I think that's the nub of my essay.   That I am afraid may be where your métier Botak Siew stands at odds with what you may have rightly thought you have done (in my opinion you took a big fall here and if you dont believe me go ahead a poll it!) to counter those preposterous lies that was once leveled at you – had it been me, I would have just smiled supremely, that would have situate the case aptly between fact and fiction as even in Bombay station where Helter skelter rules when millions of commuters flood in from all over India; the serene face of a picture of Gandhi can always be relied upon to bring order to even apparent chaos that many of us may not even understand, but none can deny that may be all we really have as human material to fashion a better internet - my point is the internet is not General Motors or NASA, it is the internet; the equivalent of a kid in a tricycle throwing out daily reads; a disingenous medium of spreading information; taking it too seriously can only amount to a travesty of logic.   And here I have to be so clear as to be blunt: you should not have used the hammer! Had you used the ploughshare, we would have helped you and brought this matter to an end within the span it takes me to empty my bladder! You are not wise!   But what did you do instead? You went straight for the chicken button! Sure your reputation is important; and believe it or not so is mine and probably everyone that makes up the statistical insignificant in the litany called life - but we are not all imbued with the same power, influence, position or even history to be able to make things right - if that were really true, then a certain family would not be winning court cases every single time in the way one shoots fishes in the bucket - again you consider whether I am making sense or talking shit – the greatest travesty in all this is I wonder whether Botak Siew even considered for one moment that the sum of what his actions may have entailed for the broader history that will unfold in our blogoland - if he paused, pondered and smoked a cigarette deliberating these raucous and fracious voices in his head; he would have certainly heard the creak of Pandora’s box opening slowly - hell has been unleashed!   Go and spell check yourself – that’s the only time I have for you 10 mins! – the brotherhood can no longer support the likes of you!   Darkness 2009   The Apocrypha of the Book of Ages (The annals of the Brotherhood) – Annex 16 / Chapter 16 . Page 1,7989 Hansard. - retrieved by Singaporedaddy from the Chronicler of the book of ages - conversation between Vollariane and Darkness mirror copied on board the space cruiser - the KDD Juma - entitled "why the pen is mightier than the sword."  May contain spelling mistakes due the chronicler been a bad writer.   “......Do you not think that I wish for nothing more than to arrest, sue and break every intellectual that has harried me in the Imperium? (The Parliament of the brotherhood) – do you not think that I have never toyed with  the idea of sending in the Sardo-Khan (elite troops) at least a thousand or even a million times whenever they jeer me whenever I make my speeches in the Imperium drowning out my speeches...do you see how they regularly make me look like a fool with their endless Gordon knots before the entire confederation?   But consider this Sad-herine (apprentice) as this must be your greatest lesson, if we are to continue to rule over the universe that outnumbers in people, space and even resources by the numbers of stars that we may not even be able to count even if we have ten life times then where might the wisdom be to silence these voices from the wilderness with the plasma gun?   Do you have any idea how dangerous the yellow row is (the seats the intellectuals occupy in the imperium - they have immunity from prosecution) – do you even have any idea or conception of their power, influence and reach? It took just 7 of them to start the French revolution; less than 5 to bring down the Czar and only less than a bus load to allow the Americas to break free from the yoke of King George – these people are dangerous; I fear one of them more than ten legions of our most battle hardened Sardo-Khan; as their voices can never be silenced as their words will always live on well beyond the sands of time – kill them and you martyr them; twist their arms and they wear their wheelchairs like badges of honors; sue them and they walk around like old soldiers pouting their their medals on their lapels telling the world – I once fought against evil and this is the price I paid for it – inspiring many others to follow suit – No Sad-herin those we can never defeat; we have to embrace; this was how the Romans ruled their empire at their zenith – make no mistake, we are dealing with chess players here; we have to learn their weirding ways and fight them brain to brain under their own terms and if possible even gain their respect and admiration – if they throw out homer, we will have to call on Aristotle and so on and so forth…..consider this Darkness; what is the real cost if we put them all in jail, or send them all to the salt mines as you suggested? Consider this Darkness how do you stop a cat from jumping on a stove? Simple. Switch it on – that guarantees immediate results; the problem is this: that same cat will never jump on a cold stove either; and consider this; what about the other cats who have witnessed the fate of this one cat? Aha – what will they do?   Now Sad-herine (apprentice) ask yourself will we be richer or poorer for it? – if all we desired is to hear endless streams of sweet nothings and libations that do nothing except masturbate us in the way a $400 call girl gives us a blow job?   Do you see now why – I need to fight fire with fire – and take on these intellectuals in the yellow row (second tier in the Imperium) with the power of the quill and never with the barrel of the gun?   As the real battle is waged in the hearts and minds…..you need to learn this darkness, as if you do not, you will not even last one hour in the brotherhood…as the sum of all it really is….is a rattan chair on top of an anthill, where every monkey dreams of nothing all day except to sit on this one chair.....from today onwards….there is no more mystery to the keys of power…people do not respect you Darkness….they fear you in the way the Sparta’s once feared Achilles…. As you are not a man of letters….you are a thug…a two bit gangster with a cutlass who knows a bit about this and that to impress only ladies, but make no mistake, the serious men of this world, will give you no time....do you hear me!…today, you will lay your sword down…you will follow me to every sitting in the Imperium…there if you give up TV and your skirt chasing ways and dedicate yourself to the reading of worthy books….maybe you will one day sit on this chair and many will call you the wise…. As it is a fool that you are! ....the sleeper must awake!” Vollariane (The man who has passed on to the Shadahaludh - long live the brotherhood!)   Conversation by the previous leader of the brotherhood Vollariane to his apprentice Darkness – space time: 97653- the age of the rocket / Reign of Padinshah III– extracted from the book of the ages by the chronicler ESAC 2995-989- REF 09-A0398 – a lesson in the weirding ways.  Read More →