TR EMERITUS

By Yeo Toon Joo, Peter, who ceased to be a newspaperman when he found none left [NOTE: this article was published with kind permission from the author] The inordinately extensive and daily coverage of the AWARE leadership tussle exposes and underscores the provincialism of Singapore’s press, the Straits Times in particular. Any thinking person, with a modicum of appreciation of what constitutes news, must marvel over the MSM’s (mainstream media) ability to ignore the real issues of the day in Singapore while focusing so much of its might on what was primarily a parochial affair. Instead of enlightening Singaporeans on the pressing issues confronting us  – events that beg many questions and offer much scope for enquiry – our national press chooses to rivet readers’ attention through a daily barrage of reporting on the dispute of a marginal organization, till recently, of no more than 100 or 200 feminists. Has the subservient MSM lost its way, just as AWARE allegedly had lost its own focus and objective? It is incredible that the full strength of the MSM’s reporting staff had failed so remarkably to ferret out the real issue of the leadership coup – until spoon-fed by the protagonist. In the not too distant days of yore, one of my rookie reporters would surely have enlightened us, and quite early on, too. The Straits Times’s willingness to manipulate, or be manipulated (wittingly so) by minority interest groups, is so clear for all to see: any image consultant  worth his salt will promptly point out how the ST’s photo/news editor had deliberately selected for publication the most frumpy photos of the new committee while editing so dramatically the most flattering portraits of the old, ousted committee members. Sure, concern over AWARE’s alleged espousal of the cause of lesbianism and homosexuality was at the crux of the crisis.  But this is no longer the hot issue of the day. Aren’t there other pressing national issues worth examining?  Is Singapore so boring that a storm in a teacup should excite the brains of its handpicked leaders?  Should the people who wield the mighty pen (in our newspaper offices) engage in such peevishness?  And be so actively stoking it up into a national controversy? If our national press is truly unable to focus on what concern more Singaporeans than what used to engage a handful of AWARE feminists, may I suggest that it thinks about real national issues and cease its tomfoolery.  May I offer some news gathering tips to our wayward press: ·      Stop conducting yourself like a mosquito press while holding – by default only – the mantle of a national daily ·      Be serious and desist from propagating a modern version of yellow culture in your pages or so-called Life-style sections (“Bollywood’s newest hotties”!  My foot!  Only good upbringing constrain me from a rude retort; MITA whither art thou?) ·      Stop flaunting semi-nude bodies in your life-style pages or flashing regularly the bust lines of dumb broads, and exalting the careers of those engaged in promoting the bacchanalian life styles of geeks and Zouks ·      Desist from playing up the prating of some misguided, immature, amorous young reporter who boasts about squeezing some exposed part of a film or rock star (such a confession should, in a court of law, rightly result in a charge of criminal molestation) ·      Tell us about the vast disparity of incomes in our so-called 1st World economic miracle and how suffering Singaporeans are coping with the recession ·      Instead of giving him scant attention, tell us more and truthfully about Kenneth Jeyaretnam, JBJ’s second son and his dream for the Reform Party.  What about his brother Philip? ·      Tell us also about the millions being frittered away everyday to finance the myriad failed bio-tech start-ups, and round it up with a balance sheet of Singapore’s successes-failures in this field – and what prospect the future holds ·      Tell us something about how our Ah Bengs and Ah Lians are coping in this new world order and with unemployment, or do they not exist? ·      Explain how that Singapore family could lose its 5-room HDB flat, and fall through the cracks of MCDYS’s social benefits safety net to spend the past year cadging for food and sleeping on park benches ·      If the Straits Times press could devote a full page to profiling China’s five rising stars, why do our leaders in Temasek remain anonymous? Can’t get an interview with them?  Surely! ·      How will Singapore hope to recover some of its lost national wealth in the world’s economic downturn? ·      If even a Warren Buffett could be caught out by the economic downturn and make some massive investment mistakes why is blogosphere so unkind to and unreasonable with Ho Ching? ·      If Singapore could throw up a Ho Ching, a truly remarkable woman, why are so few women in parliament and just one has become a full fledge cabinet minister?  (This is one issue the old AWARE could have shown some gumption in pursuing) ·      Tell us how are our million guest workers, especially the lower-skilled ones, coping with Singapore’s recession and what is their likely fate; this study could also include the sub-standard living conditions of these people, the prostitute camps that used to spring up overnight around their dormitories, and their exploitation by hard-pressed and ruthless employers ·      We read that, together with the 1.8k workers whose contracts were terminated prematurely, total redundancy in Singapore increased to a record 12.6k in 1Q09.  Obviously, poor people do not exist in the MSM’s world; everyone seems to be happily employed only in media and marketing, if not in the press ·      Tells us also what it means to our society to have a trade volume that is three times our GDP; does this not affect our values? ·      Throw the spotlight on our local banks, e.g. how did the still independent OCBC and UOB manage to escape being caught more deeply in CDOs and toxic assets of other banks? ·      How is Wee Cho Yaw planning his leadership renewal and how he built up his father’s little bank into the behemoth it is today without a foreigner at the helm, while OCBC still struggles to raise its profile, and why DBS with all its patronage is not faring so well ·      Stop publishing all the incredible ‘feel good’ stories that we read daily, e.g. how our displaced unemployed workers are merrily engaging in community work, how Mr Mohd Zainuddin is happily adapting to a lowly paid job (1/3 what he used to earn) and is so optimistically looking forward to promotion in his new found position, and signing for self-improvement marketing courses in his late middle-age ·      And, if you are truly interested in why and how people become homosexual, conduct a real examination of this subject.  Give us, in a non-partisan and objective manner, an intelligent digest of the question.  So many people, including even senior cabinet ministers, still labour under much misunderstanding of this subject.  Apparently, too, even our Minister Iswaran  (Education) and the Ministry’s director of education programmes have not read the old AWARE’s manual on sex education before issuing a defence on the issue a few days ago. The ideas thrown up above are quick from-the-hip suggestions that any news editor worth three-quarters his salt would suggest on a daily basis, even hourly if need be.  That’s because, unlike now, the journalists of old used to be trained, sensitive, experienced and fiercely jealous of their independence.  We were not automatons who had to wait for cues from news editors who reside outside the newsroom. I know Saturday’s EGM at AWARE will throw up more morsels for the MSM to continue its feeding frenzy.   If it is true that the newspapers of a country reflect the caliber and depth of a society’s intellect, then the MSM does Singaporeans much injustice.  Read More →

Have you ever wondered; how many light bulbs it takes to be the Paris of the East? Whenever I hear attempts to remake Singapore into the Paris of the East, I begin to feel as if I have somehow strayed into an alternate universe where all about me I find people worshipping the light bulb craze. It’s not only Singapore who aspires to the mantle of “la Ville Lumiere” (The City of Lights). Half a dozen other cities all over the world are racing to do the same. Hong Kong is a forest of flaming skyscrapers which boast a computer controlled light show synchronized to Bach’s fifth movement. Shanghai is not to be outdone, boasting the largest wattage per square feet with it garish karaoke throbbing light display. Do light bulbs alone maketh a Paris? No question about it – it goes long way to create “la atmosphere.” Light bulbs are useful things; I wouldn’t want to live without them, but I would never have thought of them as objects of veneration capable to even lending a patina of greatest to any city beyond the dictionary meaning of the word, “nice.” No it seems, there is much more to the city of lights than just light bulbs, wattage or how computers may play with shadows and different hues of colors. Besides, the term, the city of lights (la Ville Lumiere) was coined long before the discovery of electricity during the wan of the candle age. Suggesting the appellation “Ville Lumiere” isn’t about physical sources of light. Rather it’s a metaphor for political, spiritual, cultural and intellectual verve. The French have an affinity for anything that glows, hence the enlightened despot Louis XIV, the dauphin was known as the Sun king. Even the age of “Enlightenment” refers to some vague mysterious all seeing and knowing light. Presumably to describe how the likes of Voltaire, Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and other proponents were the main engine of the enlightenment movement. Till even they acquired the same patina of the likeness of being to light itself when they were widely referred too as - “Les Lumieres” – the Sources. The first recorded history of any reference to Paris being referred to the city of lights was first penned by the revolutionary historian Jules Michelet in 1850 when he first coined the phrase – “La Lumiere du Monde” – the light of earth. Michelet saw Paris as the center of learning, a cultural mecca. A beacon even for the rest of humanity, one could well agree with him as Michelet lived during the zenith of French cultural, scientific, linguistic and culinary enlightenment. It was an age when even the English nobility and royalty spoke exclusively French in Hampton court and courtiers took the lead of haute de couture from the tailors along the 5th Arrondisment. Even political science was exported whole sale in the form of Montesquie’s “separation of powers” which eventually found its way into the American constitution. And just in case you are wondering why the wide boulevards of Washington DC resemble so closely the Haussmann Parisian scale and grandeur one typically associates with Parisian streets, it was because, it was designed by French engineers. With few exceptions this was the age when the city of lights set the mood for the rest of the world. Its every hue would be picked up no end and the slightest change in timbre of light would be registered by all – Paris, the city of lights was a beacon to all! Can Singapore do the same? Can we stand alongside the likes of the fabulous fours, New York, London, Paris and Tokyo? What does it really take to earn the appellation the city of lights? To be really honest with you I don’t know, but what I do know is this – to be a lightning rod that continues to attract the brightest, we simply need to let loose. Yes, I know any city that aspires to even be a “light of sorts” needs to reconcile itself with the moral turpitude, rudeness and brashness that comes with city living. To be really honest with you, we just need to buy into the idea of being true to ourselves, calling a spade a spade or a dog shooter or dog shooter and crazy horses a sex show. It doesn’t take a whole lot of brains to figure out just as the good will wash up on our shores, so will the bad and ugly and we can no more wish it away as we can turn out keyboards into ploughshares. To believe we can regulate morality or the sensibilities of people to the incursion of homosexuality, free sex or even libertarian inclinations is to say that we can pick and choose what comes with the package of buying into the appellation – the city of lights. This remains an unconvincing argument because just as the internet proliferates, it hasn’t resulted in the great erosion of moral values. Neither did on-line gambling spawn a lost generation and this simply tells me we should be perhaps be more open and receptive to the idea of entertaining not only the good currency, but also the bad. To assume the future to be either dystopia or utopia is at this moment speculative, but what the notion of being a city of lights demands of us is to trust the human spirit to do the right thing for country and people, it is one where the individual simply needs to be given the right to choose and what will be as the sages say, will simply have to be. Against this backdrop, it is a relationship with light where doesn’t control as much as bath in it and flow with it. Only this time, its one where neither you or I may be the final decider of what light should be or how it may even eventually transform us all. Is it the light of enlightenment and free speech? This I shall leave to you, but before concluding let me just share with you and intimate moment when light was firmly in the palms of my hands, one moment in time in Paris. This excerpt, explains it all or nothing at all, but rest assured, it resides in you to decide as you so wish to draw your own conclusions as to what it means to be a Paris – so here it goes. I don’t know any city in the world that has such an intimate relationship with light except Paris. In the evenings when the sky turns a gentle rose color over the river; casting dusky shadows on the water, she looks almost serene like an indolent cat napping away – in the cut glass of the morning light, when the contours of all things are etched suitably precisely to this sort of leaching light, buildings look like colossal elaborately decorated cakes with their exquisite details of gargoyles, cupola’s, spires and baroque columns – and at night, when a languid harmony reigns along side the exquisiteness of the faint glow so much is insinuated, it seems as if this is the only city in the world where electricity should be rightly squandered – I say this as a man who once visited her only to find myself conquered and struggling to find a pretext to stay: there is a charm to French living that is noticeably smooth and slow. If you don’t understand why the French don’t see the need to globalize or jump of the free market wagon, it’s probably because you’ve really wasted enough time in Paris watching the smooth and slow passage of the Seine. The virtue of that slowness has deeply impressed itself on the French spirit – how deeply can it be sensed. I remembered saying to myself that the Seine’s course is literally a demonstration of how a little can be made to go a long way. I guess this languor even permeates the language itself: French vocabulary is extremely limited when compared to English, but every word is made to bear a maximum weight. Racine’s tragedy seems a trifle sparse next to Shakespeare’s, but they compensate in intensity for what they lack in extensiveness. To the French less is somehow more, its one that speaks of confidence in the face of the future, for what may come. Though politicians may choose to plan to intercept the future, we all know there is cadence to reality which may shape the final outcome of the future, plan you can, but ruled by accidents will be the case whether you like it or not. The city of lights has seen it all before – it can even be said, it’s a veritable rite of passage which can only come from having seen revolutions, the reinstatement of the republic, its demise and its overtures only to say; I will survive, I will in this world of uncertainty where I float as I do bobbing endlessly to the wimps of fancies of man. One morning along a café in the 5th arrondisement as I sipped my coffee with these thoughts: what does it take to the city of lights, casting long shadows in my mind - I stared out into the eternity of the Seine in the background a radio blared about a Anglo French project to dredge and widen a section of the rivulet to increase it’s speed, I smiled only because I knew better, they can surely try I said to myself, she (the Seine) like the French or the city of lights simply has a mind that she calls her own, she lives by her own terms and knowing her, she’s be the last to bow: That in my view is what it means to be the city of the lights: to be allowed the permission to be your own and to determine your own destiny without fear or favor. (1) This is based on an article by darkness entitled, “A Singaporean in Paris.” Brotherhood Press  / EP 990437 The Brotherhood Press . / Trip sponsored by the Interspacing Mercantile Guild & Confederation of Gamers Internationale. Special message to the Bukit Batok read club of the Brotherhood Press - watch?v=GPVYqb7fPKY - no need to get angry with me concerning what I shared with all of you concerning my fat secretary - life is too short to bear grudges - all of you should know my style by now - if I am not nice to you today; I've be nice to you tomorrow - understand? I wish you all well - Darkness 2009 Side reads: Find out who is Oh Tham Eng! Find out what is his real mission in the internet? Scroll down the thread and read for yourself, pay special attention to what the internet liaison officer has to say about the subject - learn how to defend yourself online: http://wayangparty.com/?p=8002  Read More →

From The Informant Network Team It has been a month since the new exco won the AGM elections of AWARE and while we are still unclear about their goals and vision for AWARE, they are certainly not ashamed to display their spending prowess for all to see. From the changing of all the locks in the office in one night, reinstalling a new security system and to renting of a hall at Raffles Town Club to give their first press conference, the new ladies in charge have been quite alarmingly profilgate in their spending.  The venue at EGM was initially held at HSR Auditorium in Toa Payoh. What was the amount of deposit forfeited for the cancellation of booking when it was changed to the Singapore EXPO? A half day use of Singapore EXPO Hall 2 on a weekend could have easily run up to a six figure sum according to friends we spoke to in the industry. The cost is S$50 + GST per pax per event day. In the event of cancellation after the contract is signed, a progressive cancellation fee of up to 80% of the contractual amount will be levied. Since the EGM was forced by the police to relocate to Suntec, it is unknown if the cancellation fee still applies. The new venue at Suntec Exhibition Hall 402 doesn't come cheap either and will be probably cost between S$20,000 to S$50,000 depending on the number of hours used and if refreshments are provided. Don't forget this is not inclusive of  the cost of engaging an external events organizer - APES communication. (CNA reported that Suntec will be 'pricer' without quoting the figures, read here) AWARE new exco has also engaged Rajah & Tann as Aware’s legal advisers and said lawyers would be present to address questions that arise, including any on ‘matters intended to be transacted, Aware’s Constitution and meeting law and procedure’. This is the first time AWARE has engaged a law firm to be present during its meetings. We do not know the identities and numbers of lawyers who will be at present during AWARE's EGM, but obviously none of them will be doing pro bono for AWARE. According to inside sources, a Senior Counsel can command up to $300 to $500 dollars a hour for their time, a lawyer with 20 years of experience may cost $200 to $400 a hour. (note: this is a conservative estimate only) Will the lawyers be representing the entire AWARE or the new exco? Who will be footing the bill? These are pressing questions which must be raised and addressed during the EGM. Though the cost incurred so far can be defrayed partially or completely by the fees collected lately from the spike in membership, it still doesn't make economic sense to spend so much money in so short a time when there are cheaper alternatives available. AWARE is a secular NGO whose funds are derived from a number of sources. As and far as possible, its funds should be managed prudently to serve the interests of the community while keeping its operating expenses to minimum. The new exco doesn't inspire confidence from the way it manages AWARE's finances. As a non-profit organization, we would expect them to pay closer attention to fiscal matters instead of splurging unnecessarily. AWARE members may like to consider if there are grounds to lodge a complaint to the Registry of Societies for possible misuse of money of the society under provision 19 of the Societies Act (CAP 311).  Read More →