TR EMERITUS

(2 Aug) - A rightwing Indian party has said rape charges have "become a fashion" in the country. India rape protest The hardline Hindu nationalist party Shiv Sena made the comments in an article supporting a police officer who has been accused of rape. It questioned victims' intentions for reporting crimes, saying rape allegations were "good weapons to seek personal revenge". It follows accusations that Sunil Paraskar, a senior police officer, raped and molested a model over a three-month period. "After he has served for so many years in the police force, one model now charges DIG [deputy inspector general] Sunil Paraskar with rape and in one night he becomes a villain," the party wrote. "Such accusations have become good weapons to seek personal revenge. "Cases of charging men with molestation and rape in [high society] to create hype is on a rise now. It has almost become a fashion," wrote Shiv Sena, which is a key ally of prime minister Narendra Modi's government. It added that the Indian judicial system needed to "open its eyes" and protect the innocent because "all the laws in the country favour women so anyone can slap any charge against anyone". .... Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata party promised a zero tolerance approach to violence against women after it swept to power in May elections. However, two state BJP ministers appeared to trivialise rape in June when one said the attacks happened accidentally and another said they were "sometimes right, sometimes wrong". Uttar Pradesh's Samajwadi party leader Mulayam Singh was the target of public anger in April when he told an election rally that he opposed a recently introduced death penalty for gang-rapists, saying: "Boys make mistakes." [Read more:  The Guardian]  Read More →

I refer to the letter “Diversity should be embraced, not ignored” (July 23), which I agree with and support. Singapore’s experience consists of two stages. The initial phase after the country’s independence was based on the idea of creating a strong identity for the new nation, with policies for press control, social engineering and so on. This is like how start-ups should be run by a few people connected by one vision, without too many cooks in the kitchen to potentially spoil the broth. The Singapore today is different. The nation has made its way from the Third World to the First in less than 50 years. With an increasingly educated population, the open discussion of political, religious and cultural issues is part of becoming a developed country. Social media has pulled public discussion into a different direction. It has allowed people to feel empowered, with avenues to express themselves and make their voices heard on the national as well as the global stage. This is a positive change in the hands of those who are responsible, but it is problematic in the hands of those who create disunity. There are many trolls, bigots and haters who make themselves heard on the Internet. But at the same time, there is order within the chaos. A person who says something atrocious would be “disciplined” by other Internet users. For example, British expat Anton Casey was publicly shamed online for his insensitive remarks. Singaporeans have to accept diversity within society. With the falling birth rate, the influx of foreigners will continue, and understanding those who come from different parts of the world — bringing with them different perspectives and talents — may bring more good to the nation than some may assume. And while many Singaporeans have complained about the presence of migrant workers, they have played a part in building the country’s infrastructure. Without them, would Singaporeans be willing to take on their jobs? Moving forward, we can look to the American dream for inspiration. Americans, regardless of their race, language or religion, consider themselves American, and it has become a large part of their identity. It would be interesting to see Singapore create an identity that goes beyond nationalism, race or religion. Melvyn Chong *  Letter first appeared in TodayOnline, 29 Jul.  Read More →

Liu Thai Ker’s keynote address at a forum organised by the Business Times of SPH in collaboration with Singapore Institute of Building Limited yesterday (31 Jul) is drawing unusual flaks in the social media. He is singing the same sick mantra of growing population for economic growth and wanting more immigrants in the little island. More than 160 comments (in TRE) have been posted in the thread about the 10m population that Liu Thai Ker said was needed for Singapore to be a sustainable country. If this belief is true, Singapore would have perished long ago and all the small countries should not exist. The netizens were not angry with Liu Thai Ker personally. But for him to repeat this folly is just unbearable. And they are looking for a scapegoat to vent their anger. Liu Thai Ker was in the right place to take the blows. To have 6.9m or 10m or 20m is just a matter of adjusting to a life in a more dense piece of rock. Can, sure can. The people would also become denser or be condensed. It is not a matter of can or cannot. It is a matter of whether the people want to go down that road. It is not even a matter of being sustainable or not sustainable. There are many schools of thoughts on this and no one is wiser. It is not an absolute solution that we go this way or we will perish. Come on, is there a genius out there that can be sure of this, that there is no other ways? By the same belief, I would not even grant it the privilege of calling it a logic, the Australians must be dumb to have so few people in a continent bigger than China, India or the USA and with a population of about 20m. The economists for growth will be screaming ‘fools’. The architects and property developers will be shaking their heads for the lost opportunities to build more buildings and fill up the land with more people. Wonder who is crazy? Why do we want to keep building and building and to add more and more people into this piece of rock? What for? Oh, economic growth!  We have gone pass the law of diminishing return when every extra effort will give smaller and smaller returns. We are in a new level, a level when every extra effort, or increase in population, will lead to an increase in pain. The more people we put into the island, the higher will be the cost of living, the stress on the socio eco system, the infrastructure and the demands on the people. It will lead to more stress and more pain, on the people and on the systems and structures. Those who are living in the confines of 50,000 sq ft properties would not know or feel that this is happening. Some wise crackpots are even telling the people that living in 600 sq ft flat for a family of 4 or 6 is fine, no drop in the quality of life. We used to have that kind of environment in the 50s and 60s, 8 or 10 people living in a cubicle. That was the quality of life. They escaped the squeeze by spending time outside the cubicles. Today the people are better off with aircon comfort in shopping centres and the great pubs and nightspots. The people are saying they did not want this kind of squeeze. Why should their lives be screwed by a few people who want to push this belief through, even got it rubber stamped in Parliament? The govt has heard the cries and the felt the anger. But it seems to choose the deaf frog way, not wanting to listen and now we have a line up of snake oil sellers paraded to sell this koyok of more population. Who is the crazy one? The people must decide on this. The people have rejected the PWP. If the govt wants the moral authority to carry this through, it must call for a referendum before destroying this island for the Singaporeans and their children. Turning a deaf ear is not a solution. This is the people’s call, not the call of a handful of individuals, and definitely not the call of snake oil sellers.   Chua Chin Leng aka redbean * The writer blogs at http://mysingaporenew.blogspot.com    Read More →