Patriotism

Sometimes I wonder what there is in Singapore to pull me back. Seriously, after working in Melbourne for almost a year and reading about the oppression that the Singapore gahmen has been dishing out recently, I’m having 2 minds about wanting to go back, wanting to remain Singaporean. I’m very tempted to actually take up Australian’s citizenship and return to Singapore as a foreign talent. I don’t know if I will do that and it might be due to the fact that I’ve been so disillusioned by the gahmen and in a not so direct way, the Singapore people.

I have tried very hard to separate Singapore from the gahmen (or during this time the People’s Action Party), tried my best to not equate the PAP with Singapore. And by far I have succeeded but time and time again, the PAP tells us that without them there will be no Singapore. So if by change or by some act of god the PAP is no longer the ruling party, Singapore will immediately fall. The Singapore dollar value will fall and our standard of living will deteriorate. Immediately, there will be more jobless people, the buildings will turn old and start to become ruins.

Impossible you say, but the way the PAP says things and the way majority of Singaporeans believe this, you’d think it is Gospel truth. The amazing part about this is that these people have forgotten that it is not the PAP that makes Singapore, Singapore. Singapore was created by the people, you and me. The ones that earn less than 100k a year. The ones who work 8 to 5 or longer to make ends meet. The ones who pay taxes to keep the country running. Without the PAP, we Singaporeans will still survive because we want to survive and thus we will survive. Whereas without the people, the gahmen is nothing.

Is wanting a check and balance system like the other real democratic countries really bad? Does it mean that just because I vote opposition that I’m not ‘filial’? Does it mean that I voice my opinions about something that I’m not happy about that I’m not patriotic? As much as a lot of people keep saying that we owe the success of Singapore to the PAP, but is that enough to just blindly have them take up almost all seats in parliament again and again? Have anybody thought that the success of the gahmen is due to its people. The people who against all odds have risen and built Singapore. As much as I would like to say that the gahmen has no part in it, I know that isn’t true. Any great country is built by the people with the gahmen. We can see that in all the great countries. One cannot take credit for it all. It is a partnership and thus no one part ‘owes their living to the other’.

So being patriotic, it means “feeling, expressing, or inspired by love for one's country” (taken from dictionary.com:patriotic), since the gahmen is NOT Singapore, voting against them or even having different opinions from them doesn’t make us less patriotic for we as a people are looking at the future of Singapore, NOT the future of a particular political party.

Maybe before I die, I might get to see real debates in Singapore’s parliament. Where policies are created not only for economic gain but also for the betterment of the lives of Singaporeans. Where anyone can be an alternative voice and not be clamped down. Where the gahmen really listens and had dialogues (not just paying lip service). It can only came if Singaporeans start to really take interest in the country. To find out different points of view from what the media is dishing out. To be able to think for themselves about things that are happening to fellow Singaporeans due to some policy or environmental factors. At that time, Singaporeans would really own Singapore.

Singapore Minister's Pay

I just realised today that the lowest ranking minister in Singapore is paid SGD100k+ per month. Gosh, this is more than what 80% of the Singapore population earns in 1 year!

I couldn’t believe it and I was so pissed and so fed up. Pissed because I used to be a person that agreed that ministers should be paid well. I was stupid and not realising how stupid I was. I used to tell others that in Sg at least the ministers get there pay and that is it, there are no perks, whereas in Australia and in fact many developed countries the ministers get perks. I used to argue that with the salaries that these ministers get and also their perks, it would be more that what our ministers are getting in the end. It was so convincing!

The Australia PM earns USD137k a year.
The UK PM earns USD170k a year.
The US president earns USD200k a year.

Source: Asian Wall Street Journal July 10 2000

Think about it, even with their perks, these ministers can never hit the SGD100k per month! It is so ridiculous. Now I have really taken off my rose-coloured glasses.

I was a fool and never anymore. I will research and find things out before I open my big mouth.

P.S. I’m not sure if our ministers get any perks, so don’t quote me.

Work and bosses

Isn't it interesting when your boss insist that his method of doing something (solving a problem) is right and that you should just follow it. It is doubly interesting when he isn't trained in that field and you are. It is extremely interesting when you have 8 years of experience in doing that thing (solving that problem) and he has none and yet he still insist he is right.

Well that happened to me yesterday. Twice. It was really odd because he doesn't know how it worked, which in turn means he didn't know the simplest solution. He wanted to start the whole process from scratch but I knew there was a simpler way and I did it my way (queue in Frank Sinatra's "I did it my way"). Later when he asked if I started the process, I told him there was a way to fix the problem without starting from scratch. He didn't believe me until I showed him a simple. Even then he wasn't really convinced. Anyhow, the fix was finished in a fraction of the time and I showed it to him. No words came out. Nice to make your boss speechless isn't it. ;)

Apathy

dictionary.com defines apathy as

1. Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference.
   


2. Lack of emotion or feeling; impassiveness.
   

I never understood about people being apathetic about politics and the gahmen being worried about it until I had a chat with T (just now).

I told him about the mrbrown incident and I got rather agitated because he seemed to have no opinion and, in an indirect way, stated that it doesn't concern him. He said that unless he feels strongly about a topic, he wouldn't bother.

His reasons for not bothering

1. There are more important things to worry about like family


2. He is only 1 person what can he do


3. He has been living with it for so long

I realised that that would be the typical answers to why people are apathetic. So I thought I'd dissect these 3 points.

1. There are more important things to worry about
   
   Yup, I totally agree with this. If you don't have enough money to feed your family or even have a roof over your head, these things would be the most important things. Then again, it has been the poor and middle class to have made changes in policies throughout the history of the world. I'm not saying that being interested in politics you would make that your first worry and take each and every action by the gahmen as a battle to be fought. No! Being interested in politics would mean that you know about what is happening politically and have an opinion. There is no right and wrong as it is an opinion. Furthermore, it doesn't mean that if you feel strongly about a policy or an action that you should gather up the masses and hold a rally or anything to that extent. Change and political awareness comes with educating. Telling friends and family why a policy or action is not right and listening to their take on it and allowing their points of view to blend in with yours so that you either have a clearer picture why it is wrong or you might change your mind.



2. Being only 1 person what difference would it make
   
   It is very logical, but the thing is this, if you are a person in a sea of people who believe in the same things you do or at least believe in the same way on a particular topic, you become not just 1 person. Your 1 voice is now much louder. That is the attitude a lot of people take when it comes to voting, “What difference would 1 vote make?” Lots, as countries who have gone though problems would tell you. The easiest example is the US elections. Lots of Americans didn't register to vote because they had the attitude that their 1 vote didn't matter and when these people were polled as to how they would vote if they registered, majority of them (70% if I'm not wrong) said that they would have voted for John Kerry. So in the end, the “1 vote doesn't matter” because hundreds of thousands of votes that mattered.
   
   
   Also there have been people throughout history who changed the world. Ghandi, Mother Teresa are the 2 most prominent ones of recent times. Just 1 person, changed the world. Oh yea, there is also Hitler. Just 1 person, changed the world, not in a good way though.



3. We have been living with it
   
   Just because it is in the books doesn't make it right. If women had that attitude, the feminist movement wouldn't have started and women would not share a lot of the same rights as males. If gays and lesbians (GL) had that attitude, they wouldn't have started the campaign of awareness, being visible so that society know they exist and now see where it has gone. Homosexuality is not a mental disorder in any countries (it used to be). Laws against gay sex has been repelled in most progressive countries. Some countries even legalised same sex unions.

I'm not saying that just because you are interested in politics, you have to be an activist or even join a political party. It doesn't mean that but it does mean that you do believe that policies and laws affect people and whether it affects you or not, and you have an opinion about it and maybe just maybe educate others about what it means and its impact on society.

I am Singaporean

I grew up in a 3 room HDB flat and have been living there all my life.
I have been called kan tang (potato) in the Army because I speak good English.
I lived on my mother's cooking until I went overseas to work.
I left because I got tired of having no rights in Singapore.
I love my country even though I am fed-up with the authorities.
I will return for I believe Singapore is worth fighting for.
I met my boyfriend 4 years back and I still love him very much.
I am considered a pervert, paedophile and etc. just because I am attracted to men.
I am still considered a criminal because of who I sleep with.
I sometimes quarrel with my parents but I still love them.
I miss the food in Singapore especially the curry noodles at Chinatown.
I download TV series because I hate the censorship in Singapore.
I go to church not because I have to but because I want to.
I am looking forward to buying my own HDB apartment and living with my boyfriend.
I bitch about the public transport but still have to use it as cars are not worth it.
I think that the National Day Parade is a big hoo ha about nothing.

I am Wolfgang.
I am Joseph.
I am gay.
I am Singaporean.

So say we all!
So say we all!

Singapore, my country at last

mr brown and mr miyagi started a new podcast for the coming National Day of Singapore (our independence day to put it another way) called "I am Singaporean".

It is really beautifully done. And this small thing really made me feel proud to be Singaporean (gahmen be damned).

I feel the love for my country (note, country not gahmen) when I listened to these podcasts, something which no national education or song or parades has ever done for me. I never knew how much Singapore means to me until now. I also never know how much this nation means to a lot of Singaporeans until I started reading Singaporean’s blogs.

MICA and control

When I read mr brown's 'voice' I was so impressed. He placed the worries of the average Singaporean in the front. Something which most of us think about, bitch about but know we can do nothing about.

Then on Monday (mr brown's 'voice' was published on Friday) The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA), rebutted him (I have highlighted that reply in red, just scroll down).

It is really amazing on how short sighted gahmen is. Apparently airing our worries in the newspaper is a no-no, the gahmen cannot take criticism.

I was pleasantly surprised that lots of bloggers think the same way I do. Mr Wang Bakes Good Karma (Bhavani & Brown) and mrs budak lair (My unconstructive criticism), sums up what I think. :P Even bloggers can get lazy.

One thing I do want to add, this seems so much like control. The gahmen seems to be going back to the olden days where "citizens are seen but not heard", "we know what is best for you, so don't think and shut up". This mentality is really what made the PAP loose one-third of the votes of half of the island. Not only do they think that Singaporeans are immature but also stupid! Don't you just resent that?

Democracy?

commentary:
GOVERNMENT CRITICISED FOR CONDEMNING "UNCONSTRUCTIVE" ARTICLE
Analyzing Mr Brown's original article
Did Mr Brown distort the truth?
Is it legitimate to explicitly limit our journalists and newspapers as to what they cannot do?
Bhavani & Brown
My unconstructive criticism

S'poreans are fed, up with progress!
Voices TODAY Newspaper
30 June 2006

THINGS are certainly looking up for Singapore again. Up, up, and away.

Household incomes are up, I read. Sure, the bottom third of our country is actually seeing their incomes (or as one newspaper called it, "wages") shrink, but the rest of us purportedly are making more money.

Okay, if you say so.

As sure as Superman Returns, our cost of living is also on the up. Except we are not able to leap over high costs in a single bound.

Cost of watching World Cup is up. Price of electricity is up. Comfort's taxi fares are going up. Oh, sorry, it was called "being revised". Even the prata man at my coffeeshop just raised the price of his prata by 10 cents. He was also revising his prata prices.

So Singaporeans need to try to "up" their incomes, I am sure, in the light of our rising costs. Have you upped yours?

We are very thankful for the timing of all this good news, of course. Just after the elections, for instance. By that I mean that getting the important event out of the way means we can now concentrate on trying to pay our bills.

It would have been too taxing on the brain if those price increases were announced during the election period, thereby affecting our ability to choose wisely.

The other reason I am glad with the timing of the cost of living increases and wages going down, is that we can now deploy our Progress Package to pay for some of these bills.

Wait, what? You spent it all on that fancy pair of shoes on the day you saw your money in your account? Too bad for you then.

As I break into my Progress Package reserves to see if it is enough to pay the bills, I feel an overwhelming sense of progress. I feel like I am really staying together with my fellow Singaporeans and moving forward.

There is even talk of future roads like underground expressways being outsourced to private sector companies to build, so that they, in turn, levy a toll on those of us who use these roads.

I understand the cost of building these roads is high, and the Government is relooking the financing of these big road projects.

Silly me, I thought my road tax and COE was enough to pay for public roads.

Maybe we can start financing all kinds of expensive projects this way in future. We could build upgraded lifts for older HDB blocks, and charge tolls on a per use basis.

You walk into your new lift on the first floor, and the scanner reads the contactless cashcard chip embedded in your forehead. This chip would be part of the recently-announced Intelligent Nation 2015 plan, you know, that initiative to make us a smart nation?

So you, the smart contactless-cashcard-chip-enhanced Singaporean would go into your lift, and when you get off at your floor, the lift would deduct the toll from your chip, and you would hear a beep.

The higher you live, the more expensive the lift toll.

Now you know why I started climbing stairs for exercise, as I mentioned in my last column. I plan to prepare for that day when I have to pay to use my lift. God help you if some kid presses all the lift buttons in the lift, as kids are wont to do. You will be beeping all the way to your flat.

The same chip could be used to pay for supermarket items. You just carry your bags of rice and groceries past the cashierless cashier counter, and the total will be deducted from your contactless cashcard automatically.

You will not even know you just got poorer. And if your contactless cashcard runs out of funds (making it a contactless CASHLESS cashcard), you just cannot use paid services.

The door of the lift won't close, the bus won't stop for you, taxis will automatically display "On Call" when their chip scanners detect you're broke.

Sure, paying bills that only seem to go up is painful, but by Jove, we are going to make sure it is at least convenient.

No more opening your wallet and fiddling with dirty notes and coins. Just stand there and hear your income beeped away. No fuss, no muss! I cannot wait to be a Smart e-Singaporean.

I also found out recently that my first-born daughter's special school fees were going up. This is because of this thing called "Means Testing", where they test your means, then if you are not poor enough, you lose some or all of the subsidy you've been getting for your special child's therapy.

I think I am looking at about a $100 increase, which is a more than a 100 per cent increase, but who's counting, right? We can afford it, but we do know many families who cannot, even those that are making more money than we are, on paper.

But don't worry. Most of you don't have this problem. Your normal kids can go to regular school for very low fees, and I am sure they will not introduce means testing for your cases.

We need your gifted and talented kids to help our country do well economically, so that our kids with special needs can get a little more therapy to help them to walk and talk. And hey, maybe if the country does really well, the special-needs kids will get a little more subsidy.

Like I said, progress.

High-definition televisions, a high-speed broadband wireless network, underground expressways, and contactless cashcard system — all our signs of progress.

I am happy for progress, of course but I would be just as happy to make ends meet and to see my autistic first-born grow up able to talk and fend for herself in this society when I am gone.

That is something my wife and I will pay all we can pay to see in our lifetimes.


mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website that has been documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He enjoys having yet another cashcard, in addition to his un-contactless one and the ez-link one to add to his wallet.

The reply from MICA

Voices, TODAY newspaper, Monday, July 3, 2006:

Distorting the truth, mr brown?

When a columnist becomes a 'partisan player' in politics

Letter from K BHAVANI
Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts

Your mr brown column, "S'poreans are fed, up with progress!" (June 30) poured sarcasm on many issues, including the recent General Household Survey, price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares, our IT plans, the Progress Package and means testing for special school fees.

The results of the General Household Survey were only available after the General Election. But similar data from the Household Expenditure Survey had been published last year before the election.

There was no reason to suppress the information. It confirmed what we had told Singaporeans all along, that globalisation would stretch out incomes.

mr brown must also know that price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares are the inevitable result of higher oil prices.

These were precisely the reasons for the Progress Package — to help lower income Singaporeans cope with higher costs of living.

Our IT plans are critical to Singapore's competitive position and will improve the job chances of individual Singaporeans. It is wrong of mr brown to make light of them.

As for means testing for special school fees, we understand mr brown's disappointment as the father of an autistic child. However, with means testing, we can devote more resources to families who need more help.

mr brown's views on all these issues distort the truth. They are polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with.

mr brown is entitled to his views. But opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper should meet higher standards. Instead of a diatribe mr brown should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.

It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion issues, or campaign for or against the Government. If a columnist presents himself as a non-political observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to undermine the Government's standing with the electorate, then he is no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in politics.

STDs

Was watching TV the other day and they were talking about herpes. An incurable sexually transmitted disease and I realised that I couldn't remember any other except for HIV. So I went to Gay Health to check it up and realised that I REALLY have forgotten a number of STDs.

There are a lot of things that you can catch by having sex with someone. Talk about high risk activity. It seems people (both LG and heterosexuals) seem to forget about the other STDs except HIV. HIV has so much 'air-time' in the media all around the world that the other STDs have been almost forgotten.

I find it really scary that there are STDs out there that you can contact just via touch, it is more scary than getting HIV. So any sexual encounter, even if just touching, can transmit some of the STDs, I do believe that herpes is one of them. And herpes in incurable, you live with it for life. Imagine having the fear that you'll pass it to your partner every time you want to get intimate and intimate in this context is not only about sex, even hugging or kissing might be dangerous.

That is why I wonder if the people (heterosexual or gay) know that there are other diseases you can get via causal contact besides HIV and for some of these STDs, condoms is not a barrier. Hopfully they do and are taking all precautions.

This might be a reason why I'm a one man's man. :P

Chiam's $80M-request rejected

Am I surprised? Not at all.

As the saying goes, some citizens are more equal than others.

Reference: Good grief!

Today
29 June 2006

CHIAM'S $80M-REQUEST REJECTED

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan has rejected Mr Chiam See Tong's request for $80 million in upgrading funds for his Potong Pasir ward.

The Potong Pasir Member of Parliament wrote to Mr Mah last Wednesday asking how he could get access to the funds for improvement works.

But in his reply to Mr Chiam, which was copied to the media, Mr Mah explained that the $80-million upgrading package was proposed by People's Action Party candidate Sitoh Yih Pin as his plan for the constituency if he was elected.

Since the majority of Potong Pasir voters rejected Mr Sitoh and his plan, Mr Mah said the issue of funding no longer arises. He added that as Mr Chiam claimed during the election campaign that his Town Council had enough funds to do lift upgrading for all the blocks over the next five years, he should therefore proceed to do so. - Channel NewsAsia

Problems...

When I woke up this morning, I really wanted to write about the Catholic church and what the world would be like if they were still in power (i.e. controlling the gahmens). I was really excited about it but then I received an email from a close friend of mine telling me about her marital problems.

It was really sad to know about it and my planes to write about the Catholic church was pushed aside and I tried my best to convey my thoughts and support via email.

It is always sad to know that when you friends are having problems, whether money problems, relationship problems, health problem, marriage problems, they all are very sad things. How can you as a friend try to be supportive but not judgmental or critical? It sometimes become even more difficult (if it is a relationship/marriage problem) if you only know one of the parties involved, it becomes doubly difficult if you didn’t like their partners. I don’t know my friend’s husband very well but he’s a nice guy. Friendly and not pretentious. The best part about it, was when I came out to them, he accepted it more easily than she did, but then again maybe it was because she knew me for a longer period.

So I was trying to console her and to tell her that ending the marriage is not an option that should be taken until all avenues to ‘salvage’ the marriage has been exhausted. Not an easy thing to do.

Other than that I can only offer my support in whatever decision she makes and be a 'listening ear' now as she rants and tries to get it out of her system.

God bless her and her husband.

T is back

Yea, he's back from his trip. It is so nice to chat with him last night. :) Made my day.

Condoms proven to protect against virus

This is a wonderful proof. But then again, the religious wrongs will think of other ways to counteract this or use the same old tired 'proofs' that condom usage is not effective.

Condoms proven to protect against virus

By LINDA A. JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 21, 7:28 PM ET

For the first time, scientists have proof that condoms offer women impressive protection against the virus that causes cervical cancer.

A three-year study of female college students "all virgins at the start" found that women whose partners always wore a condom during sex were 70 percent less likely to become infected with the human papilloma virus, or HPV, than those whose partners used protection less than 5 percent of the time.

"That's pretty awesome. There aren't too many times when you can have an intervention that would offer so much protection," said Dr. Patricia Kloser, an infectious-disease specialist at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey who was not part of the study.

Condoms have been shown convincingly to prevent pregnancy and AIDS. But conservatives who want to see abstinence
taught in schools have long argued that condoms do not protect well against diseases such as HPV, because men can spread the virus to women from sores on their genitals outside the area covered by a condom.

However, the researchers at the University of Washington found that the chances of HPV being spread that way appear to be small.

Human papilloma virus (which can cause cervical cancer, genital warts and vaginal, vulvar, anal and penile cancers) is the most common sexually transmitted disease, infecting about 80 percent of young women within five years of becoming sexually active. An estimated 630 million people worldwide are infected.

The virus is spread during sex from contact with the sores, or lesions, that develop around infected cells.

Often, the virus is killed by the immune system, but in some people HPV can take hold and cause lesions that can turn cancerous years later. Cervical cancer strikes about 10,520 American women and kills about 3,500 each year. Worldwide, about 500,000 women develop cervical cancer and nearly 300,000 die from it every year.

In the HPV study, published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, none of the women who reported that their partners always used condoms developed lesions during the three-year period. Fourteen women whose partners used condoms less regularly got lesions.

Twelve of the 42 women who said their partners always used condoms became infected. Rachel Winer, a researcher in the university's epidemiology department, said it could be that the couples did not use the condoms correctly or had some sexual contact before putting on a condom.

Recent medical advances might someday render the condom debate moot: Earlier this month, the government approved the first vaccine against HPV, and public health officials are urging that girls be routinely vaccinated before they become sexually active.

The study comes as the Food and Drug Administration is revising rules for the claims that manufacturers can make on how well condoms prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Packages now must state: "If used properly, latex condoms will help to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV infection (AIDS) and many other sexually transmitted diseases." But revisions were ordered by Congress in 2000 amid pressure from conservative groups demanding "medically accurate" claims as to condoms' effectiveness.

Safe-sex advocates warn that changing the wording would undermine public confidence in, and use of, condoms.

At the time, there was solid evidence only on how well condoms prevent pregnancy, HIV and, in men, gonorrhea. Recent research has produced strong evidence condoms protect well against gonorrhea, chlamydia and herpes in both men and women, said Dr. Ward Cates Jr., president of the Institute for Family Health at Family Health International. This study adds HPV to that list, he said.

"This will help clinicians to counsel their patients about the effectiveness of condoms to reduce another of the sexually transmitted infections if condoms are used consistently and correctly," Cates said.

The researchers invited 24,000 female students ages 18 to 22 at the Seattle university to be in the study.Starting in 2001, they followed 82 from before their first vaginal intercourse, testing the women for HPV with swabs of the cervix and other genital areas every four months. The women kept online diaries detailing each act of intercourse, including condom use and whether there was any genital contact without a condom.

Winer said previous HPV studies either showed no protection from condoms or were inconclusive. This one included only virgins and collected more details, and the computer diaries helped women be more honest about condom use than those in studies where people are interviewed about their sexual behavior, she said.

"This is about as ideal a study as you can get," said Dr. Tom Fitch, a San Antonio pediatrician and board chairman at the Medical Institute for Sexual Health, which stresses abstinence and monogamy as the only sure ways to prevent sexually transmitted infections.

Nevertheless, Fitch noted that some consistent condom users still were infected with HPV. Fitch and Kloser also suggested that the results in the real world (say, among poor, inner-city women) might be different from those with college women.

Fitch said several studies have shown that at most, 50 percent of people reported using a condom every time they had sex.

Commitment

I was introduced to The Reader's Eye not long ago. I like his works. It was so inspiring that I thought I'd share one of my works too, the one that I'm most proud. It's amateur poetry, definitely not as good as Gilbert's.


It is a long winding road
Lots of steep slopes and drops
Hand in hand we looked
Towards the endless horizon
“A journey of a thousand miles
Begins with a single step”
We took the first step
And never looked back

Good grief!

Gosh, this statement by our PM is so full of arrogance that I really have no more respect for him and the party he represents. The way he puts it, it's as if the opposition wards pay taxes towards their ward only. Can the people in opposition wards have their tax dollars channelled to their wards? No and yet, our tax dollars is ONLY for the 'PAP'. This is so bad. So many Singaporeans are so unhappy with this policy since it is a common pool of money that we are drawing from. The gahmen just don't get it, do they?

Furthermore, talking about Australia not allowing Singapore Airlines to have flight routes to USA. Is it due to Australian's way of government or the fact that there are other 'national interest' factors? Has he thought of the fact that most countries do not look that economic benefits as the only way to run a country or create policies? A concept that seems to be lost in our gahmen, where economics is the only driving force in the creation of policies, anything to do with individual rights or freedoms or national interest (at the expense of economic gain) would be placed 'on hold' indefinitely.

Why is it the PAP think that they are the best thing for Singapore and the only party that can run it? Why is it they think that if they don't hold majority of the seats in parliament, Singapore is just going to fall from grace. They have this attitude that it is their divine right to govern.

*sigh*

When can Singapore politics mature? We can never be, until the PAP (or the gahmen in general) can accept constrictive criticisms without thinking it is a personal attack and that their word is not the end all and be all. Their attitude is that if you criticise, it means you think you can run the country better and thus, you should form your own party and stand for elections. But that is such an ill conceived notion and I don't know who started that thought. Criticising a policy doesn't mean that we think the gahmen is doing a bad job. It is our opinion and being Singaporean, it is our right to do that. So what is their problem? I really don't get it.

Other comments:
Lee Hsien Loong not impressed by democracy in Australia
Comical Ah Lee
More Comical Ah Lee
I am no Politician, just an Economist
Political Cyanide, Anyone?

------

Today
21 June 2006

'EXCITING' POLITICS NOT ALWAYS BEST FOR THE PEOPLE: PM LEE
----------------------------------------------------------
Loh Chee Kong in Auckland
cheekong@newstoday.com.sg

HIS visit to Australia and New Zealand has reinforced Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's belief that the one-party system in Singapore must continue - and the same goes for the policy of placing Opposition-held wards at the end of the lift-upgrading queue.

Over the last nine days, Mr Lee met various leaders from the two countries, including Prime Ministers John Howard (Australia) and Helen Clark (New Zealand), as well as their respective opposition leaders, Mr Kim Beazley and Dr Don Brash.

And after having a more intimate look at their political systems, Mr Lee is convinced that while their no-holds barred arguments make for "more exciting" politics and "compulsively-viewable interviews", they do not necessarily result in more sound policies.

The end-product of rigorous parliamentary debates might not necessarily be for the good of the country, as such "endless debates are seldom about achieving a better grasp of the issue but to score political points", he commented.

Speaking to reporters as he wrapped up his visit, Mr Lee said: "I think when you look at Australia and New Zealand and other countries with two-party systems or parliamentary democracies like us and elections in our politics, you will understand how different and unique the Singapore experience is.

"You look at their politics in Australia between Howard and Beazley. All the time, Howard says something, Beazley says he got it wrong. Beazley says something, (Howard) says: 'You said something different last week or three years ago'.

"So ceaselessly, back and forth, whatever you do, I'll say you've done it wrong. If I can't find some (way) to be different from you, I will look for something else so as to establish my own brand name."

Mr Lee also said that such party politics might lead to policies that are detrimental to the nation. He pointed to the Australian government's decision to deny Singapore Airlines access to the trans-Pacific as an example.

"The National Party (Mr Howard's party's rural-based junior coalition partner) has certain interests - to look after the rural populations, to look after the towns and far-flung outbacks - and one of their interests is to have air services fly to all these places. It's not economical for airlines which provide those air services, (among which) includes Qantas.

"So, when you say you want to open the trans-Pacific route and run an open competition because it is good for Australia, Qantas then says: 'Well, if you do that, we are going to have to cut back on all these non-economic routes. We are doing you a favour, doing national service.'"

But while the system might work for Australia because it is a diverse country with many different interest groups, Singapore's society is more homogeneous, with the Government also having "made sure that all the constituencies are mixed and integrated".

"In Singapore, we have 84 constituencies, but basically they are all more or less the same. You don't have a rural area, a city area. You don't have a very working class area versus a very upmarket area. We have made sure you don't have a Malay area or Indian constituency or Chinese constituency."

Because the People's Action Party (PAP) sees the whole of Singapore as a "natural constituency", it fights for all 84 seats during every election.

But the party's dominance in the political landscape has caused Singaporeans to "lose the perspective that party politics is party politics" - that people vote for a party not just because of national reasons, but because "it benefits himself or his community", said the Prime Minister.

"If we only talk about national interest and put it above party politics, in theory, that is ideal - but in reality, that's impossible," he said. "And that's why you end up having HDB priority (for lift upgrading) and a difference between the PAP and Opposition wards. It's necessary. Without that, the system cannot work.

"Because if we treat everybody the same ... the first thing the Opposition will say and has been saying is: 'It doesn't matter. They'll have to take care of you anyway. Vote for us, you will still have a PAP government' - which was what (Workers' Party candidate) Sylvia Lim said during the elections.

"And that becomes a real problem because if everybody believes that, where are you going to produce that PAP government?"

But what about PAP supporters who stay in Opposition wards?

Said Mr Lee: "We have no choice but to respect the wishes of the majority of the voters. We know that there are PAP supporters in Opposition wards. In PAP wards, there are also Opposition supporters. If you voted for an Opposition MP, you have to depend on him to work for you."

T has gone/going overseas

Well, T should be at the airport now (Changi Airport that is). He's going overseas for a conference.

It is so weird, even though we are apart, I still feel a pinge of missing him if he's not in Sg.

Counter

This is fun, I've just added a counter to this blog. Not that it really matters, I think that nobody reads it, except T.

Aching butt

My personal trainer killed my yesterday. He made me do leg press with 100kg! And it was using this machine which was already 30kg (or more) before the weights went on, so I was doing 130kg leg presses, 3 sets too. I couldn't believe it. My legs, especially my butt, was aching after I finished 1 set. It is aching today, and knowing my body, it is REALLY going to be sore tomorrow.

But at least I'll have a great butt. :P

Marriage vs Civil Unions

I had a discussion with T the other day regarding marriage. He asked (via iChat) why I don't like the phrase gay marriage since I do believe that gay couples should have the same rights as heterosexual couples.

I hate the word marriage. It has been hijacked by the religious wrong people and made it into a supernatural phenomenon. Instead of being a union between 2 loving people, it has become a religious word where only the church can use it. Furthermore, the word marriage has been used, in history, for power and wealth, never (or seldom) love. During that time, it was used to bring powerful or rich families together to make them more powerful or/and rich. It is a word so marred with baggage that I believe that we as a new community should never use it. The heterosexual community can keep it and use it all they want, since they just love baggage.

We should use another phrase and I think civil unions is good. We want the legal rights of heterosexual couples, who the hell cares about the ‘religious rights’ if there is should a thing. If unions are between God and the couple then who are the church leaders to dictate who can or cannot be unified? The Church of Christ is a loving Church, the church of the Vatican (notice Church and church) loves power and hate is a word that comes out from them time and time again. All through history, the church have used marriage as a tool to further its selfish cause with no regards for the individual. The good of the church outweighs the good of the individual. And to think that Jesus treated each individual equally and fairly and never once made any individual to conform. To Jesus, his love for the individual is the same as his love for the whole world. Each is loving and precious in his eyes.

We can understand that, too bad the church is so full of itself to realise it.

Tag: gay

Lesbian superhero

Wow! Found out that DC comics has brough back batwoman and she's a lesbian. This is wonderful, our first lesbian superhero! Yes, yes, yes.

Our first gay superhero was Northstar.


Batwoman returns. as a lesbian
AP
Monday, June 05, 2006

NEW YORK (AP) - Years after she first emerged from the Batcave, Batwoman is coming out of the closet. DC Comics is resurrecting the classic comic book character as a lesbian, unveiling the new Batwoman in July as part of an ongoing weekly series that began this year.

The 5' 10" superhero comes with flowing red hair, knee-high red boots with spiked heels, and a form-fitting black outfit.
"We decided to give her a different point of view," explained Dan DiDio, vice president and executive editor at DC. "We wanted to make her a more unique personality than others in the Bat-family. That's one of the reasons we went in this direction."

The original Batwoman was started in 1956, and killed off in 1979. The new character will share the same name as her original alter ego, Kathy Kane. And the new Batwoman arrives with ties to others in the Gotham City world.

"She's a socialite from Gotham high society," DiDio said. "She has some past connection with Bruce Wayne. And she's also had a past love affair with one of our lead characters, Renee Montoya."

Montoya is a former police detective. Wayne, of course, is Batman's true identity - but he has disappeared, along with Superman and Wonder Woman, leaving Gotham a more dangerous place.

"This is not just about having a gay character," DiDio said. "We're trying for overall diversity in the DC universe. We have strong African-American, Hispanic and Asian characters. We're trying to get a better cross-section of our readership and the world."

The outing of Batwoman created a furore of opinions on websites devoted to DC Comics, ranging from outrage to approval. Others took a more tongue-in-cheek approach: "Wouldn't ugly people as heroes be more ground-breaking?" asked one poster. "You know, 200lb woman, man with horseshoe hair loss pattern, people with cold sores."

DiDio asked that people wait until the new Batwoman appears before they pass judgement. "Judge us by the story and character we create," he said. "We are confident that we are telling a great story with a strong, complex character."

DiDio spent most of the morning fielding phone calls from the media."It's kind of weird," he said. "We had a feeling it would attract some attention, but we're a little surprised it did this much."

Fog

It is so freezing cold today in Melbourne and it is foggy. You can’t see a thing at all. I’m looking out of my window at I can hardly see the beyond 200m. It wasn’t this bad this morning when I got out of the house. It was just misty.

This is rather cool, for this is the first time (since I’ve been here) that I’ve experience fog. I wonder how long it will last.