My A Levels are coming up in a few weeks and it's time to get cracking! Please go forth, keep updated and in the know.  A few issues for you to maybe chew over while I'm gone:

PM Lee has said that the Thai military coup is a 'setback'.  Yet the Singaporean government only recently stated that if a 'profligate opposition' were democratically elected in in a 'freak election', then without an elected presidency in place to guard our reserves from them, the army would have to interfere and set things right! Oh dear.  But how much knowledge and prerogative does an elected president have over our reserves anyway?  Does anyone remember our late President Ong Teng Cheong and the problems he encountered when trying to find out the worth of our assets?

If you haven't read the Andy Xie e-mail, do consider giving it a read.  While much of it consists of bellicose, superlative and grossly generalized accusations, it is nevertheless interesting to read what a (now ex) chief economist of a premium investment bank really thinks about our country.  Is Singapore not getting the respect it deserves internationally? Should we more closely examine the sources of our sound economic fundamentals? Or both?

Ministers blogging: George Yeo and the post-65ers are making their efforts to 'connect' (I am starting to hate that word) with the populace.  Do you like their glitzy new site? It comes with their own domain too: www.p65.sg! Poor bloggers like me how to compete? :( Blogdrive only leh.  Some more always crash.  Do their blog entries 'connect' with you? The younger readers, in particular.  They want you! These are the first tangible demonstrations of what PM Lee suggested in his National Day Rally speech which hinted at the PAP appropriating the Internet to communicate with the populace and perhaps regain some of the ground they may have lost online.  Tokenisms or laudable efforts? How will they match up against the rest of the blogs out there? For let's not kid ourselves, that there is no comparison to be made.

Income inequality.  Should a more comprehensive survey be created? The Citigroup report has suggested that a dual economy is being created in Singapore, comprising a bustling export sector and a flagging domestic one.  Is this true, or is Andy Ho right after all when he suggests that statistics are misleading? He brought up in his article last month the interesting point that the Gini Coefficient, a number which is proportionate to the degree of income inequality in a particular society,  may be suspect in measuring the economic progress of a society because it is a mathematical and not a qualitative deduction.  A higher Gini co-efficient could possibly mean, say, 5 rich people and 5 poor people (producing a higher Gini co-efficient) instead of 4 rich people and 6 poor people (producing a lower Gini co-efficient -- everyone all poor what), and wouldn't we prefer the former?

A lot to blab about, and I am sure more issues will crop up in the coming days.  But, I can't be the one to do it for the next month or so.  God bless you all and much love :)

Morgan Stanley's Chief Economist in Asia, Alex Xie, resigns after embarrassing e-mail leak revealing some strong criticisms of Singapore.

Andy Xie's reported full e-mail.

Something rather sad and inordinate, apparently.

M. Ravi had been working on several high-profile human rights cases including the Falun Gong issue and the death sentence for a Nigerian drug trafficker when on September 11 he failed to show up in court.  Davinder Singh accused the move of being nothing more than a ploy to delay proceedings.  Dr. Chee told Justice Belinda Ang that Ravi was 'physically and mentally exhausted', and when pressed for proof, produced a dentist's certification.  Ravi himself, however, was not contactable. 

On September 25th, Deutsche Presse-Agentur published an article saying that M. Ravi had been hospitalized, hence the postponement of the Falun Gong hearing.  He was admitted into the psychiatric ward for psychiatric services. 

On September 27, soci of singabloodypore published this article citing Jaya Gibson's strange blog article which talked of Ravi behaving very strangely and banging things around.  At last check, however, the September 9th article which soci cited was no longer available on Jaya Gibson's blog.  Gibson is a Falun Gong reporter belonging to The Epoch Times (see below) who, according to The Epoch Times, was detained on Sunday September 24th and deported the next day. 

On September 28th, Gibson wrote this article quoting Ravi's sister, Seeniamah, as saying that Ravi was arrested on the day he was due to leave for Geneva to present the case of Falun Gong before the UN Human Rights Council, sedated against his will, and committed to Adam Road Hospital. The report alleged that Ravi's family was told that he would be jailed and they would have no access to him unless he signed the papers.  This was supposed to have happened on September 19th.  The Epoch Times reports that Seeniamah alleged that Ravi was committed two days later, which would be September 21st, but the Straits Times says he was hospitalized on September 20th instead.  This may be a confusion of facts or simply a difference in time zones, it doesn't strike me as important.

Timeline of events is roughly as follows: Gibson's blog article as cited by soci suggests that he had already been showing symptoms of mental illness or unrest by September 9, which was when the article was published.  This may certainly explain why Ravi was absent from the Chees' hearing on September 11.  Gibson visits Singapore, is detained, and deported.  He then writes an article alleging that Ravi was committed against his will, quoting Ravi's sister and an unnamed source on the matter.  However, Gibson has presumably removed the September 9th article on his blog.  I am guessing this is because it makes Ravi sounds like a madman, banging things around and behaving like a 'small child demanding lots of attention', hence undermining his own claim that Ravi was mentally healthy when he was committed to Adam Road Hospital.  To those who didn't see my point of view when I urged a pinch of salt when reading The Epoch Times, maybe you understand a little better now why I'm rather leery of the paper.  Truth and objectivity take second place to the agenda of a zealous cause.

Ravi's cases will now be in limbo, namely the Falun Gong case and another one he took up against Hindu firewalkers for not allowing women to walk the coals (he filed the suit on Sept 6), the latter being simply bizarre.  The Chees' case was settled in a summary judgment and as far as I know, Amara Tochi still sits on Death Row.

This step backwards is disappointing, I feel, from the warmer relations we have been enjoying with Malaysia since PM Abdullah Badawi took office.  I'm pretty sure it's not so much that the Malaysian PM was actually offended, as it is that MM Lee's remarks in a public place makes it very difficult for the two countries to pursue warmer relations, given how Mahathir has declared that Malaysia must not 'kowtow' to Singapore.  PM Badawi has to balance the mutual interests of Singapore and Malaysia with the flak he receives for pursuing those interests, given the two countries' tumultuous history.

1) An alumnus of Brown University asked me to help spread the news around.  There will be a talk held at The Pyramid Club, 2 Goodwood Hill, Singapore 258897 entitled 'An Introduction to Brown University'.  It will be conducted tomorrow, Thursday September 28th, at 7pm.  The event is open to members of the public and I'd encourage any teenagers scouting around for good universities to attend.  Brown is one of the leading universities in the USA and is renowned for the flexibility of their curriculum.  It's actually one of the universities I'll probably be applying to :)

2) A woman was giving out free issues today of The Epoch Times outside the MRT station.  It caught my eye because I'd only just read one of their articles online regarding the detention of one of their reporters, Mr. Jaya Gibson, by Singapore authorities.  I didn't expect to see their paper circulating here of all places, but I made sure to get a copy.  A couple of articles in today's issue actually cover Singapore.  One is headlined The UN Human Rights Council Concerns Over Discrimination & Persecution of Falun Gong by Singapore Authorities, and another is headlined Thai Coup could worsen Temasek's Shin woes.  I suppose the articles will be put up on their site soon enough.  I did a quick Google search and found out that they've published articles about Singapore that tread dangerously on the defamatory.  Click here to see what I mean in a May 2005 article.

A little bit more research explained the strong language and the very evident anti-CCP slant to the articles: The Epoch Times is a Falun Gong linked newspaper.  I'm surprised to see an edition being distributed in the heartlands.  According to the website, they have been circulating the paper here in Singapore since January 2004, though I've never seen it (maybe just blur).  That seems an awfully long time for a newspaper like that to be surviving in these parts.  I'd encourage people to take their contents with a big pinch of salt.

My grandpa passed away this morning at 7:08am.  We were too late to see him just before he died.  We could only stand and cry by his bedside in the hospital.  I wanted to hold his hand one last time but my relatives said that we shouldn't touch the body or his spirit would linger, not wanting to go, unable to pass on.

So I just closed my eyes and prayed, and asked God to send messages.

While we were in the car rushing over to Changi General Hospital, I realised I didn't even know his name.

How odd.

I didn't know his name, but I know the man I visited every two to three weeks.  I know the man to whom I sang songs like 'Yue liang dai biao wo de xin', or 'Above all', or even a stumbling rendition of a Hokkien song about shepherds, or so I'm told, that my dad said was his favourite (my ah kong smiled at that one).  I know the man who clapped his hands and said 'hao, hao!' when my sister and I had sung for him, the man to whose house I lugged my portable keyboard and my sister her violin so we could play for him.  I know the man whose trembling lips I spooned lukewarm coffee past, whose warm hand I held and whose stubbly grey head I stroked.

I know the man who rambled incoherently in his last days but who could still answer, when asked 'ye shu ai shuay?' -- 'ai wo', and when asked 'ye shu zai na li?', could answer: 'zai wo xin zhong'.  And that was the only thing he said for hours that anybody understood.  I know his sweet smile and his raspy laughter.

I knew my ah kong.  You would have liked him too.

---

hao, hao! - Good, good!
ye shu ai shuay? - Who does Jesus love?
ai wo - Loves me.
ye shu zai na li? - Where is Jesus?
zai wo xin zhong - In my heart.

---

Dedicated to the man whose name I never knew, but whom I loved.  1920 - 2006.

Do prove that my faith in democracy is not misplaced.

Current Idol popularity polls on singaporeidol.com place Jonathan ahead with 53.7% of the votes.  Many people feel Jonathan will win because people "don't want another Taufik".

Hady's not another Taufik.  He's miles ahead.

Jonathan can sing, but he's no match for Hady -- not at this stage.

Vote for Hady Mirza.

I woke earlier than usual today to visit Hong Lim Park, where the group of 8 protesters are still standing surrounded by a crowd of policemen, prevented from proceeding onto Parliament House.  As far as marches go, these people certainly haven't marched far.  They are only a few hundred metres from Speakers Corner, where the event was to begin yesterday, 16th September.  When I arrived, I had at first thought that my sources were outdated or misinformed, for there was astounding quiet and peace in the area.  I couldn't see a crowd as I approached the Park, nor could I hear anything except the calls of insects.  I had half expected, no doubt from the endless associations drawn for us between rallies/protests and violent shoot-outs, water canons and bottle-slinging, for there to be more of a disturbance.

When I found the area where the face-off was occurring, however, only one jarring sound seemed out of place from the usual hustle and bustle.  As I drew nearer, the puzzle was solved:


Several strapping German Shepherds had been tethered to trees and were making an unearthly din at a nearby stray whom no one was bothering to chase away; I surmise they were police dogs, anyone else's would probably have been culled or something.  They were straining at their bonds and generally being scary.  If this was a tactic to scare away anyone thinking about joining in the protest, I must say it worked pretty well.  Another dog lounged on the lawn with its handler and several other people I assumed to be plainclothes policemen.  Several other "keepers of peace" and defenders of public morality included:

I hung around for a little while, just watching the proceedings.  Everyone was calm and collected; there was no shouting, badgering, or heatedness.  Then a protester walked past me (I later found out he was on his way to the washroom) and I snapped a photo of him from behind:


I felt compelled to talk to this man, so on his way back, I accosted him and asked him for a short interview.  I found out that he was Gandhi Ambalam, a member of the Singapore Democratic Party.  Despite frequent claims by the PAP that opposition members -- perhaps those belonging to the SDP in particular -- are unqualified and sub-par, the government evidently did not find him unqualified for a PSC scholarship in his youth, and a later career as a civil servant.

I sat him down at a chess table in the park, and we began a simple chat.  I asked him how many protesters there were, and if they were all from the SDP.  "Eight," he said, "Some of them are graduates waiting to go into national service."

"That's...brave of them." I said bemusedly, thinking that trigger-happy conspiracists would be eager to condemn those men to hell in national service for having participated in dissident activities.

"Brave? What brave? There is no bravery.  There is no fear.  It should be natural." He said heatedly.  "It is natural that citizens want to think for themselves instead of simply following what we're told."

I simply nodded, inclining my head and murmuring agreement, and the conversation moved onto other areas.  He expressed his anger at the media for what he alleged was biased and irresponsible journalism.  "They said the event ended last night.  Those are lies.  The rally is still going on, we were here overnight and we will continue to stay.  I just went to wash my face." Here he rubbed his face and apologized, explaining, "Didn't sleep last night." I expressed my sympathy and let him continue.

"The media should tell the truth," he said firmly.  "They said the public complained about a disturbance.  Who complained?" (I wondered briefly if someone had complained about the German Shepherds; if they hadn't yet, someone jolly well should have).  "We had an appreciative crowd.  This is low level journalism.  I should know -- I was a journalist."

This threw me off quite a bit.  A journalist? Surely he couldn't have worked in Singapore? I asked him for clarification, and he informed me that he was Chief Editor in TCS (now known as Mediacorp) of News, "in all four languages".  When I returned home, a quick check confirmed his background as someone who used to work for the state media.

I couldn't resist.

"So was there censorship?" I asked.

He paused a while, and his mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before he grinned, and we both shared a laugh.

"You shouldn't be asking that," He reproached.

"No fear!" I quoted him.

"No, what fear, no fear," he hastened.  A short pause.  "I was there for almost 20 years.  Censorship is there.  Censorship is complete and total."

He qualified this statement, however, by adding that they chose people to fill the top positions whom they didn't need to censor, seeming to imply that the censorship was not direct nor immediate, but rather an unspoken agreement that made interference unnecessary.  "No media is free," he added.  "What we want is a pluralistic media.  If the Straits Times wants to be pro-PAP, go ahead.  Just don't come and lie to us and say that they always publish the truth as the national newspaper, as PM Lee claims.  Now you can go home, on your blog, and you can write what you think about me.  I won't change anything or interfere.  That is a pluralistic media, where there is a clash of views."

He also claimed that the media had published that the event had ended so as to dissuade supporters from turning up to watch (this was when I promised him to publish this on my blog so people would know what was going on, whether or not he was right about the media's intentions).  Aside from the media, he also cited the group's frustration with the authorities, whom he claimed had not told them why they were not being allowed to proceed despite repeated inquiries.

"But you are breaking the law," I pointed out.

"Which law?" He asked a little belligerently.

"The law that says that you can't gather in public without a permi --"

"Permit? What permit?" He asked me.  "Permit to walk? I was arrested in 2002 on the May Day Rally under the Public Entertainment Act, with Chee Soon Juan.  It used to be just the Public Entertainment Act, but it was changed later to become the Public Entertainment and Meetings Act.  They change the law as and when it suits them." (Note: Apparently the act was amended in 2000 and came into effect in 2001.)

He paused, calming down.  "We accept traffic rules.  But if a law is unjust, to hell with it.  We defy an unjust law to stand for the rule of law.  If we are doing something wrong, why don't they arrest us?"

"Probably to avoid negative publicity," I offered.

"Then that is inconsistency.  Oh, wait -- smile for the camera!"

I turned around to find myself face to face with a young chap holding a big big video camera, only a few metres away from us, directly and very obviously filming the interview (there was no one else in our vicinity and he had the equipment pointed straight at us).  I gave the camera my most brilliant smile and waved in several different poses.  Then I whipped out my own camera and snapped this:

...and after a few moments, he wandered off, now apparently filming the greenery at Hong Lim Park.  I turned back to the interview, dismissing any discomfort with amusement, and we continued.  I asked him about his interaction with Chee Soon Juan and for his opinion of the man.

"I've known him since 1993 to be a man of sincerity and honesty," he said.  "If the man is untrustworthy or a congenital liar, then why are we too afraid to interview him? And if Lee Kuan Yew is not afraid to be cross-examined in the witness box, as he has said, then why the summary judgment against the Chees?"

I wrapped up the discussion as the conversation dwindled by asking him how long they planned to carry on.

"Until they let us march," He said.  I was about to point out that that would be, well, never, when he qualified -- "Or until Tuesday, when PM Lee will make a speech for the World Bank and IMF meetings.  Then we will see what we will do.  We might respond to his speech, and by then we may have said what we wanted to say."

"So you will be here at least until Tuesday?" I asked, and he affirmed it.  That concluded things, and I snapped a final picture: