After having a nice cupcake over at the opening of Booksactually at No. 5 Ann Siang Road, some mash potato, chicken meatballs and teh beng (ice milk tea) at Chinatown, I thought that the world was all rosy and nice. However on my way home on the train, the newspaper readers on the go had to burst my lovely bubble and got me back to the World of the Little Red Dot. I ended up peeping at the piece of article that someone who was sitting beside me was reading, picked up some keywords and came back home to do my research online. What I have just read made me frown a little but that could well be due to the fact that Winamp just bloody failed on me when my favourite song by Sonic Youth is playing (ha, great excuse!).
MM Lee's game of passing the parcel
MM Lee Kuan Yew is suddenly addicted to a new game, all thanks to Mas Selamat's escape from the toilet. As our leaders were busy saying nothing at all ("What to do, it has happened" doesn't count), the leader of all leaders has been passing the parcel (of blame) here and there all in the name of blame. On the 7th of March, while in Saudi Arabia, he passed a statement blaming the escape on complacency of the custodians. Almost a month later, 5th of April (today) to be precise, he has yet again said the same thing. However this time he is also passing the blame parcel to the Singaporean population at large.
According to the news report by our favourite news source, The Straits Times, MM Lee addressed the issue of complacency among Singaporeans by claiming that "Anyone who believes that nothing can or will go wrong in Singapore is living in a make-believe world." He also mentioned to The Straits Times that Singaporeans are being complacent when they believe that the government will take care of all security matters.
Well how many of us do believe truthfully that nothing can or will go wrong in Singapore? This is not Utopia we are living in and most of us can really see that the world is beginning to turn upside down in Singapore. Sooner or later more and more of us might start to beg for money and rice on the streets or just right outside the Istana. Sure, it is definite that there are citizens who believe strongly that because they voted for the "safest and most efficient political party in Singapore" to run the country, nothing seriously bad could and would happen here. Complacency does exist, but if we turn around and start to play the game with MM Lee, then we can surely pass the parcel back to the government (a.k.a PAP) for the development of complacency among the citizens. Take it from PAP MP Lim Wee Kiak's view that this complacency among us all is a "side effect" of an overly successful Government and civil service.
"This has bred a dependency mentality in our population who will blame the civil service and Government if any of their needs are not met," he was quoted to be saying. (MM Lee doesn't think that the government deserves to be blamed by the way.)
However that is not the point. Point is, how can the blame be put upon the attitude of complacency existing among citizens? I agree that we must be vigilant at all times when it comes to being alert to spot anything or anyone potentially dangerous around and among us but there is still not a connection as to how, by being citizens who are vigilant, can we stop an alledged terrorist from escaping. Does MM Lee meant to imply that our so called complacency radiated through the walls of the "heavily guarded" Whitley Road compound, causing the prison guards to become complacent and off guarded too? If so, that will be an interesting piece of pseudo-science reference there. By the way, if we shouldn't be relying on the government to take care of all security matters, perhaps they can disolve the Home Team and give each of us a walkie talkie, a loaded revolver, handcuffs, intelligience equipments etc, the moment we turn a certain age so that we are equipped to take part in safe guarding our country. Of course that is too far fetched a thought but it isn't quite reasonable to state that we are being complacent by relying on the government regarding security matters. I mean, we can only be vigilant. At the end of the day, the security of the country does lie with the government. People vote for a political party they can rely on, is that not right? Do correct me if I am wrong on this.
Anyway let's take MM Lee's words into our hearts and minds and stop this complacency. Let's not be complacent about the peace and stability of our country because PAP is running the "overly sucessful" government. Let's openly question the ministers on their policies and their mistakes by writing them down on vanguard sheets and placing them outside the Istana one after another (remember to leave. The law on illegal assembly isn't applicable to stationaries right?). Let's rethink about our votes before we cast them. Let's read between the lines when politicians speak and let's think twice when paying GST...
Let's build a non-complacent society.
Let's erm... take leave from work and look for Mas Selamat.
Yes, that is the right thing to do eh.
(rolls eyes)
I've had enough of the old man.
*I really like this blog post on Die neue Welle*
4 films banned at the Singapore International Film Festival because... the censorship board says so!
Something caught my eyes while looking through my RSS feeds on Google and it just made the rest of my evening gloomy in a not too surprising way.
Apparently four more films have been taken away from our view at this year's Singapore International Film Festival, one of which I was really keen to watch. The four films are documentaries, two of which were said to be sympathetic towards terrorism, one about gay Muslims and the last one includes "explicit sado-masochistic sequences". They were said to have exceeded the Film Classification Guidelines according to the CNA report.
Well I have not watched any of the documentaries but I feel that they should be allowed anyway, maybe for a more matured audience (age wise). Now that the documentaries have been banned, we will never get to watch them and decide for ourselves how much we agree and disagree with the issues and subjects they are focussing about.
Personal questions regarding the banning of "Jihad for Love": What is the difference between a documentary lesbians to gay Muslims? Why is one allowed and not the other?
"Jihad for Love" took six years to film and it is about a group of minorities living in communities whereby their existence have been frowned and criminalised upon hence appears the challenges in life they have to face due to their sexual preferences. That will actually give us an insight towards an issue that we normally do not quite talk about and for a director to take six years to complete a documentary with such an interesting subject, such effort should be appreciated and not be frowned upon. It is not as if all the Muslims who watch it will suddenly turn gay. What crime is there really in being a Muslim who is also a gay? Now I do know that the religion frowns upon homosexuality but I also know that consequences will be bore upon by those who had committed the 'sin' (do correct me if I am inaccurate), I have studied the Qu'ran. So what harm is there showing it? If "Jihad for Love" has to be banned, why then is this local documentary entitled "Women Who Love Women: Conversations in Singapore" not banned? Both are about homosexuals (although existing in different societies/ communities), both are documentaries and both are shown to a multi-racial, multi-religious audience in Singapore.
Doesn't the government and censorship board think about how much they are encouraging online downloading because of the way they are so anal about the "appropriateness" of the films/ documentaries shown here?
 | haiz....u go take ur absinthe while i go take my herb.. |
 | I will take my absinthe and your herb, how's that? :P |
 | This game of Parcel Passing was being played ever since Man opened that Pandora's Box labeled 'Politics'. How can we not be complacent. The government and the law restrict us from doing most things about national security.
What? Are we allowed to hang outside Whitney Detention Centre as volunteer guards? No, the guards will call us terrorists and turn us into Swiss Cheese with their guns. Can we bear personal arms to protect our family? No, we will be thrown into the slammer and be given years. Can we approach Mas Selamat and apprehend him? No, we are told not to approach him but call 999.
When everything is say and done, what can we do to be more vigilant? "Uncle policeman, I think I saw Mas Selamat. Can you please go catch him because I'm not allowed to do so"? Eventually, most Singaporeans will start to live in LKY's 'make-believe world ' NOT because they think the authority can settle all the security issue but rather because the authority are the only ones that are allowed to settle these things.
+++
I think the difference between a documentary about lesbians and gay Muslim is the word 'Muslim'. Apparently, lesbians are okay because it's a general term and people can approach the documentary from different angles. They can treat it at a freakshow parade and watch for entertainment or treat it as what it really is : an rare opportunity to understand these people better. However, a documentary about gay Muslim bears a taboo stigma. A taboo stigma that our censorship board is unwilling to showcase in case it causes social unrest.
Maybe staunch religious leaders might accuse their asses for influencing Muslim youths to turn gay? Maybe they will say that 'OMG, the gahment is doing a propaganda by putting a stereotype of Muslim males!"?
The result could be more people volunteering to blow themselves up in MRT trains or marketplace which IMHO is pretty dire. |
|  This game of Parcel Passing was being played ever since Man opened that Pandora's Box labeled 'Politics'. How can we not be complacent. The government and the law restrict us from doing most things about national security.
What? Are we allowed to hang outside Whitney Detention Centre as volunteer guards? No, the guards will call us terrorists and turn us into Swiss Cheese with their guns. Can we bear personal arms to protect our family? No, we will be thrown into the slammer and be given years. Can we approach Mas Selamat and apprehend him? No, we are told not to approach him but call 999.
When everything is say and done, what can we do to be more vigilant? "Uncle policeman, I think I saw Mas Selamat. Can you please go catch him because I'm not allowed to do so"? Eventually, most Singaporeans will start to live in LKY's 'make-believe world ' NOT because they think the authority can settle all the security issue but rather because the authority are the only ones that are allowed to settle these things.
+++
I think the difference between a documentary about lesbians and gay Muslim is the word 'Muslim'. Apparently, lesbians are okay because it's a general term and people can approach the documentary from different angles. They can treat it at a freakshow parade and watch for entertainment or treat it as what it really is : an rare opportunity to understand these people better. However, a documentary about gay Muslim bears a taboo stigma. A taboo stigma that our censorship board is unwilling to showcase in case it causes social unrest.
Maybe staunch religious leaders might accuse their asses for influencing Muslim youths to turn gay? Maybe they will say that 'OMG, the gahment is doing a propaganda by putting a stereotype of Muslim males!"?
The result could be more people volunteering to blow themselves up in MRT trains or marketplace which IMHO is pretty dire.  I think that the old man is senile and just talking rubbish for the sake of it hahahaa... probably to bring the news and excitement of Mas Selamat back into the news to keep us talking rather than the increased price of rice, the Cabinet reshuffle and all that stuff. :P Anyway I am just sick of him.
Regarding the documentary, I still think that it should be shown, with a restricted rating or something. Comeon man, if a person is homosexual, a person is so. Same thing for otherwise. A documentary won't turn a straight person into a homosexual. Jihad for Love is a documentary that will give us an insight of the lives of the homosexual community in places whereby being so is a crime. Muslim leaders can also point to the censorship board/ government for promoting such ideas by showing the documentary Women Who Love Women anyway, if they want to because it is also about the homosexual community (lesbians) existing in Singapore. Don't know... double standards being practised here once again? Hahahaa my 2 cents... |
| Heya Guojun,
I love the blog post, hence I posted the link in my entry here. :)
Indeed, we are sick of the old man and it is high time that he steps back for good. No doubt he had made his contributions but the world is changing and so must we. Don't think it is necessary to keep an antique in the PM's office the way they retain the royal family in the UK. We don't need a national symbol like that, seriously.
Just another bit of my 2 cents' worth on this however. ;) |
 | Got in one - MM seems to have forgotten that we the voters did vote for the PAP to do a job. |
| Because of the PAP's "success" over the years during the GE(s), he has developed the attitude of complacency and has since started to take the citizens for granted.
Oh dear, we are such a complacent nation, from the top to the bottom.
Then again, what to do, it has happened. |
| Personally experience says that alot of youths today are a confused collection of people that are fond of the 'Maybe am I a (insert any word here)' mindset after watch or listening to media talking about (insert same word here) Sure, I have met such youths and even adults. However I just don't get it. If one documentary has been banned, why is another of the same genre, similar issue being approved and shown? Anyway if people want to be homosexuals, there is no stopping them. There are many more gay flicks out there available online, there are many gay films that have been shown in Singapore, we even have books about them and people study about them in the universities. Doubt that those have been watched, attended and studied only by non Muslims.
This is a free world, what happens in the bedroom is between the parties within the room itself. None of the government's business, none of religious leaders' business (speaking in general) and definitely none of ours! :P
A person is solely responsible for his/ her decisions and actions should there be an afterlife and Islam is not a religion that preaches force. People make it seem so but it really isn't (opinion gathered from my personal studies). We are not children, we absorb the information, we analyse, come up with our own judgements and decide upon what to do. Guess all of us should be granted that right here, Muslims or otherwise. |
| Hehee that was my 2 plus 2 cents! Love exchanging opinions with you however, there is always two sides (and more) to a coin. :) |
 | Or musical chairs. When the COI's music stops, who is left standing and without a chair. It was the Old Man who divulged that custodians were complacent. He now dropped the hint that "negligence" was involved. I am more interested in how the negligence argument would develop in the coming weeks. |
| That will be interesting to follow but seriously speaking, I am already sick of the Old Man. Seems like we've guessed all along that negligience was involved, otherwise another explanation could well be one of the conspiracy theories developed over the month. Wonder what sort of hints we will be getting soon. They have probably known what happened and how he 'escaped' all along and the COI was formed just for the sake of buying time and to show us that they are doing something (probably for nothing).
Wonder how many more alledged terrorists they will be arresting and detained without trial, in order to replace MSK as well as to restore our 'confidence' in the Home Team of course. Otherwise why is Wong Can't Sing still singing his song in the Cabinet's sing-a-long choir? Can't blame them, we are all to blame because we do not fall under the category of ELITES. (No, I am not anti-intellectual)
What sort of country have we become and what sort of government are we witnessing now?
Haha oh well... is Orwell turning left and right with excitement in his grave? |
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