KONY 2012 : The Beginning of the Revolution.

The era where the "unimportant people are ignored" will end. This year 2012, will be the year the young people of the world change this old paradigm - where aids and assistance will not be deny just because it is not of national importance or of any threat to any country's national security. The world will be more inclusive and just; the world will become less frustrating and more logical. And we start with Kony2012.

The Date will be April 20th, 2012.

[Youth Quake Reaction] Youth Parliament in Singapore?

I attended the Youth Quake discussion on yesterday at the WP HQ, titled: "Youthquake: Is there Space for a Youth Parliament?"

I came in pretty late, but still managed to catch at least 30 mins of the "debate".

There were talks and issues raised about how the youth MP should be elected, what segmentation should be used to select the youths to be represented, many emphasis on representation, talks abt how it could be a grooming ground for future MPs, whether it should be held at the actual parliament house, etc...

I did not speak, as I thought I might raise the same questions as someone else or issues that is already discussed while I was still on my way there. But one stark problem about the discussion persisted and disturbs me the entire time I was there listening: the lack of fundamentals.

Running a country in a macro-scale (read: actual government) involves the most important pillars of life: food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, leisure/rest, education and transportation. As long as all these pillars are fulfilled: meaning everyone can earn enough to pay for food, shelter, healthcare, transportation and lastly clothing and leisure as well as good access to good education- you can be assured you will be in power for a long time to come (thats how PAP under LKY, and subsequently inherited by GCT and now LHL had managed to dominate the Singapore Politics for so long).

Thus for every policy and initiatives set out by the government, its MUST fulfilled one of the above mentioned pillars (meaning it will benefit the citizens) or it must help to boost the economy of Singapore (which in turns boost the earning of Singaporeans - theoretically). So where does having Youth Parliament stands in this context?

If its like what I heard in the discussion - its really nothing more than just a political brainwash of the youth to become more "political" (than politically aware) and for that handful to become egoistic because of their perceived "power" in holding that Youth MP seat (which, in accordance to what was discussed, likely to end up having the same group of youth dominating those seats).

Someone quoted an example of how a Youth Assembly was tested in Malaysia, which was dominated by the youth from the various political parties; to avoid it becoming to partisan, the rule changed it to be non-political - the same group of youth turned up, this time round, representing their schools. <--- this is exactly what will happen if we go down the route of having a Youth Parliament without a anchoring fundamental - What is the purpose of a Youth Parliament?

Some had argued that the Youth Parliament is to give power to the youth, to give the youth the voice to speak out and be heard; for the adults to take the youth more seriously and allow the youth to contribute to the proceedings and policy shaping in the Real Parliament, etc... - I totally DO NOT concur with this "fundamental" of having a Youth Parliament. It does not do economical good, does not keep food price or housing price low, does not make transportation better and cheaper, does not earn Singaporeans more money, does not pay for our ever increasing healthcare cost.... so whats left is education. But what kindda education is there in the above mentioned "purposes" - it more likely to create more Chee Soon Quans than Low Thia Kiangs or Lee Kuan Yews.

But also because the establishment of a Youth Parliament cannot apply to any of the pillars except Education; THEN EDUCATION MUST be the focus of having a Youth Parliament.

So what do you want to educate the youths of Singapore, through having a Youth Parliament?

To me, there are several things youths can learn through a sitting in a Youth Parliament: 
- Critical Thinking (to above to see thru the haze and be constructive)
- Understanding how policies are made and shaped
- Understanding the hidden currents and hidden costs behind every policies that is crafted
- To allow the youth to think for the greater good
- To tap on the youth's creativity, thus to propose creative solutions that can be implemented by the government
- To allow the youth to become more politically aware (not becoming more political. its different)

Youth Parliament should be like what Internship for students are. It should be to experience what it is like to be in that position, understand the difficulties, the hidden problems - all in all, as an education.

Any talk abt electing the kids to the youth parliament, giving them power, telling them to discuss national issues which they would not understand the magnitude at their age, without guidance from actual MPs that were elected into the real parliament - would be prematured.

And if this is to be implemented, the Youth Parliament should be a mass participation initiatives, that every week or every session, the youths that fills up the seats are always changing and different. We do not want clouts or the same individual turning up all the time - it should never be a place to be grooming politicians. Perhaps it can be run by the People's Association or the Ministry of Education. It can also be run according to educational level, where you will not have a 14 year old (sec 2) debating against a 22 year old (undergrad).


IN CONCLUSION: Any establishment of the Youth Parliament must be of the right reasons and fundamentals. As long as it does not fulfill any pillars of life or of economic good - its can only be of the wrong reasons: of individual/partisan interest <--- which we must avoid at all cost.

PAP's GE2011 PR Catastrophe

PM Lee's Day Rally Speech

"I feel sad for the PAP... literally.

....I was expecting much more from our Ruling party."

Today, our Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong apologised for the mistakes made by the PAP over the last 5 years, ranging from Mas Selamat's escape to the floodings and also the shortage of HDB flats built. And overall, it wasnt a bad speech either!

Objectively, its wasn't a bad thing, to apologise and admit one's mistake is admirable and respectful. But what is wrong, is the timing. He cannot choose a worse time to admit to PAP's imperfection and existence of gaffes & mistakes.

"what is wrong, is the timing. He cannot choose a worse time to admit to PAP's imperfection and existence of gaffes & mistakes."

Throughout the past 5 years, for every big incident/disaster, PAP's ministers kept quiet; pushing the blame away, and blatantly unrepentant about the problem that absolutely made under their jurisdiction. None of these PAP ppl admit to any mistakes and none of them, astonishingly, apologised at all.

Fast forward to today, in the red hot middle of the Elections period; of all the time and days in the world, PM Lee decided to apologise today. What a big mistake....

PAP's ministers kept quiet; pushing the blame away, and blatantly unrepentant about the problem that absolutely made under their jurisdiction. None of these PAP ppl admit to any mistakes and none of them, astonishingly, apologised at all.

Now, all the Oppositions jumped on his admission and trampled all over his effort to pull those former PAP supporters back to supporting the PAP.

There can only be 2 good time to apologise. FIRST, and as always the best policy, is to apologise IMMEDIATELY when the disaster strikes, regardless any investigation had been made or whether the fault is on "him" (as to the person in charge) or not. Which the PAP did not...

The only other good time, is when PAP returns to power on Election Day, re-elected once again, gaining the mandate of the people. PM Lee could have triumphantly thank the People of Singapore for keeping faith in the PAP, despite all the mistakes and gaffes that the PAP had made, and to promise the Singaporeans that PAP will do better this term.

PM Lee could have triumphantly thank the People of Singapore for keeping faith in the PAP, despite all the mistakes and gaffes that the PAP had made, and to promise the Singaporeans that PAP will do better this term.

But no........... he chose today.


This entire incident, together with all the other "self foot shooting" speeches/interviews, poor understanding of what will tick the heart strings of the people and gutter politicking shows that the PAP is poorly prepared for this General Elections, despite being the one deciding when it would take place.

PAP is the most powerful, richest and most resourceful Party in Singapore. They are the people who run the show in Singapore and the leaders whom are supposed to lead Singapore to a brighter future. But General Elections, probably the most important event on any PAP calendar, had suffered with such poor PR strategies and skills (public relations).

The various PAP teams do not seemed to be sharing the same ideology or election message; SM Goh shoots Wong Kan Seng just to protect George Yeo's butt (which at the same time, shoot every single other ministers); Every PAP speech sounds so scripted, too much macro talk, little substance and many fails to touch the heart of the people. Not to mention, failing to provide the plans and solutions for the problem they created themselves (which they in turn blame the world for it).

As a Singaporean, I totally concede that no matter what happen at the polls, PAP is definitely going to return back to power as a Majority. But the abysmal PR by the PAP highlights how weak, unprepared and disorganised PAP could become; especially in the face of such brilliant PR and organisational abilities shown by virtually all the Oppositions parties.

And thus, with the prospect of another 5 years under the PAP leadership, I'm really worried how well PAP could do, especially for the People of Singapore, when they can't even give a good clean fight against the Oppositions...

"the abysmal PR by the PAP highlights how weak, unprepared and disorganised PAP could become; especially in the face of such brilliant PR and organisational abilities shown by virtually all the Oppositions parties."

I really hope PAP would buck up... They had disappointed me in the way their fight had gone (despite me backing the Oppositions); I was expecting much more from our Ruling party.

I feel sad for the PAP... literally.

(Doesn't make sense since I'm taking the Oppositions' side, but really... I feel genuinely emotionally sad at the state of affairs of PAP)

Would PAP one day grant PR voting rights?

As by my previous articles, citing the possibility of PAP granting PR voting rights in future elections, I am by no means saying the PAP will do it; but the PAP will have the option to do it if they feel that their positions threatened or compromised enough.

In 10 years time, PAP would have achieve their target population of 6.5 million people in Singapore. Of which by then, there would have been at least 1 million of them gaining PR status. With only the maximum of 3 million Singaporeans Citizen voters, PR voters whom are likely to vote for the ruling party together with staunch supporters of PAP (including Civil Servants whom believe they are obligated to vote for the PAP) would almost definitely ensure power for the PAP.

But this drastic constitutional change might not happen, as it would permanently damage PAP's reputation and trust among the true blue Singaporeans. But according to history, PAP had not restrained themselves from doing anything possible to defend their position of power, so there is always such possibilities as long as the Constitution is not protected with adequate number of seats held by Oppositions.

I'm not selling fear as the previous articles seemed (because I was genuinely frightened by the possibility), but at the same time, we cannot deny the fact that PAP could do it if they want to.

When that day really comes, Singaporeans will have no rights whatsoever to revoke the Constitutional change because.... we gave them the mandate and voted them in.

This revelation is meant as an education to the people as to the importance of Opposition in the house, an additional thing to consider who you should vote and please do not construe this as an direct attack against the PAP. I will still say the same thing if one day WP is in absolute power - no party should have absolute power.

Happy Birthday Singapore!

Happy Birthday Singapore!!!

As Singapore celebrates the 44th National Day and the parade in full swing just not long ago; the celebrations arent just not limited to the physical world at Marina Bay, in front of our TV and in our hearts: In the internet, Singapore's Birthday had made an impact on the social networking websites as well!

In Twitter, the words "Singapore" and "NDP" made it into the TOP 10 threading topics at the very moment NDP just ended. To let you understand the extent of how significant this is: the top 10 treading topics is garnered from the ALL AROUND THE WORLD, the entire world' tweeting trend at the very moment. And Singapore made their mark.

A country of 5 million plus, just a speck on the globe, we got 2 words making the treading topic. Thats just how much we are celebrating now! =D



And on Facebook, I'm so proud to see that my fellow Singaporean friends are proud of their country and celebrating with pride. I'm touched.



Especially coupled with the fact that I had just watched the best National Day Parade ever... Every single part is meaningful and well executed (except that poor flutist whom's mike is not on...) I love especially the SOKA's part, where the Red Ball of Light represents the Little Red Dot Singapore is, in which, every Singaporean will always have that little red dot in them where ever they go to in the world. There will always be a part of Singapore in them...

Happy Birthday Singapore. I love you and I am proud to be a Singaporean.

"Perm Sec, Tan Yong Soon Scandal" in perspective.

http://wayangparty.com/2009/01/08/senior-civil-servant-boasted-about-spending-s46500-to-learn-french-cooking/

So, there is this damn rich civil servant spending silly money on silly stuff (at least to the common man) and tio slammed silly on national papers....

Seriously lah, its his damn money, he can spend whatever he wants. This is my thinking. In fact, i can't be bothered even if PM Lee drives a Ferrari around Singapore. He got the money, so why cant he spend it?

So ppl, do you really want all those on top of us, be hypocrites, acting like they are all honest and thrifty, like as if they are god-like, money is not impt kindda thing? pls wake up your idea.

This world is ruled by money, and like the saying goes: Money makes the world goes round.

So just admit it, a Perm Sec is equivalent as a one or 2 star General in the SAF. Their pay per month is 5 digit. At least 10k+++. So why cant they spent they kindda of money to enjoy their life.

YES, its a bad time, recession in Singapore and around the world. But thats the lure and good thing about public service or government job, your pay continues to come on time. So when some of you guys get 6 months or 1 year bonuses, we civil servants continue to get stucked with the most 3 months bonus (usually dun have so much). Civil servants are also usually paid lower than outside jobs. So dun complain when they seem rich during bad times, because thats the trade off.

And just in case you dunno, its the civil servants that continue to keep consumer spending at a certain level when times are bad, so the economy dun crumble when everyone stop spending. There is benefits for civil servants to be paid quite well.

So just get on with it. Not happy with their high pay? Try increase your earning more, or swallow your pride and forget it.

Without those high pays for top jobs, no talents wants to serve in the civil service job liao...

------------

Or lets see it in this perspective:

When you are eating good, sleeping good, got cable vision, got car, got credit card, got proper roof over your head, got maid; did you consider what your maids or the construction workers' thought?

Did you care about their feelings? They earning meager pay to do super tough and demanding jobs, while you shake your leg reading newspaper and slam our civil servants for spending silly money on silly stuff with caring about your feelings?

Come on.

Dun even compare these top civil servants life and those who choose to sleep in the streets. If those who strayed in the streets arent getting help for the 10k++ earners, you arent helping these folks either. I bet, you would be finding ways to even avoid these "liu lang hans" (vagabonds).

Want me to go on? I wont go so far as Africa, lets just say Indonesia or even Cambodia. They are plenty of ppl living poor life in poor environments. Can say its beyond their control to even improve their life any better than its already is. Did you help?

Until the common man attains god-like generosity and grace; dun blame all the shit on rich ppl. (i am not rich just for info)

Singapore, singapore.... haiz...

Bush's final day in office. Hail Obama!

just blame it on Frodo... [above, Bush with The One Ring]

finally....

after 8 years of decline and disruption by Mr. George W Bush, life is going to return to the better; because today is the last day, President Bush jr will be in office, as the President of the United States of America.

Under his reign, Afghanistan is smashed, Iraq is messed up to the brink of civil (luckily Al Qaeda got to the nerve of the common man, and resulted in the civilians fighting the terrorists), sub-prime crisis, credit crisis, global financial meltdown, closure of Lehman Brothers, deteriorating relations with N.Korea, Iran, EU, in fact, almost everyone. Reputation as the protagonist of the world turns into public enemy no.1 ; USA suffered under the rule of the Bush.

With the end of his reign, the world hails the 1st african-american President, Barack Hussein Obama with joy and celebration, amidst great hope and anticipation of a better future.

In matters of hours, the now, President-Elect Obama will be sworn in as the President of the most powerful country in the world. The entire recession and crunch originated in the U.S, and they being the biggest consumer market in the world, its really up to this remarkable man, to turn the fate around for the entire world.

And when USA recovers under the ambitious policies and plans of Barack Obama, so will the rest of the world. 

And thus, the world awaits: for the new President of United States of America : Barack Obama.

Obama wins; a Global Victory.

Finally, after 22 months of gruelling campaign, Barack Obama beats John McCain and become the FIRST Afro-American U.S President ever, just a few days after Lewis Hamilton became the FIRST ever Black driver as well as the youngest ever driver to win the World Championship.

It looks like, finally, the world had made progress over racism and discrimination of the black ppl.

Not just paradigms had finally been broken, this victory ushers in a new era where the promise of a better future under Obama's America might come through the ashes of the Global financial crisis.

Upon knowing Obama had clinched the victory, the hype and adrenaline about the election result fade almost immediately; for me, i sense that this is not the end.

THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING.

Even when Obama struggled hard against tough competitors in the form of Hillary Clinton and John McCain, his victory just marks the end of the first step towards the beginning of a long and hard journey to make America and the World a better place.

I am happy, but more, I feel for the amount of work that awaits Obama.

But for now, lets just celebrate this amazing victory.

=}

A Better Face for Singapore Government

Yesterday (Monday), I went for a Focus Group Discussion, organised by Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore for MICA; help at the IDA office at Suntec Tower 3.

The discussion is "On The Design for Singapore Government Website".
More specifically, www.gov.sg.

If you do visit this website before (me on blue moon occasions), will find it rather useless. LOL!

I mean, how many dudes out there in Singapore really cares about everything the government is doing. I mean, other than the usual suspects: ERP, COE, HDB Price, handouts, GST hikes, and every single other stupid hikes, Singaporeans mainly are ignorant, or simply cant be bother about politics.

Face of Singapore they said...

So for its function, said to be "The Face of the Singapore Government", looks pretty dull, plain, and downright "Organised". Not to mentioned my lack of understanding on why is it so "blue". Just to push a bit further, the website simply lack of purpose, and totally uninteresting.

But at least someone did find a use, when he once needed to get to a certain contact to a certain department to get to do certain things. So when he gave up on the stupid phone calling operation, he decided to look for it on the internet, and he found it on this site.

So practically, SINGOV (the what-I-call nickname) is useless and serves no purpose (or even failed its purpose) up till now.

But halfway through the discussion, we were shown the new mockup (not a working one yet though), and its redder and looks more appealing. Information is repackaged into 5 main portions and with the "Events/Calendar" proving to be a hit with all of us; breathing so purpose to the site.

So in a way, Gov.sg (its new name) will in the future, serve much better purpose in promoting and putting awareness as regards to any major events that will happen in Singapore; albeit being government related-corporate stuff or simply government sanctioned stuff like Chingay and the F1 Singapore GP.

Major improvement that are expected are consolidation of all the news and press releases into a single entity. RSS feeds will be provided for all information. Featured events will be shown prominently on the main page, as well as a seem-to-be more efficient way of looking for the point of contact.

By their active engagement in the public for feedbacks and studying suggestions made by us, I am impressed and found myself liking our government sector that little bit more.

I believe they should have a good team behind, toiling behind the scene at IDA to make this website a "Good Face" for our Government.

Lets hope to see this new site soon.

---------

Some of you must be wondering why I went for such stuff? Or even post like as if I became an agent for PAP. Nah~

I am politically neutral for a start. I simply got interested to be part of a web development process for the government's website, hoping that I could help make it a more user-friendly and helpful website for everyone (but I then realise what I wanted to help improve is ecitizen.sg).

Another reason is that I am curious about how the Government conducts their feedback and consultation sessions.

In a way, I find it - again - efficient, organised and that bit less SAF-like. I kindda almost brain-washed by how SAF conducts their stuff, especially by MCMD's courses... So felt kindda happy that at least I taste something different from another Government agency.

Just one interesting thing to note - I realised some do take the opportunity to make this a networking session....OMG... I got 3 namecards. I gave none. Because I didnt bring mine (an outdated one).

End of an Era: Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam

YESTERDAY, 30 Sep 2008 marks the end of an era, as Singapore lost one of the most legendary opposition leader in Singapore history: Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam.

Despite I cannot agree on many of his manifesto and political beliefs, but no doubt, have my utmost respect for his fiery determination to fight for the rights of fellow Singaporeans. 

His legacy of his Anson by-election victory, the first man to break PAP's monopoly; his Chengsan GRC that gripped the nation at the edge of their seats where they were so close to winning Opposition's first ever GRC. Not to forget his countless barring from elections, how he is sued for defamation till bankruptcy, his amazing victory in court thru the Privy Council that stunned both PAP and the nation, his struggle of selling his books at various places in Singapore, his presence/influence in the most recent election, his forming of the Reform Party, as well as the challenging the Prime Minister to held a by-election this year, which the court session will be one that he will never be able to stand for. 

With his passing, it probably marks the end of the era of fire-brand opposition politicians, that had made my childhood's political scene so interesting. With the Mr Chee totally crippled as a politician (almost everyone I spoke to, many of them taxi drivers, condemned him), the days where Opposition leaders launches into frenzy screaming and shouting is probably over.

I hereby pay my respect to this man, whose dedication to the People of Singapore is unequal among the men of so few against so many.

Rest in Peace.

related links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Benjamin_Jeyaretnam

http://www.sgwiki.com/wiki/Mr._J._B._Jeyaretnam

His personal blog : http://blog.jbjeya.org/

The Wall Street Journal : http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122280294134591419.html

Malaysia Today: http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/13268/84/

TodayOnline: 

Mr Impossible of S'pore Politics -  http://www.todayonline.com/articles/278967.asp

What PM and SM told JBJ's sons -  http://www.todayonline.com/articles/278944.asp

JBJ's death caught many by surprise - http://www.todayonline.com/articles/278962.asp

Remembering Mr J B Jeyaretnam - http://www.todayonline.com/articles/278964.asp

additional links added at 012230h Oct 08:

Facebook Condolence : http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=26481019410

CNN : http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/29/singapore.jeyaretnam.ap/index.html

BBC : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7643379.stm

Barack Obama | Respect.

i think i had been won over...

Barack Obama, a man that probably what the world needs most now, especially for United States. I happened to switch to CNN as they are covering LIVE the Democratic Party's presidential nomination event. 

I watched in anticipation, especially at the official acceptance of the nomination by Obama, and what historical speech he is going to log into US' history books. He did not disappoint.

I witnessed the most incredible political speech ever; one that captures the heart and soul of all Americans. Even me, a Singaporean, half a globe away from those fanfare, I am touched. I am so touched that tears are threatening to overwhelm my eyes. 

Its that inspiring...

Of course while i successfully fought back my tears, countless American succumbed to it. 

Obama hit where it matters most: heathcare, education, tax, jobs, people, the common man. He did not stand there and give a Bush-like speech of grandeur and crap, but he showed what being a leader of a country, whatever the country, is all about...

...its about the people.

He proposed revolutionary ideas, giving hope to not only the Americans, but to the world as well; diminishing the reliance for Middle East oil totally in a decade, full scale development of next generation energy, making the world most efficient vehicles and become the leader in it, etc... 

An America without the need to tap on the Middleeast oil = a more stable global power = peace. 

He hits  the jackpot in virtually every single area of contention and topic.

He MUST  get elected.

He will not only bring USA out of their shit holes, but also bring back the stability that is now lost thanks to the ridiculous rule of George W Bush. 8 years of crap, 8 years of economic difficulty; even to us Singapore.

Barack Obama is a person whom the first moment i noticed his presence, thanks of TV about him wanting to go for the presidential election; the moment i heard one of his early speeches abt a year+ ago, i knew it, that this is the MAN, the ONE who will change the world.

Its all about Change isnt it? his  campaign...

I hope, our opposition politicians can look up to Obama and learn from him, what is it about being a politician. Not to fight the government, not to just be a check (or for show) towards the accountability of PAP, not being an alternative, BUT... to be an entity that will make the comman man's life better; collaborating with PAP or not, that  should be the goal.

But for now, i declare i am a fan of this man: Barack Obama

Happy Birthday Singapore

As Singapore celebrates its National Day, i shall now hereby launch my blog on Singapore.

=}

I will use this avenue to discuss my socio-political views, as well as anything pertaining to Singapore~