Most people by now have heard the news that there were allegations that Workers’ Party candidate Dr
Daniel Goh had had an affair with a former student. The letter, sent to
newsrooms as well as the Workers’ Party, was signed off by a “Max Chan” and
also alleged that the former student’s boyfriend had found out about the
affair.
But before even verifying the letter and asking or digging for evidence, the main stream media ("MSM") decided to publish the story just based on a flimsy, poorly researched letter. Contrast this to the 2012 Michael Palmer case where by TNP (The New Paper) tabloid presented with SMS evidence went to check for more information and tipped off the government ! The SMSes were received on Saturday but they only waited till PAP called the press conference on Wednesday! TOTAL of FIVE FREAKING DAYS !
This is not the first time that the MSM has been blatantly shown to show favoritism and a total disrespect to good journalism. In 2013, Nicole Seah was accused of having an affair with a married man based on a photo of them together in a facebook post! No evidence, no proof, no research, only a photo taken together. Why don't the MSM take a photo of a girl with PM Lee at a public event, and accuse her of having an affair with him?! I am sure that will sell newspapers!
My ultimate disgust with the MSM are reporters that they compromise their scruples just for the sake of publishing news. I have had a real life experience before when the reporters hover around funeral wakes hoping to catch a loose tongue relative who will divulge some information that they can sensationalize their story.
Sure, I understand that journalists have to make a living too and many are just bound by their masters to do their bidding, but at least have a conscience and a brain. Go write for a foreign international paper instead of rotting your brain and talent with the Singapore MSM.
For many years, I have unsubscribed to the MSM (The government's propaganda machine), because the only use of their newspapers are for wrapping dog excrement. Using them as toilet paper would be too much of an honor.
I have been reading with amusement about the two-session opposition unity meetings to avoid multi- cornered fights in certain electoral wards. It is really quite disgusting that the various parties are craving out Singapore into their own fiefdoms. Who asked you to contest in Ang Mo Kio GRC vs another party? Did you ever ask the residents ?
The true election process is a contest for who can best represent you,the resident, in the ward rather than horse trading. No doubt the oppositions' resources are limited and they have to conserve their moo lah.
But who is to say that NSP or RP or SDP is the best alternative voice for the resident vs the PAP?
Even if it was a ward with five or six parties contesting, the true contest is between PAP vs the next best opposition candidate. Singaporeans are not dumb, look at the multi-contest in Puggol East, Kenneth RP and Desmond SDA were just side-show clowns who lost their $16,000 to the government coffers.
If you cannot stand the heat, stay out of the fire.
Similarly if you don't have the moo lah, don't stand for elections.
Singaporeans are a lot smarter than some of our dumb and glory-seeking politicians.
Investing in Malaysia ?! NEVER!
It is just a mess in the country! The only thing that is useful is the drop in Ringgit towards S$ 1: RM 3. More buying power!
- Where only the elites and royals make Money by selling land to Chinese Developers
- Indiscriminate building without a clear understanding of supply and demand
- Increase of tolls that make staying and commuting between Singapore and Malaysia just uneconomical.
- Local Malaysian Jho Low working with foreigners to siphon out the country's money
- PM has no clue on what is happening and still insisting that everyone must support him.
- Delayed from 2020 to 2025.
- The latest fiasco is that they want to move the end terminus from Jurong East to Johor
- Jurong East property prices dependent on whether the HSR ends there.
So many Singaporeans in the past have been burnt by Malaysia's Property Market and CLOB shares issues in the past. But there is always a fresh set of gullible people willing to believe the fools' gold at the end of the causeway.
Singapore’s late prime minister wanted to know: Where was his copy of the Journal?
An interesting article written by WSJ, a bit biased but provides a balance to Singaporeans who can think for themselves.
By
Melanie Kirkpatrick
Lee Kuan Yew, who died Monday at age 91, is rightly heralded as the founder of modern Singapore. As prime minister from 1959 to 1990, Lee led his country’s transformation from a swamp-infested island into a prosperous, first-world metropolis. He did so in part by allowing economic freedom to flourish, giving the people of Singapore a chance to achieve their full potential.
The marketplace of ideas was another matter. Singaporeans are less fortunate when it comes to political and personal freedoms, among them free speech and free access to information.
Lee famously was a foe of the Western press. “We allow American journalists in Singapore in order to report Singapore to their fellow countrymen,” he told the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1988. “But we cannot allow them to assume a role in Singapore that the American media play in America, that is, that of invigilator, adversary and inquisitor of the administration.”
In the late 1980s and 1990s, almost every international publication that circulated in Singapore tangled with the government over its news coverage of the city-state, and faced lawsuits or the threat of lawsuits. A partial list includes the Economist magazine, the International Herald Tribune, Newsweek, Reuters and Time. I am unaware of any news organization that prevailed in a Singapore court.
Dow Jones, publisher of this newspaper and the now-defunct Far Eastern Economic Review, took the biggest hits. In 1985 Singapore sued The Asian Wall Street Journal over an editorial that criticized the government’s harassment of one of the two opposition members in the Parliament. Dow Jones later faced additional lawsuits, restrictions on circulation, and rejections of visas and work permits for its reporters.
In 1986 Singapore’s Parliament passed a law restricting the sale or distribution of any foreign publication found to be “engaging in the domestic politics” of the country, the interpretation of which was left to the Minister of Communications and Information. Once the minister published his finding in the official government Gazette, he could order that the circulation and distribution of the offending publication be curtailed. This process was known as “gazetting.”
What was Lee afraid of? The answer, in a word, was readers. He had little confidence in the ability of Singaporeans to listen to different points of view, evaluate them and form correct opinions, which is to say, his opinions.
“Many people are uncritically imitative,” Lee said in an address in 1971 to the International Press Institute in Helsinki. “A report of an airplane hijacking leads to a rash of hijackings in other unexpected places. A report of a foreign diplomat kidnapped for ransom by dissident groups is quickly followed by similar kidnapping in other countries.” He pointed to examples in Singapore, where in his view press reports sparked riots, which led to deaths.
Lee concluded his Helsinki speech with the following line, which he quoted approvingly in his autobiography: “Freedom of the press, freedom of the news media, must be subordinated to the overriding needs of the integrity of Singapore, and to the primacy of purpose of an elected government.”
One of my favorite stories from the Lee Kuan Yew press wars dates to the late 1980s, when Singapore had gazetted The Asian Wall Street Journal, cutting its circulation to 400 copies a day from about 5,000. The cuts were in retaliation for the Journal’s refusal to print verbatim two long letters from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The government ordered that many of the approved copies go to government or quasi-government libraries.
One day the phone rang at the Journal’s bureau in Singapore. The prime minister’s office wanted to know where Mr. Lee’s subscription was. Yes, we know that your circulation has been restricted, the caller said, but surely this doesn’t apply to the prime minister.
The Journal representative replied that Mr. Lee would receive no special treatment. In other words, if the prime minister valued the Journal’s reporting and commentary, he had the same option that was available to all Singaporeans who were deprived of their newspaper: Go to the library.
Ms. Kirkpatrick, a former deputy editor of the Journal’s editorial page, twice faced criminal contempt charges in Singapore for editorials that appeared in this newspaper. She and other Journal editors were fined.
The real pirates is the government that increased petrol taxes when oil prices around the world has collapsed! Even before the latest increase, each petrol of litre was already taxed at 80 cents of $2 for RONC 95. Now that prices per litre have increased by around 20 cents, that means that for each litre of petrol that you pump, you are paying half the amount to the government. The road tax rebate for one year is pittance compared to what they will reap over the years.
Now the government as usual is trying to distract the daft locals that the evil-doers are the oil companies. No doubt, the oil companies are no saints themselves, but the real profiteers and opportunists are this government. If they truly believe in public transport, than all the Ministers should give up their official cars and travel by public transport for their appointments and meetings!
In the recent dialogue session involving Seng Kang West resident Sharon Toh, it was revealed by Lifecorp that they were not registered with any religious association or charity. They were a For-Profit organization which is public listed in Australia that was going to develop, build and operate a Buddhist Temple with Columbarium.
After this astonishing news went viral on the Internet, our BOT's reporters went to town to ask if any other commercial entities were planning to develop, build an operate other religious establishments.
First to respond to our enquiries were DeBloodSucking Bank, their spokesperson, Ms Lui Pa Pa commented, "We are equally shocked and surprised that For-Profit organizations could set up religious establishments to make money. We are disappointed that despite being closely linked to the MIW, we were not informed of such a lucrative and profitable business. With our wealth of knowledge in sucking blood, I mean money from Singaporeans, we will definitely be successful in such endeavors. We are immediately convening a taskforce to study and identify areas of opportunities to move into the religious arena."
Mr Tau Lor Ri, owner of a large transport company was also excited about the prospects, "I think we have the right infrastructure and vehicles to support such services. It really brings new meaning to the phrase Up-The-Lorry."
Less enthusiastic were the incumbent religious organizations, Mr Not-to-Be-Name lamented, "After the NKF Durai, Ren Ci Ming Yi, and CHC cases, the religious and charity industry has already a bad name and Singaporeans are skeptical and hesitant on donating or participating. Now we even have competition from For-Profit organizations. The real people in need will be the ones who will suffer."
The latest news is that Anti-Govt websites are also gathering to talk about a potential plan to set up a Columbarium near Parliament House, spokesperson Mr Jin Wu Ta, "With the continued tripping up by MIW MPs, I think we have space for 81 places in our Columbarium for their political careers."
