TOC’s Ghui no ak East Coast GRC voters isit?/ Everything also must complain

As usual TOC’s star writer Grace Hui is talking cock. In a piece “Who made the decision that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong should not retire yet?“, she ranted

“People talk about needing checks and balances within Government so that the People’s Action Party cannot “ownself check ownself”. But within the PAP itself, are there checks and balances? Clearly, not all are equal within the party – so whose decision ranks supreme?

‘Has PM Lee Hsien Loong unilaterally decided that he should stay? Did he seek counsel from anyone else within the party? If so, who?

In addition, does this mean that the 4G leadership are far from ready to take power? While former Senior Minister S Jayakumar has tried to say that this is not the case, it remains a fact that PM Lee feels (for whatever reason) that the timing is not right to relinquish power.”

It is also noteworthy that 4G leaders like Lawrence Wong and Josephine Teo had both (on separate occasions) appeared teary-eyed in public, giving the impression that the pressure has gotten to them.

The decision for PM Lee to stay might well be right. Be that as it may, the public still needs to be told of why and how the decision is reached. Last I checked, Singapore is not supposed to be a dictatorship.”

https://www.onlinecitizenasia.com/2020/11/16/who-made-the-decision-that-prime-minister-lee-hsien-loong-should-not-retire-yet/?fbclid=IwAR0i6hCf2cjOEYlBE4trfMoPPOTwSFPkGWKyGwErpkfs7V5l1j13qH1d8Zo

She obviously has forgotten that the voters in East Coast GRC were very lukewarm toward Heng, giving him only a 53.4% electoral margin in East Coast. 

This promoted Reny Choo, one of the founders of TOC, to write after the GE:

It is difficult to see how Heng Swee Keat can take over as PM. Not with a 53.4% electoral margin in East Coast. There is no way to spin this. Singaporeans cannot confidently see our lives and the future of our country in Heng’s hands. 

https://www.onlinecitizenasia.com/2020/07/11/ge-2020-what-the-electorate-said/

So to reply to the talk cock queen who asked “Who made the decision that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong should not retire yet?”, the answer is the voters of East Coast GRC: go ask one of the founders of TOC wrote.

And the PAP it seems listened. That also cannot isit? Die, die talk cock queen must insist that “the public still needs to be told of why and how the decision is reached”.

Maybe she also sees Remy Choo no ak?

Btw, tots on GE

that 4G leaders failed their legitimacy test: Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote. (Btw, written in 2018: Why even with 4G donkeys, PAP will retain power.)

Better still for S’poreans, based on what PM, Lawrence Wong and Shanmugan said the PAP is very aware that their legitimacy is waning.

Legitimacy problem for the PAP as 9% of voters get smarter

And How the PAP plans to fix its legitimacy problem:

But the bad, sad news is how they are trying to fix the legitimacy problem. Instead of listening to Tharman

And we must be a more tolerant democracy, with greater space for divergent views, and a more active civil society, without the public discourse becoming divisive or unsettling the majority.It will be good for Singapore if we evolve in these three ways. They will each help ensure stability in our democracy in the years to come. And they will tap on the energies and ideas of a younger generation of Singaporeans and their desire to be involved in public affairs.

Part of FB post

, the PAP are trying to shift the goal posts, lowering the high water mark of success: now only aiming for 65% of the popular vote as their high water mark of popularity and success, not -70%+ mark of the past.

Advertisement

Liewgate: TOC, witch hunters also wanted justice LOL

And even had due process. They were not running around like headless chickens or TOC readers in an anti-PAP frenzy.

Couldn’t stop laughing at

“The Minister for Law has also seemingly tried to downplay matters by urging the public not to go on a witch hunt. In this, the Minister may have misunderstood public sentiment.

The people want answers and accountability. They are not on a witch hunt. They want justice. To talk of a witch hunt may misguidedly fan the flames of public outrage. What the public want is reassurance that the Government will leave no stone unturned in punishing those guilty of this heinous initial miscarriage of justice – they do not need to be told what not to do.

https://www.onlinecitizenasia.com/2020/09/14/liew-mun-leong-and-ceca-saga-highlights-growing-disconnect-between-public-sentiment-and-the-establishment/?fbclid=IwAR27GNwtWegSA_Ml9Zys0adOcI1uEx5yn8hZYK7_SwZcUeBj0nM9ckT1l1I

The witch hunters also wanted justice, TOC. They tot that witches were hurting them and their families, hence the hunt for witches to burn.

The witch hunters also had due process, unlike cyber lynchings on social media conducted by Team TOC and its zombie fans, or other alt media and their fans.

One way of establishing whether a person was a witch was to throw the alleged witch into the river or deep bond. If the bounded person floated, they’d know the person was a witch, and would burn her.

Another test was to to put his hand into a fire. If the hand was undamaged, they’d burn him as a witch.

HOHOHO: Temasek invested in WeWorks’ flea ridden dog

In July 2018, the FT reported that SoftBank, its Saudi-backed Vision Fund, private equity firms Trustbridge Partners and Hony Capital, and our very own Temasek invested in a WeWork subsidiary in China. It was valued at US$5bn.

A year before, after Softbank and Hony put $ into it, it was worth US$1bn.

Great investment that naturally TOC’s M’sian Indian goons never reported. To be fair neither did other alt media publications. I think our constructive, nation-building trumpeted this investment.

Now?

China has emerged as one of WeWork’s worst performing markets as a local operation once seen as critical to the office provider’s global growth suffers from ultra-low occupancy rates and is “bleeding cash”, said people with direct knowledge of the business.

FT

What “ultra-low occupancy rates” mean. FT reported: WeWork locations in October in

Shanghai had a vacancy rate of 35.7% in October,

Shenzhen 65.3% (in Hong Kong only 22.1%  vacant) and

Xi’an, had a vacancy rate of 78.5%.

As reported in ST’s BS about WeWorks Cont’d, WeWorks is exiting China.

Wonder if our constructive, nation-building media will report this fiasco? It trumpeted its success last year.

Terry and his “bunch of Indians”

Minister Shan recently outed a M’sian Indian based outside KL proper, as the star writer of Terry’s Online Channel. Until then, based on her name, I tot she was an India-based Indian.  TOC: A lot of bull. Btw, seems another writer with Indian-sounding name is also M’sian.

Hello? Hello? Other than Terry, any S’poreans writing for TOC?

Whatever

The “T” in FT can stand for “Talent” not “Trash” who beat up S’poreans if TOC is to be believed. Don’t listen to the foreigners who write for TOC: TOC: A lot of bull.

At least FTs work here and pay GST and other taxes. Terry’s team work overseas. And TOC and its cybernut readers criticise the PAP govt for allowing in FTs?

TOC is hypocritical

Waz really funny is that Terry once upon a time upset Philemon Ravi by calling TISG “a bunch of Indians”. P Ravi was then the editor of TISG, a publication better known as “The Idiots, S’pore”. P Ravi must be chuckling that Terry’s star writers are Indians.

Whatever, P Ravi now knows that Terry is no racist, and we, that he like PAP: want cheap labour.

Seriously, waz really black comedy at its blackest and funniest is him using foreigners when he KPKBs about govt’s FT policy and how it hurts S’poreans. At least FTs pay taxes and rent, and spends money here benefiting the economy. His foreign writers spend Terry’s money overseas.

A pro-PAP site put it this way

“Let us be clear: there’s nothing wrong with hiring Malaysian or foreign writers to write critically about Singapore. If they wanna write about how S’poreans are arrogant, we’ll wholeheartedly support that…What’s not right is when you dish out xenophobic articles criticising foreigners working in S’pore but in the same breath hire foreigners.”

SMRT Feedback

(Btw, Idiots S’pore also use foreigner I’m told. TRE doesn’t. TeamTRE is headed by a S’porean based in China. They slog for a bunch of ingrate readers not willing to fund them, and who always KPKBing for bad service, but always coming back because free lor.)

I’ll be fair and let Terry or rather a TOC writer (S’porean?) have the penultimate word:

Responding to Mr Shanmugam’s fiery statement, Terry asserts that all articles published on TOC are directed and subsequently approved by him as the Chief Editor.

“Nothing goes unvetted by me, a Singaporean who has served his national service and held responsible by the Ministry of Communication and Information as the registered person in charge,” said Terry.

“If one is to observe the series of Facebook posts and now, the Law Minister comments, one can easily come to a conclusion that there is a collaborated campaign to discredit TOC.”

He then went on to address the debate on hiring foreign persons, saying, “To the best of my recollection, there is no law against hiring person of foreign nationality and TOC has not used nor received any foreign funding. So what is the Law Minister barking about?”

TOC’s Kathleen F (Another M’sian-based M’sian Indian writer?)

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2019/09/25/nothing-goes-unvetted-by-me-tocs-editor-terry-xu-responds-to-minister-k-shanmugans-comments-on-foreign-interference/

Sorry TOC, SMRT Feedback is right, “What’s not right is when you dish out xenophobic articles criticising foreigners working in S’pore but in the same breath hire foreigners.”

Look at the group photo here (See who attended TOC’s do) and wonder who else are hypocrites.

See who attended TOC’s do

But first I was wrong. I told Terry that if the do was cancelled, no need to refund me. I said I was sure that a dead rat would be found on a surprise inspection of the place juz before the frunction.

 

I’m glad I didn’t attend: Lim Tean, Tan Kin Lian, Mad Dog and Tan Jee Say were there. Though it would have been nice to say hello to Uncle Leong, Chopra, Remy Choo,  Dr Paul and Tan Cheng Bock, Terry and that pretty gal in white and black on the left of group photo.

I’m no fan of the fake news reporting of TOC, but Terry has his heart in the right place: Why continued one-party rule is not good for us.

FT builds tools for bricks-and-mortar retail/ TOC is hypocritical

Trax, a US$1.1bn S’pore-based start-up, is bringing together data from in-store cameras and a new mobile app, which guides shoppers to purchases, to try to bolster high street stores. FT Joel Bar-El is CEO and co-founder.

It installs cameras on shop shelves to monitor how goods are placed, while its customer-facing apps let shoppers do market research and help retailers understand how they react to price and promotions.

Trax has just bot  Shopkick Californian shopping rewards app for an undisclosed fund.

The “T” in FT can stand for “Talent” not “Trash” who beat up S’poreans if TOC is to be believed. Don’t listen to the foreigners who write for TOC: TOC: A lot of bull.

At least FTs work here and pay GST and other taxes. Terry’s team work overseas. And TOC and its cybernut readers criticise the PAP govt for allowing in FTs?

PAP cares for S’poreans, really they do: Look at Save the Children’s Global Childhood Report

(Part of an occasional series)

About two months ago, TOC, other cybernut publications, social media cybernuts and even a ex-wannabe IB member* living in Finland on welfare were up in arms over the constructive, nation-building MSM’s reports on S’pores top ranking in the Save the Children’s Global Childhood Report.

I was wondering why they were upset until I read in the FT recently

Reasons to be cheerful Singapore is the top country for taking care of its children, according to Save the Children’s Global Childhood Report. More children all over the world are surviving past their fifth birthday than at any time in the last twenty years; more than ever before eat well enough to avoid stunting; more are in education; and more are safe from violence.

The PAP govt in the alternative but parallel universe these anti-PAP types live in cannot do anything gd for S’poreans. So when reality intrudes, they get upset and fake the news. Why? Read Terry Xu and cybernuts are really PAPpies

---

*He and ex-ST wannabe Seth Lord turned wannabe Jedi, its alleged wanted more than going rate to be part of IB but were allegedly told off to bugger off because mothership was better than them and wasn’t demanding as much money as them. He had to migrate to Finland, his wife’s country, because that’s the only way his kids can have a good but free education. In S’pore, they could only make it to “Every school a good school” neighbourhood school. And, the parents couldn’t afford to send them to the int’l schools here.

Interesting post: How to make a school good?

What TOC doesn’t tell about “victim” it’s championing

Further to Fake news the TOC way/ History is very complicated, TOC, cybernuts juz plain jealous isit? and Why TOC’s Danisha Hakeem is a menace to the credibility of alt media, here’s more on how TOC does fake news.

A Singaporean man, who is a retired teacher and a well-known musician, is suing Malaysia’s Immigration Department for RM2.67 million over his 37-day detention in an over-crowded and badly-maintained cell.

Puis Gilbert Louis, who will turn 68 next month, said that his nightmare started when the immigration officers raided his house in Johor Bahru on 9 October 2018 and arrested him.

Based on his statement of claim filed by his lawyer Arun Kasi, the man who owns a valid visa to be in Malaysia until 2 November 2018, was in the house with four other individuals, and one of them was his female friend from the Philippines who also holds a valid visa.

However, the additional three people in the house were friends of his Filipino friend and he is unaware of their origin or their immigration status.

…

TOC

What TOC doesn’t tell us is that Gilbert Louis has a history of violence against others that  he claims were caused by an ISD-inplant. In particular, he was jailed for six yrs for assaulting his then-wife’s lawyer. She wanted a divorce but he claimed that the lawyer instigated the divorce: so he beat up the lawyer (a lady, I think).

He also has a history of mental illness, although he denies that there’s anything wrong with him. He says the ISD fixes him via the implant: This fan should join Ravi in Woodbridge.

 

 

Fake news the TOC way/ History is very complicated

Last week, TOC and its fellow anti-PAP cybernuts discredited themselves thrice over with the voters the Oppo needs to win over in any general election (the PAP voters who voted for Tan Cheng Bock in PE 2011 who but for TKL, Goh Meng Seng and Tan Jee Say would have been president: really fixing the PAP).

TOC, using Vietnamese and Cambodian state media reports (Vietnam did not invade Cambodia as claimed by PM, these reports screamed) as their source material, pictured PM as getting his history wrong. The cybernuts went into overdrive dissing PM’s lack of knowledge of the “liberation” of Cambodia by Vietnam.

When the complicated truth emerged on cyberspace, showing that TOC and friends were propagating fake news, TOC and the cybernuts changed tack. They then said PM should not have upset the people of Vietnam and Cambodia with his comments. Example:

Sivakumaran Chellappa … there was absolutely no need to mention what he should know clearly to be a diplomatic minefield. He could of course have had continued to maintain his stand on that matter without ever mentioning it.

When this didn’t wash with the target audience, they changed the conversation accusing those who disagreed with their view of history of calling them “traitors” (There were some PAP nutters, the PAP version of TOC and cybernuts, using the  “t” word, but not enough to tar people like me who disagree with TOC’s and the cybernuts’ view that Vietnam liberated Cambodia): when they were juz patriotic S’poreans who believed in the truth.

Truth, what truth? Their truth was to swallow uncritically what the Vietnamese and Cambodian state media said. Why are they so uncritical of the state media of really repressive regimes? Because these media attack the PM and his PAP govt? (Related post “Licking the ass of the enemy of my enemy”)

Calvin Cheng got it about right when he posted on FB

I wonder why so many anti-Government people are willing to take the side of foreigners, during this storm in a teacup regarding PM Lee’s remarks on Vietnam and Cambodia.

The issue is actually very simple.

Did Vietnam invade Cambodia?

Yes.

Whether you invade to liberate (Current Vietnam and Cambodian point of view) or invade to set up a puppet Government (the prevailing view then), it’s still an invasion right ?

Why is Vietnam angry?

Because they don’t want to be called invaders.

Why is Cambodia angry ?

Because PM Hun Sen was one of the 7 central committee members in the pro-Vietnam Government that Vietnam set up. If he admits it’s an invasion, then he is a collaborator with invaders. So he can never say it was an invasion, but rather he was a Cambodian patriot who came to power with Vietnamese help.

Did the Vietnamese invasion stop a murderous regime, that of Pol Pot?

Yes.

But if the international community back then allowed Vietnam to invade Cambodia to overthrow the Khmer Rouge on the basis of ‘liberation’, what was to stop communist Vietnam from invading Thailand to liberate them from the bourgeoisie capitalists ? And then Malaysia? And then Singapore?

That’s why ASEAN had to oppose it on principle. Even if the consequences in Cambodia were benign.

Who says choices in international relations are easy ?

Finally, why did PM Lee mention it when writing a condolence note for Thai Gen Prem?

Because that was one of Gen Prem’s biggest achievements – staring down the Vietnamese across the border and opposing them, knowing that his country could be next.

So that’s a simple summary of the issues.

No need to write long op-eds and posts to over-complicate.

Just silly opportunists looking to obfuscate, confuse, and to make people angry with PM Lee.

---

When I said Calvin Cheng was a dickhead

Riposte to Calvin Cheng’s defence of UA

Calvin, Amos & other cyber-vermin: the global perspective

Why MLC has to talk about Calvin

When I agreed with him

When being a minister turns from a calling into a job for life

Kee Chiu Cybernuts who want to migrate to Bangladesh

HIV data leak: Calvin Cheng is right again

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All in all, TOC is proving to be a better friend of the PAP then even TKL, TJS and Meng Seng. TOC is a really useful idiot. or maybe Terry and his TOC team are as mad as M Ravi, when he’s not taking his medicine? More evidence that being anti-PAP is bad for yr mental health

Terry Xu and cybernuts are really PAPpies

(Alternative title: “Why TOC and other anti-PAP sites never reported HK MRT trains’ collisions?”)

After I wrote TOC: A lot of bull

(where I reported that Terry had revealed that he employed foreigners to write for TOC because they were cheaper than true blue S’poreans, a lot cheaper)yesterday, I remembered another example where TOC and Terry behaved like PAPpies, not talking about news that diverts from the “right” view. TOC (and to be fair, otheranti-PAP alt media sites) didn’t tell S’poreans that a few months ago there was a very serious incident on HK’s MRT: shumething that never ever happened here.

Two subway trains have collided during a new signal system test in Hong Kong, halting services and threatening travel disruption for millions of commuters.

The incident occurred between the Central and Admiralty stations before the service was open to the public early on Monday morning.

…

Rail officials warned that repairs were likely to take “quite a long time”.

Network operator Mass Transit Railway (MTR) said sections of the Tsuen Wan Line had been suspended and urged commuters to avoid the route affected and to use other forms of transport if possible.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-47607676

Looks like Terry’s and other anti-PAP types brains are like that of the PAP: when the public doesn’t know a fact, that fact never exists. Their readers will have no doubts that the our MRT system sucks when compared to that of HK’s.

Actually even with this HK cock-up, the HK system is a lot better. So why didn’t the anti-PAP publications not report the accident?

In 2011, I analysed a senior PAPpy’s and his team’s unhappiness with a TOC report.

[T]hey must believe in an 18th century philosophical theory that is now treated as a forerunner of the concept of “subjective idealism”. One Bishop Berkeley argued that there are no material objects, only minds and ideas in those minds. He summarised his theory with the motto “esse est percipi” (“To be is to be perceived”). In modern PR-speak, this translates into,“Perception is reality”, one of the major tenets of the PR and public communication industry.

This theory of “Perception is reality” is best summarised in the following example he gave. If a tree in a forest falls, but no-one sees or hears it fall, has it fallen? Berkeley argues that it has not fallen. It is still standing.

An example in the S’pore context would be that S’poreans were not aware of how close the voting would be on polling day in 1988 in Eunos GRC and in Cheng San GRC in 1991. The mainstream media did not report the sentiment on the ground in these two GRCs, so S’poreans were not aware that many S’poreans were unhappy with the PAP. The unhappiness did not exist because it was not reported.

https://atans1.wordpress.com/2011/08/01/%E2%80%9Clittle-disappointment%E2%80%9D-tony-tan-to-toc/

In Silence of SMRT, LTA & MoT explained,I wrote the following about Traingate

SMRT, the LTA and MoT kept quiet because they like Bishop Berkeley believe that “Perception is reality”. So long as the public did not know that there were cracks in the 26 China-made trains, and that the trains had been returned for repairs, there were no train cracks. There were no cracked trains because If a tree in a forest falls, but no-one sees or hears it fall, has it fallen? Berkeley argues that it has not fallen. It is still standing.

What they still don’t realise that in this age of social media and the internet where many people walk around with smartphone cameras, If a tree in a forest falls, someone will see it or hear it fall. And tell others about the falling tree, after taking a selfie beside the fallen tree.

This being the case, disclosure of problems or cock-ups, not cover-ups or silence should be the best (and default) policy for the authorities and corporations They should assume that news of the cock-up or problem will become public knowledge and that by disclosing, the news agenda can, hopefully, be controlled..

But in one-party states, silence or cover-up are the default options, not disclosure. And this is the weakness of one-party states where people carry smartphone cameras. The one-party state will, in time, be undermined.

Ban smartphone cameras PAP? After all internet access for public servants will soon be restricted in this wired, connected nation.

Today the PAP and the constructive, nation-building media believe that if it isn’t reported, a fact doesn’t exist.

Sad that ), and other anti-PAP paper warriors believe the same.

The PAP has won.

 

 

 

TOC: A lot of bull

Our aim is to examine the issues that matter, or should matter, to Singaporeans and to reflect the diversity of life, of ideas and opinions, that is Singapore.

TOC

And in order to do this, Terry’s Online Channel uses foreign writers, not locals.

In a long and rambling thread of FB (that unfortunately is too long winded to reprint without extensive edits) , Terrx Xu admitted that he employed foreigners to write for him. The main reason was that they were a lot cheaper than S’poreans.

So for the TOC, it’s all about money. And it’s always berating the PAP govt for putting money ahead of the welfare of S’poreans? What hypocrisy.

Our aim is to examine the issues that matter, or should matter, to Singaporeans and to reflect the diversity of life, of ideas and opinions, that is Singapore.

TOC

And TOC uses foreigners to write about issues that concern S’poreans. Sad.

S’poreans overwhelming trust PAP govt over fake news bill

That’s my take after

Nas: 2000, Terry: 200+

The KPKBing about the so-called draconian effects of the pending law on fake news in cyberspace and social media is really, juz “noise”, if only 200 plus S’poreans turned up at TOC’s rally against the bill last Sunday.

NAS’s crowd the previous Saturday at his”S’pore’s a great place” would amount to 24,000 in a city in the UK or 120,000 in the US, while TOC’s crowd last Sunday amounted to 2,400 or 12,000 in the US. (How calculations made: Pink Dot: Why was govt spooked?/ Pastor Khong try matching the numbers)

The masses have spoken by their absence, voting with their absent feet: so progressives and their cybernut allies should sit down and shut up. .

So cut out the BS, anti-PAP progressives and their anti-PAP cybernut allies, especially those ranting on TRE, social media and TOC.

As I wrote last Sunday before Terry’s do:

Whatever, if the progressives and their cybernut allies cannot muster a decent crowd of about 1,000 people, time to sit down and shut up, and stop talking down to the 70% of the voters who vote for the PAP at GEs. They should be trying to persuade those who voted for Tan Cheng Bock at last PE (35% of voters) that they are right, rather than juz diss the PAP.

The law of politics:

You either have the numbers or you shut up.

(Tito Mboweni, ANC freedom fighter who became cental bank governor, finance minister and corporate fat cat)

Nas v Terry Xu

No wonder TOC jealous of Nas: TOC, cybernuts juz plain jealous isit?. But to be fair to TOC: TOC recovering from its anti-Nas fever.

Btw, Nas not only FT who thinks S’pore is a great place.

 

TOC recovering from its anti-Nas fever/ Why TOC keeps on making “honest mistakes”?

Further to TOC, cybernuts juz plain jealous isit?, I was about to KPKB that TOC was becoming xenophobic citing as evidence its nasty comments on Nas, especially harping that he’s a foreigner. Doesn’t sound like the Terry I know.

But I changed my mind when TOC responded to this on FB

Another foreigner telling us how good our Gahmen is. Just what we need…..
VTO

by saying

I need to defend Nas on this. He actually answered it very well in his reply to a question posed by a member of public. The guy from Pakistan who is based in Singapore, asked if Nas will be talking about the good and bad in Singapore, since he is settling down here for the time being.

Nas said that he recognises that he is still a foreigner in Singapore and it is not his position to tell what is good and what is bad but he tries to bring out the best of whatever he gets in touch with. Will put up the video of that if I can.

The problem is that audience of his videos, think that he can cover all aspect of a matter within one min and if he says it is good, means nothing is wrong.

(Sounds like Terry of Terry’s Online Channel, not one of his goons.)

 commented

Good to see that TOC is recovering from it’s anti-Nas bout (that almost became xenophobic fever). I suppose Kirsten Han’s article helped the recovery.

Readers will know that I’m no fan of Kirsten Han but she got this right:

Nas Daily might not be playing politics—I seriously doubt he knows that much about Singaporean politics, anyway

She went on

—but the PAP is

Obviously, she doesn’t believe

Nas Daily fan meet a ‘non-cause based’ event, Public Order Act permit not required: Police
Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/nas-daily-fan-meet-a-non-cause-based-event-public-order-act-11462242

But then she wouldn’t believe anything the S’pore govt or any govt agency says, would she? To be fair, if an ang moh publication like NYT or the Guardian says that the PAP govt is right, she’d agree thru gritted teeth: she is one of those ang moh tua kee types. Read this if you want to know more about what else she said: https://www.kirstenhan.com/blog/2019/4/19/tfw-its-not-actually-about-nas-daily?fbclid=IwAR2PCtBGdK9kunMTEbC_5jM-Z42q1tJ4YpS02kH_vr4KnNo0qKuvsMmWLTo

Sad that cybernuts active on social media can’t distinguish between Nas and the PAP govt, and attack him personally when they should be focusing their attacks on the PAP govt for using him (as they perceive it) for its own agenda (as they perceive it). But with enemies like the cybernuts, the PAP doesn’t need friends. For that many S’poreans are grateful.

Whatever, Terry should investigate why his team keeps making “honest mistakes”, this year:

Wah lan! TOC praises PAP govt

Terry and his Correspondent taking wrong pills again

Maybe some ISD or PAP operative working in TOC is giving Terry and others the wrong pills or slipping drugs into their drinks. But most likely, Terry and his team need to consult Dr Ang Yong Guan. They could be going nuts.

More evidence that being anti-PAP is bad for yr mental health

Spending too much time in TRELand is bad for one’s mental health

He’s expensive. But I’m sure, he’ll give a hefty discount to comrades still fighting the good fight. For the record, he’s not retired from the good fight: juz resting between general elections?

 

TOC, cybernuts juz plain jealous isit?

I couldn’t help laughing when I saw this headline from Terry’s Online Channel: “Why is a controversial foreign blogger allowed to organise a massive gathering at the Botanic Gardens?”

I laughed even more when I read

Why is a foreign vlogger who has consistently stoke controversy allowed to involve himself in Singapore’s domestic issues? Doesn’t Singapore have law specifically designed to prevent that foreigners from influencing local social and political issues?

This is pure BS from TOC: nowhere in the TOC rant does it give details of

— how he involves himself in Singapore’s domestic issues; or

— how he’s influencing local social and political issues?

TOC is juz publishing fake news.

NAS’s juz a guy organising a do for his fans, and hoping to use them as props for his next mega dollar video, as far as I’m concerned.

And Terry Xu and TOC is not happy that S’poreans can have a bit of fun, while helping a FT make money.

TOC has explained its KPKB

No, seriously the question is whether a video is considered political when it is negative and when it is positive, it is not. Because by answering that question, you can realise what is political and what is not, particularly under Singapore’s govt’s definition.

FB comment on the article

Go read the article again and tell me if it got across that point. It didn’t. It was rant against an FT. The comment was damage control.

Btw, the sliming continues, TOC posted a copy of his Israeli passport and told us he can’t go to M’sia because of it. What has this to do with the price of eggs?

To be fair to Terry and his bunch of TOC idiots, a lot of anti-PAP types are expressing their unhappiness on FB and other social media.

What a bunch of kill-joy born losers. And juz because Nas said some nice things about living here. I mean after all there’s lot of free things here: Fake News: S’pore is Pay And Pay/ Truth: Plenty of gd, free stuff.

These grumpy, anti-PAP losers should organise an anti-Nas protest or a protest against all foreigners who say nice things about S’pore (After all if they hate Nas because he says nice things about S’pore, they must hate all foreigners who have nice things to say about S’pore) at Hong Leong Green and see how many people turn up.

Btw, I’m no fan of Nas but I know people who enjoy his stuff. Live and let live.

TOC and other anti-PAP types have scored an own goal on this issue. And they keep wondering why the PAP keeps winning?

 

 

Will TOC ever report this about ringgit?

But to be fair, neither will any of the usual suspects in the anti-PAP alt media universe. Why? Because Tun is the Greatest and Regime change is always good?

Malaysian ringgit into Asia’s worst performer this month.

FTSE Russell said Monday it may drop Malaysian debt from the FTSE World Government Bond Index because of concern about market liquidity, roiling the nation’s currency and bonds. And less than two weeks ago, Norway said its sovereign wealth fund will cut emerging-market debt including Malaysian securities from its index.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-16/malaysian-ringgit-staggers-after-blows-from-ftse-russell-norway

Neither will they report

The Singapore dollar rose to a 17-month high against the Malaysian ringgit on Wednesday (Apr 17), as demand for the Malaysia currency weakened amid concerns the country’s debt may be removed from a key global bond index.

The Singapore dollar rose to an intraday high of RM3.0632 on Wednesday, the highest since the Singdollar touched RM3.0724 on Nov 20, 2017, according to global financial portal investing.com.

Year-to-date, the Singdollar has risen 0.74 per cent against the ringgit, according to Bloomberg.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore-dollar-rises-17-month-high-against-malaysian-ringgit-11456122

 

Three cheers for TOC

TOC’s Correspondent has done a very gd piece. He and TOC should do more of this kind of factual stuff, and less of the anti-PAP BS aka fake news. There are a lot of inconvenient facts that a few clicks of the mouse can reveal. Don’t juz BS, juz do the searches.

Massive cost overrun in infrastructure projects in Singapore in recent years

Yes, I’ve been hard on TOC, Terry and “Correspondent”

Terry and his Correspondent taking wrong pills again

Cybernuts can relax: TOC resumes normal anti-PAP service

TOC now part of constructive, nation-building media?

but it’s because I know they are capable of doing better than juz mindlessly attacking the PAP, or mindless praising it (Wah lan! TOC praises PAP govt).

 

Will TOC dare report this about M’sia?

Voters, especially the young, are not happy with the new govt. They also think that economic prospects are as bad as when S’pore’s friend was in power.

Kajidata Research tracked the political leanings of 9,071 Malaysians aged 21 years old and above from before the 14th general election, and found that overall satisfaction for PH had slipped by 16.4 points in December, with the biggest fall seen in the 20-29 age bracket at 20.6 points.

It found that economic confidence had dropped of 6.5 points since GE14, and as of December 2018, the score was almost back to the level of when Barisan Nasional was in power.

“Though the decline in economic confidence was true for all age groups, the large drop within the youth bracket suggests that they may have become disillusioned with Pakatan Harapan’s management of the national economy,” Kajidata said in a report accompanying the study results.

https://www.todayonline.com/world/youth-support-pakatan-harapan-dips-economic-dissatisfaction-rises

Somehow, I doubt TOC and other anti-PAP alt media publications will dare report this because this report is evidence against their narrative “M’sia Yesterday, S’pore Tomorrow. Change is coming. and for the good.”

Vote wisely, vote tactically.

Tweedledum v Tweedledee or TOC v The Idiots Sg

 

What I find funny after reading Terry Xu’s Fb post (See below) is that I’m sure ST and other constructive, nation-building publications can say the same thing about TOC notwithstanding Terry’s holier than The Idiots attitude in his last paragraph.

Terry Xu should let sleeping dogs lie seeing that TOC cast the first stone (towards ST many yrs ago) a long time ago. Btw, I think I got grounds to KPKB yesterday to Terry about hypocrisy based on his comments about attribution. But as I know his writer and him, and respect what they are doing (most of the time) and because of the pressures that Terry faces in fighting the Dark Side , I’ll not talk further about the matter: let sleeping dogs lie etc etc.

Having said all this, The Indians Idiots are scumbags:

— TISG: “useful loudhailer” for PAP administration

— “The Idiots — S’pore” keeps on promoting divisiveness?

And this TOC writer (Why TOC’s Danisha Hakeem is a menace to the credibility of alt media) should move to The Idiots. He’s their kind of writer.

Anyway, Terry Xu posted on FB yesterday

After hearing complaints from my writers about how articles have been republished by The Independent SG with no attribution, I decided to take up my complaint with the publisher of the website.

Referring to the writer who has been doing that, I wrote, “It is fine if articles are written with reference to TOC’s site but if you refer to the months of postings, I have seen nothing of such. Can you please see that this behaviour stops?”

He replied, “Dear Terry, We have a ‘do-not-touch-TOC-content’ policy in place. Hence, I’m surprised that you are making such claims. In any case, all authors do declare their source for each piece they are working on and my editors do check for copyright infringement, attribution and accuracy. It may very well be the case of the newsmaker talking to two outlets at the same time. In which case, there is really no need to attribute to TOC.
In any case, if my writers do use your content. You can be rest assured that we’ll credit TOC for it. Chill my friend. We’re in the same space. Need to look out for each other.”

My response to that was to throw a series of articles.

http://theindependent.sg/in-what-capacity-did-ivy-ng-sign-…/

http://theindependent.sg/grassroots-leader-who-constructed…/

http://theindependent.sg/mothership-draws-flak-for-story-o…/

http://theindependent.sg/survey-shows-only-59-per-cent-of-…/

http://theindependent.sg/mainstream-media-speculates-that-…/

and noted that these articles are for just the month of March.

He then asked for the corresponding articles from TOC that were published.

Which I gave,

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/ivy-ng-signed-documents…/

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/grassroots-leader-who-c…/

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/mothership-highlights-l…/

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/survey-35-think-heng-ca…/

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/…/media-speculates-former…/

Note that all the articles from TISG is after TOC had published its, even the screenshots are using the ones that TOC had posted. I haven’t yet included the articles that are based on the video write ups posted on TOC’s Facebook page.

In response to the claims, the publisher has replied, “Dear Terry, after careful examination and consideration, we find your claims to be baseless and unfounded.”

UPDATE: The publisher even accused me of backdating the articles! Hello… I can’t backdate Google News, even if I want to.

So case closed it seems and business as usual. Nothing I can do about it, I suppose? And how can you be friends with such people?

Clarification: As I tell my staffers, there are a few type of articles.
– Opinion pieces
– Govt release
– News of events
– Public knowledge
– Exclusive investigative articles

We do not credit MSM for govt releases because it should be public knowledge in the first place and Govt don’t release them on their public site only after MSM has reported on it. News event, we sometimes don’t because we are pissed that only IMDA certified press are invited.

But if you do read our other posts, we mention clearly it is from the MSM that we are taking the quotes from and also we would correct when journalists from MSM write to us.

Welcome to S’pore: Mall BSing on data protection law

(Part of an occasional series on uniquely S’porean behaviour, attitudes, customs etc)

The TOC article reported in Welcome to S’pore: Punish public-spirited S’porean is priority, got this considered FB response from a lawyer:

The article says that the management of the mall issued a statement that said, “We have mentioned that firms actions will be taken with regards to the video leak. To further clarify, the point of issue is on the filming of the CCTV footage, which is a breach of PDPA rules and regulations as well as security protocol.“

The statement seems a little confused. If the issue is on the “filming of the CCTV footage” (the collection of personal data) then the fact that there could have been signs informing the public of the existence of CCTV cameras capturing footage and hence personal data would be sufficient notice if the signs informed of the collection and the purposes of collection and the channels of disclosure of the personal data collected. In any event as the place was a public space, the collection of personal data in a public space – in this case the filming – could have been done without consent because the data was in this case “publicly available”. However the guidelines do encourage the good practice of putting up signs that inform that CCTV cameras are in use and the purposes for such collection of personal data.

On the other point of the “leak” (disclosure of the relevant personal data) and who is responsible rather depends on whether the leak was occasioned by an employee of the mall or an external service provider. If it was an employee, then the mall would still be the organisation responsible and the enquiry would revolve around whether the mall had taken all reasonable action to prevent such disclosure. If it was by an external service provider like a security company who was engaged by the mall, then the security company would be the subject of the Commission’s enquiry.

But ultimately someone was hurt. For the statement issued by the mall to centre on a possible PDPA breach rather than on what they would do to take care of a fellow human being is, in my opinion, inappropriate.

(Samuel Seow via TOC)

Welcome to S’pore: Punish public-spirited S’porean is priority

(Part of an occasional series on uniquely S’porean behaviour, attitudes, customs etc)

It was recently reported in the media that a lady was hit by a falling glass door at the Alexandra Central Mall on Sunday (24 Feb).

As a result, she suffered multiple serious injuries, including head and liver injuries. She also had multiple fractures along her legs and pelvic bone, which means she will have to undergo surgery to help support and stabilize her spine.

She has been warded at National University Hospital. According to the victim’s sister, the victim would “cry out in agony” every time the painkiller wears off.

Meanwhile, the management of Alexandra Central Mall is reportedly on the hunt for the person who leaked the CCTV footage online. The footage captured the entire episode showing how the glass door fell on the lady.

TOC

Seems that mgt is claiming that the leak is in breach of data protection laws so he has to be caught.

Shouldn’t the mgt of Alexandra Central Mall be more interested in ensuring that no-one else gets hurt?

But TOC may offer an explanation

[F]ormer Chief of Navy and Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew joined Chip Eng Seng’s Board of Directors in 2016, after he stepped down from politics in 2015. He did not want to run for elections anymore.

(Chip Eng Seng, a listc, owns the mall)

Remember an ex-soldier told MRT commuter that people must die before SMRT train can be damaged: SMRT SVP is great believer in shareholder value?.

OK, OK, I exaggerate, the PR head of SMRT said yrs ago

If you are stuck inside a train, never smash the windows or force the doors open. Stay calm and wait for help.

My response:

But what if passengers are in great discomfort or suffocating to death in the dark because the back-up system that was supposed to activate emergency lights within the carriages and provide ventilation was not working? And passengers don’t know when help is arriving because the driver is not authorised to tell them, or he doesn’t know?

Still no smash windows to breath fresher air, Mr Goh?

The reasonable implication of what Mr Goh says is that SMRT (remember he is SVP) prefers S’poreans to suffer great discomfort or die rather than damage SMRT property.

Shareholders will be pleased that they have someone, like Mr Goh managing SMRT, who is so concerned about shareholder value that he would rather people die than damage SMRT property.

I’ll go buy some SMRT shares tomorrow. With managers like him, nothing for shareholders to worry about neh?

That was a great buy. Sad didn’t buy enough.

Terry and his Correspondent taking wrong pills again

In Cybernuts can relax: TOC resumes normal anti-PAP service, I reported that the reason why TOC had been writing pro PAP pieces like TOC now part of constructive, nation-building media? and Wah lan! TOC praises PAP govt, was because Terry and the Correspondent had been taking pro-PAP pills (“PAP govt is always right”) daily instead of the usual “PAP govt is always wrong” pills. Either they were fixed or they made an honest mistake.

Whatever, they are at it again

Filipino: Singapore makes my jaw drop every time I visit the place

[Ethan James Coronel] said he then began to appreciate the “wonders” of Singapore and would compare it with the Philippines, his country.

“I became a huge admirer of Singapore to the point that I bought Lee Kuan Yew’s From Third World To First just to learn about how Singapore became what it is now,” he said.

He said that the Singapore’s SMRT, for example, is something he admired and “enjoyed deeply”.

“Such a convenience most Singaporeans take for granted is a luxury to Filipinos like me because we don’t have an extensive subway system. You either need a car or have a hefty transportation budget for Grab to travel safely and comfortably in Manila; in Singapore owning a car is merely optional,” he explained.

“I often complained how abysmally maintained our infrastructure is.”

Another is the cleanliness which he said is “another thing worthy of praise”.

“Streets are almost always spotless and its waterways too. In Manila, garbage piles are found everywhere. Our rivers, tributaries and creeks emit a putrid smell and are sometimes completely covered with garbage,” he complained.

“And lastly, who wouldn’t marvel at the sight of Marina Bay Sands and Gardens By The Bay? They still make me do every time,” he added.

“There are more things worthy of mention but, man, nothing makes my jaw drop more than the ones I mentioned above every time I visit the place. Those and how delicious Old Chang Kee’s curry puffs are.”

Vote wisely.

Articles to help you vote wisely:

Merdeka Package shows how smart scholars are

Great IB riposte to Mad Dog and P Ravi etc

6,400 senior citizens each get $312.50 hongpao from a TLC

Will Oliver Lum and other Hyflux investors still vote for the PAP?

Did u know S’pore graduated to “Flawed democracy”?

Why Milliennals will vote for the PAP

Double confirm, ground not sweet for PAP

Keeping power in a one-party state

What our media can learn from the BBC

Both our constructive, nation building media and anti-PAP publications like Terry’s Online Channel.

This BBC story titled

Singapore HIV data leak shakes a vulnerable community

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47288219

sets out the convoluted facts in a simple to read and follow narrative, while also highlighting the tragedy and fears of HIV sufferers. The use of this incident by both the PAP, and the anti-PAP activists, and their allied cybernuts for political ends, confuses the facts and issues, and detracts from the human suffering caused.

 

Cybernuts can relax: TOC resumes normal anti-PAP service

Further to TOC now part of constructive, nation-building media? and Wah lan! TOC praises PAP govt, I’m happy to report that Terry’s Online Channel has resumed normal service. It has published a spate of anti-Budget articles.

But it was not an “honest mistake” that it sounded like the constructive, nation-building ST for awhile. Morocco Mole (Secret Squirrel’s side-kick) tells me that his, usually unreliable brother-in-law working in the ISD tells him that someone substituted “PAP is always right” pills for Terry Xu’s and Correspondent’s daily “PAP is always wrong” pills.

TOC now part of constructive, nation-building media?

Wah lan! Who who would have tot this possible? TOC is now amplifying ST’s constructive, nation-building messages that “The PAP govt really cares S’poreans, really they do” and “Vote PAP”.

I kid u not. Further to Wah lan! TOC praises PAP govt there’s now this paean to the PAP on TOC’s FB page (Skip it if it churns yr stomach, I nearly vomited):

… Singaporeans from older folk and young people give thumbs-up to budget

“Retiree Karin Tan, 64, told ST that she is “very happy” with the package. “I am currently already retired, and do not draw any income. This will help subsidise my medical costs,” she said.

Another Merdeka Generation member, Ameerali Abdeali, praised the government, “I appreciate the recognition and validation that members of my generation are being given for our contributions to the country.”

ST said that the young people it spoke to, welcomed the announcement that the Government will invest in long-term plans to protect Singapore from the effects of global warming. Heng had announced a carbon tax on this year’s emissions and would later launch the Zero Waste Masterplan.

Undergraduate Arjun Dhar told ST, “We are a city with the highest greenery density in the world, in which otters live in the middle of our central business district.”

“As we reflect on the Bicentennial, Singapore should also look to inculcate in all individuals a sense of care for the planet that nurtures us. This means replacing the idea that we are too small to make a difference with the idea that we each have a responsibility to try,” he said.

Ms Pamela Low, 24, a member of the Singapore Youth for Climate Action also told ST in the interview, “The Government eagerly investing in infrastructure to mitigate rising tides and sharing about it at the Budget shows the urgency of addressing the impact of climate change on the national agenda as it would become costlier in the future.”

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2019/02/19/st-singaporeans-from-older-folk-and-young-people-give-thumbs-up-to-budget/?fbclid=IwAR3JNp03HbQnnc9rqEU82-bfv1FXjOakB-uk_K4Dh06GXSNnWuBV3Lx4Efw

No it’s not as though Terry and the writer of this piece “Correspondent” have gone over to the Dark Side. Juz an “honest mistake” methinks because the piece ends on the an anti-PAP note, but who reads to the end? Only cybernuts, not most S’poreans.

And why did TOC highlight on FB the pro-PAP propaganda of ST? Some subversive working in TOC? Or juz a clueless intern? And Terry forgot to take his “PAP are wrong wrong” medicine before supervising his team?

Time to take writing and presentation lessons from me? I’ll give Terry and Correspondent a discount.

But I could be wrong. If Terry gets a light “sentence” over his persecution prosecution for criminal defamation and if Correspondent has move into a district 10 bungalow from his HDB flat, the two Jedi have been seduced to the Dark side by the Men In White.

Or maybe More evidence that being anti-PAP is bad for yr mental health?

Wah lan! TOC praises PAP govt

I kid u not.

Singapore has one of the top education systems in the world. Singapore’s education system supports the development of children’s strengths and social skills. Schools in Singapore produce students with strong academic results who later go on to pursue successful careers.

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2019/02/14/school-fees-in-singapore-most-expensive-affordable-schools-in-singapore/?fbclid=IwAR3tHIEHXEwgJS6JrXknD3U1rEOlQjHfjqj_xHJ_MYxB_1BnHlKDOl-40m4

What next? Terry’s Online Channel will tell S’poreans to vote for the PAP?

Or is this juz an “honest mistake” by TOC? The usual anti-PAP propaganda will resume soon once Terry takes his medicine?

 

PAP govt does S’pore proud

Alt media and the anti-PAP types on social media have nothing good to say about the PAP govt that 70% of voters voted for in the last GE. (Btw, I have never ever voted for the PAP, but that’s another story.)

So how will they spin this?

A group of 70 plus nations led by Australia, Japan and Singapore are releasing a joint statement on Friday, announcing their intention to restart the World Trade Organization’s talks around ecommerce rules and cross-border data flows.

FT

The US, China and the EU have signed the joint statement. China at the last minute.

The cybernuts will pretend that this has not happened. After all in Why TOC’s Danisha Hakeem is a menace to the credibility of alt media, TOC ignored what the regulators did in the 1MDB case and asked why they didn’t act.

Working with Australia and Japan to lead a global initiative involving 70+ countries is something that should make us S’poreans proud of our govt.

Did TOC report this?

Or did other alt media outlets? I don’t recall them telling us

[PM] said in a speech in August that many Singaporeans still feel their incomes aren’t sufficient to cope with higher costs, even though the economy is doing well, unemployment is relatively low and wages have increased. The government is planning to spend more on areas including health care and housing to ensure they remain affordable, he said.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-18/singapore-politician-who-wanted-to-be-president-to-challenge-lee?fbclid=IwAR2RTLWA_UAuQG_9SI5YJe570N0Mn8Pb-3a-syaeqaxjMTzElv9SSyt7InE

Do read the Bloomberg story as it is an antidote to both the reporting (or non -reporting) and analysis of the constructive, nation-building media, and alt media on Tan Cheng Bock’s plans.

More on why PAP IB and anti-PAP opponents have the same genes

Further to Qiou S’poreans,

here’s more on why Jason Chua and other IB PAPpies and TOC’s bunch of Indians (actually only two) and other TOC cybernuts, and all other anti-PAP cybernuts are all related.

They don’t know how to use humour to sow doubts about and discredit the enemy.

Humour and ridicule were a key part of Moscow’s response when the UK said it was “highly likely” that Russia was behind the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury.

Russian officials and media figures have since tried to turn the English phrase “highly likely” into a mocking catchphrase that implies Russia is being blamed for everything with the flimsiest of evidence.

[ …]

Roman Dobrokhotov, whose investigative website The Insider was involved in exposing one of the two poisoning suspects, Anatoliy Chepiga, says such mockery is a form of trolling designed to “deliberately lower the level of discussion”.

They can learn from the Russians:

How the strategy works

“They cannot respond in a serious fashion and to the point, so they start to play-act. This is an attempt to mock, to reduce everything to nothing,” Mr Dobrokhotov told the BBC

Along with conspiracy theories and misleading narratives, he argues, this kind of tactic aims to sow doubt.

The result is that many will watch TV and decide there is no way of really getting to the bottom of what happened. In other words, he says: “no-one is a saint, truth does not exist”.

Internet audiences are also a key target for this technique.

One social media hashtag – #IamFromGRUToo (#ЯтожеИзГРУ in Russian) – appeared to be inspired by the #MeToo movement. Pro-Kremlin Twitter-users mocked UK allegations against Russia’s GRU (now GU) military intelligence agency.

One spoof job advert joked that the GRU was “looking for employees for its cyber-attack department, chemical weapons department and election-meddling unit. There is no need to apply – we will find you ourselves”.

Ben Nimmo, an Atlantic Council researcher on Russian disinformation, told the BBC that attempts to create funny memes were part of the strategy as “disinformation for the information age”.

[…]

“It’s not a super-serious regime, they do things with a kind of smirk and sometimes just with a smile. It’s a system that allows for a certain amount of humour, it’s not po-faced all.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46567364

Repression? What repression?/ Alt media cannot be trusted

Going by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, Kirsten Han, the Lee White than White  Horses, TOC, other alt media, and Lim Tean and his fellow cybernuts are fibbing when they claim that the PAP govt is getting more repressive.

S’pore’s Democracy score is improving

2018 — 6.38

2017 — 6.32

2016 — 6.38

2015 — 6.14 LKY died in March

2014 — 6.05

2013 — 5.92

2012 — 5.88

(2011 — LKY resigned from cabinet after GE)

2010 — 5.89

2008 — 5.89

2006 — 5.89

S’pore is classified, like the US, as a “Flawed Democracy”. To be fair to both nations, the US of A only joined S’pore in this category since Trump’s election as president. Before that it was a “Full Democracy”: juz on the right side (or wrong side, depending on one’s views) of the railway.

---

The Chinese Communist Party way is the The PAP way?

————————————————————————————-

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index. The index rates 167 countries by 60 indicators across five broad categories: electoral process and pluralism, the functioning of government, political participation, democratic political culture and civil liberties. It is stricter than most similar indices: it concludes that just 4.5% of the world’s people live in a “full democracy”. However, the overall global score remained stable in 2018 for the first time in three years.

Why TOC’s Danisha Hakeem is a menace to the credibility of alt media

He’s regularly propagating fake news, or fabricated news.

This was very apparent in a story about our financial sector, an important driver of the economy, thus supporting the govt’s argument on the need to regulate fake news:

Senior Minister of State for Law Edwin Tong has hinted at the tabling of a Bill aimed at curbing the spread of deliberate online falsehoods in the coming months after numerous consultations and debates among legislators and members of the public surrounding the potential anti-“fake news” laws.

TOC

The fake news is that the S’pore govt was and is not doing anything about S’pore-based banks role in laundering 1MDB funds. This could affect our financial sector, and hence our economy.

Danisha Hakeem ended a TOC piece headlined “Singapore figured very highly as a place from which money laundering occurred”: Veteran business journalist on 1MDB fiasco

Given the stringent approach often adopted by Singapore authorities –– particularly relevant to this case is the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) –– in dealing with legal misconduct, it certainly raises some questions as to why potentially illegal financial movements on such a scale did not seem to have raised any red flags for the authorities at the time the activities were carried out.

In reaching this conclusion, Danisha Hakeem conveniently omitted in the piece the following facts which even my Vocational Institute educated dog knows:

— the banks found to be at fault didn’t report these transactions as suspicious as they were or are supposed to;

— there was an official investigation;

— offending banks (including UOB and StanChart) were fined;

— one bank was closed down;

— and bank executives prosecuted and jailed.

Some links to give the lie to the fake news that the S’pore govt did not do anything about the 1MDB scandal.

— https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/29/singapores-central-bank-fines-credit-suisse-and-uob-for-1mdb-related-transactions.html

— http://fortune.com/2016/10/11/1mdb-singapore-dbs-ubs-falcon-bank/

— https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-scandal-bsi/singapore-sentences-ex-bsi-banker-to-more-jail-time-in-1mdb-linked-case-idUSKBN19X0MC

— https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/1mdb-probe-former-bsi-bank-director-yvonne-seah-sentenced-to-2-w-7670980

He’s like the infamous Alex Tan in fabricating false news.

Also  by fabricating the news, Danisha Hakeem undermines TOC’s claim on why we need independent media: The need for alt media

For the record, I don’t think Terry deserves to be charged for criminal defamation because he took down the offending article when the authorities told him they were unhappy. But given the fake news propagated by Danisha Hakeem in his articles (too many to recount and rebut), one can understand the desire to rough up Terry.

Jokes’ aside, legally there is good reason to suspect that Danisha Hakeem’s trying very hard in this artcle

to bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the Government

Sedition Act: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/SA1948

And given TOC’s track record, ill intent on his part is easy to prove. Not that the prosecution has to prove intent in any of the following offences.

4.—(1)  Any person who —

(a)	does or attempts to do, or makes any preparation to do, or conspires with any person to do, any act which has or which would, if done, have a seditious tendency;

(b) utters any seditious words;

(c) prints, publishes, sells, offers for sale, distributes or reproduces any seditious publication; or

[…]

shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction for a first offence to a fine not exceeding $5,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both, and, for a subsequent offence, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years; and any seditious publication found in the possession of that person or used in evidence at his trial shall be forfeited and may be destroyed or otherwise disposed of as the court directs.

Or maybe he’s trying to defame the central bank, hoping that the chairman or MD sues him for defamation that that the AG prosecutes him for criminal defamation.

But maybe he really wasn’t trying to propagate fake news or subvert the govt or defame the central bank, but was smoking ganja or ingesting other illegal substance when he wrote the piece?  Or is he a visitor from an alternative S’pore where the Men in White are the Men in Black?

(Related posts

PM visiting from Bizarro S’pore?

Tharman also from Bizarro S’pore?)

Whatever with Danisha Hakeem churning out articles for TOC (I’ll denounce another one of his pieces soon), the PAP govt doesn’t need to worry. Using TOC as a platform, he discredits all those rational, fair-minded S’poreans (self included) who oppose PAP hegemony. But then maybe that’s his real agenda? He gets thirty pieces of silver?

Gods punishing Potong Pasir residents for voting PAP?

In the space of the last few days, the constructive, nation-building media reported without comment (Imagine if these bad things had happened in Aljunied or Hougang?):

Giant trap to control Javan Myna population trialed in Potong Pasir

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/javan-myna-birds-potong-pasir-giant-trap-trial-ava-11069350

and

Burst pipe in Potong Pasir leaves homes without water for several hours

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/burst-pipe-potong-pasir-leaves-homes-without-water-hours-11064146

It could be that the Gods are punishing the residents of Potong Pasir for preferring material benefits that the PAP offers in return for deserting the Chiams.

Will the residents repent abandoning the Chiams in 2011 and not turning back to them in 2015? Will they vote for Mrs Chiam in next GE?

Seriously, I’m shocked that anti-PAP publications like TOC, TRE and The Idiots, and the cybernuts on social media are not using the incidents to show that the PAP govt is incompetent: it can’t even look after areas that support the PAP.

Maybe, these people are on luxury holidays overseas and so missed the news.

But most probably, the cybernuts (not enough money to even donate peanuts to keep alive TOC and TRE let alone go on luxury hols) are distracted by what they consider as the persecutions of Uncle Leong, Terry and Daniel Augustin De Costa aka Willy Sum: PAP & strategic distraction

Or even more likely, the PAP has succeeded in frightening the chickens and sheep by suing a few monkeys.

What do you think?

Prosperous 2019. Vote wisely but not for the three stooges: Mad Dog, Lim Tean, Meng Seng where are yr durians?. And make a distinction between Dr Chee and the SDP.

The need for alt media

Terry Xu should not have been charged with criminal defamation because he took down the artcle when the authorities were unhappy.

Whatevwer, here’s TOC’s pitch on the need for independent media. Do watch the video.

While dated, … the Q&A session provides us with much insight into the media industry in Singapore and reasons why Singapore needs to support independent media to ensure rights for citizens are looked after.

This is the link to the Q&A session TOC is talking about: https://www.facebook.com/theonlinecitizen/videos/219966588933713/

TOC introduced the video with:

Readers have asked to view the full clip where CNA journalists voiced their views about how they see their job in SIngapore as journalists and here it is.

Taken back in 2016 during a presentation by journalists in Channel NewsAsia/Mediacorp at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, the presentation was titled, “Everything you ever wanted to know about TV & Media but were afraid to ask”.

Steve Chia is a Presenter / Editor at Channel NewsAsia who has been there for 13 years. He is captured on video saying, “Media is not the…watchdog to pounce on politicians and not to hold people accountable. That is not our role here.”

Lam Shushan is a digital journalist at CNA for 4 years. She says, “I don’t want to be the watchdog of politicians”.

Low Minmin is a producer at CNA for 5 years. She shares the struggle that she is in, trying to get her story out despite the censorship.

Two of the younger journalists were not meant to be the speakers but were replaced the day before. They were asked to replace Hoe Yeen Nie and Kane Cunico.

The journalists were aware of the video recording just that this video only surfaced at this point.

While dated, but the Q&A session provides us with much insight into the media industry in Singapore and reasons why Singapore needs to support independent media to ensure rights for citizens are looked after.

-44:31

What Meng Seng and TOC don’t tell us about dispute with Tun

Further to his rant that I covered in “Licking the ass of the enemy of my enemy” Meng Seng came up with another piece along the same lines: sceptical about what the PAP govt says about the dispute

Meanwhile Terry’s Online Channel continues propagating its scepticism about what the PAP govt says on the dispute: (Fact: Terry said on FB that the dispute was over port limits, not territorial waters. Even M’sia says it’s about territorial waters. Whatever, at least Terry is not as mealy-mouthy as Meng Seng when it comes to agreeing with M’sia. Meng Seng while dissing the govt’s claims throws plenty of smoke so that he cannot be accused of being unpatriotic. Btw, I don’t doubt Terry’s patriotism, but have serious doubt that Meng Seng has the best interests of S’pore in his heart. )

Here are two facts that TOC AND Seng Meng are silent on.

JB port is only accessible via the eastern side of the Johor Straits, not via the western side of the Johor Straits where the Tuas dispute is happening. Of course when Tun’s crooked bridge is ever built, the situation may change. Until then, because the JB port is not accessible via Tuas area because of the causeway, the only reason M’sia is extending JB port’s waters in the Tuas area (West of JB port) is because Tun wants to annoy and  hopefully bully S’pore.

Their silence is also deafening on the fact that the other M’sian unhappiness dating from their 1979 assertions has been proven to be a lot of rubbish by an int’l court: the Pedra Blanca dispute where S’pore won fair and square.

With S’poreans like Goh Meng Seng and those writing articles on the Tuas dispute in TOC, no wonder Tun thinks he can bully S’pore. A very early GE will prove him wrong.

Real reason why Terry of TOC kanna lim kopi?

To signal to him to stop publishing fake news on the public transport system? LOL.

Let me explain.

If you skim thru TOC’s headlines as regularly as I do, you are sure to get the impression that our public tpt system is on the verge of collapse and that most S’poreans think it sucks: bad and expensive.

Well I personally find the system pretty good (and cheap) but then I use it off-peak and I’m an oldie: Public tpt users will vote for PAP?

As I don’t use it during peak rush hours (the real test of any public tpt system) and I get a concession rate, I sit down and shut up and defer to Terry’s Online Channel on how bad the system really is, even if I think it’s pretty decent. Unlike cybernuts, I know that most of the time my personal opinions are not the reality.

So it was great interest that I read an article by an ang moh FT in an online publication that has no known, or unknown connection (I double checked with Morocco Mole, Secret Squirrel’s sidekick) with the constructive, national-building media, or the PAP IB.

Here’s the most relevant extract. Do read the whole piece and make up yr mind on its accuracy vis-a-vis Terry’s Online Channel.

Singaporean’s Generally Approve of Their Public Transportation System

Public opinion is another factor worth considering. After all, these are the customers and their satisfaction is another key piece of information for judging success of each system. Singapore also fares very well by this measure. For example, a study by McKinsey & Company found that 86% of the population approves of the current public transportation situation and 84% approve of recent changes to the system. Both of these figures are significantly higher than those of most other cities, representing another indication that Singapore’s public transportation is performing well relative to other major cities.

Where Does Singapore’s Public Transportation Rank?

Based on efficiency, it appears that Singapore’s public transportation system performs relatively well compared to those of other cities. Additionally, when taking into account other key indicators such as affordability and customer satisfaction, it appears that Singapore’s is among the best in the world. Therefore, while there is always room for improvement, it seems reasonable to believe that Singapore’s public transportation system is performing relatively well.

[…]

William Hofmann

William is a Senior Research Analyst at ValueChampion Singapore, focusing on banking and SMEs. He previously was an Economic Consultant at Industrial Economics Inc.

 

Another sign that GE will be next yr/ Three cheers for TOC

In another sign that GE will be next yr, the PAP govt is showing that it does listen, even if the agitation for a change in policy started in Terry’s Online Channel.

I’m talking about Hawkergate. The quiet, underground grumbling about the so called “not-for-profit hawker centre model” which some unhappy hawkers and foodies like Seetoh see as Pay And Pay in action* did not catch the public attention until our constructive, nation-building media and TOC publicised the allegations. In highlighting the problems faced by hawkers such as costly tray-return deposit schemes, long working hours, unreasonable penalties for contract termination and additional fees for dishwashing, tray returns and quality control, they started a forest fire which had the PAP scrambling to contain the conflagration. TOC, unlike the MSM, also agitated for something to be done, unlike the MSM, whose silence on what should be done were deafening.

Senior Minister of State for the Environment and Water Resource Dr Amy Khor announced in October that NEA will do a “stock take” of the not-for-profit hawker centre model, which allows social enterprises and cooperatives to run these centres.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Nov 9 that it had ordered “tweaks to standardise the contractual terms between socially-conscious enterprises and hawkers following feedback from hawkers, patrons and social enterprise hawker operators”. More on this at: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/nea-impose-changes-hawker-operator-contract-terms-1-january-085102551.html

The four changes include the removal of “onerous” terms to better safeguard the interest of hawkers, said Dr Khor on Nov 9 during a visit to Ci Yuan Hawker Centre.

---

All about hawker food

Why are there hawker centres in Singapore?

The Hard Truth about hawker food

The Harder Truth on hawker food

“Dollars and Sense” of a Hawker Stall

Subsidised hawker food book

——————————————————————-

Three cheers for Terry and his team (if there’s one). Sadly that’s all the recognition he’ll get. TOC needs $, but the cybernuts don’t want to help it out. A long time (2006 — 2012), the then readers were generous with their money. But then they were not cheapskates, born losers like those now polluting the comment pages of TOC and TRE.

Of course opportunists like Lim Tean and Meng Seng (Lim Tean, Meng Seng where are yr durians?) had to join in the agitation for changes. Since Lim Tean has raised funds from the public for various projects (see above link) but not done anything at all about his projects, he should hand over his loot the monies raised to TOC?

---

*Written before TOC started publicising the problems faced by hawkers in the not-for-profit hawker centre model and agitating for changes to the model. The contributors were focusing on LGBT and other identity issues. They had and have no time for chay kway teow issues, only ang moh issues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FTs benefit S’pore: Sarong Party Gals surveyed?

More young people feel S’pore benefits from FTs.

No not fake news but from ST.

Quoting a survey from the even more constructive, nation-building  Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), ST reported” more young people in Singapore feel that the country has benefited from the presence of foreign talent”.

—————————

Three cheers for TOC

Three cheers for TOC for spotting that the survey is from 2016 and was reported only after Ong Ye Kung talked cock on need for FTs.

———————————————————

The IPS survey found 62.5% of 19 to 30-year-olds believe skilled workers who come here from other countries “have contributed to Singapore’s development”, compared to 45.4% in 2010.

Juz wondering if the survey participants were Sarong Party Gals interviewed while doing pub crawls with their ang moh boy friends?

 

 

 

 

 

Gd that PM makes time for travel vlogger

But first, a story about a Crazy Rich African planning to bring US$16.5m in cash to shop here.

When on a private visit to Brazil by Equatorial Guinea’s VP

Police found $1.5m in cash and watches worth an estimated $15m in two bags, the other 17 bags had clothes, says local news site Globo.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-45546655

Equatorial Guinea’s embassy told the Brazilian police in a statement that the money was for the VP’s use on an onward trip to Singapore, while the watches – engraved with his initials – were for his personal use.

————————-

Last year The Economist reported on Mr Obiang’s flashy lifestyle in a report titled “Instagram playboy is also the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea”. It featured pictures of the vice-president showing off his expensive cars and mansions.

———————————————-

So nothing wrong PM and foreign affairs minister spending time with a vlogger with a huge global following. It helps bring S’pore to the attention of people like Mr Obiang, people who spend, spend, spend. It also helps attract lesser spenders too. Orchard Rd certainly needs help.

But then given TOC’s support for Tan Wah Piow and PJ Thum (PJ Thum cares about S’pore?), maybe TOC “does not wish S’pore well”?

TOC’s double standard in praising Tun for seeing Wah Piow, PJ and friends while dissing PM and VivianB for meeting vlogger is another piece of evidence that TOC “does not wish S’pore well”?

What do you think?

TOC unmasks itself

Years ago I told Terry of Terry’s Online Channel that he was anti-PAP. He denied it saying that he would support a PAP policy if tot it would help the poor or correct an injustice.

After I posted TOC misrepresents facts yet again

I read this post

Terry Xu

People asks me, or tell me, how good the Pap government is and that we should be appreciative of this fact. While it may be comparatively true with our neighbours who had despotic leaders, but until you see the things I see, and experienced, which cannot be reported because it is illegal to do so, you would have no idea how rotten is this country behind the elaborate facade.

Singapore and Singaporeans can achieve much more with what we have today but not with this ruling party and its cronies changing laws and maintaining archaic colonial rules for its own interest.

It is naive to think that a party that has all the powers at its disposal will be humble and push for changes especially when cronyism is so rampant in the country. Don’t lie to yourself when you say there is real meritocracy and xxxx in Singapore.

The fact that I can’t type out the words represented by xxxx, just shows how dire the situation is for Singapore.

Do you want to live in aspiration or in constant fear of the government?

People who support and is part of this whole oppression ought to think about how history will judge your involvement for the sake of self perseverance or in most cases, simply the high pay. Just look at the world and back at history to realise that a change of regime is not impossible and that the Internet never forgets.

Need I say more about his denial of not being anti-PAP?

TOC misrepresents facts yet again

When Temasek released its details, TOC, it seems, tried to cast aspersions on Temasek’s results by pointing that its auditor KPMG was in the UK’s authorities’ dog house for the quality of its audits in the UK.

The UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is an independent regulator responsible for promoting high quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment in UK. Its board of directors is appointed by the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. FRC plays a crucial role in the oversight and development of corporate governance standards such as the UK Corporate Governance Code and standards for the accounting industry.

UK FRC said that KPMG audits had shown an “unacceptable deterioration” and will be subject to closer supervision.

Every year, the UK FRC reviews the audits of Britain’s biggest companies to ensure they meet certain standards. The FRC noted problems at other auditing firms too, but KPMG was specially singled out for the poor quality of its work.

“There has been an unacceptable deterioration in quality at one firm, KPMG,” the FRC said in a statement …

Terry’s Online Channel

As OCBC is also audited by KPMG, is TOC also casting aspersions on OCBC’s results?

Seriously, TOC doesn’t tell that all the big four accountancy firm are in the sights of the UK’s authorities:

The UK’s top banking and insurance supervisor has said he is worried about the quality of audits by the Big Four accountancy firms. Sam Woods, the chief executive of the Prudential Regulation Authority, told the Treasury select committee on Wednesday that it was “a bit of a worry” that the Financial Reporting Council rebuked the four firms* — Deloitte, EY, PwC and KPMG — last month for a fall in quality, particularly in banking audits. Stephen Haddrill, the FRC’s chief executive, said at the time that “the Big Four must improve the qualify of their audits and do so quickly”. The FRC attributed the deterioration in quality to a failure to challenge management and show appropriate scepticism across their audits.

FT

And that despite all this KPKBing, when Goldman Sachs Int’l tried to appoint a non-big four auditor Grant Thorton to audit it, replacing a big four auditor, the UK authorities raised an eyebrow on whether Grant Thorton can do the job. The matter is ongoing.

All this is a matter of public record, yet TOC in what seems to be an attempt to slime Temasek left out inconvenient facts.

Looks like TOC is going the way of the Idiots S’pore or is it Indian S’pore?

Sad for someone who helped out at TOC.

---

*TOC said only KPMG was singled out, remember: “KPMG was specially singled out for the poor quality of its work”?

What kind of voter are u?

Remember this?

A Financial Times story today said – Mr Mahathir, who always enjoyed needling neighbouring Singapore and its long-ruling People’s Action Party, said the electoral earthquake would reverberate across the narrow Straits of Johor.

Mahathir told the Financial Times, “I think the people of Singapore, like the people of Malaysia, must be tired of having the same government, the same party, since independence.”

reminded me that the day after last GE I wrote

Which type of voter were you on 9/11?

1. Comfortable Nostalgia: “They tend to be older, more traditional voters who dislike the social and cultural changes they see as altering [country] for the worse.”

2. Optimistic Contentment: “Confident, comfortable & usually on higher incomes they are prudent & tolerant but think [country] is a soft touch.”

3. Calm Persistence: “Often coping rather than comfortable, they hope rather than expect things to get better.”

4. Hard-pressed Anxiety: “Pessimistic & insecure, these people want more help from government and resent competition for that help particularly from new-comers.”

5. Long-term Despair: “Many are serial strugglers; angry & alienated they feel little or no stake in the country or that anyone stands up for them.”

6. Cosmopolitan Critics: “Generally younger, more secular and urban-based, worried about growing inequality & the general direction the country is going in.”

Go to https://atans1.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/which-voter-are-you/  to see how I tot those who vote for the PAP, or Oppo can be categorised.

Btw, I now think that TOC’s editors, team and readers are now in the same categories as the majority of TRE posters.

I think based on the postings on TRE,  the majority of TRE posters would seem fall into the “Hard-pressed Anxiety” and “Long-term Despair” (i.e. the losers) even though TeamTRE belongs in the “Calm Persistence” and “Hard-pressed Anxiety”  categories: the only people who would spend time and money on doing what they believe is right, even if the losers are freeloading on their efforts.

TOC’s editors, team and natural readers would fall into the ”Calm Persistence”, “Hard-pressed Anxiety” and ”Cosmopolitan Critics” groups.

Sad. Seems like Terry (Once ”Calm Persistence” now “Hard-pressed Anxiety” or “Long-term Despair”?) has given up trying to persuade those who voted for PAP in GE 2011 and Dr Tan Cheng Bock in PE2011 that they should think about alternatives to the PAP.

 

 

Anti-PAPpies want Kim to nuke S’pore isit?

Why liddat?

On FB, TRE and TOC and the Indian (I’m told, I don’t read it) the anti-PAP types are denouncing two PAP ministers for taking wefies with Little Rocket Man).

On FB in response to comments denouncing the PAP ministers:

There seems to be an assumption among people of a certain ideological bend that our ministers wanted to take the wefies. Has it ever occurred that Kim asked for the wefies as a goodwill gesture to say thanks to S’pore for hosting and paying his bills?

Adrian Tan

He’s a bit of a wimp for calling the anti-PAP types “people of a certain ideological bend” but he’s right about the assumption that the ministers wanted the wefies, and the possibility that Kim asked for the wefies as a goodwill gesture.

Imagine what would happen if the two ministers (not my fav ones*) said “No”.

Btw, since VivianB has also been denounced on FB, TOC, TRE etc of saying innocuous words like “impressive” when describing his impressions of North Korea which he visited recently. They want him to say, “The place is a shithole like Aljunied town council run areas” isit?

Our anti-PAP types hate the PAP so much that they openly want Kim to destroy S’pore because if S’pore is nuked PAP ministers will die. They forget that there are special measures to protect these ministers. How not to call these anti-PAP types, cybernuts?

The PAP couldn’t have wished for nuttier enemies, what with friends like Calvin Cheng (Err so why the silence on Calvin, minister?) and FATPAP.

---

*What I’ve written about them

VivianB’s other folly: F1

Our new PM/ Trumpets pls for me

TOC saying vote PAP?

I kid u not, Terry’s Online Channel has a gd word for the PAP govt and one of its flagship programmes.

This is what TOC wrote

S$1 million will easily cover the cost of most new and resale HDB flats in Singapore. The median price of HDB resale flats in every neighborhood is below S$1,000,000, so prospective homebuyers could afford a comfortable residence in even the most expensive areas of Singapore.

For example, the median resale price of a 4-room HDB even in Central was S$850,000 in the early months of 2018.

And

S$1 Million is Not Enough to Afford Most Homes in Many Major International Cities

Both quotes from https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2018/06/09/what-kind-of-home-would-s1-million-buy-in-major-cities-around-the-world/

Is TOC getting paid to say nice things about the PAP govt? One of TOC’s grouses is that mothership gets sponsorship from GLCs. So has TOC saold its soul too?

Btw, the writer is the only numerate person in TOC’s stable of writers and editors.

 

Will Tun take up PRC offer that Najib declined?

Because Nabib is a pal of our PM.

Sometime back when China was upset that Ah Loong was carrying Trump’s balls and not Xi’s, there was a report that China offered its AR3 multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) with accompanying radar to M’sia to be positioned specifically in Johor. It was a great deal for M’sia: low-interest payment of up to 50 years.

Najib as a friend of S’pore declined the deal.

So will Tun’s next move against S’pore (he juz called off a proposed equities trading link) be calling Xi to take up the offer?

Whatever, this deal will have Terry’s Online Channel’s writers and readers sticking their tongues further up Tun’s ass to reach the source of light that they think shines from his ass. They’d love the idea of Tun having surface to surface missiles able to blow up Changi Airport, the port and the CBD. They see him as a friend to suck up to because he like them hates the PAP. They even do this sucking up despite Tun disliking S’pore, not juz hating the PAP: the enemy of my enemy is my friend say these TOC cybernuts.

With enemies like TOC, the PAP needn’t fear losing power.

Related posts

— Tun will not be happy

— Tun following Xi?

 

 

Looks like PAP right about cyberspace “noise”

And I’m right about

Maybe they really don’t oppose the PAP? They juz make some noise, hoping the PAP will throw them some goodies? Bit like my dogs barking or whining to get my attention.

Why Reformasi won’t happen here

Terry (of Terry’s Online Channel ) wrote on FB

Seriously, why do people go write articles in their own name and then years later ask to remove the articles because they have changed their stance?

If you want to express yourself without fear, use a pen name or something.

You use your real name because you want to be identified for the write-up, so it makes no sense to be given the right to remove your name years after, just because you think that write up is unsafe or inappropriate.

Take down is ok if the publication misused the write-up or misrepresented what was expressed.

But not simply because you regretted writing the post in your name.

Juz “noise” for the sake of noise or “They juz make some noise, hoping the PAP will throw them some goodies? Bit like my dogs barking or whining to get my attention.”? Or juz nutty?

What do you think?

My beef against Terry’s OnLine Channel

Sadly I have to agree with u/m FB PAP IB rant that

— TOC is failing to “to separate Singapore’s national interests and standing from their usual Prime Minister-bashing rhetoric.”; and 

— “The shallowness of some of TOC’s arguments on how bad the PAP and their blatant disregard to facts or context is worrisome*.”

Sad.

To be fair to Terry, the failure to differentiate between national interests and whacking the PAP is a trait that most critics of the PAP fall into into the long run (Yes I’m thinking about the danger of Chris K becoming one of these “PAP is always wrong” sheep.). But they can’t be blamed for this because the PAP and the constructive, nation-building media are always saying or implying “What is good for the PAP is good for S’pore”. 

back to the IBer

Mun Loon

TOC has lost the plot. It’s role, as it seemingly wants recognition for, is for the interest of Singaporeans, to hold the government in its checks and balances.

however, in more recent days, TOC has appeared more delusional.

It had always maintained that Singapore was bigger than the ruling party, but (TOC) is unable to separate Singapore’s national interests and standing from their usual Prime Minister-bashing rhetoric.

The shallowness of some of TOC’s arguments on how bad the PAP and their blatant disregard to facts or context is worrisome.

There is a role for media outlets online like Malaysiakini; and to equate TOC with Malaysiakini is an undeserved compliment to the prior or an insult to latter.

Your rhetoric is getting tiresome.

---

*TOC’s coverage on regime change in KL and its implications for S’pore is particularly bad. For starters, there’s the glossing over of Tun’s and Anwar’s roles in bringing M’sia to where it was before regime change. They messed up:

— M’sia: Don’t anyhow blame Najib

— M’sia: Two doctors’ routine

Then, does TOC really want people like these two running S’pore?

— Breaking election promises or trying to: Waz this call for a leader like Tun M here?

—  Read carefully what he says beyond the soundbite: Anwar: Beyond the sound bite of “Malaysia to scrap race policies”

Finally internal rowing is happening already:

— Bayee minister gives Tun M the finger

(More on another row soon)

 

Why Reformasi won’t happen here

TOC, TRE and all the usual places where cybernuts congregate are full of comments that change is coming here. like it did in M’sia, and the PAP is doomed.

Taz a lot of “noise” and hot air because most of the 30% that die die must vote for any donkey or clown so long as said clown or donkey is anti-PAP are a bunch of wanking cheapskates.

Terry’s Online Service reported on FB yesterday that

In 2014, there were already 16,039 subscribers at a monthly subscription rate of RM$40( SGD$15.4) [Terry was talking about M’siakini]. In comparison, TOC has 64 subscribers at a monthly subscription rate of $3 and a few at $10.

S$264,000 a month in 2014 versus less than S$640.

And

By 2013, Malaysiakini was already earning an annual income of close to 1.5 million ringgits (SGD$577k). While – as reported to IRAS for TOC’s revenue in 2017 – we received around SGD$29,600 in advertising and donation.

TOC’s numbers were in response to

A reader, Dylan Tan wrote in response to the report on Anwar’s thanks to Malaysiakini of its role in Malaysia, “that works if the Alternative news in SIN can be as quality as Mal(aysia)”

Terry retorted

We agree that our quality of reporting and coverage is not even close to that of Malaysiakini, but that can be said the same of our operating expenses.

And cited the numbers given above and repeated below

— Subscriptions: S$264,000 a month in 2014 versus less than S$640 a month.

— Total annual income of S$577,000 in 2013 versus S$29,600 in advertising and donation for 2017. TOC’s subs are “peanuts”.

With enemies like the free-loading fans of TOC and TRE, the PAP doesn’t need friends. And will rule forever and a day.

Jokes’ aside. Maybe they really don’t oppose the PAP? They juz make some noise, hoping the PAP will throw them some goodies? Bit like my dogs barking or whining to get my attention.

Or worse, maybe tha fans are part of PAP’s IB. They aim to deceive Terry and TeamTRE and other suckers that there are people out there listening to them.

How PAP can tame cyberspace while making money (cont’d)

The spate between no-class Charles Chong (representing the no-class PAP administration), and some lobbied (instigated? manipulated?) over-sensitive (Err did they watch the video of the exchange, or relied on hearsay? And from whom? PJ?) Oxford University academics (not colleges I note) and the non-entity Project Southeast Asia (more on this strange beast soon) reminds me of

“The unspeakable in pursuit of the uneatable!”

― Oscar Wilde

“A plague o’ both your houses!”

Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare

It further reminds me that the PAP are missing another two tricks from darkest, dysfunctional Africa. Making bloggers Pay and Pay and tieing them up in petty details are what the PAP can introduce from Africa.

I had in Fighting fake news while raising revenue where I pointed out that our meritocratic scholars in the PAP administration could learn from Uganda in darkest, dysfunctional Africa: they could tax users of social media.

Another country from that dark continent has two brilliant ideas

Tanzania’s government has come up with a scheme that could prove even more draconian [referring to Uganda’s plan]: it plans to charge hundreds of dollars a year for the privilege of blogging. As part of new online regulations, bloggers will be required to pay hefty registration and annual licence fees that add up to roughly $920 — prohibitive for most in a country with a nominal per capita income of under $900. In proportion to GDP, the Tanzanian registration and licence fee would be the equivalent of asking Americans to pay nearly $60,000 to start a blog.

FT

Somehow I don’t think, the Idiots S’pore, Terry Online’s Channel or TRE (even if TRE’s pilot plan to use visitors’ clicks to mine crpto coins takes off) can afford the kind of sums required. Different for the SDP (CIA? Or Soros?) and mothership (George Yeo?Philip Yeo?).

And I certainly can’t be bothered with the paper work Tanzania is insisting on

What are the rules?

All online publishers including bloggers, vloggers and podcasters have up to 5 May to register and are required to pay $480 for a three-year licence, plus an annual fee of $440.

Radio and TV stations must also apply for licences to share their content online.

To get a permit, applicants must fulfil a list of requirements, like submitting staff CVs and reveal their future plans.

They will also have to keep a record of visitors to their site.

The regulations say the aim is to clamp down on “hate speech” and indecent material with the same standard being applied to online users.

They broadly define a blog as “a website containing a writer’s, or group of writer’s own, experiences, observations, opinions including current news… images, video clips and links to other websites”.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43867292

Cybernuts really that stupid and cheapskate

This describes cybernuts to the T:

Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community […] but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It’s the invasion of the idiots.

Umberto Eco

Who he?

Through Eco’s academic writings and his bestselling books, he became a respected intellectual voice both in Italy and abroad.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/20/italian-author-umberto-eco-dies-aged-84

Don’t believe me when I describe the cybernuts? Well read the comments made by TOC readers collated by TOC https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2017/12/27/cnas-piece-on-hawker-food-fails-to-see-the-bigger-picture-comments-netizens/.

And remember that TOC cybernuts are not the dumbest of the dumb. TRE cybernuts are the dumbest of the dumb.

 

Three cheers for TOC

The latest SMRT problem and LTA’s announcement that

the two rail operators are required to inform passengers of any delay exceeding 10 minutes, via regular announcements within stations and on board trains. If the delay worsens, updated information should be announced via mainstream and social media.

reminded me that Terry’s Online Channel has been tracking and documenting delays in train service, announced and, more importantly, unannounced, by SMRT.

This is important because memories are short especially for sheep and BS artists.

Here in Wah train service so reliable meh between 2012 and 2016? I reported that I challenged a TRE reader to tell me about his experiences of SMRT delays between 2012 and April 2016. As expected, no picture, no sound.

I also asked via FB a few other very vocal complainers, but they admitted they couldn’t remember or they were not regular MRT commuters.

Which is why it is important that there is a record of the delays that is publicly accessible. But if TOC closes, then no records exist. And after a trouble-free 2019, come the next GE, the sheep will think that the trains have always run on time.

Another problem for Anti-PAP websites

Last year I reported how FB’s algo tweaks affected anti-PAP sites sites like TOC and The Idiots Anti-PAP sites lose traffic after Facebook tweaks algos.

Well things could be getting worse if FB’s latest “experiment” comes to S’pore or is introduced globally.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41775010

Facebook panics publishers

In any newsroom around the world these days, the air will be full of mentions of Facebook and Twitter. Publishers know the readers and viewers they want to reach are increasingly spending their time scrolling through those apps on their smartphones. And many publishers have come to rely on the social media giants to give their articles and videos maximum exposure.

So a limited experiment by Facebook in six countries – Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala, and Cambodia – to take unpaid news posts out of the main feed and put them into a separate “Explore” tab, raised serious concerns about the financial importance of Silicon Valley to the news media. Slovakian journalist Filip Struharik documented the impact, writing that publishers in his country were seeing just a quarter of the interactions they used to get before the change.

Joshua Benton, who runs the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, told me that Facebook and Google together are responsible for around 80% of external traffic to news organisation websites, so publishers are right to be worried.

However, he also said that Facebook has its own worries. “They’re in a tough position because Facebook users prefer posts from their friends and family, but at the same time Facebook has become an absolutely critical source of traffic for news organisations. And Facebook’s business is selling ads.”

So, I asked him, is Facebook trying to distance itself from being treated as a news publisher itself by regulators worried about fake news and foreign political interference? “Facebook did sort of stumble into being the main distributor of news on the planet Earth by accident,” said Benton. “I think a lot of folks at Facebook would be happy if this was just something they didn’t have to worry about.”

Meanwhile Adam Mosseri, Facebook’s head of News Feed, tried to calm frayed nerves. “There is no current plan to roll this out beyond these test countries or to charge pages on Facebook to pay for all their distribution in News Feed or Explore,” he wrote in a blog. But perhaps his use of the word “current” won’t allay every publisher’s fears.

 

How anti-PAP websites can raise $

Something for TOC, TRE, TISG(The Indians) and the SDP website to think about. They get the bulk of their traffic from really cheapskate born-loser anti-PAP cybernuts and cyberrats.

These sites can use Coin Hive mining script and others, such as JSE Coin, legitimately to generate some money from their steady stream of visitors. Metrics published on the Coin Hive site suggest that a site that gets one million visitors a month would make about $116 (£88) in the Monero crypto-currency by mining. (BBC report).

Better still, Hackers have managed to install code on the sites that uses visitors’ computers to “mine” the cyber-currencies. http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-41518351

So these sites should start mining their cheapskate fans. They owe the sites for keeping them dreaming the dream that the end of PAP rule dream is just around the corner.

As for TMG and Mothership, they don’t have the traffic and besides it’s alleged that pro-PAP sympathisers fund them.

New Media: Hongkies put their money where their mouths are

Unlike Sinkies. In HK, not but not here: Crowdfunded investigative journalism.

How Factwire was founded and funded

A veteran journalist, Mr Ng established the news agency in the summer of 2015 with a crowd-funding campaign that raised HK$4.75m ($607,000; £471,000) in less than three months.

By early 2016, he had hired the 10-strong editorial team.

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-china-blog-40972722

Our very own Terrexgate and the return of “cracked” PRC trains to China were first reported by Factwire, not by TMG or mothership, the alternative media publishers that have sugar daddies. Terry’s Online Channel does what it can with some help from progressives. But the vast majority of its readers believe in free lunches.

Congrats TOC, but pls be careful

TOC cocked a snook at the PAP administration and won a famous victory, courtesy of the Court of Appeal. Well done.

But this will only make the Dark Side strike back and they have a dagger furnished by FTs (?) in TOC.

Yang also revealed that he and his wife Ai Takagi (and co-director of TRS) were slapped with over 200 copyright infringement claims by Singapore Press Holdings. He said unlike other large companies such as Yahoo! Inc which also faced similar copyright infringement claims in the past by SPH, this impacted their lives directly in a major way.

This was published by TISG (The Idiots — S’pore, or is it The Indians — S’pore?) in late December. Ironically one of those who seemingly do cut and paste from SPH is none other than The Idiots — S’pore.

Well I don’t really care about The Idiots — S’pore getting sued and being taken to the cleaners by SPH, even if it’s now sounding like the WP’s Hammer Online even though (or perhaps?) a tua kee there boasts of the following:

Among his current editorial clients are NTUC Media, Petir (PAP magazine), North-East CDC and South-West CDC.

(More.)

But I do care about Terry’s Online Channel (or TOC) being getting sued and being taken to the cleaners by SPH. Its fought the good fight and keeps on fighting.

TOC writers really should take care in their articles. Often the pieces look like they’ve been lifted off ST with very minor alternations. Even the story angles are the same as ST’s.

___

Comment from TOC reader (one Adtian Tan) on a piece on water supply from Johor:

TOC, somethink to think about. What value does this article add to the news MSM published a day or two ago? Could apply to a lot of recent stuff from TOC on news that MSM covered a day or two earlier. It’s the different angle we want. If can’t find it, then don’t waste yr resources and our time.

____

There is room to use ST reported facts in a creative way. Richard Wan (ex-TRE editor who retired after GE 2015) was good at it. He used ST reported facts but gave different perspectives.

Terry himself is pretty good at this when he does it. But sadly his in-house writers (cheap FTs isit?) are unable to do this to save their lives.

Maybe Richard Wan should come of retirement and write for TOC?

Whatever, come on TOC etc, the constructive, nation-building media is full of useful, precious nuggets that can be mined and used to undermine the PAP’s hegemony. All that’s needed is intelligent cutting and pasting. But that requires thinking.

Another day, I’ll make constructive, nation-building suggestions that I hope TOC considers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Facebook squeeze on anti-PAP sites continues

Facebook warned on Wednesday that revenue growth could slow next year sending its shares into a tail spin.

One way to increase revenue as the FT reports is to squeeze those who use it for free to attract people to their sites and hence to ads.

Facebook has 4m advertisers, but 60m businesses use Facebook pages for free. If even a small proportion of those could be persuaded to pay to promote their posts, prices would go up.

FT

As I reported earlier our two mainstream anti-PAP alternative media sites have been affected by FB’s recent tweaks in how it promotes stuff.

[I]t more favorably promotes content posted by the friends and family of users, not publishers (Our anti-PAP sites, like all socio-political sites are considered publishers or news sites by Facebook).

The squeeze continues for them when FB makes life more difficult for the freeloaders.

I’m sure Terry’s Online Channel (TOC) will sutvive because Terry and others there work for free or for peanuts, and because it has the goodwill of the influencers of the online community. But at the The Idiots — S’pore (TISG) which claims it’s out to make money, lots of it, even though it had to recapitalise itself last year, things are different. It has no goodwill left among the influencers after its xenophobic stuff or articles that were more fiction than fact.

The internet giveth and then takes away.

But internet taketh away then giveth too

In the US

The Neighborhood Bookstore’s Unlikely Ally? The Internet

By AMY HAIMERL

Mom-and-pop bookstores are emerging from the decimation of the last decade as they use social media to inspire a loyal customer base.

NYT Dealbook

And in India, Grofers is providing a grocery delivery service, relying on the traditional mom and pop (kirana) stores. And Amazon is testing such a system too in India. Meanwhile, 10i Commercial Services has a service enabling customers to place orders for goods not stocked locally, via a smart device belonging to a Indian local shop.

 

 

AGO’s report: “Ownself can check ownself”

That’s what Terry’s Online Channel, TRE, other anti-PAP sites and their hard-core fans seem to telling other S’poreans: “Ownself can check ownself”,

This clearly is not something they really want to do.

After all, they have the motto, “The PAP is always wrong”. So they gleefully highlight the contents of the Auditor-General’s report into the many cock-ups that the PAP administration make. All good knocking fun, while hurting the PAP. as they see it.

But they promote the PAP’s self-serving idea, “Ownself can check ownself”all the same.

No-one can deny that the AGO’s report really does show that the MIW and their public service minions have feet of clay. They are not the super heroes they pretend to be.

But don’t Terry’s Online Channel, TRE, other anti-PAP sites and their hard-core fans realise that by praising the AGO’s report in order to validate their world view that “The PAP is always wrong”, they are in fact telling the 60-70% of S’poreans that consistently support the PAP that, “Ownself can check ownself”?

“Ownself can check ownself” is a unique selling point of the PAP. And Terry’s Online Channel, TRE, other anti-PAP site and their hard-core fans are double confirming that it works? With enemies like these, who needs friends?

I mean don’t Terry’s Online Channel, TRE etc realise the AGO is just another part of the PAP administration, juz like the much derided presidency, and the police they so love to hate?

In that light, isn;t the AGO showing “Ownself can check ownself” by criticising the other parts of the administration? Really one should rxpect better of Terry’s Online Channel etc than fall into the trap of promoting “Ownself can check ownself”.

And have they forgotten that they were rubbishing the AGO’s report on the then AHPETC town council, pointing on its “flaws”. (Btw, KPMG, has found even more problems, saying that another 18 months will be needed to fix the WP TC’s accounting system. But that’s material for another post.).

And now they are saying that the AGO’s report on the PAP administration is a good piece of work? Because the report whacks the PAP isit? Something doesn’t sound right does it? Shouldn’t they use the same logic to this report as they did to the report on the town council?

Yes I’m mocking and rubbishing Terry’s Online Channel, TRE, other anti-PAP sites and their hard-core fans for behaving like the constructive, nation-building legal media who also highlight and praise the AGO’s report. At least they get paid for their efforts.

But I’m constructive in my motive. How can they hope to convince the swing voter to swing away from the PAP with such flawed logic or assumptions? Or such inconsistency?

And a more subtle point I’m trying to make is that in a de-facto one-party state, it’s a mistake to unthinkingly use ang moh logic (based on the assumptions of living in a liberal democracy) to analyse any situation. They should “Seek truth from facts”, not from ang moh assumptions and logic.

As to the real worth of the AGO’s report, someone put this comment** on FB with which I concur:

Well its a good reminder that bureaucratic organisations will have some degree of inefficiencies, no matter how many brilliant people you hire inside, are sometimes antagonistic to the rules applied to them due to constraints of operations, and that sometimes they get overcharged or cannot solve certain otherwise easily resolvable corporate issues because well…some people are sometimes out of touch with the industries they dabble in.

… and of course proof that Singapore’s public sectors are not an exception to the existing theories in bureaucracy. Love this AGO report because its such great research evidence lol.

Nothing more, nothing less. Certainly not to prove that “The PAP is always wrong” or “AGO report blows gaping hole in PAP’s rhetoric of competent and efficient government”. At best, it shows that the bureaucracy here is like any other bureaucracy: flawed.

But course Terry’s Online Channel, TRE, other anti-PAP sites and their hard-core fans would not agree. The PAP is really lucky in having them as enemies.

——————–

*Andrew Loh of TOC (then The Online Citizen, not Terry’s Online Channel) was a real fan of the WP TC’s accounting practices. Nothing was wrong said TOC. Much good did it do TOC. The WP MPs never donated a cent to TO. It was a SDP member who made a big donation.

**This comment also gives the lie to the SDP’s charge that “AGO report blows gaping hole in PAP’s rhetoric of competent and efficient government”.

Rebranding of TOC and the Indian

TOC is the name by which The Online Citizen is more commonly known. There are rumours that “The Online Citizen” name is to be dropped, in favour of “Terry’s Online Channel”. This change is to reflect Terry Xu’s alleged role at TOC. TOC is alleged to be a one-man show.

I can confirm that TOC will not stand for “Terry’s Online Channel” even though Terry doesn’t even have a dog helping him at TOC. It’s really a one-activist show. It’ll soon see its 10th anniversary (if it not already has) and I, for one, hope that it’ll stagger on. Hopefully, it can reinvent itself.

Meanwhile at the Indian TISG, P Ravi, the newly appointed editor has said because the Indian has given up trying to  be a socio-political website, among the many other things it wanted to be.

— “We made certain deliberate choices and rebranded by changing our tagline from ‘Responsible, Intelligent, Robust’ to ‘News That You (our readers) Need;. That set the direction for us in the last 6-months.”

— “TISG is a news agency, not an institution which is entrusted to uphold democratic ideals.”

—  “TISG is positioned to be a tabloid/magazine and not a socio-political website.”

 

 

 

 

On the contrary, TOC Terry had a great week

The Middle Ground couldn’t resist sniping at TOC aka Terry Xu

THE Online Citizen (TOC) has had a bad week, having had to endure a salvo of fire coming from different sides. First, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam chastised the site for propagating “falsehoods” with regard to the death of 14-year-old Benjamin Lim. Second, The Straits Times ran a story highlighting that the site was now a one-man-show. The third and latest blow dealt to the site comes in the form of a Media Development Authority (MDA) order for The Opinion Collaborative Ltd (TOC Ltd), to return its revenues to a foreign advertiser.

My friend replied:

I tot Terry Xu (aka TOC) had a great week. Get great publicity thanks to minister (eyeballs that TMG, Indi and mothership would kill for), show S’poreans that one man get make a difference* (get minister upset), and best of all fix the “bad” side of TOC. All hail Terry. Btw, I edited his first pieces for TOC. After each rewrite, I mean rewrite, I’d say to Ravi, “Pls ask him to juz take photos.” It was clear from his sentence structures he was thinking in Chinese, then translating into English. He’s come a long way.

Terry posted this recently on what makes him run (Btw, he left out what he told me last year: his feeling that there are injustices that have to made tight or at least publicised.):

I was talking to one of my friends this afternoon and the point about “journalism standards” came out.

My point is this. I don’t call myself as a journalist. It would be an insult to the term if I am titled as one. I am trained as a electronic technician at school and worked as an engineer so I would introduce myself as either of that as my core profession and engineering to me remains as my passion in life. I call myself as a reporter or whatever, solely for the sake of convenience in doing my work.

So whenever anyone from the journalistic community talks about journalism standards** to me, I don’t feel insulted nor disheartened. I just learn whatever I can from the comments and feedback to improve the stuff that I do.

The reason why I am doing what I am doing now is because the people who are trained in their job are not doing their god-given duties/profession properly with pride and integrity. If Singapore had real journalists who covered stories truthfully to the best of their ability, there would be no place for a person like me, someone who is terrible in English and ill-trained in “journalistic practices” doing what is essentially a one-man show.

So Singapore reporters or journalists or whatever, think about the reason why you took up the course and subsequently the job. Is your monthly salary the reason why you decided to work as a reporter or because you had a greater calling in this profession.

Singapore can never change for the better without the media professionals doing their job right.

Additional note – Some have talked about the difficulties that reporters have when facing their editors who are put in place for their pro-government stance. While not dismissing their attempts to push the boundaries, I still note that reporters (of course, grudgingly due the editors) is responsible for the poor literacy of this country. Because, ultimately, the half truths are written and signed in the name of the reporters.

On another point of securing the job as a reporter, a simple point for such reporters to consider, while it is unfair, but wouldn’t they be just perpetuating the whole system that brought about this unfair situation by conforming to the system; giving an impression to the public that nothing is being hidden from their eyes and everything is dandy. That because one needs to be paid, then submit articles so as to support a media outlet to allows the editor to bully the reporters into submission? To me as a layman, it seems just illogical especially when they know exactly who and what is creating this non-conducive environment for their work.

I made a small donation to TOC. I hope readers do too https://www.patreon.com/tocsg?ty=h.

Btw, my dogs are thinking about my suggestion that I stop donating to the RSPCA and to donate instead to TOC. I told them there’s a minister looking out for dogs and cats etc, but there’s no minister to help people like the Lims.

—-

*Those who applied to be NMPs, wanting to make a difference, should take up blogging. Has any NMP in recent memory got a minister so annoyed? I rest my case.

**A tua kee media figure criticised Terry recently in an article in Yahoo. Funny he didn’t tell us that he is a shareholder of the Indian and has some management role there. But this guy has form in not disclosing interests http://www.stockbank.com.sg/news/2412 and http://exchersonesusaurea.blogspot.sg/2011/06/pn-balji-formerly-of-st-paid-spin.html

Anyway what can one expect from someone who bites the hand that fed him well?

 

In defence of TOC

No I’m not defending TOC against the accusations of the Minister for Pets because a Facebook comment says it all:

By hitting out at TOC, Shanmugan completely avoids discussing issues such as the management of police investigations involving minors.
TOC asked many pertinent questions. Asking questions is not same as spreading falsehood.
BTW it is a FACT, not falsehood, that the ministers and police did not respond till now.*

No, I refer to this https://www.facebook.com/notes/karen-chua/tocs-downfall-and-the-unfortunate-case-of-benjamin-lim/1694464534128520?__mref=message_bubble which laments that TOC has fallen from the standards set by people like  Siow Kum Hong and P Ravi and is now in the gutter alongside ASS and TRE.

Speaking as someone who was involved with TOC in those glory days (juz ask Ravi or KH), I think the lady is talking rubbish. TOC is evolving. Under Terry Xu it’s trying to move beyond BS commentary.

Once upon a time, commentary criticising the PAP administration was cutting edge stuff..

Now when there are publications like The Middle Ground*, mothership*** and the Indian doing criticising the pAP administration it’s time to move on from this stuff. It’s no longer edgy to criticise the PAP administration.

TOC may succeed or it may fail but it’s trying to be on the cutting edge in its 10th yr of operation. It got lost when it became Hammer–on -Line. The WP took the publicity and its MPs kept their wallets and purses closed. One of the co-founders never became a WP candidate in GE 2015,

TOC may get lost again, but it’s trying ti remain relevant and edgy.

As for her praise of the Indian Independent, what can I say? If any website needs adult supervision it’s this website. It’s run, I’m told,  by two interns, both with links to the NTU School of Journalism, and their inexperience shows.

— Earlier this yr it carried a glowing story about WP’s Leon the Lion Man. Trouble was theIndian didn’t tell readers that he was a shareholder. A good, reputable publication should have highlighted the fact, to avoid accusations of biasness. 

— And it took a long time for it to correct a mistake (weeks in fact) after it was pointed out to the Indi that it linked to the wrong article.

Coming back to TOC, the fact that the Indian, and mothership are gleefully repeating the remarks of the Minister For Pets show how much they hate and want to dethrone TOC. Power to it. As for TMG, I respect its coverage of its remarks of the Minister For Pets.

TOC must be doing shumething right, attracting the wrath of Shanmugan and his new media pets allies.

Update at 4.30am on 3 March: A great comment by a co-founder (not the wannabe Sith Lord) of TMG on the realese of TMG of a very long document released by the Minister for Pets to Parly on TOC’s falsehoods: “Look, a boy has just died but we really want everyone to know that TOC misreported us.”

At this rate, I’ll have to stop making snide remarks about She who wanted to be a Sith Lord. Keep up the good work TMG.

———

*My Facebook avatar replied: Last para: Sub judice lah. The British have moved on from the sub judice conventions that they passed down to us.

I’ll be doing a piece explaining what he meant.

**Establishment figures set it up: two Paper Imperial Stormtroopers , one of which tot she could be ST editor. This is a Sith Lord post.

***Rumoured to have been funded to the tune of $1m by Philip Yeo (Remember him?) after lobbying by one George Yeo (Heard of him?). The way it has been buying eyeballs indicates that it has serious money to burn.

Why liddat? TOC keeps on dissing Harry

I think the u/m is the only piece of Killer Cheng that I’ve come across that I agree with.

I was about to bitch to Terry Xu that he really had a problem with LKY (Hate him isit?) what with him using recently released docs to cast aspration on Harry’s tears, yet again. Fortunately Calvin Cheng saved me the trouble (see below). The only thing I’d add is that maybe Harry cried because he realised that he could only boss around the people of S’pore, not the people of M’sia.  Btw,I have heard from a very reliable source that in his Raffles College days he was always making fun of the Malays from the Malay states. He considered them, it’s alleged, poor-cousin, country bumpkins.

As to the significance of the Albatross papers, here’s a non-partisan objective view. https://www.facebook.com/1DevadasKrishnadas/posts/482884078539647

Part of which reads

We should not see history from our current lenses but locate its meaning in the context of the time, place and personalities. [This applies esp to TOC’s favourite historian PJ Thum.]

The papers from the Albatross file … do not change the narrative that Singapore and Malaya, which had endeavoured to stay one as they had been under the Empire and to an extent long before, were being thrust into separate directions for political, historical and economic reasons.

These powerful explanatory ingredients were being cooked in the work of the hot wok of a Cold War and strive for self-determination, with the meal further seasoned with the stinging sauces of both the Communist insurgency and Indonesian Confrontation.

We do better to remember that our leaders, as indeed those on the Malaysian side, were men coping with the complexity and challenges of their time in the best way they could with a view to doing the least harm.

The road behind them was torn up by war, insurgency and economic recession and the wider road ahead for former colonies still unmade let alone chartered.

They did their best and as they say, the rest is history.

They should be measured by the future they birthed that is the present we enjoy.

It implictly too disagrees with TOC’s attempts to diss Harry.

As to “Kill the bahies Cheng” other point about S’pore in 1965, I’ve made the same point to Terry and the cybernuts of TRELand. I’ve also made the point that we didn’t go backwards like Rangoon. (But that it was because we had LKY, Dr Goh, and not ex-SAF generals running S’pore: post)

—————–

I do not know why The Online Citizen and its editors seem so intent on revising history and putting Mr. Lee Kuan Yew down.
During LKY’s funeral, they and others kept insisting that Singapore was already rich in 1965 and thus LKY couldn’t have brought Singapore from Third World to First. They posted pictures of high-rise buildings from the Collyer Quay area as proof.
That’s just silly. Yes the colonial heart of Singapore was relatively developed, but it was an enclave for the British. Much of Singapore was still swampland, and parts still were up till the late 70’s.
Now because the ‘Albatross’ files showed that extensive negotiations took place during Separation, TOC seems to be claiming that as a result, we couldn’t have been ejected.
Again, this is naive. Even in a divorce, when one party is unwilling, that party tries to negotiate for the best deal before the divorce. We were asked to leave – but our leaders had to negotiate for the best terms possible, including the Water Agreements that still provide us water cheaply till this day 50 years on.
Finally, they seem to claim that just because others said LKY seemed pleased at the Separation, and that there is some evidence that he may actually have supported some reasons for Separation, his tears on TV must have been fake.
Human beings are complex people. During times of grief, there can be relief. And even during times of relief, there can be worry and regret. After years of fighting with the Ultras, I am sure LKY must also have been relieved at finally separating. But being a Malayan at heart, he must also have been upset. Any human being who has gone through separation must know that it’s always a mixed-bag of emotions.
I have always maintained that Singapore needs good opposition and critics to progress. What’s keeping us from progressing is the quality of the critical voices at the moment.

Lest we forget

http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2015/03/lee-kuan-yews-singapore

And he was right about the importance of being bi-lingual

Good for out brains: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-35170392

TOC does a gd deed/ Who was GG trying to fix?

When I first saw this https://www.facebook.com/TheIndependentSG/videos/647927852015527/?theater, my FB avatar went WTF! on Facebook. A beefy, young man with three children, on welfare, KPKBing and then trying to fix a welfare officer. And he and his wife could afford video recording eqpt to boot? Makes one agree with one Harry about those who sponge off tax-payers.

Well TOC explained that things were not as they seemed. Example: guy was really seriously ill despite being tua chiak  http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/12/man-receiving-msfs-assistance-did-not-intend-to-cause-trouble-with-video/?utm_content=buffere33a2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

It was a video that should not have gone on-line. It seems that one Gilbert Goh (yup one of the usual suspects) who put in on-line with the consent of the welfare couple. They told tOC they regretted filming and making the video public. Not surprising given the nasty comments they attracted from me and nany others. Juz wondering who GG was trying to fix? Social activists and ordinary S’poreans who want the PAP administration to spend more on welfare.

But here’s a further twist to the plot. A social activist and wannabe politican (whom I respect) ctiticised TOC for interviewing the couple with questions along the lines of “Why have three kids if you also need welfare”. He called “insensitive” to Ravi’s plight.

My FB avater defended TOC’s piece

— I for one wanted to know why if so poor have two kids and want a third. His explanation that he had two when he had a job, and that the third was conceived before he became unable to work means that if I see comments about “why poor but still want kids”, I’ll be able to kick ass.

— I’ve not spoken to our mutual friend in TOC but I think that TOC (rightly perceived in my view) that the video was an own goal. That many S’poreans (self included) had questions about the guy himself rather than his plight. It also undermined the growing view that more should be spent on welfare. The video is the kind of stuff that a troll (again including self) would use to counter Dr Chee. And while from yr perspective of the importance of human dignity it was insensitive, the interview showed me (al least) that the guy and wife were not irresponsible bums and scroungers. They had problems, thru no fault of their own, and needed a helping hand. They would be in the words of the Victorians and the majority of PAP voters “the deserving poor”..

I understand that my avatar was right about TOC’s motive.

Three cheers for TOC for giving us the details to show us that the couple are otdinary S’poreans who need a helping hand.  And a “Dislike” to Gilbert Goh and my activist friend. He didn’t see the big picture issue that TOC saw.

Btw, I’ll blog on a group of S’poreans who really think the PAP administration owes them a living. In fact, they feel more entitled than our ministers. No wonder the PAP gets a 70% majority.

Haze, 9/11 & TOC

PM got really lucky on 9/11? Or did the 9th Immortal* use his newly acquired powers to fix the weather? Imagine if 9/11 was as hazy as last Friday (Schools had to be closed and in the morning, the Pollutants Standards Index,PSI, hit 341- the highest level this year.). PM would most probably not have got the 10 point swing that had the anti-PAP cyberwarriors like Constance Singham choking on their venom from their fangs https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/09/16/social-activist-feminist-in-denial/. A five point swing would have been more likely, something which I tot probable based on my analysis that East Coast and Marine Parade would not fall, but Aljunied would repent

In the run up to 9/11, if the weather had been like that in the last week TOC (WP’s Hammer Online) would be pushing the line that the haze is almost all the fault of the PAP administration: like it did on Friday

The Singapore government has a duty to address the annual issue and to stop pushing the blame to “uneducated” villagers and companies that are almost never prosecuted in any way. The residents of Singapore deserves a better answer than being urged to bear with it and told that things are beyond our control.”

http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/09/is-spore-helpless-about-the-haze-not-really/

I’ll go into what the Hammer Online TOC wants the govt to do one of these days. But until then bear in mind that anti-PAP cyberwarriors accused the govt of using salt to induce rain juz before F1. When the govt denied this, TOC said the govt was being less than open because the M’sians and Indons might have used salt to induce rain (Wow everything blame PAP isit?). Btw, TOC and the anti-PAP cyberwarriors didn’t use the the word “salt”. They used the term “sodium chloride”. To make the seeding sound more “sinister”?

It’s stories like this that “double confirm” the PAP administration’s assertion that TOC is indeed “political” and worthy of being hantamed, left, right and in the balls. When it was “gazetted” yrs ago, I tot the action unfair: now I’m not so sure.(Disclosure: I helped out at TOC when Ravi was chief editor,)

TOC doesn’t respect the decision of 70% of voters to support the PAP? It like, Dr Chee, wants the 30% to rule over the 70% isit?

“At home, anger at the current political situation is palpable [Huh? OK on TRE] and some have resorted to action [TRE cybernuts are shoutong obscenities and cursing their fellow S’poreans? Nothing unusual there.] . If the PAP is content to label this group of citizens as the ‘noisy minority’, … For these people, the prospect of being unable to bring about political change through the ballot box* only makes the PAP’s claim of legitimate power sound dangerously vacuous.”

https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/will-the-real-sdp-dr-chee-pls-stand-up/

(He forgot that over the years this 30% of voters have been able to get the support of swing voters in Hougang, Aljunied and Punggol East. Juz because the SDP can’t win, doesn’t mean that others can’t. Go ask the WP. Yes, it’s an uneven field, but winning is not impossible. Takes time, patience and maturity: virtues that Dr Chee may not have.

Yes the minority has rights, but so does the 70%. Democracy is not about majoritism, but neither is it about dictatorship by the minority.

Here’s an extract (emphasis mine) from a BBC article that Doc Chee and TOC should bear in mind when demanding that the views of the 30% must prevail (because the 30% agrees with their “right” views?)

Clem Attlee’s Labour government had a massive Commons majority and an undoubted mandate, but had only 16 peers in the Lords. Theoretically, their Lordships could have frustrated Attlee at every turn, throwing out or wrecking every bill in their programme, but that would have risked retaliation in the form of outright abolition – so, instead, a deal was struck.

Peers would not oppose measures promised – “foreshadowed” – in the government’s manifesto, and therefore assumed to have the endorsement of the electorate, at second or third Reading. In other words, the government would get the legislation it had promised to voters, and therefore would not have to get bogged down in an Asquith-style struggle with the Lords – Addison was a veteran of the Asquithian Liberal Party, and would doubtless have preferred not to repeat its epic battles with peers.

Cranborne spelled the new doctrine out in the debate on the King’s Speech in July 1945:

“Whatever our personal views, we should frankly recognise that these proposals were put before the country at the recent general election and the people of this country, with full knowledge of these proposals, returned the Labour Party to power. The government may, therefore, I think, fairly claim that they have a mandate to introduce these proposals. I believe it would be constitutionally wrong, when the country has so recently expressed its view, for this House to oppose proposals which have been definitely put before the electorate.”

He reserved “full liberty of action” on legislation not included in an election manifesto.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-34340715

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*Funny that no-one has accused LKY of using his unearthly powers to transform Oppo votes into PAP votes. But Uncle Redbean comes close.

The final result was just too incredible and unbelievable. This must be the biggest mystery of this GE. It was like a strange event in the Bermuda Triangle that defied all logic and reasons. How could a SDP team that was technically superior or at worst equal to the PAP team lost so badly?

Call it a miraculous win for the PAP team. The other mystery must be the near loss of the WP team in Aljunied GRC. The voters could not switch camp just like that, and without a big crisis. The AHPETC was no crisis but a red herring. The voters of Aljunied were not so daft not to see it to affect their voting decision.

Yes, the truth is stranger than fiction.

http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.sg/2015/09/the-sdp-team-that-could-not-have-lost.html

I’m sure that he, like Goh Meng Seng, believes that UFOs are aliens visiting.

 

 

 

 

Auntie, good accounting is a national issue/ TOC bans avatar again

People are interested in national issues, not just town council matters, Sylvia Lim says (TOC). Well the need for a town council to have an accounting system that is fit for purpose is also a national issue. OK I exaggerate. It’s an issue at least in areas where the WP is contesting, is a fairer statement.

Auntie Lim*, Gilbert Goh**, TOC (As SPH and MediaCorp are to the PAP, so TOC** is to the WP) and TRE are trying to equate the lapses at PA and other government entities and departments identified by the Auditor-General with that of the the lapses at AHPETC identified by the Auditor-General.

The big difference is that the while the Auditor-General  says nasty things about the way the govt bodies like the PA does things, he doesn’t say that they don’t have an accounting system that is not fit for purpose. He is able to pick out lapses in the PA and other govt bodies because they have proper accounting systems. The accounting systems allow the lapses to be noticed.

But he says that the AHPETC accounting system sucks so badly that no proper records are kept.

The Auditor-General pointed out, inter alia, that AHPTEC did not “a system to monitor arrears of conservancy and service charges accurately and hence there is no assurance that arrears are properly managed”.and “No proper system to ensure … proper accounts and records were kept as required by the Town Councils Act.” (Related post https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/conflicts-of-interest-what-conflicts/

Because proper records are not kept, no-one knows if there are irregularities.  There may be none but there may be some or many: who knows? And what if there are major irregularities?

The way things are going, only a PAP win in Aljunied will ensure that the truth comes out on whether anything is wrong. WP is dragging its feet on setting the system right. It is moving to the Bishan/ Toa Payoh model of directly managing the cleaning etc, which will allow it to say it has “moved on” without resolving the issue of irregular accounts.

Someone posted this analysis on Facebook

Having read the full report, the responses by APHTEC and AGO and PWC’s responses I would say the following.

1. That management and supervision for the first two years were sorely lacking , to the extent that corporate governance is needed , FMSS and FMSI was allowed both management powers, payment powers without supervision.

2. Whether current WP members accept it or not. There is a difference between Management Companies appointing their own people to the TC as GM’s when the management companies are owned by the GOV or GLCs and hence there is no direct pecuniary interests and when in the case of FMSS everything is owned and attributed to Miss How and her Husband and there is a direct pecuniary interests.

3. I could accept the need to appoint FMSS. I cannot accept the need to appoint FMIS whereby the shareholders were both the deputy GMS for lift EMS services. To the extent that there are only a few TC management companies and they refused to help , can the same be said of lift management companies ?

4. To an extent the problem can be laid at the head of the Sec Gen and Low. The people under his leadership trusted low and low I believe trusted miss how.

5. The trust was built over her management of the TC in Hougang for many years and it just seems that when faced with the problem of integrating seven town councils which in itself will be the largest town council in SINGAPORE, she lacked both the management and accounting expertise necessary to integrate all the bits and pieces.

6. FMSS at the end of the day seems to have bitten of more than they could handle, likewise FMSS was not adequately supervised by all the MPs and the leadership within the party for whatever reason.

He could have added, but didn’t, that the WP TC Chair and Vice are lawyers, albeit one was from SMU law school. And there is another MP that is a lawyer, a former partner is a top US law firm. Btw, one, M Ravi called these lawyers three,”cow dung” in another context.

One wonders why they didn’t draw up better conflict of interest mgt rules for the TC’s consideration. And if they did, why were these not implemented? Because Low trusted the Ms How?

Let’s be very clear, the PAP administration didn’t bully or fix the WP on this issue of bad record keeping. This was self-inflicted.The managing agent bears a lot of responsibility for the state of affairs. It didn’t keep proper records of who it was paying, and for what purpose. The AHPETC failed in its duty to monitor what the managing agent was doing.

The inability of the AHPETC to keep proper records is now personal.

I now live in Marine Parade GRC (Joo Chiat kanna rezoned). I’ve voted for the WP since I was able to vote (bicyle thieves, an ex-Woodbridge patient) because I believe that a one-party state is bad for S’pore; but do I want to live in a GRC managed by the WP, a party that couldn’t keep proper records, and is in denial over this fact? And which throws smoke on the issue. It can’t bluff me because I was a Hon Treasurer of a club https://atans1.wordpress.com/2014/11/23/ahpetc-sadly-pap-ib-gets-it-right/.

And I’m not alone: the neighbours (they are accountants, lawyers etc), and the really real Marine Parade residents I talk to, are wondering if the bad record keeping will continue. We know WP can keep the area clean and tidy, but can it keep proper financial records? https://atans1.wordpress.com/2015/08/16/pap-wp-dont-do-accouting/

 

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*Ms Sylvia Lim says the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC), has been singled out for “exemplary treatment” by the government.
She also called on the govt to “act with similar vigour, by withholding grants and commencing legal proceedings”, against gov’t depts and stat boards which have been found with financial irregularities in the Auditor-General’s Report.
Ms Lim made the call in her court affidavit on the hearing on the MND’s application on Monday.

(TOC)

**A statement seeking support from the public has been posted online as a petition calling for the government to investigate fully the recent slew of financial and accounting irregularities unearthed in the Auditor-General’s Office (AGO) Report.

“We… hope our government will investigate thoroughly the AGO audit lapses and come up with a official statement to address the concerns of the people,” the statement, posted on change.org, said.

“The lapses are both glaring and shocking as Singaporeans have all along place their trust in a government that has enjoyed above-board corruption-free governance for a very long time,” the statement by Gilbert Goh said.

(TOC again)

***TOC has again banned my Facebook avatar from commenting on TOC’s Facebook posts. It’s TOC’s right. But so like the PAP. But then WP is nothing more than PAP Lite and TOC is its poodle. And let’s see if a TOC founder stands as a WP candidate this GE.

Cover-up in action?

(Update on 19th June 6.30 am

The Singapore SEA Games Organising Committee (SINGSOC) has apologised for the confusion that led to many spectators being locked out of the 28th SEA Games closing ceremony at the National Stadium …

While SINGSOC acknowledged it could have done better in managing the situation, it rejected suggestions that tickets to the closing ceremony were oversold ,,,”we would like to confirm that there were still sufficient seats in the stadium for all those who came for the event/”

While it is unclear exactly how many spectators, most of whom had purchased tickets — which cost up to S$40 each — were locked out of the closing ceremony, it is believed to be in the hundreds.

They were prevented from entering the stadium as many of those already inside had waited around the inner concourse area after they failed to locate their seats due to the stadium lights having gone dark for the ceremony.

But safety concerns meant the gates had to be closed to prevent the congestion from worsening if more were allowed in …

Today

What do you think?

Let’s see if the refunds are to hundreds or thousands of people)

===================

TOC and the constructive nation-building media yesterday reported that ticket-holders were turned away from the closing ceremony of SEA Games.

The local media played down the incident. Example CNA said:

Scores of ticket holders shut out of SEA Games closing ceremony

Several people told Channel NewsAsia they had SEA Games closing ceremony tickets, but were turned away because they were told the National Stadium was “full”.

TOC screamed:

Chaos at Sports Hub: Thousands with tickets left stranded outside for Closing Ceremony

CNA also reported this which shows that SINGSOC downplayed the incident:

In a statement posted on the SEA Games 2015 Facebook page, the Singapore SEA Games Organising Committee (SINGSOC) said entry points needed to be adjusted on Tuesday evening as a “significant proportion of the spectators were at the gates just before the start of the ceremony”.

It added that this was so spectators could be seated as quickly as possible. “Consequently, some gates had to be closed for safety reasons.” 

“The organising committee apologises for the inconvenience caused and disappointment of those affected. We will offer a full refund to anyone who had purchased a ticket and was unable to be seated. In addition, you will receive the supporters’ medallion,” SINGSOC said.

If this follow-up report by TOC is even half-right, there seems to be a cover-up at work:

TOC has reason to believe that the crowding at the SEA Games closing ceremony was caused by SINGSOC over-issuing tickets, for fear of not having a max-out crowd, like what happened at the opening ceremony. Queries have been sent to SINGSOC.

http://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2015/06/story-behind-stadium-gate-jams-singsoc-over-catered-on-seats/

Cynical over-selling without concern for safety?

All this brings me to the importance of social media and new media outlets like TOC

During the Parliament debate on Tuesday (10 Mar), Mr Khaw also took the opportunity in his speech to hit out at social media.

He said, “In 2011, many Singaporeans were swayed by the social media commentaries, and worried that the Singapore Dream would not be available to future generations. We have proved through action that the worry was unnecessary.”

“After four years of hard work, we have cleared the backlog and placed our home-ownership policy on even firmer foundation. Every generation will be able to afford their own HDB homes. This is our promise,” he added.

But perhaps it is social media and its cousin new media which is keeping the government on their toes and prodding Mr Khaw and his team to do better for Singaporeans?

We need protection from the Harassment Protection Act?

I don’t know what were the PAP administration’s intentions when it passed the Protection From Harassment Act. But based on the reports of the constructive, nation-building media of the comments made by comments and commentaries by Judases journalists , I got the impression that the Act was meant to protect the ordinary S’porean who could not afford to sue for defamation. It was an “affordable” remedy for us mere mortals. not multi-millionaire ministers or govt agencies etc.

It was a shield.

The PAP administration’s public statements certainly did not suggest that it was meant to be added to the tool-kit of sledge hammers and power drills that the state, rich people and others could use to “suppress” criticism; something the usual human rights kay pohs said it would be used for.

Well the ang moh tua kee kays have been proven right. It is a sword, not a shield.

Mindef successfully applies under Protection From Harassment Act against Dr Ting, TOC

That it happened to TOC, the promoter and champion of irresponsible, bullying hooligans like Roy Ngerng, his side-kick New Citizen Han Hui Hui, and Amos Yee, Mummy’s Pet, is no consolation; though it might seem poetic justice of sorts.

And it could have been worse. A charge for making comments about the late Harry Lee that were likely to cause distress to people who saw the comments was dropped by the prosecution in Amos Yee’s case. The charge was earlier stood down. The charge was based on the above act. If anyone can defend himself, it’s certainly Harry.

TRE: cyber-sleuth extraordinaire

TRE should be commended for telling us that Victor Lye who is really work hard for PAP in Aljunied

is the Chief Executive of Shenton Insurance Pte Ltd [Link].

He must be a very lucky CEO to be given 1.5 years leave by his company, so as to enable him to “focus on his grassroots work”.

According to information from ACRA, Shenton Insurance is owned by Parkway Holdings. In other words, it is a subsidiary of Parkway Holdings:

…

If Mr Lye were to be an opposition member, would he have been given 1.5 years leave to do “grassroots work” by Shenton Insurance too?

What do you think?

http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/12/17/paps-victor-lye-given-15-years-leave-to-do-grassroots-work/

And telling us that

While Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee is busy trying to “fix” opposition town council AHPETC, his own Jurong Town Council appears to be clueless in stopping rats running wild in his GRC.

A Facebook user uploaded videos and photos on his page yesterday (16 Dec) of what appeared to be rats scurrying around a grass patch:

Video: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10202327035292102

http://www.tremeritus.com/2014/12/17/while-desmond-fixes-ahpetc-rats-run-wild-in-his-grc/

Gd investigative work using Google. If only TOC would do this too rather than behaving like the WP’s version of the PAP’s ST. But then TRE’s public face is an IT scholar, and elite school-boy that does credit to Catholic High (unlike a certain blur drum major)..

Julius Caesar was wrong about these anti-PAP activists

TOC Policy Exchange on CPF – rethinking the system

When I saw the above photo in TOC, I couldn’t help think that  Juius Caesar was wrong when he said,

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o’ nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.

(Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar scene ii)

Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Dr James Gomez, Dr Paul Tambyah and Mr Goh Meng Seng don’t have a lean and hungry look.

And they certainly think too much. As to dangerous what do you think?

Only the presenter and a blogger (the two tiny ones in the centre) fit the description of “dangerous”.

GMS used to pretty trim, now his belly is as big as Garbra Gomez’s and KenJ’s. They not doing the rounds like NSP’s P Ravi? He lost a lot of weight by climbing stairs distributing NSP materials to HDB residents, getting a great workout in return. And all the WP MPs and NCMPs are trim. They do the rounds of their areas.

Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Dr James Gomez, Dr Paul Tambyah and Mr Goh Meng Seng  were taking part in “TOC Policy Exchange on CPF – rethinking the system”. Do watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmViCNPF_vc

And donate to TOC:

TOC’s Policy Exchange discussion on the CPF. We thank the various members on the panel who have contributed to the discussion. MOM and CPFB were invited to join us, but have declined.

Regrettably, we had to scale down to size of the event due to lack of funding. If you would like TOC to continue holding such discussions, please do help us with funding. To note, our forums are open to sponsorship.

Finally, do remember that Dr Paul Tambyah is an active SDP member and a professor at NUS. Gone are the days when people liked him accepted invitations to join the PAP without thinking. Or when dabbling in Oppo politics was a no-no for NUS academics. They could be investigated and sacked.

S’pore is changing despite the PAP’s hegemony.

TOC: Nine “Main Stories”, only one original

I was planning to write a totful, analytical piece abt the changes at TOC since the GE of 2011. There had been major changes twice since then in the way TOC was run.

But the front page of TOC (at the time of writing compels) me to put up this short note.

There are nine Main Stories, of which only one is an original piece. Of the rest, two three are media releases (no, I’m not bitching abt them because they give useful info) but the remaining six five Main Stories are from other blogs. And the original article is not a gd piece of writing. It’s a rant.

And the reprints (two from the same person) are OK reads, nothing v.v good. Today’s Main Story, written by one KennethJ, is not even that recent. It was written shumetime back.

While today’s front page, is extreme, I’ve noticed that ever since Ravi the do-gooder stepped down*, there has been a growing use of “reprints”. In June, I sent an email to a member of the Core Team asking jokingly if KennethJ was paying for ad space or had taken over TOC**. On 2 June and 3 June this year, out of the nine Main Stories TOC carried, he had three articles (I’m not sure if they were reprints from his blog) and one praising him to the skies.***

Is TOC becoming an aggregator? Is it becoming an aggregator out of choice or because of a dearth of original material ?Remember it’s so easy nowadays to start a blog, and aggregators like SGDaily and S’pore Surf draw attention to new bloggers by helping promote pieces they think should be of interest.

And why is the editorial team not writing more themselves? Ravi and before him, Andrew Loh, used to write many of the original articles that appeared in TOC.

———————–

*I helped him edit and the new team asked me twice to help edit but never used my edits (their right) and I never ever got another piece to edit from them (fair enough, not wasting the time of both sides if they don’t like my edits)

**Remember he tried to takeover SDP only to fail and look silly, dumb and petulant in the process. Chiam (his mentor) came out looking silly but recovered quickly his credibility. KennethJ never did.

***And between 7 July- 10th July, there were two articles by him (again not sure if they were reprints) and one abt him out of the nine Main Stories.

.

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