Singapore falls even further in press freedom
In its third year, Singapore has slipped from 140th position to 146th position this year in ranking by
Reporters Without Borders.
Area : 620 sq.km.
Population : 4,330,000.
Languages : English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil.
Head of state : President S.R. Nathan.
Head of government : Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Singapore - Annual report 2006
More than a year after coming to power, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, son of the country’s strong man, Lee Kuan Yew, had not begun any liberalisation of the media. Despite statements in support of an “open” society, the ruling party still does not brook any criticism.
Questioned by the international press about Singapore’s position in the 2005 World Press Freedom Index (140th out of 167), senior minister Goh Chok Tong called it a “subjective measure computed through the prism of western liberals”. He also defended the Singapore model for controlling the media, saying that a press that was too free was “not necessarily good for the entire country”.
Relatively independent for regional and international news, when it comes to domestic politics Singapore’s press, still controlled by associates of Lee Kuan Yew, is in the grip of a rigorous self-censorship. The government threatens journalists, foreign media and opposition with defamation suits seeking dizzying amounts in damages.
The government uses around a score of draconian laws, particularly those on the granting of licences for publications, on films, religious and political website managers and on national security, to stifle any criticism.
Freelance film-maker Martyn See was accused of breaking the law on films by putting out a “partisan” documentary, “Singapore Rebel”, a portrait of an opposition figure Chee Soon Juan. In August police seized all copies of the film and the videotapes on which it was recorded. The film puts See at risk of a penalty of up to two years in prison or a fine of almost 500,000 euros.
In 2005, Hong Kong-based financial website FinanceAsia.com, apologised and agreed to pay compensation after the authorities threatened a lawsuit against it over an article it posted on a Singaporean investment company with links to the government.
Mdm Ho Ching must step down as head of Temasek
I'm sure many people's impression of CSJ is not very good, due to the media portray of him as either a raving mad man, or a troublemaker that is a danger to singapore. I once had that impression too. But then I started reading a couple of his books, simply out of curiosity initally, but found that he actually made alot of sense. Sure, some of his antics or articles may be abit over the top for local tastes, but I think we should delve more in depth to simply see the gist of what he was trying to say. For example, the following article makes complete sense to me if you ask me. When will Singaporeans get the transparency out of Temasek that we deserve? Is it another NKF in the making? But this time, with no govt backed entity such as the SPH going against it, who can make them disclose anything? Until now, Temasek has remained dumb on the question as to whether they had
knowingly bought full control into Shin Corp despite the Thai laws not allowing them to. They are simply not bothered to even reply to their shareholders(ie Singaporeans) queries.
Media Release: Mdm Ho Ching must step down as head of Temasek
20 Oct 06
Given the revelations of the scandalous deal between Temasek Holdings and Shin Corp which continue to trickle from Bangkok, it is impossible for Singaporeans not to take notice.
The transaction has not only provoked outrage among the Thai people, leading to the souring of relations between Singapore and Thailand.
This reinforces the Singapore Democrats' stand that the Government has to get out of being directly involved in business as it arouses, not without reason, suspicion in the countries in which it makes deals.
In addition, with the questionable performance of the Temasek-linked companies and some high profile debacles, including
- The sinking of Micropolis which cost Singaporeans $630 million
- The ill-advised acquisition of Optus by SingTel which stands to face a write-down of between $5 billion to $8 billion,
- And the present eruption of the Shin Corp deal in which due diligence was not exercised which may yet incur a loss of up to $3 billion
it is clear that Madam Ho Ching, wife of PM Lee Hsien Loong, has failed as head of Temasek. Her decision to buy into Shin Corp has even provoked a criminal investigation into the deal in Thailand.
And while Mr Thaksin Shinawatra and his family are laughing all the way to the bank, Temasek has lost the hard-earned money of Singaporeans which now looks unrecoverable.
While all these developments have taken place, the Government and the company continue to remain tight-lipped apart from the few platitudes offered by the Prime Minister that serve no purpose or have any meaning.
In light of all this the SDP calls on Madam Ho Ching to resign as chief executive of Temasek Holdings.
In addition, in the interest of transparency and accountability Singapore should hold its own public inquiry into the affair and have Temasek come clean about all the related matters. There are reports that the non-transparent deal was influenced by members of the Lee family.
If Temasek is indeed a commercial entity that adheres to the corporate code of conduct, then it will make itself transparent to its shareholders, that is, Singaporeans.
Singaporeans must be given all the information to determine for themselves if there were any wrong-doings by all the players involved.
Chee Soon Juan
Secretary-General
Singapore Democratic PartyLabels: Chee Soon Juan, Mdm Ho Ching, sdp, singapore, Temasek
On traffic wardens again
Looks like I'm not the only one with
issues with the traffic wardens. Some
other folks have started writing in to the ST Forum and I would be looking forward to an explanation they give and see if the answers did indeed come out from a standard template. :)
I would like to see a fairer system rather than the current one where its our words against an public servants, and 9 out of 10 times, our voices are drowned out and simply ignored. I understand that there are some trials being conducted to use the car IU for parking etc, but that would still be a pretty long way to go before it can be used. And lets hope that no EZ-link kinda
cock upsissues occurs.
For now, I think the cheapest and easiest way to overcome the problem would be to equip the wardens with digital cameras, take pics of the offending car and its coupons as proof. One problem though, they might have some difficultly holding their umbrellas.
Labels: camera, fairer system, traffic, wardens
Numerology
I always hated numbers and I never believed much in horoscopes etc, but this have got to be one of the closest that I would ever come to acknowledging one. You should probably try it out for yourself. I just tried the
life path and it seems freakingly close. More on it
hereJust for the record, I'm Path 8 and SHE is Path 5, and this is what I got.
5 and 8: This is a relationship between two individuals who don't always follow the rules, and they might find themselves locking horns on the rules of a relationship. The 8 is used to being the boss and dominating most situations. The 5 seeks freedom from any restraints. The 8 is focused on success, particularly in a financial sense, and the 5 doesn't even want to think about money. It will take careful planning and compromise to make this relationship work.Freakishly accurate down to the very last word.
Would want to try out more of the stuff on the site, but I freaking hate numbers and there's like no automated calculator program or something and everything had to be done by hand, and I seriously had enough of calculations for the week. Someone go write a program/script for automated calculations please... haha..
Labels: Numerology
