Singapore Notes

Before the advent of the internet, the best modes of spreading news were telephone, telegram and tell-a-girl. Latter must still work, since Senior of State for Finance Josephine Teo and Senior Minister of State for Health Amy Khor have just been charged to explain the details of the Pioneer Generation Package (PGP).

Sure, everybody knows about the PGP, thanks to the close resemblance to the other hated acronym, PWP. 7 in 10 have heard of it, but 2 out of 5 could not name a single benefit. One plausible cause is that, according to the original roll-out plan, letters informing the eligibles will be sent out only in August 2014, a date closer to the rumored up-coming general election. The other reason could be because there are no real benefits of speak of.

To recap, the PGP has three main prongs:
a) Subsidy for bills at hard-to-find Specialist Outpatient Clinics (SOC);
b) Medisave top-ups, which are useless if you don't have real hard cash for the co-payment;
c) MediShield Life, which is yet to be fully defined, but guaranteed to raise health care cost with higher than existing premiums for PGP and non-PGP types.

Teo and Khor may explain it differently, but they really should consider packaging free chicken-rice during their exhortation plan. Packet meals - like those distributed to boost supporter turn-outs at election rallies - fill an empty stomach, not indigestable subsidies.

That's the easy part. The difficulty will be explaining why those born one day after 31 December 1949, or obtained citizenship one day after 31 December 1986, are entitled to zilch. Not even a cheap consolation prize like the Gift Pack they are doling out to babies born next year. For a senior citizen's rumbling stomach, even baby food will suffice.

Worst case scenario

If the Singapore Police Force (SPF) is still having nightmares about General Custer's last stand at Little Bighorn, it's understandable. The general was also outnumbered by Indians. This time the numbers could be bigger, 10,000 if everything goes according to plan. This time, they are decidedly determined not to be caught flat-footed (again).

Yesterday the police reminded organisers of public events that a permit is generally required in Singapore for any assembly or procession under the Public Orders Act if the gathering intends to:
a) Demonstrate support for or opposition to the views or actions of any person, group of persons or any government;
b) Publicise a cause or campaign; or
c) Mark or commemorate any event.

A former committee member of the Pilipino Independence Day Council of Singapore (PIDCS) said previous applications for a permit, such as for one similar gathering at Hong Lim Park, were submitted 1 1/2 months to 3 weeks in advance. The police guidelines do accept submissions as late as 4 days before the actual event. If partial or full road closure is required, applications must be turned in at least 21 days beforehand.

June 8 is 46 days away. Kind of early to speculate if PIDCS co-chairman Rychie Andres will stand by his earlier statement about going ahead with the big bash at Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza. Police said they have heard nothing from the organisers. The Philippines Embassy is awfully quiet too. Former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada is busy in Hong Kong apologizing for the death of 8 tourists in the August 2010 Manila hostage crisis. The loudest ringing endorsements seem to emanate from Tan Chuan-Jin, Lee Hsien Loong, Warren Fernandez, Kirsten Han - the list is long, and some quarters say, smacks of treachery.

But hey, rules are rules. The PIDCS may be simply taking a leaf from the elections department, giving the shortest notice permissible so that the opposing side has the least time to react.

We don't know where Michael Barr get his facts when he wrote that the trigger for the fresh wave of xenophobic fear is traceable to former Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng’s 2005 decision to engage in massive intake of foreign workers to avoid an anticipated recession. We do know that a "population czar" behind that National Population and Talent Division (NPTD) was responsible for the flood of immigrants that has wreaked havoc on our infrastructure and now threatening the very fabric of national unity.

We are not the only one facing decimation by pro-alien policies. But at least Ed Miliband, the leader of UK’s ousted Labour Party, has the grace to admit that his party got it wrong on immigration and being worried about the arrival of foreign workers in Britain is not necessarily racist:

“Worrying about immigration, talking about immigration, thinking about immigration, does not make them bigots. Not in any way. They are anxious about the future.”

If only our own politicians recognise the folly of their ways. We hope Barr is wrong, but his thesis is that the hole that has been dug will certainly bury us all:

"The government is desperately trying to modify its development model to reduce reliance on foreign workers — for example increasing the level of prefabrication in construction processes — but there is no sign that it is willing to seek out a radically new development model that will solve the problem."

He must be reading into acting minister for manpower Tan Chuan-Jin's words when the general told Wall Street Journal, “We will continue to welcome global investment and manpower because it provides the basis for a vibrant and dynamic economy”. Put plainly, regardless of what voters may feel or say, being increasingly outnumbered in their workplaces, communities and public spaces by a population of foreign workers is the new normal.

If there's one good reason for writing her book "A Heart For Freedom", it is on page 262. Six years after the 1989 event, the mainstream media (Washington Post, New York Times) had shifted the responsibility for the Tiananmen massacre from the Chinese government to the students. For Chai Ling, the bottom line about Tiananmen is that student leaders had never expected, hoped for, or anticipated the Chinese government would actually open fire on its own citizens. She led an orderly withdrawal from the Square, but the solders had already started shooting on the western side of the city, where citizens of Beijing took to the streets in protest. Write she must, "so that the next movement could be grounded in truth, not based on cover-up lies by the government".

Even when she had earned a Havard degree after escaping to America, employers there were afraid her association - she was one of the "21 Most Wanted " students at Tiananmen Square - would affect their China business. Younger sister graduated top of her class in medical school, but was not allowed to practice medicine in China because of Chai Ling's involvement. Her father, who joined her in America in 1996, was given a special message from China, "If Chai Ling continues to join the movement, there will not be any good consequences for all of you".

We don't know what kind of pressure Dinesh Raman's mother faced when she decided to throw in the towel and relinquish all claims, disputes, issues and matters whatsoever relating to, arising from or in connection with the untimely death of their son while under custody of the state. We do know she was not in court when the "amicable settlement" was read. She probably didn't want to hear the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) running him down as a secret society member who did not complete his O-levels. Little do the officials understand about the love of a mother.

The authorities may think that the financial settlement - a sum that is not disclosed - will effect closure, but history is not complete until the final story is told.

Tiananmen 1989, NOT Ngee Ann City Civic Plaza

Singapore had 5 attorneys-general (A-G) in the past 8 years, compared to the nearly 40 years served by preceding incumbents Tan Boon Teik (25 years) and Chan Sek Keong (14 years).

Steven Chong, 2012-2014
Sudresh Menon, 2010-2012
Walter Woon, 2008-2010
Chao Hick Tin, 2006-2008
Chan Sek Keong, 1992-2006
Tan Boon Teck, 1967–1992

Reacting to the new normal, lawyers speculate that higher powers "desire to limit" the office terms, given the wide extent of the A-G's powers. That could be sheer balderdash, as the political incumbents have always weighted heavily on continuity, and sneered at the slightest hint of change.

During Chong's term, one senior civil servant was acquitted of corruption charges, and an academic had his conviction overruled on appeal - after serving an undeserved jail term. And if the public prosecutors don't have a water-tight case, the pastor of a mega church may have reason to rejoice. The mainstream media argue that charges against former chiefs of the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) were tendered before he was sworn into office, but much of the mud slinging took place during his term. High profile cases like these must have justified setting up a Media Relation Unit to soothe over controversial charge decisions.

Which makes one wonder why South Korea's Prime Minister had to resign his office. After all, he was not piloting the 6,825-tonne ferry Sewol, nor was he directly in charge of the lax safety standards that may have led to the disaster. President Park Geun Hye voiced profound regret at the systemic and regulatory failings, and could have fired some lower ranking front line officers. Then again, standards of accountability are higher in a First World country.

Spiderman II is hitting the big screen this week. Everybody wants to be a superhero these days.

The Education Study Team (1979) that revamped the education system was first dubbed the "Daring Dozen". Detractors said they dared to show up for work at 8 am on the dot, and knock off at 5 pm sharp. Principals remember them for the fear they struck into their hearts by announcing themselves on the telephone as "Goh's men".

It appears the 2001 cohort of anointed political stars were christened the "Super Seven". The 4 that still remain are Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Khaw Boon Wan, Ng Eng Hen, and Vivian Balakhrishnan. 3 fell out of the constellation: Raymond Lim, Cedric Foo and Balaji Sadasivan.

The 2006 round-up groomed 3 more millionaire ministers, Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew and Ministers in the Prime Minister's Office Grace Fu and S. Iswaran. "Tiresome Trio" comes to mind.

The new ensemble from 2011 comprise Tan Chuan-Jin (Manpower), Lawrence Wong (Culture, Community and Youth), Heng Swee Keat (Education), Chan Chun Sing (Social and Family Development) and Sim Ann (Minister of State for Education and Communications and Information). The freshly knighted "Fabulous Five" is expected to form the core of the People's Action Party's fourth generation leadership.

The youngest of the lot, at age 39, hails from the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD), which gave us the nefarious Population White Paper. Putting 6.9 million people on an island of 710 square kilometers is akin to loading the Sewol ferry with 3608 tons of cargo - over three times more than the maximum recommended weight of 987 tons. But at least she doesn't declare open war on the "lunatic fringe" and call citizens names like "bigots". What did one newly minted minister just say? "Sometimes, I think we should just call a spade a spade. These actions by those who peddle hate are not acceptable, repulsive even."

Everybody and his dog is excited about Mah Bow Tan's new found wealth. The newly-released 2013 annual report shows that Mah owns (as at 18 Mar 2014) 365,575,000 shares in Global Strategic Holdings Corporation (GSH Corporation) with a current market value of about $28 million.

Mah was a member of Parliament (MP) since 1988 and he was Cabinet Minister from 1991 to 2011. Assuming an average take-home of a million dollars per year, his government pay alone could easily add up to $20+ millions, without accounting for interest income and returns from other investments. So $28 million is not a big number for the elite crowd.

GSH's original core business was in distribution (Apple, Tamron, Fujifilm, Corum, Noritsu, etc) - its corporate profile said it was established as distributors of IT, photographic, timepiece and healthcare products - until it diversified into property development in 2012. That's the year when Mah was listed as the sixth largest shareholder in the annual report, with a holding of 165,000,000 shares. A year later, his shareholding jumped to 365,575,000 or $28 million based on a share price of 7.7 cents.

The interesting bit is GSH was trading at around 1 cent, not more than 2 cents per share in 2012. Assuming Mah paid 1 cent per share, his total buy-in - there was a 1-for-1 rights issue in May 2013 - could have been as low as $4 million. Now, that's a foresight to die for.

Mah was National Development Minister from 1999 to 2011. Imagine if he had gone into private sector sooner, he could be one of Singapore's many billionaires. Maybe he already is. Lee Kuan Yew did say his ministers could make much, much more in the private sector.

Soylent Green is a 1973 American science fiction classic about the murder of a wealthy businessman in a dystopian future suffering from pollution, overpopulation, depleted resources, poverty, dying oceans, and a hot climate attributed to the greenhouse effect. Except for the dying ocean bit, we are all too familiar with the haze, congestion, infrastructure shortfalls, income gap, and the hot & humid climate of Singapore Inc.

Most of the population in the movie survives on rations produced by the Soylent Corporation, whose newest product is Soylent Green, a green wafer marketed as containing "high-energy plankton". But even the oceans soon ran short of the nutritious plankton from which Soylent Green is supposedly made, and - spoiler alert! - the only conceivable supply of protein that matches the known production rate must be sourced from human remains.

Okay, we are not at that stage yet. But senior citizens are now asked to rejoin the work force, albeit at lower wages. Forget about your education levels, your extensive work experience, you are older, you should get less. Just as young men are roped in as cannon fodder for 2 years of national service, the seniors are to be deployed as grist to the mill of the economic machine.

"At age 65, we are not as strong as before... Rather than expect 'same job, same pay', why not consider suitable jobs, reasonable pay," is a cogent argument. Apparently 800 civil servants are now working beyond age 65, but we are not told what they are doing or how much they are paid. Surely they can't all be members of parliament drawing full allowance without having to show up at meet-the-people-sessions?

At least 3 2 ministers in the cabinet will hit 65 in the year 2017 (Lee Hsien Loong, Khaw Boon Wan, ~~Vivian Balakrishnan~~ were born in 1952) and 3 in 2019 (Teo Chee Hean, Lim Hng Kiang, Lim Swee Say). Will they still be expecting 'same job, same pay'? Can't wait to see how the wayang turns out.

A local paper is saying that Goldman Sachs here is making a specific recruitment call to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students. The company is saying that its planned LGBT recruitment and networking (indoor) dinner at its Singapore office is merely a platform for attendees to "discuss issues and concerns regarding being 'out' in the workplace".

Sympathetic voices chimed in to add that, given the labour crunch, companies should be mindful about closing doors on any specific group of people. After all, the official mantra has always been about welcoming one and all to the melting pot.

One minister flashed the homophobe card, declaring "Foreign companies here should respect local culture and context. They are entitled to decide and articulate their human resource policies, but they should not venture into public advocacy for causes that sow discord amongst Singaporeans." No, it was not the newly minted Manpower Minister speaking, it's the other general. As for discord, so long as the event is not a flag waving spectacle in a public plaza, no fair minded Singaporean will feel offended. Maybe some bigots, defined by Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, thus:

Bigotry is the state of mind of a bigot: someone who, as a result of their prejudices, treats or views other people with fear, distrust or hatred on the basis of a person's opinion, ethnicity, evaluative orientation, race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, socioeconomic status, or other characteristics.

Goldman Sachs is neither first nor unique in embracing diversity in the workplace. Credit Suisse and JP Morgan have had also organised LGBT networking programmes for employees in order "to have a good diversity of talent for their workplace, regardless of gender, sexuality or race". The minister had stressed that discrimination "whether based on race, language, religion or sexual orientation" has no place in our society. Same message, different words. So why has the minister gotten his knickers in a twist?

MyPaper provided the clue: Goldman Sachs is sponsoring the coming Pink Dot event next month. Officially Pink Dot is deemed a LGBT advocacy movement by the higher ups, not just another picnic in the park. And you thought that all you need to do to stay out of trouble is to apply for a police permit.

The reporter had asked how many months did it take for her citizenship application to be processed and approved, and she had answered, "In weeks, in days, actually... very fast!"

That has to be a new speed record. In Switzerland, we are told, "foreigners with no direct blood ties to Switzerland through either birth or marriage must live in the country for at least 12 years before they can apply for citizenship". The criteria go on to state that the "person must be well integrated, familiar with customs and traditions, law and abiding and pose no threat to internal or external security." In other words, being born here is only one factor, sticking around for at least 12 meaningful years should be another. We have a friend who said he lost his Australian permanent residency status because he was not in-country for the 5 (?) year mandatory requirement.

The writer ("'Are you 'of this place'?", TODAY, 5 May 2014) was making the point that "we do not need indiscriminate immigration and immigrants who treat Singapore like a hotel and fellow Singaporeans as hotel staff." He gathered the impression from the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) website stipulations, which seem to be weighted heavily on economic contributions and feather light on the qualitative aspects of citizenship e.g. the United States' prerequisite assessment of English proficiency and knowledge of US history and government.

Few can dispute these sentiments:

"We need immigrants who are "of this place" and our selection processes should be long and tough enough to find such people... If we spend twice as much, take thrice as long and finally get half the final numbers because we cannot find enough, so be it."

In other words, don't make up the 6.9 million just because of some policy maker who didn't bother to put his signature on the Population White Paper.

Hunter College High School in Manhattan, USA, sounds just like one of our premier schools, for which parents will change addresses and run their kids through the torturous circuit of tuition centers to ensure a place after the Primary School Leaving Examination.

Hunter embodies the meritocratic ideal that kids are not created equal, some are smarter than others. The benchmark is an entrance exam which accepts 185 out of the 3,000 to 4,000 applicants. About 45 who test into Hunter Elementary School kindergarten are automatically admitted. In 2007, Wall Street Journal identified Hunter as sending a higher percentage of its graduates to the nation's top colleges than all but one of its peers.

In 1982, a Hunter alumnus profiled the school in a New York magazine article called "The Joyful Elite" and identified its "most singular trait" as the "exuberantly smug loyalty of its students". Justin Hudson, the 2010 commencement speaker (Hunter does not rank its students, has no valedictorian) was not one of the smug ones.

"More than happiness, relief, fear, or sadness," he told the audience of peers and parents, "I feel guilty." He continued:

"I feel guilty because I don't deserve any of this. And neither do any of you. We received an outstanding education at no charge based solely on our performance on a test we took when we were eleven-year-olds, or four-year-olds. We received superior teachers and additional resources based on our status as "gifted," while kids who naturally needed those resources much more than us are wallowed in the mire of a broken system. And now, we stand on the precipice of our lives, in control of our lives, based purely and simply on luck and circumstance.
... We are talking about eleven-year-olds... We are deciding children's fates before they even had a chance. We are playing God, and we are losing. Kids are losing the opportunity to go on to college or obtain a career, because no one taught them long division or colours. Hunter is perpetuating a system in which children, who contain unbridled and untapped intellect and creativity, are discarded like refuse. And we have the audacity to say they deserved it, because we're smarter than them."

The majority of students who make it into the school these days are the product of some kind of test prep regimen. The rationale sounds so similar, "They're doing the right thing to get the the prize we promised at the end of the process. That's what we told them to do: do well on tests."

The evil that the prescient Hudson espied is what the author refers to as "The Iron Law of Meritocracy". The Iron Law of Meritocracy states that the inequality produced by a meritocratic system will eventually grow large enough to subvert the mechanism of social mobility. The anointed few who ascended the ladder will find devious ways to pull it up after them, or to selectively lower it down to allow their friends, allies, cronies and kin to scramble up surreptitiously. And give cause to curse the elites.

Many Singaporeans were (still are) perplexed at the Filipino outrage over the Contemplacion case; even Fidel Ramos called Contemplacion a heroine. My uncle has his own theory.

A couple of days before Contemplacion was executed for the murder of Delia Maga, a fellow Filipino domestic worker, and her charge, 4-year-old Nicholas Huang, all the taxis in Makati seemed to have the radio on at full volume. His cabby explained that a congressman was in court for rape, victim being an under aged girl whose sexual services he procured for a few pesos from her step-father. After eluding the authorities for several months, he was finally in the dock, but everyone was resigned to just a slap in the wrist for the well-connected politician. So when the congressman was convicted, the whole city erupted in jubilation. The system can be breached, justice can be served!

Since the execution had gone ahead despite a personal plea from Ramos, President of the Philippines, the Singapore government was targeted as the next evil system to take down. The Alex Boncayao Brigade, a Communist terrorist group in the Philippines, threatened to harm Singaporeans. Even the Catholic Church in the Philippines condemned the execution.

Not too long ago, Anton Casey was hounded out of the country for his insensitivity to local sentiments. Some see this a Pyrrhic victory, since the sins of the father should not be visited on his son, or Miss Singapore wife.

Now, the owner of a red Vespa is facing the wrath of another vendetta. This time over a section of asphalt at Temasek Boulevard. Will he hightail it out to Vietnam, where his company is headquartered? Or will he stand his ground, and claim his right to the roadway? Bear in mind, the entitlement spelt out by prime minister Lee Hsien Loong:

"Singaporeans, new arrivals, people who are on permanent residence here, people who are on employment pass here, all participating in one big Singapore family... So that we feel that this is a place which is special, which belongs to all of us and where we all celebrate one another’s festivals and happy events together."

The last time graffiti was used as an expression of public sentiments was when the outer walls of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) headquarters at Kim Keat Road was redecorated one early morning in July 2005.

The New Paper rushed down at about 6 am after a reader noticed the artwork and called their hotline. A wall of spray painting spelt out the messages in bold red, the words 'NKF=liar' written in English, and 'big liar' in Chinese. The word 'liar' was also repeated on every alternate pillar. The 'Hang Turi' was dedicated to the source of much unhappiness, NKF's CEO, T T Durai. A motorcyclist who was delivering newspapers was overheard uttering: "Now the whole world knows."

Nobody knows how the rooftop of Block 85A at Toa Payoh Lorong 4 was accessed since only authorised personnel can sign for the key, which is tightly controlled by the Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council. Andrew Garfield was in town to promote Spiderman 2, but we can safely rule him out for a publicity run. He did play Eduardo Saverin in the Social Network movie, but Saverin is one foreign talent much welcomed by higher ups, thanks to the millions he brought along to our low tax and estate duty free regime.

Like the NKF message, the Toa Payoh literary effort was quickly painted over. Before any attempt to lift finger prints at the site or a close examination of the stylistic handwriting. The see no evil, hear no evil approach must save a lot of police paperwork. But a resident expressed concern about the motivation, "People are now finding different ways to express their feelings and unhappiness."

The slap that was heard around the world

Police Operations Director Lau Peet Meng is one in favour of recruiting foreigners for the Singapore Police Force (SPF). From what he says, it appears that permanent residents can currently be (and probably are already) recruited to police Singaporeans, "what kind of numbers, as an organisation and as a society, we are prepared to take in... is something that still needs to be further deliberated on”.

Perhaps Lau should also consider what kind of foreign talent will be wearing the blue uniform. We could end up with these types of law enforcers gainfully employed at their respective domicile countries:

Rashid Rangiris, the Philippines Bureau of Immigration (BI) officer who roughhoused a female Chinese national at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 on May 5. Jiang Huixiang was barred entry into the country because she was allegedly teaching in the Philippines without required papers. A cell phone video making the internet circuit shows her being dragged along the floor by the immigration official. Next, the official is filmed shoving her with brutal force and slapping her several times before pushing her into a nearby room and out of the camera's field of view.

Ibrahim Latif, the police chief of Acheh, Indonesia, who is insisting on caning the 25-year-old widow gang raped by a group of 8 overzealous vigilantes enforcing the Shari‘a religious bylaw on sexual relations. Accusing her of adultery, the vigilantes beat up her 40-year-old partner, indulged in their own wanton lust by having their way with her, and then doused the two with sewage before turning them over to the police.

Manila is standing by their immigration officer and plans to file assault charges against the Chinese national. Indonesian Shari‘a police in Langsa plans to go ahead with the public flogging for adultery, and take care of the rapists separately in a criminal court, but not according to Shari‘a penal code.

Do we really need to integrate these bewildering administrations of justice into our legal system? The BI employee may be a good fit in the prison system, with his skill set of making the sure his victim is out of camera range before dishing out the heavy treatment. Which could explain the lack of CCTV footage of Dinesh Raman's final moments. But Lau can't be seriously thinking of implementing Shari‘a law when he said, "We need, to some extent, some sensitivity to understand our foreign population. The danger is if it’s (purely Singaporean), you will lose touch with the people you’re policing." Bringing in the foreigners is bad enough, do we have to ship in their variants of policing methods?

China minced no words when it issued a statement making clear that the South China Sea issue is not a problem between China and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and it opposes the attempts of "one or two countries" to use it to harm the overall friendship between China and the regional bloc. Maybe they weren't too excited about Lee Hsien Loong bringing up the recent incidents involving China, Vietnam and the Philippines, and which had nothing to do with Singapore's territorial limits. The language was mild compared to the direct message from Deng Xiao Ping when the old man harped one time too many on the China-Taiwan issue: "This is between family; you are not family".

Still, the television camera showed the words had effect, as Lee struggled to justify teaching others how to suck eggs. His curious explanation goes along the line that while ASEAN does not take a view of the merits of the individual countries' claims, it has an overall view on the disputes which "which happening on our door step". Explain that to the many Little India bystanders who were deported before having a chance to state their individual perspectives.

Last weekend we had just pushed the shopping cart into the elevator when 10 PRC contract workers hopped in before the automatic doors closed. One of them beat us to the thought, saying to himself aloud in Chinese, "Whoa! There's more of us than them".

The thought of 10,000 flag waving Filipinos establishing their presence in a public concourse recently upset some people. Imagine larger numbers of PRC, or other foreign nationals, demanding to express their "overall views" on everything happening on our doorstep.

Look carefully and you'll see that the cherubic figure has made a fist with his thumb sticking out between his index and middle fingers. In medieval times and during the Renaissance period, it was called "making the fig". Now we know it as "giving someone the finger", or "flipping the bird". Michelangelo had superimposed a portrait of Pope Julius II over the prophet of Zachariah, and was merely expressing his true feeling toward his patron. To this day when a papal procession enters the portal of the Sistine Chapel, the pontiff passes right under a portrait of his predecessor getting the finger from Michelangelo.

Why would a prominent artist run the risk of incurring their patrons' ire? One reason offered by Rabbi Benjamin Blech ("The Sistine Secrets: Michelangelo's Forbidden Messages in the Heart of the Vatican", B. Blech & R. Doliner) was the righteous indignation of creative geniuses forced to humble themselves before the corrupt rich. In those times, artists were considered no more than artisans on call: well compensated but deprived of any freedom to refuse labors that they considered demeaning. Michelangelo would rather sculpt than indulge in "the two-dimensional falsity of painting". When the Sistine ceiling fresco was finally completed in 1512, he was wrecked with scoliosis, incipient rheumatism, respiratory problems, water retention and vision complaints. For a year afterwards, he could only read a letter by holding it high over his head, as if he were still painting the ceiling.

Instead of blatantly broadcasting his protestation like the graffiti at the Toa Payoh block, Michelangelo coded his outrage annd insults through secret symbols embedded in his artwork. Like artists of his time, he was not allowed to sign his handiwork, so Mike Cool is definitely not Michelangelo Buonarroti.

The Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park (VSIP) was first established in 1996, currently snowballed to a total investment of US$6.4 billion to create more than 140,000 jobs for the Vietnamese locals. Since 2005, the VSIP has expanded to a second park within Binh Duong Province, a third park in Bac Ninh Province (2007), a fourth park in Hai Phong City (2010) and most recently, a fifth park in Quang Ngai Province (2013).

Three factories in two Singapore-run industrial parks have just gone up in flames, thanks to unhappy Vietnamese staging anti-Chinese riots on Tuesday night. The VSIP industrial parks 1 and 2 in Binh Duong are managed by Singapore's Sembcorp Industries. A VSIP spokeswoman said local police have taken over the provision of security at the two parks. The Commissioner of Police must be relieved, since the scale of unrest must be umpteen times that of what happened at Little India. And if any of the VSIP employees are identified by CCTV to be anywhere near the rioting, it would be cheaper and easier to deport them. They are probably not too keen to conduct a COI in Ho Chi Minh City.

Lee Kuan Yew did not have nice things to say about the Vietnamese in his memoirs ("From Third World To First"), claiming that Vietnamese cunningly exploited the fears and desires of the countries of Asia that wanted to befriend them. When their Prime Minister Pham Van Dong visited in 1978, Lee said he found him "arrogant and objectionable". Lee was upset Pham had suggested Singapore should contribute to Vietnam's reconstruction, arguing that Singapore had benefited from the Vietnam War, selling the Americans war material, "hence it was our duty to help them". Lee countered that the materials supplied were POL (petrol, oil and lubricants) from American and British oil companies, and profits to Singapore were marginal (page 350). There was no mention of the bullets from Chartered Industries.

It was Goh Chok Tong who signed the papers for the VSIP development. Whether his friendship has been exploited is something for the history books to judge. But some corporation's assets are being compromised right now, and careless words could easily rubbish money better spent here.

If you were tuned in to Class 95FM at around 8 am today, you would have heard a cringe worthy plea for mercy from the deejay who landed MediaCorp a $6,500 fine. As Joe Augustin tells it, based on the unfavorable print media coverage, he admits as much, "I hate myself". That plus the various online calls to have him sacked.

The redemption comes from the context, so he said. Blind girl (a.k.a. "visually-impaired woman") walks into fastfood joint with a dog. Outlet staff busy with kiasu crowd fighting for free burgers. Girl complains on Facebook page about shoddy treatment. Class 95FM’s Morning Express radio deejays Joe Augustin and Glenn Ong discuss the espisode of miscommunication and drops the “derogatory term (a**hole)” on air. The Media Development Authority (MDA) said the remarks contravened the Free-to-air Radio Programme Code and swiftly imposed the fine for this breach.

This has to qualify as the proverbial storm in a teacup. One rants about ill treatment, another rants about over reaction. Anybody notice the dog? Just as there are those conservatives sensitive about any topic touching on LGBT issues, we do have people around who are not enamored of the company of canines. Some actually base their view on religious grounds. But the elephant in the room is the use of asterisks in the offending word. In print, we can't tell the deplorable pejorative is about the rear orifice of a donkey or a human. In print, we now know f**k the P*P is not allowed to see the light of day; that's why we have to refer to online media to check out why the message on a public housing block is objectionable. MDA explains why radio has stricter standards,

"In Singapore, as a media platform for entertainment, information and education, radio broadcast reaches almost all homes and is easily accessible to all people, including the young. Because of its impact, programmes over radio must at all times maintain a standard that is acceptable to the community and does not offend good taste or decency".

We get it, the bar has just been raised. Don't just read the right stuff, hear also the right stuff.

It looks like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) is treating the www.weibo.com screen grab as genuine proof that our national flag was burnt by Vietnamese demonstrators on Tuesday.

Declaring the flag-burning at the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park 1 as a serious incident, the irate MFA fumed: “The flag is a sacred national symbol and should be treated with respect ... The Singapore Embassy in Hanoi promptly conveyed our strong concerns over the flag-burning incident to the Vietnamese government on May 14 via a diplomatic note and also made representations to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Public Security to ensure such an incident does not happen again.”

The Singapore flag was designed by a committee headed by then-Deputy Prime Minister Toh Chin Chye. He originally intended the flag's entire background to be red, but the Cabinet demurred on grounds that it might be misinterpreted as a rallying point for communism. In page 342 of "The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew", Lee claims that the Chinese were influenced by the five yellow stars on the flag of Communist China, and wanted stars. The Malays wanted a crescent moon; red and white are their traditional colours for courage and purity. The five stars are supposed to represent democracy, peace, progress, justice and ~~inequality~~ equality. Lee wrote that there had been much ado over the flag, as racial sentiments had to be respected.

Respect is now a distant memory. Nowadays, the 5 stars might just as well represent the India Indians, Filipinos, Burmese, Indonesians, and the Anton Casey/Mark Franklin type expatriates. With the boat shaped crescent representing the Singapore Sampan 2.0 floating hotel that provides housing, jobs and defence, latter courtesy of the National Service boys. The flag has been desecrated, but the Vietnamese are not the only ones to be blamed.

The more the establishment tries to come out in support of the atrocious Young PAP (YP) video, the worse it gets.

The first lame line of defence deployed was that it was meant for "internal consumption". Then writer Tham ("Young PAP video: Good message, bad delivery", ST May 17) let the cat out of the bag, leaking that it was first broadcast at the party's convention in December, before being uploaded to YouTube 3 weeks ago. Meaning, for the excruciating period of about 4 months, not a soul within the ranks of the elitist youth wing realised it was a lemon, or bothered to inform the young people behind the ersatz production it was "raw and unpolished". Including the minister who used those descriptives. With friends like those, who needs enemies.

We now know the Media Development Authority (MDA) actually cleared the YP video earlier this year, giving it a “PG” rating. Meaning, MDA sat through the horrific 4 minutes 43 seconds, and deigned to provide constructive feedback to the youngsters. Quite obviously, MDA was more focused on the potential infringement of Section 33 of the Films Act. They must have desperately wanted to save the youngsters from conviction to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 2 years, without having to call in the minister for a hall pass.

Many will concur with MDA it was definitely a film without animation and dramatic elements. Put kindly, the cast of inanimates lacked any contribution of dramatic talent. They were more like marionettes manipulated by puppet strings. Pinocchio would have done a better job, his nose would have grown dramatically in length with each utterance of an untruthful message.

Another set of youths is having everything but the kitchen sink thrown at them, for delivery of a message of a different kind. Maybe the kitchen sink has been included, if you count the charge for "removing a reflective vest worth $5".

The Big Push Is On

Play Nice

From First World To Third

A Heart For Truth

Changing Of The Guard

Dream Teams

20/20 Vision

Grist To The Mill

Outing The Bigots

Of This Place

Iron Law of Meritocracy

The Grapes Of Wrath

Writings On The Wall

Foreigners In Uniform

Teaching Grandma To Suck Eggs

Coded Messages In Art

The Heat Is On At Sembcorp

Dog Bites Deejay

Righteous Anger

Follies Of Youth