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| Nothing but the truth? |
Flashback to May 2011, the last general election. We were testing the low light capability of a friend's new digital SLR, and wanted to check how efficient the built-in denoising algorithm was. PAP rallies are seldom well attended, despite the bussed-in supporters and free packet meals thrown in for good measure, Sure enough, the Clementi crowd was thin enough for us to get close to the stage for some shots. At any opposition party rally, one would have to turn up a couple of hours early to get a similar vantage point.
While fiddling with the ISO and white balance settings, we heard the speaker say that when the YOG was facing a cost over-run, he had asked the prime minister for more money. Vivian Balakrishnan said he asked for a revised budget of $387 million, and was told not to spend a cent more. Something clicked, and it was not the camera. Wait a minute, wasn't the final cost reported in parliament as $387 million, down to the same 3 digit accuracy? It was an atrocious lie, and not a very good one at that. There were at least 20 "professional journalists" parked right in front of the stage, beyond the barricades that kept out the rest of us mere mortals. It was weird not a single word of the strange coincidence was mentioned in print in the mainstream media.
Following the foot steps of the MDA, now NEA is clearly mired in politicisation. Needless to say, the 10 websites targeted for the new licensing scheme, save Yahoo! News, are all members of the same political club, all swinging for the same agenda. Maybe that's why they feel safe to let the compulsive liar forage into the food centre cleaning row. Let the scoundrel wallow in the mud, but please keep our hard working hawkers out of the fray.