Singaporeans Who Procreate On Saturdays

This has got to be my favourite Protest Facebook group of all time. If you’e Sinaporean, above 16, join it won’t you? = )

Group Name : Singaporeans Who Procreate On Saturdays (and Are Quite Talented at It)

Description: At the Budget debate in February 2009, Nominated MP Loo Choon Yong questioned the five day work week.

His rationale: ‘We should accept that as a people our procreation talent is not our forte – nothing to crow about,’ he said.

‘I urge the Government to take steps to determine whether our productivity and competitiveness have been affected by by the five-day week and to review the policy, if necessary,’

In short, he thinks because we have two whole days at weekends and don’t even bother to make babies, we should work on Saturdays instead.

Well, whatever it is if you are a Singaporean, stand up for your country today: go forth and multiply on Saturdays. F**k more on weekends!

Stayers or Quitters? (or how we deal with the system)

” You are asking a lot from people who live in a totalitarian regime. So the challenge is, how would you deal with these issues if you were living in China? “  That was a challenge someone threw me last year, when I wrote a piece on the human rights violations happening in Tibet. Tonight, someone told me that the flaws in our local system cannot be changed. I disagreed — the Blacks have been saying that for decades, but look who’s president in the USA? But then I saw this piece I wrote in response to that challenge last year, and pondered:

This question made me stop to think. I’ve pondered for quite a while now, and I think I can now make my thought-out, honest answer. I must first say that my first thought was to say that i’ll be brave and risk my life and all, and stand up to it all, and fight for the innocent. Or at least, I’ll uphold my moral standards even if everyone about me faltered.

But I thought deeper, I thought about my life, how I had responded to situations in the past. I thought about people of my culture (chinese migrants), I thought of my ancestors and what they all did, when they were in those situations. And then I came to my final, true answer.

And when you think about it, you’ll see how it couldn’t possibly be any other way. We’re gripped by who we are made to be.

Us Chinese, we have a famous saying, “Of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, fleeing is best. 三十六計，走為上策 – sānshí liù jì, zǒu wèi shàng cè (Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty-Six_Stratagems)

My ancestors, every single one of them, fled the hardship (internal conflicts, poverty, the shitty life in general) of china in the last 2 centuries, to come to Southeast Asia, finally settling in Singapore. That’s how I came to be. My friends from China, every single one of them, fled the hardship ( lack of opportunity, poverty, the shitty life in general) of china, and came to Singapore. Some of moved on since. That’s how I came to know them. Would I behave any differently? I don’t think so.

Already, the dream of many Chinese Singaporean youths is to move out beyond our shores. Already, many of my friends, who are able to, have moved out. The government tries to persuade us to stay, calling Singapore ” the place that’s still our home at the end of the day”, but slowly, I can’t see that anymore. Not when I’ve more friends living in other countries than in Singapore, and I gradually see Singapore taken over by migrants who can’t even speak, or WORSE, look down on Singlish, our national language! 

I come from a people who has no physical roots and ties; we are rooted and tied to our tradition of moving away from the bad, and moving to a better place. We don’t change things. And I think I’m probably the same.

A bit more on my ancestors. On my father’s mother’s side, she comes from the Peranakan people — Chinese who have migrated to southeast-asia in the 13th century thereabout, and have since formed their own unique culture. My father’s father was given away at birth to a wealthier family who migrated from Teochew to Singapore, 6 generations ago. During the Japanese war, my father’s parents kept a low profile, and his father worked in a Japanese firm — anything to stay out of trouble. On my mother’s side, her grandparents migrated from Teochew too, for a better life here. During the war, the japanese took away her grandfather, who was never seen again. My mother’s aunt was 12, her own mother, 11. At the age of 13, my mother’s aunt eloped with a communist guerilla, to fight against the Japanese who killed her father. After the war, the was a government offensive against the communists and her aunt was never seen again. Would I ever fight? Perhaps, but probably only if my father, or husband, or son was killed.

 In other words, we don’t fight the system. We bear with it 忍. It’s amazing what the chinese put up with. And when we don’t want to bear with it any longer, we leave, we run away, we flee. And I think that’s what made the chinese the way we are today. We originated from the central plains, and we put up with the flooding rivers (the yellow river is not called the river of sorrows for nothing), and when we can’t take it, we move out. And after the millenia of moving out, china grew to the size it is. Later, when it became possible to migrate beyond the continent, we did.

Actually, there are many other countries of chinese origin, whose people went by other names since they migrated, to differentiate themselves from the land of origin. Eg. the Koreans, the Japanese, the Vietnamese (all their original scripts were Chinese, until the last 2 centuries, for Korea and Vietnam), and Chinese make up a huge percentage of countries like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore. In other countries like Indonesia and Phillipines, the Chinese are a small minority, but control a huge part of the countries’ finances. Lately, i’ve noticed a huge increase in the number of chinese migrants to many other countries, including the USA, UK etc . It used to be just the HongKong people escaping (again!) the return to the Chinese rule (which was why for the longest time, the “official” overseas chinese language was cantonese), but now with an increasingly open and richer china, many mainlanders and migrating too (which is why now Mandarin is more common). And with a country housing a quarter of the world’s population spilling over……. it’s scary…..

So do i think that China will ever change? I really can’t say. People who don’t like the system just leave, the remainder bear with it, or join the system. Everyone hopes that someone will take the lead and do something, but no one wants to stick their neck out. You know, perhaps my friend was right after all. EVERY COUNTRY deserves the government they have

Can a democracy work in a place with an uneducated majority?

 

Democracy presupposes that the people know what they want, what is good for them, and most importantly, that they know HOW to get them.

By questioning if a democracy works in a place with an uneducated majority, one is really questioning if

1) Uneducated people don’t know enough to make an informed choice

2) Uneducated people are too stupid to know what they want

3) Uneducated people have not been brainwashed/taught to know what they ought to want.

 

Venezuela VOTED for dictatorship today.
80%  of the electorate are uneducated, it seems

 

In Singapore, both the ruling party, opposition and electorate seem to agree with this statement: (1) . They want only the real smart guys to be in power and to run the show. Its a completely elistist culture that supports the notion that only smart people knows what’s good for the country and knows what the country ought to want.

In Singapore, citizens must attend State – run schools, with State – prescribed curricula. Really supports the statement (3).

 

Can a democracy work in a place with an uneducated majority?

A Venezuelan friend who just saw his country vote for a dictatorship today does not think so.

A Chinese friend, who’s country is mostly uneducated, but who has already the pseudocommunist dictatorship, thinks it can, and it must.

 

What do you think?

The Olive Depression

 

“The army may have my body, but they will never have my mind.”

 

 

He disagreed with the idea of conscription, “Once you’ve learnt to accept conscription, you’ll learn to accept any injustice in this country” says the lead of his movie “The Olive Depression”, now playing at the Sinema. (The Olive Depression, a film in 8 parts, was originally scheduled to take its bow during last year’s Singapore International Film Festival. Out of the blue it got yanked from the schedule of the inaugural festival section called the Singapore Panorama)

 But Joshua Lim did not stop at complaining. He stood up to the system. He stood up against remaining in OCS. He made a movie out of it.

 

I had the privilege of doing an exclusive interview with Joshua, via MSN, who now lives in California.

14/2/2009  2:49:58 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  so regarding your quitting ocs

 

14/2/2009  2:50:06 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  yeah

 

14/2/2009  2:50:06 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  who was it you talked to exactly?

 

14/2/2009  2:50:18 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  omg

 

14/2/2009  2:50:20 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  do you remember, in 2-3 lines, what you said ?

 

14/2/2009  2:50:21 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  u want the details

14/2/2009  2:50:28 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i dunno if it’s military in confidence

14/2/2009  2:50:37 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  coz they bend the rules to let me out

 

14/2/2009  2:50:38 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  so how should i call him? should i just say superior?

 

14/2/2009  2:51:00 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  what are u trying to say

14/2/2009  2:51:09 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  superior is a general layman term that most will understand

 

14/2/2009  2:51:26 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  i just wanna capture your reason for dropping out, what did you say?

 

14/2/2009  2:51:51 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  oh hmmm

14/2/2009  2:52:00 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i was very diplomatic

14/2/2009  2:52:07 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i told them i was not patriotic

14/2/2009  2:52:21 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  if the govt needed me to lead soldiers in war, i would have a problem with that

14/2/2009  2:52:29 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  it’s bad enough i’m in the army

14/2/2009  2:52:42 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  so i asked if i could be a ‘follower’ instead of a ‘leader’

 

14/2/2009  2:53:01 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  if the govt needed me to lead soldiers in war, i would have a problem with that ==> why?

 

14/2/2009  2:53:19 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i’m a pacifist firstly

14/2/2009  2:53:30 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  and to lead troops to death is painful

14/2/2009  2:53:35 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  and to kill

14/2/2009  2:53:39 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  another story

14/2/2009  2:53:46 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  that’s my official statement

14/2/2009  2:53:48 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  but really the truth is

14/2/2009  2:53:53 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i wanted out of the brainwashing in ocs

 

14/2/2009  2:54:18 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  what brainwashing messages did you exactly want out of?

 

14/2/2009  2:54:25 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  my gosh

14/2/2009  2:54:26 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  so many

14/2/2009  2:54:30 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  example

14/2/2009  2:54:40 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  they would turn us out at 3am every night

14/2/2009  2:54:50 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  justifying their terrorising behaviour

14/2/2009  2:54:55 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  by saying that war can break out at 3am

14/2/2009  2:54:59 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  as leaders we should be alert and ready

14/2/2009  2:55:06 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  so this is part of a noble training

14/2/2009  2:55:08 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  when instead

14/2/2009  2:55:18 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  it’s part of a systematic scheme of impeding sleep

14/2/2009  2:55:34 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  so that we can change our mindsets as we are too tired to think/challenge

14/2/2009  2:56:11 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  but i didn’t tell them that of course

 

14/2/2009  2:57:47 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  ok. give me a nice line (like the lines you have in the movies), a statement, of what you would tell your superior, why you cannot continue in OCS

 

14/2/2009  2:58:27 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  haha sheesh i dunno

14/2/2009  3:00:20 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  that i don’t have the passion for it

14/2/2009  3:01:48 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  is it important?

14/2/2009  3:01:55 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  leave it ambiguous

 

14/2/2009  3:02:02 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  its impactful

 

14/2/2009  3:02:09 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  sheesh

14/2/2009  3:02:18 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  in bmt

14/2/2009  3:02:29 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  there is this thing called SIT Test

14/2/2009  3:02:33 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  and then at the end 

14/2/2009  3:02:36 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  they interview u

14/2/2009  3:02:39 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  asking if u want to go to OCS

14/2/2009  3:02:43 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i said, “no”

14/2/2009  3:02:47 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  they asked why?

14/2/2009  3:03:02 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i said, “I don’t have a passion for this military”

14/2/2009  3:03:23 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  they seem to like my reason

14/2/2009  3:03:29 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  and looked shocked that i would say that

14/2/2009  3:03:33 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  needless to say

 

14/2/2009  3:03:38 PM  mathia  Joshua Lim  they put you there anyway

 

14/2/2009  3:03:40 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  i was shocked when i was told i was going to OCS

14/2/2009  3:03:49 PM  Joshua Lim  mathia  the bus ride there i was devastated

 

 

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

I loved this movie  (  The Hours and American Beauty are 2 of my favourite movies, so if you’re going there for action, please don’t.) Unexpectedly, there was quite a lot of humour, but it was a humour that stemmed from the irony and tragic comedy of real life.  

 

It’s a story about what it means to retain your humanity, your choice, your freedom, in an environment where these are crimes.

Sinema Old School

11b Mount Sophia, B1-12 Singapore

6336.9707

 

One of the characters decides to take up an overseas scholarship, so that he can disrupt. “But don’t you have to come back and continue anyway?”

“Yes, but they will never have me. I’m going to eat and eat and get really fat, and I’ll injure myself and then they will downgrade me”

“You’re willing to injure yourself? Is this worth it?”

“But why should I be fit when I don’t even believe in being fit?”

18^th Feb  9 30pm

21^st Feb  2 30pm

22^nd Feb  6 10pm

 

It’s a story about loving without expectations , about rebelling without noncompliance, about living without compromise

 

Joshua Lim, in red

 

Recent comments not to control, but to discredit internet content

When recent comments from MICA,  from Lui, are interpreted as attempts to control internet content, that completely misses the point, in my view.

 

What China does – actively searching out for anti-govt blogs on an hourly basis and actively blocking them out , or jailing the blog writers – THAT is internet content control.  Control means acting to determine what content is or is not posted online.

 

In Singapore, comments from State regulators and legislators DISCREDITS internet content – specifically internet POLITICAL content.  It does not control, nor can it control, for reasons that many excellent writers have pointed out.

 

How internet content is discredited

When Dr Lee of MICA recently commented that  “There is a difference from giving such (banned political) films the privilege to circulate FREELY in Singapore, to saying that those who want to watch it, you go to the DARK REACHES of the Internet and watch it.”, the subtle message internet-un-saavy people get is that offline information is accurate and well-intentioned, whereas internet content is inaccurate, has underlying ill motives, and is trying to brainwash you.

 

When Lui remarks that “the Internet is not an effective self-REGULATED regime as some may have touted it to be”, the subtle message is that the internet is in need of regulation, meaning that it must be chaotic and irresponsible to begin with.

 

Just like if I were to take a person from a mountain top, who has never been to Singapore before, and bring him to Geylang, to Desker Road, show him all the toilet graffiti and litter, he would easily believe my words when I say that “the vast MAJORITY  were unhelpful, a significant number were unkind, a small number were downright outrageous”.  He’ll believe that the Esplanade and Singapore Museum does not exist. Just like people believe sites like TheOnlineCitizen, or TheSingaporeEnquirer, or SingaporeDaily.net does not exist.

 

When TODAY published their follow-up report How Some Bloggers Set the Tone (http://www.todayonline.com/articles/300644.asp), they basically printed ‘confessions’ from the ‘culprits’: “Mr Choo Zheng Xi, editor of The Online Citizen, CONCEDED that netizens’ response to such comments “could have been stronger”.”   “WHEN blogger Rachel Chung read some unkind comments by netizens over the fiery attack on Yio Chu Kang MP Seng Han Thong last month, she felt compelled to respond. “I blogged that some people condoned the attacker and felt disgusted,” she told Today.” The subtle message? Look, the bloggers have confessed, no one is misrepresenting them.

 

 

What could be the motive for this concerted effort to discredit political content on the internet?

Looking at 2 very relevant recent elections – the US elections, the Malaysian elections – we see the rising influence that internet content and tools  (like Facebook) has on the election outcome .  Local political parties have noticed this. Opposition parties make their presence felt by contributing to this comment and organizing events via the internet. The ruling party has also noticed it, and made alterations to the law to enable themselves to legally harness this new media, should the need arise in future.

 

A sophisticated government would not even attempt to control the internet content. Firstly, you shoot yourself in the foot, because it stops you from using the media effectively yourself.  Secondly, you can never totally control all the information, and the news that you are actually controlling content (as China does) will eventually get out. That will make you look controlling, immature, and worse, ineffective. Thirdly, for our commerce, research and industry to prosper, internet control would be very unhelpful.

 

If you think about it carefully, it is not what gets written, that influences the election results. It is what people THINK about the things that are written, that influences the election result. Once you have grasped that, you will move away from controlling what gets written and posted online, to influencing the thoughts of people. Discrediting the political information you get from the internet is the perfect way to start.

 

The MP Seng incident is a perfect incident which can be used to discredit internet content.  Diversity of views have long been publicized as being potentially violent and destabilizing. The Race Riots, and internation protest marches that turned violent are constantly used to justify State control on public demonstrations. When this diversity of views get aired online, it becomes harder to claim that these “protests” can turn violent.  

 

MP Seng’s incident presented the perfect opportunity for persuading the internet-un-saavy that the long held matras of diversity=violence, still holds with the internet community. A violent act committed by a person who is likely insane, now becomes “committed” and “endorsed” by the internet community.

The message the internet-un-saavy electorate will remember is that any news from the internet is written by unkind, unjust, violent terrorists, who spout inaccurate information, with the evil underlying motive of brainwashing the good Singaporeans.

Internet political content has just acquired the same reputation as pornography and criminals.

 

Is there are need to control internet content? 

There wouldn’t be if this negative PR blitz is kept up, which I suspect it will. A point will be reached when anything can be posted online, true or false, and it will no longer be believed. Unless the website is a government website with the credentials and authority.  Why is there the insistence that the government would only engage citizen feedback through REACH and nowhere else? Because engaging on any other website would legitimize them, and they can no longer be painted as monsters.

 

Discrediting internet content this way works because the vast majority of the electorate is internet-un-saavy. While it is true that internet penetration in our population is one of the highest in the world, with 80% of households having internet access, most of the older generation use the internet in a very rudimentary way, and are often bombarded by warnings against the “dangers” lurking on the internet. It is very easy to capitalize on these fears and misinformation. As the demographics of the electorate shift, this strategy of discreditation will no longer work, but I believe by then, persuasion methods would have evolved accordingly.

 

 

What can WE, the internet-saavy citizens,  do?

 On our part as the internet-saavy and misrepresented, what can we do? Writing brilliant articles read by the converted will do little. I think most internet-saavy people, including blog writers and readers, already understand the situation. We need to move away from the “us” versus “them” mentality, and remember that each of us is part of a family, part of a community. Our strength is not our words,  but our personal ties.  In our conversations with our family and friends, colleagues and classmates, we can talk about what we’ve learnt from online content. We can share how TheOnlineCitizen was the first to break the news on abandoned workers, and how the mainstream press then followed up.

This may not be a loud voice of justice, but this is a voice that will be listened to. A voice that will carry the credibility of alternative news, and the safety of diverse views, from the virtual to the real world.

 

See also http://mathialee.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/internet_state_regulation/

Singaporean film – by Joshua Lim : The Olive Depression

He’s actually one of the persons I admire the most. He’s really smart, and did really well by Singaporean KPIs – you know, the straight As in A level sort. The selected for OCS sort. But he turned his back on OCS. He turned his back on a secure, money-making career, and chose to do film – making instead. He’s now doing a Masters in Theology in Film. And he’s made quite a few films. Even in the making of films, he has steadfastly refused to compromise his values, choosing to make meaningful, value-provoking films, instead of the money – generating action or chick flicks.

The Olive Depression, his first film, opened to huge acclaim at its US release last December. It is due to be released in Singapore this week – not at mainstream cinemas, but at  Singapore local arthouse theatre Sinema .  ( http://www.sinema.sg/2006/10/24/trailer-the-olive-depression/ ).

 

Here are the details of the Premiere, but you can continue to catch it during its run:

Date:	Friday, February 13, 2009
Time:	8:00pm – 10:00pm
Location:	Sinema Old School
Street:	11b Mount Sophia, B1-12 Singapore 228466

 

Phone:	63369707
Email:	theolivedepression@yahoo.com.sg

 

 

Called The Olive Depression ( http://www.theolivedepression.com/  ) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1199506/)  (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYhhT–cBnA) , it documents the weeks before Johnny, an 18 yr old boy, enters NS. He is determined not to mentally accept what is required of him by law. He opts to prepare himself by maintaining his melancholy about something against what it means to be human. However, seeing the depression of his best friend who enters the army before him, and the worry of his parents lead him to question his principles. As he strives not to succumb to the government’s world view, he finds it increasingly difficult to be contented and sad at the same time.

The  trailer begins with the lead saying “Once you’ve learnt to accept conscription, you’ll learn to accept any injustice in this country” And ends with “But if you want to accept the benefits of the system, you have to accept the flaws” and “Ok, no country is perfect, but I reserve the right to feel bad about the imperfections of my country”

This haunting film, by Joshua Lim, is filled with deep thoughts and statements about our society, and beautiful cinematic shots of our country.  Not the slapstick, or moralistic fare, or soap operatic fare.

 

If you’re interested to do a press/blog review, do join me at this event, for free. Just contact the organizers at theolivedepression@yahoo.com.sg

 

 

Why didn’t Lui Tuck Yew see all the ‘Get Well’ messages?

Because he didn’t manage to ”go to the dark reaches of the Internet and watch it” !

LOL

I’m sorry, bad joke I know.

I for one, am very against the physical flaming of human beings, MP or not.

And I for one, distinctly remember reading many well wishes and sympathy messages on the internet.

Oh well. I guess the well wishes and sympathy messages must not have been posted on REACH.

They must have been posted elsewhere too dark to be seen. Mr Lui should have consulted Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts first.

“those who want to watch it, you go to the dark reaches of the Internet and watch it.” — Dr Lee

(http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singapore/Story/STIStory_324323.html
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/296409.asp )

Oh, and another news that really tickled me today. Ho Ching got retrenched. Replaced by foreign talent.  ( LOL. But no offense meant, please, my mom got retrenched too. Got replaced by foreign talent too. Retraining now. So, we know how it feels Ms Ho)

Protectionism vs Racism/Xenophobia

Protectionism that stems from a sense of responsibility and accountibility to one’s own citizens by the State (especially a small State like Sg) , I support.

Racism/Xenophobia that stems from a sense of irrational prejudice and unjust discrimination is totally a different matter, that is often disguised as Protectionism, and I am very against it.

I’ve argued for my case for Protectionism in Singapore here ‘Put Singaporeans First ‘ http://mathialee.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/singapore_protectionism/

About Racism/Xenophobia, I’m going to say that one policy I applaud our govt for, is there policy of Racial and Religious Harmony. I may disagree with some of their underlying motives, or some of their methods of implimentation, or question the degree of success of this policy, but I agree with the principle of racial and religious harmony.

What I think has been neglected, by the State, by our NGOs, our Media, EVERYBODY is this. We’ve got plenty of new immigrants, or migrant transitory workers. While I will respect you if you disagree with our immigration policy because of job competitiveness, economics etc etc, what I will not respect you for, is if you treat them as less than human. And I will strongly protest against any organisational/institutional effort to express personal irrational prejudice against any groups of people, including foreigners.

Let me give you an example where our Press blatantly propagates Racism/Xenophobia, and as far as I know (I hope I am wrong), NO ONE, no MP, Minister, NGO, or even the VICTIMS spoke up against it.

Discard Prima Deli chocolate cakes: MOH, AVA
TODAYonline • December 4, 2007 http://sgforums.com/forums/8/topics/295158

CUSTOMERS of Prima Deli have been advised by the authorities to throw away the bakery’s chocolate cakes, after at least 106 people came down with food poisoning.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) was first notified of a food poisoning incident on Nov 23. As more were reported, investigations showed “that the common food item between the various incidents were Prima Deli chocolate cakes purchased as early as Nov 19″, said a joint statement by the MOH and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).

So far, samples taken for analysis suggest the bacteria salmonella as the likely culprit. Investigations are ongoing, said the statement.

Prima Deli deputy general manager Pansy Wong told Today that all production of the chocolate cakes – which cost roughly $33 each — had been stopped since Friday.

“We worked very closely with the MOH and the AVA, and found that one of our China national workers was a carrier of the bacteria,” said Ms Wong, adding that he had earlier passed the required medical check-ups. “We are planning to disinfect the factory in the next couple of days. The worker has been quarantined.”

 

This is a HEALTH and HYGIENE issue which the COMPANY has failed in its responsibility to its customers . Whether or not the worker is a Chinese, Malay, Singaporean, Malaysian, American, Chinese National, Indian National WHATEVER, his race, religion, nationality, place of origin has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the case.

By bringing in the workers natioality, Prima Deli demonstrates its Racist/Xenophobic prejudice. And when TODAY chooses to publish it, TODAY has to take responsibility for propagating this view, and participating in the Racism/Xenophobia.

 

I hope in this econonmic downturn, no matter how much we disagree with our lax immigration policies, we still treat all humans with equal respect and dignity. When your guest has stayed beyond you bedtime, you don’t call your guest names. You just explain nicely that, it is time they leave, and they will be welcomed again when it’s bright and shiny.

Put Singaporeans first

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/300239print.asp

So protectionism has been tabled in Singapore.

From the look of things, every country is going to go down this road, albeit to varying extents. I think most people know the consequences of protectionist policies, and i don’t think that’s a good road to go down personally.

However, when the crisis hits home, to Singapore, I began to rethink my position.

We depend heavily on foreign labour & foreign talent in Singapore. In a recession, when jobs are cut so drastically, it seems like the foreigners are the hardest hit (if the newspapers are to be believed, that is). It makes sense, because the State’s first responsibility is to its own citizens, whereas the responsibility to “care” for the foreigners falls primarily (not totally) on their own home countries. Given 2 people of identical calibre, if there is only 1 position left, my conscience tells me it should go to the local, because the foreigner can go home, to another country, and he was here for the money to begin with. For the local, this is his home, and mobility might be more complicated and difficult.

In a sense, we are using the foreign labour pool as sort of our buffer, to be shrunk in a recession, to be increased in a labour shortage situation. Is that protectionism? I think it is. Do i like it? Yes I do. Do I think it is fair? Yes I do. Do I think it is kind? Perhaps not. Do I think the global situation will improve if every country has the same practice? Of course not.

While calling for large countries like the USA to resist protectionist policies, I am very unwilling to do the same here.

The main difference between Singapore and the US, is that if we don’t practice protectionism, we hardly make a difference to the foreign labour’s home country, but hurts us trememdously. I somehow doubt the US electorate would see things that way though, I suspect they would feel like we do, and hence support protectionist policies.

 Honestly, I think it would be better if Obama were in his second term when re-election would not be on his mind, and he can do the right things. I think he is really smart, so he knows the global impact of American protectionism, but I wonder if he is willing to sacrifice votes, or even a 2nd term in office, by abandoning a protectionist stand. Although, of course, the counter argument would be that protectionism is a short term measure and would hurt America in the long term — but I’m sure that long term might be longer than the 4 years before re-lection time.

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Fargoal said, on February 3rd, 2009:

FYI, I did not realise that International Migration was such a big thing until I started doing my current job. There is a worldwide movement to develop consensus on how to manage migrant labour properly and with due respect for humanitarian concerns. Check out http://www.un.int/iom/index.htm. I’m no expert on this but I am quite sure we (Singaporeans in general) are no boy scouts when it comes to migrant labour issues.

The pragmatic Singaporean response in support of your position would be this (and I would generally go along with for lack of a better alternative). We are a small country with limited economic capacity, i.e. don’t compare us with the US – the land of plenty and economic motor of the world. Our first priority must be to our own citizens, and it would be politically untenable to argue otherwise. There is no point in keeping foreign workers if we can’t afford them or if there is no work for them. We need to recover from this crisis and start making the bucks again. Then we can recruit foreign workers all over again. In other words, we have to be unkind now to stay afloat, so that we can be in a position to re-create more jobs (and hire more foreign workers) in future when we start to prosper.

(Just count how many typically Singaporean and pragmatic arguments there are in the above paragraph!)

In some ways, we are maximising the benefits of having foreign workers, while minimizing the disadvantages. A possible case of trying to have your cake and eat it? Possibly so. Going forward, if an international consensus does emerge on the rights of migrant labour, then we may find it increasingly difficult to minimize the disadvantages.

It may be too early to say, but the new US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner got off the wrong footing by accusing China of “currency manipulation” during his Senate confirmation hearings. That doesn’t bode too well for US-China economic relations, and the Democrats may find it hard to resist protectionist sentiments. But let’s keep our fingers crossed.

 

(Since this has become a national concern, and that just yesterday, this has been discussed on my blog entry ‘Happy Chinese New Year’  (http://mathialee.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/cn/ ) , I thought I should at least spend 10 min doing a copy-and-paste adaptation to add in my 2-cents worth. The above are adptations of the exchange between Fargoal, a reader, and I. Thanks Fargoal! I hope it’s OK for me to increase the prominence of your view. It makes so much sense = )   )

Goodbye, See ya! Zhai Jian!

My dear readers,

Because of extremely pressing engagements in my personal life ( namely, my desperate need to hand in my thesis yesterday), I am going to take leave of my blog for the next month or so. I’m going on a blog-fast until i’m done. Please feel free to continue commenting (it’s indecently exciting whenever a new comment appears!), but please forgive me if I have no time to reply until much later.

I’ve enjoyed writing so much, I need to undergo blog-addiction rehabilitation. However, the last I checked, Singapore hasn’t got that service, and my financial situation is undergoing severe de-leveraging anyway. So maybe you can help by yelling at me if you discover i’m still hanging around here!!! = D

To my friends (ie people who know me, or who got to know me through my blog)
I may be taking leave of my blog, but I’m not taking leave of you. I know most of my readership comes from you, and I thank you all your support and encouragement … I love you! (Believe me on that one, even though you’ll never hear me SAY it — I’m Asian remember. ) Oh, you got another responsibility, my friends : Stop me from Facebooking, or MSN-ing!!! I need to take the vow of silence.

So, goodbye for now, and one day I should be back……..
To keep in touch, mathialee@yahoo.com
Or to my friends, well you know better ways to contact me ; )