Jul 11th, 2007
Climate of fear
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In writing about Lee Hongyi’s gaffe on his personal blog, Lim Yee Hung, an ST journalist opined that the gaffe was not so much of a problem, but rather the obvious fear of discussing the issue on Hardwarezone forums. And, I agree with him completely. We have a climate of fear in Singapore. Why can’t we have an open discussion about the actions of our PM’s son? Maybe the PM is of a completely different status compared to an MP (think Wee Shu-min). That still doesn’t quite cut it for me. Why should such information that is neither a state secret nor threatens the life of someone be kept hushed up at all?
I remember watching an MSNBC news clip from Youtube the other day. I wish that one day in Singapore, we can actually be able to voice out our opinions just as this journalist had. Do take the time to watch this 10 minute clip. You will understand why I don’t bother to tune in to Mediacorp News or Channel NewsAsia. The clip is what I call quality journalism.
[youtube]iLnyGq-XgFs [/youtube]
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This climate of fear has existed for a very long time. We have Lee Hong Yi’s grandad & the ruling party and the government machinery to thank for this pathetic climate.
And btw, i love keith olbermann and his special comment segments. He reminds me of edward r. murrow.
wah, you not scared ah?
I see you have discovered Olbermann.
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Freedom and liberty does not come free. People have to want it and be willing to preserve it.
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In Singapore, buying power is more important than people’s power. Some of us can’t even stand up to the tyranny of an old lady :
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http://singaporemind.blogspot.com/2007/07/foreigner-scolds-singaporeans.html
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When they talk about tolerance, it is very high in Singapore. We are well conditioned as a people to tolerate anything in silence.
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When apathy overcomes fear, you are ready to be a top 1st world city…you usher in a golden period….now you know why they say ’silence is golden’. …there is plenty of ‘golden’ to go around in Singapore.
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You cannot experience fear everyday, it is just not possible. Fear transforms to apathetic silence and that silence will remain with us for a long time. Silence is golden, welcome to the Golden Period in Singapore.
Bush has a very good friend in Singapore but Singaporeans are never like the Americans, funny. Driven into a corner, fear may just morph into fearsome, let’s see how long fear lasts!
now that i have read the email,
i actually think he should be applauded for his actions.
takes courage to be a whistle-blower, pity you need to be born into a certain family to do it here.
I find it so disappointing that political issues are not debated on television as much as they are in better democracies abroad. I dream of the day when the Opposition has the chance to have a fair debate with the ruling PAP on live, uncensored Channel 5.
But that’s just a pipe dream, sadly.
But if PAP ministers have nothing to hide, and are capable of defending their actions live on TV, why don’t they? I wish that they did.
And by the way, I think that good journalism on the part of the mainstream media is not to stay silent about political issues, but to present both viewpoints strongly (like Mr. Olbermann arguing one point, and a diehard Bush supporter/official arguing about the other side).
But if the MSM does not even have the basic ethics and professionalism to be unbiased towards any side, even if it stays as quiet about these issues as our MSM does.
When you have cronies that have much to lose, why should cronies engage you in the first place ? My country was and still is born not of democracy but of Lee’s empire and mercy since it very inception. Why should cronies ever humble before ppl make of chicken attitude that these cronies has long breed us ?
Oh yeah, when you ask cronies such as LKY , the same moronic reply is :
“WE ARE GODDAMN DIFFERENT FROM OTHER COUNTRIES ! WE ARE FIRST CLASS GOV WITH FIRST CLASS GOVERNANCE WITH NO CORRUPTION ! DON’T COMPARE APPLE WITH ORANGE !”
Same kind of rubbish that tries to brainwash into every Singaporean. Yes, indeed different. They are the same when it come to money, but become indifferent when they talk about giving money to the public and that public will deliver crude mentality.
Indeed our gov is different from the rest of gov. Indeed.
The powerful part about it is that somehow they have made everyone so cowed such that no one is willing to stand up. Culture of fear, mah. So probably the best thing will be for singaporeans to leave when they can. After all, no sense of loyalty was ever impressed into us in the first place…
And since our surnames are not LEE…bo pian lah.
All hail the King!
Why can’t we have an open discussion about the actions of our PM’s son?
Because there are some things that don’t need to be discussed. I think local bloggers have found out that talk is too cheap. This is a very, very minor issue. But since you’re asking, here’s one.
Those in the loop about this aren’t so much concerned about his “jumping the chain of command” (which runs into the expected ambiguity for a person in his position) as they are appalled by the fact that Mr Li’s very well researched e-mail stretched to a startling three pages of printed text, replete with national education messages and quotes from exalted sources.
It is a bit much for an injustice that, in the bigger picture, is a pretty minor issue. (One might also ask how much work time Mr Li dedicated in plotting this bombshell.) Perhaps Mr Li is a naturally fastidious person. But it’s easier (and more logical) to come to the conclusion that he was trying to exact some retribution on a colleague rather than act as the concerned citizen he says he is.
There’s more to this, but how important can this get? We all have colleagues who go awol, who are temperamental, who are a royal pain in the arse. So does Mr Li, unfortunately. Sucks for him. The only thing that is new here is that unlike the rest of us Mr Li lacks the nerve, the temerity, and the professionalism to live with all the mediocrity that lies outside his sheltered world.
* His surname is Li rather than Lee. The elder Mr Lee’s name derives from older romanisation; Mr Li’s is rendered in pinyin.
[...] This incident has raised a host of issues, for example , the fact that there appears to be a climate of fear, and the fact that there appears to be some double standard at work here; as has been pointed out, [...]
Dude. That is NOT quality journalism.
It’s like (as some pointed out in the youtube comments) the liberal equivalent of O’Reilly.
Unless you consider O’Reilly a quality journalist………
sad siar.
Why not be a real man for a change and blow the whistle in MIT campus? There are many injustices here, dodgy entry requirements, low teaching standards, questionable donations, fringe lunatics groups, secret organizations etc.
Go on do it, but it will never happen and I wonder why?
If we have a commentary such as this Olbermann anywhere in Channelnewasia or Mediacorp, that poor bugger would have been shot and packed. A defamation suit isn’t enough.