Of Amy Cheong and the myth called racial harmony

The girl who single-handedly divided our little red dot.

SO a Malaysian born Australian, Amy Cheong had stupidly and tactlessly typed that status update on her Facebook account. We do not know if her account was a private one. Obviously, she has friends who do not like her very much and the screenshot went viral. Everyone in this little red dot has been affected. A lot of us were braying for her blood. Her then employers then swiftly gave her the axe to sever all ties. Subsequently, her job was placed on Jobstreet. She then flew her racist ass to Perth.

The stark reality that this issue has affirmed is that racial harmony does not exist in Singapore. On the Internet, some have taken it upon themselves to fight discrimination with discrimination. In theory, with a fight like that, wait for it...... discrimination prevails. First, they declare their own race. Then, they go on to describe the racism that they have encountered. What is this tit-for-tat thinking?

This is an unquestionable indication that Singaporeans are at best, racial tolerant. Call this the hard truth if you may. Racial harmony is but a beautiful and utopian label that our government has termed. We are no where near that. In fact, no countries can proudly claim that there is zero racism in their land. In our own shores, it is quite disheartening and frightening to know that one Amy Cheong has single-handedly caused such irreparable damages to our society. Somewhere out there, there are people who are keeping tabs on how many times people from the IJK race had been racist toward people from the OPQ race. There is also this possibility that somebody from another country creates a Facebook account, find a local e.g. Chinese, Indian, Malay looking profile picture, post racist updates, and, again, this tiny red dot will be burning with rage again.

We suggest that the government look into educating people on the uses of social media. What is meant for private space can be easily made available in the public space by simply taking screenshots. Yes, keep up with the racial harmony curricular. Introduce a social media awareness curricular. This is not just for the young. The aunty age Amy Cheong needs it too, as far as we can see. The racial harmony curricular can contain some chapters on social media awareness and vice versa. It should not be much of a chore since we are already, a very controlled country.

Some of us fondly remember our younger years when we cursed in colloquial while doing group activities and team sports. We will have Chinese, Indians and Malays in the group and we all curse "CHEEBYE!", "PUNDEK!" or "BUTOH!" with equal enthusiasm. Those were the days. These days, we say "FUCK!" and autocorrect turns it to "DUCK!" but that's another story, heh.

P.S. Meanwhile, it appears that another racist miscreant, Eve Tan is making her rounds on the Internet. Fuck you, Eve Tan. You should expect no mercy.

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Of CHC's fund raising for the 6 accused.

From AsiaOne

City Harvest Church warned over fund raising for accused 

Singapore's Commissioner of Charities (COC) has warned City Harvest Church about its employees' efforts to raise funds to pay the legal fees of the church's leaders facing criminal charges in court.

At issue is a donation form which surfaced this month seeking funds as a "personal gift" to the six people charged so far.

Commissioner of Charities' response

"The Commissioner of Charities' (COC) office had earlier issued a Restriction Order to the Board of City Harvest Church (CHC) to restrict CHC from paying the legal fees of the six accused persons and entering into transactions relating to payment of services to the suspended individuals and their related entities, without the approval of the COC.

The COC has informed CHC that the church and/or its employees should not be involved in raising funds for the legal expenses or setting up a specific fund for this purpose."
 

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Is this a good call by the Commissioner of Charities to stop CHC members for raising funds for the lawsuit? We cannot decide. Members will simply route their funds to a fellow member who is not part of the 6 accused. This "personal gift" is a major loophole. At the same time, it does seem that CHC has forgotten why they are in embroiled in a lawsuit in the first place. Seems like CHC is pretty recalcitrant.

What is even more disgusting, disappointing and appalling is this: CHC actually puts itself up as a recipient for donations in kind. NTUC FairPrice and the National Council of Social Service (NCSS) have a collaboration so that people who would like to donate food items or basic necessities to voluntary welfare organizations (VWOs) may do so via FairPrice's website. CHC is one of the VWOs listed.

 

How is this appropriate when church members are busy raising funds for their already very rich pastors and senior members of the church and leaving the needy people in their care to the public? Surely they should know where their priorities lie? Is giving to the needy less prosperous then giving to the pastors, you believers of the prosperity gospel?

This is not an attempt to penalize the needy. This is an indication that CHC members rather tithe upwards to pastors who can live in luxury appartments instead of giving meaningfully to those who need it more. We are even more convinced that somewhere during sermons and cell group sessions, CHC has not been sharing the right message.

Regardless of religion, God helps those who help themselves.  

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Of Mentos' National Night

CNN reports on how Mentos hopes to get Singaporeans to get busy and start making babies starting this National Day!

The video is well worth your time. In our opinion, it beats any national day songs that have been written in recent years. Get busy Singaporeans! Own this National Date Night!


P.S. The comments on the CNN article are mostly idiotic. Perhaps, most of the commenters are not Singaporeans. The ones on Youtube however, are more encouraging. It shows that Singaporeans have a sense of humour too.
 

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Video urges Singapore couples to make babies - like, now

By John D. Sutter, CNN

(CNN) - This week's over-the-top marketing campaign is a YouTube video from Mentos that hopes to convince Singaporeans to get busy. Like literally. It asks them to "make a little human that looks like you and me" and "make Singapore's birthrate spike" on National Day, a Singaporean holiday, which will be celebrated on Thursday.

"This August the 9th, it's time to do our civic duty," a deep-voiced man says in the video, produced by an ad agency on behalf of Mentos mints. "And I'm not talking about speeches, fireworks or parades." (Woman in the background: "But I like that stuff.") "I'm talking about the stuff after that stuff. I'm talking about making a baby, baby. You ready?"

Just watch the thing:

 

It turns out that the country has a "problem" with population decline. Fertility rates are going down. The population is aging. Growth of the small city-state's population was 1% in 2010 and shrank to 0.5% in 2011.

From a government report on the issue (PDF):

Like many developed countries, Singapore’s key population challenges are our low fertility and an ageing population. Our aim is to achieve a sustainable population that supports both economic growth and social cohesion, so that Singapore remains vibrant and liveable.

Oh, yeah. And the country also runs a dating service, called the Social Development Network.
That government group is referenced (of course, right?) in the "National Night" song:

It's National Night and I want a baby, boo. I know you want it. So does the S.D.U.

(The S.D.U. was renamed the S.D.N. in 2009. But "U" apparently rhymes better.)

Just FYI, new parents in Singapore are offered thousands of dollars ($18,000 for the fifth child!) for having children, according to a government site.

It's unclear if the government was involved in the Mentos have-sex-now-and-increase-our-population video campaign, which also has a related Facebook page. The ad firm Bartle Bogle Hegarty developed the the video. A spokesperson told the Financial Times that the government of Singapore did not request to approve the campaign.

It's unclear, of course, if this will actually work. But it certainly has people in Western media circles talking.
From James Fallows at The Atlantic:

The Singapore government has often been criticized for being too Grandgrind-like and strait-laced. So, no joke, congrats to whoever broke the stereotype by doing this. And ... ummm, Happy National Day!

And it's resulted in plenty of funny/bossy tweets. Like this one:

 Perhaps the most striking thing about the video is its lack of subtlety. Here are a few lines:

"Let your patriotism explode. Because it's National Night."
"Put this track on repeat. Let's put a bao (bun) in your oven!"
"We gotta go all the way for Singapore, you know what I'm sayin?"

Yes. Yes, we do.

Let us what you think of the video and Singapore's birthrate issues in the comments.

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Of the Tey-Ko sex-for-grades scandal

Another sex scandal in incorruptible Singapore!
Is Singapore so tiny and not happening that the citizens have nothing to do but each other?

Presenting defendant, former NUS law professor Tey Tsun Hang.

Before he joined NUS, Tey was a district judge with Singapore's Subordinate Courts, and had even spent time as a state counsel at the legislation division of the Attorney-General's Chambers. Currently, he has been charged with six counts of corruption in a sex-for-grades scandal. Tey is 41 years old and married.

Since it takes two hands to clap, this is the student who allegedly offered sex-for-grades. Presenting Darinne Ko Wen Hui, who at 23 years old, already know that brains can only take you so far. Oh wait, she was even younger when it happened..

It appears that Ko had told a friend about her little secret with Tey, thinking that it had blown over. However, the authorities took action and Tey was formally charged last Friday. She has, very impressively hired Subhas Anandan and Sunil Sudheesan as her defence lawyers. (Hmm, Mr Subhas seems to be taking on all the sex-related cases this year). It appears that Ko had been arrested in April, about the same time when Tey was investigated. She is currently out on police bail


Students sleeping with professors or professors sleeping with students is not new. Yet, conflict of interest remains of little concern to the general public. Hell if alcohol can cloud your judgement, we are pretty sure that sex can too. Will this end student-professor sexaships? We doubt so. Lianhe Wanbao claims that Ko had only been given a B. So even it there was no corruption, there were indeed, improper and unprofessional conduct.

It will be interesting to see how this case develops. Given Tey's background, he should have powerful friends. Consider the fact that he was first investigated in April, surely he would have taken time out to plan his defense should shit hits the fan. Yet when he is charged, he would only say that he is known to speak about the system and attribute his writings to why he is being prosecuted. Unless the system planted Ko...

Also, Ko's engagement of Subhas Anandan speaks volumes. Considering that her lawyers are suppose to defend her, why did she withhold the fact that she was arrested in April from them?

Hmm. Let's wait and see how this unfolds.

P.S. Someone said that regardless of the grade e.g. A, B or C, corruption is still corruption.

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Of changes to the mandatory death sentence

Here's a very short note on how we feel. Many will disagree.

It is scary to realize that even a mandatory death sentence does not deter people from committing serious crimes. If death doesn't stop you, what else can?

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Of City Harvest & good intentions gone awry

Yes, one more blog that writes about the City Harvest Church (CHC) saga. We hope this is well worth your time.

To begin with, there is nothing wrong with a project that seeks to extend the Christian faith. Obviously, the faith (Christianity, Buddhism, Islam or Hinduism for the matter) is good and it should be shared. To bring the secular over or "Crossover", to what extent should the religious give way to the secular in order to reach to the masses? Feel free to watch Sun Ho's China Wine and Mr Bill videos. When one watches these videos, surely there is an inner voice of reason that says, "something is not right. How does gyrating in skimpy clothes draw one closer to God?" Even the members of the popular Planetshakers band, the music arm of a popular youth movement are appropriately dressed.

Then there are even more disclosures. Even without the charges being brought to light, we have all heard of how CHC members "snap up" Sun Ho's CDs. Sure, showing support for the Pastor's wife involved in Project Crossover is absolutely legit. Buying CDs to support your church's effort is perfectly legit. It becomes questionable when one has to buy x number of CDs in exchange for points or a poster, or a t-shirt etc.

At the same time, it is hard to digest the fact that since the implementation of Project Crossover, Kong Hee and Sun Ho have upgraded from a flat in Tampines (bought SGD 127 000, sold SGD 420 000), to a unit in Horizon Towers at River Valley (SGD 1 million) to a penthouse in Sentosa Cove. This begets another question. We could say that they made shrewd investments or perhaps, won the lottery. Or that their staunch belief in the prosperity gospel have paid off. Even in Hollywood Hills, Sun Ho lives in a posh neighborhood which count Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie amongst other celebrity neighbors. We sure know what Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie do for a living. As far as Hollywood is concerned, who is this Sun Ho? What does she do for a living? Being a pastor is not a high net worth career. So what else do Kong Hee and Sun Ho do to generate so much income?

Yes we are naturally kind-hearted. We should not judge, just like how we thought we were giving wholeheartedly with good intentions to NKF only to find that we were contributing to a toilet fitted with a golden tap. Yet, there are some issues that cannot be ignored.

While we do not speak for the masses, we all have to agree that somehow there is a large degree of inappropriateness in this.


Since the secular approach works for Crossover, it seems appropriate to quote Jules from Pulp Fiction who appears to be paraphasing Psalm 23 and the last line is from Ezekiel 25:17:
"The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you." 


Yes Project Crossover began with good intentions. Does it still function with those good intentions?

For some, the stark realization that you have actually become a better person than the supposed servant of God who was supposed to help bridge you towards God can be frightening.

Fret not, sometimes even the best of us get lost. It is now your turn to shepherd the weak home.

* For those who are offended by the Pulp Fiction quote, have a think about the prosperity gospel.

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Of shaming high ranking horny person and punishing the creative vandal

Update as of 19 July 2012:
Ex-CNB chief Ng Boon Gay to claim trial

Update as of 6 July 2012:
Peter Benedict Lim Sin Pang claims trial

Of high ranking horny people...

The higher the rank, the higher the salary, the more inclined you are to have sex in public places.

OR

The higher the rank, the higher the salary, the more cheapo one becomes.

OR

All c wanted was to add "THRILL-SEEKER" to his already outstanding resume. He brought his scandal home!

What's amazing is that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) have decided to release a full disclosure of who he had sex with, what kind of sex, the number of times, with who and where. I do not remember reading anything this detailed and salacious in the 154th media at all. The women involved were  named along with their organisations. Lim is charged for 10 counts of corruption. If convicted, he could be jailed up to five years and fined S$100,000 for each charge.

This looks to be the Ministry of Home Afffairs' (MHA) strongest showing of shaming. Is the Ministry looking to take the lead from internet vigilantes by adopting this naming and shaming tactic? Only a few weeks ago, Xiaxue had taken to task, the identifying and shaming abusive netizens who had at Temasek Review's invite, provided abusive captions to photographs of Xiaxue and her friends. You can read her entry here (warning, contains expletives).

Then, we have the arrest of Sticker Lady. Sticker Lady is Samantha Lo aka SKL0. She is a content curator with the National Art Gallery's Canvas project and the founder of online magazine RCGNTN dedicated to local artists. Lo has been arrested on the charge of vandalism after allegedly spray painting "My Grandfather Road/Building" on roads and walls around Singapore. She is also believed to be behind the stickers with quirky slogans such as "Press Until Shiok".

If convicted, Lo will be punished with a fine of up to S$2,000, or jailed up to three years and caning.

Why are we putting these two issues together, you may wonder. For us, we see a common point. It is precedence. Precedence is an ugly word. Since we are a nation that lacks creativity, we can only be sure that there will be copycats. This means there will be more Peter Benedict Lim Sin Pang and Samantha Lo to come. Obviously, MHA would not want more high ranking officers to be charged for corruption in cash or kind since it so defeats the sole purpose of their high salaries. Neither would MHA want more Samanthas who would stick stickers on every traffic light and spray "My Grandfather's Road" on every single road in Singapore. Frankly, we wouldn't want to have our fingers on traffic light buttons which has layers of sticky stickers with dirt if everyone wants to make an aesthetic statement.

Perhaps, MHA's heavy-handedness has something to do with its incumbent Minister who had shown himself to be quite a character since the by-elections and the recent Pre-U seminar. 

Interestingly enough, "My Grandfather Road" has sparkled quite a number of heritage tracking events. The New Paper has started a series which traces the descendants of some prominent people from Singapore’s past, whose names adorn road signs around the island. The same goes for Bukit Brown.

We have to concede that "My Grandfather Road" makes a great Arts Festival / National Heritage slogan. How about we give Lo a light smack on the hand and in return, let her helm these festivals as community service?

As for Lim, he should get the highest possible punishment ever. Take it that the State is punishing him for infidelity and deceiving his employers, which is in this case, the State.

* All you thrill-seekers be warned. I am sure the carparks near the indoor stadium, Big Splash, Marina Bay Golf Course are no longer ideal for public displays of passions unless you would like an audience from the men in blue.

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