TR EMERITUS

Agence France-Presse, 28 August 2010 The North Korean embassy is helping with investigations into a traffic incident involving one of its vehicles in the city-state's brothel district, Singaporean officials said. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been in touch with the DPRK ambassador on this matter," a ministry spokesman said in a statement issued late Friday. "The DPRK ambassador has assured us that the DPRK embassy respected Singapore's laws and would extend its full cooperation with the authorities in resolving the issue." The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is the North's official name. Singapore police told AFP Saturday an investigation into the incident was still ongoing. The traffic incident took place in the pre-dawn hours of Thursday in Geylang when a parked car was hit by the embassy vehicle, according to an earlier police statement. "No one was in the stationary car, which suffered a slight dent at the rear," the police statement said. Geylang is Singapore's red light district, where prostitutes openly offer their services on pavements and in licensed brothels, with short-time motels scattered along the neighbourhood's narrow streets and lanes. The incident follows a fatal hit-and-run case involving a former Romanian diplomat, Silviu Ionescu, who allegedly rammed an embassy car into three pedestrians last December, killing one of them, after a drinking binge. The Ionescu case caused a furore in the city-state, which demanded that he be brought to justice after fleeing Singapore. He is currently in detention in Romania, and will face trial in October after strong diplomatic pressure from Singapore. Source: AFP  Read More →

I AM a father of four school-going children and I have had the benefit of seeing my children enjoy the Youth Olympic Games. This wasn't their initial response; at first the Games were met on their part with a cold, cynical reception. But as the YOG went on, this indifferent attitude became one of enthusiasm and patriotism. Their excitement was infectious. I decided to take the opportunity to bond with them by accompanying them to some events. Of course, my girls had the benefit of watching games free, courtesy of the Education Ministry. I happily paid for the ticket myself - in fact, I was more worried by the thought of not securing a ticket than the thought of paying for it. It is sad to read media reports of parents demanding free tickets to accompany their children. Every single day of the YOG has been a learning experience for my girls and me. I am sure schools can pick up on the splendid organisation, the logistical problems, examples of both sportsmanship and gamesmanship, and the human spectacle that unfolded day by day as topics for discussions, to instil the right values in children. This alone would make the millions of dollars spent to host the Games worth every cent. For example, the gracious gestures of the triumphant Chinese swimmers, who always approached their fellow medal winners to shake hands with them during the prize presentation ceremony, was exemplary. Also, the gutsy show of determination, teamwork and skill by the footballing Singapore Cubs was so impressive and honourable, compared to the distasteful, disgraceful time-wasting by Haiti, their opponents in the semi-final. The principle of winning at any cost is not in line with the spirit of the Games. To me the Cubs are the true winners in this game; they galvanised the nation and made us proud of them. Of course, there were some hiccups, such as the rush for "last-minute tickets" for events with empty seats. The organisers could have considered using television tickers or the Internet to inform the public of where seats were available, rather than allowing queues to form, with many left frustrated about not being able to get into the venues. I also noticed that children in the stands did not always understand the games they were watching, with some of my daughter's schoolmates asking me about the rules. In hindsight, the teachers accompanying the students to the games should have taken the initiative to explain the rules to the students. But minor issues aside, on the whole, it has been a great Youth Olympic Games. I'm sure we be telling future generations about how this little island, with its big heart, made the impossible dream possible. Well done, Singapore! Tan Philip  Read More →

A netizen Kojaktbt has emailed several PAP ministers and government agencies to request for an explanation of the arrest of YOG critic Mr Abdul Malik for a comment posted on Facebook. Mr Malik, an alumnus of Singapore's top secondary school Raffles Institution, had posted a comment on his Facebook taking Dr Vivian to task for the YOG mass food poisoning scandal on 15 August which caused 21 YOG volunteers to suffer from diarrhoea after taking food provided by the YOG caterer. According to international news agency Agence France-Presse (AFP), Mr Malik posted a comment written in capital letters saying that the incident showed it was time to “burn Vivian Balakrishnan and the PAP”. In the same posting, he also called on the public to “rally together to vote them out”. He was arrested at his workplace on Tuesday morning by three plain-clothes police officers from Bedok Police Division whose Commander is DAC Teo Chun Ching and Head Investigator is DSP Goh Tat Boon. Below is a snapshot of the original comment posted by Mr Malik who got him into trouble with the police: The case sparked a massive outcry among Singaporeans who are peeved off with the high-handed approach of the Singapore police on a young man expressing his personal opinion of the handling of YOG by Dr Vivian. In the email addressed to Dr Vivian as well as the Home and Law Ministers, Kojakbt asked how one can misconstrue the use of a common metaphor as "inciting violence and public disorder": "Now, you can physically burn a person but how are you supposed to burn a political party? Moving to the next sentence, “Rally together and vote them out!!!”, he was clearly qualifying his previous “burn” remark by asking the citizens to vote PAP out. Hence, reading both sentences together, the meaning of the word “burn” becomes clearer. It’s referring to burning as in the idiom, “burning someone at the stake”. Figuratively, it means “to chastise or denounce someone severely or excessively” (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/burn+at+the+stake)." Dr Vivian had revealed in an earlier press interview that he did not know about the case until he read about it in the papers, raising questions on how the police is able to launch an official investigation into Mr Malik's Facebook posting without receiving any formal complaints from the aggrieved party. "More critically to the netizens, we know that from the papers, you weren’t the one who reported Mr Malik to the police. According to a Temasek Review article, Mr Malik said that it was actually the investigating officer (IO) who lodged the report leading to his arrest. If this is true, how can the police arrest any law-abiding citizens as they like just because the police doesn’t like the language one uses or the way one criticises the Govt’s handling of events like the YOG?" Kojakbt asked Dr Vivian. Kojakbt ended his letter by urging the Singapore police to explain the arrest of Mr Malik so as to allay public concerns. It is highly doubtful that the Singapore police will bother to call a press conference to answer queries from the public and will probably use its usual excuse of "unable to comment as investigations are still ongoing" till Singaporeans forget the incident entirely. In all likelihood, a PAP MP will be "arrowed" to put up a "wayang" in the rubber-stamped Parliament by asking pre-screened questions about the case to the Law Minister Shanmugam who will then come up with a most "compelling" explanation to shut the critics up like what happened to Shafie Goh's case. Without an independent body like a Public Complaint Bureau on Police Misconduct to check on the police, there is no way Singaporeans can hold the Singapore police accountable to its actions.   Related articles: >> Abdul Malik: My thoughts on the Youth Olympic Games >> Former RI boy turned into "celebrity" overnight for standing up to PAP >> Email to ministers on arrest of YOG critic >> Abdul Malik on his arrest >> Arrest of YOG critic to quash online dissent backfired >> Character assassination by Straits Times against YOG critic >> Public support for arrested YOG critic >> Outcry among Singaporeans at arrest of YOG critic >> Singapore police put YOG on world map >> Did Dr Vivian lodge police report against YOG critic? >> YOG critic arrested by Singapore police >> Participant of “I hate YOG” Facebook arrested by police Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us  Read More →