TR EMERITUS

By Andrew Jacobs from New York Times, 4 June 2010 As the nation held its collective breath, China’s first astronaut, Yang Liwei, floated back to the motherland, having orbited Earth 14 times in the Shenzhou 5, or Divine Capsule. It was October 2003, and the national broadcaster CCTV carried live coverage of the momentous event, from Mr. Yang’s famous pleasantries uttered in space — “I feel good” — to the instant that workers opened the capsule door to reveal the pale but smiling face of a hero, offering irrefutable evidence that China’s maiden manned space voyage had gone off without a hitch. Or had it? In a lecture he gave to a group of journalism students last month, a top official at Xinhua, the state news agency, said that the mission was not so picture-perfect. The official, Xia Lin, described how a design flaw had exposed the astronaut to excessive G-force pressure during re-entry, splitting his lip and drenching his face in blood. Startled but undaunted by Mr. Yang’s appearance, the workers quickly mopped up the blood, strapped him back in his seat and shut the door. Then, with the cameras rolling, the cabin door swung open again, revealing an unblemished moment of triumph for all the world to see. Read rest of article here.  Read More →

PAP minister without portfolio and NTUC Secretary-General Lim Swee Say now wants Singapore to develop a "cheaper, better and faster" economy after calling on Singapore workers to do so earlier. He stressed that "there is a need for both employers and employees to embrace the productivity drive and remove bottlenecks" in order to achieve the noble objective. Speaking to Channel News Asia, he added that "it's important to track the progress of the 'cheaper, better and faster' initiative so that companies and unions keep moving up the improvement ladder." According to NTUC, such initiatives had led to the breaking of three key bottlenecks over the past five years such high dependency on overseas technical support, low machine productivity, and low labour productivity. What was not mentioned is Singapore's chronic dependence on cheap foreign workers who has resulted in its low labor productivity compared to other developed nations. It is strange that while both companies and workers are exhorted to be "cheaper, better and faster", the same rule does not apply to PAP ministers. On the contrary, they are getting more and more expensive with an expected hefty pay hike this year thanks to the strong "rebound" of the Singapore economy. Despite the ever-increasing salaries of PAP ministers and senior civil servants, it is debatable if they are getting "better and faster" at the same time. Unfortunately, there is no way Singaporeans can remove non-performing ministers from the cabinet. Regardless of how they screw up, they will still be "voted" into Parliament somehow at the end of the day.   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 →

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal from The Malaysian Insider The sodomy trial of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim took a graphic turn today when a government doctor testified that evidence of semen in the complainant’s anal region was sufficient to indicate penetration. Dr Mohd Razali Ibrahim, one of the three doctors who had examined Anwar’s accuser, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, on June 28, 2008, said the swab samples taken from Saiful’s anus showed signs of semen, but that there was no tear or injury to the anus. The examination was done two days after the alleged sodomy. “With all the reports before me now, I would say that there is evidence of penetration even without clinical injuries. “With presence of semen, there is evidence of anal penetration,” said Dr Razali in response to the prosecution’s questions in court today. Solicitor-General II Datuk Yusof Zainal Abiden had earlier asked Dr Razali about his own report dated June 28, which stated that there were “no injuries, no tear... no conclusive findings of penetration to the rectum.” The doctor explained that, at the time, he had no knowledge of the location of swab samples which were taken from Saiful. “I checked and found around anal anatomy appears to be moist, but I can’t find evidence of injury or trauma.” “I only found small haemorrhoids, which is not significant in this case,” he said. The swab samples, according to another report, had evidence of semen. The report was only made known to Dr Razali (right) today by the prosecution during questioning. This led Dr Razali to change his conclusion based on the new report, which shed light on the areas from which the swab samples had been taken. He read out the report which stated swab samples B5, B7, B8, and B9 as containing semen. It is understood that swabs B5, B7, B8, and B9 were taken respectively from the perianal region, high rectal swab, and low rectal swab. “I would conclude (now) there is evidence of penetration,” said Razali. Razali told the court that he was the surgeon on-call on June 28, 2008, from 8am-8am (June 29) and had examined Saiful at an emergency room of Hospital Kuala Lumpur at 9pm that night. “On 7pm, I was called... informed that there was a sodomy case. I went to emergency unit at 9pm,” he said. Razali said once there, he met a few people — two specialists as well as several police officers. The two specialists, Dr Khairul Nizam Hassan and Dr Siew Sheue Seng, were then brought in to be identified in court. Razali claimed he only saw Saiful in the emergency room after a briefing with police and medical officers who informed him of the case. “I examined the bottom part of victim, anal and rectal. Upon Saiful’s permission, I examined the internal part of anus using special tools,” said Dr Razali. A protoscope (a tool used for rectal examinations) was then produced in court. Judge Datuk Mohamed Zabidin Mohd Diah fixed tomorrow morning for Anwar’s team to cross-examine the doctor, after objections from Karpal. Karpal had wanted more time for preparation in light of Dr Razali’s testimony today. Another lawyer, Sankara Nair, agreed with this. “This is an ambush, unprofessional prosecution. I want time. What the doctor has said just now is merely an assumption during examination-in-chief. “He is just a general surgeon. He says he’s seen many [posteriors], [it] doesn’t make him an expert. We will ask him why he didn’t know (about the swab samples),” said Sankara. Anwar claimed “two or three semen samples” were found on Saiful.But Anwar said he was not surprised by the doctor’s testimony. The Pakatan Rakyat de facto leader claimed that there were “two or three semen samples” found on Saiful, but did not elaborate any further. “The question is, whose semen is this? You’d be surprised to know whose semen is it from,” said Anwar. Earlier on in court, Karpal claimed that Anwar was in unit 11-5-2 of the Desa Damansara Condominium during the time of the alleged sodomy, not in 11-5-1 as Saiful had claimed. This did not sit well with Saiful, who insisted that Anwar was with him in unit 11-5-1 at the time. “No, your honour, it’s not true,” said Saiful. Karpal also stressed that this would be the defence team’s strategy. “Our defence is alibi,” said Karpal. Anwar, the 62-year-old PKR de facto leader, is charged with sodomising Saiful at Unit 11-5-1 of the Desa Damansara Condominium in Jalan Setiakasih, Bukit Damansara here between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26, 2008. The former deputy prime minister has denied the charge, describing it as “evil, frivolous lies by those in power” when the charge was read out to him. He is charged under section 377B of the Penal Code and can be sentenced to a maximum of 20 years’ jail and whipping upon conviction. The trial is taking place 18 months after Anwar was charged in court in August 2008. Anwar was charged with sodomy and corruption in 1998 after he was sacked from the Cabinet and was later convicted and jailed for both offences. He was freed in September 2004 and later resurrected his political career by winning back his Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat in a by-election in 2008, which had been held in the interim by his wife. He had earlier led the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, to a historic sweep of five states and 82 Parliamentary seats in Election 2008. - The Malaysian Insider  Read More →