TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent An angry female blogger Petunia Lee who is married with kids has lashed out at Foreign Minister George Yeo for his "undiplomatic" response to the Jack Neo sex scandal. Mr Yeo is a personal friend of Jack Neo and had known him for over ten years. The latter was embroiled in a series of sex scandals of late after his mistress 22 year old Wendy Chong leaked about his adulterous relationship with her to the press. Jack Neo gave Mr Yeo a call before the matter was publicized by the media to inform him what happened, prompting him to post an article on his blog calling on Singaporeans to "rally" around Jack Neo and his family:   While Singaporeans do not mind lending support to Jack's family who are ultimately the victims in the entire saga, they wonder why they should "rally" around Jack Neo who reportedly prey on young women working in his entertainment group in exchange for advancing their careers. Mr Yeo was further embarrassed by subsequent relevations of Jack's sexual exploits with 10 other women including a 16 year old girl and a 55 year old transsexual masseur. Petunia Lee wrote that though it is understandable that George was being kind to his friend, but he has been cruel to the sex victims of Jack: "George Yeo has been kind to his friend but in doing so... he has been cruel to the TWO (at present count) adolescents preyed upon by Jack Neo....But then, George Yeo has not spared a thought for the 2 young ladies!.....Is kind cruelty better than cruel kindness?" Mincing no words, she accused George Yeo of perpetuating in a "great injustice" in declaring open support for a "sexual predator": "There is great injustice in declaring open support for the Sexual Predator that Jack Neo has been, and probably still is (for a man does not easily change his sexual habits). In effect, Jack Neo used his considerable clout in entertainment circles to lure young ladies into relationships with no honour, nor future." Clearly disappointed by the response of George Yeo, Petunia ended her highly charged blog post by asking how a Foreign Minister can be so "undiplomatic" in this matter: "There should be a jail cell for people who promise to make you a Fann Wong in return for a night of penetration!! At the very least, someone should cut his penis off! Jack Neo's penis. Not George Yeo. George Yeo should lose his tongue instead. How can a Minister schooled in foreign diplomacy be quite so undiplomatic in this matter?" There were no immediate comments from George Yeo who has yet to retract his statement of support for Jack Neo or condemn him for his actions. Can Singaporeans take his silence as tacit support for the "predatory" exploits of his good friend Jack Neo whom he shared a blog with? PAP ministers and MPs are well known for the utter lack of empathy, sensitivity and common sense and for making the most outrageous faux pases in public after which they will try to wriggle their way out by claiming that they have been "misquoted" by the media as George's colleague Lim Biow Chuan did earlier. In George Yeo's case, he cannot use the same excuse as he has written his "pledge" of support for Jack Neo himself. This time round, he handed the situation by using the last tactic of the "Sun Tze Art of War". George Yeo has just flown off to Hong Kong and Shanghai for an official visit today and won't be back till days later when the storm will probably blow off and hopefully Singaporeans who notoriously famous for their short memories will forget his latest "undiplomatic" PR disaster coming right after the road traffic accident involving a Romanian diplomat to which he replied "what happened is very bad" after two long months. Read Petunia Lee's blog post here.   Jack Neo and wife Irene Kng’s press conference on 11 March 2010: 1. Video recording of press conference 2. Irene Kng fainted at press conference 3. Photo Gallery 4. Field Report: Jack Neo and wife broke down in tears 5. Live coverage of press conference   Related articles: 1. Jack Neo: I had ONE affair only 2. Transsexual masseur: Jack Neo got “special service” from me 3. PBM Jack Neo apologizes on shared blog with George Yeo 4. PAP MP Lim Biow Chuan claimed he was “misquoted” by media 5. George Yeo slammed by netizens for supporting Jack Neo 6. Jack Neo makes advances to 16 year old French girl 7.Jack Neo’s 10 other flings after Wendy Chong 8. Wendy Chong on how Jack Neo initiated sex with her in his car 9. George Yeo supports PBM Jack Neo 10. Foyce accuses PBM Jack Neo of sexual harrassment 11. Wendy Chong: I had sex with Jack Neo twice a week 12. Jack Neo’s wife forgives him for extra marital affair 13. Jack Neo begged Wendy Chong to let him off  Read More →

By Jumong The complete set of the highly acclaimed Korean historical drama "Queen Seon Deok" (善德女王) has finally arrived in Singapore. The 80 episodes were divided into 5 sets of 15 episodes each with the last set containing 20 episodes. Only three sets had arrived earlier in the beginning of the year leading to anxious fans clamoring for the remaining two sets. The first four sets are sold at $49.90 each at TS and Bluemax video shops while the last set at $74.90. Despite its hefty price tag, the sets have been completely sold out at some stores, an indication of how popular the drama is among Singaporeans. "Queen Seon Deok" is the highest grossing TV drama in South Korea last year with an average episode rating of 35 percent, the second highest after Jumong in 2006. Starring the beautiful Lee Yo Won as Queen Seon Deok and experienced actress Ko Hyun Jung as her nemesis Lady Mi Shil, the drama is about the life story of Princess Deok Man who later became the first female ruler of the Korean kingdom of Shilla from 632 - 647 A.D. She was a contemporary of China's first and only female Emperor Wu Ze-Tian who ruled the Tang dynasty during the same period of time. Shilla was one of the three ancient kingdoms of Korea - the other two being Gorguryeo and Baekje. Shilla eventually unified the Korean peninsula in 668 AD by annexing the other two kingdoms with the help of Tang dynasty. Jumong will write a review on the "Queen Seon Deok" after watching the series filled with exciting plots, excellent pops, sets and scenery as well as extraordinary acting skills of the actors and actresses. Arirang's Queen Seon Deok Press Conference in English   Queen Seon Deok MV   Opening theme song   Have you watched "Queen Seon Deok" yet? What are your views on this drama? Email them to us at [email protected]  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent A  YPAP activist Ibrahim Hassan has published an article on the official YPAP website heaping generous praises on the Budget unveiled lately by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. (read article here) The key message in this year's Budget is to boost the productivity of the Singapore workforce which had declined consecutively for the last three years due to the relentless influx of cheap foreign workers into the country. Mr Ibrahim praised the Budget as one which enabled Singaporeans to "help themselves", repeating a classic PAP rhetoric used over the years to instill a sense of "self-reliance" in the populace: "When you consider the fact that many are expecting this to be an election year, there was some expectation of the government to deliver some goodies - namely a cash handout. Instead of delivering goodies, the government decided to focus on something far more important - helping Singaporeans to help themselves. This budget is all about teaching people to fish rather than giving them the fish." He called on Singaporeans to work "smarter" and "harder" to compete with other developing nations like China and India: "The main theme of this budget was 'productivity.'  The more cynical of us might see this as a drive to get Singaporeans to worker harder for less......With increasingly 'hungry' nations like China and India pushing for higher growth, it is essential for Singaporeans to work smarter as well as harder." Mr Ibrahim described the hike in foreign worker levy as "an example of how the government strives to create less dependence on foreign workers." However, the increase is not substantial at all and employers can easily passed the extra labor cost back to the workers and consumers themselves. There are no wholesale changes in the dependency ratio for the employment of foreign workers which lump citizens and PRs together as one category - "resident workforce". Mr Ibrahim ended his article by declaring that the government "cares" about Singaporeans: "Clearly, this budget shows that the government cares about Singaporeans. It offers us opportunities to invest in ourselves rather than to expect direct aid from the government. This budget is about sustainability and empowerment. It is about teaching us how to fish in the new economy." Singaporeans never expect direct aid from the government. What they want is a level playing field for them to compete directly with the foreign workers. No matter how smart or hard Singaporeans work, they can never compete with foreigners in terms of cost and the males are further handicapped by their mandatory reservist obligations. Mr Ibrahim Hassan seemed ignorant of the reality on the ground that many Singaporeans are suffering because of the discriminatory policies being promulgated by the PAP. He offered nothing new or insightful other than parroting the usual rhetoric spewed forth by PAP leaders - that Singaporeans should be self-reliant, not depend on the government for aid and compete directly with cheap foreign workers while being "cheaper, faster and better" at the same time. Though Singapore is the richest nation in Asia after Japan and can afford to lose billions of dollars of reserves in failed overseas investments, Singaporeans enjoy few social welfare benefits from the government. The state is obscenely rich, but not the ordinary people who have the lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among the Asian Tigers according to a UBS report released last year. With such sycophantic, unimaginative and one-dimensional articles, it is little wonder that the YPAP website is becoming a ghost-town. At last check, it does not even have an alexa traffic ranking based in Singapore due to low readership. The Temasek Review is ranked 168 and has a higher readership than some SPH and Mediacorp-owned websites.   The UBS Series: >> Part 1: Singapore has lowest wages and domestic purchasing power among Asian Tigers >> Part 2: Moving towards a Russian standard of living >> Part 3: Why Singaporeans are paupers in a first world economy  Read More →