TR EMERITUS

By Darkness 2009 from The Brotherhood, Guest Columnist Recently when Channel Neuter Asia, celebrated its 10th anniversary year, Mr Lee floated the idea there is a need for a news provider which did not wear what he termed “Western spectacles”. He went on to add, in this emerging informational landscape; there was scope for reportage from the perspective of the Asian eye. One which hopefully would not promote ideology or a doctrine, but just present the facts. Well, I guess if you gut out the gobble-d-guk, what LHL is trying to say is: the western press simply isn’t willing to play ball with the government of the day - that’s to say they have a nasty habit of calling a spade a spade (I wonder why duh! Could that possibly explain why the ST is languishing just behind the Timbuktu Morning Post?) and that fear is perfectly understandable especially when you consider how things haven’t really been going that well for us recently - with many of our great plans giving way like the river to the sea e.g the Byzantine losses incurred by both Temasek and GIC recently - along with ricketty idea of the 1st division dream team – it’s fair to say, all these emerging dissonances will only continue to get the electron microscope treatment from the foreign press; so I guess one way of countering the influence of the western press is to create an alternate universe of “news” and if possible the “truth.” Yes, throw out the rule book and write a new one - from where I am standing; that’s really the long and short of it. And I just being perfectly honest about it. (but please prove me wrong, if you dare). Now as some of you may already know; I am not a very big fan of cultural hyperbole and it doesn’t really matter whether its from the East, West or the planet of the Apes – and one reason why I think that’s a bankrupt strategy is because it’s so pastry light; it doesn’t  even have the resilience to stand up to a decent kung fu panda kick. For example if you begin to pick at lets say any homegrown Asian icon like (e.g Peranakan values = where it seems judging from media corpse recent little Nyonya series -  only preoccupation of a Nyonya is to  torture chamber maids no end) our much vaunted Asian values – and begin to peel away the layers of embellishment; what you’ve eventually discover is the whole idea is really predicated on a myth rather than anything resembling anecdotal truth. Having said, that I don’t discount – the fuzzy idea of Asian values is still very much the preferred crowbar for politicians whenever they run out of bullet points; only lets be clear; it’s never because Asian values or heritage is reliable purveyor of solid reasons to do or not to do something, but rather it’s the direct opposite: bias is the very point of heritage – and there lies the danger when the idea of Asian as an idea or construct is juxtaposed against the broader canvass of what we normally term as news. And let me tell you another thing: why when you combine heritage in the form of Asian or Planet of Apes values into something as malleable as news – then you will never be able to get any close to an open inquiry and even less of a comprehensive truth that may even keep scrupulously close to the anecdotal evidence – since the idea of Asian is essentially a term that invokes heritage – and heritage excels in bending, exaggerating, inventing and embellish the whole idea of the truth – what sort of news do you think you are going to get - a la rojak lah or maybe primadelli chocolate kanasai cake variety? The other bunfight that bothers me about mixing heritage with news is unlike history, heritage is never open to critical challenge – as it doesn’t seek to compromise as much as assert its raison detre in terms of finality – that’s why you have culture wars: they’re diametrically opposed in every sense and irreconcilable: why do you think smart people don’t mix religion with politics? Wonder no more, it’s the same reason why – when you try to mix news with something like Asian values, its going to come back and bite you like a multi headed hydra – as premising anything on the bedrock of heritage is very much putting your faith in that grey cloud of confusion like faith, hijab, taking off your shoes before you enter, eating rice with your hand that you dont wipe your ass with yada yada yada yada yada yada lah/ You get my point lah - if you really want real news - then the last thing you want to do is go down that road of this cannot think - that cannot say – this patang or soey - no thank you. And this should prompt us all to consider whether it’s such a good idea to combine news and the whole idea of Asian values - as even the timing may all be wrong -  at a time when the world is besieged by conflict, enmities, and recently loss of faith in so many of cultural set pieces, like wall street, government and corporate leaders – the whole idea of combining news with heritage /  doesn’t open up our minds to solicit deeper understanding – as much as it narrows our already myopic vision further by focusing on homily sugary hear only the good news stuff – as I said when you begin to peel off the lid on something like Asian values; that’s all it really is – bottled air – it’s a cloud; not unless you want to be served up with soundbites and doggy sized vignettes instead of whole disquisitions that may be able to provide an intelligent explanation for the before, during and after (like how did Temasek lose so much money - come on down here and debate with me - I will put you in a nice citrus smelling pine box - unfortunately, I dont know, as it was really like Haley’s comet when it was featured in our beloved rag) I am not saying for one moment heritage doesn’t have the capacity to work it’s spell; it does; only what we need to be mindful of here is it leverages specifically on our emotional strengths and weaknesses. No doubt that’s a good thing sometimes (why do you think,  I invoke it at the end of every month when I run out of money and need my woman to pay the bills), without it countries cannot win wars; they would have the moral stamina to see the through the tough; governments will capitulate and anarchy will rein unbridled. Only what we need to be mindful of is when we talk about heritage; its not eu de cologne as it’s very much parfum – a little goes a long way; and if tipped over the scales – heritage has every capacity be oppressive, decadent and sclerotic – trapping us all in obsolete attitudes and promoting xenophobia and blind nationalism – and the danger is amplified considerably when its combined with such a capricious thing as news. Besides the whole idea of Asian values and the logical extension of Asian news – is hardly a settled matter – historical observation may suggest even something as ram rod no nonsense as Asian values may in fact have more to do with fairytales and even less to do with listening to our elders; personal sacrifice and towing the line obediently – all too often when comparatives are made between the decadent West and Asia – the Asian values bullocart is often rolled out to account for our moral rectitude along with probably our iron willed work ethic to why Asians can survive on a diet of insects and twigs – and usually the song and dance is cued to suggest; if good triumphs over evil; good prevailed over bad by the narrowness of margins and this could only be purchased with endless self sacrifice to freedom, democracy and free speech – all these were placed before the altar of necessity to deliver us the good life – here what you may need to ask yourself is whether this simplistic account of to get the good life - you need to stop sticking out like a nail is such a good idea - dont get me wrong; I am a willing tax payer; only why should I give any governments the card blanche to do anything they want in return for the good life? I will not and its really as simple as that. Again its something to consider. And this leads me to the kicker – history may even suggest our understanding of Asian values - as a body of knowledge - or school of thought - may actually have nothing to do with how it’s commonly sold and marketed by politicians ; during the dark ages for example when Europeans were busy chasing vampires around country sides to stake them and burning heretics; Emperor Akhbar Khan had enacted the most comprehensive laws guaranteeing freedom of worship along with creating a haven where intellectuals of every genre were encourage to revivify the arts and sciences – bottom line: truth reveals real Asian values has nothing to do with blind sacrifice - blind obedience - or valuing the idea of the community in such a way where none of us may be willing to rock the boat. If anything it illustrates that we should continue to go and question boldly and confidently. And that’s what I am doing now. You chew on that for the time being (to be con’t) Darkness 2009 - The brotherhood Press 2009  Read More →

By Jeremy Koh, Guest Columnist I bought a two room unit in a centrally located condomnium in the mid 2007 at the peak of the property market which appears to be on a bull run. Almost everyone was upbeat on the rosy future of the property sector. Prices were going up like crazy. A 5 room HDB flat at Marine Parade was sold for $730,000. Like many others, I jumped into the bandwagon thinking that the price would continue to move up. I thought I could flip my purchase a few months later and make a killing. Actually, the price did go up a little and I was offered a reasonable price for my unit, but being greedy, I declined and stay put in the vain hope that I can sell for a higher price later on. It didn't. The subprime crisis erupted in the states and the market stagnated. Then came bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers which trigger the financial crisis. The expats left Singapore in droves. The market dived. I was stuck with my property which will TOP only in 2010. Rentals are expected to be lower then and I may have to top up with cash to finance the mortage. More importantly, I have over $200K stuck when I could have used it to invest in another property now when the prices are dropping. Last week, a mid-floor unit at The Sail was sold at $1,250 psf. My eyes were literally red with envy when the agent told me how she closed the sale. I will definitely give it a go if there is still spare cash in my pocket. Yes, the property purchase I made was for a long-term investment. I didn't borrow money to buy it and there is a possibility I may sell it for a profit 10 years down the road when the economy recover. However, if I didn't make the hasty decision then, I will surely have the means to buy a unit of The Sail at ridiculously low prices which will fetch a higher price later on. Alas, I am having sleepless nights daily counting the cost of a mistimed property purchase. I wondered if Mr Lee and his daughter-in-law are able to sleep well at night too given the billions of losses our SWFs have incurred. When I last checked, the shares of Citi Bank and Bank of America have dropped more than 75%: Yes, I know our investments are for the "long-term" and are made from a "long-term" perspective and therefore it is okay for us to wait a few "long-terms" for the graph to pick up to where it first left off. Still, I can't help having nightmares when I think of it - BILLIONS of dollars gone in a flash !!! That will take generations to reaccumulate. How is the government going to count the "opportunity cost" ???  Read More →

Will the fiction of holding democracy hostage for “national security” fall with the information age? Last September, an old man died of heart failure in a Singapore local hospital, aged 82. While not many Thai people know him, he was Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam, known universally as JBJ. He was a Singaporean politician, former leader of the Workers’ Party of Singapore and the first member of parliament who was not from the People’s Action Party (PAP), the ruling party since the independence of Singapore in 1965. For those who are not familiar with history and should be, JBJ won a by-election for the Anson district in 1981, defeating Pang Kim Him from the People’s Action Party by 51.9 percent to 47.1 percent . He thus became the first opposition MP of Singapore, one of only two ever, and broke the “one-party state” of Singapore created by Lee Kuan Yew. By descent, JBJ was a Sri Lankan Tamil who became a lawyer and won the election with the support of the lower classes. In 1984, he was re-elected for the same seat. Since then, the People’s Action Party has never won 100 percent of the seats in a general election despite truly draconian limitations placed on the opposition. In his second victory speech at Anson, he said “My dearest people, you did it again, you can resist the attack of the PAP”. This speech was a sharp rebuke to the PAP leaders and it also signaled the high cost of his victory. Two months later, JBJ. was charged with allegedly mis-stating his party accounts. He was fined S$5,000 and was sentenced to three months in Queenstown Remand Prison. His MP status was revoked, also  his lawyer’s license. Read rest of article here  Read More →