TR EMERITUS

By Fang Zhi Yuan A senior civil servant’s holiday trip to France has become the subject of controversy amongst Singapore’s small, but vociferous internet community. Mr Tan Yong Soon, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources wrote a seemingly innocuous travelogue in The Straits Times Life Section on 6 December 2008 about his family holiday to Paris to learn cooking French cuisine from the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu. The 3 week lesson costs S$15,500 per all and in total S$46,500 for Mr Tan, his wife and son, not including air tickets and living expenses in France. On the same day, the island’s blogs and internet forums were awashed with netizens criticizing Mr Tan for his “over-indulgence” and “insensitivity”. Wrote “North” on the popular CNA market forum: “This family is very insensitive (and stupid too) to publish such stories of extravagance when other people are losing their jobs and some are suffering. It is really in bad taste, although the people concerned thought otherwise. Does not help the image of civil servants and Govt too” Another forumer, “glamor banker” expressed his disgust at reading the article: “This is exactly how i felt when i saw the article. Totally insensitive, stupid scholars with no EQ, insensitive towards others plight out there… Don’t flaunt in these difficult timelah brudder….” However, some netizens felt the criticisms were unfounded. “Happyguy” said he doesn’t see any issue and senior civil servants are entitled to enjoy life as everybody else. A few others like “TOP” defended Mr Tan’s right to spend his own money. “Even if he want to dump them into the drain you also can’t stop him”, he wrote. In a straw poll done by a popular local socio-political blog, Wayangparty Club, 71% of readers polled felt that Mr Tan should not flaunt his wealth openly in public while 11% don’t take any issue with it. The remaining 15% were nonchalant about it. The high salaries of Singapore’s top civil servants and ministers have been a point of contention for ordinary Singaporeans struggling to make ends meet. As a Permanent Secretary second in command of the Ministry after the Minister himself, Mr Tan is expected to take home between S$20,000 and S$30,000 monthly. In contrast, the median pay of the average Singapore worker is only about S$3,000. With a widening income disparity and a Gini Coefficient of 0.485 in 2007 (source: Singstat ) which is one of the highest amongst developed countries, such ramblings on the ground over the ostentatious lifestyle of the minority elite is likely to increase in the months to come with a slowing economy facing the spectre of retrenchment.  Read More →

By Fang Zhi Yuan, Chief Editor Speaking at Singapore's first Retirement Conference on Thursday (read report), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong suggested raising the retirement age from 62 to 65 to keep more elderly workers in the workforce. The aim is to help the elderly work as long as they can. It is unlikely that Mr Lee's message is intended for those elderly who are already in the workforce. Is he encouraging those who have already retired or unemployed to find a new job and continue working ? There are Singaporeans who can afford to retire and there are some who are being supported by their children. For this group of Singaporeans who have contributed to the nation over the years, we should respect their wishes to take on other pursuits in life and truly enjoyed their golden years. Should they choose to return to the workforce, it should be entirely out of their own will to spend their spare time productively at work. Mr Lee's rationale that an aging population must necessitate more elderly in the workforce to keep the economy running is rather over-simplified and one-dimensional, negating the important role played by the elderly in both the family and society. To quote from a Chinese adage: "To have an aged person in the family, is like having a treasure." Grandparents who stayed at home take care and educate their grandchildren play an equally if not more important role than those earning an income at work. While these stay-at-home nannies do not contribute to the economy, they offer intangible benefits such as grooming our young and giving the adults the peace of mind to concentrate on their work without any worries about leaving their children alone at home. Given a choice, I believe a majority of Singaporeans will prefer having their parents around to care for their kids than employing a maid or putting them away in the childcare centers. Furthermore, either choice will incur additional expenses for the family which are likely exceed the daily allowance given to the grandparents should they remain at home. The social benefits of having an elderly at home to manage and relieve the tensions within the household are immeasurable. With a store of life experience and wisdom accumulated over the years, the elderly are well positioned within the family to offer advice and counseling to young couples whose marital ties may be strained by the hustle and bustle of daily lives (of course it is a different story when they become a destabilizing force themselves) I was brought up by my grandparents during my childhood days and the lifelong lessons they have imparted to me are still deeply etched in my memories. Without them recounting to me the hardships they had been through during the Japanese Occupation, the Emergency and the early years of independent Singapore, I would not be able to appreciate the sacrifices our forefathers had made for us and neither will I have a sense of belonging to this island called home. Our elderly citizens are precious living preservers of our unique national and cultural heritage which far surpass any museums and historical sites. What better way to learn about Singapore's past by listening with your very own ears from somebody who has lived during that forgotten era ? It will be a pity if the future generation is deprived of this wealth of knowledge and experience which the older generation is more than willing to share. There are many things in life that can't be reduced to mere digits and figures. For those elderly who have served the nation faithfully and wished to retire and enjoy life, we should encourage and support their endeavors instead of frowning upon them as frivolous pursuits which does not contribute to the nation's GDP. Otherwise, we will become a country without a soul of its own. The government has been overly generous with giving PRs and citizenships to foreigners to boost our population. They should keep in mind that few foreigners will be interested in spending the rest of their lives in a country which expects them to work for "as long as they can". What is the meaning of life ? Is it just work, work and work to earn a living till the day we are incapacitated by illness or death itself ? In ancient India, men stopped work and leave their families when they reach the age of 50 for the forests to become wandering ascetics to meditate and find peace for their souls before they leave the world. I am not recommending this practice as an alternative to what has been espoused by our enlightened Prime Minister. What I am saying is, there is much more to life than just the blind and senseless pursuit for material possessions and comforts. Regardless of our individual beliefs and religions, I believe there is a spiritual dimension to human life which awaits us to explore. [polldaddy poll=1259925]  Read More →

By Fang Zhi Yuan and Lim Siow Kuan In an article published on The Straits Times on 3 January entitled ‘Political challenges in 2009‘, ST Political Editor Ms Chua Lee Hoong expressed her reservations about the credibility of what is published on the New Media. “The problem with the Internet is reliability”, she wrote. ”To what extent can you trust what you read online? Whether due to ignorance, mischief or sheer absence of quality control, much of what is written online has to be taken with a pinch of salt.” Ms Chua still doesn’t understand the simple fact that there exists an inverse relationship between the credibility of the internet and that of the mainstream media. The opinions of bloggers and netizens can only gain acceptance, credibility and influence when public trust in the mainstream media is eroded by repeated lies, spins and propaganda to serve the vested interests of a political entity. With a kaleidoscope of foreign online dailies, internet forums and independent news blogs to choose from, the average Singaporean is spolit for choices. Nowadays, young net-savvy Singaporeans no longer depend solely on the print media for their news. They may still read The Straits Times or Lianhe Zaobao, but at the same time, they will also seek alternative views from the new media. When discerning readers compare the gulf in what was reported in the papers and on the internet, they will inevitably feel they are taken for a ride. With the state media no longer having a monopoly on the publishing and dissemination of news, readers can easily detect the inherent prejudices, spins and agendas. When Malaysiakini was first founded by Steven Gan 10 years ago, it has an initial readership of over a thousand limited to the English-educated middle class of Kuala Lumpur. Today, it is the number one online news daily in Malaysia with a readership exceeding the government-controlled ”The Star” even though it is subscription-based. Like Singapore, the major newspapers in Malaysia are controlled and funded by the ruling Barisan Nasional - The New Straits Times, Utusan Melayu, Bernama and The Star and in similiar fashion, its editorial policy has always been skewed towards the government and very much against the opposition. Malaysiakini provides Malaysians with a fresh perspective with its largely objective, accurate and balanced coverage of socio-political news. It is on this basis that it is able to build up a large readership over the years at the expense of the mainstream media whose credibility continues to plummet as long as they choose to serve the agenda of their political masters. With the mainstream media being discredited as a goverment mouthpiece, the new media is able to gain much credibility and clout though some of its reporting are not entirely free of biases and inaccuracies, but readers are more than willing to forgive for minor transgressions. In the Permatang-Pauh by-election, the state media went on an offensive against Anwar Ibrahim much to the disgust of ordinary Malaysians that they simply stop reading the hogwash being circulated day in and out. In stark contrast, they turn to the New Media en masse, recording the election news coverage by Malaysiakini TV on CDs and distribute them directly to every kampungs in the constituency. In the aftermath of the 2008 General Election, the major dailies in Malaysia began to twit their editorial stance to be more critical of the government and less harsh on the opposition to the extent that one minister remarked that The Star is sounding more like the opposition Harrakah (PAS’s official paper). As long as the mainstream media strives to be balanced, fair and objective in its reporting, there is no reason why Singaporeans should turn to the new media as their primary source of news. Unfortunately, the outright disrespect and contempt displayed by the mainstream media against Singapore’s opposition as exemplified by the same writer’s malicious assault on Dr Chee’s character in a previous article, have ailenated and peeved many Singaporeans off, including those who are politically neutral. The staunch and sometimes voracious anti-establishment rhetoric echoed by the majority of the nation’s bloggers, forumers and netizens are in a way an indirect creation of the mainstream media. This is the second example of the “law of inverse proportion” - The more pro-establishment the mainstream media is, the more anti-establishment the new media will be. In the early post-independent days, the population is not as educated as now and hence it is pretty easy for the mainstream media to shape public opinion and even influence election outcomes. In this present day and age, faced with readers who are much more educated and sophisticated than their parents were, the mainstream media cannot afford to continue its old tested ways of dishing out stale propaganda on behalf of the government. Is the media serving the interests of the nation or the government ? Till Ms Chua answers this question truthfully, no amount of “quality control” instituted by SPH will vindicate its current standing of 141st on the World Press Freedom index.  Read More →