Nowadays, when you want some quick info about something, what do you do:
(1) Ask a friend and hope he knows.
(2) Go to the library and borrow a book.
(3) Google.
Quite often, it would be (3). Right?
PM Lee made his rally speech a few days ago. Suppose you missed the telecast and you wanted to find out what it was all about. You go to Google and you type "lee hsien loong national day rally speech". What do you get?
Among the top 10 hits, you get Sprinter (the government's website for press releases); Channel News Asia (we know what that is); and STARS (a government website which compiles ministers' speeches).
The rest of the hits belong to the universe of free, independent individuals. We have Mr Brown; The Intelligent Singaporean; Tomorrow; Odeo (a website for hosting podcasts); Wikipedia and, yes, yours truly - Mr Wang Bakes Good Karma.
No wonder the government is concerned. They don't really like opinions, you know.
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Technorati: Singapore; media; Internet.
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7 comments:
Speaking of Mr Brown, have you heard the Harmless Podcast? Totally collapse.
hehe. try searching a shorter "national day rally speech 2006" - and see who's at the top! :D
Heheh! The Intelligent Singaporean itself.
Actually for conceptual terms I would check Wikipedia first.
For etymology, Google (quick link to answers.com), and then there's Wiktionary too.
mee siam mai hum,
mai hum, mai hum, mai hum!!!
The PM is one cool and hip dude!
He will win the Singapore Idol by a landslide!!
mai hum, mai hum, mai hum....
The government is stuck in a perfect catch 22.
They want Singaporeans to keep voting them, so they sell themselves as being the only ones who can manage Singapore. Yet the reality is there are just too many issues that are beyond their control.
To maintain control over what they can within Singapore, they want Singaporeans to believe only in them, so they sell themselves as the most capable and honest of all Singaporeans. But the reality is many issues, even within Singapore, are areas they do not understand and which cannot be solved simply by exerting control.
To solve these issues, they need talented people both in Singapore and from abroad, so they paint Singapore as an open, all inclusive society. But talented, creative people in open society will have many ideas which break the control lines set by the government, and worst, show the government to be wrong, incapable, contradictory or dishonest.
To protect themselves, the people in government reacted in the only way they know – which is hitting back. So they contracted themselves yet again, and try other clumsy excuses which turn away even more thinking voters.
So what can a Singaporean do?
I watched a sad programme a few months ago. The 83 year old founder of the nation was supposed to have a dialogue with young Singaporean. Some of the young men were impudent. The old man lowered himself to their level, and was determinedly engaged in verbal fist brawl, showing no trace of patience, benevolence or grandfatherly love. Both sides were clearly frustrated.
So, if you wish to take on the establishment, then you must be prepared to be killed. (Look at past examples). The attacks from the government will only get more intense as the efforts move more people to your side. Take it as life’s experiences which will only toughen you up. If you live long enough, they will be beautiful stories to share with your grandchildren sitting on your lap.
You can choose to accept some things as they are, and get on with your own goals in life. Where they meet the governments’ goals, you collaborate. If not, find another party to work with. Because the fact is, much as we intellectuals think highly of ourselves, the government is fearful only about the 80% of the population. Their top priority was, and will be, to keep this group of voters in line and happy.
PS: I am a great fan of Yawning Bread and Mr Wang Bake Good Karma. I posted this comment in Yawning Bread, but it didn't appear when I checked. In case this comment appears in both blogs, it is due to my ignorance.
Yeah, when I want to know Singapore news, I check out the Today and Channel News Asia sites, then I trawl the blogs.
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