Mr Wang Speaks Mandarin

Some months ago, a new language school opened near Mr Wang's home. It offers Mandarin courses. There are courses for various different standards, such as conversational Mandarin, business Mandarin, and very advanced Mandarin for people who seek to be qualified translators.

For some time, Mr Wang has been toying with the idea of taking up a Mandarin course. Mr Wang can already speak Mandarin, of course. He can even write Mandarin (what little he remembers of it anyway, from AO-Level days). However Mr Wang would like to take his Mandarin to a Much Higher Standard.

Why? You see, Mr Wang is aware of the rising economic importance of China. China is just going to grow and grow in importance. Mr Wang is a lawyer, and he would like his Mandarin to be good enough for him to understand legal contracts drafted in Mandarin. If possible, Mr Wang would even like to be able to draft legal contracts in Mandarin one day.

Mr Wang thinks that having a strong command of the Chinese language can be a very valuable asset for a lawyer who regularly works on cross-border, international transactions. Why, that is exactly the kind of work which Mr Wang does.

Today, the Straits Times has a story about Singaporeans and the Chinese language. Let's take a look.

Sept 3, 2005
THE NEW CHINESE GROUND
Who's afraid of Chinese poetry?

Film-maker Jack Neo says that older Chinese-educated Singaporeans represent the last traces of the country's 'true essence'. Not true, says Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who cites the emergence of a new generation that's discovering their heritage. Who's right? Li Xueying and Ong Hwee Hwee find out.

THERE was a time when Mr Philip Lim failed all his Chinese tests with distinction.

His Mandarin was fractured. He could write only a handful of Chinese characters such as wo (me), ni (you), and ta (him). He put up with snide remarks about being a 'fake' Chinese.

But he did not care. After all, to him, Chinese was a language that was neither hip nor useful. That was then.

Today, the 31-year-old businessman speaks Mandarin with a Beijing lilt, and can even read Chinese legal contracts.

It's all about business.

Mr Wang is smarter than Mr Lim. Mr Wang never failed his Chinese tests in school. However, Mr Lim is one up on Mr Wang. Today, Mr Lim can speak good Mandarin and read Chinese legal contracts, but Mr Wang cannot. Hrrrrumph. Mr Wang admits defeat.

Mr Wang and Mr Lim, however, share one thing in common. Their newfound interest in the Chinese language is motivated by economic imperatives. If China were an economic slum today, Mr Wang would rather take a Time Management course than a Mandarin course. Mr Lim probably feels the same way.

But what does PM Lee Hsien Loong think of people like Mr Wang and Mr Lim?

Mr Lim is among a 'new generation' of Chinese Singaporeans described by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who are rediscovering their Chinese heritage and identity.

Educated, bilingual and well-versed in Chinese culture, they are riding the wave of China's economic rise.

Singapore's Chinese ground, it seems, is entering a new chapter.

'Over the past year, I have noticed a new mood and confidence in the Chinese community,' said Mr Lee in his National Day Rally speech on Aug 21.

Speaking in Mandarin, he added: 'China's emergence has strengthened our confidence in the future of Chinese language and culture in Singapore. More generally, Chinese Singaporeans appreciate their Chinese heritage and identity more, and understand the importance of learning Chinese.'

I am not sure if I agree with Mr Lee. Although I do understand the importance of learning Chinese, I don't know whether I can honestly say that I appreciate Chinese heritage and identity more than I did before. Most likely I think that my level of appreciation has stayed about the same, all these past years.

As I have mentioned, my newfound interest in Mandarin is driven by economic considerations. If it were Indonesia, instead of China, that was booming today, I think that I would be interested in learning Bahasa Indonesia instead. I would probably employ an Indonesian maid and make her teach me Bahasa for at least 20 minutes each day.

I think I would bring tears of disappointment to some Chinese cultural diehards. I like Jackie Chan movies and I eat Chinese food more often than not. But I have no desire to learn the guzhen and definitely, I am more likely to get lost in the streets of Beijing than, say, in Sydney. The latter has street signs in English. See this next part of the article:

... others like Mr Sia Yong, 79, founder of Singa-Sino Friendship Association, agree it is 'a lost battle'.

'It's sad when young Chinese Singaporeans are enthusiastic about their language only because there is money to be made from it.

'It's different from our generation, when we are genuinely passionate about our culture and heritage. In that sense, the better part of Chineseness is lost.'

Statistics seem to bear his observation out.

Well, I'm sorry, Mr Sia. But Mr Wang cannot tell a lie. How I feel about Mandarin is really how I feel about Mandarin.

"My Chinese, very good.
My Singlish, lagi best!"

Ethics for Tomorrow

Seems like the blog aggregator known as Tomorrow is in a little bit of controversy again. This time Tomorrow is being criticised for linking to people's blogs without their permission. You can read about it from Murder Freak, who also supplies various relevant links on the topic.

There have been a number of recent episodes where Tomorrow linked without permission to blogs whose owners, for various personal reasons, strongly desired privacy. For example, there was a young female blogger whose boyfriend had jilted her and left her with an unwanted pregnancy. Tomorrow linked to her blog and drew a huge amount of unwanted publicity to her personal life. She was left feeling distraught and upset, in emotional tatters.

The Tomorrow editors have now officially stated their hyperlinking policy. Agagooga wrote:

"We have observed some flak in various quarters of the blogosphere about our policy of not asking for permission before linking people's blog posts ....

The default position on the web is that you do not need someone's permission to link to them, and in the absence of other signs, this is the position we take. We don't expect everyone who does not wish to be linked by us to put up one of those the "Tomorrow i'm not free lah!!" buttons.

However, we visit each and every blog post submitted to Tomorrow before we publish it, and if the blog has a specific "please ask for permission before you link" notice in the sidebar, we will not link it, even if it lacks password protection or the aforementioned buttons; if there is no disclaimer or notice, we will have no qualms about linking the post.

The reasons for this policy are simple. If we were to ask for permission from each and every author, not everyone would respond promptly, if indeed they bothered to respond to our queries at all. As a result, the quantity and quality of blog posts on Tomorrow.sg would plummet precipitously. More importantly, linking is the lifeblood not only of blogging, but of the Internet itself - if permission had to be sought for each and every link, the World Wide Web would not exist in a recognisable form, if at all."

At one level, Mr Wang agrees with Tomorrow's position, for the reasons that Agagooga has stated. Mr Wang himself regularly links to other bloggers' posts without seeking their permission. Although "Did Mr Wang Say So?" is on a much smaller scale than Tomorrow, the same principles ought to apply.

On the other hand, Mr Wang uses his brain when choosing his hyperlinks. And Mr Wang considers it inappropriate for Tomorrow to take an overly cavalier approach to this task. It is one thing to say, "Oh, YOU put your personal story on the Internet yourself, don't blame US for publicising it." This kind of excuse, while not entirely invalid, is a poor excuse for the Tomorrow editors to display bad editorial taste, to make bad editorial choices and to be lousy human beings.

Tomorrow (or any other blog) is perfectly free to act as a screaming tabloid if it wants to. It doesn't necessarily follow that it is a good thing for Tomorrow (or any other blog) to act as a screaming tabloid. And the fact that people didn't stick "Respect My Privacy" banners or buttons all over their own blogs doesn't mean that a Tomorrow editor can't exercise some good judgment on his own accord to do what's right.

Allow Mr Wang to give a simple example. Mr Wang knows of a blog run by a divorced woman (let's call her X). According to X's own account, her ex-husband had been unfaithful and promiscuous. X's blog contains many details of the man's sexual misbehaviour. Although X is now divorced, she continues to live in fear of the possibility that she may already have contracted AIDS or some other sexually-transmitted disease from her ex-husband.

Not too long ago, following the publication of a certain Straits Times article, Mr Wang wrote a post about AIDS. This post concerned AIDS risk factors for married people (as opposed to sexually active singles). It focused on the possibility of one spouse being unfaithful, thereby exposing the other spouse to the risk of AIDS. X's personal account would have been very relevant to Mr Wang's post, and Mr Wang briefly considered hyperlinking her blog. Indeed, X's dramatic example would have added an important extra dimension to Mr Wang's comments on a health matter of public interest and concern.

However, Mr Wang almost immediately dismissed the hyperlinking idea. Mr Wang felt that it would not be right to intrude in this way into X's blog. The issues touched on a clearly private and sensitive area of X's life and her blog had the "personal diary" feel. As human beings, we ought to have some basic respect for other human beings' privacy, and on this basis, Mr Wang decided not to hyperlink to X's blog.

There are blogs, there are blogs, and then there are blogs. There are some posts which you know you can link to without hurting anyone's feelings or causing anyone to feel invaded. Then there are other kinds of posts, concerning private aspects of people's lives, to which you know you should not draw publicity, if you were a fair, decent human being. And no, it does NOT matter that these people were not Internet-savvy enough to use password protection, or to understand the risks and use a paper diary instead etc.

Mr Wang looks at Agagooga's comments above. Regrettably, Mr Wang does not see any sign, any trace at all, that Agagooga shares Mr Wang's views on the desirability of people voluntarily respecting each other's privacy. Cowboy Caleb, another Tomorrow editor, is even more disappointing. Look out, folks. Nothing much is sacred any more.

The late Princess Diana.
Just as well she didn't live to see Tomorrow.

Death And Other Stories

SINGAPORE : Took Leng How has been sentenced to death after being found guilty for the murder of eight-year old girl, Huang Na, in October last year.

The verdict on the 22-year-old vegetable packer was handed out by Judge Lai Kew Chai at the Supreme Court on Friday.
...
Reading out his verdict, the judge said: "Based on the evaluation of the evidence, in particular the conflicting medical evidence, the defence has failed to prove...that the accused was suffering from schizophrenia, or indeed mental disorder of any kind."

In his statement of nearly 30 pages, Justice Lai Kew Chai pointed out that the forensic evidence not only supported the prosecution's case but also that Took had admitted to sexually assaulting Huang Na, smothering her to death with his bare hands. He therefore found the accused guilty as charged and imposed the mandatory death penalty - by hanging.

So yet another high-profile capital case draws to an end. And the end is as Mr Wang had predicted more than a month ago. Unlike the case of Shanmugam Murugesu, however, no one seems to be calling for Took to be saved from the gallows.

It is quite possible that some Shanmugam sympathisers can nevertheless logically choose not to sympathise with Took. For example, some Shanmugam sympathisers may take the position that the death sentence is inappropriate for drug trafficking, but appropriate for murderers. Thus they can logically and honestly say that in their view, Shanmugam should not have been hanged, but that Took should.

However, other Shanmugam sympathisers supported Shanumgam on the basis that capital punishment is intrinsically objectionable, whatever the offence is (and this position would be fully consistent with that of, say, Amnesty International). Logically speaking, this category of Shanmugam sympathisers should oppose Took being sentenced to death.

These persons should now come forward and express their shock or distress at the court's decision. They should now be busy signing petitions asking the President to grant Took clemency. And when Took is finally hanged, they should light candles, keep public vigils, say prayers and weep tears of grief and anguish.

Should they not?

I could be wrong. But somehow I don't think that is going to happen. Murderers of 8-year-old children just don't get that kind of public sympathy.

Suppose you were one of those people who had followed Shanmugam's case closely. You had then concluded that capital punishment was simply, utterly wrong - that the death sentence should be completely abolished. How do you feel now about Took's death sentence? You might be feeling differently.

And if you do - well, what can we conclude from this?

Most likely, that you had let your emotions fool you during Shan's case. All those sad stories and pictures in the media, about his poor mother and his poor children kneeling in the streets etc. Yes, it was really tragic. And you let those tragic elements lead you into thinking in a certain way about the death sentence. A way which you now .... reject?

Don't forget that Took has a mother too. And a wife, and a two-year-old son. Why aren't you supporting him? Where do you really stand, on capital punishment?

"Everyone has a mother. Even me."

Mr Wang Just Keeps Popping Up Everywhere!

This time, it's the Global Voices Online website of Harvard Law School that has referred to Mr Wang's views on Singapore's presidential issues. On further investigation, it appears that Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi contributed that little post about Mr Wang.

In case you didn't already know, Jeff Ooi is the editor of Screenshots, which won this year's Freedom Blog Award for the Asian region (beating, among other nominees, Singabloodypore). The Freedom Blog Awards are organised by Reporters Without Borders, an international non-governmental organisation committed to promoting freedom of expression.

"Even Mr Wang made it to Global Voices Online!
Why are you still laughing at my singing?"

The Professors Are Watching Me

Sometimes Mr Wang suspects that his funny pictures ought to disqualify his blog from being taken too seriously. Apparently not. As mentioned earlier, the US Library of Congress has listed Mr Wang as an electronic resource on politics in Singapore. And now Mr Wang sees that the Singapore Internet Research Centre at Nanyang Technological University has also taken note of his existence:

"In the US especially, blogs have actively been used for political purposes. For example, Garett Graff was probably the first blogger to be given a daily White House pass based on his blogging of Washington news media.

Singaporean bloggers tend to focus more on personal and daily issues. Some of the more popular local blogs include Sandralicious and Xiaxue. However, there are a few which are dedicated to topics related to travel, culture, language and technology such as Commentary Singapore and Singapore Ink. This in itself is an issue that seems to be widely discussed within the Singapore blogging community."

Commentary Singapore was, of course, this blog's previous name. Strangely, I am described as being dedicated to topics related to "travel, culture, language and technology." Looking at my past 20 posts or so, I can hardly see any post focusing on such topics. I would think that a more accurate description would be to say that this blog focuses on "politics, law, media and civil rights."


"Look, Mr Wang, if I can wear a loincloth in public and still
become the Governor of California, I don't see why your blog shouldn't be taken seriously."