The dotted line of death.

I can't sleep.  I think its because quite a certain amount of friends ask me why I am so against Tan Cheng Bock (Yes, he's a nice grandfatherly figure and to a certain extent, trustworthy) after I thrashed him in my last post and decided not to vote him.   Why I am so against the Mandatory Death Penalty(MDP)?  Well first thing first we need to understand what is MDP in Singapore.  It's the capital punishment where someone would received if he breaks certain laws in Singapore.  And yes, its mandatory.  Why? According to their thinking, its because once they know there is such a harsh penalty, you won't even dare to try it in the first place.  Sounds good hor?? Use scare tatic leh.

But this world is not as black and white!  Certain people did not convict these crimes because they wanted to.  Or even worst, they are not even aware they were commiting the crimes!  Examples are these 3 recent cases tajken from an article by 2nd Chance.  Full article is here

Yong Vui Kong is 23 years old this year. He had been arrested at the age of 19 in possession of 42.27g of heroin. Unlike Ahmad Zahir Ismail, a gang member who was spared from jail and caning earlier this month, Vui Kong was sentenced to death under the Mandatory Death Penalty. Vui Kong is now repentant, and has spent the past 4 years studying, meditating (he is now a devout Buddhist) and trying his best to atone for his mistakes within prison walls. He is not asking for acquittal and release. He is only asking to be allowed to live, so that he may continue in his self-improvement and meditation.

Cheong Chun Yin was charged with trafficking in over 2kg of heroin. However, he maintains to his day that he had been under the impression that he was only smuggling gold bars for a friend from the pasar malam where he worked. He also cooperated fully with the investigating officers, giving them details and even the phone numbers of the man who had arranged the whole job for him. However, the investigating officers made no attempt to trace this man. The trial judge also ruled that it was “immaterial” that the officers did not make “adequate efforts” to do so.

Like Chun Yin, Roslan bin Bakar also continues to insist upon his innocence even though he is at the last stage of the process. Besides the testimonies of others, there was no concrete evidence proving that Roslan had been at the scene. Roslan also provided an alibi. His mother and step-brother testified in support, but the judge did not believe them.

Ok, So what does this have to do with the President of Singapore?  Well if you have read the book by Alan Shadrake, Once a Jolly Hangman.  The Death Warrant,  which is the last piece of document thats need to be signed and endorsed needs a signature.  Whose signature?  None other than the highest office holder, our President of Singapore!  Thats why TKL asked for a review in this matter as he do not wish to sign that peice of paper!!  

Because its a joke.  The canbinet decides but the last piece of paper is signed by our President!  With no power to grant clemency or ask for a retrial!  

So now you see why its relevancy in choosing one who blantanly believes in Mandatory Death Penalty?  Again I am not asking you to change allegiance and vote for TKL or TJS.  Its YOUR CHOICE and I have MINE :)  Maybe if you try to believe TCB would think about it later and change his mind when he is President but I can't take that risk.  He has givein his views and his views are clear. Just follow the consitution and sign the dotted line of death.

And that's sad.  I wonder Nathan has he ever went down personally to the gallows to talk to the convicts before their demise?  $4mil a year to sign death warrants.  What a job!

2 down. Just left 2 to choose.....

This post is about politics in Singapore so again, if you are not interested, please redirect to somwhere else :)  

I loved political forums and I am so happy TOC managed to rope in all the 4 Tans for a good face to face debate.  If you, as a voting Singaporean have not watch the videos, I implore you to take some time to watch these 2 parts of the forum to have a better understanding of our 4 candidates.

Part 1

Part 2

In my previous post, I mentioned that all 3 candidates besides Tony Tan are credible and are much much better options as an elected, independant President.  This was a pre-conceived idea from the information I have gathered from online readings of their blogs and other writings by their respective supporters.  

But there are some very fundamental answers to certain particular principles and beliefs I have that I wished the other 3 candidates would answer before I could make a sound decision.  And all thanks to the TOC forum, I have more or less reduce the 3 Tans to become 2 Tans (actually more or less have decided on mine but I still want to know more of the 2 left. :)

As I have known all along, Dr TT was the usual PAP puppet, he beats around the bush on certain tricky questions and his views are the exact same copy of our ruling gahment.  

The one that surprises me most in this forum was Dr Tan Cheng Bock.  I actually like that guy (so was my sister).  I do have some reserves at first as he was still a bit tad too close to the ruling party but hey, so is the later Mr Ong Teng Cheong.

He did an amazing job in the 1st part of the video.  Such as seperation of PMO from Istana,  removing the election department to be under the PMO and directly under the President and etc.  It was really good stuff and his composure and the way he carrys himself was flawless.  I was truly impressed!

Then part 2 came yesterday and I found myself totally in shock.  This joker just shot himself with a handgun (and a bazooka later :P ) and that's it, he's out of my list.

He made 2 points that gave me the decision not to choose him.

Firstly, the death penalty.  He beats around the bush a bit but finally gave his final thought that he accepts it as a form of punishment and he would not even consider it to table a change in our harsh mandatory death penalty law in Singapore.  This is totally against my belief so I was a bit dissapointed.  If he did mentioned that he plans to bring it up to the PMO on looking into tweaking this issue or like TKL's smarter answer (totally forgoing the President's role in who is going to the gallows) then I might still give him some chance.  But the way he answers tells me he is just not going to rock the boat on this issue.  As I have once said, no human being has the morale judgement to end another person's life.  

The 2nd one is the killer.  At 1:00 hr where a lady asked about women involving in politics (especially in higher decision making roles)  Even Tony Tan did a wonderful job in handling this question.  But Dr Tan Cheng Bock has to shoot himself with a bloody Bazooka!  What did he say?

 He said:"Well, I think its a difficult area for women in Singapore, it's because the commitment is really heavy, so you need to get your permission from your husband."   

Then the crowd goes... Whoooaaaaaaaa.. I had to rewind the tape a few times to confirm what I heard.  This old joker is a classic male chauvanist in the new age!  Which independant and strong modern woman would vote for such a person???  My sister defintely won't after she heard this and she express shock and disbelief.

What's even more funny is that he knew he screwed up big time and while Dr Tony Tan quickly added a point (to save him from total embarresment I guess) that he's confident that one day there will definitely be a women PM or President in Singapore.  Dr Tan CB quickly agreed to this.  This is uber sad.  This is so low..  This is so PAP like...

Then it dawned on me, he's just another President who will not rock the boat enough.  He will try to persuade and inform but once he gets shot down.  He would either keep quiet or quit (as in he mentioned he will quit if has a great disagreement with the gahment) .  In short, my feeling is that he will not try hard enough to do something about it.  This is my reading and understanding of this man from the results of this forum.

Again, these are all my personal views and judgment call.  Although Dr TCB is out of my list but I still think he is still much better then choosing Dr TT.   So vote wisely my fellow Singaporeans.  Choose a President that could represent your beliefs and principles rather than who can really win Dr TT.     

I enjoy teaching.

I simply do. :)  Ever since I started conducting photography courses way back in 2007 for SLCC, I know its a job that I would enjoy and I am a bit regretting why I never went for an education diploma.  Currently, while I'm waiting for my "office" cum shophouse to be completed.  I am giving tuition lessons to some secondary kids in my neighbour and I am enjoying every moment of it.  

I like working with teens rather than kids as they are more keen to learn and the kids here in Thailand are definitely more disciplined then those found in Singapore.  Those who took up tuitions are normally those who are really hunger for knowledge.  Do you believe that its actually the kids themselves who asked for tuition instead of their parents?  

Sometimes I do worry about our next generation of Singaporean kids.  Over here, these kids drive themselves not only for knowledge but understand the importance of education is not only in Science and Maths but in Languages, Litreatures/Arts and Humanities.   Its all about the joy of acquiring knowledge in different forms.  In Singapore, we overemphasises on just getting good grades. We keep training our kids to be efficient in exams while taking away the real joy of learning.   Don't believe me, just ask the Singaporean kids why they study and what they are studying and compare the answers with the Thai kids here :)

Yes, both will say that its for a better "future".  But do they really understand what is a better future? It's because their parents says so or is it they really understand the situation if they did not do well in their grades?

GE 2011 - Afterthoughts

Just one more post on politics before going back to reality.  So the score card is 81 - 6.  So how did I feel?  Dissapointed.  Why?  I was actually hoping that more oppositions would be voted in.  My personal score card that I think is a passing mark is 15 to 20 seats in the parliament.  This, although could not form 1/3 of the parliament to block constitutional changes but at least it cuts a deep deep wound in PAP's ranks.  If we are able to cut that deep, the PAP would listen. (Less than 55% mandate)  I was actually hoping SDP would win the Holland BT seats (4), SPP Mr Chiam to ttake the Bishan-TP (5), WP in Ajunied (5),East Coast (5),  Hougang (1), Joochiat (1) and NSP in Mountbatten (1).  But I guess reality wasn't the case. :)

We need to cut deep as 61% to PAP is still a clear "strong" mandate.  They won't listen and precisely just after the elections, the PAP still insist GRC is a good system, increasing GDP policy is here to stay as a benchmark for progress and Ms Kate Spate is a correct judgment call for fielding her. Where's all the humble apologies and promises to listen to the people our Prime Minister has spoken of?( I think its thrown all the way back into the rubbish chute liao.)

Some friends consoled me that I can't be too greedy and expect a sudden change in the politcal landscape. Some also argued that such changes and rocking of the boat is not good. We need gradual change they say.

I'm sorry but I disagree on this as there is an old Chinese saying "If we are sick, we need to solve the root of the problem instead of just scraping the surface."  That's what I think we should have in 2011 GE.  ROCK the boat :).  And there's a few reasons why.

1) Economy is sound at the moment.  Osama was shot dead too so we are technically in a very stable situation for a change.

2) PAP made lots of blunder in the past 5 years.  Its a good platform to battle and the oppositions have enough ammo to argue why we need oppositions in the camp.

3) Poor selection of new candidates. *enough said

4) A lot of 1st time (virgin) voters who are politically apathetic and willing to vote to try something new.

5) Better selection of new opposition candidates *enough said oso

In short, we have the 天时，地利，人和。(Time, Resources and the people) to give the current Government a good wake up call.  But I guess Singaporeans just love to play safe and I have no choice but to respect their decision.

I am also dissapointed as I am 35 this year.  Which means I am over my prime (physical) and its going downhill from here onwards.  I might not have the chance to see radical changes to the electoral of Singapore.  Please don't kid yourself that PAP will scrap the GRC system.  They will retain it as its still the most powerful tool in winning elections as it has proven again on 7th May.  Almost 40% people voted against the PAP but only 6 seats are won by the opposition.  This proofs that the system is still workable and will be here to stay.  They would only consider changing it if they lost more than 2 or 3 GRCs.  Which means by that time, the people are already not afraid of losing a minister in the team.  So that's why I was very particular of winning more seats rather than the actual voting %.

I wrote on my facebook that this is one of the good excuse for me to be a real "quitter" and return back to Thailand.  Some friends question my loyalty and love for Singapore.  Well, I sincerely do love Singapore.  I was born here, I grew up here, I studied here, I served my NS here and I worked here.  All my relatives and friends are here too.  But sincerely, I am not a saint or a great person to induce change in my country.  Majority Singaporeans have spoken through their votes and they want Singapore to continue to be such a country I do not want to be part of, so what can I do?  I don't want to hurt it so my only choice is just to leave it as it is :)  For those who want to ask me what I want in Singapore, I think my friend's blog entry is exactly what I wanted.  Feel free to read it and be inspired :)

Of course I am not going to renounce my citizenship.  Its also near immposible for me to get a citizenship in Thailand.  I will most probably return once and a while to look here and there (and cast my vote every 5 yrs of course!).  But finding work and staying long term in Singapore is not an option for me anymore.  I did my part  this GE and I pledge that I will continue to do so until my vision of Singapore could be fullfilled in my lifetime, so this is not really farewell but a new beginning for me.  Thanks again for all the concerns and encouragement.  See you in Thailand! :)

A post dedicated to His Excellency, The late Mr Ong Teng Cheong

Wife's BFF and her daughter is leaving for Bangkok (they came back here for Songkran) tomorrow so the missus and the 2 kids are staying overnight at her house.  Which means I have the whole night to myself to pen this "little" entry on politics in Singapore.  I was wondering should I write political stuff on my blog as this is more of a family and photography blog.  In the end, I think I still need to write some entries down as I thought it does affect my family and future.

First of all, let me declare that although I am anti-establishment since Day 1. :P I am not those that oppose for the sake of opposing.  The reasons of being anti-establishment is because of my parents (who says education does not play a part :P), especially my father hated the PAP party because of the anti Chinese educated policies in the 60s.    My late father, who although hated the PAP but still respect them as they did managed to get Singapore to the world stage.   I rarely spoke to my father about politics (as per normal with Singaporean families) but during the 1997 elections.  I remember I curiously asked my parents who would they be voting for.  Mum says oppositions at the first go.  My father kept quiet and later after I kept pressing him more, he said voting is secret so I never really know the answer till this day.  

But its interesting as I also vaguely remember my father said this casually to me too during the 97 or 2001 election (can't exactly remember when but he did).  "If only Ong Teng Cheong took over as the PM instead of this Goh Chok Tong!"   

I never realised or think about it what he meant till recently the election fever came again.  I started to ponder and look at the old cabinet lineups of the PAP.  So interested with our cabinet ministers and their acheivements, I started searching for pass cabinet ministers that served our country.  Then I realised something.  Mr Ong Teng Cheong held the same position as Deputy Prime Minister together with Mr Goh Chock Tong in the same year!  see Wiki link here 

I fondly remember H.E Mr Ong Teng Cheong as our first elected President and his contribution to Singapore.  Especially the fallout with PAP gahment part on our national reserves.   I guess it was because I was in my prime so I took interest in politics.  But I never really knew what he had did during his term as a PAP minister.  So again, I googled it and I was surprised to find this excerpt from wiki

 In January 1986, Ong sanctioned a strike in the shipping industry, the first for about a decade in Singapore, without telling the cabinet. He said that he did not inform the cabinet or the government because they would probably stop him from going ahead with the strike. There was a major corporate and cabinet backlash against his decision; however, the strike lasted only two days, and a deal was struck.

During his tenure as the Minister of National Development, Ong was a proponent and advocate of the Mass Rapid Transit system. He later became the 2nd Deputy Prime Minister in 1985.

What balls he have that he dares to ignore the PAP's party whip by sanctioning a strike!  This is true leadership and character!  Can you find such PAP candidates in the current lineup?? No way man!  Now I really understand why my father said that he would have made a better PM of Singapore then Mr Goh Chok Tong.  It's because he cares about us, the common people,  the working class and put himself before any (PAP) party interest.  

I really regretted that I did not attend his funeral (no state funeral because he humbly did not want it as stated in the media and I believe it) and pay my last respect to this great man.   Here's a video made by someone as a rememberance of him.  Do turn off the music.. its a bit too cheesy for my taste but the message is there.
 

And my favourite quote from him as the President of Singapore 

"My loyalty is first and foremost, to the people of Singapore. It has always been so, and will always remain so". - President, H.E Mr Ong Teng Cheong