Youngsters vs MM Lee - what's with the negative feedback?

The older generation in Singapore is still very much traditional in nature. The youngsters vs MM Lee talk is considered pretty mild in nature, especially when the crowd did not throwing very harsh and pricking issues at MM Lee. The issues they brought up were just the same issues which were in the news, nothing new, nothing fresh. Nothing to catch MM Lee unaware and in the lurge.

I think they showed enthusiasm and concern. They showed the fire which MM Lee and the government would like to see in young Singaporeans. I don't see them as ungrateful brats who do not acknowledge the contributions of MM Lee. I just see them as daring to ask the questions at the back of many of the older generation's mind (which they dare not ask outright but keep commenting among themselves during coffeeshop chats).

Maybe they were under MM Lee too long to be fearless to open up more. Obviously they do not tune in to the US talk shows who hammered politicians across the world right on their heads. It's not that we should be westernized, it's not that we should be as interogating as them, but it's a learning point that we should be more vocal to be able to learn more and see more. A tad of fire is encouraging and inspiration, I should say.

Generation gap still exists. And it's quite a wide gap!

Beauty Contest .... Brains is never the top priority

Hmm.... The most qualified (in terms of academic papers) gave the most stupid answer while the most qualified (in terms of boobs size) will never get penalised from the judges' list however stupid her answer was too.

Anyway, what's the hype with academic paper qualifications in beauty contest, it's all about composure! The brainiest may freak out on stage while the wittiest gets a standing ovation. It's not about academic achievement, really! The media is just finding something to write about. It's true that they create news, they don't report it.

I seriously think the winner's bra size took most of the proportion of her votes (her first Q&A is the second studpiest answer, while the brainiest gave the stupidest).
The brainiest was stressed out by the media attention (no composure at all, she didn't answer the question, instead she just simply repeated it and then end it off with the most errors of errors).
The prettiest, who was the first runner-up, may be too cold to win.
And the rest, they are just there to add up the numbers.

And now, look at the Mister Singapore contest, ha! Seriously, it's a disaster worse than MUS.

Freedom of speech vs maturity

Those who are not mature enough to handle responsibilities that comes with freedom of speech should not be given the right to do so. If Denmark's government has no control of the contents being published by the newspaper who ran the offensive caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, so be it. But they should make a stand of their own views of the Muslim world. At least it's politically correct to do so. The no comments attitude made it such that they feel that it is politically incorrect to say the same although they share the exact ideas of the newspaper.

To all those European governments who are protecting their 'rights' on freedom of speech, condemning the Muslims that they are impeding the right to voice their views freely, think again. The freedom of speech comes with responsibilties. If your people do not have enough knowledge but goes wrong bad mouthing the government, what will be the effect of such irresponsible behaviour? We are talking about tabloids here, who has the power of swaying the public easily. Anyway, being a tabloid or journalist doesn't give you the right to denounce other religion. If they did not know the implications of such caricatures, just apologize and learn. If they do, I judge their professionalism in handling such issues.

Putfile is as immature as it gets . . .

Maybe it's a marketing gimmick. The results are not yet known if the act of banning users based in Singapore has backfired or had it indeed help in improving their profit.

But personally, I think the Putfile management is as immature as it gets.

'Putfile prefers to not continue to provide our free uploading service to a country that executes prisoners by hanging, a method of execution which can take up to six minutes to painfully execute the victim.'

So disapproving hanging as a method of execution results in banning the users based in that country. Does that mean that, by not banning other users based in other countries who chose the firing squad, electricution and lethal injection, and those users who rape and murder, you are actually very approving to these acts? To be executed by a firing squad, will not cause immediate death. To be executed by electricution, may not cause immediate death. Lethal injection, I head too, may not be that painless. And rape and murder culprits are definitely not at all very holy in their way of torturing their victims. So why not just ban everybody from using your site, since you rate your morals so high.

Have any of the management of Putfile gone through hanging? Or electricution? Or stand through the firing squad? Or took the lethal injection? Who are you to insist that hanging is the most babaric of any other execution method? Seriously, if you want the most painless way of dying, I think feeding the convict carbon monoxide is the most painless way to die, even better than lethal injection. The lack of oxygen caused one to fall asleep and die in his/her sleep....painlessly! Why not evaluate my suggestion, and see if you will consider banning US and the many other countries who still carry the capital punishment? Anyway, as a matter of fact, execution by hanging is quite an immediate death, if you have not educate yourself enough to keep up with times.

Oh, if you Putfile management have not known, Bush admitted to making mistakes while invading Iraq. So many innocent civilians were killed by his mistakes. So many homes destroyed. Kids, women, elderlys, die FOR NO APPRARENT REASON because of his mistakes. Do you mind banning US users for me too, unless you don't think these acts are barbaric enough. Or are you just practising double standards? That all the Iraqis' lives killed because of Bush's mistakes were worthless compared to one convicted drug smuggler from the rich and modern Australia. And if Australians did not raise the same degree of uproar when the Bali bombers who killed so many Australians get hanged, will you consider that barbaric enough to ban Australians then? For practising double standards with regards to other countries citizens who kill, and their own countrymen who kill.

Yes, you are private service provider who is of course free to do what you want. Don't fret then, cos the whole world also have the right to comment on if they like or dislike the way you handle this issue. You chose a way to tell us your opinions, we won't force you to bring back the service (I don't think we miss much anyway) for Singaporeans, but we will like to tell you our opinions too.

And so you had point out the error that Putfile is based in Australia, state where you are then. If you are so brave as to react with a ban, be brave enough to tell us where you are based then. We'll like to see if your country practises the capital punishment too, how the death penalty is carried out (if any), and if you are hypocritical enough not to ban your own nation's users but to ban another nation's users who shares the same treatment given to drug convicts.

Sydney Racial Riots

It may be politically correct not to admit that a Racial Riot is breaking out in Sydney, but I hope this will not be swept under the carpet. Mr John Howard may not want to name it a racial riot, but he may really want to give the Australians racist mentality a hard look.

It's not explicitly talked about, but it does exist.

My friends who stayed in Perth for some years had experienced it now and then. For eg. not getting immediately attention or waiting for extensively long for a police action when their car was hit. Unless Perth's sheriffs are any less efficient then Singapore's, they would say that the prolonged wait was simply because Chinese are treated as second class citizens in the country.

I had went to Sydney and Brisbane on a tour just this year. The hostility felt was not something that I would say, was just a one off incident. My hubby was waiting for me at a bench in the Gold Coast. He had paper & sorts thrown at him from some losers standing on the second floor balcony of the building beside the bench. When he looked up, they rudely jeered.

Gold Coast is a tourist attraction, but the locals there are in no way friendly towards tourist. Sydney is the city with the most number of immigrants in Australia, but still, rude remarks were passed when Chinese patronise their store.

The current racial fights are outrightly telling the Australians to hit back at 'Lebs and Wogs'. I don't know how else not to acknowledge the fact that this is indeed a racial fight.

It may just show that racial discrimination runs deep in Australians. It is a fact hard to ignore, and difficult to cure.

Australians who demanded clemency for Nguyen, wake up your ideas....!

It's getting ridiculous!!! Please tell me that it is a blown up exaggeration when the tabloids are giving accounts of Australians turning their backs against Singapore & Singaporeans just because their dear drug trafficker is given a death penalty.

Australians have kept their silence (which is also an implication of approval) when the bombers killed fellow countrymen holidaying in Indonesia were convicted and sent to the death row. But when Australians themselves are being brought to justice when they are in fact, putting other lives in dangers from drug trafficking, they put up such a huge fight, even amounting to boycotting, to condemn Singapore of the death penalty. What shows!?!? Double standards! As long as someone kills Australians, they are to die for it. But as long as Australians kill, they are to be spared on grounds of compassion?

Did too much beers get into their heads?

Or the media has not shown enough footage and coverage on the harmful effects and the victims of drug addicts? Did it not struck a cord in them when they witness how the drug mules/traffickers had directly or indirectly caused these drug addicts to come to these terrible ends?

Mr John Howard, I know 'It's not hypocritical, it's just human.' to feel this way. It's one issue to feel human, and another to reason out what's the right thing to do when emotions subside. If Nguyen was to be led off, and if this opens the flood gates to many other drug syndicates to look for Australians as drug mules, and if the social problems spun downwards in Australia, will you by then feel human enough and turn back to blame Singapore for sparing the rod on Nguyen?

If you ask the murderers why they kill, if you ask the drug traffickers why they traffick, 10 out of 10 will have their own stories to tell. Are you going to plead clement for all of them on grounds that their stories are colourful and touching enough such that justice does not need to be upheld?

If you ask all those sitting in the prison waiting for execution, if they had regreted what they had done, will you expect anyone to say a 'No'? Even if the answer is a 'No', this convict will definitely have another revealing and touching story to tell you why they need to kill!

Have Australians watched too much soap opera to feel for every offender? If it's your family members who were killed by drugs, will you be cheering Singapore on with the death penalty, and swear to be a firm believer that the death penalty may have helped in deterring your family members from reaching their painful end? Or will you be still empathising with Nguyen and his family with their ordeal and hoping that he will indeed learn his lesson in the future?

At least Mr John Howard is level-headed enough not to announce a boycotting. Nguyen's actions were indirectly causing hurt to the nation and the society. I'm glad that Mr John Howard did not put the country's economy growth at risk for this kinda convicts with his irresponsible actions. Yes, Nguyen is pitiful, but he is an adult, who must answer to his own actions. And sorry to say, he did choose a wrong path.

'Flight Plan' is good, but flawed....!

I watched 'Flight Plan' played by Jodie Foster a couple of weeks back. I like the show. It sets us thinking. Never to make assumptions.

It was a good show, until the last scene. It displayed how racist and imperfect Americans still are!

In the show, the captain of the flight had wronged Jodie Foster for hallucinating, seeking attention and creating a lot of unrest on board. When the truth was out, the captain walked up to Jodie, and apologised for his accusations.

But Jodie had also wronged an Arab on the flight. She screamed and accused the Arab of abducting her daughter. But when the truth emerged, and the Arab wasn't the culprit (it was an American who abducted her), Jodie did not apologise for her rash actions. The accused Arab had still lend her a helping hand with the luggage.

It sort of implies that when an American wronged an Arab, he does not need to be sorry for it. The Arab, in return, still have to treat the American like friends, if not bosses.

Hollywood's script is very telling!!!

Grant clemency to save one but loose all?

I have never doubted the President and the government's decision of not granting clemency to Ngyun Tuong Van, who was sentenced to death after being caught at Changi Aiport's Transit Lounge for drug trafficking.

Why is there such a big fuss about it. Wanna play, then obey the rules.

Mr/Ms So and so, who wrote to Today, empathising with Ngyun for being sentenced to death in Singapore reasoning that Ngyun was not bringing heroin into Singapore or doing any harm to Singaporeans. How selfish can a person be. Since it doesn't harm us, we shall not be concerned although it will harm citizens of other countries? Anyway, what if he smuggle it back to Australia and the drugs indirectly was sold to Singaporean addicts who are living in Australia? Singapore is contributing to the world wide anti-drug campaigns in it's very own and harsh way. Unless you mean that heroin is poison only for Singapore Singaporeans, but food for all other people who do not stay in Singapore at the moment, I don't think it's right to let him off the hook so that he can do harm to others in other countries or even to his own countrymen back in Australia.

Young it may be for 25 year-old Ngyun. but old it should be for an adult to be held responsible for his own actions. 21 years old is the mark of switching from being a minor to being an adult. 25 is 4 years past that age. He should be used to being held responsible for whatever he decides on.

Drugs kill, regardless of how old the carrier is. It doesn't mean that drugs smuggled by a 25 year old is less deadly and harmful than drugs smuggled by a 50 year old. The ill effects of drugs are heavily and extensively publicised. I think we can safely assume that Ngyun is well aware of such facts.

It was too bad that although his intention was good, and he badly needed some financial help, he chose a wrong way and he has to pay for it. Furthermore, it is not justifiable to let off the poor if they were caught trafficking voluntarily due to 'forced' circumstances.

Think about the implications it means if Singapore is to grant clemency to Ngyun.

Singapore made huge efforts to keep our state as drug-clean as possible. We make no secrets about our harsh laws when dealing with traffickers. Should this hard-earned status be shed just for this young chap, who indeed was in the wrong? Should we practise double standards for those countries who are on good terms with us or had helped us in another way? Are the people who support clemency implying that bribery (by helping Singapore in one way or another) is the way to go if the other countries want their citizens to be pardoned if they ever were caught trafficking via Singapore?

I know that Ngyun had helped the police, without holding back, with much information about the drug dealers. But sadly, it is still not a move to buy your way out. Imagine, if I need some money, and I decide to smuggle drugs. And if the rule applies that if you try your best to help the police in their investigation, you'll escape death. I'll definitely take the risk. If I get through, I get the money. If I happened to get caught, I just spill the beans and I'll be spared. Isn't life too easy?

Ngyun had nearly 400gm of heroin with him. I'm not an expert, I'm not even a user. I don't know how many doses this can effect. But by punishing one, it can save a few others, then why not. Yes, if Ngyun had not do it, there will be others doing it. And addicts will still get their supply one way or the other. But think hard, if we do nothing, isn't it more disastrous???