Thursday, September 21, 2006

Malicious Metamorphosis

8.40am @ Central Library


9.40pm @ Science Canteen


Left for home: 11.00 PM
Oh no. I think I'm morphing into something I've always despised.
Help.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Rallentando Rally

FRESH NEWS FROM THE SDP OVEN
As the protesters are not allowed to proceed to the Parliament House at today's Empower Singaporeans Rally & March, they will be holding another rally again tomorrow, but in front of the Parliament House instead of at the Speakers' Corner.

Ms Chee Siok Chin has announced that the protesters will not be deterred or discouraged by the police's actions today, and will gather at the Parliament House to stage a rally at 11.00am on 17 September 2006, Sunday.

As of this hour, the protesters still remained at the Speakers' Corner.

Singaporeans who missed out today's rally are welcomed to attend and show your support. After all, this is about all citizens' rights of the freedom of expression, assembly and association, and not just for the rights of these individuals involved.

Unfortunately, the guys at Singapore Democratic Party have not learnt their lessons, committing the greatest political faux pas in local history twice. It won't be a surprise that the second rally will once again fail to attract the multitudes of Singaporeans they hope.

Sigh... And you thought it was a no-brainer that rallies should never be conducted on weekend mornings. But nooo... Give it to SDP and they choose to conduct rally marches at 11AM, win liao loh...

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Partying Politics

13th September saw another one of those ubiquitous lawsuits...
Singapore leaders launch libel suit against magazine
By Fayen Wong

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's prime minister and his father, the founding father of the city-state, have filed a defamation suit against the publisher and editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), according to court documents.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and former premier Lee Kuan Yew filed the libel suit against Hong Kong-based Review Publishing Company Ltd and FEER editor Hugo Restall on Aug. 22 for an article published in July on opposition politician Chee Soon Juan.

The article -- under the headline "Singapore's Martyr: Chee Soon Juan" -- criticised the Singapore government's handling of a pay-and-perks scandal at the country's largest charity. The magazine also quoted Chee attacking the Lees.

The Far Eastern Economic Review declined comment on the case.

The suit is the latest in a series brought by Singapore's leaders against foreign media and opposition politicians.

Court documents showed that the Lees' lawyers first sent a letter to Review Publishing on July 18, demanding the removal of the article from FEER's Web site. The Lees also asked Review Publishing to issue an apology and pay compensation by July 24.

But Review Publishing proposed publishing the Lees' letter on its Web site to allow the leaders to give their position to readers and suggested publishing an interview with Lee Kuan Yew.

The suit said FEER attempted to profit from their libel by proposing to interview Lee Kuan Yew and circulate their correspondence on its Web site.

Court documents showed that the Lees' lawyers made an application on Aug. 25 to serve the summons to Review Publishing and FEER's editor in Hong Kong. Review Publishing, owned by Dow Jones & Co., does not have a representative in Singapore.

Chee, an acerbic critic of the government, has had several run-ins with Singapore's leaders. He was slapped with a defamation suit in 2001 for accusations against Lee Kuan Yew and former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and was declared bankrupt because he was unable to pay damages.

On Tuesday, Singapore's High Court ruled that Chee and his sister had defamed the Lees in a separate case. No damages have been announced yet.

Singapore has for decades taken a tough stance on foreign media when they report on local politics. International media organisations have been banned, slapped with defamation suits or seen their circulations restricted when they published articles deemed offensive by the government.

(Additional reporting by Sara Webb)

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Now, come this saturday 16th September, Empower Singaporeans Rally is set to go on as planned, with or without a permit.
Empower Singaporeans Rally and March
By Singapore Democratic Party

The Empower Singaporeans Rally and March planned by Singaporean activists is fixed for next Saturday, 16 September 2006.

The event will commence at 11 am at the Speakers' Corner at Hong Lim Park. Singaporeans are strongly encouraged to turn up to support the struggle for democracy in Singapore.

The peaceful rally will also highlight the economic hardship of many Singaporeans. Not only are the poorest of the poor suffering under the PAP, but many working- and middle-class Singaporeans are also reeling from the uncaring economic policies of this Government.

Singaporeans need a voice and there is no better opportunity than this rally and march to tell the PAP that we, the citizens of Singapore, demand – not request – our rights for free and fair elections, a free media, and freedom of peaceful assembly.

Participants are encouraged to wear white T-shirts or tops, and bring along signs calling for democracy in Singapore.

The event will begin with speakers addressing the relevant issues. The schedule for the rest of the day will take place as follows:

11:00 am Assembly and rally at Speakers' Corner

1:00 pm Walk to Parliament House

1:30 pm Rally outside Parliament House

2:30 pm Walk to Suntec City

3:00 pm Rally outside Suntec City

4:00 pm Walk to Istana

5:00 pm Rally outside Istana

6:00 pm End and dispersal

This rally will be an historic occasion and will mark the beginning of the campaign for political and civil rights in Singapore.

Citizens of other countries are so concerned that they have taken the trouble to come to Singapore to make their voices heard. Are we that apathetic and uncaring that we are even afraid of speaking out for our own country, in our own country?

If you are a Singaporean, you must care. Because if you don't, no one else will.

Who ever dare comment that the political scene in Singapore lacks vibrancy?
That said, got Singaporeans will go to the rally meh?

Heh.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

The Neverending Story Part I

2 years ago, three budding writers convened at a bench outside Swensens in Tampines for literary discourse. It wasn't long before a potential Pulitzer Prize winning novel was born. Presenting an unedited unadulterated preview to all who appreciates fine literature...

A girl was showing along a beach and she saw a big fat turtle biting the arse of a man who let out a tremendous fart. On seeing such a scene, the combat medic gave him a pill. She swallowed it and started sputtering red foam that stank of vomit and blood all over the wall. His brains were smashed to a pulpy mess. The man then took a mop from VJC storeroom and clean it all up. He then sat down to rest. But crows wouldn't leave him alone and started pecking at his eye, the woman whispered seductive, "You filthy animal, I noe u want me." Her lustful whispers. With a seductive smile, the man gazed across the window and blew a juicy kiss. The mosquito buzzed around restlessly, looking for a spot to take another bite. The butter oozed out her cherry red lips. He then took a chopper and mince up her lips when she was sleeping. At the end, the man cooked himself black sauce lips and what a sumptuous meal it was!

Saturday, September 02, 2006

School Starts

As the third week of school approaches to an end, I decided to review through the "accomplishments" I've made in less than a month.

1. Fell asleep during lectures. CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK.
In fact, people are beginning to question on my ability to look at the lecturer teach with the top of my head.

2. Late for lectures. Check.
With lessons beginning at an unearthly time of 8AM everyday, punctuality have to be compromised in order to preserve my sanity.

3. Relishing in 5-6 hours break. Check.
An unmatchable 6 hours of break (during the first 2 weeks) grounded me in NUS from 8AM to 6PM even though I had only 2 lectures installed for the day.

4. Forgetting to bid for my laboratory timeslot. Check.
My trademark amnesia is back with vengeance. Even a quick scribble of reminder on my trusty Kinokuniya Notebook proved to be useless.

I actually forgot to look at my notebook on the day of bidding.

5. Missing my first tutorial. Check.
Thanks to "unforeseen circumstances" (read: buying tea), I was over 5 minutes late for a Fluid Mechanics lecture on Tuesday. As a result, I failed to decipher the imbroglio of enigmatic alien symbolical language muttered by the lecturer.

As a diligent NUS student, I downloaded the 112MB webcasted lecture to catch up on the precious minutes that I have missed. It was only then that I learned during the first 5 minutes, that the lecturer reminded us minions to attend tutorial for classes scheduled from wednesday to friday.

I watched that fateful webcast at home on friday evening.

6. Interview for BTC gone awry. Check.
Currently writing on the article for the Ridge Magazine regarding the new Bukit Timah Campus, I had to post some questions to the law admin.

As usual, I was prepared to:
  • Make multiple phonecalls to the "friendly" law helpline
  • Be diverted from person to person as if I was a lawless plague (don't ask me what it means...)
  • Make even more phonecalls to the Assistant Dean of Law Faculty (the final person I was referred to) over a span of a few days
  • Irritate her secretary as she refused to return from her endless slew of meetings
Indeed, the countless calls I made to 6156 4380 before and after lectures finally paid off when I got her on the line. I congratulated myself silently as I pretended to act professional while doing a little gigue. Hey, hard work and perseverancewill pay off eventually, right?

But no... She had the temerity to reply that she might not be the best person to answer the questions. IF THE ASSISTANT DEAN OF THE LAW FACULTY CANNOT EVEN ANSWER A FEW QUESTIONS, THEN WHO CAN?!
THE DEAN?
THE QUEEN'S COUNCIL?
THE QUEEN?!!!

7. Missing my first laboratory session. Check.
Of course, after forgetting to bid for my Signals Lab, the next natural thing to do is not to attend it...

Wonder what this signals for me...

8. Preparing for the wrong question in tutorial. Check.
I love group work.
I adore tutorials involving group work.
I respect the idea of intelligent students gathering to tackle questions in tutorial.

I love herd instinct.
I like group unity with no questions asked.
It is as if the group was a single entity built for a sole purpose.

When one say we are supposed to do question 3 in a tutorial, we do it.

9. Blogging even when datelines are around the corner. Check.
Enough said.