April 2007
Life In The Co-Opt Lane
“Govt. to pay market rate for land acquired” was the headline of The Straits Times on Feb 13, 07. “This is a shift away from using pre-determined levels, which owners often argued were below market rates and had been a cause of unhappiness in the past,” it further stated. So, are we to assume that this shift is an adjustment towards fairness? And if so, can we say that the Govt. has, with its “decades-old practice”, not been very fair? I know, I know, other countries also practise unfairness… But do they go all out to claim they’re fair? Just asking.
“Wanted: S’poreans to develop the next YouTube or Skype” was the ST headline on Jan 29. Possible, meh? YouTube had, time and again, infringed privacy issues, leh. Can you imagine a Singaporean being the one who originated YouTube? He would have been branded a digital pirate (‘til the world applauded, of course!). It would be like imagining a Singaporean inventing the Internet and not arrested subsequently for national security! But in this era of Net-acceptance, I suppose we can safely say – you try and invent a new YouTube, lor, we’ll take it over! No problem.
Have you noticed? Mediacorp Publishing has been taking over the rights to publish quite a few magazines from Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). FHM, Arena, Style, Elle… no longer come from SPH which publishes over 80 magazines in Singapore. So who says Singapore Press Holdings has a monopoly over magazines? Hmmmph!
As I write this in Feb 07, there’s no letting up of the use of “Who says…?” in the ST (see last month’s essay). What does that tell you, folks? Contrary to my wild claims, the authorities don’t hack into my computer? Yeah, right! Well, since they wanna let you know there’s nothing to fear where that’s concerned, I was inspired to write a song titled Don’t Be Afraid Of The Govt. (Word Out). Thanks, ST-agenda-makers!
The Straits Times’ supplement Mind Your Body stated in a Feb 14 article that “In a toxic relationship, one person may not have the right to speak freely while the other person dominates.” The report may point specifically to inter-personal relationships, but, hey, don’t we know a parallel when we see one! The headline of the feature was “Toxic relationships can harm health.” Hi there, healthy Singaporeans!
“The real Singapore” – the ST beckons daily. See the photos, videos and reports taken by local bloggers to see “the real Singapore in Singapore Seen” which is part of the ST stomp.com agenda. Oh, they’re not lying, you’ll probably see some real Singapore there. The part that is ‘safe’ and winsomely co-opted by the system to warrant sweet revelry. You certainly won’t read about the thoughts of Chee Soon Juan or J.B. Jeyaratnam or my essays there (they wouldn’t want to call attention to them! Oh, go on, prove me wrong!) .If you dare say – that’s the way of the world and happens in other countries too, I’d say – how dare you undermine our ‘Uniquely Singapore’ claim! We are just NOT like them. Pur-lese! We’re uniquely unique and don’t you forget it.
“Singapore keeps status as least corrupt in Asia” – was the big headline on the Straits Times’ front –page on Mar 14. Very factual a statistic indeed for the objective of global commerce. But like I said in the Feb X’-Ho-Files, who needs corruption when you can have morality at your convenience? From honest mistakes (honest mistakes is the mother of Big Brother’s ‘transparency’) to Singapore Shares and Progress Package (“no vote buying”) to ‘justified’ inflated ministerial salaries… Need we say more? Can we say more? Allow me to venture. Name one other country in the world where the principal forms of everyday media – radio, TV and the dailies are all controlled by the government. Eh, do make sure they are not communist ones, ya! Oh, let’s not bother to analyze too much. We might just encroach on our very own bread-&-butter issues to our own disadvantage. Not to mention that famous ‘midnight knock on the door’! Who says I’m exempted from that paranoia?
But really, just in case you doubt the coincidence of Progress Package given out at General Elections, we’ll prove it to you now, that even without a GE in sight, we are about to issue ‘GST Credits’! So who says Progress Package was not a coincidence at the last General Election?
“More marriages in Singapore are hitting the skids and many divorcing families include children” – the ST reported on Mar 17. Only in Singapore would such a report not incriminate the State’s on-going campaign to encourage tying-the-knot among young couples. Children are the principal joy in life – they keep drumming. Considering that Singaporeans are generally regarded to be obedient, how can one say that the government’s beautiful-joy campaign is not effective? Who dares? Who even cares?
Replying to the question “Is the press a govt. mouthpiece?”, the Second Minister for Information, Communication & the Arts Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan announced at a Foreign Correspondents’ Association lunch talk: “We have no interest in having the press as a mouthpiece of the Govt. I don’t need the Straits Times to be a mouthpiece of the Govt. We have officers who can do that for us.” (Mar, 23). Oh dear, has the ST been disobeying orders, then, or has it just been routinely over-zealous about nation-building as a divine goal other than reporting news? Based on the quote, can we expect the Govt. to relinquish control over the Singapore Press Holdings, which publishes the ST, any day now? Shall I hold my breath?
As usual – since we are encouraged to ask questions about our transparent system – I’m merely wondering! - X’ Ho
