Worker volunteer | drabble

drabble is: an extremely short work of fiction with exactly one hundred words. The purpose of the drabble is brevity and to test author's ability to express interesting and meaningful ideas in an extremely confined space.

Haven't written one ever, but what the heck.
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He seemed faintly familiar as he filled out the form in front of her.

“Previous work?”

“In telecoms.”

“Any media experience?”

“Extensive. I appeared as an extra on TV, once.”

“What sparked the interest?”

“Oh, my family’s always been into politics.”

“Oh, really? They also want to volunteer?”

“I doubt it, they’re more for the other party.”

‘Oh I see… haha well, guess your father’s going to kill you for this, lah.”

“Quite possibly.”

She laughed. “Fathers always say that.”

He shrugged and smiled. He was not always a truthful man, but he had not lied once this evening.

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Slaves in Singapore | maids

Standard contracts on hiring maids launched
By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 20 July 2006 1532 hrs

SINGAPORE: The Association of Employment Agencies and Casetrust have come up with two standard contracts for maid employers.

The contracts will have a service agreement between the agency and the employer and a second employment contract between the employer and the maid.

Under the agreement, there would be a well defined replacement policy and a fairer refund policy reducing the possibility of disputes.

While the employment contract stipulates the minimum one day off entitlement for the maid in a month, if the day off is not taken, the employer would have to compensate the maid in cash.

All employment agencies accredited by the two bodies (Casetrust and Association of Employment Agencies) would have to implement the standard contracts by the 15th of September 2006. -

I'm wondering how easy is it for a maid to report that she's not getting the extra cash if she can't get out of the house.

Hope she knows how to work the phone. Still can't see why MOM is being obstinate about the mandatory day off thing. It's not about people who claim they need the maid 24/7, that's for sure.

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Start a culture of praise | Cat Welfare volunteers build Singapore

ST Forum, 11 July 2006, Tuesday (Online edition)
Unsung heroine who helped nab cat abuser

Madam Sharifah Khamis played a key role in the nabbing of cat-abuser David Hooi who was sentenced to three-month jail in November last year.

He was arrested again on June 27 at 2am for abusing a kitten whose injuries were so severe that it had to be euthanised at the SPCA. It is fortunate that Hooi was arrested before his destructive behaviour was extended to the human residents.

In the process that led to Hooi's two arrests, Madam Sharifah put her personal safety aside with frequent patrolling in the dead of the night in the vicinity of Hooi's block of flats so as to catch him in the act. This public spiritedness dispels a common notion that Singaporeans are apathetic.

She also intermingled with many residents in the estate to strategise surveillance plans. These residents cut across different races and consisted of men and women, young and old. Surely this kampung-spirit type of cooperation is what the Government is hoping to achieve with ad hoc inter-racial harmony fairs graced by the presence of MPs.

Perhaps identifying common platforms in the community such as concern for the welfare of community cats, is more effective in enhancing long lasting interracial harmony?

I think ordinary people can identify easily with Madam Sharifah, an ordinary person living in the heartland than with a PBM recipient on a full page announcement in the newspaper.

She may not have received a PBM award but surely she deserves public recognition for her extraordinary display of courage and public spiritedness. Let not her heroism be unsung.

Dr Tan Chek Wee

Dr Tan refers to the Pingat Barisan Masyarakat, or the Public Service Medal. The Medal may be awarded to any person who has rendered commendable public service in Singapore or for his achievement in the field of arts and letters, sports, the sciences, business, the professions and the labour movement. If you look at the list of previous recipients here, you'll notice that there's a trend to it. Mostly, they have titles that end in CC, RC, Council, or have the word "Church/Mosque/Sacred Tree" inserted somewhere. For that alone, Mdm Sharifah and the other volunteers aren't going to be standing on the podium anytime soon. And she should, really. Or at least receive something. Not just a commendary letter that didn't make it to the print edition of the ST.

An expat made the observation the other day that Singaporeans don't seem to like to praise people. Efforts on her part to do so resulted in the company reluctantly going "Yeah, I guess it's ok." And heavens knows that we're allegedly famous for complaining. A cursory survey of the better read blog entries suggest that bitching does go around the world faster than praise. It's completely understandable - after all, rage makes for a better muse, as Alanis Morrisette displayed, and critical commentary is vital in a society where the MSM is muzzled.

But ultimately, it doesn't help Singapore towards becoming a gracious society. It's Singapore's birthday soon, and if I had a wish for her, it would be that we would become better at praising people. Praise and positive rewards are the best incentive of all (I've read books. i've also tried it on the Partner. It works) and I think we could do better as a society if we just got better at telling people they did the right thing.

And Dr Tan is right. What Madam Sharifah, and the other volunteers of the Cat Welfare Society did was fantastic. They cut across all racial and economic barriers, and organised a neighbourhood watch patrol that went on through the night. Through their efforts, they saved a kitten, and they got a potentially dangerous man the therapy he needed.

And most amazing of all, in pragmatic Singapore, these volunteers did it knowing they would get nothing for it. Of course, volunteer work is generally unrewarding, but if you save the elderly, the AIDs patients, or abused children, people generally praise you and eventually recommend you for the PBM or the Home gives you their own award plaque. You see, helping juvies through state-sponsered organisations is hardcore "real" volunteerism.

They help animals. There is really no tangible reward to helping animals; it doesn't go down on your CV, nor is it ever going to be a factor in your candidacy for MPship, cos people think it's fluffy and bit odd. They help animals because in many ways, animals are the ultimate marginalised group anywhere. In the process of doing so, they engaged a community, crossed barriers of faith and race without a CC-sponsered event, raised social awareness, bounded people on either side of a widening economic divide - in short they set about creating the society that so many of the bloggers and other Singaporeans dream of living in.

Is it so hard to take time out of your busy day, and email them to tell them they're doing a great job?

If we want a better society, one that our children would be happy to live in, the best that we can do is cultivate a habit of praise, and encourage those unsung heroes and heroines amongst us who are quietly, without fanfare or reward, building that society one day at a time.

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To contact the volunteers, you can email Cat Welfare at info@catwelfare.org. Alternatively, Dawn Kua blogs for the Cat Welfare society, so you can head over there and drop her a note. (Cat Welfare)

To read about the cat abuse case, go here.

To read about politics and animal welfare, go here.

Excerpts from ST March 11, 2006
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Neighbourhood patrol helped send cat killer to jail;
Bedok residents started night patrol to nab man killing strays


FOR five months, a group of Bedok residents took turns to patrol their neighbourhood over seven hours every evening. Their mission - to catch the man they suspected of torturing and killing the area's stray cats.

One of them, Miss Ngiam Mui Wah, 46, finally caught him in the middle of another attack and had enough evidence to make criminal charges stick. That ended David Hooi Yin Weng's reign of terror. The 42-year-old packer was this week jailed three months for animal abuse.
...

They set up a neighbourhood patrol. Ten residents - backed up by young boys who often cycled in the area - came forward. Each team did a two-week shift from 6pm to about 1am.

Team member Sharifah Khamis, 40, also started taking a census of the neighbourhood's strays. If one cat or kitten went missing, patrol members were asked if they saw it.

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My paperclip for a house | personal stuff

Kyle MacDonald traded a paper clip for a house. He swapped the clip for a pen, and so on, various swapped items included a snowmobile, an afternoon with Alice Cooper, and finally, a house in Kipling, a small town in Canada. You can read the rest here.

If he was in Singapore, he'd have to start out with two paper clips.

___________________________

Still writing thesis, so I've banned myself from writing much in this blog, as well as reading other blogs. Reading other blogs - such as the fascinating www.singaporeangle.com (it's spearheaded by a NUS tutor in the Philosophy dept, freshly back from his phD.) - just makes me want to write more articles of my own. Writing isn't the time consuming part, it's the research behind it. Hee. Had a little chat with someone the other day, and we ruefully concluded that historians make poor political bloggers. Political, commentary blogging, to some extent, must be done fast, with soundbites and catch-phrases and labels of convenience, and in a medium like that, it's hard to find the grey areas because you just don't have the time. Whereas historians fidget if they don't see a footnote, referencing, and at least a paragraph devoted to context. It's a whole new cultural matrix.

(This is in no way related to a thesis that can only be described as "bloated" at this point in time.)

I don't usually like to write about the personal, but I feel impelled to do so on this occasion: take care, A and Z. Be safe.

And bring back presents.

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Vivian and Mr Brown | two stories

Just posting two articles in relation(the second tangentially so) on the Mr Brown affair, aka Lee Mun Kin.

CNA, July 8, 2006 Saturday 3:01 PM GMT
Mainstream media has role in ensuring quality of debate: Dr Balakrishnan

Singapore's mainstream media has a crucial role in ensuring the quality and standard of discourse and national debate, says Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

And he says as long as everybody understood their respective roles and respected each other, Singaporeans can have a useful dialogue going forward.

Dr Balakrishnan made these remarks when asked to comment on reactions by the foreign media to a recent decision by MediaCorp's TODAY newspaper to stop publishing a column by "Mr Brown" who was one of its regular columnists.

A recent article by the columnist about the cost of living in Singapore had drawn a sharp rebuttal from a government spokesperson.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "I am not at all concerned at all about what the foreign media thinks. We are not here to fulfil their agenda. Let me put it to you this way. We are all entitled to express our opinions.

"But we also have to be accountable for our opinions and to be prepared from time to time to stand by them or be called to answer them and from time to time to be rebutted. So I see this as part and parcel of the consistent position which the government and people of Singapore have taken."

He added that what is important for Singaporeans, particularly on serious issues, is to have an honest constructive debate with no extraneous agendas involved.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "If you feel there is a problem with cost of living, say so, let's collectively explore solutions. But don't in the name of humour distort or aggravate on an emotional level. That sort of discourse does not generate solutions. It generates more heat than light.

"So we should put this in its proper context. If someone says something which we disagree with, we will say so. If someone says something which is unhelpful we have a right to say it is unhelpful. We have a right to remind everyone that at the end of the day, this is not a fight.

"We are in search of solutions and by working together and by engaging in an honest constructive dialogue we can do so and we want our newspapers to be a part of that process and also to be aware that, the mainstream media in particular. You are not an internet chat room."

I just wanted to compare the two articles.

CNA, July 8, 2006
Flying the Flag an ongoing commitment by all Singaporeans: Dr Balakrishnan

Getting Singaporeans to fly the National Flag collectively during important celebrations like National Day is not a tired formula, says Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

Instead, it is an ongoing commitment by all Singaporeans to celebrate the nation's birthday jointly.

Dr Balakrishnan launched the "Join the Celebrations, Fly our Flag" programme at the Bukit Panjang division on Saturday.

For the first time the Singapore Scout Association will also join hands with grassroots bodies to rally more Singaporeans to display the National Flag.

From now leading up to National Day the scouts will also play their part and go on house to house visits in both HDB and private estates to enhance this effort.

Dr Balakrishnan said: "For young people it is especially significant. For them to get a sense that they are participating in something at a national level. The young boys will also understand the significance behind the flag and why there's a need for us in some occasion in the year to fly it collectively. It's an opportunity for us to remind every one young and old, whatever religious or political background, that you have that this is an occasion for joint celebration and commitment and a commitment to the future.

"We want to make sure that whatever we do, we do it respectfully and in a way which accords the respect the Flag deserves. At the end of the day the Flag reflects us as a people. It's not a piece of cloth. I am hoping to see more people on their own and more groups come up on their own with new ideas on how to celebrate National Day in their own way, how to use the flag and make it a common exercise on the part of all Singaporeans."

Emphasis in the second article is my own. Incidentally, Vivian Balakrishnan was once lauded for his critical views of the government, and was a President scholar. He was heavily involved in the cat-culling issue, and was responsible for educating Parliament on cat copulation metholodogy, using that as a reason for banning cats from HDB. Frequently praised for his youth engagement in his ministerial capacity and I've heard, well-liked for his dynamism by the youth.

Want to comment, but it'll have to wait. Offline life calls, and it's simply yummy.

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Blog like an Egyptian | A lesson in media protest

Someone should do a study about how people stop blogging during the world cup. Anyway, while on the topic of media freedom, let's see how Egyptian newspapers protest against government interference in press freedom:

Egyptian papers protest over law
By Heba Saleh
BBC News, Cairo

President Hosni Mubarak had made pledges on media law
Some two dozen Egyptian newspapers are suspending publication for a day to protest against a new law they say will prevent them investigating corruption.

The papers will not appear on Sunday and journalists plan to stage a demonstration outside parliament.

President Hosni Mubarak promised two years ago that he would abolish prison sentences for media offences.

But a new draft law makes it a crime punishable by prison to question the financial integrity of individuals.

Editors of the newspapers taking part in the protest are hoping that public opinion will pressure the government into changing its position.

Outrage

Mr Mubarak's pledge two years ago was portrayed by the government as a sign that Egypt was moving into a new democratic era.

But when last week the government unveiled its planned amendments to the law, journalists were outraged.

They were especially shocked at the new offence concerning the financial integrity of individuals.

Reporters say it is designed to protect corruption.

Parliament has already started debating the bill and there is little hope it will be defeated.

The ruling party has a crushing majority in the assembly and many members would prefer it if the press were less free to delve into their affairs.

The Egyptian press had become remarkably bold in the past two years, carrying direct criticism of the president and of senior officials.

But many now feel that with elections out of the way and the US no longer pressing for reform, the relative freedom of the recent past could be about to end.

Can't quite see that happening in Singapore, really. But it's an interesting way of protest - rather like the "blank column" approach taken by some newspapers to indicate that the column was censored. Totally legal protest. Then again, in Singapore, the government doesn't need to rely on the law to make their opinion felt.

Neither do a lot of governments, actually.

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Who is Mano Sabnani? | Today in trouble

I didn't say much about the recent developments in Mr Brown's case, mainly because I hate repeating the works of others, and because my online life factfile is starting to spill over to my offline life factfile, and I just wrote that "the king felt threatened by student blogger Hang Nadim's evident popularity after actually being able to provide a solution for the recent swordfish incident, and the king regretted challenging Hang Nadim to stop being an irresponsible partisan critic without answers."

The Straits Times reported on the incident here, together with reactions from the local media and media observers such as Tan Tarn How (from Institute of Policy Studies) and Cherian George (IPS). Reactions seem to be high on the WTF factor, and there a terse one-liner from Today editor Mano Sabnani, whom I knew nothing about.

Anyway I went digging to find out about him, and the search results tossed up an article that reminded me of the last time that Today got into trouble - last year, for reporting that the MM's wife had received preferential treatment in London. Today, according to the source inside, got fixed.

LKY's press secretary summoned Shaun Seow, Mano Sabnani, Rahul Singh, Bachchan Singh and Val Chua for a tekan session at the Istana. He chided the newspaper for running provocative stories that are out of bounds.

Today was asked to explain what service it does to the nation and why it shouldn't be closed down. Mediacorp was ordered to supervise Today more closely or it will be punished too. Also, all reports on local news must be written by locals, no foreigners allowed.

The chief editor, Mano Sabnani, has been demoted. He still holds the title, but he must now report to Shaun Seow, CEO Mediacorp Channel News Asia. ...[personal remarks snipped]...

The deputy editor Rahul has also been demoted to night desk to be together with the other night editor Bachchan Singh.

The reporter Val Chua now writes advertising features for DBS and other banks. Her press pass is withdrawn and she cannot report news. She keeps her job and now reports directly to an old ex-Reuters editor hired in September by Today to consolidate operations.

Today has been told it has crossed the line and the media license will be withdrawn if it writes in such a way as to provoke bad feelings which may lead to public unhappiness.

So in a way, I can see why Today might have decided on this occasion to cut their losses and drop Mr Brown, a freelancer. I don't think they should have, but having been burnt once, I can see why Mano Sabnani is prepared to listen to hints. I wouldn't even be surprised if he figured that Mr Brown's popularity would ensure an outcry of public support, which poor Val Chua never got. (correct me if she did.)

Sigh. Both incidents reminds me of the point that keeps on getting made; the press isn't going to be free until the government lets it. Commentary is all well and good, but there's a dearth of people who are willing to actually enter politics and play the game of power and change things. Yes, I am aware that social commentary raises social conciousness, but there is only so far you can reach, and so many people you can convince. Making the youth aware of the problems, and hoping to raise a generation of socially, politically active Singaporeans? Our best and brightest are still not going to turn down a government scholarship if they can get it. Theoratically, that would be a good thing, because then they'd get into the system and change things - but we've been saying that for a very very very long time. The ones that spoke up and were just a bit too good - they got sidelined.

...sigh. Sorry, mind's still firmly somewhere in 15th century Malay politics. I'm kind of all over the place today...

Alex Au makes the point somewhat better here.

(oh, and Mano Sabnani's bio is here
An old journalist, with heavy links with DBS, and ex-editor of Business Times and managing editor of Straits Times. I wonder what's the skinny on him.)

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Jon Stewart and Blogging | he's married bleh

From the Daily Show that I mentioned. I just knew that Jon Stewart would have talked about bloggers. Touches on the main issues that have been raised over here.



Jon Stewart is Jewish, married, smart and hot, which means that we have nothing in common whatsoever, so we'd just have a meaningless relationship based on sex. But we'd use a condom, so it's ok.

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Bhavani vs Brown | no such non-partisan

There's something that bugs me about Bhavani vs Brown. Mainly, it's a rather stupid letter, as many bloggers in the sturm en drang of the blogosphere have pointed out, and Mr Wang has done a great breakdown of the points as usual, with thankfully a little less sturm en drang than the rest of the world.

But it just doesn't make sense. There are parts of it that are just incorrect, which makes you wonder exactly how efficient/intelligent MICA has become under the helm of Lee Boon Yang. Of course, as they say, the leaders set the tone for the rest of the organisation, and if Lee Boon Yang thinks blogs are annoying, then ergo, the rest of the organisation has to, regardless of the actual facts involved.

But overall, it's just a very clumsy letter. Why was it sent out at all? It seems part of a general trend to discredit the non-mainstream media, or indeed, opposition at all. Seems like someone's been to the Karl Rove school of Public Relations and Media.

Couple of things that I found interesting, but I haven't completely worked them out yet. Stream of conciousness about to flow now:

The letter stated that journalists should not take part in partisan politics, which many bloggers rightly interpreted as saying that partisan politics meant disagreeing with the government. They also felt that Mr Brown was a neutral commentator. However, I'm not entirely sure that in the Singaporean context, there is such an animal. Partisan politics, as I understand it, is applicable in a situation in which there are at least two parties in power. So if you're taking up the cause/helping the cause/giving comfort to the enemy (oops!) of one party over the other, you're taking part in partisan politics.

However, in Singapore, there is only one effective party in power - and it's in control, complete control of the government. (or at least it thinks it is, what the heck is SM Goh up to?) Therefore, from their point of view, everyone else is the Other Party. In this totalitarian state of affairs, there is no room for the middle ground anymore.

Think of it this way: let's say there's Party A and there's Party B. There's also 3rd Party. 3rd Party was recently seen in Joo Chiat breaking up Singaporean marriages.. sorry, I'll be serious now. Anyway. 3rd Party. Party A doesn't agree with Party B. 3rd Party doesn't disagree with either, as 3rd Party wants to save the trees and get girls. But Party A has to deal with Party B, because both of them are in Parliament. Party A and B therefore use 3rd Party as occasional ally against the other party. 3rd Party therefore still gets invited to the cool parties, and gets to sleep with all the bored neglected spouses of Party A and B.

If Party A is completely, dominantly in power, this whole dynamic gets tossed out the window. Party A doesn't need 3rd Party, and therefore lumps in 3rd Party with Party B, and accusing innocent 3rd Party of partisan politics. 3rd Party actually just wants to save the trees, but that occasionally runs contrary to Party A's interests, so they get tossed out, can't go to the cool parties, and no one wants to sleep with them because the bored neglected spouses of Party A are now running GLCs.

Actually, the whole thing is starting to remind me of something Jon Stewart said. Jon Stewart is the host of the Daily Show, on Comedy Central in America. It is a parody of a newshow, and it often satirises politics in America. Jon Stewart's show has been extremely well-received, and many people reported that during the 2004 elections, they found that they received a better analysis of the news and election events from his comedy show than from standard news channels.

Jon Stewart is non-partisan, and I believe him. Although comedians tend towards the Democrats anyway, Stewart has an established track report in skewering both sides. In recent years, he has been accused of being partisan, because he now frequently criticises the Republicans. His answer? He couldn't help but criticise the Republicans more, because they were so completely in power. They controlled both houses, they controlled the executive - in short, they controlled completely two out of three branches of the US government (legislative, and executive, and judicial looks rather iffy too). He was quite prepared to criticise the Democrats - but guess who was in power? In the current political situation of the US, that has come dangerously close to a one-party system, there simply has been no middle ground anymore.

Same here.

Feh. Writing all this is very disturbing, and I feel just plain uneasy about this. It's too political science for me.

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Hillary Clinton Has a Blogger | speculative

This is interesting:

Using Peter to play ball
By Mark Tran / USA 12:54pm

In hiring Peter Daou, a prominent political blogger, for her campaign, Hillary Clinton is sending a clear signal that she intends to run for the White House in 2008.
There is not great love lost between Ms Clinton and the liberal wing of the party. She stands condemned, in their eyes, for having gone along with most senators in authorising George Bush to use force in Iraq.

In enlisting Mr Daou's services, Ms Clinton is banking on his credentials as a blogger and a liberal to take the edge off attacks from the blogosphere.
For Cenk Uygur, the move poses an intriguing question. He wonders whether Ms Clinton will pay any heed to what Mr Daou has to say and move more towards the Democratic party's so-called netroots, a phenomenon that first appeared during Howard Dean's 2004 run for the Democratic nomination. Mr Dean enjoyed a great run for a while, using the internet to mobilise disaffected Democrats and to raise money before his campaign imploded.
- The Guardian, 3 July, 2006

The rest of the article is here

I wonder who will be the first major political blogger co-opted here? We've already seen the beginnings of bloggers being taken seriously by MSM, and hired by them. I don't know my SG blogging history, or indeed, blogging history period, so I don't know if it's already happened.

Will we see the same thing here, and watch a prominent political blogger offered a prestigious job by a young ambitious MP needing the clout and cache of being "with it"? Or since quite a few bloggers are still young, a scholarship by a ministry that figures that the best way to silence someone is to hire them?

I'm not saying it's a bad thing to be offered something like that, and it will probably be offered with the best of intentions. But I can't help remembering how many of the new MPS this year were thought to be "dissenting" voices, until they actually ran for Parliament.

Will these hypothetical bloggers be called sell-outs too?

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Straits Times gripe #789 | feelin' fluffy

Just noticed that the ST Forum page requires women who write in to select the title of "Ms" "Miss" "Mrs" "Madam".

Why?

I mean, I'm sure that it's just convention at work, and very little thought was given to it. (Of course, that's what the whole power discourse is about: the extant hierarchy inherently privileges the dominant group, and determines the terms of engagement.)

But really, why? What does the inclusion of that title do for me? What does it tell me about the person? And more importantly, what does it tell me about the person, that will somehow be of interest when I read the letter?

The quick answer is that it tells me if the person's married/single (Mrs/Miss or Ms), prefers it not to be known (Ms), kept her maiden name though probably married (Mdm). It still doesn't suffice as a reason though - why do I care if a person's married? Not to mention that with the use of "Mdm" and "Ms", the marital status is uncertain.

If marital status is that important, why don't the men who write in include it too? After all, considering the scintillating and mind-blowing intellect of peoples such as Lionel de Souza, I'm sure the female populace would love to know if they were on the market, or MBA.

But yeah, I'm sure that the reason why the ST asks women to include the title is because it's just convention, and because you want to know what they'd prefer to be called. In which case, my next letter to the ST is going to be signed off with Lord of the Universe.

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