Goh Meng Seng said:

Some reporters have lamented that SDP seems to shut them off totally. I told them it is pure karma; imagine if they were in SDP and experienced the type of media reporting done on them during 2001, would they do the same, shun the local media?

Thus my advice to reporters and journalists of local media, don’t try to play punk with totally slanted reporting on alternative parties. Karma will bounce back on you. We do not expect you to be "PRO" non-PAP parties, but at least report fairly. Else you will risk suffering like New Paper or the response from SDP.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Insight on the uneasy relationship between opposition party members and the local press. As usual, the press is accused of being biased and unprofessional."

Link

Double Yellow said:

I went to the Singapore Forum on Politics 2006 today. Organized by the Political Science Department of National University of Singapore (NUS) and supported by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) foundation. It was the title of the forum that made me attend the event in the first place – The (In)Significance of Political Elections in Singapore.

Recommended by Anonymous Coward: "Detailed report on the Singapore Forum on Politics 2006."

Link

Starryluvly said:

Really, the editors at Tomorrow are not doing any favours for themselves. If I submitted a site calling XX a bitch and a whore, fine don't publish it. Obviously it wasn't that, otherwise the two editors wouldn't have published it in the first place. I doubt the two editors would have published it without reading the article I posted - if they didn't that why the hell are they editors in the first place?

Recommended by mooiness: "Starry submitted an article by XLX listing the facts surrounding the BM hate-site. It was published by Agagooga and James Seng. Then it was pulled down abruptly. Interested minds want to know: how and why did this occur? And what does this show of Tomorrow.sg's editorial integrity?"

Link

Jeff Ooi asks

Why would Malaysians, Chinese especially, often quote Singapore and Harry Lee as role models for world-class financial achievement? Why not South Korea?

Part 1
Part 2

Jayce said ...

Click on the invitation cards and take a better look. They called Chan Soo Sen.. a Comrade!?! Serious.. I almost choked when I saw that.. Comrade? Revival of communism in Singapore?!

"Comrade Chan Soo Sen and all Comrades of PAP Joo Chiat Branch"

Beowulf said ...

I was casually browsing around the Internet when I stumbled across two well-known opposition politicians' blogs. It looks like they have only recently started blogging. They are none other than J.B. Jeyaretnam and James Gomez.

Martyn See said:

Singapore police have asked a filmmaker to surrender a video camera and tapes he used to make a documentary on opposition figure Chee Soon Juan as part of its investigation for possible breach of film laws. Martyn See, a 36-year-old Singapore filmmaker, told Reuters the demand was made after he had been questioned for three hours at a police station on Thursday in connection with his film "Singapore Rebel".

Copy of a Reuters article.

Link

The Pilot n' Jo Show said:

In this episode, we speak to SDP Secretary-General, Dr Chee Soon Juan about free media, free speech, censorship and podcasting as a tool to reach out to the heartlander.

This is their first interview and they got Dr. Chee!

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Wannabe Lawyer said:

The [RadioSDP] ‘podcast’ starts off with a rant against the PAP, using the same old accusations and assertions that attempts to stir up anger and hate. The really funny part was when CSJ immediately went on to claim that they would offer alternative policy proposals, rather than just criticising the PAP, because ‘they believe in being constructive’.

I believe these proposals are rubbish, and I will explain why, and thus provide the reasons why I hold the SDP with particular disdain.

Well argued post about RadioSDP's first podcast.

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Sammyboy.com's Alfresco Coffee Shop said:

"PAP is in a serious analysis paralysis mode at the moment. Too many scenarios are being drawn out, with not enough capable scenario managers. They seem clearly nervous and seem to be relying a lot on secondary research. They have missed taking the pulse of the people. " said this well known senior SPH journalist in a private conversation to me over beer in Langkawi this weekend. Here's his inside assessment:

Apparently, the assessment was that the ground was sweet till the NKF episode broke out. Now, it is not so sweet...

Taking political gossip from Sammyboy's forums with a huge pinch of salt, this is still a well-written and interesting theory.

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Divya Manian said:

I just saw a group of four people wearing white tee shirts that claims:

"1. NKF
2.HDB
3.GIC
4.CPF

BECOME TRANSPARENT NOW!"

...they were holding transparencies that had "Accountability" and a few chinese letters on them.

They are standing outside the CPF building in Robinson Road, even as I write.

It will be very interesting to see what happens next.

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Jan Morris in Time magazine said:

I am a chronicler of Empire, and for me the most vividly fateful spot in Asia, a landmark where one empire allegorically gave way to another, is an unprepossessing industrial building in the heart of Singapore island not far from the skyscrapers and tumultuous energies of the Lion City. It was once the factory of the Ford Motor Co., and in it, on the evening of Feb. 15, 1942, the commander of the British forces in Singapore, Lieut. General Arthur Ernest Percival, surrendered the city to General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Imperial Japanese Army. The moment truly prefigured the end of the British Empire in the East—and falsely suggested the arrival of a comparable successor, Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Insight into a crucial moment in Singapore, and the World's, past.

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Singapore Democrat said:

The Singapore Democrats have launched RadioSDP, the first political podcast in Singapore (see announcement on the Home page). SDP secretary-general Chee Soon Juan has given the inaugural address, in which he highlighted the Party's manifesto as well as raise issues regarding transparency and accountability (or the lack of it), NKF, ministers' pay, minimum wage, foreign talent, etc.

The podcast is a way for the Party to by-pass the state-controlled media in Singapore. Airwaves in the country are monopolised, cable television is owned by a government-linked company, satellite dishes are banned, and the press is controlled by the ruling party. The Internet remains a medium that the Government finds it hard to censor, although it has enacted many laws aimed at curtailing the use of the Internet for political purposes.

No more media monopoly!

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Associated Press said:

Tiny and famously disciplined Singapore is turning 40 on Tuesday, and continuing to lighten up. Gone are the days when chewing gum and long hair were banned. Singaporeans are even being allowed to bungee-jump and dance on bar tables.

Apart from letting censorship ease up a bit, Singapore's leaders are lifting a longstanding ban on casinos and allowing not one but two to open.

AP article about Singapore turning 40.

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Singapore Ink said:

MUIS to draw up approved list of foreign religious scholars and speakers (CNA 31 Jul): What’s next, permits for public speaking?… Oh wait we have that already, except at that nice little Speaker’s Corner where you only have to register.

Good commentary.

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Reuters via Yahoo! said:

SINGAPORE, July 30 (Reuters) - Singapore may hold parliamentary elections later this year, the city-state's pro-government Straits Times said on Saturday.

All about elections: from a 'less' pro-government press release.

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Curzon at cominganarchy.com summarises an article by American geopolitics expert Robert D. Kaplan. The article is titled "How we [the US] will fight China" and it talks about strategies for the US to contain the growing power and influence of China. Kaplan suggests Singapore as a key ally.

[Singapore is a] mixture of democracy and authoritarianism has made it unpopular with idealists in Washington, but as far as PACOM is concerned, the country is, despite its small size, one of the most popular and helpful in the Pacific. Its ethnically blind military meritocracy, its nurturing concern for the welfare of officers and enlisted men alike, and its jungle-warfare school in Brunei are second to none. With the exception of Japan, far to the north, Singapore offers the only non-American base in the Pacific where our nuclear carriers can be serviced. Its help in hunting down Islamic terrorists in the Indonesian archipelago has been equal or superior to the help offered elsewhere by our most dependable Western allies. One Washington-based military futurist told me, “The Sings, well—they’re just awesome in every way.”

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[Ed PACOM = United States Pacific Command]

[caleb: The Sings? The Sings? THE SINGS???!!]