Singapore Airshow 2008
all the photos are available HERE!
. . . . Sunday, February 24, 2008 ; 10:36 AM
reporters without borders
Singapore - Annual report 2008
Area: 620 sq. km.
Population: 4,450,000.
Languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil.
Head of government: Lee Hsien Loong.
A “worthy” successor to his father, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has done nothing to loosen state control over the media. Journalists have a great deal more freedom to cover international news than local affairs. And a political documentary was hit by censorship.
The authorities continued their trial of strength with the magazine the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), which has been banned from distribution in the country since 2006, but which is still available online. A court in June rejected a request from the prominent Hong Kong-based monthly to be defended by a British lawyer in a “defamation” trial opened against it last year by Lee Hsien Loong and his father. The judge considered that the suit was not sufficiently “complex” for the lawyer in question. Lee Hsien Loong and his father Lee Kuan Yew took exception to an article in the FEER about opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, whom it termed a “martyr of the country” because of a raft of legal proceedings he has had to face.
The opposition, particularly the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), bête noire of the regime, is rarely quoted in the media and dissident voices have to resort to using the Internet to express themselves.
The authorities in April declared a sentence of up to two years in jail and a heavy fine would be imposed on anyone suspected of possessing or broadcasting a copy of the documentary “Zahari’s 17 years”, about the 17-year imprisonment of journalist and opposition figure Said Zahari. The film-maker, Martyn See, was forced to hand over the original and copies of the documentary to the ministry of information communications and the arts. In the film, the former editor of the newspaper Utusan Melayu recounts why the government of the time, headed by the father of the current premier, arrested him in 1963 along with several of his associates, under a draconian internal security law. The ministry said “Zahari’s 17 years” threatened “public confidence in the government”. Martyn See’s films can be viewed on the Internet.
A correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, Mia Shanley was forced to reveal the source for one of her stories after two companies took action against the British news agency and the newspapers The Straits Times and The Business Times to force them to reveal the sources for articles dating back to November 2006. The courts systematically returned verdicts in favour of companies, undermining the protection of sources in the country.
Area: 620 sq. km.
Population: 4,450,000.
Languages: English, Mandarin, Malay, Tamil.
Head of government: Lee Hsien Loong.
A “worthy” successor to his father, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has done nothing to loosen state control over the media. Journalists have a great deal more freedom to cover international news than local affairs. And a political documentary was hit by censorship.
The authorities continued their trial of strength with the magazine the Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), which has been banned from distribution in the country since 2006, but which is still available online. A court in June rejected a request from the prominent Hong Kong-based monthly to be defended by a British lawyer in a “defamation” trial opened against it last year by Lee Hsien Loong and his father. The judge considered that the suit was not sufficiently “complex” for the lawyer in question. Lee Hsien Loong and his father Lee Kuan Yew took exception to an article in the FEER about opposition leader Chee Soon Juan, whom it termed a “martyr of the country” because of a raft of legal proceedings he has had to face.
The opposition, particularly the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), bête noire of the regime, is rarely quoted in the media and dissident voices have to resort to using the Internet to express themselves.
The authorities in April declared a sentence of up to two years in jail and a heavy fine would be imposed on anyone suspected of possessing or broadcasting a copy of the documentary “Zahari’s 17 years”, about the 17-year imprisonment of journalist and opposition figure Said Zahari. The film-maker, Martyn See, was forced to hand over the original and copies of the documentary to the ministry of information communications and the arts. In the film, the former editor of the newspaper Utusan Melayu recounts why the government of the time, headed by the father of the current premier, arrested him in 1963 along with several of his associates, under a draconian internal security law. The ministry said “Zahari’s 17 years” threatened “public confidence in the government”. Martyn See’s films can be viewed on the Internet.
A correspondent for Reuters in Singapore, Mia Shanley was forced to reveal the source for one of her stories after two companies took action against the British news agency and the newspapers The Straits Times and The Business Times to force them to reveal the sources for articles dating back to November 2006. The courts systematically returned verdicts in favour of companies, undermining the protection of sources in the country.
. . . . Saturday, February 23, 2008 ; 11:26 AM
inspiring video
Be Inspired
. . . . Friday, February 22, 2008 ; 9:50 PM
who the fuck is jerry c
when Zack Kim is on the loose
check out the rest of his vids too. amazing kid.
check out the rest of his vids too. amazing kid.
. . . . Thursday, February 14, 2008 ; 6:52 PM
Complaints Choir of Singapore - Live
THE COMPLAINTS CHOIR SINGAPORE LYRICS
We get fined for almost everything
Drivers won’t ‘give chance’ when you want to ‘change lane’
The indoors are cold, the outdoors are hot;
And the humid air, it wrecks my hair
Those answering machines always make you hold
Only to hang up on you
When a pregnant lady gets on the train
Everyone pretends to be asleep
I’m stuck with my parents till I’m 35
Cause I can’t apply for HDB
We don’t recycle any plastic bags
But we purify our pee
*chorus:
What’s wrong with Singapore?
Losing always makes me feel so sore
Cause if you’re not the best
Then you’re just one of the rest
My oh my Singapore
What exactly are we voting for?
What’s not expressly permitted
is prohibited
“Ooh”
When I’m hungry at the food court, I see
People ‘chope’ seats with their tissue paper
To the aunty staying upstairs:
Your laundry’s dripping on my bed sheets
Please don’t squat on the toilet seats
And don’t clip your nails on MRT
Stray cats get into noisy affairs
At night my neighbor makes weird animal sounds
People put on fake accents to sound posh
And queue up 3 hours for donuts
Will I ever live till eighty five
to collect my CPF?
*chorus
Singaporeans too kiasu! (so scared to lose)
Singaporeans too kiasi! (so scared o die)
Singaporeans too kiabor!(scared of their wives)
Maybe we’re just too stressed out! (even the kids)
“Ooh”
Old National Library was replaced by an ugly tunnel
Singaporean men can’t take independent women
People blow their nose into the swimming pool
And fall asleep on my shoulder in the train
Singapore’s national bird is the crane (the one with yellow steel girders)
Real estate agents’ leaflets clogging up my mailbox (en bloc, en bloc; en bloc, en bloc)
Why can’t we be buried when we die?
No one wants to climb Bukit Timah with me
*chorus
“Ooh”
There are not enough public holidays
My neighbor sings KTV all night
Wedding dinners never start on time
My hair is always cut shorter than I want
Channel 5 commercials are way too long
Why do men turn bad?
*At first it was to speak more mandarin
Then it was to speak proper English
What’s wrong with my powderful Singlish?
People sit down during rock concerts
We have to pay for tap water at restaurants
ERP gantries are everywhere
But I can still see traffic jams on the road
All the bus stops have tilted benches to keep you off balance
*chorus
. . . . Sunday, February 03, 2008 ; 8:37 AM
Complaints Choir
Let us air our grouses independent of whatever the government thinks.
"All public performances of the Complaints Choir of Singapore have been cancelled. The Singaporean authorities did not want to issue a permission for public performances if foreign choir members wouldn't leave the choir. The choir has few members who are permanently living in Singapore but who are not Citizens. The Malaysian born choir conductor and the artists Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen weren´t given a permission to perform either.
The choir decided that they did not want to perform under these circumstances and hence all public performances were cancelled.
Complaints Choir is a project, where people are invited to complain about anything they want to and sing the complaints out with fellow complainers. The individual complaints are transformed into a cheerful choir song within a workshop process, which unites participants coming from different backgrounds.
The humorous complaints choir performances have been popular all over the world. This is the first time the Complaints Choir project created negative attention due to the reactions of authorities.
The lyrics contain mostly daily irritations like "People put on fake accents to sound posh" and "My neighbour sings KTV all night". In the chorus the choir sings: "What's wrong with Singapore, loosing always makes me feel so sore, cause if you are not the best then you are just one of the rest. Oh my, oh Singapore, what exactly are we voting for. What's not expressively permitted is prohibited". The relation between daily complaints and political ones were in average the same than in other countries where the project has been realised. The authorities did not come to follow the rehearsals before making their decision.
It was a strong provocation for us to hear that the authorities wanted the Non-Singaporean choir members to be excluded from the choir performances. This would have spoilt the project's intention to create a strong sense of community, a community that is based on shared complaints about life in Singapore here and now.
We are disappointed that our prejudices against Singapore have been affirmed. We find it irritating that foreigners - people that built this city, nurse Singaporean kids and bring in their knowledge - are not allowed to complain." – Tellervo + Oliver Kalleinen
"All public performances of the Complaints Choir of Singapore have been cancelled. The Singaporean authorities did not want to issue a permission for public performances if foreign choir members wouldn't leave the choir. The choir has few members who are permanently living in Singapore but who are not Citizens. The Malaysian born choir conductor and the artists Tellervo Kalleinen & Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen weren´t given a permission to perform either.
The choir decided that they did not want to perform under these circumstances and hence all public performances were cancelled.
Complaints Choir is a project, where people are invited to complain about anything they want to and sing the complaints out with fellow complainers. The individual complaints are transformed into a cheerful choir song within a workshop process, which unites participants coming from different backgrounds.
The humorous complaints choir performances have been popular all over the world. This is the first time the Complaints Choir project created negative attention due to the reactions of authorities.
The lyrics contain mostly daily irritations like "People put on fake accents to sound posh" and "My neighbour sings KTV all night". In the chorus the choir sings: "What's wrong with Singapore, loosing always makes me feel so sore, cause if you are not the best then you are just one of the rest. Oh my, oh Singapore, what exactly are we voting for. What's not expressively permitted is prohibited". The relation between daily complaints and political ones were in average the same than in other countries where the project has been realised. The authorities did not come to follow the rehearsals before making their decision.
It was a strong provocation for us to hear that the authorities wanted the Non-Singaporean choir members to be excluded from the choir performances. This would have spoilt the project's intention to create a strong sense of community, a community that is based on shared complaints about life in Singapore here and now.
We are disappointed that our prejudices against Singapore have been affirmed. We find it irritating that foreigners - people that built this city, nurse Singaporean kids and bring in their knowledge - are not allowed to complain." – Tellervo + Oliver Kalleinen
. . . . ; 8:36 AM
