Monday Evening

News

• Singapore dissident steals show from world financial summit (AFP) “A scruffy dissident with a sidekick named Gandhi is stealing the show from a global financial summit by waging a civil disobedience campaign from a sidewalk in Singapore.”

Comment

• Chees continue face-off with Police (Gayle Goh) “I woke earlier than usual today to visit Hong Lim Park, where the group of 8 protesters are still standing surrounded by a crowd of policemen, prevented from proceeding onto Parliament House. As far as marches go, these people certainly haven’t marched far. They are only a few hundred metres from Speakers Corner, where the event was to begin yesterday, 16th September.”
• Tell people that others are singing our praises (YB) “The full-age feature was headlined, “Singapore, through foreign eyes”. (Straits Times, 16 September 2006) … Its standfirst said, “A record number of 23,695 delegates are registered to attend the eight-day International Monetary Fund-World Bank meetings here. What are their perceptions of Singapore?” “
• Sunflowers – for whose sake? (Samaryn) “Much has been said about the bootlicking prostituting measures taken by the Singapore government for IMF/World-Bank delegates. The blog posts are all aggregated at Intelligent Singapore and Singapore Surf. Many much more eloquent bloggers have spoken their minds and spoken the obvious. So here I say my piece.”
• The views of Singaporeans, how they are shaped, and the Brave New World (bendecidestoblog) “Singaporeans, good trusty ol’ meritocracy-thumping, scholarship system approving Singaporeans, are confounded why do anyone in the right mind take to the streets? … And so I imagine a conversation between Humanoid Interface (HI), and a liberal (L)”
• Singapore’s Security Measures (Jakarta Post) “In light of the upcoming World Bank/IMF annual meetings Sept. 19-20 in Singapore, I would like to express my outrage over the draconian security measures put in place by the government of Singapore.”
• State of Police Action (SG Life and Times) “I cannot help but think that the unfortunate events in Hat Yai yesterday is a vindication of the security blanket that has been thrown over Singapore, even at the risk of offending our learned and passionate guests.”

Hong Lim

Hong Lim

• Frontline: Hong Lim (YB) “Opposition politician Chee Soon Juan was prevented by the police, Saturday, 16 September 2006, from leading a protest march to Parliament House and the Suntec Convention Centre where the World Bank and IMF meetings are currently in session.”
• More people at Singapore Idol than at Hong Lim (Lucky Tan) “In one segment of Martyn See’s video, Martyn asked an opposition leader, “Why do you want to fight for people who can’t be bothered?” They rather spend their time window shopping, buffet dining than to hear you, …..why do you bother…?”
• Hong Lim Videos (Singapore Election Watch)

Commentary

• An impending crisis to our Singapore reputation from offending international CSOs? (SA) “The Singapore Government’s decision to blacklist 27 activists, preventing them from entering the country for the IMF/World Bank meeting, may have far more significant repercussions than what they might be expecting from offending these 27 individuals.”
• The Death of the Peasant (MM) “In an earlier entry, Molly talked about the semantics of the term “gahmen.” It does not simply refer to “government” or “PAP” but perhaps to something that would endure even the death of PAP. The gahmen is a uniquely Singaporean phenomenon.”
• Luckily, she missed the train (Mr Wang)