Comments for the paradoX files

Comment on Is Singapore ready for a Malay PM? by loozihan

loozihan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 04:26:32 +0000

“they are unlike the Malay women we usually know of”

I was surprised by that particular line in the Chinese review too, i was wondering how did the editor let it go through to print? Or was it a one time overlook? Or do they think they can get away with it because it’s in Mandarin?

But that said, the quality of analysis in ZB is always more insightful and liberal – probably exactly because it’s in Mandarin….

One of the responses i got from a chinese friend who watched the play was that if the day when a malay PM will comes power, his parents will probably be the first to migrate….. sigh

Comment on People vs the Ruling Class – Legal battle and beyond in Thailand by “Thai women are fighters” - for World Press Freedom Day 2008 « Roderick’s Journal

Sat, 03 May 2008 10:08:22 +0000

[...] Journal @ The Nation) The Truth Be Told: The Case Against Supinya Klangnarong (THAICINEMA.org) People vs the Ruling Class – Legal battle and beyond in Thailand (the paradoX files) Supinya Klangnarong, secretary-general of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform [...]

Comment on Welcome to Singapore. Nothing you see is real. by rodsjournal

rodsjournal — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 15:43:09 +0000

You have nicely summarised the essence of the Singapore ruling regime’s attitude and practices toward treating “freedom” in the last 40-odd years or so (since the country’s independence), with regard to the Communism and the leftists. Appropriate, since the main idea/theme here is about the panels of the Berlin Wall donated to S’pore.

About the regulations affecting the Complaints Choir Project: I’m not exactly sure what the actual laws are, but there seems to be a new twist in the law or its application in this incident. First, we know for sure that this kind of performance has been ‘gazetted’ or deemed as a political event.

The twist is this: usually the law has been applied to only public events organised by S’poreans where no foreigners are allowed to speak, as no foreigners would likely organise ‘political’ events that would be seen as ‘meddling’ in domestic politics and would require the application of this law anyway; there doesn’t seem to be such a precedent in S’pore, ever – so we can rule that out (unless it’s meant to support the ruling PAP, like the IMF-World Bank 2006 meetings, hahaha). But this time, it is an arts event that obviously has political overtones or meaning to the powers-that-be, one that is primarily a foreign-driven event, no less.

So by applying the law in this manner. the authorities have:
1) Treated it as though it were organised by locals with some foreign participation – instead of vice-versa, which is the actual case!
2) ‘Penalised’ these foreigners – who are the main drivers of this arts event – for supposed ‘meddling’.

I really wonder how far the law(s) go and how widely they can be interpreted and applied to cover arts performances, foreign-driven events etc. This incident is a new variation I haven’t seen before. How far can people push, or rather how far will the authorities go to persecute – sorry, prosecute – groups or individuals who are deemed to have infringed the laws?

By the way, the permitted invitation-only, closed-door performance can be viewed here: http://rinaz.net/2008/01/complaint-choir/