Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Pause And Reflect

Baey Yam Keng (born in the year of the dog) got a lot of flak after telling Singaporeans to reflect upon themselves following foreign talent crap Sun Xu's odious observation that our senior citizens are dogs ('We need to reflect upon ourselves, are we the way they described?").

Now Senior Minister of State for Education, and Information, Communications and the Arts Lawrence Wong is using the same "r" word: "we should really pause  and reflect, and ask ourselves whether this is the kind of society we want." He was weighing in on the public relations disasters of (1) the Prince William wayang, and (2) the con in the national conversations.

Feigning "some heaviness in my heart", Wong expressed dismay that the politically staged events were politicised. That sentence doesn't even make sense. Next, Wong will be telling us he's not in politics to practise politics. Politics (from Greek politikos "of, for, or relating to citizens") as a term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, and modern political discourse focuses on democracy and the relationship between people and politics. If Wong plans to take the people out of politics, dream on. If there's a suppurating political divide in society, surely the blame should be on those running the government, not the people they are trying to govern. As the popular saying goes, if you can't stand the heat, get the fish out of the kitchen!

Unlike Baey, Deputy Managing Director of Hill & Knowlton, Wong the minister may excused for  having a tenuous grasp of public relations. For that matter, he's also probably ill prepared for Education, and Information, Communications and the Arts. Hey, he's simply there because of the GRC. And as for Baey, he should really deserve a royal reprisal for insinuating that Kate's choice of fashion wear in Singapore was attributed to the wayang motive. Reflect on that.
[Refer to Anonymous @ 9/26/2012 8:30 AM for an excellent translation of Baey's Facebook post]

25 comments:

  1. I have reflected. It's all about motives. If the motive is not about the well-being of the people, everything you do is "wayang". The bigger you do it , the bigger the wayang. When you do it at the national level, it becomes the national wayang. Get it?

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    Replies
    1. The GRC system itself is an election wayang, merely to bring in PAP stooges like Lawrence Wong, Baey YK, Sim Ann, Teo SL.....etc, who cannot compete with opposition one on one.
      These stooges have been supposedly screened as "talents" but are in fact duds!

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    2. Dun like that say leh. Sim Ann is president scholar, Baey Yam Keng EDB Glaxo scholar, Lawrence Wong WKS scholar (myth) and Teo SL was in the same shower queue as Shanmugam at Frankfurt airport. Who can boast better credentials than them? :p

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  2. Wow... dragging Kate into Singapore politics. At least this Kate is much more on the ground than Kate Spade Tin.

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  3. It is like blaming smart Singaporeans for being smart to see through the act.

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  4. This Lawrence Wong is a muddled thinking Minister.
    The PAP is just simply dragging any people to join them,never mind they made stupid utterances.
    Upright people with self-esteem,sense of justice
    and fair play would leave them

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  5. Re Wong is a "muddled-thinking minister".
    You sure he thinks?

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  6. "Baey, Deputy Managing Director of Hill & Knowlton"

    Isn't it likely that PR of the govt is handled by H&K as one of the PR firm then ? How much H&K are paid by taxpayers money for govt PR business, and PR and consulting of National Conversation ?

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  7. It is all public relation as they are not capable of sincere human relation.
    Those learnt public relation technique and tactic are for hostesses and social escort services which ironically are much more acceptable.
    Rascals trying to play cool and nice simply feel fake.

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  8. He does wear his heart on his sleeve, doesn't he? Bleeding heart Lawrence Wong has a beef with the unruly online community in his Facebook grouse. Wonder what he and Yaacob Ibrahim will have up their sleeves (besides heart) - more code of conduct, methinks?

    “Politics can drive a wedge between us and divide our society.” Rather odd statement coming from a politician. But maybe at heart he is still a scholar/bureaucrat, or he has not been thoroughly mentored in the rougher art of political jousting by the sacred cow. Anyway he appears to possess one of the three overarching themes of PM Lee: Heart - the bleeding type.

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  9. Pot calling the kettle black.

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  10. Strongly urge minster Wong to call it quit if he can't take the heat. Take shallow Baey with you while you are at it too.

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    Replies
    1. With any luck for us, he should take Teo Ser Luck with him too.
      The one that says "F1 is a necessary evil" for Singaporeans.
      From casinos to mile-high races and prostitutions, look forward to the next necessary evil - 1 million more refugees/migrants who will actually come here and do those evil consumption so that we can keep fattening their wallets and bonuses for thinking inside the boxes.

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  11. Another day, another MIW is blasting the unruly netizens.
    Who knows if these so called unruly netizens are their own hired-guns or 50cts bloggers stirring up enough shit so that they can label us 'xenophobic' and then try slam us down on code of conduct, more censorship rules, or stop dissenting voices for speaking out against overpopulation?!! They kinds of game they play behind the scenes, and the unlimited resources they have to use such surveillance to their abuse has no boundaries. Pause and reflect on that people.

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  12. can you translate that last bit about Kate Middleton and Raoul? Forgive me as the Speak Putonghua Policy doesn't apply to my kind (we are the ones forced to carry a crutch around, for no reason).

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    Replies
    1. "Princess Kate wore two orchid motif dresses in Singapore and during her visit to Queenstown, she also chose to wear a dress by local brand Raoul. Perhaps, she really likes orchid and Raoul's design, but she definitely knows how to make use of apparel to bond and foster relationship with Singapore. Will anyone say she "wayang"?"

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    2. Mr Baey, singaporeans will say she is putting on a fashion show...and as a monarchy symbol and young princess, she carries those statements very well.
      But the prince/princess of UK and the whole world will say Singaporeans are putting up a wayang show while asking volunteers/participants to suspend reality just to impress the royalties. I wonder when the couple was in Sarawak jungle, the malaysian people releases more apes, animals, birds just to showcase the rich biodiversity of its jungle?

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    3. Thanks for the translation.. and Baey's assertion is just... ludicrous! Even if Kate wore a sarong kebaya the whole time she was in Singapore, I wouldn't see it as 'fostering a relationship' with us. Take a look at this forum and how uncomfortable Comrade Baey is with sensible arguments - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3a__6HLnZQ

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  13. Dear Millionaire Minister Lawrence Wong
    Didn't you get the memo?
    When you became a Millionaire Minister, you are a POLITICIAN.

    When you join a political party,
    you are classified as a political animal.
    And everything you do will be politicized.
    Including any TV program you participate in.

    What do you mean you are in politics not to practise politics?

    Like Vivian Bala?
    he is in medicine not to practise medicine?

    ReplyDelete
  14. ‘Politicizing’ that which is already political9/26/2012 10:26 AM

    Let me get this straight. No one, least of all, the citizens, want to be accused of using a nat con for “political ends.” Correct? Afterall, this is not a 'partisan' exercise as it was stated from get-go. Correct? But Mr Lawrence Wong doesn’t really get to escape. The insistence that no one talk about politics is itself a political act. Politics is how we effect change in the systems and structures that govern our lives. To take the stance that nat-con or its largely-PAP affiliated participants are or should remain “apolitical” or “depoliticized” is to say, essentially, that everything is fine and nothing needs to be fixed; that such an act was purely a mass -tea-party-invite with the PM done in the public, tv studios or forums instead of Istana.

    A politician mangling the truth is hardly news. Yet what was notable about this moment is that LW feel no compunction about those politicized events such as MHA involvement into Function 8/Archbishop case, or giving PA's an over-riding power to appoint GROs of its own kinds over the people's-elected MP /town council ? All these while his own colleagues had so roundly debunked in actions.

    Now how does one believe those purported fact-checkers on the national mainstream press when this string of whoppers are NOT even challenged?! Tsk tsk...yeah right - let's not politicize that connections there shall we?

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  15. "I have not here been considering the literary use of language, but merely language as an instrument for expressing and not for concealing or preventing thought. Stuart Chase and others have come near to claiming that all abstract words are meaningless, and have used this as a pretext for advocating a kind of political quietism. Since you don't know what Fascism is, how can you struggle against Fascism? One need not swallow such absurdities as this, but one ought to recognise that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy.
    You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself.
    Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase — some jackboot, Achilles’ heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, or other lump of verbal refuse — into the dustbin where it belongs." unquote.

    (George Orwell Politics and the English Language)
    http://orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit

    (George Orwell The Prevention of Literature)
    http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/prevention/english/e_plit

    (Diary of A Singaporean Mind Taxes and the distorted perception of some elites__)
    http://singaporemind.blogspot.sg/2012/09/taxes-and-distorted-perception-held-by.html

    (Feed Me To The Fish CPIB What Is Corruption in Singapore)
    http://feedmetothefish.blogspot.sg/2012/09/cpib-what-is-corruption-in-singapore.html#links

    Joshua Chiang

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  16. Politics is simply a process of deciding who gets what.

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  17. All we did was to identify PAP's Minions-In-White.
    We did not jail them without trial.
    We did not sue them for defamation.

    Why such a heavy heart?

    What about the families of JBJ, CSJ or TLH?

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  18. He's must have had rich curry for his lunch that day, thus mistaking heavy stomach with heavy heart.
    The other explanation is that he's very unhappy with the fact that netizens have once again, exposed their hypocrisy for the so-called NatCon that is supposedly for everyone. If an ex-CPIB director also get dis-invited to a 60th anniversary because of his 'dissenting' comments, what do you expect them to invite 40% of citizens who didn't vote for PAP?
    Wake up lah..the heavy hearts belong to the Singaporeans who have served their time and youth and get disposed like toilet papers once they serve no purpose in their GDP growth anymore. They just have to lelong for new migrants. As expected, LKY will leave legacy for 3rd world to first, LHL will leave legacy for 3m to 9m in 2 generations. Better migrate or ALL singaporeans will truly go extinct under their dictatorship.

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  19. "Princess Kate wore two orchid motif dresses in Singapore and during her visit to Queenstown, she also chose to wear a dress by local brand Raoul. Perhaps, she really likes orchid and Raoul's design, but she definitely knows how to make use of ........................
    Will anyone say she "wayang"?", said Baey, Deputy Managing Director of Hill & Knowlton.

    "Perhaps, ......... make use of.... "publicity"?"

    Raoul Felder's Advice To Kate Middleton 'Grab As Much As You Can Get'
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/14/raoul-felders-advice-royals_n_833820.html

    ReplyDelete