Monday, June 17, 2013

Credibility At Stake

Blackbox Research is one of many online survey companies out there, except that this one has decided to set up shop in Singapore, doing work for outfits like NTUC Income and Mendaki. Top management identified on their website are from Australia, Shanghai, Philippines (2), and two token Singaporeans. Recently it was quoted by the mainstream media to present the challenge why the public should trust bloggers.

Blackbox Research was selected to conduct the "Punggol East: What Factors Influenced Voters?" post-election survey and highlighted the cost of living was the top reason that determined the people's choice. They reported that the second most important reason for the vote swing was attributed to “the government not listening to ordinary Singaporeans”. That survey also measured the impact of the by-election’s catalyst as a vote changer, with results that showed Michael Palmer’s sex-for-mangoes transaction accounted for only 1 per cent of the vote swing.

Workers’ Party candidate Lee Li Lian had won the by-election by a landslide 54.5 per cent of the vote, beating the "son of Punggol" colorectal surgeon Koh Poh Koon from the ruling People’s Action Party by a convincing 10.8 per cent margin.

While on the subject of surveys, Singapore has been ranked the 16 most peaceful place ("Republic moves up 7 places as the rest of the world grows more violent" ST 14 June 2013) ). Same place where a female polytechnic student was slashed repeatedly for refusing to be robbed of her handphone (Thurs June 13). Same place where a 20 year old full-time national serviceman was set upon with knives in the heart of Orchard Road, and left bleeding from a head wound outside a popular shopping mall (Sat June 15).

We are all free to believe what we read, with no need to be licensed for our personal choice. Right now, the besieged Julian Assange and Edward Snowden's credibility still ranks pretty high.

25 comments:

  1. In science and engineering, a black box is a device, system or object which can be viewed in terms of its input, output and transfer characteristics without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). -Source Wikipedia. Personally I don't trust a black box ops like all the lucid people around.

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  2. It matters not what fellow silliporeans think of black box or consultancies manned by FTs: the fact remains that whenever the wet-behind-their-ears scholars need to put up a cabinet paper, they will need to quote a credible (preferably foreign) source. It matters not if taxpayers' money will once again be squandered. hey, $10m for the SMRT BoI? It's "money well spent" as far as the PM and his 3rd gen leeders are concerned, because when things continue to fall apart, they can always point fingers at the consultants. And things continue to fall apart - (more cracks anyone?). Its a legacy from the old fart - he and his pinkerton syndrome has morphed into a generation of civil servant scholars totally unable to use their thinking cap. When a paper is needed, just buy a consultant, or quote The Economist to cover their 6 o'clock. Is this how top talent million dollar Admin Service oppicers are suppose to govern us? What does teo think? Sorry, forgot he was a seat warmer fpor the grandson, not suppose to have anything between ears :)

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    Replies
    1. You left out the nearly $1 million spent by Gerard Ee on the foreign consultant to present "his" ministerial pay review without acknowledgment.

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    2. And the $800,000 spent on engaging a consultant to come up with the name, Marina Bay, for where else, Marina Bay.

      Delete
  3. When citizens cannot let off steam in any way without being prosecuted, monitored etc, the only way out is through the ballot box which we witnessed in the last GE and other BE. While the government thinks they have a lid on dissenting or alternative views, they have actually gone underground and only surface during elections. By then, it is too late to try to address any unhappiness.

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  4. Today's ST photo op shows LKY being supported from behind by invisible steady hands. Then on page three, his son hide behind FB to issue a message celebrating father's day. Why his son not there to support this frail old man who needed kee chiu's extra help to hold on to a kate spade puzzles to me.

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    Replies
    1. Kee Chiu Chan is brought up by single mom.
      Thus he has 'missing father complex'.
      Let him go fill the role lah.
      Everybody has enough of him.

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    2. Kee Chiu has become a surrogate son. He's been supporting LKY ever since the run-up to GE 2011.

      A long long time ago, there were rumours that LKY had had an illegal child....

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    3. That keechiu general must be the most sar kar character in town. Every time there's a Lee family photo op, he's sure to stick his ugly mug into camera range. Just look how he pretends to support the water can. How shameless can one get?

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  5. Oh wow, that's the least self-aware quote I've ever read. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a quote from that very same day advocating the opposite for a cop.
    Fuck man, these assholes think this party'll never end, but the longer it goes the worse it's gonna be.

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  6. NEA dengue cases has miraculously stopped at 9960 since last Friday.
    Is as if the counter suddenly stopped working and will not cross the 10,000 mark leh.
    Do you trust the site? Do they still have any credibility?

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    Replies
    1. If they can massage GDP figures and FT data and crime figures to show that Singapore is the safest city in Asia, why be shocked by a dengue counter? remember, they said after the 1st dengue fatality that most dengue cases recover themselves and sent the poor man home with panadol? For all you know, the minister of health and V bala (what minister is he exactly that pitiful remnant of an eye doctor? does anyone still remember his portfolio?) declared all suspected dengue cases to be counted as fever cases henceforth. Its 1984 here, Big Brother watching you with their own version of PRISM.

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    2. Maybe it's already jumped to 11,000 already, too malu to publish openly under his watch. Global media are all watching..goes to show our brave transparency.

      Go visit NEA twitter, all they only seem to do is do weather reporting. Isn't that the weather forecast job? Dengue are less threatening than a bout of bad haze, clearly shows their priority.

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    3. PM Lee once quipped " People support CPF cuts because there are no protest outside the Parliament." - (The Straits Times, 24 July 2011). Can you actually protest outside of HLP? Can you actually march from Point A to Point B to hand in your petition letter?

      Turkey would have ranked top 10 peaceful too if it weren't for the recent protests. So let's just say it is peaceful until you decide to revolt against them or threaten to expose those in power, their criminality.

      Snowden chose HK, not Singapore, to uphold their rule of law for freedom of speech, which rallied 900 defenders on Sunday (and he isn't even a local!) That says a lot about his trust in Hongkongers credibility to fight for their constitution. We are still playing catch up, coz 60% prefer to go to JEM opening and numb their skull then stand up for their principles.

      https://www.facebook.com/events/343137435789907/

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    4. Of course you can protest outside of HLP. The question is whether you have the guts to do so. Sporeans don't.

      The haze poses its own problems. I for one am suffering from stinging, watery eyes and a bad cough. And I hardly leave my home. Several others I know have similar symptoms. We won't even discuss the asthmatics in this popn, who have it bad! Though I agree dengue is very important.

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    5. Double Whammy6/17/2013 6:10 PM

      With watery eyes and bad cough, your immune is down, plus mosquitoes attack, is a double whammy. I read the test kids cost $40-$60. So multiply that by 10,000 cases, wah, our hospitals here make $600,000 of business !!! Huat ah..!!

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    6. PSI 140 at 8pm.

      Reminds me of PM Lee's jokes :

      “We Beijingers are the most fortunate, we can open the window and have free cigarettes." "We Shanghainese are more fortunate, we can open the tap and drink pork chop soup".

      HE should tell this joke in his next banquet :-

      We Singaporeans are the most lucky. We can open the window and have free cigarettes while donating our blood.

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    7. PSI 152 at 9.30pm.

      "We Singaporeans are most fortunate, we can open the window and smell the forests of Indonesia"

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    8. "I hardly leave my home and my poor watery eyes"! Boo boo. Your old watery eyes are no doubt quite precious, but spare a thought for our young men charging up the hill in NS and the road sweepers earning a third of your singtel dividends. So its agreed, you shud just stay at home, count your remaining days , don't worry about whether they have guts to protest outside HLP because you won't be missed, and remember to catch dengue at home!

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  7. "I would rather honestly dig my own grave than hypocritically plant a tree."
    Annonymous.

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  8. Talking about the Dengue Fever counter.. The haze was a "godsend" from our neighbours if you ask NEA/ MOH as far as containing the mosquito numbers, no ?

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    Replies
    1. lol..why? You think mozzies will get lost in the haze issit?
      If that's the case, then NEA won't have problem reporting the number right? It should see a large drop, yes?

      Delete
    2. I think "god sent" because it's a freaking distraction so the top civil masters can stop the dengue counter without (hopefully) the majority of population noticing even as more unfortunates are sent home with panadol. So the chiak liao bee minister eye doctor can quickly slip away from his boss to Indonesia to pretend to "solve the haze problem". People with even a fish memory will probably be able to dig up that the last chiat liao bee minister to go on the jolly trip to Indonesia to pretend to "solve the haze problem" was none other than the yucko, yes the same mentally disturbed one behind the recent MDA internet clampdown rule. Freaking bunch of useless money wasters who also go by the name of "top talent". For every solution they put up, they create another dozen problems so their minions and boot licker scholars will always have papers to push and bonuses to squeeze out of taxpayers. When dumb voters give greedy evil men unfettered power to tax and spend, that is what you end up with - absolutely no control. "First world" garmen? More like Zimbawean garmen.

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  9. NEA twitter is hopeless. Like as if weather reporting is the only thing they do. People have weather apps these days, why do duplicate and useless job? Don't even bother to update residents about when & how many officers or volunteers are visiting which clusters areas etc. "Critical juncture" doesn't look at all critical.

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  10. “Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.”
    – Henry Kissinger

    So is our strategy to use generals and admirals to lead our country a good one?

    ReplyDelete