Winning by default?

Hazlin Hassan wonders if BN will win due to the opposition's court cases.

IN KUALA LUMPUR

MORE than one and half years after the general elections in March 2008, the seemingly endless string of by-elections in Malaysia does not look like it will end any time soon.

By-elections are truly becoming a dime a dozen in Malaysia, amid widespread voter fatigue and apathy.

The ruling Barisan Nasional has won only two out of nine by-elections held so far, but with the opposition in a state of disarray, the BN could still end up with the upper hand.

Now up to eight Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers and two state representatives are likely to lose their seats if they are charged over their participation in illegal assemblies in the past.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat MP Tian Chua was found guilty this month of biting a police officer during an illegal assembly two years ago.

He was fined RM3,000 and jailed for six months. It is unclear if he will be disqualified as a parliamentarian pending an appeal which he has filed.

Any elected representatives jailed for more than a year or fined more than RM2,000 has to vacate their seats and cannot contest in elections for five years after serving the sentence.

Seven of Tian Chua's colleagues could also face similar charges, warned Bersih, a coalition of political parties and NGOs which campaigns for free and fair elections.

They include Azmin Ali (PKR), Sivarasa Rasiah (PKR), N Gobalakrishnan (PKR), Tony Pua (Democratic Action Party), Dzulkefly Ahmad (Parti Islam SeMalaysia), Hatta Ramli (PAS) and Lo' Lo' Ghazali (PAS).

If they all get stiff fines or big jail sentences from the courts, although these perhaps are just a remote possibility, it would mean a big disaster for the opposition.

On paper at least, this means PR could be left with only 74 seats in Parliament, enabling the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) to regain its traditional two-thirds majority. PR currently has 82 seats in the 222-seat Parliament.

Getting back the two-thirds majority - or at least 148 seats - would be a big morale-booster for BN, which is still struggling to win back voter support lost to the opposition in last year's general election.

BN has, in the half century of Malaysia's independence, always won two-thirds majority in Parliament, until the 2008 general elections, which threw up shocking results.

Additionally, an ongoing crackdown by Malaysian graft-busters, which began this week, may also lead to more charges against politicians, and eventually lead to even more by-elections if those involved are found guilty and forced to give up their seats.

On Tuesday, an Umno MP and five others already witnessed corruption charges filed against them by the Malaysia Anti Corruption Commission.

While by-elections have already fatigued Malaysians, the thought of more to come would make them numb.

FACTBOX: Five political risks to watch in China

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has so far weathered the global economic downturn with its growth rate staying robust and no sign the government faces any major challenge to its rule.

Following is a summary of key China risks to watch:

* GOVERNMENT STABILITY

China's government has so far maintained general authority and control, despite predictions that the global crisis could spark widespread unrest among laid-off workers. Outbreaks of unrest have remained brief and localized, and recent economic data point to robust growth for the rest of the year and into next year. But with China's ruling Communist Party and global markets all treating political stability as a crucial issue, even limited challenges to the Party's control could have a impact on investor sentiment. A longer-term worry could be that the recent rapid economic growth cannot be sustained, as a burst of government-encouraged credit shrinks, leading to a rise in joblessness and investor disquiet and sapping government spending-power and ability to cushion these problems. Ethnic tensions in Tibet and Xinjiang have distracted the central government and drawn international concern, but not seriously threatened national stability. Calls from some activists and intellectuals for greater openness and democracy have so far failed to gain much popular traction.

Key issues to watch:

-- Emergence of any regional- or national-level protest movements. So far, protests in China have been tended to be localized and directed at local officials, rather than challenging the central government. Given China's strict controls, it is also very difficult for any organized movement to emerge beyond the local level.

* TRADE AND CURRENCY DISPUTES

Simmering disputes with the United States and other nations over trade barriers and the level of the yuan have the potential of escalating into more serious confrontations that could unsettle investors and capital markets. Most analysts believe that Beijing and Washington have too much to lose from a major escalation of trade and currency disputes, at a time when much rests on how these two big economic powers navigate the adjustments brought by the financial crisis. China has signaled that ultimately it wants a global financial order that is less dependent on the U.S. dollar. That remains a distant prospect and China is likely to maintain its huge holdings of U.S. Treasury debt for a long time, but currency markets have shown acute sensitivity to any signs, however mild or misrepresented, that China is looking to reduce its holdings.

Key issues to watch:

-- The rhetoric on trade from Washington and Beijing. Both sides want to avoid any serious economic dispute but also want to protect their domestic industry and maintain popular support at home. Signs that positions are hardening would hurt markets.

-- How disagreements are handled. The imposition of trade barriers usually results in retaliation from other nations. The key issue is whether a tit-for-tat spiral of protectionist measures gets out of hand, or whether diplomacy stops disputes from escalating and doing serious damage.

* SECURING STRATEGIC SUPPLIES

China has been scouring the globe for energy and commodities to feed its economic growth, and has sought to secure strategic long-term supply deals. Its resource needs have major long-term implications for commodity and energy prices. And across the world, China is not just buying raw materials but is seeking to invest in countries and companies that produce them. This has transformed China's global economic and political role -- and many other nations are getting worried.

Key issues to watch:

-- Reaction to Chinese foreign investment. The U.S. decision to block CNOOC's takeover of Unocal on national security concerns, and the acrimonious aftermath of the collapse of Rio Tinto's deal with Chinalco, demonstrate how political issues may undermine China's economic aspirations. Markets will be watching to see if more major deals are blocked -- and how China responds.

-- Attitudes to China in developing world. Chinese investment has given a boost to many developing economies, but there are also signs of a backlash emerging in some countries.

Obama plays China card, but who holds the ace?

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - Although U.S. President Barack Obama has never set foot there, China cast a long shadow in the Pacific region where he grew up.

Obama, who will visit Shanghai and Beijing for the first time on November 15-18, spent much of his childhood in Hawaii, five time zones away from Washington, D.C.; and beginning in 1967, when he was six years old, he lived in Jakarta for four years.

At the time, China was in the throes of Chairman Mao Zedong's bloody Cultural Revolution. Abroad, the nation was less interested in selling widgets than in promoting Mao's brand of radical communism -- a force the U.S. saw behind communist movements and political upheaval in Vietnam, Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

In 1979, Obama's senior year at Punahou school in Honolulu, China and the United States normalized diplomatic relations, launching a three-decade period in which ties between the two grew inexorably tighter and deeper -- and complicated.

"Think of what China was in 1979: It was an autarkic, insular, inward-looking country that was preoccupied with its own internal things," said a senior U.S. official. "Even 10 years ago ... there was still a sort of sense of 'We're not a part of these global rules, we're not doing this stuff.' Now they see themselves as sitting at the table."

If there were any doubts that China would have a seat at the table from now on, Obama dispelled those when he sent Secretary of State Hillary Clinton there on her first official trip abroad -- not Pakistan, Afghanistan or any other foreign policy hot spot.

"That the first major visit (was) to China, and to Asia as well, is symbolic of where the locus of international economic activity -- and to some degree the locus of international activity, period -- is going to be in the coming years," said economist and author Zachary Karabell, whose new book "Superfusion" posits that the U.S. and Chinese economies have effectively merged.

Beijing, once considered a wallflower on global affairs, is in turn warming to its more prominent role, though it's unclear that will translate into greater cooperation with Washington on issues like climate change and the nuclear disputes with Iran and North Korea -- not to mention human rights differences.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg highlighted the tension at the heart of the relationship in a speech in September. "Given China's growing capabilities and influence, we have an especially compelling need to work with China to meet global challenges," he said.

But Steinberg added that there was a tacit bargain in which the United States expects China to reassure the rest of the world that its growing role "will not come at the expense of security and wellbeing of others."

That of course includes America's.

"The big challenge there is going to be to maintain a competitive U.S. economy, and at the same time to maintain a high degree of stability and equanimity in the U.S.-China relationship," said Clyde Prestowitz, president of the Economic Strategy Institute think tank.

Indeed, even as the United States and China have grown closer diplomatically, their economic and trade ties have deepened to the point of mutual dependence. Not only does China depend on the U.S. export market to fuel its highflying economic growth rates, the United States relies on China's vast savings to help finance its burgeoning budget deficits.

"It is clearly unsustainable. This relationship helped give rise to global economic imbalances," said Ben Simpfendorfer, an economist with Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong. "If we are ever going to free ourselves of these imbalances, we need to reverse this relationship, get China to buy things in the U.S. and the U.S. to invest in China."

Differentiating indifferences

Zohra was 18 when she started to work as an administrative officer with the United Nations. She was bright, innocent, hopeful and idealistic. Her country, unfortunately wasn’t.

She could maintain her feeling of hope and sense of idealism because she spent nine waking hours of her life with foreigners who told her that human rights is for everyone, even if she’s a woman.

One day, she received a fully-funded scholarship to study in the United States. I remember her smiling shyly as she approached me humbly to look at her scholarship application a few months ago. I thought to myself, how proud and confident she must be, now that she had been accepted to study abroad.

On the contrary, she was forced to turn down the scholarship because her family refused to allow her to travel alone, unaccompanied by a close relative. Losing her would also mean losing a huge income for her family since she was earning more than any other average Afghan men.

No reward for chivalry

Afewark and I became friends when I took a trip to Bahir Dar in Ethiopia two years ago. We met in a rambunctious local bar playing live traditional music. He was there celebrating with his best friend who had just graduated from the local university.

Perhaps it was his age, or perhaps it was mine. Either way, he came across as a young, vibrant and idealistic man. He was well-mannered, polite and engaging, all the essential criteria which gained my trust to meet up with him again the next day.

While we were walking along a busy but dimly lit alley in between two strips of restaurants, bars and clubs, a dark figure grabbed my mobile phone from the back and disappeared into the darkness. While I remained immobile and speechless, like the rest of the unperturbed spectators watching from a close distance, Afewark made a quick dash after the culprit (no wonder Ethiopians are famed for their physical endurance in long distance running).

After about five minutes, Afewark appeared crest-fallen and ashamed for not being able to rescue my phone and most importantly for me to experience such an unfortunate incident in his country.

When we reported this to two policemen who were patrolling within the vicinity, they accused Afewark of masterminding the whole crime. He argued with them but they insisted that he plotted with the snatch thief since it was uncommon to see a local man with a foreign woman. By then, not only was he ashamed, he was also defeated.

No pride and a lot of prejudices

Walking into Tom Dy Centre in Phnom Penh, I was confronted by a lush garden and an extremely clean and neat environment. So clean that it was difficult to imagine I was in Phnom Penh. Inside, there are about 60 girls from the age of 16 to 25, faces and names I no longer remember because there are so many of them and each one looks the same as the other — long jet-black hair, dark skinned and petite.

While the environment surrounding them looked and felt clean, the girls don’t. In fact, most of them carried a vacant expression on their faces, which also explains why I find it difficult to distinguish or remember them. In conclusion, they looked as if their spirit had abandoned them.

These girls are rescued victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation. Most of them have been sold by their own families as sexual slaves. With their innocence, trust and dignity robbed away at such a young age, what’s left are their bodies. Some have even died from AIDS. I often wonder, how many of them still have hope in them as they hang on to each day of blatant uncertainty and a life-long of undeserved stigmatisation.

Pause, rewind and play

I’ve started work again in Kuala Lumpur recently. Being used to working in the fields of Timor Leste, Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Cambodia, I must confess that this is a huge shift for me. My current work pace is nonetheless hectic and demanding, more so than in all my previous jobs. I am confronted by a different kind of challenge, more bureaucratic and professionally driven in nature — one which I would have to subsequently learn to deal with.

I spent my first week relearning how to operate technologically advanced office machines, something many of us have taken for granted. When I informed the chief executive officer that my work performance is somehow hampered by my inadeptness to operate such sophisticated equipment, he quipped, “You know, we have had this machine since three years ago. It’s not sophisticated. I think it’s you since you’ve worked in countries like….” Point taken.

Then, I’ve had disgruntled office members who are not pleased with my “slow” performance while I try to deal with 10 other priorities. I try to handle all of them as calmly as I can, sometimes more calmly than others would like me to be.

I’ve sat in meetings and observed discussions and debates about issues, what makes people upset and what causes such urgency. Sometimes, I do get riled up, but often I don’t.

When my friends look away uncomfortably at a beggar standing by our dining table, I look at them in the eyes and smile politely before turning them away.

If I don’t get upset when someone screams at me unjustly or when I don’t seem to be moved by the ugliness of my surrounding, does that mean I’m heartless? Does it mean I don’t care when I don’t get frustrated with what others feel as an urgency?

It may seem that way but it’s not, because at the end of the day, I’m able to sit back and think about the countries where I’ve been, where there are real people with real problems. The pressure we’re succumbing to in our daily professional environment is driven mainly by the notion of cost and benefit.

Do I use this as an excuse not to take action for every single request I’ve received? I hope not because I do go to bed soundly every night, feeling satisfied that I have done what I can and to the best of my ability. Trying to behave like a martyr when I’m not is not my style.

Today, my best friend who works in Afghanistan text-messaged me. It says: “Just to let you know I’m OK. I’m still in Sri Lanka on holidays.”

Six UN staff have been reported dead after a Taliban shoot-out and bombing in Kabul. It could have been her. It could have been me five years ago.

Whenever I feel the urge to dramatise my life unnecessarily, I pause for a moment and think about what I can achieve today, instead of worrying about what I can’t. Then, I’m being reminded by people like Zohra, Afewark and the Tom Dy girls how easy and blessed my life has been compared to theirs.

All names have been changed to protect the identity of the individuals mentioned in this article.

Lim Ka Ea is a traveller who sees travel as the answer to all the world's woes. Writing is a grand love. Ka Ea has had NGO and legal experience.

Spend that RM1 billion wisely

OCT 30 — In his recent Budget 2010 speech, our Prime Minister announced that RM1 billion will be spent to help the police beef up their enforcement services. He targets a reduction of 20 per cent in snatch thefts and robberies by the end of 2010. The initial response to that proposal will of course be positive — crime levels have escalated to such alarming heights in Malaysia that any effort or initiative towards crime reduction and prevention will be warmly embraced.

But spending RM1 billion in order to achieve police excellence is by no means a “kacang putih” sum. That money will apparently be utilised, among other things, towards providing more mobile police stations in crime-prone hotspots, increasing crime-prevention campaigns and to create greater integration between the police with the community.

I suffered a snatch theft back in 1997, just as I was opening the front gate of my parents’ house. My father gave chase in his battered old Proton Saga, but the crooks were obviously more nimble on their kapcai and gave him the slip. That one experience traumatised me so much that until today, I get paranoid when I am anywhere that is within snatching distance of someone on a motorbike or in a car.

It’s been 12 years since that snatch theft I suffered, and the horrifying fact is that since then, the frequency and gravity of snatch theft crimes has been escalating rather than decreasing. In fact, the criminals are more daring now, carrying parangs so that if you refuse to let go of your handbag, they’ll slash your arm or face until you release it, or to teach you a lesson if you don’t! It is not uncommon to now hear of grievous hurt or even death resulting in the process.

Now we not only have to defend ourselves against snatch-thefts but also those car-window smashers on their motorbikes, who will smash our windscreens whilst our car is stationary at a traffic light, thrust their arm through the broken window to grab our handbag and then dart off on their kapcai, while we flail our arms in despair because we can’t give chase due to the stationary traffic.

Sometimes, there is divine intervention. Or poetic justice. Remember the two brothers in Shah Alam who died after crashing their motorbike as they tried to escape from the woman who gave chase after they smashed her Mercedes’ car window and stole her Louis Vuitton bag? But how often does that happen?

Many people I speak to will blame the increasing spate of crime on the foreigners, especially the Indonesians. Only they can commit such “hati kering” crimes, some have claimed. Next on the list will be a tie between the drug addicts, the majority of whom are probably Malay, and the Indian drunkards. The Chinese won’t get involved in these small-time crimes, apparently, as they will apply their business acumen to the bigger, more lucrative vices like money laundering, gambling, prostitution, drug trafficking and the illegal DVD trade.

But as a citizen, I honestly don’t care to know who’s committing what type of crime or what race or nationality he/she is. I’ll leave those demographics for the statisticians to pore over.

What I do care about, however, is the fact that crime has reached alarming levels in Malaysia and that the police have been unable to rein the menace in. Televised broadcasts of drug cartel busts, illegal nightclub raids and the confiscation of gambling machines are about the only solid proof we have as to the fact that the police are “actively” fighting crime.

But what about us — the ordinary, law-abiding citizens of Malaysia who go to work each day, pay our taxes, have a family to feed, and don’t indulge in the vices of gambling, drugs or prostitution? Why isn’t more being done to fight the heightening crime which comes in direct contact with the public? Who is looking out after our interests and the security of our families and properties?

Last I recall, it was supposed to be the Polis Di Raja Malaysia (PDRM), not the Myanmar or Nepalese security guards that’s costing us an arm and a leg to look after our neighbourhood.

How many times have we personally experienced or heard stories of the uncooperative police personnel at the police stations and beats, who move slower than the most placid of sloths in attending to our complaints? Or having been turned away by the police with statements like “Cik kena pergi ke Balai Polis XXX kerana kesalahan tersebut berlaku di bawah bidangkuasa balai polis tersebut” or “Inspektor keluar — tak tau bila dia balik. Datang balik esok atau lusa”.

The majority of people who go to a police station only do so because they have suffered a grievance. And in that harried mental state, is it not the duty of the attending police personnel to help alleviate the predicament? Not to listen half-heartedly to our accounts whilst swivelling on their chairs, fiddling with their mobile phones, chattering amongst themselves or stealing glances at the WWF wrestling video playing on a TV screen behind the counter. And when we finally get them to pay attention to our complaint and to get working on it, it isn’t uncommon to see this being done with a scowl, as if we had stolen precious time from them.

Inefficiency is already bad enough, but what more when we know for a fact that the services police personnel provide to the public can often be selective. Political rallies (at least the ones the opposition tries to hold, anyway) bring out the full spectrum of efficient action from our police force, but when it comes to the daily crime which involves the regular citizen, our men in navy blue simply react too slowly.

I am sure many of us will have our own personal experiences in this regard, as do I. Over the years I have had my fair share of having to deal with the police, from my snatch theft incident, to the time when my car was broken into, when a burglar broke into my office and when I was involved in car accidents. It was common for me to receive apathetic responses from the attending police personnel like “Kita tak boleh buat apa-apa. Area tu memang tempat ‘hot’ untuk benda macam tu” or plain sluggishness and disinterest.

On their website, the PDRM’s Piagam Pelanggan (Client’s Charter) boldly declares that “Anda adalah pelanggan kami. Dalam melayani anda, kami akan sentiasa berusaha: … Menyediakan Pegawai Dan Anggota Polis Yang Terlatih, Berdisiplin Dan Cekap Dalam Memberi Perkhidmatan Yang Setia, Mesra Dan Berkesan”.

Those members of the police force who seem to continuously draw our ire with their sluggishness and inaction are either not aware of this oath or, more likely, are simply ignoring it.

Over and above increasing mobile police stations, the PDRM must ensure that the police personnel on duty will provide their fullest cooperation to the aggrieved parties. The police are there to serve the public, to maintain peace and to enforce security, not to come up with bureaucratic excuses whenever someone seeks to file a complaint or report.

More police personnel must be deployed on the ground, not just at the mobile police stations but to perhaps implement something similar to the British Bobby system. The rampancy with which crimes are being committed nowadays can certainly justify having police personnel stroll our streets. Wouldn’t the recruitment of a larger number of police personnel to act as our very own Bobbies have been a better utilisation of police funds rather than to have purchased Mitsubishi Evo cars costing millions of ringgit to serve as high-speed patrol cars?

So what I’m saying is this — if that hefty RM1 billion windfall to the police force will be substantially used towards retraining our police personnel to change their mindset in order to be more efficient, people-friendly and cooperative, and to build and equip the police force with the required intelligence and arsenal in order to fiercely wage war against the rising levels of crime and halt it in its tracks (not just by purchasing high-speed patrol cars), then it will be money well spent, as no price can be put on having the assurance of safety and security.

Anything short of that, however, will be a farce.

Time will be the best evidence, and if the Prime Minister’s targeted 20 per cent snatch thefts and robberies reduction rate is not met at the very latest by end 2010, then a whole billion ringgit would have drained down the gutter.

To pour salt to the wound, it also means that we will continue to have to fork out exorbitant sums on alarm systems, security guards and all types of security devices to protect ourselves, our families and our livelihoods, just for some peace of mind.

Now what did PDRM’s Client Charter say again?

Sazlin Daud was once an overworked corporate lawyer. She quit practice, became a homemaker (no maids, this is the real stuff), trailed her husband to Egypt for a few years and gave birth to her most difficult client yet - her son. In between ironing, changing diapers and cleaning the cat's litter box, she reminisces about the Egyptian winter, rice pudding and fresh strawberries.

Twilight of an Exile

Chin Peng is the former head of the Malayan Communist Party.
PHOTO: Nirmal Ghosh

IN BANGKOK

THE big old man in a wheelchair did not look like someone whose name once inspired loyalty, fear, or hatred depending on whose side you were on.

Those were the days of World War II and the Cold War. At the time, Chin Peng as he is widely known, was the head of the Malayan Communist Party.

I was at the hotel in Bangkok to join The Straits Times' Senior Regional Correspondent Leslie Lopez, who had flown down from Kuala Lumpur to interview him. It was an occasion, perhaps even a historic one.

A Bra and The Breast

Chin Peng, who will be 85 this month, is locked in a legal battle for the right to return to Malaysia to die in his homeland. He has been living in Thailand for decades now and has not given a media interview in years.

Almost always, he paused to think before answering a question.

Chin Peng was a legend while in the jungle. Tales about him included his supposed mystical powers which it was said enabled him to avoid capture by the police and armed forces of three countries - Britain, Japan, and finally his own Malaysia.

But the man himself dismissed the tales.

The Real Traitor

There was nothing mystical about it, he told us with a laugh.

Referring to one incident in which he managed to escape being captured, he simply said he left the place by a different route. "We knew the area well," he said with a smile.

He expressed no regret for his beliefs or his decision to wage an armed struggle.

When asked which world leaders he admired most, he paused for a long time - perhaps up to three minutes - and then broke into a sheepish grin and said, "Mao Tse Tung."

But he hastily added a caveat: "But, but - for many, he was not a perfect leader."

We spent a few hours with him, and after Leslie was through I popped in a last question of my own.

Is the world a better place now, is there less or more injustice in the world? I asked.

He thought for a while, as we sat patiently, surrounded by the leafy trees and the sound of water in the landscaped garden, by then in the half light of the gathering evening.

Then he smiled and said the answer was too complicated for him to venture a short reply. It seemed a fitting comment nevertheless.

Nirmal Ghosh meets the once-notorious Chin Peng.

In Kuala Lumpur: Learning about a different past

Carolyn Hong walks in Kuala Lumpur, and learns about race relations 100 years ago.

WHO contributed to Malaya’s independence? What was the role of the Chinese, and the Indians? How did they get along with the Malays? What legacy did the British leave us?

Madonna's noise

The answers in the history textbooks rarely satisfy everyone.

Some years ago, the Malaysian Chinese Association complained that the role of Chinese leaders like Yap Ah Loy have virtually disappeared from textbooks.

Former Malayan communists said their role in fighting for independence had gone unacknowledged. But in his memoirs published this week, former Information Minister Mohamed Rahmat disagreed that they had a role.

History is far from being a dry and dusty subject in Malaysia. It is very much part of the soul-searching that underpins the changing racial dynamics in Malaysia.

But it is not just confined to political squabbles.

An idiosyncratic historical tour of Kuala Lumpur that I joined last Sunday was enlightening in its take on race relations a century ago.

It was led by Malaysian writer Kam Raslan.

A motley group of tourists and Malaysians, we walked through the oldest part of KL built by Chinese tin-miners who came to the region to seek their fortunes. (These days it seems to be a "Little Nepal" as migrant workers congregate there.)

The tin-miners survived disease and deplorable living conditions, and developed the area where the Gombak and Klang rivers meet. It was a hard life.

Apparently, Yap Ah Loy's men would stand at a bridge nearby to shoot at crocodiles as boats from Klang docked.

But Mr Kam pointed out that it would be a misconception that KL was an entirely Chinese creation. There were also many Malays there — some tin-miners, some farmers — although most of them lived further away along the coast.

"That was before the British came. There was a mutually beneficial working relationship between the Chinese and Malays, without a referee like the British, or in these days, Umno," he said, to much laughter.

Interesting. On foot, we took a closer look at the architectural beauties that the British built and the old shophouses, and ended at a Chinese temple built by Yap Ah Loy. His portrait is in there.

Mr Kam's tour is part of a History series by an arts group, the Instant Café Theatre. It includes conversations, performances, and films.

We, the citizens of Singapore

Joanne Lee explores the social cohesion issue before this year's Rally speech.

DID YOU say the pledge? Did you say the pledge?

It was something everyone was asking each other last weekend after the National Day Parade.

On 8:22pm last Sunday, thousands of Singaporeans stood at attention to recite the national pledge, clenched fists on heart, renewing the civil bond with their fellow countrymen by declaring themselves "one united people, regardless of race, language or religion".

The island-wide pledge coordinated on National Day saw people stop along Orchard Road to participate in the recital in the middle of shopping excursions, stand in coffee shops in the heartlands or simply in front of their television sets at home. Somehow the one-minute act seemed to capture the imagination of the nation when synchronised to be done together.

It was an exercise that put into action an issue raised by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Message the day before: Social cohesion.

He had sought to inspire confidence in his televised message, recalling Singapore's journey since self-government in 1959.

He said: "Each time we were challenged, we responded as one, everyone pulling together and working for the common good. Each success cemented social cohesion."

Tracing the racial riots of Singapore's early years, right up to the recent H1N1 flu outbreak and the ongoing economic crisis, he'd identified unity as a key factor that has pulled the country through tough times.

"We must work hard to strengthen it, and to bridge potential divides within our society, be it between Singaporeans and new arrivals, between rich and poor, or most fundamental of all, between the different races and religions."

On Thursday, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew made a speech warning Singaporeans of the dangers of closing the country's door to foreign talent. He stressed the importance of accepting and embracing them - once again, that same message of social cohesion.

This message, together with the organised pledge-taking across the Republic, comes at a time when the fabric of society has been tested in the past year - a year of furious debate brought on by the escape and recapture of terrorist Mas Selamat Kastari and the Aware saga of several months ago.

Both episodes had religious undertones that hinted at what PM Lee called those "potential divides" in Singapore society today.

Given the prominence the message has been given of late, it is almost certain that PM Lee will expand on its importance in his National Day Rally speech tomorrow - just how candidly remains to be seen. No doubt, he will touch on other topics such as economic recovery and Singapore's transformation, as he did in his National Day Message. But it's the sensitive subject of remaining a "one united people, regardless of race, language or religion" that will make the National Day Rally interesting to watch this year.

What will he say to build (or rebuild) social cohesion in Singapore?

Name any evil under the sun and you have done it.

Murder most foul. You have done it. Giving Ringgit 500 million for ‘services rendered’ to your running dog? You have done it. Using the ISA indiscriminately separating our leaders from their loves one? You have done it. I can name any evil under the sun and you have done it. UMNO through its leaders, have done it…and you dare to call me and Anwar traitors for speaking up?

UMNO defending the rights of the Monarchy? Was it not your President Mahathir who stripped away the legal privileges of the Sultans – the hereditary and cultural symbols of the Malays? And you call us traitors to the Malay cause? Are the people in Kelantan not Malays? - Read More Here

No free gifts for nice write-ups

Tham Yuen-C says the ‘you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours’ mentality should stop.

THE first thing most people ask me, when they find out I write for Digital Life, is whether I get to keep all the gadgets that I review.

For the record, the answer is no. We return all gadgets sent in to us for review, and do not accept long-term loans (read: I'll-look-the-other-way items). Most media companies, ours included, have policies against accepting commercially valuable gifts and freebies.

In the blogging world, the work of regulating credibility has been left largely to the free market. There is nothing to stop bloggers from waxing lyrical about mobile phones, face creams or even hotel stays, without declaring that they got these products or services for free.

Not anymore, if the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US and the Media Development Authority (MDA) in Singapore have their way.

Last week, the FTC updated it's advertising guidelines to include blogs. Under the new rules, bloggers who get paid for endorsing products or services are required to declare it.

The Media Development Authority in Singapore is also mulling stricter disclosure rules, although no date has been set for roll-out.

The aim is to protect consumers who could fall prey to false advertisements or advertorials masquerading as reviews.

Yet, enforcement will be almost impossible.

With so many bloggers opining about anything from restaurants to running shoes to handbags, the agencies in charge of policing the blogs have their work cut out for them.

There will also be many things to pin down, such as who a blogger is, what qualifies as a blog and which legal jurisdiction a person would fall under if he or she were, say, a Singaporean blogger living in London.

Even in the media industry, where there are rules and the threat of dismissal for breaking them, mandating credibility is not an easy task. What more in the nebulous world of the Internet?

These days, blogs, review sites and even Twitter have become the first stops for consumers who want to canvas other people's opinions about products and services before springing good money. So more protection for people is definitely welcome.

But rather, the focus should be about regulating the practice (of deceptive advertising) and not the medium (of blogs and new media).

For example, while it will be hard to track all blog posts and bloggers, it should be easier to police companies that use new media channels to make self-serving claims under a cloak of partiality, and the advertising companies that broker these deals.