Leah Hoyt #6 – I couldn’t agree more. There’s something very fishy about all of these “purported bombing attempts” and the broken security cameras, lack of eyewitnesses, identifying photos, number plates, or security people on motorbikes giving chase. It’s all a bit too convenient. Reminds me of the bombs at Victory Monument, etc.,on NY eve, 2006. Funny the security cameras were off…Funny it’s never been solved! And, oh yes, the ‘assassination-attempt’ on Sondhi Lim…etc., etc.
Military/state intelligence? I don’t think so! Give them a ‘colouring-in’ project like that stupid conspiracy chart & they’re stretched to the max. It seems to me there is a conspiracy, but it’s not the one on the chart. Quite the opposite.
One of the most horrifying things going on at the moment is the perpetual propagation of fear & hatred by ‘news’ & current affairs programs on ASTV/TAN. I watched one of their discussion programs over the weekend. Various of the 4 commentators were crying out for another ‘crackdown’ (i.e. massacre) to clear the Red sites, backing it up with the most appallingly bigoted assertions and biased ‘evidence’ – not a shred of skepticism in their analysis of the very unconvincing statements of CRES & govt. On another of their programs I learned that the UK govt has “prohibited” their citizens from travelling to Thailand! (As if they could!)
PM Abhisit’s justification for blocking websites & closing TV channels has been that they are spreading misinformation, disseminating hatred & inciting violence. If this is so, why is TAN allowed to broadcast?
Protestors = Tiananmen. Fight is for democracy. Thaksin = man of the People.
More divisive rubbish.
Thailand may have arguably been one of the most inclusive societies in the past 100 years – just compare the experience of the migrant chinese in Thai ot Malay or Indo. Today, it appears that we see nasty, divisive tactics in cynical exploitation of just causes.
to gjbkk above.
If everything in media is BS
“very good evidence that this violence is connected to the red shirts”, when there is such a vast array of evidence that says differently that always gets censored or blocked by the government.”
Then take the bull by the horns and take the ultimate high road by living up to the standards you criticize in others :
Show us who is funding the reds – show records of donations. Show us it is not cynically funded and it really is really grassroots protests.
Show us mature, inclusive, and morally legitimate leadership; unveil the roadmap of the reds to true democracy and the betterment of all society.
In particular please set us straight and present the real evidence and facts you say are out there. Do it on this this blog where presumably there is no censorship (but by the way you can be blocked by the moderator. Dictatorship! Censorship of peoples rights!). If it is clear and verifiable it should spread like widfire.
And answer one more question – where are the students?
They generally are traditional lead players of most democracy movements in the world and certainly among the vanguard in every Thai movement to date.
I hope they are not now lumped into the elite (as apparently the medical profession may be) as then this would really start to look scary and evoke truly class war, anti intellectual images that set back a couple of recent societies for decades. No dissent, much less discourse went unquashed in those worlds.
The REALLY scary thing is that I count at least 24 car-bomb/grenade/bomb attacks throughout Bangkok. To my knowledge, not a single arrest has been made.
This astounding 0-24 statistic either shows that the bombers, (who have used many different types of bombs and therefore are probably many different groups) are all incredibly skilled and meticulous – or that the security forces, which number in the tens of thousands, are criminally ineffective. Or both. Or that they are one and the same.
Jon, to say that the “violence is connected to the red shirts” is like saying that the Tiananmen Massacre was connected to the protesters.
LesAbbey #63. Four days ago you quoted The Nation as alleging that the reds wanted an amnesty from all charges (#54). Now you are quoting The Nation as reporting that the reds are not seeking an amnesty.
Well, it’s good to get that sorted!
However, I for one now have a problem wondering what point you are attempting to make about the reds seeking bail. Are they not entitled to seek it? It isn’t as if this request was unusual in similar circumstances. They have not admitted to guilt of the charges.
I wonder whether you soon express scorn at their effrontery in proposing to defend themselves in Court.
I would have called the map “Bangkok, not dangerous”. The whole “Rajdamri is unsafe” theme is a direct output of the Thai security apparatus, mouthed most frequently by hardliner Sansern of the CRES.
Despite Fernquest’s eager embrace of the meme (surprise, surprise), we should be clear that one of the main reasons Bangkok residents are afraid of the reds is because the state (and the military) is telling them to be. This scare-mongering is clearly aimed at reducing the numbers of people there, particularly foreigners, so that the truth doesn’t get out and future crack downs are easier to pull off.
I’ve been to the protests 20 times and the only violence I ever saw came after the Queen’s guards rolled up angry and armed to the teeth. Otherwise, it appears to be “Peaceful Protest, Not Terrorists”, just like the reds say.
Regarding the bombings, let’s be clear that there have to have been more than fifty purported bombing attempts most in very public and well-guarded places (EC chairman’s house, military checkpoints). Each time no one seems to see it happen, security camera are broken, no one gives chase on a motorcycle. It is preposterous to believe that anyone could get away with 50 bombings and not get caught or seen. However, it would be very simple for the “victims” to set it all up themselves.
I don’t know who is doing all the bombings, and I don’t think Fernquest does either. But it seems clear to me that the assumption that the reds are responsible for all of the violence is of an ilk with the claim that the protests are dangerous – they are propaganda.
Whilst I pertly agree with your comment “What we residents fear most are not the Red Shirts themselves, but an army crackdown which last time resulted in at least 25 dead.”
However, I am disappointed by Shawn’s analogy in this article you refer to and would disagree that there is “very good evidence that this violence is connected to the red shirts”, when there is such a vast array of evidence that says differently that always gets censored or blocked by the government.
What is said by the government or what is written and said in pro-government media is very much different to the reality of the situation and is often exaggerated, inaccurate or even pure fiction.
The Asia Times is of course associated with the Manager Media Group.
Arthurson, I am not talking about Thai people at my work place. They do express their opinions openly probably in order to minimize conflict. Nor am I talking about Farang.
What I am talking about is the ordinary people (not rich) I know in Bangkok, who are afraid to travel or move around Bangkok at night and also severely inconvenienced by increased traffic jams and tourism-based economy that has come to a grinding halt.
Again from the Nation so the true believers won’t accept it, but the self-interest of the red shirt leadership seems to be the stumbling block. They really don’t want to be locked up, do they? I wonder how will they spin this?
The red shirts have openly said they did not demand an amnesty against charges of terrorism or lese majeste but they want bail immediately when they turn themselves in to police after the end of the marathon protest at the Rajprasong business area, a source said.
I think we have different point of view on this “got or don’t ” for democracy.
I believe that we could identify the level of democracy by looking at many key items together, such as freedom of speech, right to vote and etc. So, I believe that the “more or less” democracy could be measure.
There are ideas of pure democracy (direct democracy), representative democracy and deliberative democracy.
The point is “sufficiency democracy” term is becoming negative term toward royalist, elites and the old conservative, so I just try to convince for changes of difinition.
Portman 60
Its hard to imagine a Seh Daeng in Australia which is a democratic constitutional Monarchy where the monarch is not involved in politics. Where governments are elected by the people and the military is under the government not above it as in Thailand. If ever a situation like the one in Thailand ever occurred in Australia you might well find a Seh Daeng popping up.
Consider your sources, Jon, and the people with whom you interact. You work at the Bangkok Post, so I know that your fellow office workers tend not to be unbiased, neutral parties. As a farang, I have had no problem interacting with the Red Shirts, myself, and have received uniformly friendly, polite treatment. However, I will report that one of my graduate students did report that a Pakistani student was struck on the head with a bamboo pole by one of the red shirt guards on the night before the Silom grenade attacks. He was merely walking home from the local 7-11 and not participating in the anti-UDD protests at the time. There didn’t seem to be any provocative action on his part to cause the assault. Maybe a case of mistaken identity because there had been other angry confrontations that evening. My student was quite shaken by this, so you are correct in saying that many Bangkok residents fear the potential of violence coming from the UDD.
Well the thing that made the Red much different than the Yellow is that the red never attempt to close down and occupied the airport or the government house, closing down the street yield much fewer impact than the airport dont you agree? on the side note the shopping arcade like the CTW or Gaysorn choose to close by themselves, actually they can keep it going like the Erawan building, but they choose not to.
Anyway, its been 1 year and a bit already since the airport closure and do we see any justice done the PAD leaders?? I guess not. However, did the red go and occupied government property like the PAD? no they didn’t, so what “bad” did the Red do that similar to the Yellow?
The point that I want to make is just the Red induced a lot more threathen feelings to an individual as a people living, working in Bangkok and including real injuries to many innocence people
Now you are putting your word in other people’s mouths, my office is only 100m away from the main rally site and people in my building dont seem to have problem walking pass the main rally site to come to work. Anyhow if you read the CRES announcement last month you would know that around 60-70% of the people that join the red are actually Bangkokians, how is that translated into “threaten feeling” I just don’t get it.
I dont think Democracy can be categorized into “more” or “less”, you either got Democracy or you don’t, simple as that. However, there are many “form” of Democracy such as the republic or the parliamentary and so on.
“What we residents fear most are not the Red Shirts themselves, but an army crackdown which last time resulted in at least 25 dead.”
That is not what I hear from people in downtown Bangkok. A real public opinion poll should be carried out.
What I hear is a fear of random acts of violence.
However, this violence seems to be executed systematically with the purpose of creating a generalized sense of public fear (i.e. terrorism). Moreover, there is very good evidence that this violence is connected to the red shirts (See “Why Thailand’s reds beat a retreat” By Shawn Crispin in Asia Times Online).
The fact remains that if the red shirts had not invaded and occupied downtown Bangkok this situation and this fear would not exist. The strategy worked and has set a dangerous precedent for the future. To force an issue in the future, it’s not too difficult to predict what various vested interest groups will do.
Every life is important. Both for and against the shortlived but anti-drug campaign are right. No one likes extrajudicial circumstances. But a couple of things (1) knowing the clear bias of the Thai Office of National HRC, Phil (& others) numbers need to be challenged & considered relative to the number of actual lives saved through Thaksin’s police initiated anti-narcotics purge; international HR groups were also fed with spurious information at the time which they gleefully consumed without questioning the authenticity of the sources; (2) the media misinformation on this was greatly exagerated for political gain by the DP and certain civil society groups aligned with them with the sole desire to overthrow TRT and destroy the anti-mafia linked progams… Perhaps Phil should listen more to those real folk [out there] from urban housing estates, town to village who lives were saved, than take a self-righteous, high moral position as a detached observer…
“yachtsman, photographer, rainmaker and developer of biofuels,
Indeed, and none of these ‘accomplishments’ stand the test of close scrutiny any more than the ‘legendary jazz musician’ or indeed ‘sufficiency economy theory’ do.
Useful for the propagandists but almost completely without substance. Like me saying “I was there alongside ‘Lightning’ Bolt at the olympics”. In my mind I was, but nowhere else.
As the Maj Gen was appointed by HM it is probably a criminal offence to discuss or criticise the man. I shall self-censor any thoughts or comments I may have in order to avoid the risk of a draconian prison sentence or social ostracism. I shall leave it quote Gilbert and Sullivan from another comic opera:
In fact, when I know what is meant by “mamelon” and “ravelin”,
When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin,
When such affairs as sorties and surprises I’m more wary at,
And when I know precisely what is meant by “commissariat”,
When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery,
When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery–
In short, when I’ve a smattering of elemental strategy–
You’ll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee.
For my military knowledge, though I’m plucky and adventury,
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century;
But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
1. The number of emigration among Singaporeans (those born in Singapore of Singaporean parents) are worrying. This maybe an indicator about what its citizens think of the country.
2. The balance between Singaporeans and new permanent residents is beginning to worry not only Singaporeans but also PAP.
Democracy plays an important role in managing the aspirations of its citizens. True, PAP has been highly effective at resolving these issues. But for how long? Remember, 45 years is not very long in the history of a country.
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Map of “Bangkok Dangerous”
Leah Hoyt #6 – I couldn’t agree more. There’s something very fishy about all of these “purported bombing attempts” and the broken security cameras, lack of eyewitnesses, identifying photos, number plates, or security people on motorbikes giving chase. It’s all a bit too convenient. Reminds me of the bombs at Victory Monument, etc.,on NY eve, 2006. Funny the security cameras were off…Funny it’s never been solved! And, oh yes, the ‘assassination-attempt’ on Sondhi Lim…etc., etc.
Military/state intelligence? I don’t think so! Give them a ‘colouring-in’ project like that stupid conspiracy chart & they’re stretched to the max. It seems to me there is a conspiracy, but it’s not the one on the chart. Quite the opposite.
One of the most horrifying things going on at the moment is the perpetual propagation of fear & hatred by ‘news’ & current affairs programs on ASTV/TAN. I watched one of their discussion programs over the weekend. Various of the 4 commentators were crying out for another ‘crackdown’ (i.e. massacre) to clear the Red sites, backing it up with the most appallingly bigoted assertions and biased ‘evidence’ – not a shred of skepticism in their analysis of the very unconvincing statements of CRES & govt. On another of their programs I learned that the UK govt has “prohibited” their citizens from travelling to Thailand! (As if they could!)
PM Abhisit’s justification for blocking websites & closing TV channels has been that they are spreading misinformation, disseminating hatred & inciting violence. If this is so, why is TAN allowed to broadcast?
Map of “Bangkok Dangerous”
Protestors = Tiananmen. Fight is for democracy. Thaksin = man of the People.
More divisive rubbish.
Thailand may have arguably been one of the most inclusive societies in the past 100 years – just compare the experience of the migrant chinese in Thai ot Malay or Indo. Today, it appears that we see nasty, divisive tactics in cynical exploitation of just causes.
to gjbkk above.
If everything in media is BS
“very good evidence that this violence is connected to the red shirts”, when there is such a vast array of evidence that says differently that always gets censored or blocked by the government.”
Then take the bull by the horns and take the ultimate high road by living up to the standards you criticize in others :
Show us who is funding the reds – show records of donations. Show us it is not cynically funded and it really is really grassroots protests.
Show us mature, inclusive, and morally legitimate leadership; unveil the roadmap of the reds to true democracy and the betterment of all society.
In particular please set us straight and present the real evidence and facts you say are out there. Do it on this this blog where presumably there is no censorship (but by the way you can be blocked by the moderator. Dictatorship! Censorship of peoples rights!). If it is clear and verifiable it should spread like widfire.
And answer one more question – where are the students?
They generally are traditional lead players of most democracy movements in the world and certainly among the vanguard in every Thai movement to date.
I hope they are not now lumped into the elite (as apparently the medical profession may be) as then this would really start to look scary and evoke truly class war, anti intellectual images that set back a couple of recent societies for decades. No dissent, much less discourse went unquashed in those worlds.
Abhisit’s offer
banphai – 64
Looks like they would accept bail if they can’t get amnesty now.
In fact if you go back to my earlier comments numbers 12, 49 and 54 you will see it’s becoming truer all the time.
When I asked who they will throw to the wolves, well now we have the answer. Seh Daeng for one. Here’s what he has to say.
Seh Daeng: Veera, Weng, Nuttawut and Wisa went to negotiate at the 11th Infantry and agreed to put ‘hard-core’ reds in jails.
Now what are the second generation leaders going to do? They are being sold down the river by those who promised them so much. How do we spin this?
Map of “Bangkok Dangerous”
The REALLY scary thing is that I count at least 24 car-bomb/grenade/bomb attacks throughout Bangkok. To my knowledge, not a single arrest has been made.
This astounding 0-24 statistic either shows that the bombers, (who have used many different types of bombs and therefore are probably many different groups) are all incredibly skilled and meticulous – or that the security forces, which number in the tens of thousands, are criminally ineffective. Or both. Or that they are one and the same.
Jon, to say that the “violence is connected to the red shirts” is like saying that the Tiananmen Massacre was connected to the protesters.
Abhisit’s offer
LesAbbey #63. Four days ago you quoted The Nation as alleging that the reds wanted an amnesty from all charges (#54). Now you are quoting The Nation as reporting that the reds are not seeking an amnesty.
Well, it’s good to get that sorted!
However, I for one now have a problem wondering what point you are attempting to make about the reds seeking bail. Are they not entitled to seek it? It isn’t as if this request was unusual in similar circumstances. They have not admitted to guilt of the charges.
I wonder whether you soon express scorn at their effrontery in proposing to defend themselves in Court.
Map of “Bangkok Dangerous”
I would have called the map “Bangkok, not dangerous”. The whole “Rajdamri is unsafe” theme is a direct output of the Thai security apparatus, mouthed most frequently by hardliner Sansern of the CRES.
Despite Fernquest’s eager embrace of the meme (surprise, surprise), we should be clear that one of the main reasons Bangkok residents are afraid of the reds is because the state (and the military) is telling them to be. This scare-mongering is clearly aimed at reducing the numbers of people there, particularly foreigners, so that the truth doesn’t get out and future crack downs are easier to pull off.
I’ve been to the protests 20 times and the only violence I ever saw came after the Queen’s guards rolled up angry and armed to the teeth. Otherwise, it appears to be “Peaceful Protest, Not Terrorists”, just like the reds say.
Regarding the bombings, let’s be clear that there have to have been more than fifty purported bombing attempts most in very public and well-guarded places (EC chairman’s house, military checkpoints). Each time no one seems to see it happen, security camera are broken, no one gives chase on a motorcycle. It is preposterous to believe that anyone could get away with 50 bombings and not get caught or seen. However, it would be very simple for the “victims” to set it all up themselves.
I don’t know who is doing all the bombings, and I don’t think Fernquest does either. But it seems clear to me that the assumption that the reds are responsible for all of the violence is of an ilk with the claim that the protests are dangerous – they are propaganda.
Map of “Bangkok Dangerous”
jonfernquest
Whilst I pertly agree with your comment “What we residents fear most are not the Red Shirts themselves, but an army crackdown which last time resulted in at least 25 dead.”
However, I am disappointed by Shawn’s analogy in this article you refer to and would disagree that there is “very good evidence that this violence is connected to the red shirts”, when there is such a vast array of evidence that says differently that always gets censored or blocked by the government.
What is said by the government or what is written and said in pro-government media is very much different to the reality of the situation and is often exaggerated, inaccurate or even pure fiction.
The Asia Times is of course associated with the Manager Media Group.
Map of “Bangkok Dangerous”
Arthurson, I am not talking about Thai people at my work place. They do express their opinions openly probably in order to minimize conflict. Nor am I talking about Farang.
What I am talking about is the ordinary people (not rich) I know in Bangkok, who are afraid to travel or move around Bangkok at night and also severely inconvenienced by increased traffic jams and tourism-based economy that has come to a grinding halt.
Abhisit’s offer
Again from the Nation so the true believers won’t accept it, but the self-interest of the red shirt leadership seems to be the stumbling block. They really don’t want to be locked up, do they? I wonder how will they spin this?
The red shirts have openly said they did not demand an amnesty against charges of terrorism or lese majeste but they want bail immediately when they turn themselves in to police after the end of the marathon protest at the Rajprasong business area, a source said.
“Sufficiency democracy” – my contribution to political science vocabulary?
Tarrin – 17
I think we have different point of view on this “got or don’t ” for democracy.
I believe that we could identify the level of democracy by looking at many key items together, such as freedom of speech, right to vote and etc. So, I believe that the “more or less” democracy could be measure.
There are ideas of pure democracy (direct democracy), representative democracy and deliberative democracy.
The point is “sufficiency democracy” term is becoming negative term toward royalist, elites and the old conservative, so I just try to convince for changes of difinition.
🙂
Abhisit’s offer
Portman 60
Its hard to imagine a Seh Daeng in Australia which is a democratic constitutional Monarchy where the monarch is not involved in politics. Where governments are elected by the people and the military is under the government not above it as in Thailand. If ever a situation like the one in Thailand ever occurred in Australia you might well find a Seh Daeng popping up.
Map of “Bangkok Dangerous”
I have Thai friends who have be attacked by Red Shirts coming out of Siam Square BTS station. Farangs in contrast are always treated nicely (I was).
Map of “Bangkok Dangerous”
Consider your sources, Jon, and the people with whom you interact. You work at the Bangkok Post, so I know that your fellow office workers tend not to be unbiased, neutral parties. As a farang, I have had no problem interacting with the Red Shirts, myself, and have received uniformly friendly, polite treatment. However, I will report that one of my graduate students did report that a Pakistani student was struck on the head with a bamboo pole by one of the red shirt guards on the night before the Silom grenade attacks. He was merely walking home from the local 7-11 and not participating in the anti-UDD protests at the time. There didn’t seem to be any provocative action on his part to cause the assault. Maybe a case of mistaken identity because there had been other angry confrontations that evening. My student was quite shaken by this, so you are correct in saying that many Bangkok residents fear the potential of violence coming from the UDD.
Thongchai Winichakul on the Red “germs”
T. Naiwat – 85
Well the thing that made the Red much different than the Yellow is that the red never attempt to close down and occupied the airport or the government house, closing down the street yield much fewer impact than the airport dont you agree? on the side note the shopping arcade like the CTW or Gaysorn choose to close by themselves, actually they can keep it going like the Erawan building, but they choose not to.
Anyway, its been 1 year and a bit already since the airport closure and do we see any justice done the PAD leaders?? I guess not. However, did the red go and occupied government property like the PAD? no they didn’t, so what “bad” did the Red do that similar to the Yellow?
The point that I want to make is just the Red induced a lot more threathen feelings to an individual as a people living, working in Bangkok and including real injuries to many innocence people
Now you are putting your word in other people’s mouths, my office is only 100m away from the main rally site and people in my building dont seem to have problem walking pass the main rally site to come to work. Anyhow if you read the CRES announcement last month you would know that around 60-70% of the people that join the red are actually Bangkokians, how is that translated into “threaten feeling” I just don’t get it.
“Sufficiency democracy” – my contribution to political science vocabulary?
Jay – 15
I dont think Democracy can be categorized into “more” or “less”, you either got Democracy or you don’t, simple as that. However, there are many “form” of Democracy such as the republic or the parliamentary and so on.
Map of “Bangkok Dangerous”
Richard Barrow’s statement:
“What we residents fear most are not the Red Shirts themselves, but an army crackdown which last time resulted in at least 25 dead.”
That is not what I hear from people in downtown Bangkok. A real public opinion poll should be carried out.
What I hear is a fear of random acts of violence.
However, this violence seems to be executed systematically with the purpose of creating a generalized sense of public fear (i.e. terrorism). Moreover, there is very good evidence that this violence is connected to the red shirts (See “Why Thailand’s reds beat a retreat” By Shawn Crispin in Asia Times Online).
The fact remains that if the red shirts had not invaded and occupied downtown Bangkok this situation and this fear would not exist. The strategy worked and has set a dangerous precedent for the future. To force an issue in the future, it’s not too difficult to predict what various vested interest groups will do.
Thongchai Winichakul on the Red “germs”
Every life is important. Both for and against the shortlived but anti-drug campaign are right. No one likes extrajudicial circumstances. But a couple of things (1) knowing the clear bias of the Thai Office of National HRC, Phil (& others) numbers need to be challenged & considered relative to the number of actual lives saved through Thaksin’s police initiated anti-narcotics purge; international HR groups were also fed with spurious information at the time which they gleefully consumed without questioning the authenticity of the sources; (2) the media misinformation on this was greatly exagerated for political gain by the DP and certain civil society groups aligned with them with the sole desire to overthrow TRT and destroy the anti-mafia linked progams… Perhaps Phil should listen more to those real folk [out there] from urban housing estates, town to village who lives were saved, than take a self-righteous, high moral position as a detached observer…
“Sufficiency democracy” – my contribution to political science vocabulary?
“yachtsman, photographer, rainmaker and developer of biofuels,
Indeed, and none of these ‘accomplishments’ stand the test of close scrutiny any more than the ‘legendary jazz musician’ or indeed ‘sufficiency economy theory’ do.
Useful for the propagandists but almost completely without substance. Like me saying “I was there alongside ‘Lightning’ Bolt at the olympics”. In my mind I was, but nowhere else.
Abhisit’s offer
As the Maj Gen was appointed by HM it is probably a criminal offence to discuss or criticise the man. I shall self-censor any thoughts or comments I may have in order to avoid the risk of a draconian prison sentence or social ostracism. I shall leave it quote Gilbert and Sullivan from another comic opera:
In fact, when I know what is meant by “mamelon” and “ravelin”,
When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin,
When such affairs as sorties and surprises I’m more wary at,
And when I know precisely what is meant by “commissariat”,
When I have learnt what progress has been made in modern gunnery,
When I know more of tactics than a novice in a nunnery–
In short, when I’ve a smattering of elemental strategy–
You’ll say a better Major-General has never sat a gee.
For my military knowledge, though I’m plucky and adventury,
Has only been brought down to the beginning of the century;
But still, in matters vegetable, animal, and mineral,
I am the very model of a modern Major-General.
Reforms in Malaysia – has Najib got it right?
Hi Lee Kwan Who – nice name.
1. The number of emigration among Singaporeans (those born in Singapore of Singaporean parents) are worrying. This maybe an indicator about what its citizens think of the country.
2. The balance between Singaporeans and new permanent residents is beginning to worry not only Singaporeans but also PAP.
Democracy plays an important role in managing the aspirations of its citizens. True, PAP has been highly effective at resolving these issues. But for how long? Remember, 45 years is not very long in the history of a country.