a. Regular CNA forumer JohnLaw who first reported on the CDC bonus has not been seen.
b. Wayang.Party has been shutdown by ISP.
c. Blogger PoThePanda was investigated by the police & ISD for his articles.
I receive a few emails that a number have been followed. Something may be on.
I'll be back once the picture is clearer.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=24942.1
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A murkier Films Act
A murkier Films Act
In 1998, a blanket ban on political films came into existence and 10 years later, the PAP government began to “rethink”.
With that, Parliament passed a bill yesterday (23 March 2009) to amend the Films Act - but in a way that it confounded more than clarified certain perspectives.
Last year, some had already sensed something amiss when it was revealed that the Act would be liberalised in stages, with a dash of new laws and a preview of what they may comprise.
Several prominent netizens then called for a total, one-off repeal of Section 33 of the Films Act instead.
Choo Zheng Xi, editor of The Online Citizen, could not be more than spot on when he said in December 2008, during an interview with Channel NewsAsia, that it would be “messy legislation” if repealed in stages.
Indeed, it turned out to be.
The legislation is now official and opened frontiers that were previously restricted - but three new areas are engulfed in obscurity.
1) Filming of illegal events become illegal
The principle of law states that a person is “innocent until proven guilty”.
After the police arrest people who may have broken the law, the judiciary is ultimately the body that delivers the verdict.
However, filmmakers may have to play the role of a judge to know if an event is illegal or otherwise.
Should a filmmaker be convicted but the defendant(s) are acquitted, what would happen remains curious.
Should the defendant(s) be pronounced guilty, the filmmaker would probably be left to suffer sleepless nights.
2) No animation, please
“Animation” is defined as a “rapid display of a sequence of images or positions in order to create an illusion of movement”.
With political films not allowed to display animations, the government was in effect not liberalising films but Microsoft Powerpoint presentations.
In the first place, Powerpoint presentations were never banned and Workers’ Party members have used it for the party’s closed-door events.
Even then, one wonders if switches between various slides in such presentations would be termed as “movements”.
While on the topic of “new media” in his National Day Rally speech last year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was waving a video camera - without realising that one is not even needed to generate static images.
3) “Partisan” or “non-factual” films are “no-no”
Are manifestos of political parties - one of the items listed by the Straits Times - not partisan?
Perhaps the PAP has to include footage of the opposition in its own films or it would be deemed to be making partisan films.
Then again, the PAP is of the opinion that opposition’s mantra is never factual, case in point being the WP’s “time bombs” and “poisons” in its manifesto.
Hence, it is tantamount to saying that the opposition can never make any political films without contravening the law - or they could try to make one extolling the PAP.
All in all, there are liberalised aspects that defeat a blanket ban but the progress could have been better - and less ambiguous.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25295.1
In 1998, a blanket ban on political films came into existence and 10 years later, the PAP government began to “rethink”.
With that, Parliament passed a bill yesterday (23 March 2009) to amend the Films Act - but in a way that it confounded more than clarified certain perspectives.
Last year, some had already sensed something amiss when it was revealed that the Act would be liberalised in stages, with a dash of new laws and a preview of what they may comprise.
Several prominent netizens then called for a total, one-off repeal of Section 33 of the Films Act instead.
Choo Zheng Xi, editor of The Online Citizen, could not be more than spot on when he said in December 2008, during an interview with Channel NewsAsia, that it would be “messy legislation” if repealed in stages.
Indeed, it turned out to be.
The legislation is now official and opened frontiers that were previously restricted - but three new areas are engulfed in obscurity.
1) Filming of illegal events become illegal
The principle of law states that a person is “innocent until proven guilty”.
After the police arrest people who may have broken the law, the judiciary is ultimately the body that delivers the verdict.
However, filmmakers may have to play the role of a judge to know if an event is illegal or otherwise.
Should a filmmaker be convicted but the defendant(s) are acquitted, what would happen remains curious.
Should the defendant(s) be pronounced guilty, the filmmaker would probably be left to suffer sleepless nights.
2) No animation, please
“Animation” is defined as a “rapid display of a sequence of images or positions in order to create an illusion of movement”.
With political films not allowed to display animations, the government was in effect not liberalising films but Microsoft Powerpoint presentations.
In the first place, Powerpoint presentations were never banned and Workers’ Party members have used it for the party’s closed-door events.
Even then, one wonders if switches between various slides in such presentations would be termed as “movements”.
While on the topic of “new media” in his National Day Rally speech last year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was waving a video camera - without realising that one is not even needed to generate static images.
3) “Partisan” or “non-factual” films are “no-no”
Are manifestos of political parties - one of the items listed by the Straits Times - not partisan?
Perhaps the PAP has to include footage of the opposition in its own films or it would be deemed to be making partisan films.
Then again, the PAP is of the opinion that opposition’s mantra is never factual, case in point being the WP’s “time bombs” and “poisons” in its manifesto.
Hence, it is tantamount to saying that the opposition can never make any political films without contravening the law - or they could try to make one extolling the PAP.
All in all, there are liberalised aspects that defeat a blanket ban but the progress could have been better - and less ambiguous.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25295.1
The ascent of money
The ascent of money
The financial sector in Singapore is not yet as big as that in Britain or America. Fortunately, one may think, or the downturn may have been worse.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry’s fourth quarter survey shows financial services accounted for just over eight billion Singapore dollars out of a total gross domestic product of 64.3 billion Singapore dollars ($42.6 billion). Manufacturing contributed 16.6 billion Singapore dollars and construction more than 11 billion. Business services contributed more than nine billion, wholesale and retail more than six billion and information technology more than two billion.
In other words, manufacturing and construction remain Singapore’s biggest industries. While there were more than 593,000 jobs in manufacturing as of September 2008, the financial sector employed more than 160,000 people – more than 135,000 worked in financial institutions and the rest in insurance. And they were the best paid of all the workers in Singapore, earning more than 6,000 Singapore dollars a month on average, while IT workers made more than 5,000 Singapore dollars, factory workers just over 3,600 Singapore dollars and construction workers just over 2,600 Singapore dollars a month, according to the Manpower Ministry’s 2008 third quarter labour market survey.
Financial workers are the highest paid for the same reason that the government wants Singapore to be a financial hub – for that’s where the big money is.
Read The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson to get an idea of the incredible amount of money in the stock markets and the banks. The financial sector dwarfs all other industries. Here’s a clip from The Ascent of Money, which was shown on Channel Four.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3C-OaWTB_U
Ferguson, a British economic historian, writes in The Ascent of Money, published last year:
In 2006 the measured economic output of the entire world was around $47 trillion. The total market capitalization of the world’s stock markets was $51 trillion, 10 per cent larger. The total value of domestic and international bonds was $68 trillion, 50 per cent larger. The amount of derivatives outstanding was $473 trillion, more than 10 times larger.
Planet Finance is beginning to dwarf Planet Earth. And Planet Finance seems to spin faster too. Every month seven trillion dollars change hands on global stock markets. And all the time new financial life forms are evolving… An explosion of “securitization”, whereby individual debts like mortgages are “tranched”, then bundled together and repackaged for sale, pushed the total annual issuance of mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities and collaterized debt obligations above $3 trillion. The volume of derivatives – contracts derived from securities, such as interest rate swaps or credit default swaps – has grown even faster, so that by the end of 2007 the notional value of all “over-the-counter” derivatives (excluding those traded on public exchanges) was just under $600 trillion. Before the 1980s, such things were virtually unknown.
Ferguson writes how the financial sector has grown in importance.
In 1947 the total value added by the financial sector to the US gross domestic product was 2.3 per cent; by 2005 its contribution had risen to 7.7 per cent of GDP. In other words, approximately $1 out of every $13 paid to employees in the United States now goes to people working in finance. Finance is even more important in Britain, where it accounted for 9.4 per cent of GDP in 2006.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=24868.1
The financial sector in Singapore is not yet as big as that in Britain or America. Fortunately, one may think, or the downturn may have been worse.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry’s fourth quarter survey shows financial services accounted for just over eight billion Singapore dollars out of a total gross domestic product of 64.3 billion Singapore dollars ($42.6 billion). Manufacturing contributed 16.6 billion Singapore dollars and construction more than 11 billion. Business services contributed more than nine billion, wholesale and retail more than six billion and information technology more than two billion.
In other words, manufacturing and construction remain Singapore’s biggest industries. While there were more than 593,000 jobs in manufacturing as of September 2008, the financial sector employed more than 160,000 people – more than 135,000 worked in financial institutions and the rest in insurance. And they were the best paid of all the workers in Singapore, earning more than 6,000 Singapore dollars a month on average, while IT workers made more than 5,000 Singapore dollars, factory workers just over 3,600 Singapore dollars and construction workers just over 2,600 Singapore dollars a month, according to the Manpower Ministry’s 2008 third quarter labour market survey.
Financial workers are the highest paid for the same reason that the government wants Singapore to be a financial hub – for that’s where the big money is.
Read The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson to get an idea of the incredible amount of money in the stock markets and the banks. The financial sector dwarfs all other industries. Here’s a clip from The Ascent of Money, which was shown on Channel Four.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3C-OaWTB_U
Ferguson, a British economic historian, writes in The Ascent of Money, published last year:
In 2006 the measured economic output of the entire world was around $47 trillion. The total market capitalization of the world’s stock markets was $51 trillion, 10 per cent larger. The total value of domestic and international bonds was $68 trillion, 50 per cent larger. The amount of derivatives outstanding was $473 trillion, more than 10 times larger.
Planet Finance is beginning to dwarf Planet Earth. And Planet Finance seems to spin faster too. Every month seven trillion dollars change hands on global stock markets. And all the time new financial life forms are evolving… An explosion of “securitization”, whereby individual debts like mortgages are “tranched”, then bundled together and repackaged for sale, pushed the total annual issuance of mortgage-backed securities, asset-backed securities and collaterized debt obligations above $3 trillion. The volume of derivatives – contracts derived from securities, such as interest rate swaps or credit default swaps – has grown even faster, so that by the end of 2007 the notional value of all “over-the-counter” derivatives (excluding those traded on public exchanges) was just under $600 trillion. Before the 1980s, such things were virtually unknown.
Ferguson writes how the financial sector has grown in importance.
In 1947 the total value added by the financial sector to the US gross domestic product was 2.3 per cent; by 2005 its contribution had risen to 7.7 per cent of GDP. In other words, approximately $1 out of every $13 paid to employees in the United States now goes to people working in finance. Finance is even more important in Britain, where it accounted for 9.4 per cent of GDP in 2006.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=24868.1
Exclusive interview with blogger Gary Tan Yeong Hong
BREAKING: Exclusive interview with blogger “PothePanda” who claimed he was arrested & interrogated by police for a post he made on STOMP (Parts 1 & 2)
DISCIAMER: The video clips shown below contain an interview with blogger “PothePanda” aka Gary Tan Yeong Hong who claimed he was arrested and interrogated by the police for a post he made on STOMP. We are unable to prove or disprove the allegations made by him against the police. Please contact him at yangfengsg@hotmail.com if you have any queries. The owners of this blog will not be responsible for any misrepresentation or misinformation arising from the content of the interview to which the liability lies solely with the interviewee. Please exercise utmost caution and discretion when viewing the clips.
Prologue:
On 13th March 2009, a blogger with the moniker “PothePanda” who was also a regular forumer of STOMP and Hardwarezone posted a statement on his blog at Xanga alleging that he was arrested by the police on 2 March 2009 for an article about molotov cocktails posted on STOMP late last year.
“PothePanda”, whose real name is Gary Tan Yeong Hong, is a regular reader of our blog. On 2nd March 2009, we received an email from him seeking legal advice for his predicament. We referred him to a lawyer Mr Chia Ti Lik who was also a prominent human rights activist. Gary claimed he was told by one of his interrogating officers to post the “truth” about what happened on his blog which he did on 13 March 2009.
After obtaining legal clearance from Mr Chia Ti Lik, we decided to interview him to learn more about his experience. The 45 minute interview was conducted near Gary’s home in Hougang on 21 March 2009 by a freelancer engaged by us.
SUMMARY:
1. How Gary was arrested by four plain-clothes policemen at his home on 2 March 2009.
2. The content of the alleged post he made on STOMP who got him into trouble with the police.
3. How he was interrogated by four police officers at the Cantonment Police Complex.
4. The posts he made on STOMP and Hardwarezone during the last three to six months were traced by the police.
5. The statement he was asked to sign at the end of the interrogation.
PART 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0b6RJeRfLM
PART 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bYiC8esaqo
EXCERPTS OF INTERVIEW
wayangparty: Can you tell us in brief what happened on the day?
Gary: The four policemen showed up at about 11am on 2 March, a Monday at my place. They told me that they are investigating the case of a molotov cocktail post which I made on a forum. I was taking a bath then. They said I could choose to follow them back or they can handcuff me. They didn’t tell me the charge. I followed them back with my laptop.
wayangparty: Why did they arrest you for putting up the post?
Gary: They claimed that I instigated the old man to burn MP Seng Han Thong which was ridiculous because what I posted was taken from Wikipedia so let people to have some information pertaining to computer games and the post was made 3 weeks before the incident.
wayangparty: Where did you post the alleged article?
Gary: STOMP Talkback forum.
wayangparty: What is the content of the post?
Gary: Basically history of the item, its usage in other countries throughout the years. (Nothing was written on how it was made.)
wayangparty: Can you tell us more about your encounter?
Gary: First, they tried to nail me down on the molotov cocktail posting. My impression is that they did not take a look at the date of my posting, they thought I posted it after the MP incident, that’s why they arrested me, but once they realize it, they are blurred and don’t know what to do.
wayangparty: How many officers interrogate you?
Gary: Four of them. They tried to use the ‘carrot and stick’ or ‘good cop - bad cop’ method. Sebastian was leading the investigation for the first place. He said I was an intelligent guy and don’t wish to see him going in and out of jail when I can be a useful citizen of Singapore and if I confessed to whatever he wanted, he will help me to become a useful citizen of Singapore. It doesn’t sound right to me. If you have any evidence against me, you can come and charge me. Now you are saying even if I am not wrong, I should confess so that you can help me.
wayangparty: What did they want you to confess to?
Gary: They asked me if I participate in a conspiracy against the state of Singapore. Did I participate in terrorism activity? They did not show me any evidence. I told them I got nothing to confess and I rather they don’t help me. So after that, they tried another method. They continuously insulted me saying things like “You stay in a 3 room flat?It’s like a pig’s sty.” “You remind me of a donkey,of a mule.You are just an animal that needs to be shown who its master is.” “Some people say you can lead a donkey to water,but you can’t make it drink.Today I am here to force you to drink.” “You write rubbish,everything you say online is rubbish.”
wayangparty: Do you know where this Sebastian is from?
Gary: He did not mention and his pass was flipped backward, but I will let you know why I think he is from ISD later.
wayangparty: Is the police aware of what you have written on your blog?
Gary: I believe they have been tracking my blog and even my offline activities. They give me the impression they have been doing so. During the interrogation, they are able to quote that the content of my posts in the last 3 to 6 months. I post on STOMP Talkback forum and Hardwarezone forum.
wayangparty: What is the statement they asked you to sign?
Gary: My background, where I stay, everything else in the statement is basically my past background, all the mistakes I have committed in national service, what internet nicknames I used on the internet and the internet forums I go to.
More stunning revelations from Gary to be heard in Parts 3 and 4 of the interview tomorrow…..
APPENDICES
1. Official PothePanda statement posted on Xanga on 13 March 2009:
2. PothePanda posted on his blog verifying that we had conducted an interview with him on 21 March 2009:
Source: PoThePanda
http://wayangparty.com/?p=6797
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=24865.3
Gary Tan Yeong Hong arrested by police, Part 2
Saturday, March 21, 2009
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WayangParty.com releasing a video interview on Monday 23/03/09
Dear readers,www.wayangparty.com has carried out an interview with me today.The video interview will be released on their website on Monday 23/03/09.The full sequence of events of the past 2 weeks will be revealed to the public.
The full story will then be out in the open,and you the public must judge as to what has happened.
As my laptop is currently at the HP service centre,who of course is asking me to pay an exorbitant fee to repair my laptop(and this after assuring me that my laptop's HDD would be replaced FOC since it is under warranty!),i will not be able to post so frequently.
Hardwarezone has banned my account,so you also must judge as to the reliability,independence and impartiality of Hardwarezone website.
I do not know what else to say at this moment.All i am interested is,protect yourselves.The citizens have a right to comment on issues concerning them,even if they are against the ruling party's views,even if they are not affiliated to the Opposition.It appears that they are trying to crack down on everything on the Internet...Protect yourselves,align yourselves to WayangParty.com now,or inform some of your friends(preferbly overseas friends)who you really are on the Internet.So they can look out for you.
Or you can email me @ yangfengsg@hotmail.com with your details,then we can form a social/focus group to look out for each other in case we "mysteriously disappear".
It's time to go to war so we can keep the Internet an area for free speech!
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=24865.2
Gary Tan Yeong Hong arrested by police
Friday, March 13, 2009
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[OFFICIAL]PoThePanda Statement On CID/ISD Lim Kopi Session 02/03/09
Dear Fellow Citizens Of Singapore,
This is a factual account of what happened to me on the 02/03/09.
Do remember the faces of our fathers,and do the right thing when the time comes.
After the posting of this article,it is likely i may be detained under the ISA.
Why do i do it even when i know this possibility?
I do it because we should not be held back by fear...
I do it because we should remember the faces of our fathers,and seek justice for all those Singaporeans who may have been falsely and unfairly treated over the years..
I do it because it is the RIGHT THING TO DO..
My fellow Singaporeans...
In the name of our National Pledge...
To Build A DEMOCRATIC SOCIETY
Based on JUSTICE AND EQUALITY
STAND FOR A CHANGE!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statement Of The Events Of 02/03/09
I am Tan Yeong Hong,Singapore NRIC Sxxxx884E,staying at Blk 108 Hougang Ave 1 #xx-xxxx Singapore 530108.My Hp number is xxxx9021 and my email address is yangfengsg@hotmail.com. My online moniker for Stomp / Hardwarezone is PoThePanda08 / PoThePanda.My blog is at xanga/pothepanda.I am a regular online dissident and critic of Singapore’s PAP government.However,I do not belong to any political party.
Below is a statement of events that happened to me on the 2nd of March of the Year 2009,which led me to believe that there is systematic abuse of human rights in Singapore,and that many so-called terrorists in detention are not terrorists at all.At the same time,I would like to put on record the death threats that were made to me.Should I disappear after the publication of this Statement,I urge the Singaporeans & the International Community to stand for a change.
On the 02/03/2009,I was picked up from my house at about 11am by 4 persons who identified themselves as CID.They claimed they were investigating a post on Molotov Cocktails that I had posted on the forum Stomp.With regards to this particular allegation,I wish to state that I had posted an article on Molotov Cocktails on Stomp sometime late last year.The article was copied and pasted from Wikipedia,and was posted up for information value due to its appearance in the popular game Left 4 Dead.2-3 weeks AFTER I posted the article,the MP Seng Han Thong got burnt.Apparently,someone made a police report that I had instigated the old man to burn the MP,via posting that article.
I was driven back to Cantonment Complex and subjected to an interrogation by these persons.Chief among them was 1 who identified himself as Sebastian,supposedly from the ISD.
First,they tried the “dangling a carrot & stick” / “I am your friend” method.Sebastian repeatedly stated that he thinks I am a very intelligent person and that I am very young.He repeatedly stated that he doesn’t want to see me “going in and out of jail repeatedly”(stick) when I could “choose to be a useful citizen of Singapore.(carrot)”.Apparently,if I confessed to whatever they wanted,they would “help me become a useful citizen of Singapore.”
When I showed no emotion at such an approach,they decide to switch methods.The next method they used was pure aggression,subjecting me to a barrage of personal insults / defamatory statements in an attempt to wear me down mentally.And then they would suddenly make an incriminating statement,trying to catch me off-guard so I would inadvertently “confess” to having “conspired against the state of Singapore” and / or “participated in terrorism activities.”
In what I feel was an attempt to wear me down mentally,they made a host of
personal,defamatory attacks to me.Barbed comments like “You stay in a 3 room flat?It’s like a pig’s sty.” “You remind me of a donkey,of a mule.You are just an animal that needs to be shown who its master is.” “Some people say you can lead a donkey to water,but you can’t make it drink.Today I am here to force you to drink.” “You write rubbish,everything you say online is rubbish.”
They then repeatedly tried to lead me to “confess to having acted against the state of Singapore and committed terrorism acts” via the following method.
The 4 of them would conduct a boisterous conversation,during which insults would be constantly thrown at me.Then suddenly 1 of them would say “You committed such-and-such an act,right?” and try to catch me off-guard.I stayed calm,did not react to any aggravation and repelled all attempts by stating no repeatedly.
Having failed in their attempts to coax / coerce a “confession” of “acting against the state of Singapore and committing terrorism acts” out of me,they then stated they wanted to record a statement with regards to my post on Stomp.
At this point,I requested to have a lawyer present to assist me.All of them was visibly shocked and looked taken aback.After regaining their composure,they tried to convince me that I did not have the right to get a lawyer.I stated clearly I knew my right to a lawyer and that I wanted to contact Mr Chia Ti Lik,a well-known lawyer who I heard of through news reports and via the website www.wayangparty.com .
Sebastian then proceeded to defame Mr Chia Ti Lik by stating that I should not trust Mr Chia Ti Lik because Mr Chia Ti Lik is the “Slipper Man”.”Slipper Man” is an Opposition MP who was in the news because his China-born daughter-in-law murdered his other daughter-in-law.When I enquired as to the relevance of this,Sebastian claimed that Mr Chia Ti Lik cannot be trusted as he is of the same family,the same genes.The fact is,Mr Chia Ti Lik and “The Slipper Man” are 2 different persons.I strongly feel this is a gross slur on Mr Chia Ti Lik’s professional reputation.
The statement was taken by a Mr Iskander Tang,from the CID Bomb Investigation Squad.Through creative usuage of the English language,Mr Tang crafted a statement which had me “confessing” to various “offences”.He then coached me by stating that I should express remorse for my “offences” and hope for leniency.The final paragraph of the statement was dedicated to which nicknames I go by on the Internet.As I strongly suspected that this was another attempt to discredit me,I refused to express remorse for my “offences” and refused to sign the statement.
Subsequently,after frantic consultations with Sebastian over the phone,Mr Tang had me sign a statement which stated simply the nicknames I used on the Internet.After this,he stated that I had to surrender my laptop to him,upon which he would provide me with a receipt.I complied.
As I was thinking that everything was over,Mr Tang indicated that he had more things to say to me.
And I quote,”Mr Tan,if you walk out of here tomorrow,you might get killed.You might meet with a mysterious accident,you might disappear and nobody will know what happened to you!”
“Mr Tan,some things and people in this country you cannot offend!Some people are above all things!You better make sure you know this!”
“Mr Tan,we can arrange for things to happen to you.You understand or not!”
I was then escorted out of the building.
List of Trangressions
1)Denial of Access to a Lawyer
2)Defaming a Prominent Lawyer,the Eminent Mr Chia Ti Lik, Advocate & Solicitor, Singapore
3)Death Threats issued against my person
4)Arrest made with no basis/evidence of any crime committed
5)Attempted Coercion / Coaxing / Coaching of A Confession
6)Repeatedly Insulting A “Suspect”
7)Attempt to get me to signed a “Confession” through mis-writing what I had said
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=24865.1
Human rights: Universal or evolutionary?
Human rights: Universal or evolutionary?
Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo has a way with words.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which Singapore is a member, will take an evolutionary approach to human rights, he says.
The Asean human rights body to be launched at the next Asean summit in October doesn’t plan to “exhaustively determine every single detail of Asean's approach to human rights in advance,” he said. “'Over time, the body will have to build up its own practices and positions in a way analogous to case law.”
Does he mean Asean will one day have something like the European Court of Human Rights?
He does not say so in the Straits Times report.
There is already a Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted long ago by the United Nations. The UN Declaration says:
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
The UN website presents the full declaration with all its 30 articles. But it has never been fully observed since it was adopted in 1948.
Take Article 18, for example.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
That’s anathema to some.
Soviet bloc states, South Africa and Saudi Arabia abstained from the vote when it was adopted by the UN General Assembly, says Wikipedia.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo is not alone in thinking of “an evolutionary approach to human rights”.
Singapore’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Kishore Mahbubani, expresses a similar view in his book, The New Asian Hemisphere. He writes:
When many Western observers look at China, they cannot see beyond the lack of a democratic political system. They miss the massive democratization of the human spirit that is taking place in China. Hundreds of millions of Chinese who thought they were destined for endless poverty now believe that they can improve their lives through their own efforts…
Most Western writers have focused on freedom that individuals need to fight for against an authoritarian or totalitarian state. But it is equally important to secure freedom by preventing chaos and anarchy.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25054.1
Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo has a way with words.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which Singapore is a member, will take an evolutionary approach to human rights, he says.
The Asean human rights body to be launched at the next Asean summit in October doesn’t plan to “exhaustively determine every single detail of Asean's approach to human rights in advance,” he said. “'Over time, the body will have to build up its own practices and positions in a way analogous to case law.”
Does he mean Asean will one day have something like the European Court of Human Rights?
He does not say so in the Straits Times report.
There is already a Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted long ago by the United Nations. The UN Declaration says:
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;
Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.
The UN website presents the full declaration with all its 30 articles. But it has never been fully observed since it was adopted in 1948.
Take Article 18, for example.
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
That’s anathema to some.
Soviet bloc states, South Africa and Saudi Arabia abstained from the vote when it was adopted by the UN General Assembly, says Wikipedia.
Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo is not alone in thinking of “an evolutionary approach to human rights”.
Singapore’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Kishore Mahbubani, expresses a similar view in his book, The New Asian Hemisphere. He writes:
When many Western observers look at China, they cannot see beyond the lack of a democratic political system. They miss the massive democratization of the human spirit that is taking place in China. Hundreds of millions of Chinese who thought they were destined for endless poverty now believe that they can improve their lives through their own efforts…
Most Western writers have focused on freedom that individuals need to fight for against an authoritarian or totalitarian state. But it is equally important to secure freedom by preventing chaos and anarchy.
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25054.1
Einstein really nailed today’s problem
Socialism may not be the solution, but Einstein really nailed today’s problem
…the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished — just as in the case of ants and bees. However, while the whole life process of ants and bees is fixed down to the smallest detail by rigid, hereditary instincts, the social pattern and interrelationships of human beings are very variable and susceptible to change. Memory, the capacity to make new combinations, the gift of oral communication have made possible developments among human beings which are not dictated by biological necessities.
Such developments manifest themselves in traditions, institutions, and organizations…
If we ask ourselves how the structure of society and the cultural attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as possible, we should constantly be conscious of the fact that there are certain conditions which we are unable to modify.
In relatively densely settled populations with the goods which are indispensable to their continued existence, an extreme division of labor and a highly centralized productive apparatus are absolutely necessary. The time — which, looking back, seems so idyllic — is gone forever when individuals or relatively small groups could be completely self-sufficient.
I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time.
…For the sake of simplicity, in the discussion that follows I shall call “workers” all those who do not share in the ownership of the means of production — although this does not quite correspond to the customary use of the term. The owner of the means of production is in a position to purchase the labor power of the worker.
…In so far as the labor contract is “free,” what the worker receives is determined not by the real value of the goods he produces, but by his minimum needs and by the capitalists’ requirements for labor power in relation to the number of workers competing for jobs. It is important to understand that even in theory the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his product.
Early Einstein
Early Einstein
Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands…an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society.
This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature… under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education).
It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.
Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job…
Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25051.1
…the dependence of the individual upon society is a fact of nature which cannot be abolished — just as in the case of ants and bees. However, while the whole life process of ants and bees is fixed down to the smallest detail by rigid, hereditary instincts, the social pattern and interrelationships of human beings are very variable and susceptible to change. Memory, the capacity to make new combinations, the gift of oral communication have made possible developments among human beings which are not dictated by biological necessities.
Such developments manifest themselves in traditions, institutions, and organizations…
If we ask ourselves how the structure of society and the cultural attitude of man should be changed in order to make human life as satisfying as possible, we should constantly be conscious of the fact that there are certain conditions which we are unable to modify.
In relatively densely settled populations with the goods which are indispensable to their continued existence, an extreme division of labor and a highly centralized productive apparatus are absolutely necessary. The time — which, looking back, seems so idyllic — is gone forever when individuals or relatively small groups could be completely self-sufficient.
I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time.
…For the sake of simplicity, in the discussion that follows I shall call “workers” all those who do not share in the ownership of the means of production — although this does not quite correspond to the customary use of the term. The owner of the means of production is in a position to purchase the labor power of the worker.
…In so far as the labor contract is “free,” what the worker receives is determined not by the real value of the goods he produces, but by his minimum needs and by the capitalists’ requirements for labor power in relation to the number of workers competing for jobs. It is important to understand that even in theory the payment of the worker is not determined by the value of his product.
Early Einstein
Early Einstein
Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands…an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society.
This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature… under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education).
It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.
Production is carried on for profit, not for use. There is no provision that all those able and willing to work will always be in a position to find employment; an “army of unemployed” almost always exists. The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job…
Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all. The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?
http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=25051.1
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