That escape: Crucial Issues aplenty, so let's move on...
Reading Straits Times articles often makes my blood boil.
Especially recent ones on the Mas Selamat Kastari incident and the Committee of Inquiry findings disclosed by Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng in Parliament this week.
Too many Straits Times Journalists:
- Obviously have no ability to think beyond what the PAP tells them to think, yet they think that they are in a position to pass judgment.
- Seem to feed on what the government feeds them, and try to outdo themselves in sakah-ing the powers that be; and
- Have no sense of perspective, seeming to think the escape of one detainee is an insignificant incident that does not affect Singapore's reputation on the world stage.
Or will they be like Mr Lee Hsien Loong who will readily defend the country's ministers whether they seem competent or not?
How many of them set up straw men or hurled red herrings and other fallacies to defend the government when the hint of governmental responsibility was suggested? How many pushed the party agenda instead of holding the ruling party accountable to Singapore's people even when the people cried out for aid in times of recession?
If a government official failed in his duty, will the press not rise up to defend the incompetence while pushing the blame onto others?
In both cases, there has been negligence - And the press in Singapore has readily risen to the challenge to quash all inquiries of the public that dare to challenge the omnipotent wisdom of the PAP.
Common sense will tell you that it will only be a matter of time before the public will figure out the lies that the broadsheet is spreading, or there will be no accountability left in no time.
This is not to say that the press will change. Even when a block of flats is found to be unsafe, for instance, due to shoddy workmanship, writers like Chua Lee Hoong will still find a way to divert responsibility away from those in power and push the blame to complacent Singaporeans, even if we tried to call attention to it.
If a hospital was found to have been awarding tenders to its CEO's family and friends, and if the Health Minister knew but did nothing, the press would still be able to spin the story so that we have a new governmental policy to reward the elites in society.
And the Mas Selamat escape? Singapore is now the laughing stock of the world security wise and face? Well...What does Singapore have besides its reputation?
If he were a homicidal maniac, he would have been shot in Outram Road MRT station. But since he's only the leader of one of the major terrorist cells that's active in Asia means that according to Chua, we're as safe as we were before we let the homicidal terrorist, probably pissed as hell about being imprisoned for 2 years, escape.
The escape has been a big stain on the reputation of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). But it has really placed Singapore on the world map for the SNAFU of epic proportions for letting what is now known as a limping man without pants on escape the long, efficient arm of the law. If you talk to people on the internet, the escape has been no more than a long line of screw ups that our lucratively paid ministers have witnessed under their watch.
But this does not mean nothing more has to be done. After such a high signature event, there can be closure only if there are two things: a new press with the actual gumption to be responsible to the people that it claims to serve, and heads seen to roll. Such is the way that human nature is wired.
To Chua - a PAP stooge who only serves as a tripod for the genitalia of the government that she so obviously seems to love, as those who have followed her writings closely over the years will know - there has been unprecedented transparency in the way that the MHA disclosed misinformation (What was he wearing? Pants. Yellow. Chicken suit. Limping only when he runs) over these two months.
Yes, there was moments of absolute clarity, such as when we were informed that a terrorist had escaped. MHA will no doubt have learned from this experience not to actually say anything at all.
Watch as the Straits Times then pulls a red herring comparison between a country that's over 2000 times bigger than Singapore and ourselves.
Word is that there will be a shirking of ministerial responsibility and a round of scapegoating by the next parliament sitting.
Meanwhile, there really are many other things that I would rather focus my mind on.
Like the next general election.
Labels: Chua Lee Hoong, Governmental Responsibility, Mas Selamat, The Straits Times
