The Straits Times Blogs - Latest Entries

Raising the 'Kampung' spirit

2009-01-06T10:06:00Z

Leonard Lim gives his take on why the Kampung Games is here to stay.

THE Kampung Games - long-time observers of Singapore sport will immediately conjure up images of the South-east Asia Games when this is mentioned.

And with good reason. Host countries usually push for the inclusion of "traditional" sports they are strong in, like petanque (throwing small metal balls at a bigger wooden one), arnis (a martial arts event where competitors hit each other with rattan sticks) and shuttle-cock kicking (capteh).

These are not in the Asian, Commonwealth or Olympic Games calendar but so what?

The hosts are usually strong in such indigenous sports and it can only help boost their overall medal tally and vault them up the standings.

Who cares if others says it makes the Games a joke?

The "Kampung Games" moniker came to my mind once again when on Sunday, Malaysia's Sports Minister Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob suggested sending second-stringers to the 25th edition of the SEA Games in Laos in December.

This, after Laos decided to drop mainstream sports like tenpin bowling and squash - gold medal prospects for Malaysia - in favour of shuttle-cock kicking and fin swimming.

A ridiculous move that devalues the SEA Games, Datuk Ismail said, calling the Games a 'circus'.

True to a certain extent, for host countries have long pushed for the inclusion of such nonsensical events that masquerade as sports.

Still, the Games do hold some relevance, and in a sense beyond a sporting one.

First, it is a good training ground even for sports that countries have already reached Asian or world-class levels.

Singapore Sailing president Low Teo Ping, for instance, has no qualms about sending his "B" team to the SEA Games, given that the sport has churned out world and Asian champions in the past few years.

The SEA Games would help them get used to the pressures of a major meet, before they go on to higher-level events.

And for sports like athletics, Singapore is nowhere near the Asian level, so the SEA Games remains the high point for many athletes to aim for in their careers.

National 100m record holder Amanda Choo, for instance, was only seventh in the 2007 SEA Games final but set a new national mark in the competition.

The biennial Games is also a chance for Asean countries to come together and celebrate the spirit of sport and Asean solidarity.

That is why you will notice other Asean countries will close one eye and allow hosts to include a few eyebrow raising sports like fin swimming.

The SEA Games also allows athletes of such lesser-known sports a stage to showcase their skills to the region and increase awareness of what they are all about.

Say what you will, but the sight of swimmers wearing snorkel masks and fins and racing underwater makes for good entertainment, doesn't it?

So a circus it may be, but the Kampung Games is here to stay.

Realism? In a melodrama? Get real!

2009-01-06T07:11:00Z

Andy Chen discusses whether Little Nyonya's ending was true to life.

ROUGHLY one in three Singaporeans tuned in to the finale of the MediaCorp Channel 8 drama serial, Little Nyonya.

But not too many were happy with the ending.

Jeanette Aw's title character, Yueniang, did not enjoy a happily-ever-after ending with her prince charming, Chen Xi, played by Qi Yu Wu.

Instead, the Little Nyonya of Japanese and Chinese Peranakan descent abandons the love of her life, leaving him to think she died in a fire. Then she goes off to marry a British lawyer, probably in hopes of starting a United Colours of Benetton/United Nations DNA strand in her family gene pool.

Maybe she just preferred fusion food?
Source: Mediacorp

Apparently, the powers-that-be at Channel 8 thought it was a good ending. "Realistic" is how they described it. And they aren't necessarily wrong either.

In life, you don't always get what you want, and when you do a good deed like help your step-cousin escape from an arranged marriage, you could well end up raped, abused, impregnated, tortured and left for dead by a monster of a husband. That kind of things MUST happen all the time back in the old days. And THAT must surely be realistic.

I don't know what kind of life experiences the scriptwriters and drama producers have had (and I don't want to be presumptuous, in case some of them have had relatives who have been raped, abused, impregnated, tortured, forced to eat bugs, worms and rats, and then left for dead).

But realism flew the coop the moment an ageing matriarch played by Lin Meijiao could throw a 20-something Yueniang taller than herself into the sea from a ship as effortlessly munching an ang ku kueh. I mean, come on, even Pierre Png has to exert more energy coping his Chinese lines.

Even more "realistically", Yueniang survives, as does her young daughter who is also tossed into the ocean like last season's sarong kebaya.

The quest for realism must also be the reason Yueniang, always looking fetching in her thin, sheer Peranakan blouses, could remain a virgin for years, despite running around with a bunch of uneducated thugs. Must be something in the Peranakan food she feeds them that dampens their libido.

I could go on, but you get the point (even if the drama producers didn't).

This. Is. A. Melodrama.

It is why housewives and closet aunties tune in to watch this instead of following developments in the Gaza Strip on CNN. Give 'em either a romantic walk into the sunset or have EVERYONE go up in flames.

As the Chinese idiom goes: Tong gui yu jin. Romance or doom!

None of that half-assed "realistic" rubbish.

How do YOU think Little Nonya should have ended? Leave your comments here and take our poll!

Filipino afire about abuse of power

2009-01-06T06:30:00Z

Alastair McIndoe describes the Internet ire about a high-profile kerfuffle.

In Jakarta

BLOGGERS and internet message boards are seething with anger over a "guns, goons and golf" scandal embroiling a member of President Gloria Arroyo's Cabinet.

It started over an altercation at the Valley Golf and Country Club in Antipolo near Manila on December 26th. Businessman Delfin dela Paz and his 14-year-old son claim that they were beaten up by the two sons (one of them a city mayor) of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman and three of their bodyguards.

According the Dela Pazs, Mr Pangandaman witnessed the incident but did not intervene. An emotional eyewitness account of the alleged assault was posted on the blog of Mr Dela Paz's 18-year-old daughter Bambee.

Source: Internet

Her story spread like wildfire cross the Internet, with Filipinos here and abroad expressing sympathy for her dad and brother, and largely vilifying the Pangandamans.

"This is a classic display of politicians using their power to get away with whatever they want," wrote Kenneth Ragpala in one of hundreds of comments on her blog.

To be fair, both sides are claiming to be the victims in the affray. And both families filed suits against each other on Monday over the incident.

The online support for the Dela Pazs has vividly shown the deep resentment that many Filipinos feel towards officials in general who throw their weight around.

Motorists, for one, bristle at the sight of luxury SUVs, usually in twos or threes, belonging to powerful officials or politicians packed with bodyguards tearing, sirens blazing, along city highways and country roads scattering everything in their way.

According to Ms Dela Paz, her father complained to a golf-club official that members of the Pangandaman party, riding in golf carts, had cut ahead to the next hole without asking permission, a breach of golf etiquette. She said that her father and mayor Nasser Pangandaman Jr then got into a heated arguement on the fairway.

"He attacks my father," she wrote on her blog. "His flightmates, maybe 2 or 3 of them, rush to his aid and beat up my father. My 56-year-old father.

"My younger brother and I could not just watch. We rushed to break the fight. My younger brother pleads to the mayor to please stop it. To not hurt my dad. To just stop.

"His words still ring through my head....With his hands in front of his chest in a praying position. PLEADING. The mayor socks him in the face.

"My brother defended himself. My dad is still on the ground getting clobbered. My brother is the same way. I try to stop the fight, but all I can do is stop one person. There were four or five of them attacking now," she wrote.

The rumble resumed in the clubhouse, where she alleges the mayor attacked her brother again and two bodyguards with the Pangandamans drew their guns.

A television news crew later interviewed her distraught brother Bino, a high-school student in Manila. Dried blood was visible on one of his ears.

Ms Dela Paz studies at a university in the Unted States. On her blog, Vicissitudes, she describes herself as a "Full-blooded Filipina. Feminist/Nationalist."

It is flooded with sympathetic messages. Prominent political commentators in the Philippines have also waded into the debate.

Writer and broadcaster Manuel Quezon III, grandson of a former president, wrote on his blog: "When someone like Bambee Dela Paz and her family collide with official thugs, the collision isn’t just physical, it’s cultural. The set of rules that keeps the plebs in their place is never supposed to intrude into places where gentility matters."

Ms Dela Paz made clear that Mr Pangandaman Sr did not take part in the altercation. But, she adds: "He didn't do anything to stop it. And this person...is a Cabinet member."

That he was recently appointed by President Arroyo to a new government panel handling the peace process with the country's largest Muslim rebel group, made the story even more piquant. He comes from a prominent political family on Mindanao Island. His son and namesake Nasser is mayor of Masiu City in Lanao del Sur province there.

According to Ms Dela Paz, Mr Pagandaman Jr yelled at his caddy: "They don't know who we are. Tell them who I am." If he did, that could harden the view that this was not just a hot-blooded row between golfers (and there's a sizable fiery Latino streak in most Filipinos), but a case of the "arrogance of power" as one newspaper columnist put it.

As things stand, the Pangandamans have not given a detailed account of their side of the story. Mr Pangandaman Jr has reportedly claimed that he reacted in self-defence, alleging that Mr Dela Paz attacked him with an umbrella.

A dog's life in Mumbai

2009-01-05T09:23:00Z

P. Jayaram explores the debate on how to control Mumbai's dog 'nuisance'.

In Mumbai

Mumbai, India's financial hub, has an estimated 70,000 stray dogs and every year, they leave more than 25,000 city dwellers nursing dog bites.

The growing problem has left many residents fuming, but not animal lovers.

In fact, the issue has gone all the way up to the Bombay High Court, which ruled by a 2-1 majority judgment late last month that dogs which were a “nuisance” can be killed.

The court gave the ruling in response to a public interest litigation filed by a Mumbai-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), In Defence of Animals, challenging the validity of certain provisions of a law that permits killing of dogs under certain conditions. It said animals had as much constitutional right to life as humans and had a “right to expect compassion from Indian citizens”.

The judges held that apart from putting to sleep stray dogs that are incurably ill, mortally wounded, rabid or perennially violent, the municipal commissioner could use his discretion to order the killing of dogs that are causing “public nuisance”.

The court interpreted “nuisance” in this instance as “anything that endangers life or is injurious to the health of the public at large”.

While it noted that mere barking could not be cause for killing a dog, “dogs that have the habit of chasing moving vehicles, especially two-wheelers, may be treated as a public nuisance as they could lead to accidents”.

Is canine culling legal?
ST Photo: Rakesh Sahai

The killing of dogs is not permitted under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act except under certain conditions, and the court’s ruling drew opposition. The NGO, In Defence of Animals, has secured a six-week stay of the court’s order, to appeal to the Supreme Court.

In the meantime, other activists have begun a campaign to save the strays.

Former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, a self-avowed animal lover and prominent international animal rights campaigner, may join Bollywood stars at a planned rally to protest against the court’s order.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) said the rally would also include Bollywood actors like John Abraham and Raveena Tandon.

Peta’s India head, Anuradha Sahwney, said killing the stray dogs was not a solution. “If you kill a dog, another one will come. You have to encourage people to adopt them and remove their food source from the roads and sterilise them,” she said.

“We plan to launch a fully focused attack to raise awareness among the people about the importance of cleaning the garbage (on which the stray dogs feed) and sterilisation of the dogs.”

The stray dog problem is not confined to Mumbai. Almost every city has a huge stray canine population, and there have been cases of such dogs attacking children, necessitating, in some cases, hospitalisation.

Residents of some parts of Mumbai, angry with the civic authorities’ failure to check the stray dogs menace, have also reportedly poisoned the animals.

In 1999, the Bombay High Court had stopped local civic bodies from killing stray dogs and ordered sterilisation drives to control their population after several NGOs petitioned it describing the killings as “barbaric and inhuman”. The latest order reverses that decision.

Opinion on dealing with the stray dogs remains divided.

“Every night, when I return from work, a pack of dogs come barking and chasing my rickshaw,” Mr Andre D’Souza, a resident of Mumbai’s Bandra area, told the DNA newspaper. He added: “I want a solution to this problem soon because I do deserve to move in my locality freely as and when I wish to.”

Faced with protests over the court order, the Mumbai municipal corporation has decided to set up a “euthanasia committee” to recommend a “humane way” to kill the stray dogs.

“We will inject them with phenol barbipone which will kill them in a more humane way,” a municipal health officer said.

Earlier, the civic body used to kill the animals by putting them in water and electrocuting them. According to some NGOs, some 400,000 stray dogs have been killed in Mumbai since 1994, but that has not brought down their number.

Sterilisation may be a more "humane" way to deal with the strays, but the question is how do you round up 70,000 of them?

Find us if you can.
Source: AP

No pressure, Khairul

2009-01-05T08:22:00Z

Wang Meng Meng on the pitfalls of being the "new Fandi Ahmad".

AT THE Football Association of Singapore, there is a buzz following the discovering of the new Fandi Ahmad.

Some officials believe Singapore's favourite footballing son's heir is finally found and his name is Khairul Nizam, a 17-year-old now training with the Young Lions.

Heir apparent?
ST Photo: Albert Sim

Some might scoff at this revelation and I don't blame them.

After all and all too often, any youngster that scores a couple of goals in the Lion City Cup, the tournament that Fandi used to announce his arrival, will be dubbed "the new Fandi".

Or any promising striker that has a few good outings in the Prime League or S-League will be elevated into the "new Fandi" status.

The Straits Times has an electronic archive that allows journalists to read old newspaper articles printed by the Singapore Press Holdings.

Type "new Fandi Ahmad" and a string of names can be found.

Some you might have heard, like Indra Sahdan Daud, Ahmad Latiff Khamarudin, Khairul Amri and Noh Alam Shah.

Many more you probably have not, like Norfahazly Kamsan, Said Salim and Fadzuhasny Juraimi.

The only shocker is that the list of names becomes longer when you type "latest Fandi Ahmad" in the query box.

None has lived up to that hype.

Indra had Fandi's qualities on the deck while Alam Shah had similar aerial powers but neither enjoyed the consistent success Singapore's favourite footballer had.

Norfahazly, Said and Fadzuhasny have faded away, for various reasons.

Yet, FAS officials sincerely believe Nizam is The One, saying that he is the "closest thing there is to Fandi". They hope that with careful grooming and if the teenager keeps his feet planted firmly on the ground, he can make it big in football.

A sparring match between the Young Lions and Raddy Avramovic's senior team on Sunday showed why.

Coming on as a second-half substitute, he had five shots and two headers in 45 minutes, inspiring his team to a battling performance as they went down 2-3 to the Lions.

He "hung" in the air, a Fandi signature move, leaping to beat towering defender Baihakki Khaizan in aerial duels.

He had an arsenal of flicks, what former Malaysia Cup coach Choo Seng Quee called "weapons", to turn on the ball and dribble past markers in one fluid motion.

Even though six out of his seven attempts sailed wide or over the bar, he is not afraid to fail and kept chipping away.

But when the one that was on target, it bulged the net.

Nizam dispossessed left-back Juma'at Jantan on the flank before bearing down on Lionel Lewis and beating Singapore's first-choice goalkeeper with an emphatic finish.

This was against a backline that had the best defensive record when it conceded just twice in the recent AFF Suzuki Cup.

He is not the finished article, that's for sure.

Nizam still struggles with his fitness, which explains why he could only terrorise opponents for one-half. He is still frail and lacks the muscles to batter centre-backs into submission.

However, in that fleeting appearance, he did provide a precious glimpse of his immense potential and a mirror image of Fandi.

But to be Fandi is to carry the hopes of a nation hungry for success in football, above all other sports.

To be Fandi is to be a role model to kids, to inspire children to pick up the game and to drill home the message of hard training and clean living.

To be Fandi is to carry on playing even though his body tells him to stop, as the man previously obliged Kallang even though he had eight operations on both shoulders and ankles - and even a deep gash on his buttocks no thanks to a freak accident after he unwittingly sat on a seat lever in a bus.

Fandi was always early for training working on his fitness and stayed back late to polish his finishing.

A skinny lad in his teens, he built up mass with a crash diet of carbohydrates and meat during his stint with Dutch side FC Groningen.

They have similar qualities on the pitch, similar physiques at the age of 17 and both singled out as special talents, but Nizam still has a long way to go to emulate Fandi.

He needs lots of physical training and nutrition to beef up his willowy frame and even more imperative is loads of work on his stamina.

The boy lasted just 35 minutes of his 45-minute appearance. In the last 10 minutes, he was reduced to the role of a walking pedestrian.

Still, his talent is undeniable.

When I met the man himself in his Jakarta home last month, yours truly could not resist asking the king about his heir apparent.

With a shrug of his shoulder, Fandi's short reply was: "Let's wait and see.''

Fandi is right. For sure, he must have been asked this countless times, the question on his successor.

So many had come and gone, without even making any impact. The tag "the new Fandi" is both a blessing and a curse, with every young player bestowed that label failing to deliver.

Khairul Nizam is a bright new hope, arguably the brightest ever since a young Fandi burst onto the scene as a very special 16-year-old more than 30 years ago.

We can only hope he makes it. Singapore is crying out for a genuine football hero.

Bangkok tragedy hits home

2009-01-05T01:03:00Z

Carolyn Quek describes the atmosphere as relatives identify victims.

In Bangkok

IT IS the same scene over the past four days I visited the mortuary at the Police General Hospital in Bangkok, where most bodies of the Santika night club tragedy are kept, and more and more are being identified and claimed.

Outside, photos of the unidentified dead are slowly taken off - one by one - as soon as it is established who's who.

Scores of relatives line up outside the mortuary office for updates or to settle administrative matters; others cry in anguish as their dead loved one is transferred into a coffin and last rites performed.

A majority of these relatives are Thai, but two sets of Singaporean friends have also been seen there in the past two days.

They have been hoping against hope that Mr Lu Weiye and Mr Leslie Yeo would be alive.

They had searched through forensic photographs in the hope that something familiar would show up.

Their search was finally put to an end on Sunday, though it was not the way they would have wanted it to be,

The two men were positively identified through DNA tests and will assist the families of these men when they reach Bangkok today.

The suddenness of the tragedy has left the families and loved ones of the victims in shock, denial and in need of answers.

A bereaved mother of a 28-year-old Thai victim in the Bangkok nightclub tragedy told me she sought the help of a famous fortune teller to find out what had happened and to ask those still missing to "get out of the club".

Her son was among a group of seven friends that had hit the Santika night club that night; Mr Lu was one of them.

The families and loved ones of these victims must get their answers - not through fortune tellers, but from those responsible for the club.

The tragedy is senseless and preventable, and should never happen again.

And as much as the friends and relatives of Mr Lu and Mr Yeo were hoping that they had gotten out of the club safely, it wasn't to be.

Now, another two bodies will be flown back to Singapore in coffins.

Converging agendas hold up traffic

2009-01-04T08:03:00Z

Lynn Lee on recent rallies in Jakarta that weren't just about Israel and Gaza.

In Jakarta

HUNDREDS of Indonesians - mostly university students and members of Islamic religious groups - have been staging protests against Israel's aggression towards Gaza for the past week.

On Friday, it was the turn of thousands from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), an up-and-coming Islamic political party that pundits will be watching closely in the April legislative election.

The party, which has cleverly branded itself as a moderate Islamic party championing anti-corruption and good governance, took slightly over 7 per cent or 8.3 million votes in the 2004 polls. Some analysts have predicted that they could double this result this time round.

While the plight of Palestinians was the focus on Friday, the gathering smacked of a show of strength by the party in their stronghold, which consists of Jakarta and its surrounding cities.

Aptly, the protest began brewing in an area considered to be the heart of downtown Jakarta, amidst hotels, upmarket malls and offices.

Traffic crawled to a snail's pace for close to 2 hours at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.

According to the Jakarta Post online, the protest was organised by a PKS branch from Bekasi, a satellite city east of Jakarta. A spokesman named Chaider (he uses a one word name) had said on Thursday that the organisers were "urging everyone to join in a long march to pressure the US government to take firm action to halt the Israeli air raids against Hamas in the Gaza strip."

Usually bustling with honking cars and motorbikes at lunchtime, the streets around the traffic circle had been eerily quiet in the morning.

But by 1pm, they were clogged up by supporters - dressed in party T-shirts and holding the white, yellow and black party flag - and policemen sent there to maintain the peace. The police later estimated that "tens of thousands" of protesters showed up.

A few young men perched on the back of a blue pick-up truck, using a loudhailer to rally sympathy for the more than 400 people who have been killed in Gaza so far. As their voices bounced off the walls of the buildings, women in headscarfs clutched the hands of young children and shuffled along the hot tarmac enmasse.

Around them, the atmosphere seemed festive, as if families were enjoying a day out with their children before the start of the school term next week.

Some sat on groundsheets under blue skies, chatting and tucking into their lunches of nasi rames (rice with different dishes) and gado-gado. Street vendors were all around, hawking bottled water and Wall's ice-cream, prepaid mobile phone cards, and PKS paraphernalia like badges.

Yet others were taking the opportunity to promote the party's candidate for president, in the July presidential elections.
They wore black T-shirts that said "HNW for President", referring to former party chairman and current leader of Indonesia's constitutional assembly Hidayat Nur Wahid

But as the afternoon unfolded, weary faces - of Indonesians wanting to get on with their lives - began to appear in the crowd.

One mall closed off its exits and entrances temporarily, with shoppers either stuck in the malls or on the sidewalk. Taxi drivers circled the small streets in the area, unwilling to leave the area and get caught up in the gridlock. And hundreds of commuters in Trans-Jakarta buses - buses that ply the main arteries of the city and have their own bus lanes to beat the city's horrible traffic congestion - were left stuck onboard, watching as the bus lane filled up with around 10 buses.

Things cleared up after 3pm when the supporters finally left the area for the United States embassy, a 30-minute walk away. They ended up staging a demonstration outside.

For them, Friday afternoon turned out to be time well-spent for their multiple agendas to be played out.

A coordinator from the party, Tubagus Arif, said in a statement to media later that the aim of the protest was to show solidarity with the Palestinians facing "Israeli atrocities".

But for those in Jakarta unknowingly caught up in the crush of people and the traffic snarl, Friday afternoon turned out to be not so pleasant after all.

Civic campaign efforts pay off

2009-01-04T02:27:00Z

Kimberly Spykerman tracks the progress of 'Goodness Gracious Me!'

JUST before Christmas, a colleague and I were tasked with doing a broad sweep of the locations that The Straits Times' "Goodness Gracious Me!" project had made its home in.

And I think it's safe to say that three months on, the message is clearly beginning to sink in, and take effect. A sizeable number of diners are now bussing their own trays, a far cry from what we observed when the project first kicked off.

Particularly notable are the results at the Zion Road hawker centre. During my lunch hour there, i was thrilled to see that in a space of 15 minutes, I counted more than 20 people who had returned their own trays.

When approached, most of them cited the convenience of having the tray return stations placed all over the hawker centres. The National Environment Agency, who oversees the running of the hawker centre, has ensured that the eight steel contraptions are placed at strategic locations around the hawker centre, so that diners never have to go out of their way to return their trays.

The five "Kopitiam" outlets have also reported steady progress, even though they did not have the same type of hardware in place. It was far more encouraging then to realise then, that those people who cleared their trays, did so because they wanted to spare a thought for the diners using the table after them.

One such person was Prof Chia Kok Hoong, 48, a Senior Consultant at Tan Tock Seng hospital, who likened returning trays after meals to any other act of consideration - which should come natuarlly. He said: "It’s (returning your tray) like walking your dog and bringing plastic bags to pick up their poo. When you use the toilet you also have to flush after yourself, it’s the same!"

The Kopitiam group have since added another outlet to their list - the staff canteen at the Singapore general Hospital, and they hope to move the "Goodness Gracious Me!" message into all their 80 outlets soon . Plans are also underway to ensure that designs of future outlets will include prominent tray-return stations to encourage more people to return their trays.

Having the hardware in place provide the baby steps to a more gracious culture, but looking at the latest progress report, I'm pretty convinced that it's only a matter of time before returning trays becomes second nature to us.

A leap too far

2009-01-02T00:54:00Z

Tan Chong Yaw wonders why dates still confuse Microsoft after the Y2K fiasco.

ZUNE users had a nasty New Year shock. This Wednesday on New Year’s Eve, some owners booted up their Microsoft Zune music player and found their device frozen.

It seems that the Zune’s internal clock had trouble with the 366 days in 2008 – a leap year. The Zune froze in its own rigid logic where there can only be 365 days in a year.

If the Zune were in an old-fashioned sci-fi flick, it would keep bleating “Does not compute”.

Party animals who did not touch their Zune on New Year’s Eve – the 366th day – were spared. Folks who needed a continual feed of music for every waking moment weren’t so fortunate.

But all went well. The cure was simple. Drain the battery and then fully recharge the Zune.

Fortunately, The problem hit only the 30GB model which would not fully boot up. There are more than more than three million Zune sold since Nov 2006 when it was first launched according to an Associated Press report. Capacities range from four to 120GB. In Singapore, not many Zunes are sold here.

You would expect devices like MP3 players, smart phones, home wireless networking and even laptops to just work. Like a TV – switch it on and everything works.

Most consumers are not geeks who are creatures that get their kicks tweaking their gear for the last gram of performance or making one-of-a-kind creations.

But, honestly, even partial geeks – like tech writers – tire of having to get devices to work as they are supposed to do. Never mind doing undocumented tricks.

This is not something monumental like the unbelievably silly Y2K fiasco. But – come on – surely the lesson should already have been learnt!

You Can't Stop Rock 'n' Roll? Sorry, Twisted Sister - Microsoft just did – fortunately only for a day.

Freedom for one, despair for others

2009-01-01T07:15:00Z

Lynn Lee on why 2008 ended on a sour note for Indonesia's human rights defenders.

TO human rights defenders in Indonesia and beyond, 2008 ended on a sour note when a man alleged to have masterminded the murder of a prominent activist walked away free.

Four months after he was charged for the 2004 killing of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, Muchdi Purwoprandjono, a former deputy chief of Indonesia's National Intelligence Agency (BIN) was released of all charges by an Indonesian court.

The case was deemed a litmus test for Indonesia's commitment to human rights and the rule of law, some 10 years since its birth as a democracy.

Still, mutterings among diplomats and analysts in the weeks before was that Muchdi might go free, as the claims that established his involvment in the case had recently started to look shaky.

For instance, the prosecution had argued that Muchdi had a clear motive to kill Munir, then the head of Kontras (the commission of missing persons and victims of violence). Muchdi had been sacked after a brief stint in a top Army post, after an investigation led by Munir revealed his role in the disappearance of anti-government activists in 1997 and 1998, said the prosecution. But testimonies by two senior military officers went against this claim, while other witnesses for the prosecution had retracted statements given to police during initial investigations.

But hopes were still high among Munir's supporters on Wednesday morning, when around 500 of them gathered in the courthouse compound in South Jakarta over an hour before the session began.

Dressed in red T-shirts that said "Justice for Munir, Justice for All" in Indonesian, women in headscarfs and youth in tight jeans stood side-by-side in the muggy heat, as police officers, in their cursory checks of all those who entered the compound, amassed a collection of water bottles at the front gate.

As 9.30am and the start of the session approached, the police presence increased substantially. Some 400 were dispatched to the site, the Jakarta Post later said. And they were all around. Dressed in their signature mud-brown uniforms, some bore cannisters of tear gas while others inserted themselves in between groups of supporters, watchful of rising tensions.

One officer directed traffic with a loudhailer - a job that mostly consisted of him yelling at minibuses plying the 2-lane street to leave the entrance to the compound clear, instead of offloading passengers there. In a corner of the compound, rows of plastic shields - used by riot police to fend off aggressive crowds - stood ready to be used.

Supporters of Muchdi - a much smaller group - slouched around the entrance of the courthouse. Dressed in blue, they filed into the building early on and occupied a corner of it, waiting for the verdict. Not far from them, more red T-shirt-clad supporters stood silent, bearing placards that read "I love Munir".

It took an hour and a half before chief judge Soeharto came to the verdict. And when he announced that Muchdi was free to go, cheers rang out from one side of the court, while shouts exploded in the rest of the compound. At one point, Munir's supporters surged towards the entrance of the court, while a member of the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (KASUM) group urged them to stand back. Then, they moved into the carpark of the compound, chanting "Pembunuh, Pembunuh" (killer) and "Pak Munir, siapa yang bunuh! Muchdi" (who killed Munir! Muchdi?).

Yet there was little more they could do, although some 200 of them later took to the Presidential Palace in central Jakarta in protest.

Munir's widow Suciwati summed it up best when she told reporters outside the court that she felt the prosecutors had not been forceful enough in pushing for justice for her husband.

And perhaps, some ordinary Indonesians feel the same way.

Leaving the courthouse close to noon,The Straits Times reporters bumped into the owner of restaurant specialising in duck dishes down the street.

"What's the verdict? How many years did Muchdi get?" he asked excitedly.

Muchdi is free, came the reply from one of us.

At that, the restaurateur shook his head, threw his hands up in mock despair, and muttered quietly, "How can this be?"

Rowdy streets vs hotel lobbies

2008-12-31T07:17:00Z

Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja describes how Jakartans celebrate the new year.

STREET vendors selling trumpets - made out of used magazines and calendar papers - have flocked to the shoulders of Jakarta streets. They are reminders that New Year's eve is around the corner.

For most Jakartans, New Year's eve means driving around the capital city's streets blowing trumpets around midnight. Some would climb on top of public buses and dance away while the vehicle cruises at a snail's pace in the heavy traffic while police officers on duty look on. Others who are not so daring would hire pick-up trucks and throw themselves into the back for their very own mobile celebrations.

The irony is that newspapers on the first paper day the following year (Jan 2) would report how various traffic accidents have happened at the change of the year.

Strangely, this doesn't seem to scare away anyone as every year the streets are packed more and more with such fun seekers who seemed to put safety at the bottom of their priority list.

As for the middle, upper-class Jakartans, their scene is somewhat different. They don't like to stay on the streets. Instead, they shuffle off to five-star hotels to either hang out in the lobby with friends or indulge themselves in expensive gastronomic delights to the sweet serenade of some of the nation's top singers.

Not all were sore losers

2008-12-31T05:26:00Z

Terrence Voon says locals also showed good sportsmanship at the AFF semi-final.

AMIDST all the high-profile clashes that took place outside the National Stadium on Dec 21, the day Singapore fell to a plucky Vietnam side at the Suzuki Cup semis, there were scenes of genuine sportsmanship that went unnoticed.

Punches and water bottles may have rained down on some of the 3,000-strong Vietnam contingent that infamous day, but there were bouquets too, offered by Singapore fans who knew better.

Immediately after the final whistle, several Singaporeans waded into the visiting fans in the grandstand area, not to pick a fight, but to shake hands with their rivals who had outsung them in the terraces.

Even as hooliganism reared its ugly head later on, not all Singaporeans joined in the verbal and physical abuse.

One example stood out.

As the Vietnam team bus rolled out of the stadium, their players were seen singing and jumping in their seats, buoyed by their unexpected win over the Lions.

One Singapore driver, blared his horn and wound down his window. But instead of an obscene gesture, he smiled broadly and gave the Vietnamese squad the thumbs up.

He knew his team had been beaten fair and square. No more, no less. And he was generous enough to admit it.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the riotous pack who besmirched the name of local football when they blatantly attacked the Vietnamese supporters.

Belatedly, the authorities have confirmed they are conducting a probe into the clashes. Better late than never, I say.

But whilst we weed out and prosecute the troublemakers, do not forget that not every die-hard Lions fan was a sore loser on Dec 21.

Some of us do know how to lose graciously.

What is that again, Mr Hu?

2008-12-31T04:19:00Z

Peh Shing Huei on three words set to become China's 2009 catchphrase.

In Beijing

IT IS not easy being a government translator in China. At almost all official press conferences and events, a Chinese-English translator would be around, required instantly to bridge the gap between the Chinese officials and the foreign journalists.

Most of the time, they do a fairly decent job. But a recent phrase from Chinese president Hu Jintao had translators, foreign media and even academics, flummoxed.

During a commemorative event to celebrate 30 years of China's reform and opening up policy on Dec 18, Mr Hu took a rare break from official speak and used a colloquial phrase.

His words "bu zhe teng" - or do not "zhe teng" - drew audible gasps and laughter from audience in the Great Hall of the People. "Zhe teng" is a phrase popular among the people in northern China, but rarely, if ever, used by central government officials in a formal setting.

What does it mean in English? Here's the tricky part. It is one of those Chinese phrases that seem almost impossible to be neatly translated into English.

Some foreign English media translated it as "don't flip flop", "don't get sidetracked", "don't sway back and forth" and "no major changes".

Perhaps finding the task too cumbersome, the official Xinhua news agency left the phrase out of its English dispatches altogether.

The wordy "don't do something over and over again, and to little effect" seem to capture it best. Essentially, the phrase "zhe teng" has negative connotations and is usually used to refer to someone who keeps trying new things, but in a messy and disorientated way and with no useful final product to show.

So when Mr Hu said "bu zhe teng", he meant to say that China, and in particular the Chinese Communist Party, should be focused on its current system of governance - socialism with Chinese characteristics - and not waste time searching aimlessly for a new model.

During a press conference on Dec 30, when the phrase was brought up again, a State Council official translator simply gave up and said "bu zhe teng" in Chinese - but with a slight English twang.

I guess it's all just too much for the poor translators.

Do you have a better translation? Leave them in your comments here!

The future will take care of itself

2008-12-31T02:21:00Z

Goh Eng Yeow on the need to tackle flashpoints before they become crises.

THE Queen of England recently posed this question: Why did no one predict the credit crunch ?

The response from the professor, who was attending to her, was so straightforward that it was obvious that the world would not be in such a big financial mess if people with the authority had simply asked the right question.

"At every stage, someone was relying on somebody else and everyone thought they were doing the right thing," he said.

It is a dilemma faced not only by great and powerful nations like the United States and Britain but right here in Singapore as well.

Put simply, someone is assuming that someone else will be doing the right thing to ensure that we ride out the financial storm safely.

And many people here are assuming that the Government has all the solutions to the problems at hand.

Take the increasingly serious credit squeeze faced by small and medium sized firms for example.

When I was gathering views to write a column on the subject two weeks ago, I was appalled by the type of reactions I was getting from the professionals like auditors and lawyers who must be aware of the financial trauma which their clients were facing.

"The Government has a lot of feedback already, and they have so many scholars. They will know what to do," one accountant said when asked for his views.

Surely, even a doctor must know what is wrong with his patient before he can diagnose the ailment and prescribe the correct medicine.

But the $2.3 billion emergency life support extended by the Government does not seem to be getting through to the SME patients which needed it.

In the three weeks since it was launched on Dec 1, loans applications from 30 companies worth $5 million were approved.

In contrast, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson used up all the US$350 billion given to him by the US Congress to recapitalise troubled financial institutions in less than two months

It is not that the SME patients had been exactly helpful in identifying the problem. It is extremely frustrating to talk to them. They don’t want to be identified and they don’t want to be quoted. They like to brag about their achievements but not their failings.

They would talk about the tight general credit situation, the reluctance of banks to lend, and the problems faced by their friends in getting loans. In other words, anything to avoid cast the spotlight on the sort of problems which they were facing.

In all, I wrote a commentary, a news analysis, a news story and a blog on the subject in the past two weeks.

Given the importance which small and medium sized firms play in our economy, employing the bulk of our workforce and forming a large fraction of the counters listed on the Singapore Exchange, this is too serious a problem to ignore.

It is good to learn that the Government will shoulder more of its share of insurance premiums for loans to try to get much-needed credit flowing to the business community.

But more problems are likely to flare up in the dark months ahead. Let’s not assume that someone else will be doing something right to make sure that everybody ride out of the crisis safely together.

For better or for worse, we are all in this financial quandary together, and we should take a more pro-active stance to tackle flashpoints before they snowball into a big crisis.

It will not be an easy year ahead but there is no need to be despondent. As the old saying goes: Look after the present and the future will take care of itself.

Happy New Year.

Lower rates, looser loans?

2008-12-30T22:00:00Z

Francis Chan has his ear to the ground to feel the local SME mood.

WHEN the Government said last month that it would be providing $2.3 billion in loans to help ease the credit flow to local businesses during the economic downturn, many in the local SME community were sceptical.

Not of the Government’s intention to help but simply because these smaller firms - whose perennial problem has always centred on financing - know how difficult it is to apply for a bank loan.

First, they have to meet with a banker - some say, the smaller the firm, the younger the banker - who will ask for a business plan, collaterals and other details like financial statements and anticipated cashflows channels.

After a few weeks, they either get the good news that their application has been approved or they hit a deadlock and don’t get the funds they need.

Depending on the end result, the entrepreneur may have to repeat the application cycle again, and again, and again, and that was during the “good old days” where Singapore was seeing annual economic growth of over 7 per cent.

Today, with Singapore’s economy possibly growing even lower than the offical forecast of 2.5 per cent for the year, the issue of banks being adverse to lending remains to be the crux of the problem for some businesses gearing up for an even tougher year ahead.

Yesterday, the Government again stepped up its efforts to help local businesses deal with the impending credit squeeze - this time by lowering interest rates of government-backed loans, and increasing its share of insurance premiums for loans.

In its second annoucement in as many months on helping businesses mitigate cashflow issues, the Government said the latest enhancements are aimed at lowering the cost of credit for businesses as part of an overall package to address the financing needs of local firms.

This comes on the back of the $2.3 billion worth in loans which the Government said that it will pump into the credit system to help local firms tide through this slowdown.

For some of the loans, the Government even said it would bear up to 80 per cent of default risk to encourage financial institutions not to hold back on lending.

One has to wonder why the Government had to go to such an extent - not once but twice in two months - if financial institutions here are indeed still accepting and approving loan applications, and this despite financial institutions constantly rejecting the notion that they have been tightening up on loans.

When news of the Government’s enhancements to existing business financing schemes first broke last month, one of the more prominent leaders in the Singapore SME circle appealed to banks to take a more proactive stance to lending.
“The question is whether the financial institutions are now willing to loosen credit with these new measures. Certainly we hope that the banks will be more willing to consider loan applications and to process loans more quickly,” said Mr Lawrence Leow, president of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises.

And yesterday, after Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran introduced the two new enhancements to the schemes, Mr Leow again made the same appeal.

“The announcement to reduce interest rates will help businesses lower their borrowing costs...but I think the issue now is whether it will stimulate banks into lending money to companies,” said Mr Leow yesterday.

For now, evidence that SMEs are having difficulties in attaining banks loans, with or without Government-backing, remain largely anecdotal.

However, those who spend enough time on the ground with these smaller firms say it is early days yet, as far as the impact of the credit crunch on businesses here is concerned.

“Most will still have existing credit lines and loans which they obtained before the onset of the crisis. And with order books typically consolidated during 2006 and 2007 still in play, it may be too early to determine the depth of the credit crisis which SMEs face at this point in time,” said a veteran entrepreneur who spoke to me on condition of anonymity.

“Just wait till the first or second quarter in 2009 - that will be the true test of a company’s resilience and a banker’s loyalty to his customer,” he added with a wryly smile.

Read Francis Chan's full story "Business borrowing made cheaper" here.