IN BERLIN

THERE are no security service goons posted at every street corner, the shops are full of consumer goods, foreign tourists mill about and ordinary people go about their business as elsewhere on the European continent.

That is the Berlin of today.

Things were very much different when I was there in October and November 1989, at the height of the protests that culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Many people were out on the streets because they were fed up with the regime and wanted a better life. But many – as in all revolutions – were just curious on-lookers, individuals who had no political agenda but still marvelled at the sight of the throngs.

Fear was in the air: the military and security services were out in force and, although they did nothing, they looked menacing.

Rumours spread about worse to come: some said that columns of tanks were sighted on neighbouring streets, and that the East German government was about to implement a “Tiananmen Square” solution, by crushing the rebellion, Chinese-style.

There was also fear about what the Soviets may do. For, although we now know that the Soviet leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev decided to do nothing to save the Soviet empire, the people of Eastern Europe were not aware of this at that time.

Everyone, however, remembered what happened in Hungary in 1956, when an anti-communist rebellion was crushed by Soviet forces, or in Czechoslovakia in 1967, when a similar Soviet invasion took place.

The leaders of all European countries also assumed that the Soviet Union would never give up on East Germany, the most strategic colony in its empire.

So, the belief was that, sooner or later, blood would be spilt. The only question was where this may happen.

In the event, of course, nothing happened: the communist regimes melted away, although in Romania this took a week of heavy fighting.

Either way, the people of Eastern Europe were courageous: they knew that they were writing history, they were ready to take risks and – at least some – were also prepared to suffer the consequences.

Nevertheless, the pictures of crowds storming the barricades, the images which have survived in our mind today, were not so evident to those who were present at that time.

All I remember are the swelling crowds, badly-dressed and suffering from a pungent body odour, crammed into pot-marked roads, marching aimlessly, and often for no particular purpose.

There were women pushing prams, bemoaning the fact that their absent husbands are now "involved in politics".

There were the old men who were busy telling everyone what it was like when Berlin – the German capital – was a united city, and people could travel from East to West unhindered. And there were the occasional pickpockets, who smelt an opportunity for some rich pickings.

All of them are now forgotten: the camera lenses have only recorded the joyous faces of people dancing on the Berlin Wall during the night of Nov 9 1989, and the vast, faceless crowds which surged forward to erase Europe’s divisions.

When the first Trabant car — the spluttering East German vehicle made of fibreglass — drove through an opening in the Wall into West Germany, a roar was heard from the crowd: the revolution had succeeded.

"We are free!" shouted a young, bespectacled man next to me. "OK, but now what do we do?" responded an elderly lady.

Nobody bothered to answer her query; people were too busy rushing to put their first foot on Western territory.

Read the complete story in The Straits Times' Saturday Special section.

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A COUPLE of days ago, a blog that focuses on Singapore politics carried a posting which accused Singapore Press Holdings of trying to cripple its web server.

Temasek Review (TR) posted its article, "SPH IP address caught 'grabbing' Temasek Review server" on Nov 2.

It started by defining a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attack - essentially as when a server is bombarded with requests so as to overload and cripple it.

It then went on to say that its monitoring had shown that during a recent period, there was a flurry of network requests coming from an SPH IP address.

Put this together and it is no less than an accusation that SPH had launched an Internet attack on TR. Many of its own readers, too, saw it as such, though TR tried to deny it in the discussion that followed on the site.

The article ended by fishing out the Computer Misuse Act and warning SPH to not continue its "intrusions" to undermine its site. Or else, it said, it would escalate the matter.

You can read the article in full, here (and if SPH is not being accused of a DOS attack, why associate it with this URL title?):
http://www.temasekreview.com/2009/11/02/sph-and-recent-ddos-attack-on-temasek-review/

Well, the truth is no warning was needed; but perhaps a little more understanding of the Internet by TR.

For, as at least one TR reader pointed out in the discussion the followed on the site, IP addresses by themselves do not prove anything. In fact IP spoofing is a common tactic used in a DOS attack and with information available readily (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_address_spoofing) TR should have known that SPH is as easy prey as anyone.

In any case, given the serious allegation made, SPH made checks with its Network Intrusion Protection Services (NIPS) vendor, a reputable multi-national company. We wanted to find out if anyone within the organisation did, indeed, have a go at TR.

Our NIPS vendor found that there was no unusually heavy access to TR during the period of the alleged attack on its site. SPH logs also determined that no one from the company tried to access material from 2008, as claimed by TR.

TR changed the time of the alleged attack (we have print-outs too!! ) some time after the article was first published; but I won't jump up and down the way some bloggers do when an SPH website changes a headline. I'll just put it down to corrections made by TR to improve accuracy.

Nevertheless, data made available to me covered a 3-day period starting before and ending after the alleged attack. It showed that about 25 SPH employees – including yours truly, a regular reader – visited TR; but we did not create the kind of flurry of Net activity that would slow a server down, much less precipitate a DOS.

In fact, from midnight on Nov 1 to about 6 am, (covering a period of the alleged attack) no one from SPH accessed the TR site.

Our NIPS vendor's technical staff member, who checked 7 days worth of data and found no DOS activity originating from SPH concluded: "My opinion of the situation is Temasek Review released the article with very little research into what happened on its server."

It is an expert opinion; but if opinions don't count, here are the facts: Contrary to TRs allegations, neither did anyone in SPH try to "grab" TR material in a way that would load its server; nor did any SPH staffer launch any attack on the server.

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SOME 20 years ago, there was a shop called Sembawang Music Centre at the now-demolished Sembawang Shopping Centre that I frequented.

I was living in Yishun then, and it was the nearest shopping centre for Yishuners. I cannot use the word "mall" to describe the place because that would sound perhaps too "modern" and "upmarket".

You see, Yishun's Northpoint mall with its supermarket, fast food restaurants and trendy shops had not yet been built, and Sembawang Shopping Centre was just a neighbourhood stopping point with more shops than the Yishun town centre.

At that time, music albums were sold as round vinyl records and the more popular spool-tapes. The Walkman and albums on CDs would come later.

There was no Internet (at least not in the way we know it now), and so one had to buy a full-album produced by Elton John or Abba or Lobo even if there were only a few songs that were actually worth listening to.

Or if one wanted to buy a mix of songs, we had to wait for a "Best of" album or those "Hits" compilations by Warner or EMI.

I later moved to Bishan and then lived in Kuala Lumpur for a dozen years. I forgot about Sembawang Music Centre.

But over the years, that small single music shop in Sembawang grew and grew. It had 26 shops  at its zenith.

That itself was perhaps a reflection of how Singapore as a country, also grew and grew. And how Singaporeans also rode the economic crest.

And yes, I did visit several of Sembawang Music Centre's branches over the years whenever I came down to Singapore.

But it was not to buy music albums. They had by then begun selling film VCDs and later DVDs.

By then Mustafa's came along, and also dozens of other shops competing with Sembawang Music Centre selling movies.

And worse, I think, was the Internet that empowered people to download their favourite songs directly — legally or not. There is no need anymore to wait for a “Best of” or a “Hits” complations

There is, really, no need to visit a CD shop anymore for most people.

So it was with some nostalgia that I read about the closure of Sembawang Music Centre, last weekend.

I sighed to myself; "How far we all have gone in life."

So, with some sadness, I went to Plaza Singapura on Tuesday — it was only my second visit to this mall in about 12 years!

I went up to the third floor where Sembawang Music Centre is located;  at least until it too closes down in a few weeks time.

What an irony I thought: The shop is closing down because there is not enough business, but it was packed with people because all items are up for sale — for up to 75 per cent discount.

But no, I did not buy a music CD. I bought four movies, all a few years old, on VCDs (DVDs are too pricey for me) for $14.90.

Silly me, but as I stepped out of the shop after paying up, I couldn't help wonder about the fragility of life itself.

Goodbye my old friend, Sembawang Music Centre.  Thank you for the music and the movies.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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ASSISTANT Professor Wong Meng Ee reads using a scanner.

Dr Wong, 39, who is blind, reads a book by zapping it into a computer – page by page – with a flatbed scanner.

A software – OpenBook – converts the scanned image into words. The words are then read in an artificial-sounding voice to him. The scanner and OpenBook act as his eyes for books, which he relies on for his research and lecture preparation.

Another software, Jaws, is a screen reader. It reads out what is on the laptop screen -- like his e-mail messages and Word documents. 

With such technology aids – called assistive technology (AT) – Meng Ee is able to teach students in diploma, masters and post-graduate courses at the National Institute of Education. 

But AT helps don’t come cheap. 

OpenBook costs US$995 ($1,393). Jaws starts from US$895 ($1,253).

The cheapest Pac Mate, a personal digital assistant (PDA) with a Qwerty keyboard, is a stiff US$2,395 ($3,353) – more than the price of a high-end laptop.

Meng Ee uses a Pac Mate QX for taking notes at meetings. Looking like a bloated keyboard, the PDA, which runs the mobile versions of Microsoft Office, has Jaws built in too. 

Relief is available.

The Assistive Technology Fund (ATF) subsidises up up to $10,000, the purchases of aids like PDAs and screen reader software. The aim is to let people with disabilities cope with mainstream schools or jobs. 

But tech gear can help only so far.

Watching Meng Ee stand over his scanner as he showed me how he "reads" one page of a book, I realised how tough it was for him to do a task that I take for granted. 

Scan. Convert. Listen.

The three-step routine is for pristine print.

Underlined phrase or a highlighted paragraph will confuse the software. Graphs and diagrams are out. So are tables unless they are simple ones. For these, he turns to someone who has sight.

Meng Ee enjoys jazz. But if I were to pick a soundtrack that reflects his indomitable spirit, On Earth As It Is In Heaven – a track from the 1986 movie The Mission – comes to mind. 

The Ennio Morricone composition starts quietly with a choir in sotto voce then builds up gradually but relentlessly into a thundering climax.

Like that composition, nothing in Meng Ee - apart from his firm handshake - revealed his resolve when I first met him. But as he described how he copes with his work, I came to realise the strength of his tenacity.

Kudos to you, Meng Ee.

For more information on the Assistive Technology Fund (ATF), call the Centre for Enabled Living at (65) 6593 6437.

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ONE step forward and two steps back – this seems to be the direction that stock markets across the world are taking after hitting their highs for the year last month.

On Tuesday, market jitters were becoming audible, with the Wall Street’s Vix index – which measures the volatility of the S&P 500 Index – hitting its highest level since March.

While US stock index futures predicted another jaw-dropping fall on Wall Street, legendary investor Warren Buffett struck the biggest deal of his life – a US$26 billion (S$36.4 billion) purchase of Burlington Northern Santa Fe – in what he labelled as his "all-in wager" on America's economic future.

The question again being asked, like last October when he made huge bets on Goldman Sachs and General Electric, is whether Mr Buffett is losing his Midas touch.

He was even willing to issue new shares of his highly-prized investment firm Berkshire Hathaway as part of the purchase package to complete the deal.

But investors had their eyes firmly fixed on the communiqué to be issued by the US central bank at the end of a two-day interest rates fixing meeting tonight.

Despite splurging so much money on a single deal, Mr Buffett failed to move Wall Street at all. The Dow Jones Industrial Averages ended slightly down, spooked by renewed concerns over the business outlook of the US financial giants whose problems had sent the global financial system reeling last year.

What to make of all the mixed signals coming from Mr Buffett and the rest of the US markets so far?

As I write, the benchmark Straits Times Index is up a meagre 17 points to 2639.03. But it is still way below the high-water mark of 2,716 reached last month. Like investors elsewhere, the players here are keeping their powder dry, as they wait for the dust to settle on the latest bout of market uncertainties.

But as my small change column "On the trail of smart money" suggested, a retail investor should track the moves of shrewd market operators like Mr Buffett to time their own purchases for the long-term.

Mr Buffett has, as he had succinctly put it, put both his words and money where his mouth is.

I guess that even for an investor of Mr Buffett’s age – he is after all pressing on to 80 years old – taking a long-term view of companies and economic trends often wins out when they are temporarily depressed by short-term uncertainties - something which I hope to take up in a future small change column.

He may not be making money on his latest "elephant" purchase for years. But then Rome is not built in one day. He may yet be proven right on his latest bet on America’s future.

On another note, I have received several queries from readers to my the latest "small-change" column on how they can track insiders' trades.

The ST publishes a list of insiders’ trades every Friday which highlight some of the big trades of the week.

To get a better handle of the trades themselves, it is best for a reader to identify which corporate titans they wish to follow and the stocks they regularly trade. As these biggies are often the biggest shareholders of the companies, their trades will be reported on the Singapore Exchange website.

Just tracking a couple of trades will not give the reader a hang of the views which these insiders hold on their stocks. You will have to track them over time – months or even years to do so.

One last note: I have made the effort to write the market blog regularly with a view to give online readers a handle on market directions and highlight possible trading trends. Over time, I hope to attract readers to give their views and turn the blog into a vibrant discussion on the market.

The blog has recently attracted comments on topics opposition politics which is inappropriate to the topics being discussed here.

I am glad that some readers have endeavoured to point this out to those polluting this blog with their irrelevant comments.

Those people who are unhappy about non-stock market issues should really air their grievances elsewhere and leave this space for those who are keen to learn more about the equities market and grow their nest-eggs.

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'Happy Deepavali.'

At 06:30 a.m. as I waited in the lobby of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo recently, that was the call from the man striding by.

At first it didn't quite register. Then I awoke from my reverie:

Happy Deepavali, to you, Minister!

Perhaps it was fitting that the first person to wish me that day was George Yeo, Singapore's foreign minister. For Mr Yeo is an uncommon personality. Among all the global personalities I have encountered in a three decades-long career, I have met no one with such an interest in other cultures. I have watched him on an early winter morning, finishing up his breakfast, changing into chinos and a leather jacket to visit the historic Mughal built Sunday Mosque in Delhi's old quarter, only his bodyguards in tow. I have watched him in the dusty outback of India's Bihar state, standing amidst the ruins of the ancient university of Nalanda, fittingly in the company of some of the world's best known intellectual luminaries. He was there to participate in a Singapore-backed dream to revive that ancient Buddhist seat of learning for a new generation of Asians. Last month in Hua Hin, Thailand, the East Asia Summit endorsed that effort.

I am not a big fan of blogsites, but one I unfailingly check every few weeks is Mr Yeo's blog, if nothing else to catch up on some speech of his I may have missed.

On this Deepavali day, we would travel in a quiet land where there was little celebration despite the area being home to large numbers of Hindus. We would move by helicopter to Mannar in the northwest of Sri Lanka, then to Jaffna in the north and on to Trincomallee in the northeast. We would be briefed by military commanders and civilian administrators. We would visit irrigation projects and the Prima factory in Trincomallee, that iconic Singapore investment in Sri Lanka whose products have been consumed by every citizen of that nation. We would visit the historic Jaffna library and the famous Nallur Kandasamy temple in that town.

"Did you see the look on his face when he broke that coconut as an offering at the temple?" a Tamil Singaporean who was part of Mr Yeo's delegation told me later. "The reverence was real."

At the end of the day, having dined with a local industrialist and before embarking for Singapore, Mr Yeo sat down for a media wrapup. There, he unerringly pronounced correctly the names of every town we had visited and every person he met. I was taken aback.

I must have been to Sri Lanka more than a dozen times, sometimes for more than two weeks at a time, but I will not lay claim to have the same facility. Yet, this was only Mr Yeo's second visit to the island and the first was many years ago, when he holidayed there with his wife.

Does all that make him less Chinese, or less interested in the culture of his own forefathers?

Not at all.

In Trincommalee I watched a retired Sri Lankan admiral, now governor of the Eastern Province, brief Mr Yeo. The admiral mentioned an area called China Bay. Immediately, Mr Yeo's ears pricked up. He asked how the area got that name, then went on to answer his own question by discussing various possibilities, including a port call by the Chinese seafarer Zheng He.

Foreign ministers come in all sizes of intellect. Around the world there must be a few who can match Mr Yeo's intellect. But what probably sets him apart is his genuine interest in alien cultures and this surely must be of use in what probably is the world's most globalised island state.

Mr Yeo gives the impression of a man overawed by the splendour of the universe even as he marks his own place in it.

That thought struck me after seeing the transcript of a door-stop interview he gave Colombo journalists after bilateral talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Rohitha Bogollogama.

Dwelling on the talented Sri Lankan diaspora and how it could be harnessed for the country's post-war development, he had this to say: 'All my four children were delivered by Sri Lankan doctors.'

As a lifelong journalist my only regret about Mr Yeo is that he didn't choose to join my profession. Certainly, he had the opportunity.

My former editor in chief, Mr Cheong Yip Seng, once told me he had talent-spotted a young George Yeo just as he had entered government service as a bureaucrat. They were in Indonesia together, accompanying some heavyweight on an official trip.

Sadly, Mr Yeo declined Mr Cheong's offer of employment, choosing to stay on in government.

Too bad. The Straits Times newsroom could have used his skills to teach how to convey the most complex and beautiful thoughts in the simplest language.

And on that subject here is my favourite George Yeo line.

Turning up at an inter-religious meeting a couple of years ago in Singapore, Mr Yeo had this to say about the Parsis. This is the tiny community of Zoroastrians who migrated to India from Persia a thousand years ago and have been successful in business while being great philanthropists.

"The Parsis," said Mr Yeo at that meeting, "have always sweetened the milk that is their host."

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THIS seems terribly tragic but for someone born on Halloween, I actually attended a Halloween gathering for the first time this year.

To be fair, the festival was never a big thing when I was growing up in the 1980s. As far as I can tell, it's only really grown in popularity in recent years.

Luckily my first time turned out to be a highly memorable one, full of vivid sights that will live long in the memory.

I was at the centre of the action at the bridge leading from Riverside Point to the clubs and bars of Clarke Quay, amid hundreds of revellers dressed as everything from devils and ninjas to geisha girls and Scooby Doo.

Singaporeans come out to play for Halloween.
PHOTO: Nicholas Yong

An enterprising stallholder was selling hairbands with glowing horns to those who did not come in costume, but many did not need it.

In a carnival atmosphere reminiscent of Mardi Gras, the night was full of little spontaneous outbursts that livened up the whole atmosphere.

Like the surreal sight of Watchmen's Rorschach calling out to X-Men's Wolverine: "Logan! Come on over for a picture, it’s a superheroes gathering!"

'Wolverine' gets up close with a she-devil. PHOTO: Nicholas Yong

Watchmen's Rorschach isn't scared of H1N1.
PHOTO: Nicholas Yong

Or the Roman who got his toga pulled up by his friend, only to reveal that he was wearing nothing underneath, to moans and cheers from onlookers.

Just below the bridge, partygoers admired one another's costumes and sportingly posed for photos with one another that were guaranteed to find their way onto Facebook the next day. A man dressed as a soft drink even caused a small commotion when numerous individuals ran after him for a picture.

Many came dressed to party, and had clearly put in effort into their costumes.

"Eh, I even did research," said one dressed as a parking attendant, who proudly showed off his big hat and small slingbag with an equally small umbrella hanging from it. He looked so convincing that I almost thought he was going to issue me a summons, even though I hadn't driven there.

Perhaps the anonymity provided by the costumes – a Scream mask here, a ninja hood there – and the haze of alcohol were what ensured a no-holds-barred party.

Nevertheless, even those without masks contributed to the carnival.

A Michael Jackson circa 1985, treated the crowd to an impressive dance display, before slinking away into the night like his very own one-man flash mob.

Standing in a corner, three Brits dressed as old women with mightily impressive fake breasts cackled away in character.

Cackling 'ladies' at Clarke Quay's Halloween celebrations.
PHOTO: Nicholas Yong

Then came my favourite moment of the night: four revellers in iconic costume who sparked a spontaneous cry of "Ghostbusters!", to the tune of the famous song.

Who you gonna call? PHOTO: Nicholas Yong

And of course, the night would not have been complete without the debilitating effects of booze.

My friend, who was in surgical scrubs, arrived at Clarke Quay so sloshed that he actually looked like he was in need of medical attention himself. "I cannot take it, I have to go home already," he moaned after about an hour.

I might have sympathised, but I was too distracted by some Japanese schoolgirls.

Hope all of you had a rocking Halloween.

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IN INDIA

REMEMBER Mrs. Lotika Sarkar, the elderly widow who was divested of her two-storey house in an upmarket neighbourhood in New Delhi by a scheming police officer and his family? (Reduced to a spectator, Jan 22, 2009).

The old lady, 87, is finally getting her house back thanks largely to a concerted media campaign.

Mrs. Sarkar is not some illiterate rural woman who could be conned by a trickster. She is a former head of Delhi University's Law Faculty and a social worker. Her husband Chanchal Sarkar was a leading journalist and a former chairman of the Press Institute of India.

That such a person could be deprived of her "old-age insurance" by foul means is a reflection of the problems elderly people  face in India. Social activists say that that with India's population set to touch 137 million by 2021, such problems will multiply.

To recap Mrs. Sarkar's story, a few years after her husband's death, Mr. Nirmal Dhaundial, a police officer who was a family friend of the Sarkars, moved into her house along with his wife Priti and occupied the ground floor "to look after her." Their employed son Nitish had already been living with Mrs. Sarkar.

Though few of Mrs. Sarkar's relatives remembered seeing them when her husband was alive, Mr. Dhaundial claimed "I am like a son to Latika Sarkar. She has no one to look after her. My son has been living here for six years, and after my elder brother's death, my wife also shifted here to take care of aunty."

The Dhaundials were not the only ones who had their eyes on Mrs. Sarkar's property.

Her maid, Rangita Bharati, who had been thrown out of the house, bag and baggage earlier by the Dhaundials, also forcibly re-entered the house and occupied a room upstairs, saying it had been rented out to her by the old lady.

Mr. Dhoundial, who had used his police powers to throw her out of the house, could not do anything this time because a tenant cannot be evicted without a court order.

A statutory tribunal, set up under the Maintenance and Welfare of the Parents and Senior Citizens Act and which heard Mrs. Sarkar's story, was hard on the police officer in its order last week.

"She has been divested, at the age of 87, of her right to life with dignity through fraud by the Dhoundials who took advantage of her age and poor health," it observed.

It also declared as "void" a gift deed that Mr. Dhoundial, had produced as evidence that Mrs. Sarkar had "gifted" the house to his wife, a claim the old lady resolutely denied in a signed affidavit.

Mrs. Sarkar, who had shifted to a relative's house, said she could never have knowingly given the property away because it was her "old-age insurance."

Mr. Dhoundial's response was that he would return the house to her provided she spent 10 days with his family. Apparently, he thought that would give them sufficient time to work on the the frail, old woman to change her mind.

The tribunal, in its order, said the three Dhoundials (father, mother and son) "may not think of themselves as part of the criminal elements of society but their systematic actions over a period of time have put to shame even skilled professional thieves who make their living by burglary, loot, larceny and robbery etc.

"In this case, the Dhoundials used not gas cutters or house breakers to take over the house of Mrs. Sarkar but used 'nice paper work' as a tool in the property crime."

The news brought cheers to her friends and well-wishers, who have been following the case. It will be their fervent hope that the old lady would be allowed to spend the rest of her life peacefully.

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ALONG with about 800+ other people, I turned up to hear writer Neil Gaiman speak on Graphic Novels and Fantasy at the Victoria Theatre last Sunday.

But I wasn't nearly so excited as his hardcore fans, some of whom had turned up at his every appearance during the recent Singapore Writers Festival held over the last week.

After a few dramas, including the apparent scalping of tickets to this Meet the Author event – despite the fact that they were actually free – and a move to a larger venue, Singapore finally got to sit down and listen to the rock star of modern writing chat with adjudicator Lim Cheng Tju, who reviews graphic novels and comics for The Straits Times' Life! section.

Although the show started about 10 minutes late, the rousing applause when Gaiman arrived shook the rafters. A few whistles and catcalls later, and the lanky, curly-haired, black-clad Gaiman settled in for a friendly chat.

Gaiman is currently one of the English language's most popular writers. He's done everything from fantasy novels and children's books to the celebrated The Sandman series of graphic novels.

Known by the mainstream  for his work like American Gods and his collaboration with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens, Gaiman is just as popular in the more underground world of graphic novels and cartoons.

The adjudicator, Mr Lim, mentioned in his introduction that his first Gaiman book, Good Omens, he bought had been stolen by a girl, and so he'd had to buy another one.

Gaiman laughed in response, telling the crowd that his theory for why Good Omens has sold so many copies is because they keep getting borrowed, so people keep having to buy new ones.

"The originals are always brownish; they've been dropped in the bath at least once and had soup spilled on them," Gaiman joked. "Girls always borrow copies of Good Omens and you never get them back."

A number of Gaiman's books, most notably Stardust and more recently Coraline, have been adapted for film and these topics – Good Omens and film adaptations of his work – topped the hot list of questions asked by the crowd on Sunday.

However Mr Lim launched the session with a question about Gaiman's up-coming 50th birthday; how did he feel about the big 5-Oh?

"Odd, really odd," Gaiman responded. "I've got a really cool life, I've done all I set out to do... if tomorrow my plane goes down, it will be alright."

He then launched into a story about how the only time he'd been worried about flying was on a trip to America in 1988 when he had just begun the Sandman series and was carrying a number of precious drawings by Dave Mckean from Black Orchid with him.

This was just the first in a series of humorous anecdotes that Gaiman indulged in through-out the almost hour-long event. He is, as his fans and readers of his work know, a very funny writer.

What is less well-known is that Gaiman is just as funny in real life – he'd make a great standup comic, or he'd be great on one of those humorous treks around the world like Michael Palin does.

Whatever the organisers of this year's Singapore Writers Festival had to spend to get Gaiman here, was well worth it.

This guy really gave value for money with his friendly, approachable style and 'laugh-out-loud' humour. He also went out of his way to ensure that everyone who brought something to sign, got his signature. Apparently he sat for more than 2 hours on Saturday alone signing books, drawings and graphic novels for Singapore fans.

On Sunday, Gaiman won over the crowd immediately – not that there seemed to be anyone there who wasn't a fan to begin with – with his fabulous description of Singaporeans.

"Singaporeans are very enthusiastic, but in a quiet, polite and very organised way," said Gaiman, going on to make an unflattering comment or two about the Filipinos, which he hastily withdrew, covering with a reference to their "noisiness".

"When I landed in Manilla, I couldn't believe it; they're louder than the Brazilians... and I didn't think anyone could be louder than Brazilians!"

More endearing was Gaiman's theory of a 'secret Singaporean delicacy'. He came up with the theory that 'stuffed author' was a secret Singaporean delicacy, where you take "one graying, older author. Feed him wonderful food until he's completely stuffed, and then slice him up into little pick packages".

Naturally enough, Gaiman gained a another round of applause for this pronouncement. Confirming, yet again, that he is a consummate performer.

Don't get me wrong, Gaiman is not at all calculated; he's just very polished in his delivery. He has obviously learned how to make these sorts of events as fun as possible for every one involved.

The adjudicator also asked the writer if he had a preferred medium to work in, or whether he felt that some stories belonged in particular mediums. Gaiman answered that translation was acceptable, but transliteration was not.

Gaiman said that while he enjoyed the movie versions of Stardust and Coraline, they were the directors' versions, not his. His favourite movie was an 8 minute short he'd shot himself staring Bill Nighy and his girlfriend Amanda Palmer – who accompanied Gaiman on the trip and who received her own round of applause at his mention.

He was also given the opportunity to talk about his latest project, a non-fiction look at the story of The Journey to the West – Gaiman had just returned from his third trip to China doing research and interviews for his book. He seemed quite fascinated by the myth.

After a few more questions from the adjudicator, the session was thrown open to the crowd and interestingly enough, the first question was one about new media – specifically this medium, blogging.

As a former journalist, Gaiman was asked whether he thought blogging would take over from traditional media reporting.

"Blogging is something else; it's commentary," he said in answer. "It isn't somebody going out and seeing something and then telling you what really happened. It's not like journalism where... two reporters brought down a presidency (in reference to Watergate).

"Bloggers don't have the same resources, but blogging is a new communication tool, so maybe it could be used for breaking news?" Gaiman asked back, but left the audience in no doubt as to his stand on the issue.

Other questions followed in rapid order with Gaiman explaining the origin of his nickname of 'Scary Trousers', from graphic novelist Alan Moore; and why there are Hayao Miyazaki references in his work, describing a lovely day he spent with Mr Miyazaki.

Gaiman's voluble answers were finally corralled by the adjudicator and he thanked the crowd and the organisers, before receiving a bit of a standing ovation.

Whereupon practically the entire theatre stood up and raced for the exits, so they could get in line for the book signing. Although Gaiman said he'd ensure that everyone got one thing signed, it still meant that people were lined up from The Arts House, all the way down to the riverside.

Author Neil Gaiman happily signed fans' books after his Meet the Author session on Sunday. ST PHOTO

All in all, Gaiman's Meet the Author session was an enjoyable hour spent listening to an intelligent, humorous man with a unique take on the world. For his fans, it was obviously the best time of their lives; with many of them attending not only Gaiman's events but also the performances of his girlfriend, Amanda Palmer.

If there was anything at all off-putting about the double act that is Gaiman and Palmer, it was their constant references to each other at all their events. Yes, they are obviously madly in love with each other, and think their lovers' work is the best thing since sliced bread, but possibly they should be slightly less 'joined at the hip'.

But, that could just be the cynical journalist in me; nobody else seemed to have a problem with the pair's gushing descriptions of how fabulous their other half is. Besides, they are both damn good at what they do, so maybe they're justified in their gushing?

Still, kudos goes to the organisers of the event and to whoever chose to give Singapore the darkly, glimmering show that is the rock star writer, Neil Gaiman.

Neil Gaiman's works are available at good book stores and online. Amanda Palmer is the lead singer of Dresden Dolls, as well as an independent performer in her own right. Her work is available from good CD stores and online. The Singapore Writer's Festival is a bi-annual event.

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NOW I know what the Aussies must have endured when they encountered Ian Botham.

The cricket legend, knighted in 2007 for his outstanding all-round contributions for England, growled at me: "How much time do you need?"

I replied, half-jokingly: "More than an hour."

He became furious. "No go, you get just 20 minutes," he said, and stormed off to complain to the American Express representative, who had arranged the interview at 4.30pm.

I stood my ground. He soon cooled down. And, after a short discussion, agreed to talk to me.

Botham and former England batsman Allan Lamb had just flown in from Hong Kong and were visibly tired. But they answered my questions on Twenty-20 cricket with spontaneity at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

Two legends: Cricketers Ian Botham and Allan Lamb in Singapore. ST PHOTO

I though it would not be decent on my part to stretch it. So, I entered into a pact with the Amex representative that I would be given the chance to ask more questions during the Dine with The Legends event that was to commence at 7pm.

A relieved Botham walked off for a nap. I couldn't help noticing as he passed by that he was not as huge as he appeared on television when he steamed in to bowl at the Aussies. He was beefy, but only slightly taller than my 1.75m height. He was not a giant that I had to fear.

Botham was one of the great all-rounders of the game that I admired when he was on top of his game in the late 70s and early 80s.

I doffed my cap to his fighting qualities. He could turn around a match with his exceptional batting and bowling skills, as he did on numerous occasions against his arch-rivals Australia.

The Amex representative tried her best to comfort me, telling me that it was jet-lag that made him behave the way he did. I said I’m used to such characters, because cricket is full of them.

Some of the American Express platinum card members had paid more than $1,000 to be seated on the same table as Botham and Lamb during the dinner. I found myself among the exalted company without shelling a cent.

Diehard cricket fans worldwide, I'm sure, would envy me.

Botham was a different man when he walked in for the dinner. He mingled freely with the guests and, after a peg or two of Glenlivet, opened up to me.

I got the story I wanted. But, more importantly, I enjoyed the Beefy and Lamby show. After a splendid dinner, they regaled the audience with cricketing anecdotes.

You have to be a cricket fanatic to enjoy most of what they said. It was side-splitting. I had never experienced such amusing and detailed talk from cricketers before.

The coordination between Botham and Lamb was brilliant. And it was facilitated by the sarcastic prods of ESPN Star Sports commentator Alan Wilkins.

They spoke about their pet hate, former England captain Geoff Boycott who was a dour character, how they believed drinking beer and wine at the bar would help their game rather than working out in the nets, and how they took the mickey out of umpires, teammates and opponents.

It was so hilarious that the guests were rolling with laughter. "I had the time of my life," said Julie Brown,49, a Londoner who has been living in Singapore for the past 13 years. "They told such great stories. The punchlines were great. I was privileged to watch him as a cricketer. Now, I was able to sit so close to him."

Botham is a pundit now, extolling the virtues of Test cricket and abhorring the slam-bang T-20. He is also a champion fund-raiser, having raised more than 15 million pounds from his long-distance walks for leukemia research.

When Wilkins asked him if he would embark on such a walk in Singapore, he immediately said yes. And American Express said it would sponsor the event.

Botham may have stirred several controversies and appeared brash during his colourful career. But he has a friendly and humane side to him. I was privileged to experience that last Wednesday.

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I AM a midnight voyeur. But it's not what you are thinking.

Not the type that stares out of the window in the middle of the night, through high-powered goggles,  searching for live porn action.

My time is spent flipping through the profiles of my friends on Xbox LIVE – the online part of the Xbox 360 game console, which among other things, lets me connect to my friends and challenge them to virtual death matches.

And this I usually do at the stroke of 12, which is when I get my free time in my daily busy working schedule.

What I am looking for? Xbox Achievement points.

Xbox Achievement points are points that gamers earn when they complete certain parts or tasks in the game they are playing, like finishing a mission in the single-player campaign or finding 50 hidden objects in the game.

Each game can have a maximum of 1,000 points but to get all that requires a lot of hard work and play time.

Playing a game normally and finishing it on a single play through will usually net you about 300-500 of the total points.

But to get it all, you often have to complete the game again in the hard and hardest game modes. Every game requires you to do different things, and some games requires more effort to get the points.

So why am I so hung up about these points? It is all about street cred.

The points you earn from each game are added up and whenever someone looks at your gamer profile, your total "gamerscore" is displayed right next to your name and profile picture.

My score is just over 10,000 points, a decent score but not high enough to be among the stars.

There are many hard-core gamers out there with over 30,000 points and one guy I know has hit a crazy 50,000.

I can also drill down into my friends' individual gamerscore and see exactly which games they played and how many achievement points they accumulated from each game.

It tells me a lot also about the type of games they like to play and the type of person they are.

My friend Ben for instance is a jock. Not only does this ex-rugby captain – who gave it up after his third concussion - have to ice his leg after his Sunday basketball matches with other alpha males, he gets uninterrupted play time while soothing his leg since he cannot move around with an ice pack. He plays all the Fifa soccer, NBA Live and Forza racing games.

My colleague Sherwin is a huge comics fanboy and karaoke crooner. He has very high scores in games like Batman, Spiderman and Wolverine as well as music games like Lips. He obviously is not into sports since I do not see a single racing, soccer or basketball game in his list. Chances are, he doesn't spend much leisure time on sports in real life.

Whenever I add a new friend to my Xbox LIVE community, first thing I do is check out his gamerscore  and do a side-by-side comparison of our individual scores in different games.

As for myself, I am at heart an adventure and role-playing game (RPG) fan. Sword and sorcery, games that let you level up and gain new powers and skills, games that lets me explore virtual worlds, are all my cup of tea. I work hard to maximise my points in this genre, so I can be respected by other gamers as a serious RPG man.

But I will play any game, even third-rate shooters and failures with broken storylines – so long as they will net me easy Achievement points.

So that I will look good when  other gamers check me out too.

Like I said, it's all about street cred, even in the virtual world.

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TWO days ago, I went shopping for doodads on company time. No, I wasn't skiving. The trip was to source for gadgets for an upcoming issue.
 
But the contraption I was really looking for was nowhere to be found. It was an under-desk keyboard tray.
 
I found lots of models online in earlier searches but none of them were sold here.
 
You see, my search for the tray was to alleviate the tightness in my severely knotted shoulders — ligaments and muscles all tensed up from hours of daily hunching.
 
I sorely need my tui-na lady who will not only tug, stretch and unkink the kinks in the sinews but pinpoint the agony spots, too.
 
"Ah, here is pain, right?", she'd say in Singlish before I even gesture where they are.
 
Anyway, back to the under-desk keyboard tray.
 
Having one would mean a more ergonomic incline for me — forearms parallel to the floor, forming a sort of 90-degree angle at the elbows.
 
But then again buying the tray would simply mean treating the symptoms rather than addressing the source of the problem.
 
Yes, the fount of all aches and pains, as far as I am concerned, is the laptop. And the fact that from the first laptop to the current one, no one has thought to break the mould. (At least, I don't think so.)
 
The wrong mould: a base with non-extendable "legs".
 
Like how people tell bigger and bigger lies to get themselves out of the original one, a whole industry has come up to "support" the wrong cause.
 
There are laptop consoles that elevate the appliance so you don't develop a turtle syndrome (stick your head forward when you type); fan bases to whirr under the machine to prevent it from overheating; and cooler balls to stick to the corners of the notebook to tilt it for a better typing angle.
 
Wouldn’t it be simpler if, instead of fixed studs at the four corners of a notebook PC, there were extendable bumps instead?
 
The bump would look like a Magic Glide patch but it would be anti-slip instead.
 
Tapping twice on a pad would release a catch and you could then pull out the  bumps and adjust each until the tilt angle was just right for your wrist.
 
Done for the day? Simply give each bump a light tug, and it retracts into its slot in the base.
 
Also, you could shape these retractable legs — made of flexible yet sturdy metal (that's for rocket scientists to invent) — to resemble the legs in the Fountain of Wealth structure at Suntec City.
 
That way you could place the laptop over your lap — finally, giving some true meaning to the word — with no fear of singeing the thighs (or other body parts for the guys).
 
So, that is my idea for the Worlds' Most Ergonomic Laptop for now. Anyone out there with suggestions to make it even better?

E-mail Eve Yap with your ideas for a better laptop computer or leave a comment below.

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I WAS among the one hundred-odd people who got to watch the Singapore premiere of the documentary which featured late singer Michael Jackson’s London comeback shows last night.

The film left viewers musing over what they had missed had Mr Jackson been alive to perform the show — the 3D imagery, pyrotechnics and elaborate stage sets — not to mention the incredible precision of his performance.

His various rehearsals were inter-weaved in the film and they flowed smoothly into the one performance reflecting what he proudly labelled as his "This is it" performance — the gold-plated standard which other performers will have to live up to.

But the strenuous rehearsals — the precisions in the choreography demanded by Mr Jackson of himself and his dancers – not to mention the marathon singing practices — would have exhausted a man half Mr Jackson’s age.

The effort in putting on the show was probably the major cause behind the death of the 50-year old singer, come to think of it.

Still, reflecting on the theme of his London come-back shows reminds me of the uncertain state of the stock market.

Is it "This is it" time for the Dow Jones after it breached the 10,000 level, the benchmark Straits Times Index crossed the 2,700 mark and the Hang Seng swung above the 22,000 level — all at about the same time?

At their respective current levels, the major stock indexes are half-way between their March lows and all-time highs — reached incidentally in late October 2007.

It is not surprising that after the recent losses on the Dow Jones, stock pundits believe that a 7 to 10 per cent correction in share prices is at hand. "This is it", they say. The indexes have reached their targets and bulls are looking tired. Time for the market to take a break and fall lower.

The jury is still out whether this is a correction before markets test fresh high levels next year, or a gentle descent back to lower levels to reflect the awful state of the "real" economy in developed countries such as United States and Europe where unemployment is still growing and consumption remains tepid.

The only parallel with current trading patterns is October 2007, when a massive dose of liquidity injected by the US central bank with an interest rate cut — plus a plan by China, now shelved, to allow its investors to buy shares directly from overseas — caused share prices to surge to record high levels.

Of course, this time around, the swing up has been much higher, since the Fed not only cut interest rates to almost zero in March, but also printed around US$3 trillion to provide a cushion of support for the global financial markets.

China has been helpful too, giving out a US$500 billion economic stimulus package and getting its banks to lend generously.

But getting the Fed to print even more money may be tough — with the Europeans and Japanese complaining loudly about the systematic devaluation of the US dollar and the implicit threat by China to swap out of its large US dollar hoard.

As for China, both the stock market and the real economy look like over-heating from the economic stimulus measures and the fear is that it might have to tighten up, just as the Fed is forced to stop its printing presses.

Regional bourses like Hong Kong and Singapore are caught in a pincer between Wall Street and Shanghai. So it is no wonder that they have tumbled on the sudden barrage of bad news that suddenly seem to become the norm once again.

No wonder, there are cynics who believe that investment bankers on Wall Street and in London are stubbornly clinging on to the eye-popping bonuses due to them, despite the big storm of protests this has generated in the Western media.

Given all the fresh uncertainties, there might not be any huge bonuses to collect any more next year. After all, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush; and paraphrasing Mr Jackson, they might say "This is it."

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IN JAKARTA

CONSIDER this. You just bought a brand new red Honda Civic, but on your first ride through the city, you brush it ever so lightly against a wall while negotiating a tricky turn in a bylane. The result — a small dent to the car's posterior which is difficult to spot but manages to spoil the beauty of this gorgeous machine anyway.
 
Having spent a small fortune to buy the car, you are in no mood to spend a bomb getting the dent fixed. What then would you do?

If you are in Jakarta, you immediately drive to the outskirts of the city and park your car in a small, badly lit, hole-in-the-wall workshop and wait for the magic to begin!

As the workshop's doors close behind you, there is not a soul in sight. All you can hear from the adjacent waiting room is a faint knocking sound for the next hour or so, betraying the presence of people hard at work.

When the sounds stop and the door to the workshop opens again, you find your car all fixed, as though by magic, with no trace of the dent and not a scratch on its expensive paint job.

Welcome to the world of "ketok magic", a dingy, inconvenient garage of sorts, where a quick-fix car job takes half the time and one-third the cost — much to the joy of car owners in Indonesia, most of whom do not have insurance.

One of the mysterious "ketok magic" workshops in Indonesia.
PHOTO: Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja

"Ketok" means knocking in Bahasa Indonesia. It is believed that the first person to hone these skills was a certain Mbah Turut in East Java, who first started working his magic on bicycles in 1960s.

He passed on the secret skill to his heirs, but it was eventually leaked to the benefit of neighbours and close acquaintances.

Over time, these secret-keepers expanded their horizons and set up shop in other parts of the country. Now, the third generation of these skilled workers have graduated to fixing larger vehicles like cars.

These workshops have been an alternative to the conventional car body repair shops for decades, thanks to their very competitive pricing.

Their "ketok magic" title comes from the fact that they deliver a quick and effective service in a skilled and clandestine fashion. All you see in these workshops is a dingy room wide enough to park the vehicle.

The customer never gets to see these workers — as skilled as the mythical "shoemaker's elves" — who fix car problems, nor do they ever get to see the tools that are used to mend the vehicles.

But, it is believed that the tools are a wide range of hand-made objects, including hammers of different shapes and sizes, metal rods and sticks and other wooden apparatus, which cannot be easily found in the nearby Carrefour supermarket.

What these tools essentially do is knock the vehicle into shape, ever so gently and with finesse.

Different sets of manually-assembled tools are used to fix different types of problems. They are usually accompanied by patches used to protect the car's paint job while the ketok works its magic.

It is no exaggeration then that some compare ketok repairmen to wood carving artisans.

They remain popular with car owners in Java, especially among youngsters who need quick repair jobs to hide their reckless driving from their parents, all without having to drill a big hole in their pockets.

But, if other customers choose to overlook the inconvenience of location and the discomfort of the waiting room, "ketok magic" remains their most favourable option at an affordable price. Sometimes the patchwork does go wrong, but that is rare.

It is no wonder then that the workshops remain a popular option to its expensive alternative — automobile repair shops.

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