Initial: Frederick
Profession: Psychology Undergraduate
Birthday: days left
Height: 1.76m
Weight: 63kg
Blood Type: A+
Waist size: 29-30 inches
Hobbies: Blogging; Reading; Songs & Movies; Chill out
Talent: Writing; Acting; Singing; Accents
Favourite Food:
Italian Food;
Kimchi Chigae;
Roti Prata
Most Disliked Food: Anything crustacean - due to allergy
Favourite Songs to Sing to: For You (self-composed) & The Promise
Favourite Body Parts: Nose; Jaws
Schools: Pei Chun Public School (1989 - 1995); Chong Boon Secondary School (1996 - 1999); Nanyang Polytechnic (2000 - 2003); Monash University (2006 - )
Current Pursuit: Bachelor of Behavioural Science
Research Interest: Evolutionary Psychology
Other Interests: Evolution; Genetics
Contact:
frederikan@live.co.uk
July 12, 2007
The article below was adapted from a blogger whom I happen to bump into today while I was online. This is a recent incident and a hot topic over Hardware Zone (HWZ) but was deleted. Other
bloggers have blogged about this too. Here you go..
PM's Son's Army Gaffe and Why We Have to Worry2LT Lee Hong Yi, better known as PM Lee's son, had fired off an e-mail within the military network lambasting the "quality of leadership" in the SAF to the top brass, including the Minister of Defence and the Chief of Defence Force.
He had done it after being punished for an error that was largely not his.
What was his fault, however, was involving just about the entire military force of Singapore in this one small matter of his, by addressing the e-mail to entire battalions of people. Committed by an ordinary serviceman, the offence would have warranted a formal military charge - and in an officer's case, his rank may be stripped.
Nothing so far (or so I hear) has been done to 2LT Lee, save that the Commanding Officer of his unit gave a speech to the entire unit the next day about "following the chain of command".
While one might argue that the e-mail comes from the military intranet and should not have been circulated in the general public (i.e. in HardwareZone), 2LT Lee surely could not have expected the matter not to leak out when he addressed it to so many people, most of them National Servicemen rather than full-time regulars.
If you looked through the thread, what's worrying is not the blatant abuse of family ties, by a person who is highly likely to take up an important position in our society in future.
Neither is it the fact that he is being given favourable treatment on two counts: first, the lack of punishment for his offence, and second, his pending disruption from the army (which he mentioned in the article), despite not being bonded under a government scholarship, which, as far as I know, is the only official way of obtaining disruption.
And of course, it's definitely not the "quality of leadership" in the SAF that 2LT Lee questioned that worries me.
No, it is the perceptible sense of fear in the Hardwarezone thread where the topic was discussed. No one dared to give the full details: one had to sieve through several pages of the thread before getting the full picture. Nicknames like "Bored Dragon" and "Golden bar" were given to the persons involved. There were even warnings given by concerned forum members about the ISD and MSD surveilling the thread.
If it were in other democratic countries like the US, such an incident would have been a scandal and generated a media frenzy. Questions would be asked about his conduct and his suitability for an important position in future. The public would have a field day airing their views on his actions.
What would have been the effect? 2LT Lee would learn a painful lesson in humility, and the transparency of the government would be highlighted, because they did not shield even the son of the most important official when he had done wrong.
The resulting fire of the public would simmer and die down, and the public would have been satisfied that their views were heard and their indignation expressed. That fire would have been a cleansing one.
Instead, the entire deed is hushed up. The original thread on HardwareZone was deleted. But perhaps the worst thing of all is that the public is censoring itself. People dare not to speak up about the topic.
Instead of fire, the incident is met only with self-defeat and fear. The public has lost its voice and its own opinion, and surrendered its position as the main critic of the government. And as we know, the local media surrendered its own position a long time ago.
It shouldn't be this way.
Governments should fear people, not the other way round.
It's just a minor incident - after all, there've been worse offences committed by officers in the SAF - but it speaks of a larger, darker, and insiduous problem.
"It does not do to rely too much on silent majorities, Evey, for silence is a fragile thing...one loud noise, and it’s gone...Noise is relative to the silence preceding it - the more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap.- V, V for Vendetta
Errata: Li Hongyi does have the PSC Overseas scholarship, my bad.
It's sad isn't it? So what if your rank is one of the highest in the army? Some "whitehorse" will bring you down with only a cyber piece of paper. With mere words from the minister's son, who is only an NSF, your regular high and mighty rank will burn in hell and forever, you'll live like a piece of shit and all your peanuts, and even your
balls will be paid as ransom to the government. Wow.. what started off as a topic over HWZ had become one hot discussion across the island. But does anyone knows why all these started over mere forums like HWZ or even STOMP? Simple, it seems that somebody is out to get attention. I don't know who, but even if I know, that person's name is hard for me to spit out of my mouth.
And why was that forum topic deleted? Simple, Hardware Zone is owned by
SPH, and SPH is indirectly 'ruled' by the government. In fact, there is no free media in Singapore. "Freedom of the press" is unheard of in this pathetic island of
totalitarianism. For your information foreigners, there is only ONE fucking media in Singapore. ONE fucking MediaCorp. And that is enough for the government to vomit their
propagandas across the island shivering in fear of them or their most famous action - suing a person in court using
peanuts to win their war.
That said, I wonder if the quality of leadership within the army is the only questionable subject all around Singapore. Should not the quality of the nation's leadership be questioned as well?
To think about this, brings horror or terror in everyone's heart as almost all the citizens would decide to keep their mouth shut regarding this matter. I think that the above blogger was right - the people should not fear the government, but the government SHOULD fear the people. After all, the government are doing the people some service. A NATION's service. I feel a sense of pity and empathy for the minister's son. Honestly, I wonder if he has what it takes to become the next leader in our future's society. If it is wrong for me to question this, then my apologies. And if it IS in fact wrong to question the government's leadership, then it would better to be the
Quitter. For Jesus Christ's sake, the people have brains.
And oh, Junior Lee really needs to get a life. Seriously. I have mine though.
This is my blog, and if anything offends you, do not be a sissy and take it too personally. I strive to express myself because I was born with expressions. If you think I am wrong then fuck off. Period.
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