SINGAPORE'S Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong touches down in Australia tonight, his first visit since the island state's controversial execution of a young Australian drug trafficker.
Officially, Mr Lee's trip will be dominated by talks on trade and security.
But ongoing concern over Singapore's mandatory death penalty is certain to be a feature of his more public engagements.
Melbourne drug mule Van Tuong Nguyen was executed on December 2 last year after Australia's exhaustive pleas for clemency fell on deaf ears.
Lawyer Lex Lasry, QC, who represented Nguyen, says he wants to send a message to Mr Lee that Singapore should change its policy of mandatory death for a number of crimes.
Prime Minister John Howard will hope continuing public anger over Nguyen's death does not cloud the visit, intended to strengthen ties between the two countries.
Official talks will focus on trade, investment, security and regional issues.
Mr Lee will meet Mr Howard tomorrow, along with other senior members of government.
During those talks, he is likely to address Singapore's desire that Australia review its open skies policy as part of an overall examination of free trade between the countries.
Earlier this year, the government rejected a proposal to allow Singapore Airlines to join Qantas and American-based United Airlines on the lucrative trans-Pacific route between Australia and the United States.
Los Angeles --- Roby Alampay, executive director of the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA), believes that the only obligation of the media is to be as neutral as possible. In an event last Tuesday at UCLA, he also discussed the importance of understanding individual countries' media policies before expecting media freedom.
"It is impossible to try to capture diverse models for media operations in Southeast Asia in one paragraph, one page, one sentence, one statement," Alampay said. The only fair statement that can be made about the media of the Southeast Asia region is that every journalist, everyone expressing a radical opinion is threatened in one way or another.
For example, he said, it is not widely known that it is illegal to for a group of five people in Singapore to gather without a permit. In August, 2005 four people outside an office building were ordered to disperse or face arrest for public nuisance for protesting the government expenditures public funds.
A key question that Alampay urged the audience to ask applies not just to Southeast Asia, but to every country: Who owns the press? Whoever owns the press controls it; the owner manipulates what is and what is not being reported.
While conglomerates and powerful political figures take ownership of many broadcasting systems, hope lies in cyberspace, he said. Internet news and blogs are increasingly popular and, though many governments aim to tighten their reins on this new media, citizens are finding more freedom to make their voices heard online.
"We know that the Internet is something inevitable, something needed for economies to be competitive in this day and age. Governments know this…everybody knows that it is inevitable that everybody must get on this highway one way or another," Alampay stated. In many areas, such as Singapore, the Internet is becoming a means of social gathering
Still, the Internet is not readily available in all parts of Southeast Asia. Alampay said that Internet access in Cambodia can cost as much as $2 per minute. He cited statistics from Internet World Stats which say that only 9 percent of the population of the Philippines is online. Burma's (Myanmar) online population is just a tenth of a percent. On the other hand, the Internet regularly reaches close to 70 percent of Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.
More influential in these areas are mobile phones, particularly SMS text messaging. 45 percent of Thailand's population, 65 percent of Malaysia and 43 percent of the Philippines own a mobile phone. Even Laos, a country in which the Internet is nearly nonexistent, has a 9 percent mobile phone user population, according to Telecompaper. From business executives to street beggars, mobile phones are indispensible to many in the region, said Alampay. New media is not limited to the Internet and as the World Wide Web goes mobile, these two technologies could form an incredible resource reaching millions of people.
SEAPA is a coalition comprised of five non-profit organizations was established in November 1998 in Bangkok. It is the only regional organization that exists solely to promote the freedom and protection of the press. SEAPA represents eleven countries.
Alampay began working with SEAPA in August 2004 after twelve years of working in journalism. His first job was reporting for the Philippine Daily Enquirer from 1991 to 1993; he then published and edited for Kampus Magazine from 1992 to 2000, and co-founded, designed, and managed FLIP Magazine from 2002 to 2003.
The significance and complexity of the Southeast Asia's media drives Alampay's work with SEAPA. Though he spent many years as a practicing journalist in the Philippines, he said that his staunch view on the promotion of media freedom is a bias that prevents him from calling himself a journalist today.
Roby Alampay spoke at an event hosted by AsiaMedia with support from the UCLA International Institute. Alampay is also an occasional contributor to AsiaMedia.
It's as though Singapore is a gigantic Potemkin village, yes? That the entire population of Singapore will magically transform into obliging, smiling flight stewardesses to welcome the robber barons of global capitalism? And why on earth would Singaporeans be so docile and obedient to smile for the Prime Minister and his WTO, just because he's asking nicely?
Howard urged to pressure Singapore on death penalty A barrister who represented a Melbourne man hanged in Singapore last year is calling on Prime Minister John Howard to raise the issue when he meets with his Singaporean counterpart tomorrow.
Lex Lasry, QC [pictured], represented 23-year-old Van Nguyen, who was arrested in Singapore in 2002 on drugs charges.
He was executed last year after an appeal for clemency was rejected.
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong arrives in Australia tomorrow for trade and security talks with Mr Howard.
Mr Lasry says he wants Mr Howard to join a campaign to change Singapore's law regarding the death penalty.
"It operated very unfairly in the case of Van Nguyen," he said.
"Lee Hsien Loong said that the rule of law had taken its course when Van Nguyen was executed but it wasn't the rule of law at all.
"The only thing that's even worse than a death penalty is a mandatory death penalty which takes the courts out of the equation.
"Ultimately I say that Singapore will have to change that law, it's an extraordinarily unfair law."
The Education Ministry is studying whether to hire native speakers to teach English language in schools.
Education Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said this during a dialogue session at a student education conference.
Questions from the students at the dialogue session were wide-ranging.
But the concern on how to better enhance students' English proficiency cropped up often.
Mr Tharman assured them that his ministry is paying attention to this area.
But he pointed out that it is incorrect to say that the standard of English language has deteriorated.
Mr Tharman said that is because more people are speaking English now compared to 30 years ago and inevitably it gets spoken in a different way.
He said: "If need be, we can bring back native speakers of the English language to help us, especially in the first phase, help us to strengthen the teaching of the English language.
"We have many excellent Singaporean teachers in the English language. But we may need more numbers and this is something which we're looking into as well.
"At the top end, we need to do more, to make sure that those who have the ability to speak it well, really do so and are proud about it, just like how we want students to be proud about speaking the mother tongue well."
Earlier this week, Mr Tharman revealed that the new Minister of State for Education, Lui Tuck Yew, will be looking at improving the teaching and learning of the English language.
During the education conference, the students also presented their proposals such as having more exchange programmes between ITE and JC students.
The conference, organised by Hwa Chong Institution, involved 65 students from various schools.
After listening to the proposals given by the students, Mr Tharman said that he was very impressed with their work.
He called their suggestions constructive and mature.
And Mr Tharman was heartened to note that the students themselves want to broaden their education and develop life skills.
1. If Singapore's standard of English is apparently not deteriorating, then why consider hiring native English speakers at all?
2. Perhaps Tharman would like to clarify what the definition of 'deteriorating' is. If the standards are supposedly "changing", but not "deteriorating", then they are improving? Come on Tharman. As Education Minister, use your proficient language skills and tell us what you're really trying to say: the kids need help.
There is a conclusion posted at the bottom of this post, which I can respond to be asking that if I had never raised the topic in the first place on Thursday, April 21, 2005 would more politically orientated bloggers have emerged? The original assertion was a descriptive interpretation not a prediction.
Aside from the debate it is great to see researchers taking a keen interest in the fascinating Singapore Blogosphere.
It all started when ... Singabloodypore said, "Yes I am aware of some very mature blogs written by anonymous bloggers, to name just two, the likes of Wannabe Lawyer, Singapore Commentator stand out but go read the likes of MrBrown, Xiaxue and other certain blogs that shall not be named, and it is full of infantile sub intelligentia nonesense. I am very sorry for leaving Mr Miyagi out of the list."
A blog post that sparked off an online and offline debate on the voice of Singapore blogosphere ...
Is Singapore blogosphere infantile? I set out to explore the issues arising from Steve's critique of Singapore blogosphere through a series of interviews with three seasoned Singaporean bloggers. This section captures selected excerpts and audio files from these interviews.
Are we infantile? By no means representative of the entire blogosphere or for that matter the featured bloggers in entirety, this section draws on selected texts from Mr Brown, Mr Miyagi and Xiaxue, in an attempt to provide a flavour of the voices of these celebrity bloggers.
More ... Beyond Tomorrow The concluding section of this documentary reviews the role of bloggers in the recent Singapore Election, alluding to emerging issues that will continue to shape te ambivalent future of Singapore blogosphere.
Whilst these developments may appear to disprove Steve McDermott's critique of the Singapore blogosphere, it remains unknown whether blogs in Singapore will persistently serve as alternative sites to diversity the political discourse in Singapore. Rather than heralding the democratic potential of blogs, I would argue that blogs are by nature more of a self-serving means of expression than a representation of popular will. Hence, it remains to be seen whether in a closely monitored Police State, a centralising structure such as Tomorrow and the emergence of celebrity bloggers may serve to amalgamate the collective intelligence rather than privilege the voice of a dominant collective in the Singapore blogosphere. http://raws.adc.rmit.edu.au/~s3090325/beyondtomorrow.html
Below is the article which has resulted in the Lee family winning yet another defamation case behind closed doors. Written by Dr Chee and printed in The New Democrat. Why the closed doors? Might it be that they do not want you to read the article in question.
The Government's Role in the NKF
In all the hand-wringing and breast-beating by the Government over the NKF issue, Singaporeans must not lose sight of one thing: Such a scandal is inevitable given the kind of secretive and non-accountable system bred by the PAP.
The Government now tries to exone-rate itself by playing the innocent and gullible party duped by greedy NKF officials.
It forgets that in April 2004, Minister Khaw Boon Wan had, in reaction to public unease about the NKF, sought to appease Singaporeans by telling them that the Ministry of Finance "would have reacted many years ago" if there was any breach of rules by the NKF.
Mr Khaw categorically endorsed the NKF's dealings and called on the charity to "continue" to remain "transparent" in its operations.
At the same time the Second Minister for Finance, Mr Lim Hng Kiang, said that the NKF had "quite a sound record" because it spends "more than 80 percent of its funds on its beneficiaries" whom we now know are not kidney patients.
Clearly, alarm bells were raised. People could see that something was wrong and they had expressed their unhappiness over the years.
And yet, the Government which had the power to do something, chose not to. Not only did it choose not to rein in NKF but it also continued to praise the charity and encouraged people to donate to it. With assurances from not one but two Ministers, the charity went on its merry way.
The question that is on everyone's lips is: If Mr TT Durai had not taken the legal suit, would the Government have bothered to look into the NKF records? NKF would in all likelihood have continued to operate with the Government's blessings.
The NKF fiasco is not about bad practices. It is not even about negligence on the Government's part.
It is about greed and power.
It is about the idea that the political elite must be paid top dollar, no matter how obscene those amounts are and regardless of who suffers as a result of it.
It is about a system engineered over the decades by the PAP that ensures that it and only it has access to public information and by fiat decides what is allowed and what is not.
It is about what a "democratic society, based on justice and equality" should not be.
Singaporeans must note that the NKF is not an aberration of the PAP system. It is, instead, a product of it.
To ensure that there is transparency and that Singaporeans are kept informed of matters directly affecting them and their future, the Government must:
One, disclose the breakdown of the cost of building HDB flats and the profits HDB makes.
Two, reveal where and how GIC uses our savings.
Three, disclose the salaries of the top executives of Temasek Holdings and other GLCs.
Four, declare the assets and incomes of its Ministers.
Five, reform the election system to ensure that it is free and fair.
It goes without saying that someone must be held accountable over the whole sordid NKF affair. However, real accountability starts much higher up.
Of course there is absolutely nothing to be discerned from the fact that this court case only manages to come to the boil exactly one month after the general election.
SINGAPORE : The National Kidney Foundation's former chief executive TT Durai has filed his defence for the civil suit brought against him by the new NKF board, denying most of the claims made against him.
He also denied that the executive committee had delegated absolute power to him.
The new NKF management has alleged that Durai engineered a structure within the organisation that subverted proper checks and balances which should have acted to restrain excesses.
But in his 40-page defence, Durai claimed he had kept the executive committee informed of all that was going on in the NKF.
He said that the committee had free access to all records and could query anything that was being reported and decide on any proposals put forward.
On his pay, Durai denied that his bonuses depended upon the success of fund raising, saying this factor was only one consideration.
He claimed all salary increases, bonuses, overtime payments and unutilised leave compensation paid to him were decided by the exco.
He added that NKF's policy of not disclosing the salaries of its employees was not to mislead the public or conceal any improper benefits.
Durai claimed, in his defence, that he was never involved in the computation of treatment costs of dialysis patients and that patient numbers were given to him by the various departments, which obtained the information from external administrators of programmes funded by NKF.
The old NKF had also awarded contracts worth over S$5 million to Protonweb Solutions and Forte Systems, both owned by Pharis Aboobacker.
While Durai admitted that Aboobacker is a friend, he claimed he took no part in NKF's evaluation to award an IT contract to Forte Systems.
He added that the executive committee had awarded the call-centre project to Protonweb Solutions because it was the cheapest option.
The new NKF said that both companies were paid despite Forte not delivering the software on time and Protonweb Solutions not fulfilling the contract terms fully.
Durai also denied allegations that former chairman Richard Yong and former treasurer Loo Say San were his associates, and acted on his instructions.
Durai alleged it was Dr Khoo Oon Teik, who founded the NKF in 1969, who invited Yong to become a member of the exco.
As for former director Matilda Chua, Durai claimed it was "not unusual to make ex-gratia payments to departing staff".
Chua had received generous pay performance bonuses after she declared her intention to resign.
Her monthly salary was increased to S$12,500 in June 2000, and backdated to April 2000, without any exco approval.
Durai said this was because of her contributions in running the charity shows, and he claimed that the person who took over her position was paid even more.
As for expensive business trips, Durai said he flew first class as the tickets were available at a price not exceeding business class fares, and it was NKF policy that senior personnel were allowed to purchase such tickets.
Four pages in the defence statement were also spent documenting Durai's contribution to NKF, which included setting up 21 dialysis centres and three prevention centres, tying up with top medical institutions to improve the quality of medical treatment, helping the Health Ministry in setting up an emergency dialysis centre during the SARS crisis, and spearheading a five-year multi-organ donation campaign.
In their defence, Yong, Loo, and Chua claimed Durai was singularly responsible for the NKF's day-to-day operations.
The three are also being sued by the new NKF, which is seeking more than S$12 million in damages. - CNA /ct
The correct title is of course "Singapore's top leaders win defamation suit". So all you MNC CEO's out there can put the emergency red phone to your bosses overseas down.
If the Lee family actually ever lose a court case it would be the death nail in the coffin of authoritarianism in Singapore and an end to the lack of independence of the legislature, judiciary and the executive.
In order to defend themselves against the argument that the judiciary is not independent they should lose one case every two decades just to give themselves 'Plausible deniability'.
SINGAPORE (AP) - Singapore's prime minister and a senior Cabinet minister have won a defamation suit against the opposition Singapore Democratic Party after the group failed to file a defence, the High Court said Thursday.
The judgment came Wednesday in a closed door hearing, according to a court official who spoke on condition of anonymity in accordance with the High Court's policy.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father Lee Kuan Yew, a former prime minister and a current senior Cabinet minister, sued the opposition party and its leaders in April for allegedly defaming them in the party's newsletter by linking a scandal at a local charity to the ruling People's Action Party.
The SDP announced in May that it would not be defending itself in the lawsuit, meaning the Lees won by default.
Six of the SDP leaders named in the suit apologised and agreed to pay damages.
The damages to be paid will be decided at a later hearing.
Two other SDP leaders - Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan and his sister, central executive committee member Chee Siok Chin - are still fighting the defamation suit.
No date has been set for that hearing.
The lawsuit said articles in the January issue of the SDP newsletter linked a scandal at the National Kidney Foundation, Singapore's largest charity, to PAP governance.
Ruling party leaders have successfully sued several opposition politicians and journalists for defamation.
The leaders have said such actions are necessary to protect their reputations and clear the public record of false accusations.
Aside from infantile topics, political comedy and "scurrilous" anti-Whiteshirt posts, the blogosphere is for serious thinking and a medium for staging discussion.
We turn our attention to blogs operated by GCE A level General Paper teachers.
“Who created this message?” “What techniques are used to attract my attention?” “How might different people understand this message differently from me?” “What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented in, or omitted by from, this message?” “Why was this message sent?”
And far more importantly, “Media have embedded values and points of view.”
Whenever you read a newspaper, a press release, a statement from the Prime Minister's Office, whenever you watch a piece of news, a public forum, a dialogue session on television, or pore through a minefield of survey findings from the IPS or the ST survey team, do you ask yourself these questions?
What conclusion is XYZ article trying to lead me into making? Who does the message assume it speaks to, who is its 'ideal audience'?
The entire ST will lose its power as the propaganda unit of the Whiteshirt Party once Singaporeans are able to deconstruct its messages. Media literacy, the awareness of how messages are massaged and spun, will enable people to be immune from propaganda.
Every time the Party, the State and the Government are conflated, drink once.
Every time you see a stupid ST Forum letter about how democracy and Freedom of Speech are bad for Singapore, drink once. If the letter ends with "Majulah Singapura", drink twice.
Every time you see the archived shot of MM Lee crying, drink once. If it is accompanied with moving music in the background, drink thrice.
Every time a new buzzword is thrown up, drink once. Every time we have a new silly acronym ("SPRING Singapore"), drink twice. Every time a new false dichotomy is introduced ("Stayers" vs "Quitters"; "Heartlanders" vs "Cosmopolitans"), drink thrice.
Every time someone talks about Asian Values, drink once. Every time someone talks about the decadent West, drink twice. Every time we want to emulate the decadent West, drink thrice.
Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to add new rules to the Singapore politics drinking game in your own blogs, and link your post here, as well as add the following HTML code <a href="http://technorati.com/tag/singaporedrinkinggame; rel="tag">Singapore Drinking Game</a>
I'll get the ball rolling now:
Every time someone talks about radical English-educated intelligentsia or ivory tower academics, drink once. Every time someone accuses detractors as armchair critics, drink twice. Every time someone invites critics to start their own political party, drink thrice. Every time someone invites critics to start their own blogs, smash a bottle over your head. If the blogger is found to be evading taxes or being seditious/racist, smash two bottles over your head.
Every time the Whiteshirt party holds elections at the peak of the economic cyle, drink once. Every time the ST reports the stock market rose the next day "because the Whiteshirts won", drink twice. Every time the economy and stock market start tanking 6 months after the elections, drink the entire bottle.
Every time a Whiteshirt MP proclaims that a minor local accident or major international incident (that incidentally never affected Singapore) has brought Singaporeans together, drink once.
Every time NUS attracts an aged genetic researcher past the peak of their careers, drink once. If Papalee becomes the first successful test-subject for a bleeding edge life-extension technology invented by a pharmaceutical MNC based here, smash the bottle over your own head. If Papalee becomes a "negative outcome", buy everyone a round of drinks!!!
I believe a few of our contributors were approached to take part. As I currently have no access to a sound card, I cannot listen to the Danish programme so hopefully someone will come up with a transcript soon.
Singapore er et af Asiens rigeste lande, og er, i hvert fald på papiret, et demokrati. For selvom der er frie valg, så har den siddende regering indført en så skrap medielovgivning, at det faktisk umuligt for kritikere og oppositionspolitkere at kommer til orde. Hvilket selvfølgelig også er meningen, og det er da også en af de væsenligste grunde til, at regeringen vandt det netop overstået valg stort, med ikke mindre end 82 ud 84 pladser i parlamentet.
Men for første gang debatterede almindelig mennesker faktisk valgkampen, for selvom regeringen havde forbudt politiske pod- og videocast, så glemte den at forbyde politiske blogs. Og det har ændret Singaporianernes indstilling til deres politikere.
In English: "Singapore is one of the richest countries in Asia, and at least on paper, a democracy. Even though there are free elections, the government applies so strict media laws that it is actually impossible for critics and opposition politicians to voice their opinions, which of course is the idea, and that is obviously also one of the most important reasons that the government won the recent elections with a huge margin; no less than 82 out of 84 seats in parliament.
But for the first time ordinary people actually debated during the election campaign because even though the government had made political pod- and videocast illegal, they forgot making political blogs illegal. And that has changed the attitude towards the politicians."
A global phenomenon — blogging — has exploded in popularity to the point where there are now more than 20 million blogs being tracked around the world. They have risen in prominence as well as in numbers, with some leading blogs challenging the established order of the mainstream press. Indeed, at times the mainstream media has been put in the unusual position of reacting to news that bloggers generate.
The term 'blog' is a blend of the terms 'web' and 'log,' leading to 'web log,' 'weblog,' and finally 'blog.' Authoring a blog, maintaining a blog or adding an article to an existing blog has been dubbed 'blogging.' Individual articles on a blog are called 'blog posts,' 'posts,' or 'entries.' A person who posts these entries is called a 'blogger.'
According to online encyclopedia Wikipedia, the term 'weblog' was coined by Jorn Barger on Dec. 17, 1997. The short form, 'blog,' was coined by Peter Merholz. He broke the word 'weblog' into the phrase 'we blog' in the sidebar of his weblog in April or May of 1999.
Since 2003, blogs have gained increasing notice and coverage for their role in breaking, shaping, and spinning news stories. Bloggers provide nearly-instant commentary on televised events, creating a secondary meaning of the word 'blogging' — to simultaneously transcribe and editorialize speeches and events shown on television.
In 2004, the role of blogs became increasingly mainstream, as political consultants, news services and candidates began using them as tools for outreach and opinion forming. Appropriately, that year Merriam-Webster's Dictionary declared 'blog' as the word of the year.
'The Blossoming Of Citizen Journalism'
London's BBC (June 5) welcomed the new Internet craze in an article titled, "Why we are all journalists now," which said: "The blossoming of citizen journalism stands as one of the Internet's most exciting developments. With millions of bloggers, tens of millions of Internet posters, and hundreds of millions of readers, online news sources have radically reshaped the way we access our daily news. While mainstream news organizations initially expressed doubt about the news value of online sources such as blogs, in recent months many have launched their own blogs, frequently maintained by some of their most distinctive voices. Indeed, the remarkable growth of the blogosphere is enough to convince even the most die-hard skeptic that something important is afoot. Technorati, a blog search engine, reports that it tracks 75,000 new blogs each day."
A more detailed look at blog growth was provided by British business Web Site, Vnunet.com (May 26): "A new blog is created every second, adding to the 37 million that already exist, according to David Sifry, founder of the Technorati weblog data-set and link tracker/search engine. This staggering rate of increase equates to a sixty-fold growth of the 'blogosphere' within the past three years. There are no geographic or demographic boundaries to blogging. Ray Valdes, a web services analyst at Gartner, observed that the total number of bloggers worldwide makes it difficult to conclude that one geographical region could have a higher concentration of blogging activity than any other.
There are a number of blog formats, but according to Singapore's SDA Asia Magazine (May 25), the dominant computer operating system manufacturer has taken the lead: "MSN Spaces, Microsoft's free blogging platform, launched in Dec. 2004, has taken off in a big way in less than two years of existence. According to a data released by comScore Networks Inc., an independent Internet audience measurement and consulting company, MSN Spaces is the most widely used blogging service worldwide with more than 100 million unique visitors.
People all over the world have discovered profitable ways to incorporate blogging into their personal and business lives. OhMyNews International (May 11) reported: "In Africa, there are ways to extend the Internet as part of other methods of communication. This can be through SMS on mobiles or conventional radio for local relays. There is a flourishing blogging scene, featuring such blogs as Kenyan Pundit by Ory Okolloh. The Mail and Guardian hosted a blog for all politicians in recent local elections. This resulted in many comments and helped to encourage debate. There is also the start of a citizen journalism site at Reporter.co.za. The session started with a protest at the Reuters selection of images about Africa that reinforced assumptions about poverty."
Some blogosphere demographics were provided by India's Hindustan Times (June 2): "According to an Internet survey, blogging has more female addicts than male, with over 68 percent of bloggers being women. Although it is picking up in popularity with adults, blogging is still largely the domain of teenagers with nearly 58.8 percent of bloggers worldwide falling in the age group 13 to 19. … Blogging has its benefits even as far as one's emotional and mental health is concerned. When a number of people worldwide gather to express like viewpoints on an issue, it helps in collective ventilation whereby one derives confidence by sharing the same sentiments with others. Said Rahul Dewan, a blogger and a student of engineering, 'I find it (blogging) better than writing a book, because you can say exactly what you want, without interference from anyone else. You have your own space on the Internet, which people visit, read and comment upon. This way you also receive feedback over your post which can be used constructively.'"
From the Caribbean, the Jamaica Gleaner (May 3) reported: "Blogging, which might be a new word to many readers, is being grasped both here and abroad not only as the future of press freedom but also as an opportunity to develop media careers. … Peter Dean Rickards is a Jamaican photographer who, since 1999, has used his website The Afflicted Yard (www.afflictedyard.com), which includes a blog, as an online portfolio leading to work and recognition from leading international style magazines such as Fader, i-D and Vanity Fair. 'The Web's been a very effective tool for me. It serves primarily as a portfolio and allows me a great deal of independence as it relates to my own work,' Mr. Rickards said. 'It's allowed me to compete with writers and photographers around the world who have the advantage of being able to walk into offices and present their work in person.'"
Free Speech
The issue of free speech is a very important in discussions about blogs and blogging, as noted in London's business-oriented Web site Silicon.com (May 15): "In the same way that the Internet and technology provided the original facility for both sides — those who want to be free and those who want to constrain — it also provides new opportunities for communication and anonymity. IP tunnels, proxy servers, encryption, phantom email accounts and spoof addressing are among the obvious examples — not to mention the hiding and/or embedding of data in apparently passive files! And then there are all the tools used by the spreaders of viral infections and bot networks. All could be turned and used to keep free speech alive and safe."
World events have exterted a major influence on the growth and influence of blogs, according to Australia's The Age (June 2): "Although the technological capacity had existed for some time, and pioneering blogs such as the Drudge Report had been active since the 1990s, Sept. 11 fueled the explosion of what we now call the blogosphere — millions of websites operated by opinionated amateurs with access to the means of digital media production. Today, bloggers and citizen journalists increasingly shape the global media agenda. During the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Baghdad Blogger provided global audiences with a glimpse of what life was like for ordinary Iraqis stuck between an invading army and a brutal dictator. The Asian tsunami of 2004 was a global news story told largely with home video footage."
Reuters South Africa (May 6) reported on one of the hottest blogging scenes: "Blogging is booming in China with the number of bloggers expected to hit 60 million by the end of this year. China is the world's second-largest Internet market after the United States, with more than 110 million users. A survey by Chinese search engine Baidu.com put the current number of blog, or web log, sites at 36.82 million which are kept by 16 million people, the official Xinhua news agency said. But the Communist Party's propaganda mandarins are obsessed with control and have closed down some outspoken blogs. Chat forums and online bulletin boards are routinely monitored for controversial political comments and sensitive words such as 'freedom' and 'democracy' are censored."
As Silicon.com (June 5) reported, the censorship debate has heated up: "… Internet companies have also come under fire lately for some actions in China, including Google for saying it would block politically sensitive terms on its website in the country and Microsoft's MSN for shutting down a blog under Chinese government orders."
Government Censorship
A bulletin from France's Reporters Without Borders (May 3) presented a foreboding look into the possible future repression of bloggers' freedom of expression: "Dictators would seem powerless faced with this explosion of online material. How could they monitor the e-mails of China's 130 million users or censor the messages posted by Iran's 70,000 bloggers? The enemies of the Internet have unfortunately shown their determination and skill in doing just that. Censorship of the Web is growing and is now done on every continent. Traditional 'predators of press freedom' — Belarus, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Libya, the Maldives, Nepal, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam — all censor the Internet now. In 2003, only China, Vietnam and the Maldives had imprisoned cyber-dissidents. Now more countries do.
"A score of bloggers and online journalists have been thrown in jail in Iran since Sept. 2004 and one of them, Mojtaba Saminejad, has been there since Feb. 2005 for posting material deemed offensive to Islam. In Libya, former bookseller Abdel Razak al-Mansouri was sentenced to 18 months in prison for making fun of President Mohammar Khaddafi online. Two Internet users have been jailed and tortured in Syria, one for posting photos online of a pro-Kurdish demonstration in Damascus and the other for simply passing on an e-mailed newsletter the regime considers illegal.
"A lawyer has been in jail in Tunisia since March 2005 for criticizing official corruption in an online newsletter. While a U.N. conference was held in Tunis in Nov. 2005 to discuss the future of the Internet, this human rights activist was in a prison cell several hundred miles from his family. It was a grim message to the world's Internet users.
"The situation has worsened in the Middle East and North Africa. In Nov. 2005, Morocco began censoring all political websites advocating Western Sahara's independence. Iran expands its list of banned sites each year and it now includes all publications mentioning women's rights. Some Asian countries seem about to go further than their Chinese 'big brother.' Burma has acquired sophisticated technology to filter the Internet, and the country's cyber cafés spy on customers by automatically recording what is on the screen every five minutes."
In Iran, the situation appears to be particularly dire. According to London's Online Press Gazette (June 5): "Locking up bloggers remains a favorite practice of the Iranian authorities. In January, Arash Sigarchi received a three-year prison sentence for 'insulting the Supreme Guide' and for 'propaganda against the regime.' Sigarchi has kept a political and cultural blog since 2002."
Things are no better in Egypt, as an article in the Middle East Times (May 19) detailed: "As internationally acclaimed blogger Alaa, of www.manalaa.net, sits in prison waiting to be released, bloggers in Egypt have begun a new campaign to educate Egyptians and the entire world on the situation facing Egyptian bloggers. Manal, the other half of manalaa.net and Alaa's wife, told the Middle East Times, 'Lots of bloggers find freedom of expression attainable with blogs.' Last year Reporters without Borders awarded Manal and Alaa the freedom of expression award for their blogging efforts in Egypt. At the time, Egypt had only a few dozen blogs, but since then, an explosion of bloggers has been witnessed in Egypt. The number is now thought to be in the thousands.
"Alaa has snuck messages out of his prison cell and those have been posted online, in Arabic as well as English. His imprisonment has led more and more bloggers across Egypt to join the bandwagon calling for freedom of expression. Since April 27, blogs have sprung up throughout the country, all calling for action in order to free activists from prison. Among the thousands of blogs, Freealaa.blogspot.com and Freedroubi.blogspot.com are the most notorious. These blogs attempt to expose the ruling regime's tactics and call for people to take action in order to free the activists from what they call unlawful imprisonment."
Fighting Back
Fortunately, there are forces fighting back against the tide of Internet censorship. London's The Observer (June 4) reported on a celebrity-led, collaborative effort: "Chris Martin, Martha Lane Fox, Bob Geldof and Archbishop Desmond Tutu are among nearly 20,000 people who have backed The Observer and Amnesty International campaign to end repression on the Internet. This remarkable response to the launch of Irrepressible.info last week included support from around the world. The campaign — 45 years after a powerful article in this newspaper led to the founding of Amnesty International — recognizes the Internet as a new frontier in the struggle for human rights. It demands that governments stop censoring websites, blocking emails and persecuting and imprisoning bloggers. It also calls for major corporations to stop making it easier for them to do so. … More than 1,000 blogs are already linked to the Irrepressible.info website, and the campaign has been welcomed by bloggers who have suffered under oppressive regimes. Hossein Derakhshan, an Iranian now living in Canada, whose blog Hoder.com has been censored in Iran, said: 'By censoring the Internet and specifically blogs, governments are depriving themselves of amazing sources of information about what their population thinks of them and what they are up to.'"
Repressive governments are now being called on to account for their Internet policies, as AllAfrica.com (May 24) noted: "Reporters Without Borders has called on Ethiopia's information and culture minister, Hailu Berhan, to explain why several websites critical of the government have been inaccessible in the country since May 17. Ethiopians have also seen all publications hosted by Blogspot.com disappear from the Internet.
"Even though the authorities have made no announcement, it is likely that the disappearance of the sites is the result of political censorship and not technical problems. 'We would like to know if your government has deliberately blocked access to online publications, a list of which we enclose, thus taking the course of filtering the Internet,' the press freedom organization asked Hailu Berhan in a letter. 'The Ethiopian Internet is dynamic and has seen the development of an extremely active blogging community. It is your responsibility to ensure that all opinions can be expressed online, even when some Internet users directly criticise government action. Preventing debate and controlling news and information circulating online will only aggravate an already very tense political climate. … We also wish to draw to your attention the consequences of filtering a blog tool such as Blogspot.com, which is currently inaccessible in Ethiopia. Blocking access to this service has the effect of censoring all publications which it hosts, the vast majority of which do not deal with politics or with Ethiopia.'"
There have already been some successes in the battle for a censorship-free Internet. According to the Philippines NQ7.net (May 6): "Pakistani blogger Dr. Awab Alvi, on May 3, after almost two months since the initial ban was imposed, the Alvi-e Team — supported by bloggers worldwide joining under the 'Don't Block the Blog' banner — are pleased to report that they again have access to Blogspot blogs in Pakistan. Dr. Alvi said that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had blocked access to Blogspot on March 3, disallowing access to a number of websites for the Internet users in Pakistan. The ban was in response to a list submitted by a Supreme Court decision on March 2 that instructed the PTA to ban 12 offending websites which highlighted the blasphemous cartoons on the Prophet Muhammad.
"Alvi and his fellow bloggers said that the collective efforts of dozens of free speech activists of the 'Don't Block the Blog' campaign and the Action Group Against Blogspot Ban in Pakistan had successfully pressured the government to lift the ban."
An important U.S. court decision was also lauded as a step in the right direction in protecting bloggers' rights. Reporters Without Borders (May 30) noted: "Reporters Without Borders today hailed a Californian appeal court's 'historic' decision on May 26 that online journalists and bloggers have the same right to protect their sources as other kinds of journalists. The ruling was issued in a case between the U.S. electronics manufacturer Apple and websites that posted confidential information about some of its products. In his ruling, the appeal court judge refused to make a distinction between 'legitimate and illegitimate' news reports, warning that any attempt to go down this road would jeopardize the goals of the First Amendment.
Enjoy a fascinating trek through blogs from all over the world in Worldpress.org's World Blog section.
Wasn't the charge 'Sedition' and not racism? I am also somewhat stunned into disbelief that the only way the Singaporean authorities can track a blogger down is with a lone police officer sitting at a computer.
Please tell me that the online security system is trying to play down their capabilities?
Station Inspector Mohamed Zulnizan Mohamed Arsis arrested blogger for comments against Malays
Station Inspector Mohamed Zulnizan Mohamed Arsis stayed awake for the better part of two days tracking down the blogger who posted racist remarks in October last year.
For his devotion to duty, he will be among the 335 police officers to receive commendation certificates today from Police Commissioner Khoo Boon Hui.
The 32-year-old inspector started tracking the blogger when a police report was made about his comments against Malays.
Inspector Zulnizan said: "I knew I had to check that particular blog every two hours so as not to miss any posting by the blogger's friends. If not, some of the postings would be replaced with new ones.
"Within a day, I found out what school he was in. Then I found out his address and he was arrested."
The 17-year-old blogger pleaded guilty and was placed on probation for two years and ordered to do 180 hours of community work for Malay welfare organisations to clear his misconceptions about Malays.
Inspector Zulnizan, a father of two sons aged four and two, said his teacher wife used to complain about his irregular hours but has now come to realise how much he enjoys his work.
Sleuthing also suits another award winner -- 32-year-old Staff Sergeant Mohammed Juanda.
"Every assignment requires a different approach -- a different cover," he said.
He is one of the five members of the Orchard Task Force, commended for making 27 arrests last year in cases involving theft, pickpocketing, credit card fraud, robbery and rioting in the Orchard Road area.
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore opposition politician Chee Soon Juan and two supporters have been summoned to court by the police for speaking in public without a permit between November 2005 and April 2006, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.
Chee, leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, and Yap Keng Ho and Gandhi Ambalam have been told to appear in court on June 20, police spokesman Victor Keong said.
Public speaking is prohibited in Singapore unless speakers have been licensed by the government.
"Our officers observed that Dr. Chee and other SDP-related persons were giving extended speeches and not merely making a sales pitch to sell their publications," Keong said.
Chee, who was served eight summonses, could not be reached for comment.
"The SDP is determined to break the PAP's stranglehold on free speech and peaceful assembly in Singapore," the SDP said on its website.
The wealthy city-state has been criticised by Amnesty International for its tight controls on political expression, but the People's Action Party (PAP), which has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965, says that firm regulation of public debate and the media is necessary to maintain law and order.
The SDP did not win any seats in the May 6 general election, but won 23 percent of the votes in the wards that it contested. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's PAP won 82 of the 84 seats in parliament, keeping the same number of seats as before.
Chee's sister, Chee Siok Chin, has appealed to the court to annul the results of the election on the basis that it was not free and fair, but the Attorney-General has asked the High Court to dismiss her application, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Chee and his sister also face a defamation lawsuit, which was launched by Lee and his father, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, over an article in the SDP's newsletter.
"The PAP is not out to have a clean sweep. What we are trying to offer is certainty of good government and good people in charge. So my message is this: Have your desire for opposition fulfilled, but never to the extent of changing the government."
--- Peanut Goh
Get your decoding rings ready!
1. "I do not have the calibre to function in a true democracy." 2. "In Singapore, the PAP decides how many opposition MPs Singaporeans are allowed."
Peanut Goh should grow up and accept the challenge of governing in a democratic country, where the voters decide how much of an opposition they want in Parliament. If he's unable to deal with the decision of the voters, he should either step down or work for peanuts.
My question to Peanut Goh: Let's cut to the chase and forget about elections, in this case. How many opposition MPs do you allow us to have, at maximum? Please, I want some more.
3. "We will do what we can to prevent Singaporeans from voting in more opposition MPs."
Peanut Goh admits he wants to control how Singaporeans vote! We need a clarification on what legal or extra-legal means he is contemplating. Does this include fixing opposition candidates? Or finding more ways to buy his supporters votes?
4. "The PAP will never allow voters to change ruling parties."
But Peanut Goh, you have no right to make this kind of statement. It is not your place to dictate to voters who they can and cannot vote for; how many seats the opposition is allowed and not allowed to win. It is not your place to tell voters they can vote in opposition politicians, but not too many.
Need I say that this is scandalous? Peanut Goh should withdraw from Marine Parade GRC for the insult to Singaporean voters he has made. The PAP should take clear, unambiguous steps to do the right thing, to sack Peanut Goh from the party before he damages their credibility any further.
"We can't fight the next battle using today's strategies," says Peanut Goh. But it is clear that the objectives of the Whiteshirt battle still remains the same as yesterday's battle. It is clear that the Whiteshirts still view voters as frightened children who must be told who they can vote for, and how many sweets they're allowed. It is clear that the Whiteshirts continue to be wildly out of touch with reality.
It is, for all who watch and wonder about the Communist world, the ultimate obscenity. Worse even than Hungary or Czechoslovakia or Afghanistan for there the tanks and troops were alien invaders, rolling across borders in the fashion through time immemorial of big powers knocking little powers into line. But in China it is the People's Army turned against the people: shooting them indiscriminately in Tiananmen Square, on the streets, on their doorsteps, crushing them beneath tanks. A bankrupt, desperate, geriatric government, an edifice of ideology and aspiration, flaking and toppling before our eyes. We have been confronted, this week-end, by one of the great punctuation marks of 20th-century history.
No-one in the largest nation in the world will ever forget the first week of June in Beijing. A surge of desire for greater freedoms - not democracy as we know it, but an opening of society, a spirit of glasnost - has posed ultimate questions to a group of old men and, ultimately, at whatever cost, they have moved to stamp it out. There was a chance, only a handful of days ago, that a more liberal strain of thinking within the Chinese Communist Party could, by its success in the backroom struggle for power, have harnessed the yearning for glasnost. But the old men won.
Are the manifest death throes of the Communist monoliths manageable? Can they be predicted and relied on? Could Tiananmen Square come to Red Square and savagely end a period of burgeoning hope?
The point is a starkly simple one. We, sitting comfortably in the West, assume that a spark in the individual human condition - a spark called freedom - must, in the end, make a bonfire of the system that seeks to snuff it out. We assumed, from Nixon on, that China could gradually evolve, that the business culture, the Americans with cheque books, would inevitably bring some form of democracy in their wake. Tell that, this bloody, awful morning, to the marines.
How frail is the Soviet spark? The Soviet people - because glasnost came first - may have acquired a patina of sophistication that the students of Beijing lacked. The Soviet Union is seeking to devolve power, to provoke argument, to manage change. The pensioners of the Chinese establishment had, long since, run out of ideas.
They must not get away with it. In the eyes of the West, because of the spark. And in the eyes of those who watch from Moscow, too, because the nightmare of Deng is theirs as well. We all, at root, know the Chinese march towards liberty must be resumed.
SINGAPORE: Close to 1,000 voters surveyed have said "good governance" is the key factor in shaping how they vote.
Bread-and-butter issues, as well as upgrading, had less sway over them.
The Institute of Policy Studies survey also found that the pre- and post-independence generation were not all that different when it comes to views on the elections system, including whether it was a fair one.
The results of the survey came as a surprise to many political watchers.
The average Singaporean voter was more concerned about having an efficient and fair Government with alternative views in Parliament.
Even the personality of candidates came before bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living and jobs.
Upgrading was dismissed as not too important by more than half of the respondents polled.
"The lower bands of the social class, those who are poorer did not rank jobs, cost of living highly either. The ranking increased as you went through the higher income, that is a bit intriguing as you think those in the lower income band would be more interested in pocket book issues but you will notice that they rank question of fairness of government policy higher. In the end, people don't really look to the Government for their pocket book issues to be settled at the vote or ballot boxes. What they do want is a Government that is fair, that will treat all citizens equitably," said Dr Gillian Koh, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Policy Studies.
Nearly half of those surveyed felt it is important to have elected opposition members in Parliament.
This sentiment was marginally stronger among the pre-independence generation, especially those between 40 and 54, compared to the post-independence generation.
About a third of all surveyed want to see some change, in terms of political reform.
Nearly 1 in 3 above 40 prefer the status quo, and a fifth of the post independence group is similarly conservative.
While the rest have not made up their minds.
The majority felt the election system is fair to all political parties, with no need for change.
This includes those aged 65 and above, the working class, and those with primary education and below.
One in two surveyed were also of the view that the policy to link votes to upgrading was not fair - those under 40 were more inclined to feel that way.
"A big band of the post-65ers are in the swing category, for want of a better term. They haven't decided one way or the other, I suspect then that the other issues weigh more heavily when they cast their vote - the question is where will they land as they move further up the age bands. The post-65ers were not all out-and-out liberals, that the profile among the conservatives, pluralists, and the in-between swing categories was somewhat similar across the band from the post-65ers to the pre-65ers," added Dr Koh.
As for the quality of candidates, voters looked for honesty and people skills, rather than the candidate's credentials and even the party.
Voters continued to rely on television coverage and newspapers to help shape their voting decisions, followed by election rallies.
The Internet was least used for this, but the survey also showed that many in the post-independence generation also went online, while also depending on online sources of information.
On their assessment of political parties, the People's Action Party was deemed the most credible political party - it won strong support from those above 40 and the working class.
Those in the service industries, and a high proportion of those between 21 to 54 felt the Workers' Party was credible, while a bigger group among the 21-29 year-olds felt the same about the Singapore Democratic Alliance and the Singapore Democratic Party.
The Institute of Policy Studies said the results will help to better understand the Singaporean voter.
985 Singaporean citizens aged 21 and above made up of both voters and non-voters were polled almost equally to reflect the fact that 52 percent of the voting population actually exercised their vote in the May 6 General Election. - CNA /dt
Washington DC: The People's Action Party is re-thinking its strategy for the opposition-held wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang in the wake of the recent General Election results.
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong, who had been tasked to help win back these two constituencies in the May 6 polls, shared his ideas with reporters during a news conference at the end of his 2-day visit to the United States.
He also revealed that the defeated PAP candidates might not stand in those wards in the next election.
Over at Hougang and Potong Pasir, it has been quiet on the PAP front since last month's General Election.
There were no Meet-the-People sessions.
And it looks set to continue that way.
For a long time, residents there had enjoyed the so-called 2-in-1 effect - an elected opposition MP and a PAP man who also worked for their interests.
But Mr Goh said that could change as the PAP assesses its next move in the two opposition wards.
He said: "They would have to revise their strategy. For the time being......do what is minimal. That is what the opposition have been doing - do minimal, only criticise and have been able to get support. See what happens for the time being. At least half way through, may change tactic."
The tactic for now, though, is for the PAP grassroots organization advisers to look critically at whatever may not be working in their respective constituencies.
Mr Goh also revealed that PAP's Eric Low and Sitoh Yih Pin might contest other constituencies in future.
Mr Goh said: "While they'll be fielded in the next elections, may not be in Hougang and Potong Pasir because in our view, as party leaders, it's unfair to field Sitoh and Eric Low if we think they don't have a chance."
So who will stand there instead?
Mr Goh said: "Doesn't matter, can field new candidates and after 1-2 elections, that person would have his teeth cut. He would be a better person - he has fought and he can be an MP elsewhere.
"So why not Hougang? Since the residents have chosen to have an opposition MP, let them continue to have an opposition MP because the desire for an opposition is strong and the PAP is not out to have a clean sweep, but at the same time not wanting to let opposition grow."
But at the end of the day, Mr Goh said, he hopes that Singaporeans understand that stability and good governance is important.
Turning to the role of the Internet, he said that the government would have to liberalise the use of podcasting in future and learn to work the system to its advantage. - CNA/ir1. Why was this announcement made in Washington D.C, of all places? It doesn't quite make sense, to be talking about such a relatively small issue over there, when perhaps, the order of conversation should have been FTAs or bilateral relations.
2. Look closely at the bolded words.
For a long time, residents there had enjoyed the so-called 2-in-1 effect - an elected opposition MP and a PAP man who also worked for their interests.
The opposition wards have NOT been enjoying a 2-in-1 effect. They have been deprived of the basic privileges extended to every other constituency in the country. Why aren't the PAP men there campaiging for upgrading, if they were really working to better the constituency?
That is what the opposition have been doing - do minimal, only criticise and have been able to get support.
The opposition candidates have NOT been doing minimal, and simply criticising. If that was the case, the politically seasoned people of those constituencies would not be voting them in every single time. That's the PAP's job - criticising the opposition at every election, and having no real election issues.
Doesn't matter, can field new candidates and after 1-2 elections, that person would have his teeth cut.
So those constituencies don't even matter to the PAP anymore - they are a training ground, it seems.
but at the same time not wanting to let opposition grow.
Oops! Looks like someone let slip the true intention behind PAP.
Cutting through all the rhetoric, one message emerges loud and clear: if the opposition wards want to commit suicide, the PAP will only stand and watch. The exact same message was repeated in 1984, after a particularly "shameful" un-landslide election. See here for details.
Now we know how much they care.
3.
Turning to the role of the Internet, he said that the government would have to liberalise the use of podcasting in future and learn to work the system to its advantage.
Let me translate please, I speak the language of PAP very well. Learn to work the system to its advantage? Clearly, this, coming on the heels of Denis Phua's message about "managing" the internet, is PAP for learning to "control" the internet, and the bloggosphere. And note, this was left at the end of the article, almost as a casual remark. Kind of off-topic too, in what is an article about elections.
SINGAPORE: Political parties have taken stock and are gearing up for the next election.
The Workers' Party wants to build up its pool of candidates, while the Singapore Democratic Alliance wants to merge its component parties.
For the ruling People's Action Party, it will be an all out effort to continue getting a strong mandate in future elections.
Speakers from the four political parties which contested the recent general election acknowledged there is now greater public acceptance of party politics in the country.
"An endorsement of this was seen on Tuesday when the Prime Minister made his swearing in speech and he says this election we have heard the people, we will do something about cost of living, we will look at health care costs. So we make no apology for canvassing the national agenda," said Sylvia Lim, Chairman for the Workers' Party and Non-constituency MP.
When asked what the Workers' Party would do for workers, Ms Lim said, "We will canvass outside of these organisations for issues that matter to workers, not necessarily to their union leadership but to workers themselves, for instance, in our manifesto you will see proposals for unions to be more indepedant and we have also proposed unemployment insurance to take care of workers who may be out of work."
One of the key issues at the Institute of Policy Studies' post-election forum was the future of opposition parties in Singapore come the next general election.
And some political analysts feel it would make good sense for the opposition parties to cooperate electorally and put up a good fight against the ruling party.
For its part, the Singapore Democratic Alliance wants to review the current arrangement, where its four component parties campaign on different platforms.
"We are proposing also that in the next general election five years from now, only an SDA party. We don't wan
