Posted 3:07 AM

Singapore's latest action hero.



Jamie Han. Write this name down.

Yup that final year History undergraduate. He was the guy who mentioned the words 'despot' and 'tyrant' during the Kent Ridge ministerial forum at NUS where MM Lee spoke a few weeks back, and got his face and words printed all over the press soon after.

I too know him, not really well, but I know him, 'cos we are both mentors (not from the same mentoring school though). If you remember his conversation with MM Lee, he mentioned his articles weren't published.

So what does the government do, publish one of his letters soon, as follows:

Why are we so afraid of the 'R' words?
Basically, 'race' and 'religion'. He talks about how we should bring out these issues to discuss since we're enjoying a substantial state of peace right now.
"The Government can help encourage such discussion by relaxing the publishing laws so that more avenues would be made available for people to discuss these and other important issues that affect our society."

Here is another reader's reply:
Irresponsible press could reopen old wounds.
"Old wounds can be reopened through an irresponsible press, especially on issues concerning race and religion which do not tend to be resolved easily."


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I agree with Jamie somewhat. I check out some forums and talk to some people about these topics once in a while, and everyone become so sensitive. This is 2005. Is race and religion still seen as a taboo topic? Unbelievable. But while I understand the mentality of discussing them and taking the opportunity to get to know one another better, there will always be bigots and / or idiots who insist on their ways and shut off their sound systems when other people are offering their point of view. If anyone reading this is one of them, I sincerely urge you to reflect. You're not always correct. Listening is a good virtue.

As for the press, well it's always debatable whether the press is controlled by the government isn't it? I agree that the goverment censors letters. I mean, can you imagine if we read on comments about how sucky our government is and minister who and who should go to hell or how our president should be paid less than S$4 million a year, which incidentally is how much our president earns. That's why censorship is important. But I agree that people who write in sensibly and rationally should have their views aired, especially about such crucial concerns of race and religion. Otherwise, we'll always be in our small little well with our earplugs on and ignorant about the rest of the communities.

There should not be fear of these "R" words. In fact, we should bear in mind another "R" instead.
That is what we term as "respect". In this case the other "R"s will come out strong and productive.

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Am writing this as I watch Man Utd play Everton in the FA cup. I'll sleep after that, and go play soccer in the morning. In the afternoon I ill unpack my stuff and arrange nicely in my new cupboard, and will show you guys how beautiful it is. Then I'll get some studying done, and later on it will be BLACK HAWK DOWN.

In case none of you haven't realised, I love war movies. If I have the money I'll slowly collect all the war classics, and watch them again and again. More recent ones like "pearl harbour", "enemy at the gates". Classics like "hamburger hill" (never seen before!) and "the longest day." Offhand I remember I only have "windtalkers", "saving private ryan", "we were soldiers" and "band of brothers". Oh, and "Hitler" which I STILL haven't watched. The 180 minute duration turns me off a little.

So, Black hawk down is a must watch on my agenda for tomorrow. Think I've blabbered long enough. 15minutes to full time and off to sleep I go.



Good night!! Good day!!

triggering Mr Ng HS |