In between the silence
In popular banter, in coffeeshops, during taxi-rides, Singapore is often likened to a dynasty, a fiefdom, a monarchy. The benevolent emperor is aging, and the crown prince has ascended the throne. The...
View ArticleWriting home | To the memory of JBJ
Evening brought the breeze, channelled by the concrete blocks, blowing across Singapore. Evening set the birds chattering, as if desperate for one last word before darkness silenced them. Evening...
View ArticleDisgrace | The Life & Times Chua Lee Hoong*
One of the characteristics of the esteemed novelist J.M. Coetzee's prose style is his use of the rhetorical question. Rather, questions – in the plural – posed where he wishes to provoke thought, to...
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Justice looking for a name
The Scream is Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s most famous painting. I was in Oslo the last two weeks, spending Christmas and the New Year with old friends up in the mountain cabins snowed over with...
View ArticleThe state of mind | MP set in flames
There is in literature a slipstream of works that impresses upon the reader the character more than the plot or the story. The reader rides on the horseback of him the character as he (usually a ‘he’)...
View ArticleDiscordant note - Pax Singaporeana
Civil servants should remember the values of the Singapore Public Service: 'Integrity, Service, Excellence'. Our first duty is to serve Singapore and Singaporeans, and we should always conduct...
View ArticleOrison of odium
In the midst of our CNY celebrations of luck, prosperity, and family reunion, or for our non-Chinese friends, a few days’ respite from another work-a-day, let us not forget that death is here and...
View ArticleJust ask (from See Nao)
Dear Cavalierio,I am writing to you in one of my many last moments of desperation. As you would know, I usually write to Molly. But of late it seems that this wondrous phenomenon that is Singapore is...
View ArticleTotal Defence | Total Control
"Each Monday, about 1,500 students at Pei Hwa Secondary School - levels 1 to 5 - sit in the parade square to read The Straits Times. Teachers then follow up with discussions about the news during...
View ArticleSnow
Cavalierio: Hey Molly, come and see the snow.Molly: Snow? What snow?Cavalierio: You've to come out to see it. Hurry. February's coming to an end.Molly: I see no snow. The sun is shining. Shining...
View ArticleGovt is God
Just get on with itPerhaps I slept too long or Australia has morphed into Alice's Wonderland, but please tell me why schools should erect plaques or roadside signs or arrange ceremonies to thank the...
View ArticleDisadvantageous Mandarin
A response to MM LeeThere is a lot to be said for Singaporean-Chinese, myself included, to be ascribed a ‘mother tongue’ that is not really our mothers' (or for that matter, our fathers'), one that we...
View ArticleGrovel
From the Straits Times Editorial, 1 April 2009 (is this an April Fool's joke?) --The promotion that Singaporeans would be most delighted with is that of Mr Teo Chee Hean, now a Deputy Prime Minister in...
View ArticleShame Sham Shanmugam
"At the heart of the Public Order Act is one key philosophy. Second Minister for Home Affairs, Mr K Shanmugam, said: "The approach is to seek the optimal balance between the freedom to exercise...
View ArticleSilenced, defenceless
I found an island in your arms,a country in your eyes,arms that chain, eyes that lie.Break on through to the other side.- Jim MorrisonThe Public Order Act is not just about maintaining our racial and...
View ArticleWhy is the measure of love loss?
Beyond the ridiculous phrases being bandied around by Thio Su Mien and her followers, like “promoting a homosexual lifestyle”, as if sexual orientation is a choice, or worse, as if it’s a credit card...
View ArticleThe Emperor’s new clothes
In a letter that appeared in the Straits Times forum online (“Whatever the issue, let’s learn to argue well”, 27 May 09), Ms Lisa Li, a GP teacher, made the case for arguing well. She says, “… given...
View ArticleSingapore, the safe, safe, city
There is another sky,Ever serene and fair,And there is another sunshine,Though it be darkness there-- Emily Dickinson*Singapore is a safe city, we like to say. Say it often enough, loudly enough, and...
View ArticleAbout Temasek, and of course, the Straits Times
Just when would we say, a lie is a lie, a wrong is a wrong, and enough is enough?***Excellent article from The Age/SMH:Lumbered with the boss's wifeEric EllisJuly 30, 2009SINGAPOREANS aren’t usually...
View ArticleOnce Upon a Time in Singapore
There was a time not too long ago, when we clenched our fists upon our hearts, and pledged ourselves as one united people. Regardless of race, place, and united by Time, 8:22 was a rousing moment...
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