It seems like these million dollar ministers dare to only engage the young. What’s next? Primary school and kindergarten forums?

I don’t respect this kind of million dollar minister. They always peg salary to that of MNC CEO, but in the first place, are they competent ? Private and public service is different thing altogether. I feel that they are overpaid.

shameless minister try hard to sell their inhuman policy thru youngsters

They try to cycho young children since kindergarten, I see his face also” tu lan”. if his pay $350000 per annum, I not that tu lan, look at Bush, his pay abt US 200 plusk, I dun to lan Bush, in fact i like him 100 times more than our ministers.

A very strategic long term move by PAP.

Why a speech at RI and not some neighbourhood school? Precisely, indoctrinating the elites at the young and tender age is the way to go. The path of elites with uncaring faces!

holy cow! another propaganda!

What would be interesting, would be if someone could actually provide a transcript on the questions asked, and the answers that was given.

Some of the blogs mentioned that the Minister was able to rebut/refute various questions on the freedom of speech in Singapore, as well as the various restrictions on media. I wonder if the answers which satisfies the students would be acceptable to a more mature audience too.

Real Gold Should Never Be Afraid of Fire. I wonder why the minister did not feel the need to test his views out in the company of his peers and equals?
IMHO Children should not be used for political mileage. For one their zip drives are at nil. And they dont have an experiential knowledge.

A better bet would be to float the idea in a really serious forum where the people are maybe some fraternity of really violent monkeys like the bruderhud or even a panel of businessmen, academics or acclaimed critical thinkers. There he will certainly get a run for his money and things will not go so smoothly, but at least people will say you did not pitched it right and it has hit squarely. As it is as a parent what can I say?

I dont believe this counts for very much in the eyes of the mature audience.

I wish Dr.Balakrishnan had stayed in the medical profession earning millions and the love and adulation of many while trying to help the half blind among them to see instead of trying to half blind the seeing in his present job. He probably wished that too.

8) TC on July 7th, 2008 3.10 pm

Ya lo, since when have we seen our leaders ever field sensitive, uncomfortable but solid questions in front of tough audience & in mainstream media.

That is why they always appear so talented & so right. Thanks to our mainstream media.

The RI (Restrained Intelligence) Lecture – Freedom of Speech.

Vivian knows very well that he will not be able to withstand the onslaught if he were to face the public on this topic. Therefore, facing students would be a safe choice to prevent his face developing the redness of his T-shirt.

“The RI Lecture – Restrained Freedom of Speech” is more appropriate.

Even when faced with students, the questions were screened. What is he afraid of?

I am very happy that the young and old in Singapore are beginning to see through the ploys of our leaders.

Though there are forums in the State Medias and the Internet in Cyberspace, one glaring aspects is that, there are hardly any engagement, clarification, verification, reply and even rebuttal to points and allegations made by members of the public.

Are our leaders only good up to the level of students or are students allow only to discuss and question to a certain level and degree when their queries are screened, vetted and subject to approval?

As Leaders, they are expected to engage everyone, especially those issues relevant to their appointments and duties.

So, Sg Parliamentarians do your parts AND DO YOUR DUTIES PROPERLY.

patriot.

Correction: ‘one glaring aspects’ should be ‘one glaring aspect’.

My humble apology:

patriot.

The street-smart students in R.I. will be able to draw their own conclusions on the screening of certain questions.
It certainly begs the question ‘ what is Vivian afraid of’ ‘ ?

” He is afraid that he will not be able to tell the unpleasant truth to his audience.”
The truth hurts in the case of the party he represents.

The R.I. lecture was actually a PR exercise that targeted an elite school, as one sharp netizen pointed out.
The screening of questions in itself is a failure on Vivian’s part to fully engage the students, and they will be sceptical about his purpose.

A true talent will engage a much larger and more mature audience.

A world class talent will engage such an audience “live” on international TV and with “live” phone-in participation. Example BBC or CNN.

My hunch is no one in the ruling party can make the cut.
And they truly have the cheek to call themselves world class talent and justify their remuneration.

“The truth does not hurt those who are shameless.”

does any body wonder what a minister of community, youth and sports mean??

it makes me feel as though we (youth, community and sportsmen) are part of another commodity managed by a team of ministers and capable civil servants.

Like LKY,
this Vivian might have thought that RI students are naive and innocent, very easy to bluff and hogwash. RI is not RI for nothing. Are they Real Intelligent or Real Idiot to ‘worship’ the clown ? Vivian might have underestimated the student in RI. Anyway, we will know in five years’ time.

I did not attend this particular lecture since I graduated last yr, but few points:
1) RI lectures are inaugurated by RI. While the invited speakers are ministers and high-flying professionals, this does not necessarily construe as propaganda or a PR exercise.
2) Questions are definitely not screened nor vetted (at least for the upper sec). One just have to walk up to the aisle, declare your name, class and question; quite intimidating actually. Students are however discouraged from hogging the mike and continue debating with the speaker.
3) Pls do not unfairly smear all RI students with the stereotypical labels of “elite” and “idiot” coz most of us are not. We are perfectly able to distinguish between bulls***, fallacies and logical points.

In any case, I do not agree with all that he said, particularly with his high-handed treatment of the new media and certainly his “reassurance” that there is no curtailment of expression in sg, online or otherwise.

gvhg, R.I. has been viewed as an elite school for many decades, rightly so for its academic and sports achievements. Majority of its ex students have gone on to do well in their working environment and many of our prominent ministers were from the school as well. There is nothing wrong being an elite student, what matters is the way one conducts himself/herself.

I assume you keep up on current affairs and you will be aware of the various scenarios, especially those that affect the general public. I would appreciate your effort to check if there was screening of questions by Vivian’s assistant. It was mentioned by a student attending the lecture. I believe you still have ties with the school since you graduated last year. Thanks in advance.

By the way, good to hear your comments and please encourage your friends especially those still in R.I. to post their comments on this blog.

English schools like RI, RGS, VJ and NJ are mostly pro-govt.

It is possible for certain schools to be pro-govt., depending on the principal’s allegiance and this applies to the other teaching/coaching staff.
With the internet and other technology to make our world smaller, our students are a lot more discerning than those in the past. I am optimistic after my interaction with them and those that have started work.
These young men and women are constantly assessing you in a quiet way.

Mr BALA,

Time to shut your ugly elite face up, your miserable $30 dollars increase has not been forgotten yet and please use whatever brain cells left of you to not fan more fire. Thank you, minister. Remember to collect your fat pay every month, stop helping singaporeans less more help becomes more burden on all our necks.

FG

The more brand name the school and greater is the perception of them as intelligently possible. This is very misleading, almost all our ministers are from branded school. What have they left us with? Where are they leading us to? A society that build on materialistic values and nothing more can only face more decay.

Our nation has evolved into a MultiNAtional society. Everything is measured in $$$$ and moral values are eroding at a rapid rate. Divorced rates are the highest in recent years, the gap between poor and rich has widen to a point where our gini coefficient is worse than Indonesia. The inflation is highest in 26 years and more singaporeans are unhappy and left by the thousands to call home somewhere else. If our young and brightest brain continues to think that political freedom is not as important as economic freedom. Then our nation will slowly but surely descend into decay.

PAP loves the branded school kids, but our so called branded minister have produce what kind of performance that wow the world? They draw enormous pay that cannot be put into perspective with regard to their mediocre performance. If they are excellent, our inflation will be capped under control. Our investments overseas will be earning good returns (close books very hard to determine where most income comes from local revenue or really overseas returns) and not making bad investments in Citi, Merril Lynch and UBS…also Shin Corp.

Branded kids must also have a great heart and mind too. Not just 4 As will do. Who wants to be a Million Dollar Minister? For our dear Vivian, please take a good look at yourself in a mirror. Do you have a heart and a great mind to lead?
In history, great nation are born not because the leader has 4 As, but sheer determination, great spirit, big heart and great mind. Sadly, none of our current generation leader possesses any of the above values.

Lets wear BLACK to mourn this National Day!

FG

i am NOT pro PAP…but Dr Vivian does make some logical and valid points IMO.

from what i understand, what he is saying is simply:

-don’t believe what you read immediately. take everything with a pinch of salt and use your own judgement to take away what you want from everything you read.

-with the advent of citizen journalism, the flow of information is now much more free than before. hence, ‘new media allows wrong ideas to be reinforced’. before you guys get worked up..think about it. let me tell you something…i have a 13 inch penis. now given the usual asian anatomy, it is likely that i was lying (or am I? =p). think about it.

-racist and inflammatory comments that are offensive should be punished. (okay i agree with the racist part…but ‘inflammatory’ can be taken to mean alot of things. inflammatory as in criticising the govt? to what extent is criticism deemed ‘inflammatory’…this is a grey area. if the govt deems any tiny ounce of criticism inflammatory and hence punishable then i am against that. see…i am providing balance =D)

-be moderate and listen to opposing viewpoints. (this is how you get distinction for GP and all your essay subjects at A Level lah!)

so…IMO…the general message of what he is saying actually makes sense. good sense in fact…it is only when people take into context that he is a PAP minister…he is working for the govt…that what he says can be misconstrued into a propoganda exercise.

chorus,
I agree but is it something new that we do not know ?
It is as though he trying to be a preacher only that he doesn’t act what he preaches.

You are right. He is trying to teach ‘moral’ value but does that make him a better minister we respect ?

How about this.
“We should not discriminate races and religions.”
Now does that make me better commenter by giving such remark ? So wonder what is the point of giving Vivian given such remark ? To show what ?

well apparently some people (not shooting anyone…seriously just using a generic example from what i’ve seen) really do not seem to know, given the way that they lap up anything that’s on the internet.

‘wah really anot…how you know?’

‘eh…that blog lor…sure correct one!’

as for respecting him…well i dunno about that. i’m not pro-PAP neither do i stand behind any of our current Opposition parties so I don’t want to judge whether it makes him a ‘better minister’. i’m not too concerned about that anyhow.

i’m just calling for some balance in general after reading some of the more ‘acidic’ comments here. =) maybe i’m just someone who hates conflict.

as for what is the point of him giving the speech and what he wants to show…

um. some would say its a piece of propoganda. personally, i feel that his speech has a pro-PAP stance (of course it would, he’s part of the PAP)…his message IN GENERAL is very relevant.

anyway to reiterate, my main point is not that dr. vivien is a damn good commenter. the 3 points of his speech i posted in my previous post were for the sake of illustrating that even someone from PAP (contrary to popular belief it seems) can make sense and raise valid points (sometimes =p)

EDIT:
um. some would say its a piece of propoganda. personally, i feel that while his speech has a pro-PAP stance (of course it would, he’s part of the PAP)…his message IN GENERAL is very relevant.

“anyway to reiterate, my main point is not that dr. vivien is a damn good commenter. the 3 points of his speech i posted in my previous post were for the sake of illustrating that even someone from PAP (contrary to popular belief it seems) can make sense and raise valid points (sometimes =p)”

Just some unrelated comment from me in the following

Now MSM is good too as not every post is bad especially those that doesn’t touch on local political scene that is partisan but what make it terribly bad is people’s perception of what really matter to them now which is local politics, not so much of freaking oversea freaking politics that always slam the headline. Politics becomes part of every unapathetic life who want now feel the pitch of PAP’s policy and regulation, and they feel that a newspaper shouldn’t be just a mouthpiece for PAP because people want to know and debate about issues that affected them etc inflation, ERP, stuff like that.

So it is the same thing as the expensive minies… People doesn’t care about them delivering their rosy and constructive remarks or heavenly preaching that goes nowhere and that benefits the coffers , now what people want is how these coffers translate their action into words. Not words that says “no choice” , “wages down”, “EPR to help business”, and all sort of nonsense like that.

It really desperate of PAP in using Vivian to bring the propaganda shit into the schools. They think the students are so stupid nowsaday ? I think they are living in their own make-believe world again.

People who dunno what they are talking abt should keep quiet. Obviously our top ministers are competent