So funny one. Where got such thing as demanding other netizens to self-regulate in the cyberspace?

Does he thinks that he is still an Army General commanding the people like his soldiers?

Military Discipline, discipline, discipline ……. Yes, Sir!

FU!

LOL. If MICA wants Netizens to defend the boastful Perm Sec Tan YS, pay them. It is nobody’s duty to defend government policies. Since PAP P65 maintains a blog, RADM (NS) Teo should command them to do something. After all, there is a former regular military officer among the P65 MPs. I recall Dr Lam Pin Min was either a Major or Lieutenant Colonel under RSAF Medical Corp.

The military man should be cracking his head and paying heed to the tsunami of truthful uninhibited netizen’s feelings and emotions against the burned MP.
Instead he chose to chastise the others for not self-regulating and self-censoring views ala the main stream media.

This is like being an ostrich in the sand. Self-regulate unflattering and unpleasant honest opinions jarring to the ears?

Contemplating regulating and directing the proprietors of the sites to take measures where they have to accept all comments – pro ones I presume.
Dark days indeed!

Sadly out of touch all these ex-military men. The cook was a BG too.

Aren’t we bacteria? What do you expect from bacteria, Lui?

Blame everyone else for not doing the right thing, that’s been the norm in our government but ever acknowledge why the situation is such. Imagine the President of USA saying “I screwed up”, pay special attention to the word “I”. Here we people get the blame for being complacent and “its” a honest mistake and lets move on with no ownership. Now that’s why we need to pay them such shameful wages. People living in glass houses should not be throwing stones.

That’s the ministerial quality we have ???

read the latest about mouse who barked and cats – the latest pearls of LSS’s wisdom or otherwise.
Yes #6 DCT – unfortunately the answer to your question is an undeniable YES!

Censorship or clamp-down on the way…

The net is the most open platform.

‘There is practically nothing people can do to you when you air your views.

If your argument doesn’t hold water, people will bombard as they risk practically nothing.

BEst of all, they needn’t air their views if they don’t feel like it.

It is their most genuine feelings.

He should use this valuable feedback to reflect.

Goes to show how retarded he is.

BTW, if this joker is an artiste, I will never pay to see him perform.

Would you?

HA!

I think our elites should just move to North Korea if they are so disappointed with the comments from netizens.

Stop barking up the wrong tree and go do some root cause analysis on why the incident happened in the first place.

But then again I guess their helicopters have flown all the way up to heaven and maybe that’s why they can’t see anything down here in lesser mortal land.

you want the truth or the tooth?

the brutal truth is never pleasant. or you prefer to hear only the good stuff?

now you know what kind of feedback they are getting. the people around them know what they want to hear and everyone is happy.

where got unhappiness?

C’mon, self-regulating would mean suicide. To do that would to defeat the purpose of expressing our thoughts. If banning public demostrations isn’t bad enough, further regulations on cyberspace would mean total death upon us all.If you just wanna hear the nice and goody stuffs, go watch a children’s programme.
Without our views, you wouldn’t know where you stand and worse of all, you will continue to live in a fantasy world. Wake up and get real. Of course, totally offensive comments without substance are not desired, but then how many of these do you get to see anyway?
Listen, we don’t owe you a wonderful life.

So typical.

The complaint is soo funny. Just like how the stratis times do not self regulate and overly gushes out with enthusiasm at every cabinet minister’s pronouncements.

Like – CouldJob credit scheme is actually a fine way to line the pockets of CEO of GLCs. If you do not intend to retrench like SMRT – the JCS is a windfall, adding to the profits of the company at year end, and thus upping the CEO bonuses.

Think about it. What about Delgro, ST Engineering etc etc. It is a handout even to those that do not ask for it – the CEOs.

And besides, have you ever wondered why some “unpleasant” comments exists in the first place? Mr. Liu? Everything happens for a reason. Think hard about it and I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, be thankful.

i think what he meant is that there should be more outpouring of love and sympathies…same scale as that for Princess Diana. Noted. Less venom…more love. I am sorry for not showing enuff of that.

It’s high time some members of the government grow up. What kind of comments do you expect ? How much more do you want members of the community to do ? Set up a fund? It’s high time for one to self reflect quietly and learn from this episode.

I think this Lui is nervous, that the real truth is out there not distorted like our pro garment media. If MP seng was a kind person, i do think he will be attack by this guy. There are very pleasant MP at meet the people, not a single abuse or harsh word against these MPs all these years.

Lui trying to rule with iron fist — blocked undesireable content, but the truth really hurts never check themselves first.

Be careful of what you say, the govt is now out to “kill one to serve notice to the others”.
With the new MP intimidation case, it is clear that the govt will not tolerate any more dissent.
Only govt propaganda is lawful,the propaganda by anti-pap is unlawful.
Welcome back to the future,LKY’s era has returned.

Cy,

That’s the biggest joke. Dissent is a fact of life, as long as you do not harm someone, there is a place for dissent.

Want to hear only the good? tune to FM 91.3. That’s the radio station advestisment.

Although I do not condon violence, we have been ill-informed by the media as to what had happened. So how do we comment? Just like what the media had told us? If that had been so, then reading the newspaper would be sufficent

caling for self-regulation? is it a result of that association of blogger quitting? lol

16) blackfeline: —-” i think what he meant is that there should be more outpouring of love and sympathies…“.

like….”Harry Lee, I love you?” ……

some BG. BeeGees better.

I believe the self-regulation he is talking about is similar to that practiced by our MSM. Only grandstanding and cheerleading. Say nothing bad, show how dedicated our leaders are and highlight their sacrifices. For example , show how much effort our MPs are putting in, say nothing about the $19,000 they are getting for a part time job or the numerous directorship they hold.

Is something going to be introduced?

I think Mr Lui qualifies to be the Mr Bean of Singapore, as I agreed 101 percent with some posts earlier here about this being a joke, his joke must be the mother of all jokes of all time since internet was born.
Please la, wake up from your slumber Mr Lui, when were you born – before the age of internet???
But friends, please note that this is something coming along – dont be suprise and caught off-guard that the incumbent is hell-bent on curbing anti-establishment for curbings sake, and silencing anything that is bad for their listening, reading, or hearing pleasure.
This is vintage Singapore la.

Can I get a refund of my taxdollars?

We have a Minister of State for Information, Communication and the Arts who just doesn’t “get” the internet.

I guess he’s miffed that the world doesn’t operate according to his policy papers say it should. Perhaps he’s PS/DS/Admin officers at MICA have not educated him enough on what “is” the internet.

I would highly recommend his staff send him the wikipedia reference to what the internet is about, i.e. collection of individual voices. When many voices say the same thing, perhaps the thing is true?

Majullah Singapura and please refund me my portion of taxes that pays his PB and bonuses thank you very much!

Mr Lui, I think nobody has done enough to rebut those unpleasant comments is maybe because most of us lesser mortals think Seng deserved it!! I dont know this Seng feller nor I have anything against him, but when I heard he was burned, the 1st thought in my head was he must have done something really bad to this old gentleman & that’s why this Ah Pek has no choice but to take justice into his own hand. Never once I thought the Ah Pek was sick in his head & since it’s his 2nd time being attacked by ex-taxi drivers, there must be something really wrong going on & Seng has swept everything under the carpet or something. I am sorry but because of all these price increases & FT policies have made me an uncaring person towards anything PAP or Elite!!

One more thing, dont just judge your achievements by the GDP growth of Singapore; it’s not all about how much you could make from us for your ministry but rather, how much care you show. I believe most Singaporeans want you to know their plight & pain, so you could come up with REAL workable policies & not take the easy way out by increasing everything in sight! Those crappy policies I also know & tax payers neednt pay me S$1m a year to do the job!

Mr Liu, first the real world is not your father’s army. Second, we the people, are the empoyers of the public service, and therefore, we have the right to ‘discuss’ about civil servants’ performance.

the way he speaks…..I bet he is a scholar!
:)

I give Mr Lui the benefit of doubt that he was only lamenting that not enough “right people” (i.e., ppl on PAP side) came in to defend. And that “regulating” the blogs/forums are last thing on his mind. I believe TOC is not averse and even welcome a healthy debate.

Perhaps “right” civil servants whom feel so strongly about defending PAP can come in here and post and just like the rest of us using Pseudonym, thereby keeping your identity confidential. So that we can have a robust and balance net culture since in real life, the situation is so overwhelmingly “one” sided.

i do feel sad that some netizens feel such strong hatred for the establishment and as a result took it out on mr seng. I think it’s wrong. But that is just my personal belief and i find it hard to want to impose my personal beliefs on other netizens.

The net is open, you will “find” all kinds of ppl. Maybe its a bit like Geylang. If you really care about the plight of the “lost” then go in and set up a church or soup kitchen or whatever right in the thick of action. But not to ostracise, ban or persecute them, for these netizens are your citizens too.

He should do more to surf the net where the true feelings of the people can be heard iso of listening to his running dog RC, CCC or MSM or whatever have they. I guess all this people from the establishment operate only on 1 mode, ie only hearing praise and apple-polishing from their sycophants.

the pap is of the delusory opinion that the strident views of the netizens do not reflect the majority’s placid pro-govt views and therefore can be safely ignored as the vociferous rantings of the minority of no consequence and threat.
perhaps it should re-examine this premise and change.
I fear the dark clouds of regulations are looming fast over cyberspace.

the rat citizens (yes,rats) go amid their placid lives until the cat arrives. since no-one has the guts to bell the cat which is surprising in our multi-talented upper echelons, only up-skiling and re-skiling to force rats to bark like dogs will we be able to chase cat away. yes this great LSS nugget of wisdom was met with great mirth in parliament.

i read the printed version of the ST on the same story. one female MP was disappointed that some websites purposely block out pro-government comments by some of her friends, and she said that this should not be the case.

I was like, WTH!!!

So it is ok for the printed media like the State’s Times to block out anti-govt remarks, but not ok for online websites to block out pro-govt comments??? this is obviously a very glaring case of double standards!!!

Lui is living in the one party rule world where everything must be according to their ideas and this one party rule is always right.

Never check themselves. Why are there so many unhappy people on the streets today compare to 10 or 20 years ago.

I guess netizens are just giving their views. Whether it is right or not is another issue. I have written to ask for restrain from netizens against the bad comments about the burned MP; so it is not true that no one rebutted the comments. Many times I disagree with the views of fellow netizens but it is ultimately their personal views.

It is still much more ethical than regulating the mainstream News to whatever the political party wants you to hear. When what you read is so different from real life, that is when you get confused and frustrated. Like the recent Rich and Poor divide gap closing study, really frustrates the Netizens as everyone in real life know this is not true. I remember another report many years back on a survey showing that majority of the people being surveyed think that raising minister’s pay is agreeable.

It is absolutely wrong to cause physical hurt to another person
except for obvious reasons like protecting self, family, etc.

The compelling question we should ask is : “why so little outpouring
of empathy in cyberspace for the unfortunate PAP MP ? ”

It is long overdue for those in the ruling party to understand
that empathy cut both ways.

System of governance and policies that cause endless frustration
can suppress or dampen empathy in ordinary people / lesser mortals.

Low EQ leaders please take note that “empathy begets empathy”.

It is really wrong to hurt a person especially one who was out there handing Hong Pow to serve the community. To those who have passed unkind remarks about Mr Seng, please try to think that if the person who got burnt is your own father. How would you feel that someone had poured petrol and burn him? And after that, rubbed salt into the wound by making unkind remarks.
On the other hand, yes, Minister, leaders must continue to be sensitive to the people’s feeling when communicating with the people. Most of them are, I am not saying that they are all not.
There is really something wrong, try taking a look at the people taking the public transport. People who gives their seat away, there was no appreciation shown. While people who really need the seat are not given by those who amazingly falls into a deep coma the moment their butt touches the seat.
It’s really sad, to see people passing unkind remarks on the person who had been seriously hurt.

eh kokachichu; too late lah, the Lui guy already passed judgement on netizens. still trying to score points meh?

“i read the printed version of the ST on the same story. one female MP was disappointed that some websites purposely block out pro-government comments by some of her friends, and she said that this should not be the case.”

Why ? MP must be special ? Must receive preferential treatment in the internet ? Still think like kangaroo ?

The gahmen say that Singaporean love to complain but now how come turn out that it is the gahmen that love to complain too ?

When thing by them force down the throat of citizen, they say the citizen love complaining, but when thing out of control for them, it is okay for them to complain. How ironic.

#39) kokachichu on February 6th, 2009 10.02 am

With the kind of policies our elites dish out towards its citizens, what do you expect? The elites are just reaping what they have sown.

Like what Mr Brown said, in Singapore, it is “you die your business”. So please uncaring elites, get out of the peasants’ faces as well. Don’t expect any sympathy when there is none deserved.

To kokachichu:
Thank you for your comments which are welcomed here for debating.
In nature, theres cause and effect broadly speaking of course the details are subjected to merits and demerits which I think is not the discourse here in TOC for this subject post.
I beseech you to see the larger picture – see the forest, not tree by tree which only monkies climb and swing from one to another. Forestry is another subject for professionals, maybe geologists or agriculturists sorry me is no expert to name.
Like what Lui remarks is, myopic, elitist-uncaring and only resemble his paymasters. Of course, I believe by and large many in TOC probably understood long long ago this principle, dont bite the hand the gives ang paos.
I speculate thats the reaosn for TOC, hehe I speak for myself.

To Dumb & Deaf but not Mute:
Your comments makes you a positive and mature person to corresponse with in TOC, which is good. Yes, I do concur with you there are definitely causes and effects in everything one does. I am only expressing my personal sympathy for Mr Seng for getting himself hurt while taking his time out to serve the community. Yes, some may feel that he deserve it, but that is their personal opinion and expressions. We may see clearer why they are reacting in this manner if we are able to see it from their point of views. I am not perfect hence I am not able to do that, hence, unable to understand why there is no empathy shown for a fellow human being who was hurt while serving others.
Coming to the elitist, yes there are those elitist who feels that they are The Elite and some are out of touch with the grassroot level. They do have to come down from the ladder to engage with the people below then they will be able to view upwards together with the grassroot people in order to understand better instead of just talking down. There is my MP whom I have wrote email to but did not get any response from except an email from his staff that he will be looking into the matter that I brought up. Till date, I have not heard from him at all. I wonder if it is a norm for an MP to behave in this manner when the election is over. I have saved the email so that I will be able to show him when he come to my home for his election walk-about.
I still believes that there are kindness in us deep down below. We can truely show empathy to those in need or in pain, if we want to. Thanks everyone who have responded to my comments.

“I am only expressing my personal sympathy for Mr Seng for getting himself hurt while taking his time out to serve the community. Yes, some may feel that he deserve it, but that is their personal opinion and expressions. We may see clearer why they are reacting in this manner if we are able to see it from their point of views. I am not perfect hence I am not able to do that, hence, unable to understand why there is no empathy shown for a fellow human being who was hurt while serving others.”

Sad that Mr. Seng is at the painful receiving end of this dangerous act.

Once conditions are present / fertile for this kind of act to happen, it will just happen (Murphy’s Law). It may well be another culprit and another innocent MP.

Count ourselves lucky if we are not sitting under the conditions of being in the shoes of either any of the potential dangerous culprit or any innocent MP who may pose as some potential target.

Disenfranchised or greiving parties for whatever reason will just manifest their unhappiness in sometimes unusual ways onto someone representing their source of unhappiness, whether we like it or not or whether we agree or not.

Sure, only Seng can feel pain while others whom he failed to help have no sense of pain. What the emphasis on physical and visible pain while nothing considered over emotional and non-tangible pain? Emphatize my foot!

To Kokachichu
Well u said some valid points, just as others have done.
I am no epxert [in fac some experts are bogus and self-proclaimed], but I have this to say, which I think not quite dissimilar to others – we dont need to rationalise and rationalise (or justify) that much until we become paralysed.
In other words, there are too much (just too much I emphasised) studies into this studies into that, collecting statistics to prove this to prove that, all these at times merely is to prove nothing, and come out with noithing in the end, its merely to justify the studies itself, that is to justify the means and not the ends.
And when it comes to positive conclusion, it just vindicate the source not the objectives.
To conclude, I am no longer young now, I no longer trust the current rulers when I had previously trusted for last few decades. I have and am strongly evcouraging people to migrate.
Does anyone want to rationalise my thoughts and actions or trust and accept them at face value??? My advice, no need to confirm what i said with impartial statistics available.
Sorry guys, actually this does not relate to the subject here, but I hope u can see it as a background of scheme of things why Mr Seng is hurt, and why our Mr Lui said what he said.

As much as I can feel for the pain SHT suffered and is suffering, I still think this Lui guy is one cunning SOB.

Using the online poll to accuse Netizens of being unjust is like declaring SHT to be faultless. Why does he not see the reasons behind the sympathies shown to the flame thrower Mr Ong?

I agree with bacterium that there are different kinds of pain and with SHT, we are more inclined to feel for him because we can see and therefore feel his pain. What about Mr Ong? Does it mean he is not in pain because there are no physical scars on him?

It will be a squandered opportunity for the government, not Netizens, if it continues to be blind to the underlying reasons for such show of outrage. There are more to come, I expect. Examples are the Harry Lee guy and the recent threat to that self-glorifying woman MP (can’t bear to mention her name, sorry).

And here’s my cartoon and text response to that.