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Benjamin Cheah
2008: The year of the blogger-activist
Dec. 30 | Benjamin Cheah / Senior Writer On January 2nd, artist and blogger Seelan Palay held a hunger strike outside the Malaysian High Commission. He intended to protest against the detention of five leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force under Malaysia’s...
Residents query but PAP town councils keep mum
Dec. 1 | Breaking News: US President-elect Barack Obama appoints Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. (Fox News) Benjamin Cheah / Andrew Loh Each town council has the duty to explain to its residents how it invests its funds, what is its philosophy, what are...
To walk the fire
Aug. 6 | Benjamin Cheah / Senior Writer It goes against ethical principles of reciprocity to demand so much from servicemen, and giving so little in return — especially since many servicemen would not willingly serve their country in the military The burden...
A matter of interpretation
Jul. 29 | Benjamin Cheah / Senior Writer Nothing in the law states that the Law Society must wait for the Government to submit anything to it before acting On 25 July, the Straits Times interviewed Michael Hwang, the President of Singapore’s Law Society. The...
Reviewing Mas Selamat’s escape
Mar. 11 | By Benjamin Cheah Mas Selamat has been on the run for twelve days and counting, as of the time of writing. The initial outrage that greeted his escape has simmered, cooling into opinions cast in concrete. The media has moved on, covering other events....
A government-controlled media is superior to a free media?
Dec. 16 | By Benjamin Cheah On the 11th of December, the TODAY newspaper published an article titled “Social stability is key: Poll”. On first glance, it seems to support the view that a government-controlled media is superior to a free media. Indeed, its...
Deconstructing the Majority
Oct. 24 | By Benjamin Cheah The ‘silent majority’ has finally spoken. Its representative is ‘The Majority’, a group that intends to prevent the repeal of Section 377A. The Majority argues that the retention of Section 377A is necessary, to preserve moral...
Something is Rotten in the State of Singapore
Oct. 10 | Breaking News: Myanmar dissident dies under questioning By Benjamin Cheah On the 8th of October, five members of the Singapore Democratic Party, Mr. Gandhi Ambalan, Dr. Chee Soon Juan, Ms. Chee Siok Chin, Mr. Jeffrey George, and Mr. John Tan were...
Debt of Honour: Singapore’s Ties to Burma’s Junta
Sep. 29 | This is an updated article of the one published on TOC earlier, titled “Singapore’s debt of honour”. By Benjamin Cheah The crisis in Burma is escalating. For the first time in two decades, the people are taking to the streets. It started...
A City Of Lions
Aug. 3 | In the lead-up to National Day, TOC’s writers share their personal views on what it means to be a Singaporean and what Singapore means to them. We begin with Benjamin’s piece. By Benjamin Cheah I readily adopt the mantle of the quiet patriot....
The next step – “proactive blogging”?
May. 16 | By Benjamin Blogging is a medium of communication. Web logs were once little more than online diaries, for people to write about their daily lives. Now, even these personal blogs can gain international attention and recognition. Xiaxue is one. Other,...
Entrepreneurship And the Future State of Affairs – Part 3
Feb. 13 | By leounheort People find thinking and examining things critically inordinately difficult, and yet it is these things that give rise to the ideas that drive culture. History has shown that the culture of a nation reflects the current philosophies of the...
Entrepreneurship And the Future State of Affairs – Part 2
Jan. 26 | This is part 2 of the article on entrepreneurship by Leounheort. Part 1 can be accessed here. In a conservative society, anything new is automatically treated with fear and suspicion if it contradicts current social norms. Homosexuality, for example,...
Entrepreneurship And the Future State of Affairs
Jan. 15 | This is part one of a 3-part essay on entrepreneurship by leounheort. Singapore needs creativity. That much is clear: we as a nation must ride along the wave of globalisation out of necessity, for we are too small, geographically and demographically,...
