Friday, February 6, 2009

Talk is Cheap & Bully is Mean!

We know some can cycle in group in certain public park while others cannot.

We know some can demonstrate on inflation and cost of living while others cannot.

We also know of some who can be in polling stations while others cannot.

Now we know some who take surveys are made to feel like criminals or trouble makers. See video (Mr Siew appears after the MP with striped blue tie).

From ST:
"The suggestion that police action was politically motivated drew a sharp response from Mr Shanmugam: 'I regret that that suggestion was made. It should never have been made.'

"He added, to laughter: 'Mr Siew would accept that complaints, when made to the police, have to be investigated even if it involves someone as important as Mr Siew.'

When Mr Siew protested, the minister said with a smile that it was a light-hearted remark and not meant to suggest he was full of self-importance."

Such pomposity! If only he knows that to every life a little rain must fall (including his), he may not have acted so unkindly.

If such arrogance and insult can be thrown at a respected NMP with a smile, I am sure lesser mortals like us are nothing but cockroaches to be stepped on if we dare suggest anything like Mr Siew Kum Hong did. How dare we complain of shoddy service from the civil servants . . . of Ministers!

We are just to STFU?

The waste of tax payer's money in using hours of policemen's time to "not become a tool for petty politics" is ludicrous indeed!

It is through such pompous, careless and uncivil speeches (speech reported below by ST) that public servants (including police officers) become arrogant, callous and develop a bullying attitude towards poor civilians.

To the greater mortals (according to Charles Chong's standard) who laughed at Mr Siew for his courage to do what self-serving balls-carriers would never do, I'd say that you are no better than the rowdy Taiwanese parliamentarians that your political God so often laugh at and despise. You are worse because you are mean! Shame on you!

The sick joke which nobody laughs at is the audacity of the SECOND Home Affairs Minister to 'surmise' and answer 'without knowing the full details of the event'. This shows how much respect he has for the system and how he has 'debase' the debate in parliament. Worse, in trying to make Mr Siew look small, he has demeaned himself instead.

Report from Straits Times:
Police will not become tool for petty politics, says Shanmugam
By Aaron Low

SECOND Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam yesterday rapped Nominated MP Siew Kum Hong for suggesting the police were being used for political purposes.

He said the high level of trust between the police and the people is an asset that should not be taken lightly.

'My ministry and the police are not intending to let that asset be debased by allowing the police to become a tool for petty politics,' said Mr Shanmugam, who is also Law Minister.

'The integrity and impartiality of the police force should be beyond reproach and that has been and will be our policy.'

He was responding to Mr Siew, who had earlier described his encounter with the police while doing a survey with another person for a political blog.

While polling Jurong residents last October on whether Jurong GRC should have a by-election, Mr Siew noticed two policemen in uniform observing them.

After two hours, they approached Mr Siew's partner, questioned him and took his name down. The officers told Mr Siew they had received a complaint about two persons being a public nuisance. They asked them to stop the survey while they checked with their superiors, he added.

Both complied and after about an hour, the officers told them they could continue. But by then, they were too tired to go on, Mr Siew said, adding:

'It is no joke to have the police come up to you, tell you they have received a complaint that you are breaking the law while declining to disclose details of this complaint, and then keep you waiting for nearly an hour without any update or information on what was going on.'

The experience, said Mr Siew, led him to believe the system lacks transparency and accountability. 'I could not and still cannot shake off the belief that the entire incident was related to the fact that the survey questions could be seen as being politically sensitive,' said Mr Siew.

The suggestion that police action was politically motivated drew a sharp response from Mr Shanmugam: 'I regret that that suggestion was made. It should never have been made.'

The minister said the police had a duty to investigate all complaints, even if they do not merit an investigation.

In fact, the problem is that up to 60 per cent of the calls police receive are nuisance calls. He added, to laughter: 'Mr Siew would accept that complaints, when made to the police, have to be investigated even if it involves someone as important as Mr Siew.'

When Mr Siew protested, the minister said with a smile that it was a light-hearted remark and not meant to suggest he was full of self-importance.

Mr Shanmugam, who said he did not have full details of the event, surmised that the two hours of observation were needed to see if Mr Siew and his companion were indeed a nuisance. 'Having come to the conclusion probably that Mr Siew was not making a nuisance...they probably asked some questions and then checked with their superiors and went off - open, transparent, clear,' he said.

Mr Shanmugam also addressed Mr Siew's concern over the move to give new powers for the police to maintain public order. He said that was part of the evolution of public order laws, which included letting political events take place indoors without a permit, the introduction of Speaker's Corner and allowing public demonstrations to be held there.

'The review of our public order laws is part of this ongoing process to evolve and change in tandem with social change,' said Mr Shanmugam.

Latest:
I'm shocked to hear a fair weather friend has jumped ship during stormy weather. Read here and here.

As I've said often, To every life, a little rain must fall . . . including mine.

feedmetothefish

4 Comments:

At February 7, 2009 at 11:57 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

yes Mr. Fish, these MIWs or more
appropriate would be SIWs
[ scums in whites ] have been BULLYING those who are viewed as indifferent for some time now.

notice most of these scums got into parliament by the back door,
and they learn this ART from their ancient mentor.

The truth is these bullies are lowdown cowards, thrive only when they have the authority and vastly numerical advantage.

 
At February 7, 2009 at 2:17 PM , Blogger Kaffein said...

This is one of the classic David Copperfield spin story by the media, police and PAP was the issue about the trio inside the election boundary. I don't know how anyone could accept that published report.

To summarise for those who don't quite understand what it says:
The trio (Goh CT, Tony Tan, and LHL) though inside the boundary are not actually inside the boundary.

Duh.

Of course, nothing beats the Mas Selamat's 'independent' enquiry report. This report won hands-down. It was even better then OJ Simpson's case.

Heh,
Kaffein

 
At February 8, 2009 at 8:15 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can politics become a tool for an adulterer?

 
At February 8, 2009 at 9:59 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

In Sickapore, as you would have known for the longest time, some people are more equal than others. The "greater mortal" holier-than-thou types run this sad country. In reality, this little red dot is in a period of decline. These sickos MPs each draw an annual allowance of S$190,000 but are hopelessly bereft of ideas, and only insist that only they can see all and know all and hence manipulated their ill-gotten dominance in parliament to silence and plunder tax-payers into paying them sky-high wages and perks to do such lousy jobs. Their ineptitude and ineffectiveness stink and their inability to empathize with the common lot have distanced them further and further away from the electorate.

Leeches and sycophants like them sail along in boom times claiming all sorts of credit due but stutters and putters along with a dire shortage of ideas to prop up the economy and save jobs when the real crunch time comes along. Their definition of a "golden period" is so short-lived. In consequence, the working folks suffers, their future bleak and uncertain, but these sickos just don't understand the basic notion behind the increasing crescendo of sarcasm and cries of despair resonating around in the blogosphere. They just want more power, more regulation and more laws put into place to muzzle the growing voices of discontent. What a disgraceful lot running the country into ruin?

Regarding your "fair weather" friend, in the real working world she won't be allowed to "step down" with a cushy 6-month transition period - where she continue to get her fat salaries and perks, she would have been unceremoniously sacked on the spot for the horrendous loss of billions of dollars of hard-earned tax-payers money through such reckless investment plays. Talk about no kuan-xi indeed - we all know who's been shielding her all this while. Just like her husband who has since handed over the finance ministry portfolio and dumped all inherent toxic instrument of debts onto Thugman's lap, before all the skeletons in the cupboard are fully uncovered, she has now cleverly jumped ship before more fingers can point at her for rapidly depleting our reserves by taking such audacious gambles. Just like a repeat of the "suzhou fiasco", this country hard-gotten money invested in all those fancy western investment banks - ML, Citi, Barclay, UBS etc - are truly gone for good.

 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home