Anti-establishment propaganda stole my photo
In Singapore, there is this phenomenon called “blame stuff on the government”. It is a national past-time where people free themselves of all social responsibilities and blame everything that goes wrong on the government.
This photo was used in the video without my permission
Someone made a “documentary” called One Nation Under Lee on how Singaporeans are suffering under the iron fist of dictatorship, brutally forced to live in a country with one of Asia’s highest standards of living, and on how it is evil for the government to make money through smart investments.
Normally I wouldn’t be interested in local political squabbling, but apparently these guys used a photo taken by me without my permission.
The photo was taken by me some time ago and placed in my gallery as part of my Haruhi Time Capsule Project. The picture is licensed under a Creative Commons 3.0 license scheme, which requires all usage of it to be non-commercial and properly attributed.
Since no one is likely to pay for this terrible documentary anyway, I guess non-commercial is pretty much guaranteed. However, I was not credited in the video! This makes me sad. :(
Fear, uncertainty and doubt
Moreover, the message of the video is nonsensical, illogical and full of FUD. I’m happy to criticize government policies when it makes sense, such as the completely asinine censorship policies that resulted in my hardcore guro Elfenlied DVDs getting confiscated, but it’s seriously an insult to the viewer’s intelligence for the video to shamelessly blame every social ill in Singapore on the country’s lack of democratic governance.
We all know how American democracy has completely solved the poverty problem and that there are no ghettos anywhere in the States, right? Oh, wait a minute…
And the sad thing is that Singaporean youth buy into these blatant propagandas because it’s “cool” to be rebellious and everyone knows that only intelligent people can see through the “lies and deceit” of the establishment and become anti-government crusaders of democracy, justice and love.
I mean, jeez, is the Singaporean government corrupt or what? Just not too long ago, I had to bribe someone hundreds of dollars to get my passport renewed… Oh wait, no. That was back in China. My bad.
And yeah, isn’t it outrageous that government ministers in Singapore earn millions of dollars a year? Those poor Western politicians have to survive on measly hundreds of thousands! It’s a good thing that they can earn back the difference from lobbyists and corporations through “political contributions”, i.e. legalized bribes, or they would never have been able to afford the same luxuries that Singaporean politicians are allowed.
I guess some people would rather have government policies be dictated by lobbyist money.
Anyway, enough ranting. Go watch the video on YouTube and see for yourself. If this is the best argument that Singaporean opposition parties can come up with, then I hope they never come into power.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Serving people is giving them what they want based on fair constitutional basis. Dictatorships can’t allow that unless they themselves are recognised as gods by the people. If international market forces are indeed the cause of economic slowdown, then your government has failed to present a case for themselves, and with all the resources they have at hand, does such a government really deserve to stay in power?
June 14th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
I fail to see your point. So whenever there’s an economic downturn, the government in power ought to be kicked out? And that is supposed to be an effective solution in preventing future economic downturns?
Do you know that there is rising inflation in Slovenia too? Democracy has really solved that problem, hasn’t it? Yes, no matter how crappy the world economy gets, it’s always the fault of the ruling government.
And you seem to assume that Singapore is a dictatorship simply because it is not fully democratic. Contrary to popular belief, there is actually a gradient between totalitarian and anarchism. It would be a terrible insult to rulers like Kim Jung-Il and the Burmese junta, and an affront to their years of hard work, to suggest that Singapore is a dictatorship. :)
Also, democracy is not a prerequisite for respecting the rule of law.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Those kids just buy into those opposition party election speeches, like what you said, just to be cool. It is now a good time to blame the Ministry of Education for not teaching “critical thinking” in schools.
Anyway we should be looking forward to Cosfest 08 next month rather than this.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
“In Singapore, there is this phenomenon called “blame stuff on the government”. It is a national past-time where people free themselves of all social responsibilities and blame everything that goes wrong on the government.”
I’m happy/sad/amused (Delete to your preference) to report that England has just as much of this floating around, though some is deserved. My favourite screw up is how Gordon Brown, once Chancellor of the Exchequer, now PM, managed to lose about 2 billion pounds on gold sales. Good times.
“All things said and done, I move for a motion of One Nation Under Haruhi too. Seconds?”
Seconded.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
So whenever there’s an economic downturn, the government in power ought to be kicked out? And that is supposed to be an effective solution in preventing future economic downturns?
Of course it’s not, but when a government who even controls mainstream media (if I understood you correctly) fails to present the situation as out of their hands, then I have to question their competence.
Yes, no matter how crappy the world economy gets, it’s always the fault of the ruling government.
See above.
And you seem to assume that Singapore is a dictatorship simply because it is not fully democratic.
I didn’t say it was; I don’t know how the Singaporean government operates, just what was said about it in this post. You are under a mistaken impression that I joined into this debate as someone who’s already opinionated on the issue. Nothing could be further from the truth.
P.S.: And yes, Slovenia ha a bunch of economic issues at hand and the current government has failed to present a case for themselves (even though I support them), so they will get replaced in the upcoming elections this year.
June 15th, 2008 at 12:20 am
“Those poor Western politicians have to survive on measly hundreds of thousands! It’s a good thing that they can earn back the difference from lobbyists and corporations through “political contributions”, i.e. legalized bribes, or they would never have been able to afford the same luxuries that Singaporean politicians are allowed.”
Not to rain on your American hate parade, but “Western Politicians” really don’t make very much money. The vast majority of State legislatures make around 40k per year and are only part time, which is barely anything considering their costs. If you are talking about the Federal legislators, they make ~170k per year. No small potatoes, but it’s actually pretty expensive to maintain a residence in Washington DC (which has ridiculous real estate prices) and at home, as well as fly cross country (for those that represent such districts) back home to your constituents. Basically, American politicians do not do it for the money. Most of them already have money from their previous jobs. And bureaucrats (the guys doing your passports) get paid much much less, so be careful where you direct your anger.
And political contributions? Come on, stop reading conspiracy and propaganda. Yes, there have been a couple instances of bribes (my former Congressman for example), and guess what, they’re in jail. But political contributions go to their campaigns, not to their personal accounts. President Bush has a huge ranch because he was a multi-millionaire long before he became president. In addition to being from a rich family he did own a baseball team (the Texas Rangers).
I know non-Americans love to think they know everything about American politics and enjoy ragging on it, but they should actually know some more before they start spouting.
June 15th, 2008 at 12:45 am
Miha:
Let’s say whoever is replacing the current government were in power today. What could they have done better? Furthermore, the method through which the government is replaced gives no guarantee that the next government will be any better.
The democratic process itself is largely symbolic. What matters the most is actually the rule of law, and the Western idea of democracy is not the only way to achieve it.
Anyway, I think I’ve been giving you the wrong impression. While I personally don’t think that Singapore is a democracy, it does have democratic elections that are generally credible in the sense that votes are not rigged, and there are checks and balances inherent in the system.
According to Transparency International, Singapore is ranked 4th in the world for lack of corruption, higher than most Scandinavian countries, which are generally considered the role models of democracy. The difference is that Singapore government maintains this mostly through an internal system of cross-regulations and checks, and does not depend so much on the democratic process of elections.
The government operates on the concept of meritocracy, and anyone with proven talent and ability is able to rise up the bureaucratic ladder, regardless of background. The system is therefore geared towards attracting and keeping people who are capable of running the country.
As such, considering the lack of corruption and the general success of Singapore as a nation as compared to our neighbours, the system has proven itself to be quite on par with traditional Western democratic systems. I don’t see the point of having to go through the trouble to replace it. That is not to say that it cannot be improved upon.
Calawain:
American politicians are paid less than what they would get for a similar position in the corporate world. They also happen to have influence over a great deal of government spendings and tax break bills. In fact, the amount of political influence they wield is highly disproportional to the amount of money they earn. (Which is the point I was getting at.)
This is not a problem because… politicians are the most moral people in the world and therefore will not abuse their influence over decisions that can affect the pockets of large multibillion-dollar corporations?
Just because there’s no blatant bribing doesn’t mean corruption is not happening.
June 15th, 2008 at 1:11 am
And suddenly I regret giving you more hits. ^^; You’ve completely misread what I wrote and, well, just feels like I’ve wasted a lot of time on populist anti-western propaganda.
June 15th, 2008 at 1:24 am
So all this blabber is the reason why you can’t concentrate on your EJU.
And this Miha is not speaking any sense. I’m surprised you even bothered to reply him.
June 15th, 2008 at 1:50 am
Miha:
Yes, I see what you meant to say now.
You are saying that the Singapore government has proven itself ineffective in manipulating public opinions (particularly with regards to the economy) despite being in de facto control of the media, and therefore is unworthy of governing the country.
Okay, I guess I misread your point and my last comment was for naught. But it now appears to me that you are basically saying that Singapore should let people who are competent at lying run the country instead.
Uh. Yeah. Okay.
Anyway, I don’t see how my stand is “populist”. I find that a weird choice of word…
June 15th, 2008 at 2:15 am
It’s fashionable in Malaysia too!
And by the way, it’s pastime, not past-time.
June 15th, 2008 at 5:04 am
“American politicians are paid less than what they would get for a similar position in the corporate world. They also happen to have influence over a great deal of government spendings and tax break bills. In fact, the amount of political influence they wield is highly disproportional to the amount of money they earn. (Which is the point I was getting at.)
This is not a problem because… politicians are the most moral people in the world and therefore will not abuse their influence over decisions that can affect the pockets of large multibillion-dollar corporations?
Just because there’s no blatant bribing doesn’t mean corruption is not happening.”
I think you are trying to change your point. Your paragraph that I quoted before suggested that American politicians were getting money on the side from “political contributions,” a pretty baseless generalization. Now you are saying they aren’t doing it for money and instead to wield political influence? That’s different.
I’ve worked for 4 mayors and a state Senator in my working career, and I’ve been engaged in politics since I was in my teens, and I can tell you your pessimism about American politics is off base. You’re looking at it the wrong way, it’s not corporations buying politicians off like some mob movie. It’s corporations donating money to candidates who want to cut corporate taxes, or give them tax breaks. On the other side it’s unions and trial lawyers donating to politicians that support union rights and are against tort reform. It’s a system of free speech and capitalism, not vast corruption.
June 15th, 2008 at 5:29 am
God, that was one boring video. They won’t win any prices like Michael Moore with that stuff…
Normaly I enjoy ranting about not-so-democratic countries. But I just got back from a 5 days seminar I was forced to attend (by our great german governemnt -.-) where they tried to bore me to death with lectures about human rights (as if I didnt know all that stuff from school already…) so I’m all out of politics for this month.
I don’t think a non-democratic system is bad as long as it works. There is nothing wrong with having a leader who wasnt elected as long as he does whats good. It’s just risky cuz you can’t do much if he doesnt do whats good.
And i kinda don’t care either way. We have democracy (and all the lobbist stuff…) and personaly I like my country as is (though it has its downsides, but there is no perfect country i guess) and i wouldn’t wanna live anywhere else. But I’m not one who’d try to force my ideals on other countries like the US does.
If a governemnt is that bad, it’s up to the people to change it.
….ok, thats enough from me i guess.
June 15th, 2008 at 5:31 am
Id actually say my country is as perfect as any country is going to get the way it is now. If only the weather was worth a damn, i would never leave.
June 15th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Calawain:
So how does it serve the interest of the people for politicians to promise tax breaks to corporations that helped to secure their re-elections? And how exactly does the end result differ from outright bribing?
I’m not saying that politicians shouldn’t wield influence. But the fact is that people of ambition join politics despite getting paid crappier than the private sector. Yet they hold great influence over decisions that can cost billions of dollars, decisions that large corporations have a vested interest in.
If you see nothing wrong with this, then good for you? But personally I think bureaucrats ought to be paid private sector rates so that they have less incentives to pander to the rich and influential.