Western spectacles - look who's
seeing
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Singapore
Democrats
For a government as myopic as this one, PM Lee Hsien
Loong should be the last to give anyone advice on the kind of
spectacles to wear (see report below).
The two organisations that handle the nation's reserves -- one run
by his father, the other his wife -- were so short-sighted in their
investments in Western banks that we have lost more than $100
billion to-date.
The Minister Mentor and Madam Ho have yet to explain what led them
to take the decisions to inject our funds into ailing and corrupt
financial institutions.
Did these banks invite us to invest in them like what Citigroup did
to the GIC? Who signed the cheques? What due diligence did the GIC
and Temasek perform?
Most crucially, whose glasses were Temasek and GIC wearing
then?
Now when things go ka-boom! the Prime Minister calls on us
not to see matters through Western glasses. Good grief.
Mr Lee says the media "should just present the facts". Okay.
The picture through any lens -- Western or Asia -- looks
astonishingly negligent. But what Mr Lee really meant was not Asian
spectacles, but rather the ones put in front of us by the Singapore
Press Holdings.
If it were indeed Asian glasses (think Japan, South Korea, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc) that we are supposed
to be looking through, Mr Lee and company would have had to
apologise to the people for the financial debacle and there would
be calls for the leadership to step down.
At the very least parliamentary opposition would be asking tough
questions and calling the Government to account and to take
responsibility.
But with SPH glasses, the vision would continue to be blur and we
will still be unable to see what is coming up ahead.
http://www.yoursdp.org/index.php
Singaporean PM asks news media not to wear western
spectacles
Xinhua
23 Feb 09
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said there is a need for
news media to present objective reports and not to wear "western
spectacles", local media reported on Monday.
In an interview with TV broadcaster Channelnewsasia, which is to
celebrate its tenth anniversary on-air, Lee said the challenge that
news media is facing is to be able to boil down information and
present news neutrally out of Singapore.
"We felt there was scope for perspective from Asian eyes. Not to
put over an ideology or a doctrine, but just present the facts,
less the western spectacles," Lee said.
Lee also told the broadcaster that the government is building up
capabilities to engage and leverage on the new media at the next
General Election in 2012, but he added there is still a place for
traditional media to be the trusted information source.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/23/content_10879233.htm