Sacred Mission of the Press: Ngiam Tong Dow

robertteh SG

Quoted from his speech to SPH Gathering on 3.3.2008 (www.findsingapore.net.sg)

"If I sound overly critical, it is because I believe passionately in the sacred mission of the press, which is to uphold truth, and protect the integrity of our nation in clear, simple, inspiring writing. Our role is to read the verdict of the people correctly, so that the Government can continue to retain the mandate of heaven to rule. "

May be the establishment now realizes that with the rise of internet it cannot control press freedom any more, so to live with reality it has to bring in people like the outspoken Ngiam Tong Dow to overhaul the past policy of toeing the government line.

Yet because Ngiam has been an ex-civil servant and is still very much part of the establishment, people will remain suspicious of his utterances. He may be a trojan horse. Time will tell.

Lin Yu SG

pui

balance_else_complacent SG

I cannot comment on the above topic except the idea of Truth.

i am not commenting on the press nor Ngiam.

I am commenting on the word Truth.

"Maybe it will rain"

it means maybe it will rain.

it can also mean,

maybe it wont rain.

either way you say it, its correct.

if a person keeps saying it may rain , it may rain continuously, the impression to others is, yeah, maybe it may rain.

enlightenment.

Lin Yu SG

i'm neutral

Atobe SG

Ngiam Tong Dow may have been part of the establishment, however, having retired it seems to have allowed him space to serve Singapore as a Citizen - speaking his mind openly.

In 2003, Ngiam made several startling speech - ''Singapore bigger than PAP'' [see the past post at http://www.sgforums.com/forums/10/topics/58178 ]

While he is in the Singapore Civil Service to serve a PAP Goverment, he was not allowed to participte in politics, speak his mind, nor participate in any political activities - [giving support to any political party except only giving direct or indirect support to the PAP].

His services to the PAP Government was to carry ut the instructions of the Government, and not as one that make the various policy decisions that affect Singaporean lives.

Did he dedicate all his life in the Civil Service to support a PAP led Government, or has he been serving Singapore as a Civil Servant all his life ?

Now that he has left the Civil Service, it is difficult to listen to him to speak his mind as an ordinary Singaporean, and even more unbelievable when the speeches are incisively analytical.

He is able to do so from his privilege experience from being part of the ''inside team'' - and his past position allow him accessibility to higher profile publicity to his thoughts and opinions - compared to many ordinary Singaporean.

Should one doubt his speeches made as a concern Singaporean - as anyone of us in this SgForums ?

robertteh SG

Atobe,

Your analysis of Ngiam Tong Dow as someone with his own intellect and mind is good.

His article in the Straits Times some few years ago was well written in that he is advocating diversities based on the Athenian Model as compared with the Spartan discipline which he regarded somewhat as inhibitive and stifling.

Events have since proven diversities right. With internet, the Spartan leadership and followership model will not be so effective now. When people are not willing or convinced of such type of leadership they will not produce good results. Many people are able to work smarter to produce better businesses on their own without taking orders. People basically are prime movers now so when they are inspired and motivated they will produce results and contribute to growth and vibrancy. Under MM Lee he considers himself and his own concepts and assumptions best but these as seen in recent years are no longer working but he does not even bother to know his own shortcomings.

We will have to wait to see if the Straits Times will welcome diversities of ideas.