I note lots of bloggers and activists putting out the Hansard of the contempt bill. This is mindless propaganda. Any bill is going to get passed BECAUSE of decades of WP leadership undermining parliamentary democracy by ensuring that PAP always have a 2/3 majority.
WP are no heroes here. Speaking in parliament about a bill they know is going to be passed is a no risk situation for them. As is every move by WP.
If we had seen any action from WP before this bill was posited or indeed fierce objection to any amendment of the constitution over the past decades then they would have a right to preach.
By ensuring the status quo can never be challenged they have killed our democracy.
Stop wasting your words. PAP will, can and do make anything they chose into Law.
The Philippines’ police chief has called on drug users to kill traffickers and burn their homes, as he seeks to maintain momentum in President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial war on crime that has claimed 2,000 lives.
“Why don’t you give them a visit, pour gasoline on their homes and set these on fire to register your anger,” Mr Ronald Dela Rosa said in a speech aired on television yesterday. “They’re all enjoying your money, money that destroyed your brain.
“You know who the drug lords are. Would you like to kill them? Go ahead. Killing them is allowed because you are the victim.”
Mr Dela Rosa was speaking on Thursday to several hundred drug users who had surrendered in the central Philippines.
When asked if President Duterte supported Mr Dela Rosa’s call to commit murder and arson, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella denied that was the police chief’s intent.
“There is no such call. It’s a passionate statement,” Mr Abella told reporters yesterday without elaborating.
Mr Dela Rosa’s comments followed Mr Duterte’s own controversial directives that have sparked criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups.
Mr Duterte, 71, won May elections in a landslide on a promise to kill tens of thousands of suspected criminals in an unprecedented blitz that would eliminate illegal drugs in six months.
When he took office on June 30, he told a crowd in Manila: “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself, as getting their parents to do it would be too painful.”
Days after his election win, he also offered security officials bounties for the bodies of drug dealers.
UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Agnes Callamard said such directives “amount to incitement to violence and killing, a crime under international law”.
However Mr Dela Rosa and Mr Duterte have insisted they are working within the law, while their aides have dismissed some of their comments as “hyperbole” meant to scare drug traffickers.
Nevertheless, Mr Dela Rosa told a Senate inquiry this week that the confirmed number of people to have died in the drug war was 1,946.
He said police had shot dead 756 suspects and there were another 1,190 killings under investigation, but these were likely due to drug gangs murdering those who could implicate them.
“I admit many are dying, but our campaign, now, we have the momentum,” he told the Senate.
Seorang ibu diarahkan menanggalkan hijab atau didenda oleh polis semasa beliau sedang beristirehat di tepi pantai di Perancis, sebelum dilaporkan didera secara perkauman oleh orang ramai.
Bekas pramugari berusia 34 tahun itu, yang bernama Siam bersama anak-anaknya dihampiri tiga pegawai di pantai La Bocca di Cannes, diarahkan supaya menanggalkan tudungnya, lapor laman Independent.
Siam berkata polis memaklumkan kepada beliau tentang larangan hijab di pantai-pantai, sambil menambah bahawa para pengunjung mesti memakai “pakaian yang sesuai, hormat sekularisme dan peraturan kebersihan serta keselamatan” dan menegaskan bahawa hijab yang dipakai beliau adalah tanda agama “secara terang-terangan”.
Wanita itu kemudian bersetuju untuk membayar denda €11 (S$17) namun dilaporkan dikelilingi oleh orang ramai yang memekik “Pulang ke rumah” dan “kami berfahaman Katolik”, menyebabkan beliau menangis, menurut saksi.
“Saya bukan berada di sana untuk menggangu sesiapa. Saya terkejut. Bahasa perkauman digunakan secara berleluasa,” Siam memberitahu majalah L’Obs.
“Anak-anak saya menangis, menyaksikan sendiri insiden yang memalukan saya dan keluarga. Saya sendiri tidak boleh berhenti menangis. Mereka memalukan kami.”
Salah seorang wartawan France 4, Mathilde Cusin, memerhatikan insiden tersebut dan berkata orang ramai yang mengelilingi wanita itu seperti “sekumpulan anjing” yang menyerang wanita itu.
“Mereka menyuruh beliau pulang atau menanggalkan hijabnya, mereka begitu berkasar,” menurut Cusin.
“Apa yang mengejutkan saya adalah mereka terdiri daripada orang-orang dalam lingkungan usia 30-an, bukan warga tua.”
Datuk Bandar Cannes David Lisnard menyokong tindakan para pegawai polis, sambil menegaskan bahawa mereka menjalankan tugas mendenda sesiapa yang memakai pakaian yang melambangkan mana-mana agama dan beliau “tiada sebab untuk ragu terhadap tindakan mereka”.
Menerusi satu kenyataan, beliau berkata beliau tidak mahu masyarakat Islam berasa seperti tidak dibenarkan ke pantai sambil menambah bahawa semua orang dari pelbagai agama patut diberi hak, menurut laporan Independent.
More than 20,000 Singaporeans and foreigners came to bid a fond farewell to Singapore’s sixth and longest-serving president S R Nathan, who died on Monday (August 22) aged 92.
Between 10am and 6pm, about 14,000 people paid their respects at Parliament House, where Mr Nathan’s body lay in state.
Here are some of the people who came.
TNP PHOTO: JUDITH TAN
KIDNEY PATIENT ROHANI DUKIRAN, 48, WHO POSTPONED HER DIALYSIS SESSION TO COME SAY GOODBYE:
“He was a good man who cared. He told my children they should not only love music, but also love studies, to get a good education and make someone of themselves.”
TNP PHOTO: JUDITH TAN
BUSKER LEE KIAN CHUAN, 67, WHO ARRIVED AT 7AM BY BUS:
“I took a bouquet of flowers to his home on Wednesday but I was not allowed in as it was a private affair. So I decided to come here to say my goodbyes to one humble leader.”
TNP PHOTO: MOHD ISHAK
RETAIL ASSISTANT AT CHEERS LEE QIU WEI, 30, WHO CAME AFTER HIS NIGHT SHIFT TO PAY RESPECT:
“I have not met Mr Nathan in person but I have heard the great things he had done for Singapore so I am here to pay my respect. I have even changed the wall paper of my phone to Mr Nathan’s photo as a salutation.”
TNP PHOTO: JUDITH TAN
SENIOR LECTURER AT ITE COLLEGE EAST AND FORMER NATIONAL CENTRE-BACK LIM TONG HAI, 47:
“He has been very supportive of the soccer scene and would show his presence during the finals (of the SR Nathan Cup)… I met him a few times and he had always been encouraging, and would encourage the losing team, saying it didn’t matter. What mattered most was that you put in your best and we’d try again next time.”
TNP PHOTO: JUDITH TAN
WARRIOR FC SPORTS AND FITNESS TRAINER SILAS KARIM, 27:
“I remember once, during a local school match… he came down at half time, spoke to the players and told them to never give up, that it was a fantastic showcase of football. That was something I remembered about him – a man of high status yet he was very approachable, very human.”
TNP PHOTO: JUDITH TAN
PRESIDENT TONY TAN KENG YAM:
“He always did what was necessary, whether it was the Laju incident, whether it was in the Ministry of Defence, Foreign Affairs, whether it was in the security and intelligence department. Not only that, he was a great champion of social causes, he started the President’s Challenge. (He was) a great uplifter of the Indian community in Singapore who have lost a great man. Mr Nathan will be very sorely missed by all Singaporeans.”
TNP PHOTO: CATHERINE ROBERT
MADAM ANTONIAMAL, 90, ACCOMPANIED BY HER DAUGHTER THERESA MARIERETAM, 69:
“It doesn’t matter that I am frail and old. Paying Mr Nathan my last respects is more important. I can always rest later but I must do this before I lose the chance forever.”
TNP PHOTO: ISKANDAR ROSSALI
MADRASAH STUDENT NURUL SHAKEERAH MOHAMED DINO, 9, (ABOVE, RIGHT) ACCOMPANIED BY HER MOTHER SURAINI HASHIM, 44:
“When my mother suggested that we go home first so that I didn’t have to lug my heavy school bag along, I told her it was okay. I would carry it as I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to say goodbye. He was a good man. I want to be just like him and help the community when I grow up.”
TNP PHOTO: JUDITH TAN
MINISTER IN THE PMO AND SEC-GEN OF NTUC CHAN CHUN SENG, WHO TURNED UP WITH OVER 700 UNIONISTS:
“He has given the labour movement a very strong foundation. He has always reminded us as a labour movement to not only take care of each other as brothers and sisters, but also to take care of our country. I think these were his most recent words in May this year, when he came back to the labour movement a final time to share with us his wisdom.”
Workers’ Party MPs and NCMPs, including party chief Low ThiaKiang and chairman Sylvia Lim paid their last respects to Mr Nathan. VIDEO: ST
Former mufti of Singapore Shaikh Syed Isa Semait and leaders from the Malay Muslim Community also made the trip to Parliament House to say farewell to Mr Nathan.
Source: The New Paper
I have often pointed out that the PAP is never sincere in ensuring that there is genuine political contestation, it always raises the bar just when its opponents come close to beating it at its own game (think GRC, Cooling-off Day, Public Order Act, etc).
The most recent example is the tweaking of the EP. Ostensibly, it is to ensure minority representation in the presidency. The reality is that alarm bells went off when Dr Tony Tan won by just 0.34%-point over Dr Tan Cheng Bock.
The process goes like this. Step 1: Frame the issue, set the parameters. Step 2: Gin up debate in the local media and through various panels (within prescribed parameters, of course). Step 3: Legislate it.
Much time, effort and money is expended to legitimise a course of action on which the PAP has already decided. Remember the discussions about whether to have 9 or 12 NCMP seats or 3- or 6-member GRCs or which race Singaporeans prefer their presidents?
As Noam Chomsky points out: “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.”
What is troubling in this instance is that at a time when our country faces complex and enormous challenges – challenges where open and intelligent debate is so desperately needed – the PAP devices yet another scheme to further control the political process.
There is a price, a steep one, to pay for all this.
