New Nation

Three thoughts that must have went past your mind at some point.

PAP Jalan Besar GRC candidate Yaacob Ibrahim greeted commuters on SBS bus service 140 as it looped the Kallang Bahru area.

This is part of his General Election 2015 campaign.

Here are three thoughts Singaporeans have:

“He taking public transport is a once every 50 years event.” — Zhuo Ba Shi, 42-year-old tire seller

“I guess he is signalling he wants to be the next transport minister.” — Tui Xiu, 62-year-old retiree

“Buses in the morning are already crowded enough without an extra person taking up precious space.” — Leow Wee, 17-year-old student

His strong, silent, understated leadership style winning over the masses.

Minister of communications and information Yaacob Ibrahim is winning accolades and persistent praise from Singaporeans from all walks of life.

This after the man in charge of the media has not spoken a word about the media, in the wake of Lianhe Wanbao/ AsiaOne’s pu bor kia antics.

One local, Mei Hua Shuo, said: “I think Yaacob Ibrahim is awesome. So much has happened but yet his ability to remain quiet as minister of communications in the middle of a media controversy shows us he is resolute in his belief that the meek shall inherit the earth.”

“This makes him very assertive in a quiet, nondescript way.”

There are also others who see his taciturnity as an advantage.

Gong Jiao Wey, a Singaporean, said: “Because by keeping quiet, Yaacob Ibrahim keeps his opponents in utter suspense as to what his stand is and is better able to flank his adversaries the moment he thinks he has strung a sentence long enough to be uttered audibly.”

“This is a sign of great strategy. Because as long as he is quiet, he can never be wrong.”

Singaporeans praise TNP for letting them read the right things.

Singaporeans from all walks of life and with varying levels of literacy, have heaped praise upon The New Paper.

This after TNP published highly informative and nation-building articles about Serina Wee, alongside a lot of her pictures.

One Singaporean, Tak Poh Zhuar, said: “Yes, this lives up to the factual, credible and nation-building ethos that Minister of Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim talked about, when he said he wanted us to read the right things.”

Other Singaporeans, who are equally impressed, said the mermaid on the front cover makes TNP even more credible than all online media sites.

Mei Ren Yu, a local, said: “The mermaid is by far the most important news. What would I do if I didn’t know about this story?”

Minorities, silent majority also distancing themselves from him.

It has been almost a week since the Media Development Authority announced plans to force 10 online news sites to post a $50,000 ransom to secure an operating license.

And yet no one in the PAP has come out to defend Yaacob Ibrahim, the bearer of this bad news who has been left to bear the brunt of the barrage of criticism and chaos by his forever alone lonely self.

But this is nothing surprising according to semi-professional media watchers.

Self-styled political pundit Eric de Yaya, said: “Can I don’t comment on this? I also don’t want to be quoted to be talking about him.”

Other Singaporeans that New Nation spoke to have reaffirmed this sentiment.

They also said they are reluctant to even be seen talking about Yaacob Ibrahim, as it could be construed as being associated with him.

One Singaporean woman, who refused to be named, said: “You look at his Facebook. He is minister and he only got 900 Likes. Nobody really wants to be remotely identified with him.”

“I wouldn’t blame the PAP if they also chose to stay away.”

And why no one needs Yaacob strutting around to get us to take a fancy to his COC.

By Belmont Lay

Every Day Party, a Facebook community, is accusing The Temasek Times blog of plagiarism.

Once again, for those of you who are not in the know, here’s something for you to chew on: There’s been a dispute that’s been raging on Facebook this past week.

It is pretty minor, nothing particularly Earth-shattering, but here’s a 10-second summary of it: Every Day Party (a community page on Facebook moderated by a rambunctious, politically incorrect and somewhat anonymous bunch) is trying to get The Temasek Times (a blog that is always professionally offended) to acknowledge that it plagiarised content, apologise for it and make the correct attribution.

Temasek Times is ignoring all attempts to get it to repent and is actively trying to get this issue to disappear by deleting (gasp!) a.k.a. censoring comments seeking accountability on its Facebook wall.

This is how Every Day Party is portraying the situation:

And here is how to do a proper attribution: The above picture is stolen from Every Day Party's Facebook page. We did not ask for permission to use it, but we are eternally grateful to Every Day Party's magnanimity.

If your IQ is above 100 and you have 30 minutes to spare, it wouldn’t be too difficult to figure out who are some of the major players behind Every Day Party or even Temasek Times.

But that’s not the point.

The point is: With all these talk about online regulation straying into the news recently, it has to be blatantly insisted upon that it is absolutely pointless for MICA’s Yaacob Ibrahim to be strutting around trying to get people to take a fancy to his COC (code of conduct).

Why? Because this (minor but funny) Every Day Party vs. Temasek Times dispute will be instructive in demonstrating once and for all that there will always be problems that no code of conduct can anticipate.

Think about it this way: If it’s the first time you’re hearing of Every Day Party or Temasek Times, pray tell, who would (in their right mind) have thunk that this sort of issue involving plagiarism accusations would even occur?

Between a Facebook community page and a blog?

And next, just imagine if there was in fact a code of conduct in existence right now.

What are the potential solutions it can offer Every Day Party? Especially if Temasek Times remains recalcitrant?

None precisely, because who in their right mind sits around all day dreaming up potential problems for potential solutions that have not even occurred, and in all probability, never occur?

And if we don’t want to dream up unique scenarios and the level of likelihood of its occurrence, then pray tell again, why would we want a COC that is filled with motherhood statements?

If I wanted motherhood statements, I’ll just watch a YouTube video of a PAP minister giving a speech!

I’m sorry, I digress.

One moment it could be someone anonymous on Twitter spreading rumours about something that did not happen on Facebook that was initially a blog post about a rumour that is unverifiable, so what are you going to recommend as a solution to the aggrieved? If, let’s say, ultimately there are four parties involved?

The next moment it could be insisting that the Lemon Law kick in because the used panty you bought online from that Singaporean girl is not stained to perfection?

When will the examples end? How bored must you be to think of all the possible permutations of issues?

Well, left to their own devices, we need to have some faith that disputatious parties online can sort it out for themselves with whatever means they have at their disposal.

Even if it means having to have a go at the problem every day.

As one of the Every Day Party administrators said it rather succinctly, and I quote: “kajiao or, if no hope, just boycott lor!”

This, translated into Like-A-Sir-English, literally means: “Continue with our haranguing of The Temasek Times in the hopes that they acknowledge their error, and in the event all else fails, we shall encourage others to launch a boycott of the blog.”

So what happens if the Internet really cannot resolve its disputes?

Then I can only say it really cleverly: You cannot dispute the Internet’s resolve to come up with problems and accompanying solutions.

But to stick your COC in, will not make anyone feel better.