First. You have to control the media.

Media Control. This is very hard to attain. But when you get it, its very hard to lose.

If you can't control the hearts of your people, at least control their minds.

Make use of the media.

With the media in control, publish very little on the opponent party's manifesto details, while publishing alot on why your party disagree with it.

News Article(s) on WP's manifesto - Grand total of 2. [link1] [link2]
News Article(s) on PAP's rebuttal of WP's manifeso - 6. [links] (As of now)

Make more use of the media.

When the opponent party rebuts your arguments, make sure that the news articles prints your party's rebuttal of your their rebuttal, and but very little on the original rebuttal itself (Yes, its confusing). [link]

Use simple but powerful words to lambaste your opponent's manifesto.

In your rebuttal to their manifesto, use easy to relate man-on-the-street language, like 'time-bombs', or 'poison', to describe their manifesto.

Because people easily respond to powerful words, but rarely people stop and think critically on your arguments.

People are simple creatures. No one remembers any long drawn replies, but words like 'poison' and 'time-bombs' stay on people's mind.

Positioning your argument - Use Sacred Cows.

Make it very hard for anyone to argue against your position, by declaring that it is against a 'sacred cow' like racial harmony and terrorism.

Even when some sacred cows are not perfect and need improvements.

Because, Anyone who argue against sacred cows rarely win.

Make use of your followers members

Any campaign will fail if it does not appear to have the people's support.

Your members don't just just to sing karaoke at the void deck or line dance at the neighbourhood mall, do they?

If they are of any use, they should write letters to the press to argue for you. You don't even need to lift a finger to destroy the opponent.

Get some political science experts to give the neutral opinion. Whatever that means.

Put the opponent party in a difficult position. Demand them to change their manifesto.

If they change, declare that they lack political will and courage.

If they don't change, declare that they are heading to a dangerous position that will put the entire country in jeopardy.

Declare that most of your countrymen are behind you and against your opponent -without citing numbers.

"Dr Ng concluded that it is not just the PAP but the majority of Singaporeans who are not satisfied with the WP's response so far. " [link]

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Its not that hard right?

Misleading Title

On Today newsaper, I read the following headline:

The Workers' Party on those four 'time bombs' . [link]

With that headline, one might think that the article is on WP's reponse right? One would expect to read WP's point by point defense of their manifesto.

Instead, its more like a point by point rebuttal of WP's defense.

I took the trouble to count the number of words in the article that are connected to WP's defense, and filtered out govt's reubuttal of their defense (which made the bulk of the article)

Turns out. (I used Word's wordcount )

Total number of words in article = 708.
Actual content related to WP's defense = 304

I pasted the entire article below. Red bolded words are what I considered 'Actual content'

So tell me. Is the article on WP's defense or the rebuttal of WP's defense? Couldn't the rest be put into a seperate article?
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The opposition Workers' Party (WP) is standing firmly by its manifesto despite the strong criticism it has received from the Government, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself.

In a one-page statement released to the media yesterday evening, WP chairman Sylvia Lim responded to each of the four "time bombs" highlighted by Manpower Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen on Saturday, which includes removing the quota for public housing and the elected presidency.

In its 52-page manifesto released on Jan 14, the WP had also proposed that Residents' Committees (RC) and Citizens' Consultative Committees (CCC) be abolished, but in response, Dr Ng said these grassroots organisations were necessary to bring racial and religious communities together.

Ms Lim, however, challenged his remarks: "To say that (RCs and CCCs) are the only ones who can play a role in the community and serve a useful role during crises such as Sars is to underestimate the community's ability to respond to such crises."

She added that the Government seemed to perceive Singaporeans as a "docile lot with no initiative" who need to depend on RCs and CCCs, "which is an insult to Singaporeans."

To which MP Charles Chong (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC) wondered: "Have they got a better alternative to put forward? I'm willing to listen to it if they do."

Mr Chong said this particular proposal was an "irresponsible" one.

"Are they saying everybody should be left alone and just fend for themselves, survival of the fittest? To suggest we just dismantle existing organisations is not practical and reasonable. There will always be a need for citizens to go above and beyond just taking care of themselves," he told Today.

Most of those involved in RCs and CCCs are "unpaid volunteers that come forward to articulate the concerns of the people", so he urged the WP to "look at the bigger picture" instead.

Bedok CCC secretary Patrick Tay said the importance of the groups was to serve as a "bridge between the people and the Government," but stressed this was just one of their many roles in the community.

"We are here to provide an additional channel for residents to give feedback. That's how we can improve the neighbourhood. I see us as one big family working together," he said.

In the statement by the WP, Ms Lim said one reason why her party had strongly recommended that the ethnic quota for housing be scrapped was that it imposed "hardship on people wanting to buy and sell homes".

Having this quota helps ensure an even spread of races in public estates by restricting the proportion of flats that can be owned by different races in a single neighbourhood or block. Chinese residents, for instance, can comprise no more than 84 per cent of units in a neighbourhood and Malays, 22 per cent.

Mr Chong said having such a criteria was "a small price to pay" if Singapore were to avoid reverting back to the ethnic enclaves of yesteryear.

The WP also continued its push for more subsidies to be given to the elderly and unemployed for areas such as education and healthcare.

Dr Ng responded by acknowledging that it was the Government's duty to help the less fortunate, but only out of Budget surpluses.

Ms Lim shot back that the Government should help the lower-income group at all times and not only address their concerns when such surpluses arose.

Like Dr Ng and Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan before him, PM Lee urged the WP and its chief Low Thia Khiang to revise their manifesto, claiming that their proposals destroyed the fundamental principles Singapore had built and thrived on.

Speaking at a community event yesterday, Mr Lee said: "Where do they stand? Either you rethink your position and publish a revised manifesto — version 1.2, there is still time — or if they want to stand by that, explain what they mean, justify, defend and we will join issues and fight the elections on these issues."

In a comment directed at Mr Low: "This is not just a matter of you talking casually at the coffee shop after drinks. It's a manifesto for the General Election and he is offering himself as an alternative, (so) it has to be scrutinised."

Weird News - How to escape caning in Singapore

How do you escape caning in Singapore?

A Thai prostitute escaped caning for drug dealing in Singapore after a doctor established that the accused, who was identified in a passport as a man, had undergone a sex change.

[link]

I wonder was it really worth it.

Bullshit Minute

Workers' Party manifesto threatens social harmony: Dr Ng Eng Hen

Speaking to constituents on Saturday, Dr Ng had a point-for-point rebuttal for the Workers' Party manifesto.

The Worker's Party wants to abolish all Resident Committees and Citizen Consultative Committees, because it feels communities would have progressed further without them.

But Dr Ng defended these grassroots organisations, which are the social glue.

Seriously, I have never seen those RC and CC people in the decades I live in my estate. What do they do actually?

Organise Square Dancing events for pudgy middle-aged aunties? A social club for retirees? Seat fillers for National Day dinners? A compliants department for aggrieved residents to ask for their covered walkway, or to ask a longer grace period to pay their ultiliy bill ?

Come on. You guys are over-stating their importance.

The Workers' Party also wants to remove policies that have fostered Singapore's multiracial society, like the ethnic quota for housing.

This Dr Ng felt was a recipe for disaster.

How does making quotas on flats foster multiracial harmony? Why flats only?

How does private condos and estates not under this rule? Does that mean that there are no rich racists?

Why not go all the way? Maintain this qutoa on the working places like offices? You send half of your day at work right? Extend the quota to every aspect of Singapore life.

Get Married? Follow the quota for this year.

Have children? You cannot have more children if it skews the quota for your race.

Mixed marriges? Which race do categorise your children? It will be an administrative disaster

Why not go even further. Look at the big picture.

Make the entire Singapore island under this quota. Make sure you have 80% chinese 20% other races strictly. Make sure people leaving Singapore is replaced by an emigrant of the same race.

My point. Why restrict it to only flats if your're serious about racial integration? I don't think the solution to racial integration is as superficial as maintaining a quota on flats.

About maintaining the GRC representitive system to ensure racial harmony. -

Does that mean that before the GRC system, Singapore was a place of racial disharmony?
Did the GRC system even ensure a big significant improvement in racial harmony anyway?

On another suggestion by the Workers' Party to abolish the Elected Presidency, he says the Elected Presidency is an important added check to maintain a corrupt-free Government.

The former President - Mr Ong Teng Cheong tried to question. And see what happened to him.

I don't think this check, however effective, is not worth spending $2m of wages a year to maintain. There are better ways to ultilise the $2m a year.

Finally, the Workers' Party called for more subsidies for the needy.

Dr Ng said the PAP government believes in giving only what they can afford, like the workfare bonus which will come from surpluses.

Did the Worker's Party even propose to spend more that the surpluses? This needs more study, obviously, and Minister Ng needs to rebut this with concrete numbers rather than dismiss it entirely.

National Service Dilemma

Wang Kai Yuen: (On National Service, April 2002)

"I am prepared to send all my sons to fight for Singapore, to die, if necessary"

[link]

Wang Kai Yuen: (On punishing defaulters, Jan 2005)

"In seeking a jail sentence, we will in effect deter anyone in similar situation from returning to Singapore. In fact, none will return. Thus we are sending a message, 'Defaulters, thou shall not return to Singapore.' Is that a correct message to send?"

[link]

How noble. You would want your sons to die for your country, but at the same time, protect the right of other people's sons to flee Singapore to escape NS.

Does anyone think this two views is contradictory? Not Mr Wang, apparently.

Would anyone sane fight for the country, when countless have shirked this responsiblity?

What do they have to do with NS?

From the New Paper,Quoting MP Sin Boon Ann

(On the Parliament Debate on NS Defaulters):

CONSIDER this, if Albert Einstein (considered the greatest scientist of the 20th century), Stephen Hawking (celebrated physicist and author of A Brief History Of Time) and Bill Gates (Microsoft chief and currently the world's richest man) were to come to Singapore, would we put them in jail?

[link]

This is perhaps the most asinine argument I've read on the papers this week so far. This sort of argument is bandied around so much, its getting really tired.

From entrepreneurship, to education, to NS, this shite arugment is usually used.

Consider this:
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Albert Einstein did not even pass the entrance exams to qualify him to study for a diploma. (He eventually did later) .

If he is alive in Singapore now, the education system would probably have caused him quit school and work in Mcdonalds. He's obviously not the EDB scholar type.

So what if he's called for NS? He has no talent in Singapore's eyes.
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Bill Gates did not even have a degree. He dropped out. He would probably be selling pirated software in Sim Lim if he were in Singapore.

So what if he's called for NS? No big loss. He's just another ah-beng computer tout.
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Stephen Hawking, he's wheelchair bound, so the NS argument is totally in-appropriate.
----------------------------------------------------------

Talk about using the wrong arugment.

What do they have to do with NS? Good Question, New Paper!
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Thought of the Day:

What's with people and them queing up at the bank for brand new notes for the new year?

What's wrong with using old notes?

Our Reservist OC...

Posts will be sparse this few days/weeks.

Some stuff in the news amuse me much, but what I would have written, is already written by some other blogs. I guess, Fools seldom differ. Great minds think alike.

So I will mostly be posting interesting funny shite from other sites.

From SammyBoy's Alfresco Coffee Shop:

Leading By Example, Obviously

"ey, what happened to our OC? how change to a new one?"

"the previous OC CPT XXX migrated to australia already. won't be seeing him anymore for all your future in-camp training.."

what the?!?! OC migrate?!?!

Windows a ripoff of Mac OSX?

Obligatory Macworld post:

Ever wondered how closely the upcoming Windows Vista are copying of features found in Mac OS X Tiger?

See here

Someone took the trouble to remix the recent CES demo of Windows Vista. Super Hilarious!

Thought of the Day

I was wondering:

Why did the govt take so long for resident numbers to grow, before deciding to open Buangkok MRT station.

But took so fast to open the Budget Terminal, when there is only one customer (Tiger Airways) willing to use it?

[Buangkok Station opens]
[Budget Terminal opens]

edit: i fucked up the old post. Re-writtened it. Old comments gone

How Creative Define Podcast

Creative's new podcast service defines "podcast" as "Personal On Demand broadCast"

Since Creative say so, despite the fact that New Oxford American Dictionary defines it otherwise, it must be true. Very creative.


[link to the Creative's Definition]
[link to New Oxford American Definition]

For the record, Podcast is defined as:

A digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar programme made on the internet for downloading to a personal audio player.