Wtf. WHAT THE FUCK.
yes. once again, I'm using vulgarities on my blog.
like a common street urchin.
but I'm appalled at what happened. I got the news from Jeremy who was very sweet after an incident regarding Shuichi today.
Anywayz,
Ok. If I am him (mr.brown) , I would never want to go back an work for that company. - TODAY.
Mr. Brown rocks. I've listened to every single of his podcast ever since "zhng my car"...
It is a wonder why the Government, Local Press and MICA tries to press down on him.
In fact, Mr. Brown is now so frightened of OFFENDING the freaking people that his podcast now is so much self-censored.
I almost cried when I listened to his podcast "Thank God its Friday".
Is this the end of the Mr. Brown show?
Apparantly yearbook.com.sg is not supporting it anymore...
What happened to free speech? (its corny, people always ask that in Singapore even though we know there obviously isnt any [fyi: look at world statistics on freedom of speech])
What happened to open mindedness? (if Singapore is anti-homosexual, its pretty much anti everything that humanity stands for)
Frankly speaking. Singapore is an ANTI-BLOGGERS paradise.
Closed Minded
Refusing to accept reality
Imperialistic
What on earth is the government trying to do here?
This is the article :
S'POREANS ARE FED, UP WITH PROGRESS!
Friday June 30, 2006
Moving ahead is great but it would be even greater to be able to make
ends meet. THINGS are certainly looking up for Singapore again. Up, up, and away. Household incomes are up, I read. Sure, the bottom third of our country is actually seeing their incomes (or as one newspaper called it, "wages") shrink, but the rest of us purportedly are making more money. Okay, if you say so.
As sure as Superman Returns, our cost of living is also on the up. Except we are not able to leap over high costs in a single bound. Cost of watching World Cup is up. Price of electricity is up. Comfort's taxi fares are going up. Oh, sorry, it was called "being revised". Even the prata man at my coffeeshop just raised the price of his prata by 10 cents. He was also revising his prata prices.
So Singaporeans need to try to "up" their incomes, I am sure, in the
light of our rising costs. Have you upped yours? We are very thankful for the timing of all this good news, of course. Just after the elections, for instance. By that I mean that getting the important event out of the way means we can now concentrate on trying to pay our bills. It would have been too taxing on the brain if those price increases were announced during the election period, thereby affecting our ability to choose wisely.
The other reason I am glad with the timing of the cost of living increases and wages going down, is that we can now deploy our Progress Package to pay for some of these bills.
Wait, what? You spent it all on that fancy pair of shoes on the day you saw your money in your account? Too bad for you then.
As I break into my Progress Package reserves to see if it is enough to
pay the bills, I feel an overwhelming sense of progress. I feel like I am
really staying together with my fellow Singaporeans and moving forward.
There is even talk of future roads like underground expressways being
outsourced to private sector companies to build, so that they, in turn,
levy a toll on those of us who use these roads.
I understand the cost of building these roads is high, and the
Government is relooking the financing of these big road projects.
Silly me, I thought my road tax and COE was enough to pay for public
roads. Maybe we can start financing all kinds of expensive projects this way in future. We could build upgraded lifts for older HDB blocks, and charge tolls on a per use basis.
You walk into your new lift on the first floor, and the scanner reads the contactless cashcard chip embedded in your forehead. This chip would be part of the recently-announced Intelligent Nation 2015 plan, you know,
that initiative to make us a smart nation?
So you, the smart contactless-cashcard-chip-enhanced Singaporean would
go into your lift, and when you get off at your floor, the lift would deduct the toll from your chip, and you would hear a beep. The higher you live, the more expensive the lift toll. Now you know why I started climbing stairs for exercise, as I mentioned in my last column. I plan to prepare for that day when I have to pay to use my lift. God help you if some kid presses all the lift buttons in the lift, as kids are wont to do. You will be beeping all the way to your flat.
The same chip could be used to pay for supermarket items. You just carry your bags of rice and groceries past the cashierless cashier counter,
and the total will be deducted from your contactless cashcard automatically.
You will not even know you just got poorer. And if your contactless cashcard runs out of funds (making it a contactless CASHLESS cashcard), you just cannot use paid services.
The door of the lift won't close, the bus won't stop for you, taxis will automatically display "On Call" when their chip scanners detect you're
broke.
Sure, paying bills that only seem to go up is painful, but by Jove, we
are going to make sure it is at least convenient.
No more opening your wallet and fiddling with dirty notes and coins. Just stand there and hear your income beeped away. No fuss, no muss! I cannot wait to be a Smart e-Singaporean.
I also found out recently that my first-born daughter's special school fees were going up. This is because of this thing called "Means Testing", where they test your means, then if you are not poor enough, you lose some
or all of the subsidy you've been getting for your special child's therapy.
I think I am looking at about a $100 increase, which is a more than a
100 per cent increase, but who's counting, right? We can afford it, but we
do know many families who cannot, even those that are making more money than we are, on paper.
But don't worry. Most of you don't have this problem. Your normal kids
can go to regular school for very low fees, and I am sure they will not
introduce means testing for your cases.
We need your gifted and talented kids to help our country do well
economically, so that our kids with special needs can get a little more
therapy to help them to walk and talk. And hey, maybe if the country
does really well, the special-needs kids will get a little more subsidy.
Like I said, progress.
High-definition televisions, a high-speed broadband wireless network, underground expressways, and contactless cashcard system - all our signs
of progress.
I am happy for progress, of course but I would be just as happy to make ends meet and to see my autistic first-born grow up able to talk and
fend for herself in this society when I am gone.
That is something my wife and I will pay all we can pay to see in our
lifetimes.
mr brown is the accidental author of a popular website that has been documenting the dysfunctional side of Singapore life since 1997. He enjoys having yet another cashcard, in addition to his un-contactless one and the ez-link one to add to his wallet.
Visit TODAYonline website at http://www.todayonline.com
this is the reply :
DISTORTING THE TRUTH, MR BROWN?
Monday July 3, 2006
When a columnist becomes a 'partisan player' in politics
Letter from K BHAVANI
Press Secretary to the Minister for Information, Communications and the
Arts
Your mr brown column, "S'poreans are fed, up with progress!" (June 30) poured sarcasm on many issues, including the recent General Household Survey, price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares, our IT plans, the Progress Package and means testing for special school fees.
The results of the General Household Survey were only available after the General Election. But similar data from the Household Expenditure Survey had been published last year before the election.
There was no reason to suppress the information. It confirmed what we
had told Singaporeans all along, that globalisation would stretch out
incomes. mr brown must also know that price increases in electricity tariffs and taxi fares are the inevitable result of higher oil prices.
These were precisely the reasons for the Progress Package - to help
lower income Singaporeans cope with higher costs of living.
Our IT plans are critical to Singapore's competitive position and will improve the job chances of individual Singaporeans. It is wrong of mr brown to make light of them.
As for means testing for special school fees, we understand mr brown's disappointment as the father of an autistic child. However, with means testing, we can devote more resources to families who need more help.
mr brown's views on all these issues distort the truth. They are
polemics dressed up as analysis, blaming the Government for all that he is
unhappy with. He offers no alternatives or solutions. His piece is calculated
to encourage cynicism and despondency, which can only make things worse, not better, for those he professes to sympathise with.
mr brown is entitled to his views. But opinions which are widely circulated in a regular column in a serious newspaper should meet higher standards. Instead of a diatribe mr brown should offer constructive criticism and alternatives. And he should come out from behind his pseudonym to defend his views openly.
It is not the role of journalists or newspapers in Singapore to champion
issues, or campaign for or against the Government. If a columnist presents himself as a non-political observer, while exploiting his access to the mass media to undermine the Government's standing with the electorate, then he is no longer a constructive critic, but a partisan player in politics.
Visit TODAYonline website at http://www.todayonline.com
You know what?
I say screw it.
Screw all those stupid journalism rules, open minded-ness and "constructive critic"
Mr. Brown is a champion alright.
He's the champion voice of the people of Singapore and while he may not be a Champion Journalist, he is definately THE champion here in voicing out what the PEOPLE think.
Of course he seems to be "distorting the truth" in the eyes of those who know everything there is to know about taxes, wages, governance and politics. But the problem is - MOST PEOPLE DO NOT KNOW!!
and that is a FACT.
Why on earth does MICA, TODAY and Mr. *cough* (shall not spew vulgarities) clamp down on Mr. Brown? Are they trying to supress what the people do not know?
Is this going to enhance CREDIBILITY? huh ? huh?
Dear Ms. *censored by MDA*, there is NO NEED for the statement "distortion of truth" to be placed on Mr. Brown. BECAUSE THERE IS NO DISTORTION OF TRUTH IN THE FIRST PLACE. IT IS MERELY WHAT THE PEOPLE KNOW AND THINK.
You have to push the blame on him for writing this on his autistic child? You have to announce it to the world and cut new wounds? Its UTTERLY digusting. COMPLETELY FOUL.
yucks. you disgust me Ms. *censored by MDA*
Sacarsm? Can't take a bit of bite? Is it because you all are too comfortable in your high seats?
Really. I think I'm going to re-consider certain stuffs in the future.
It is like a little kid. - Everything was done by his parents.
Feeding, cleaning, bathing etc.
Then one day, he thinks that eating with fork and spoon instead of chopsticks is better. Merely, he just does not know the advantages of eating with chopsticks.
BUT the parents would not stand for it and insists that the kid uses chopsticks.
WITHOUT explaining why.
SCOLDING the kid.
and PUNISHING the kid for that "foolish idealism"
wth?
is that fair?
while this is just a metaphore, it just depicts on a smaller scale what is actually happening?
oh yes. We're proud of our "parents" for doing everything for us.
but c'mon. YOU ACCUSE US OF THINKING WHAT WE'RE THINKING?
as in. YOU BLAME US FOR THIKING WHAT WE'RE THINKING?
wow. fantastic. parents.
Mr. Brown and Mr. Miyagi, in my opinion is the best and funniest podcasters in Singapore.
In conservative Singapore, it WAS nice to have a person who spoke up for enlightenment.
or more like to enlighten those who aren't enlightened about the unenlightened.
why search for a splinter in the eye of another when you don't look at the log that is imminently hanging on top of you?
where is your gratefulness for
"I am Singaporean?"
"Zhng My Car?"
"XNS Men?"
all these are serious local views on what people. REAL people believe life is like in Singapore. without the pepper and salt. But with all the humour.
YOU ALL should be HAPPY that he is not in some opposition party or he'll give you all hell.
Humour + Integrity + Honesty = Charisma.
something that the Singapore government is starting to lose in my opinion.
watch out for National Day though. I how many people will actually be cheering.
grrrr.
screw it. I'm not going to wear white pants for this whole year in protest. I should have opened my ears to my friends who support OPEN MINDEDNESS politics.
High powers always suck up to the higher powers.
why?
have they forgotten their sense of humanity?
I guess not. They're just frightened.
Stay strong Mr. Brown.
All of TRUE Singapore is behind you.
The voice of the people must not be taken away.
[-copyright- angel_boy.blogspot.com. ]
all TRUE singaporeans may copy anything I wrote in this article.
all BLIND singaporeans are prohibited from copying anything in this article. and have to remember that this article is written in a pique of rage. it is emotionally ridden and has little credibility.
thus, it was written with an unsane mind by the author and should not be counted as defamatory as the author is a very nice person.
You on the other hand, are NOT NICE. =)
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