for what its worth.

aggravating!! this is the second time im typing this! darn blogger picture upload.

as i was saying, its friday. its the end of the week! hullaballoo. yes anyhow, exams in a sense are a blessing. i just need to say thank you jesus. really. cambridge's gone nuts, all the papers are much harder than previous years [they say this every year i know but this time, its TRUE.] but God has pulled me through one week of it and im quite sure the rest of the weeks will be fine.
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yes, and i also said- everything repeated a second time loses its freshness and taste. if this one doesnt get published i'll just heck it and go do something else other than typey typey.

AHH! do u see the picture? Blogger picture works! only if you upload the picture from your computer instead of from the web.

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check out Mr Leong Chee Tung, ex-rjc's comment on the press freedom index in Singapore. he has gone where many have not dared to, andhis comments are commendable as well as sensible.

this is one reply to his provocative letter to the ST.

"...An irresponsible free press can spark chaos, violence and conflicts, leading to untold miseries for the people. This kind of freedom is too high a price to pay for developing countries. We certainly do not want this.
I would rather live in Singapore, ranked 140th in RWB's international ranking of press freedom, than in a country which ranked 125th but is devastated by internal wars, riven by factional divisions and plagued by foreign intervention."
-Paul Chan Poh Hoi

here are my takeaways, emphasised in red.

singapore is largely a developed country. we are young, but level of development is linked to economic standards and education levels, to a larger extent than it is to numerical age. if we claim we are still not ready to adjust and form sensible judgements through filtering information we receive from the press, when will we ever be ready? is this a specific number you can pinpoint? the answer is, that we are ready whenever society determines we are ready- it is an approximation derived through experience and experimentation, not a figure thrust top-down.

a free press does not necessitate an irresponsible press. there is a distinct line between being destructive and responsive. a free press is one that has the freedom to respond and evaluate government policies- both its good and bad, which itself reflects participation in nation's politics. on one hand, political participation and awareness is advocated, yet on another the freedom to do so is restricted. this is a fundamental imbalance, and is no way to proceed toward greater political sensitivity and engagement.

'i would rather live in singapore'... it is true that singapore has had a remarkable economic record. what we need to understand though, is that a sound economy need not be mutually exclusive to a free press. there is no mandatory 'we would rathers' about it. it is possible to have the best of both worlds, in regions like australia and america. it is rather infantile, if not paranoid, to associate a free press with violence and social anarchy. a free press need not be divisive. it is simply interactive.