The Singapore election has been called and we are now just weeks away from a People’s Action Party (PAP) majority. Generally Singapore elections are as interesting as watching grass grow, but this one holds great interest - if only because AP is wondering how many bloggers will be arrested.

Signaling the certainty of a vote, AsiaPundit’s all-time favorite authoritarian Mentor Minister Lee Kwan Yew made a bold appearance on the PAP-friendly Channel News Asia, subjecting himself to a rare grilling from Singapore citizens.

Kevin Lim points to the Google video of the event and notes a spot to watch:

Note that 25 minutes in, there’s a relevant bit to where journalists and Lee Kwan Yew argue on the rationale behind the ban on political blogging and podcasting.

At Singabloodypore, it’s recommended that viewers zone in on  the 12m30s mark for an exchange where Lee attempts to interrogate a young Straits Times reporter to give up sources.

(previously: a journalist fields a question on whether any invasion of privacy and violation of the secrecy of the vote had been committed since (allegedly) the PAP does know the percentage of people, down to the apartment block or polling district, who voted one way or another)

MM Lee: But you won’t know who comprises the 60%, right?

Ken Kwek, 26 - Journalist; Never voted: You don’t need to know that to strike fear, though.

MM Lee: Oh, come off it! (laughter) You mean to tell me you have, you’re one of the 40% who voted against the PAP and something happens to you?

Ken Kwek: I mean, I’ve never voted for that matter, but I mean - we talk to hundreds of voters in the course of our work, and it’s either "no comment" or "if I vote against the PAP, I may…"

MM Lee: No, no. Let’s get down. What are the hundreds of voters? You name the hundreds of voters, a few of them. Tell me.

Ken Kwek: Well, I mean I can’t name them by name…

MM Lee: No, no. You tell me you’ve spoken to and tell you they’re afraid.

Sensing that he may have been less than convincing, Lee later told the Straits Times that the audience was composed of ‘radical English-educated young’  and that ‘They will realize that a large majority of Singaporeans are steeped in their respective Asian cultures, whose core values will not be easily displaced."

Mr Wang correctly notes:

Mr Wang cannot help but chuckle at MM Lee’s remarks about "these radical English-educated young". Because Mr Wang cannot help but think of MM Lee’s own background.

Lee Kuan Yew may be old now, but once upon a time, he was young too. And when he was young, he left Singapore to study law in England. At Cambridge University, no less. And collected Double 1st Class Honours in English law. How much more "English-educated" can you get?…

Read also Lee Kuan Yew’s memoirs about his own university days. Note when he first started messing around in politics. No, not in Singapore. He started messing around in political activities when he was in England. Which was not even his own country.

A young foreigner. A student. Messing around in the politics of another country. The homeground of his colonial masters, no less.

And he has the cheek to say that our young TV show participants are "radical".

As Singapore does not allow political blogging outside of clearly defined guidelines, some political blogs are taking a vacation.

Nonpolitical content is still permitted. With that, the highly non-political mr brown and Mr Miyagi have made a non-political podcast set in a time long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away. Similarities to any real people, living or dead, are purely coincidental.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, election, singapore, southeast asia

According to the Mercer 2006 study on quality of living for expatriates, AsiaPundit’s current home is the most livable city in China Mainland China. Although it falls far behind his former home of Singapore.:

Singapore overtakes Tokyo as the top Asian city, moving into 34th position. Despite Singapore’s gain, Japan remains the strongest Asian country with the next eight Asian cities based there. Hong Kong (68th) breaks that run, and China’s top city is Shanghai (103rd), falling one place. In India, the top cities are Mumbai and New Delhi (both 150th). Indian city rankings are improving slowly due to India’s improving political relationships with other countries. Also, local authorities in India are feeling pressure from multinationals who want to locate there to improve quality of living standards.

The survey ranks standards of living based on measures including personal safety and security, health issues, cleanliness and pollution, and transportation - all areas that AP will admit are much better in the Lion City.

For that matter, Singapore should beat most (if not all) of the cities in the top-10 were those the only measures (easily trumping number three Vancouver on cleanliness, transportation and security).

That said, Shanghai’s skyline easily trumps Singapore’s.:

The city claims the third best skyline in the world, while Singapore comes in sixth. However, Shanghai once again is rightfully beaten by Hong Kong.

(Via IZ)

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, hong kong, northeast asia, singapore, southeast asia

Political podcasting and streaming videos are prohibited in Singapore’s coming election.:

Podcasting will not be allowed during elections as it does not fall under the “positive list” which states what is allowed under election advertising.

Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts Balaji Sadasivan added that streaming of videos during campaigning would also be prohibited.

He was addressing a question in Parliament on Monday about the use of new technologies on the internet during hustings.

Pictures of candidates, party histories and manifestos are on the “positive list” and are allowed to be used as election advertising on the internet.

Newer internet tools like podcasting do not fall within this “positive list”.

Dr Balaji said: “There are also some well-known local blogs run by private individuals who have ventured into podcasting. The content of some of these podcasts can be quite entertaining. However, the streaming of explicit political content by individuals during the election period is prohibited under the Election Advertising Regulations. A similar prohibition would apply to the videocasting or video streaming of explicitly political content.”

Bloggers can continue - but if they get too political they will have to register … and then shut up.:

Dr Balaji added that individual bloggers can discuss politics, but have to register with the Media Development Agency if they persistently promote political views.

When registered, they’re then not allowed to advertise during elections - something only political parties, candidates and election agents are allowed to do only.

Before any ‘free speech’ advocates gets in a huff about this - AsiaPundit will note that private citizens will likely be allowed to make political speeches at Speakers’ Corner after registering with police.:

As such, this ban on political blogging is not a ban on free speech. It is merely a means to bridge the digital divide. Singapore’s technology savvy bloggers will now have to queue with their digitally disabled fellow citizens for a chance to talk at the Lion City’s only authorized free speech zone.

The PAP are not oppressive, this is merely a means to bring all Singaporeans together.

()

Technorati Tags: asia, censorship, singapore, southeast asia

As if Technorati rankings weren’t enough to prove it, a sudden outbreak of product placement in Singapore blogs should demonstrate that the Lion City owns the blogosphere.

Singapore bloggers get all the good gear. Kevin gets a free Samsung A920 and the Mediaslut gets an xbox 360. Both reserve serious product reviews for later, as professional reviewers should.

Blog queen XiaXue, meanwhile, gets a Creative MP3 player and immediately starts dissing iPods and Mac users evangelists.:

Gah! I hate Mac evangelists.

Hate them as much as religion evangelists and cb MLM sellers and scientologists.

Not because Mac products suck, but because Mac users all seem to think they are so fucking cool just coz they use Mac.

What the fuck? Everyone can own an Apple product, it is just whether or not they are willing to save up a bit. Hell, I can buy 2 ipods with the $800 govt is giving me, but it doesn’t make me a wee bit cooler than I already am.

Unless of course I use the ipod as a yo-yo or use it to hit people. That would be quite cool.

But if you are a loser, you will still be a loser if you own an ipod.

In fact, it makes you even more of a loser coz you are a loser who is trying not to be a loser but failed.

Your shitty taste in music will not turn hip just coz you use a pure white product, nor will your shitty designing skills turn expert just coz you do photoshop on a pure white keyboard.

Man I hate Mac evangelists.

Ask me if I think Creative is better.

AsiaPundit is a dedicated Mac user and owns two iPods (don’t ask why). AP also has a lovely IBM ThinkPad T43 given to him by the office and owns an antiquated Acer Aspire desktop. Wendy getting free stuff and immediately offering a glowing review - before the item has even left the shop - doesn’t really cause offense.

In the day job AP will not take bribes. But as a blogger, AP is not above product-whoring in the likes of XiaXue. He hasn’t received any placement offers yet, but he is willing.

For example, if Japanese robot-maker VStone sends AP one of these he will happily sing the praises of Gigantor and slam all competitors.:

Aibo sucks!!! Gigantor would squish that little robo dog.

(Gigantor h/t Robot Dreams)

Oops! Singapore’s government investment arm Temasek accidently sent an e-mail to several reporters letting them in on executive talking points relating to its purchase of a stake in Standard Chartered.:

A Temasek document, entitled "2006-03 Taurus Q&As" - which was designed to help its executives answer media enquiries on its 12% stake in Standard Chartered - was yesterday sent as an email attachment to some journalists instead of another file. The document contains 59 questions and answers and was prepared by staff to anticipate questions that might arise from the acquisition. Given that Temasek has rarely done Q&As with the media, the exercise represents a somewhat unique insight into what the Singapore state investment agency currently perceives its perceptional issues are and its own stance on these issues. In what follows we have reproduced the entire Q&A section. It is unedited, except to state in square brackets where answers were left blank.

Full copy of the e-mail is here. Interestingly, talking point 33 provides a response to a question that will not be asked within Singapore.:

33. Your CEO is also the PM’s wife. The PM is also the Minister for Finance, heading MOF which is your shareholder. Is her appointment politically motivated? Wouldn’t there be conflicts of interest?

We are not here to discuss politics since we are not politicians or a political organization.

Our CEO is accountable to the Board of Directors, who is headed by an independent Chairman, just like any other commercial organisation.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, economy, temasek, singapore, southeast asia

Via Gizmodo, a Singapore-developed tech product that is far more useful than the remote chicken hugging device that the Lion City earlier developed. Here is a pocket lie detector called “the DeFIBulator.“:

There are two ways to describe the DeFIBulator: a portable lie detector, if you’re feeling sensational, or a portable tension detector, if you’re feeling honest. Developed in Singapore, it purports to measure varying degrees of vibration in someone’s voice to 65% accuracy.

(via Tomorrow)

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, singapore, southeast asia

In another fine moment for the Lion City’s Finest, Singapore police busted an Australian man woman in a bear suit for stalking the British Queen:

AsiaPundit has killed every house plant that he has ever owned and the desiccated husk of a cactus adorns the desk at his office. Ergo, even though a plant with jellyfish characteristics is inherently creepy, he welcomes this Singaporean invention.

There are fish that glow in polluted water, fluorescent pigs (and rabbit?)… now students at Singapore Polytechnic have created a plant that can communicate with people by glowing when it needs water.

The students have genetically modified a plant using a green fluorescent marker gene from jellyfish, so that it "lights up" when it is stressed as a result of dehydration.

The light can be seen using an optical sensor developed in collaboration with students at Nanyang Technological University.

The development of such plants could help farmers to develop more efficient irrigation of crops.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, singapore, southeast asia

Curzon at Coming Anarchy is running a series of maps illustrating the gap countries, those are not within the globalized core. Not surprisingly, most of Asia is part of the globalized core while the Middle East and Africa are dominate the gap countries.

Curiously, by one measure, the highly globalized Singapore and Malaysia lie among the gap countries. Both states still retain anti-sodomy laws, although Malaysia is far more likely to enforce them.

In a 2000 speech to the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Robert D. Kaplan said that in evaluating a developing nation’s government, we should focus not on elections but freedoms. Hasty elections in impoverished nations often results in anti-democratic totalitarians taking power, whether it be Germany in the 1930s or Algeria in the 1990s. He listed China as one example of an authoritarian state that is liberalizing in a good way. “It may not be a democracy, but it’s got a predictable tax system, gay and unmarried couples can live together, and so on.” He’s right—China repealed its sodomy laws in the early 1990s.

Tolerance of homosexuality is a side effect of modernization. England repealed anti-homosexual laws in 1967; France in 1982; Germany in 1994; and in the United States, 46 out of 50 states repealed anti-homosexual conduct laws and 36 repealed sodomy laws before the remaining were invalidated by the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas.

What countries still have laws outlawing homosexual conduct? It turns out those countries are almost the same thing as Barnett’s gap.

Curiously, the map on war risk insurance premiums also puts Southeast Asia amid the gap (though this is almost entirely due to piracy risk around Indonesian waters).

For more details see Curzon’s prelude.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, malaysia, northeast asia, singapore, southeast asia

AsiaPundit hadn’t been too enthused by Boing Boing’s transit system anagram series, until he realized that he used to ride the train daily from ‘A Herman Hut’ to ‘japan Gang Rot’:

Full size image here and more station name variations are at Double Yellow,

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, singapore, southeast asia

The possible takeover of the management of six US ports by Dubai Ports World (DPW) has created what Asia Cable’s Todd Crowell calls, and AsiaPundit agrees, xenophobia run amok.:

I haven’t noticed that many West Coast lawmakers taking a stand on the ports controversy. Of course, the ports in question are on the East Coast, but I suspect that most of the westerners are praying that the whole controversy blows over before Congress does something really stupid, such as passing some law to ban foreign operations of port terminals. That would cause chaos on the West Coast.

Take for example, the Port of Seattle. Of the three terminals, one is leased to an American stevedoring firm MSS America, one to Hanshin, the South Korean shipping line, and the other to the American President Lines (now APL) which, despite it venerable patriotic name, is actually owned by Singapore.

Port management is an international business that is dominated by foreign interests. That’s not hard to understand since there are obviously close synergies between ships and terminals. And an American merchant marine scarcely exists.

I said last year when the Unocal flap arose that if national security is so important in these issues, then why not nationalize Unocal. Why doesn’t Washington bid for the P&O shares itself? Add a few gild-edge shares to the national portfolio now filled with IOUs to China and Japan.

There was also similar uproar about the Hutchison Whampoa’s takeover of the Panama Canal, with critics alleging that Hutchison’s Li Ka-Shing was ‘too close’ to the Communist Chinese. That may be true from some perspectives - AsiaPundit doesn’t imagine that Hutchison has any desire to reform Hong Kong’s LegCo along more democratic lines. But suggesting that Li would put US security at risk is risible.

While Li has inarguably been enriched by the Hong Kong cartel system and Li’s cozy relationship with governments, British as well as Chinese, his shipping conglomerate was enriched by Hong Kong’s ability to function as a free port. The Panama Canal pursuit was based on nothing more than that.

Similarly, Dubai - more than anywhere else in the Middle East - has benefitted from running its own free port. The Emirate is not energy-rich compared to its neighbors and has gained its wealth by modeling itself after Singapore and Hong Kong. The investment by DPW should be no more feared than the investment by Hutchison, or any investment by Singapore’s PSA.

When it comes to keeping its ports operational, a bigger concern for US authorities should be the country’s own labor unions - who regularly tie up container traffic and resist automation that would help detect terrorists threats.

AsiaPundit would like to see America be a bastion of free trade and investment. If the country is to insist on liberalization abroad, it should practice it at home.

Technorati Tags: dubai ports world, asia, hong kong, east asia, economy, singapore

Singapore’s blogger emeritus mr brown takes notice of how a sex ’scandal’ involving a Nanyang Polytechnic student is being blamed on bloggers.:

Poly student in homemade sex video gets counselling

Teachers in other schools say many teens use phones to capture made photos, sex clips

One of the boy’s girlfriends, also a student at the (secondary) school, was not ashamed of her (nude) photos being circulated.

“She was proud of it. She said it was artistic.”

Veteran youth counseller Carol Ballhetchet said: “The new technology makes it all very easy and with celebrity bloggers revealing it all, it has become acceptable, even cool.”

While AsiaPundit would be pleased if Miss Izzy had helped it become acceptable and cool for Singaporeans to take their clothes off, he suspects that isn’t the case. As mr brown says of Ballhetchet’s comments:.

Give. Me. A. Freakin. Break.

Sure, before bloggers took their clothes off on their blogs, people were all conservative and there were no other places where young people could be influenced by the glamorization and normalization of this exhibitionist behaviour.

For more details on the MMS ’sex scandal,’ Miyagi has a fine roundup and IZ has the merchandise.:

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, singapore, southeast asia

While Malaysia and China are sinking millions of yuan and ringgit into space programs, in Singapore plans are afoot for a privately developed spaceport:

Singapore may not have a space program like neighbour Malaysia but very soon it will have an integrated spaceport that will offer suborbital spaceflights, as well as operate astronaut training facilities and a public education and interactive visitor center. Spaceport Singapore will be developed by Space Adventures, a company that has launched private explorers to space and a group of Singapore companies.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, singapore, southeast asia, spaceport

From Asian Sex Gazette:

Cinemagoers in Singapore will be allowed to watch gay cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain without censorship from Friday.

The Guardian reported that despite the island’s strict homosexuality laws and definition of gay sex as gross indecency, film fans over 21 will be able to watch the highly acclaimed movie.

Some groups see this as a sign of loosening censorship in the country and a part of Singapore’s efforts to promote itself as an Asian centre for media, culture and arts.

Granted, only over-21s will be able to watch it in cinemas and promotional material will carry a consumer advisory saying "mature theme, sexual scenes", but some are already hailing the move as a sign of loosening censorship in the notoriously tightly controlled city state.

Brokeback Mountain is the favourite for Academy Award success next month with eight nominations in all the major categories.

Homosexuals face a maximum of two years in prison for gay sex in Singapore.

The film has already been banned in China and Malaysia.

Although the state has backtracked on some of the ‘pro-gay‘ policies of former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong since Mini Lee has taken the reigns, Singapore has not prosecuted anyone for consensual homosexuality in AsiaPundit’s memory. It’s not quite gay-friendly, but hardly repressive.

The move to allow an Oscar-nominated movie is hardly opening up, it is in line with Singapore’s existing ratings system (putting it in the same category as Kill Bill 2).

That Singapore will allow citizens to view the movie in cinemas is only proper - they would have less chance of seeing it elsewhere. Singapore has very strict anti-piracy laws and could not rely on pirated copies as easily as their Chinese and Malaysian neighbors (Brokeback and the banned Geisha are widely available on almost every Shanghai street corner. And, as the above photo illustrates, also Moscow.)

Technorati Tags: asia, brokeback, east asia, singapore, southeast asia

Google’s challenge to PayPal, the expected GBuy service, will not be as controversial as its China portal - except perhaps in Singapore.:

Instead of a techincal review of another Web 2.0 service, here’s a socio-cultural review about Google’s latest venture… made the first reference to it, and now MrBrown followed suit. Google’s might get more attention than the search company ever hoped for, now that Singaporeans have come to realize that it sounds pretty raunchy in Chinese (esp. in Hokkien dialect).

Before I take all the fun away, here are some sample conversations to give you an idea of what it means…

TinkerTailor’s examples:

“Chao GBuy!!” (when things go wrong)

“Orh, so you use GBuy to make money har?”

“You want the money isit? I’ll shove it up your GBuy!”

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, , puppy, singapore, southeast asia

Keen! Scam e-mail was received by dullneon, in Singlish!

Happy New year !!!!! Long time never email you lieow, heh. Anyway i got one new lobang to introduce you, err.. this is not those scam emails that you receive which will promise you don’t know how many millions if you send them money. No need credit card no need brain juice, no need big investment (We are talking about around SGD$17 here only) SHIOCK MAN!

This company that is making my chinese new year is call www.7daysdeal.com which are options and gambling experts. The minimum to invest on them is only around USD$10 (around $17 SGD).

The full letter is here, and translation can be aided by the Coxford Singlish Dictionary.

(Via Tomorrow)

Technorati Tags: asia, singlish, blogs, east asia, singapore, southeast asia

The permalink-unfriendly Jakarta Post reports that the Singaporean woman found guilty of negligence in her maid’s death was sentenced to a mere two weeks for the crime. The judge said, “The court will not condone a disregard for the safety of domestic helpers,”:

SINGAPORE (AP): A Singapore court jailed a woman for two weeks for negligence after she ordered her Indonesian maid onto the ledge of an eighth-floor condominium from where she fell to her death, court documents showed.

A district judge said Ngu Mei Mei, 37, who admitted one count of negligence imperiling the life of her maid, Yanti, 22, was sentenced to jail to show that the court would not excuse any thoughtless conduct by employers that placed their maids’ livesin jeopardy.

“The court will not condone a disregard for the safety of domestic helpers,” District Judge Thian Yee Sze wrote in her decision, delivered Tuesday.

“Many of them are very young and come from rural areas, and have never worked in urban areas and high-rise buildings. Hence, they are less aware of the potential dangers,” Thian said.

“It must be remembered that to a foreign domestic helper who is often all alone in Singapore, the employer is not only her superior, whose orders she has to obey, but also her guardian and protector,” the judge wrote.

The woman could have received a maximum sentence of three months in jail, a S$250 (US$150) fine or both. As AsiaPundit said here before, measuring the value of a human life is a tricky business. Although most states and religions regard all men as equals, legal systems generally when considering compensation for wrongful death will look at such things as life expectancy; expected earnings, inflation and a range of other factors.

But beyond that, deterrence has to be considered. For a country as wealthy as Singapore a S$250 for for killing a maid is hardly a deterrent. That can typically just cover dinner and a night at the pub.

Two weeks in jail is not much better. If Singapore judges were not already so well paid, AsiaPundit would mail the sentencing judge a quarter so he could buy himself a clue.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, indonesia, singapore, southeast asia

China has shown a sharp downward trend in press freedoms last year, while the Philippines remains dangerous and North Korea abysmal.:

While some countries in Asia have remained stable with regard to media freedom, there have been sharp downward trends in several Asian countries, particularly China, Nepal, the Philippines and Thailand.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and Freedom House, a non-governmental organization that monitors press freedoms around the world, assessed the levels of press freedom in countries based on the prevailing legal environment, political and economic situation and the overall attitudes of authorities towards the media.

The surveys were generally concordant in their results, with China, Nepal, North Korea and the Philippines remaining the biggest causes of concern for journalists in Asia.

"Compared to last year, there really aren’t many positives in Asia," said Karin Karlekar, Managing Editor of the Freedom House survey. "While some countries have remained steady [Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong], we can see downward trends in many countries in the region."

North Korea was found to be the worst country in all surveys, showing no signs of improvement over the past couple of years. All media in North Korea continue to remain tools of Kim Jong-il’s state, while all foreign media are repeatedly portrayed by the regime as "liars" seeking to destabilize the government, according to the Freedom House report. However, the report also suggests that an increase in international trade has resulted in greater contact with foreigners, which might allow for greater access to international news reports in the near future.

China has also shown a sharp downward trend in 2005, said Karlekar, which can be attributed to increased censorship of newspapers and radio stations, and greater Internet surveillance.

According to RSF, the so-called "broadcasting Great Wall" in China has been growing over the past year: The Voice of Tibet, the BBC and Radio Free Asia are among the radio stations jammed by the government in 2005. 

• Reporters Withouth Borders - Wordlwide Press Freedom Index 2005 
• International Federation of Journalists - Targeting and Tragedy 
• Freedom House - Freedom of the Press 2005

Technorati Tags: asia, censorship, china, east asia, north korea, northeast asia, south asia, thailand, burma

Election cycles are generally the most active periods for bloggers in the West. In Singapore, the most Western country in Asia, expect something different.:

My guess is that most bloggers do not know that certain laws restricting what can be said over the internet kick in once a parliamentary election is called. Some bloggers will be surprised that some of the things they say about Singapore politics may expose them to prosecution.

The last time there was a parliamentary election (also called a general election) in Singapore, which was on 3 Nov 2001, blogging was not yet a household word. Some of today’s most prolific bloggers were probably not yet out of school.

In 2001, websites offering political content were relatively few, and news about the amendments to the Parliamentary Elections Act, amendments which specifically dealt with internet communications, were still fresh in webmasters’ minds, having been passed only in August of the same year.

Today, blogging has exploded, and unlike webmasters in the early days of the internet, most bloggers are writing without looking over their shoulders at Big Brother. While the Sedition Act is no doubt well known among bloggers due to the publicity about the 3 guys recently charged and sentenced, their offences related to foul language stirring up race and religious hate, not political news or commentary.

Technorati Tags: beer, east asia, singapore, southeast asia

Miss Singapore recently paid a visit to the People’s Republic. Like everyone else in Singapore, she blogs. Her photo album is here.

This is one of the few photos without the sash.

Technorati Tags: asia, china, east asia, northeast asia, singapore, southeast asia

Lee Kwan-yew did not enrich himself during his tenure as leader of Singapore. Nor did his family gain any undeserved influence over the country. It is a meritocracy and don’t suggest otherwise.

In fact the only reason Lee can sustain an affluent lifestyle in retirement is because he gets shedloads of cash from irresponsible Western media groups that dare to suggest such nasty and untrue things.:

We recognise that the statements attributed to Mr Lee in the obituary on Devan Nair and which are referred to in Mdm Yeong Yoon Ying’s letter, are false. We apologise to Mr Lee for having published them, and we unreservedly withdraw them. We have agreed to pay Mr Lee damages and to indemnify him for all costs incurred by him in connection with this matter.

The Economist last apologized to the Lee family in September 2004. Other media groups that have had to apologize to the Lee family include Bloomberg, the Far East Economic Review and the International Herald Tribune. Typical settlements are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Technorati Tags: asia, censorship, media, singapore, southeast asia

Light posting today as Mr and Mrs AsiaPundit were having beer this evening at one of Asia’s 25 million British-styled pubs. However, we offer some of the best Asian beer posts in the past few days.

The good: Manish at Sepia Mutiny recounts the origin of India Pale Ale, which AP often cites when making an argument that the British Empire did bring good things to the continent.:

After the British East India Company had established itself in India… it had a large number of troops and civilians demanding beer… Ships typically left London, cruised south past the equator along the coast of Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and then crossed the Indian Ocean to reach Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. The temperature fluctuations were huge, it was a very long trip (about 6 months) and the rough waters of southern Africa resulted in an extremely violent voyage…

Early shipments to India contained bottled porters, the favorite beer in London, which generally arrived flat, musty, and sour… Hodgson took his pale ale recipe, increased the hop content considerably, and raised the alcohol content. The result was a very bitter, alcoholic, and sparkling pale ale that could survive the challenges of travel and shelf life in India.

High hop levels can preserve a beer’s flavor in two ways: they have a limited ability to protect beer from spoilage by some microorganisms, and, more importantly, their bitterness can mask stale flavors. While the beer arriving in India would certainly have suffered from oxidative staling during the long voyage, it could still taste acceptable because of the masking effect of alcohol and hops.

The Bad: One of the better lagers in Southeast Asia is losing market share in its home country:

I love cradling the squat brown bottle in my hand, seeing the beads of condensation gathered around the engraved logo, feeling the first slug hit the back of my throat … most of all, I love San Miguel Pale Pilsen for the very reason that Filipinos are deserting it in droves, because it is quintessentially and timelessly Filipino.

Unfortunately, quintessentially and timelessly Filipino is not what today’s beer drinker is looking for. According to yesterday’s paper:

San Miguel Pale Pilsen, the flagship beer of San Miguel Corp. in the ubiquitous squat brown bottle, has seen its market share dwindle to a record low of 29 percent as of September 2005, according to records obtained from the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

Asia’s oldest brew, Pale Pilsen, which is exported to other countries and rated as one of the world’s largest selling beers, has been on a downtrend since 2001, when its market share hit 50.76 percent—and further tumbled to 39 percent in 2003.

From 50.6% to 29% in four years is a precipitous decline. There is nothing surprising about this though. Like beer drinkers from Covent Garden to Greenwich Village, Philippine drinkers are looking for that chic beer style. I can’t blame them. When I lived in Britain, my fridge was full of French, Czech, and German beer, not Carling Black Label.

However, when it comes to the squat brown bottle I’m bucking the trend. I guess I’ve drunk more San Miguel Pale than any other brand and I’m not stopping now! Apart from the attributes I mentioned above, San Miguel Pale Pilsen tastes better better than any beer I know. I shall just have to drink harder to make up that deficit.

The Ugly: Much like a opening a box of crackerjacks, the excitement of having a brew in Taiwan is enhanced by not knowing what you are going to find inside:

While there probably isn’t a solution at the bottom of that bottle of Taiwan Beer that you’re enjoying, the Taipei Times reports that there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find something in there.

"Over the past few years, a "condom-like" object, live insects, dead cockroaches, cigarette butts, bottle caps and betel nut shreds have all been discovered in bottles of the nation’s favorite brew, Li said."

Technorati Tags: asia, blogs, india, northeast asia, singapore, southeast asia, taiwan

Singapore’s ‘white-elephant’ MRT station is opening, and after some clever investigative work, the Singapore Police have decided that a group of school girls selling T-shirts does not constitute a public disturbance.:

CONTROVERSY has trailed the Buangkok MRT station for the past two-and-a-half years - right up to its long-awaited opening day.

On Friday, while preparations went into overdrive for the carnival to celebrate the opening of the $80-million station on Sunday, drama knocked on its doors yet again. This time, it was over some "Save the White Elephants" T-shirts that former Raffles Girls’ School (RGS) students were planning to sell at the carnival.

That day, the students and Punggol South organisers received a reminder from the police that they needed a fund-raising permit before they could sell the T-shirts to the public, in line with existing regulations. The 27 students were also told that they might break the law if the T-shirts were worn "en masse".

The last minute reminder had apparently caught the 17-year-old students — who had created the T-shirts last year after the infamous white-elephant incident — off guard. When contacted, a police spokesperson confirmed that the advisory was sent out.

"In view of the nature of the event, we had advised the organisers that they should be aware that the wearing of T-shirts en masse may be misconstrued by some as an offence under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public & Order & Nuisance) (Assemblies & Processions) Rules. Should Police receive any report or complaints, we would have to look into the matter. This is consistent with all reports made to the Police," he told Today.

But the police have no objections to the fund-raising initiative per se, and are prepared to expedite the permit, which normally takes three days to process.

"In this case, we have made an exception for the students. We have communicated to the event organiser that the fundraisers can still apply for a permit on Saturday, as long as they are able to produce a memo of understanding with the charitable organisation," said the police spokesperson on Friday night.

It’s nice to see the boys in blue were hard at work. Wankers.

If any of the 60 unsold T-shirts are available AP is interested in buying.

Technorati Tags: asia, east asia, singapore, southeast asia

There’s a war going on in the local blogosphere between Team A (Xiaxue, Sillycelly and Sandra) and Team B (Blinkymummy and Xialanxue). Go read their blogs to find out what happened. Tomorrow has links to some blogs following the story. (Picture and words from IZ)

Young Asian girls, slander, a bikini photo shoot gone bad and catfights. This should be even bigger than the Dawn Yang plastic surgery controversy (if you don’t know, don’t ask).

As AsiaPundit understands, the story is that Asia’s ‘Best’ blogger XiaXue, along with friends Sillycelly and Sandra, were seemingly upset at Blinkymummy, possibly for posts related to a lad mag photo shoot that the three did.

At a restaurant encounter a somewhat drunk Blinkymummy had words with the girls.

Shortly after a Blinkymummy hate site appeared with the author baring the moniker "Xialanxue," the author of an anonymous anti-Xiaxue site.

Allegedly, bloglines screen grabs demonstrated that Xiaxue was impersonating Xialanxue in an effort to slander Blinkymummy. Ironically, one of the incriminating posts was one in which XiaXue was insulting anonymous hate-site owners and fast-food chain mascots,

This was followed a post on the ’scandal’ being put on aggregator site Tomorrow.sg, and then taken down - and then being replaced by a new post. Followed by a deletion of all trackbacks by a Tomorrow editor who may or may not have been XiaXue. Undermining the editorial stance of Tomorrow.

Got it? I didn’t think so.

Thankfully Shaolin Tiger has a generally readable review of the matter. Tomorrow has about 35 linked trackbacks to its post.

Funnily enough, in one of the gazillion comments on this in the S’poreblogosphere it was said that "Blinkymummy started it." That’s a classic schoolyard comment and, with it, AsiaPundit is willing to call this blogwar now.

The winner is… Steven. He wasn’t actually involved but no one else comes out of this looking very good and the whole incident adds immeasurable support for his controversial thesis.

Technorati Tags: asia, blogs, east asia, singapore, southeast asia