Tuesday, November 30, 2010

WikiLeaks: Singapore joins global chorus of disapproval


Prime News

HOME > PRIME NEWS > STORY

Dec 1, 2010

WikiLeaks: Singapore joins global chorus of disapproval

SINGAPORE'S Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) yesterday joined the global chorus of disapproval over WikiLeaks' release of secret American diplomatic cables, saying it had deep concerns about the actions, which it called damaging.

A spokesman for the ministry said protecting the confidentiality of diplomatic and official correspondence is critical, and that is why Singapore has the Official Secrets Act.

He added: 'In particular, the selective release of documents, especially when taken out of context, will only serve to sow confusion and fail to provide a complete picture of the important issues that were being discussed amongst leaders in the strictest of confidentiality.'

The Foreign Ministry's comments followed the release of more documents yesterday, including one which recorded a meeting between Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg in May last year.

The leaked document recorded Mr Lee's opinions on a variety of East Asian issues, including what he called the 'psychopathic' leaders of North Korea, Beijing's relationship with the reclusive totalitarian state, and how he thought Mr Wang Qishan, a current vice-premier, could succeed Mr Wen Jiabao as Chinese Premier, instead of Mr Li Keqiang, another vice-premier who is widely expected to do so.

Other governments - both friends and foes of the United States - also lambasted WikiLeaks' actions yesterday.

Some said the revelations undermined diplomacy, while others dismissed them as worthless.

Many of the US' allies closed ranks behind it, despite the disparaging remarks some of its diplomats were shown to have made about their leaders.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt's condemnation of WikiLeaks typified many leaders' response.

'This will weaken diplomacy around the world. It will weaken diplomacy in general, but first and foremost, American diplomacy,' he said. 'I see this rather as something that is making the world less safe.'

French President Nicolas Sarkozy too denounced the release as 'the ultimate degree of irresponsibility', while Japan called it a criminal act.

While the leaks revealed diplomats' embarrassingly frank assessments of world leaders, America's friends - from Britain, France and Germany to Turkey and Afghanistan - stressed that ties would not be strained.

'We don't see anything substantive in the document that will strain the relationship,' Afghan President Hamid Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omer told reporters.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said: 'A few gossipy comments about European politicians are not exactly welcome, but they are not really important. But in other cases, people's lives could be put at risk.'

Russia, too, played down remarks about its leaders. 'Our own diplomats are sometimes just as open in their own private messages to each other,' a Kremlin official told the Kommersant business daily.

Even the US' foes dismissed the leaks.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called them 'worthless mischief'.

Casting doubt on their authenticity - especially those related to Arab fears of the Iranian nuclear threat - Teheran told its Arab neighbours not to fall into the whistleblower's 'trap'.

'This is a very suspicious plot. They have planted some Western and US crimes in them to present them as credible,' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast.

The condemnations were the strongest in Washington.

Said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a press conference on Monday: 'This disclosure is not just an attack on America's foreign policy interests. It is an attack on the international community.'

Such leaks, she said, 'tear at the fabric' of responsible government.

'There is nothing laudable about endangering innocent people, and there is nothing brave about sabotaging the peaceful relations between nations,' she added.

Mrs Clinton had an early test of the impact of the leaks when she met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmed Davutoglu, described in one leaked cable as having neo-Ottoman ambitions. The two officials talked in private about this but avoided questions in public.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs also described those behind the leaks as 'criminals, first and foremost' who had committed a 'serious' offence.

He confirmed reports of an ongoing criminal investigation into the theft and dissemination of sensitive and classified information. Sources say the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is examining everyone who came into possession of the documents, including those who gave the materials to WikiLeaks, and also the organisation itself.

The federal authorities are said to be investigating whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, 39, violated criminal laws in the group's release of government documents, including possible charges under the Espionage Act.

When Attorney-General Eric Holder was asked on Monday how the US could prosecute Mr Assange, who is an Australian citizen, he replied: 'This is not sabre-rattling... to the extent that we can find anybody who was involved in the breaking of American law... they will be held responsible.'

The massive leaks have prompted the US to clamp down on security and information-sharing procedures.

Analysts say that ultimately, Wiki-Leaks' move could affect not only information-sharing but also the nature of diplomacy as fears of further leaks dissuade diplomats from being frank in their communication.

'Transparency is fundamental to our society, and it's usually essential - but there are a few areas, including diplomacy, where it isn't essential,' noted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Leave a comment
 
Logged in as changchengliang
Warning: Any user who posts offensive or irrelevant comments will be banned from this Discussion Board.
-- 
Regards,

Mr Chang C.L.

_________________
http://MrChang.com

Sent from CCL's iPhone4

Monday, November 29, 2010

Let's be practical about the rules

ST Forum

HOME > ST FORUM > STORY

Nov 30, 2010

PRIMARY SCHOOL ADMISSION

Let's be practical about the rules

I REFER to the report about primary school admission being unmeritocratic ('PSLE levels playing field: MM Lee'; Nov 13) and wonder if it is at all realistic to apply meritocracy in addressing the present rules for primary school admission.

To make admission truly meritocratic would require six-year-old applicants to take entrance exams, which only brings forward the stress of exam preparation to an even younger age.

Pure distance-based criteria for admission is not meritocratic as it allows parents with better finances to buy residential units nearer the schools of their choice.

Doing away with preferred admission for those with siblings in the school or whose parents are alumni, and deciding entry by pure balloting, is also not meritocratic as it involves no 'merits'.

And balloting's apparent fairness in allowing all applicants equal chance of entry is undermined by the undeniable fact that primary schools are not equal. It can hardly be considered fair if children in different schools enjoy uneven benefits.

Those asking for fairness should realise that this is possible only if all the schools are homogeneous, offering exactly the same thing and doing everything in uniformity.

There is no perfection in an imperfect world, and certainly the current primary school admission process should always be reviewed and improved where possible.

But changes should not be made to attain impractical goals based on a naive or biased understanding of meritocracy or 'fairness'.

Chen Junyi

Latest comments
This myth carries on to sec schs & JCs & lately has been made worse by DSA. The MOE should show statistics on the performance of DSA students.

On one hand MOE insists that all schs are the same. On the other hand, DSA is practised. What does DSA imply?
The same student can attain better results in a more well-known sch/JC?
Posted by: mamasans at Tue Nov 30 11:06:44 SGT 2010
Conversely, send motivated students to neighbourhood schools & see how they fair after 6 yrs. They will still be top students.

It is the type of students, not the schools, that affect the results. Just by sending an unmotivated student to the most well-known school does not make him a top student.

This writer is having a misconception which should be corrected to avoid misleading others
Posted by: mamasans at Tue Nov 30 11:00:37 SGT 2010
All primary schools are the same. Well-known schools produce good results because their students are from better backgrounds.

To prove the myth that some pri schs are given better resources, make a switch of type of intake of studenhts for a few yrs. All P1 students for schs like Nanyang must be fr lower income families with uneducated parents. & see the results 6 yrs down the road.
Posted by: mamasans at Tue Nov 30 10:54:33 SGT 2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by vajrapani View Post
All primary schools should be provided with comparable human & material resources.
No great disparity in MOE funding to schools on a per-pupil basis.

Difference due to alumni, sponsors & parents for funding supplementary lessons.

School fees go to school fund, not MOE.

But some schools got fees unpaid year after year.
Posted by: coolbeagle at Tue Nov 30 10:45:45 SGT 2010
fairness doesn't necessarily imply equal opportunity. given the inequalities in the real world, putting someone with an IQ of 140 among others of 100, for eg, or vice versa, is not fair. there's little fairness in this world, unless it means being in the same sh1t as well. and even then, it's not the same.
Posted by: unewolke at Tue Nov 30 10:37:13 SGT 2010
Warning: Any user who posts offensive or irrelevant comments will be banned from this Discussion Board.

Let's be practical about the rules


I REFER to the report about primary school admission being unmeritocratic ('PSLE levels playing field: MM Lee'; Nov 13) and wonder if it is at all realistic to apply meritocracy in addressing the present rules for primary school admission.

To make admission truly meritocratic would require six-year-old applicants to take entrance exams, which only brings forward the stress of exam preparation to an even younger age.

Pure distance-based criteria for admission is not meritocratic as it allows parents with better finances to buy residential units nearer the schools of their choice.

Doing away with preferred admission for those with siblings in the school or whose parents are alumni, and deciding entry by pure balloting, is also not meritocratic as it involves no 'merits'.

And balloting's apparent fairness in allowing all applicants equal chance of entry is undermined by the undeniable fact that primary schools are not equal. It can hardly be considered fair if children in different schools enjoy uneven benefits.

Those asking for fairness should realise that this is possible only if all the schools are homogeneous, offering exactly the same thing and doing everything in uniformity.

There is no perfection in an imperfect world, and certainly the current primary school admission process should always be reviewed and improved where possible.

But changes should not be made to attain impractical goals based on a naive or biased understanding of meritocracy or 'fairness'.

Chen Junyi

Latest comments
This myth carries on to sec schs & JCs & lately has been made worse by DSA. The MOE should show statistics on the performance of DSA students.

On one hand MOE insists that all schs are the same. On the other hand, DSA is practised. What does DSA imply?
The same student can attain better results in a more well-known sch/JC?
Posted by: mamasans at Tue Nov 30 11:06:44 SGT 2010
Conversely, send motivated students to neighbourhood schools & see how they fair after 6 yrs. They will still be top students.

It is the type of students, not the schools, that affect the results. Just by sending an unmotivated student to the most well-known school does not make him a top student.

This writer is having a misconception which should be corrected to avoid misleading others
Posted by: mamasans at Tue Nov 30 11:00:37 SGT 2010
All primary schools are the same. Well-known schools produce good results because their students are from better backgrounds.

To prove the myth that some pri schs are given better resources, make a switch of type of intake of studenhts for a few yrs. All P1 students for schs like Nanyang must be fr lower income families with uneducated parents. & see the results 6 yrs down the road.
Posted by: mamasans at Tue Nov 30 10:54:33 SGT 2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by vajrapani View Post
All primary schools should be provided with comparable human & material resources.
No great disparity in MOE funding to schools on a per-pupil basis.

Difference due to alumni, sponsors & parents for funding supplementary lessons.

School fees go to school fund, not MOE.

But some schools got fees unpaid year after year.
Posted by: coolbeagle at Tue Nov 30 10:45:45 SGT 2010
fairness doesn't necessarily imply equal opportunity. given the inequalities in the real world, putting someone with an IQ of 140 among others of 100, for eg, or vice versa, is not fair. there's little fairness in this world, unless it means being in the same sh1t as well. and even then, it's not the same.
Posted by: unewolke at Tue Nov 30 10:37:13 SGT 2010
Warning: Any user who posts offensive or irrelevant comments will be banned from this Discussion Board.

-- 
Regards,

Mr Chang C.L.

_________________
http://MrChang.com

Sent from CCL's iPhone4

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Road wars: When bullies turn violent

Singapore

Home > Singapore > Story

Nov 29, 2010

Road wars: When bullies turn violent

  • Oct 15: A man was jailed for six weeks for head-butting and punching a cabby who refused to move off at a traffic light.

    Chong Chieh, 38, was a passenger in his friend's car when it stopped behind a taxi. When the light turned green, the cabby did not move off because he was waiting for a customer to walk over. Chong got out and confronted the cabby, accusing him of making a rude hand gesture. He then head-butted and punched him.

  • July 7: A salesman was jailed for five weeks and fined $2,000 after losing his temper following a minor road accident.

    Loo Ngiap Chin, 34, had a small collision with a doctor driving a BMW. He became angry and broke the BMW's tail lights, side mirror and windscreen wiper.

    Police have the following advice for those who encounter road bullies:

  • Remain calm and maintain your own safe driving habits
  • Do not respond in an aggressive or reckless manner
  • Maintain a safe driving distance from the other vehicle
  • Do not get into a face-to-face confrontation with the road bully or agitate him further with confrontational gestures.
  • Note down the vehicle number and file a report with the police.

    KIMBERLY SPYKERMAN



  • --
    Regards,

    Mr Chang C.L.

    _________________
    http://MrChang.com

    Friday, November 26, 2010

    He's the top PSLE student

    Prime News

    Home > Prime News > Story

    Nov 26, 2010

    He's the top PSLE student


    -- ST PHOTO: JOYCE FANG

    Rosyth School's Alex Tan is the top scorer in this year's Primary School Leaving Examination, out of 45,049 pupils who took the exam. His aggregate score is 282, with A*s in English, Chinese, mathematics and science, and a distinction in Higher Chinese.
    SEE PRIME AND SINGAPORE

    __
    `

    Prime News

    Home > Prime News > Story

    Nov 26, 2010

    Top PSLE boy loves all things Chinese

    Rosyth pupil's interest sparked by children's songs he listened to as a toddler


    WHEN Alex Tan likes an English book, he looks for a translated version in Chinese and devours that too.
    Besides Chinese literature, the self-confessed Sinophile is an accomplished player of the Chinese string instrument erhu, and enjoys playing Chinese chess.
    The Rosyth School boy topped this year's Primary 6 cohort with a Primary School Leaving Examination score of 282. He scored 4A*s in English, Chinese, Mathematics and Science, and also achieved a distinction in Higher Chinese.
    Overall, the results for this year's PSLE cohort were similar to those of last year's batch.
    Of the 45,049 Primary 6 pupils who took the exam this year, 97.3 per cent or 43,826 pupils did well enough to move on to secondary school.
    In total, 63.5 per cent did well enough to qualify for the Express stream, while 22.1 per cent and 11.7 per cent made it to the Normal (Academic) and Normal (Technical) streams respectively.
    There were 2.7 per cent or 1,223 pupils who did not make it to secondary school.
    Of these, pupils who have attempted the PSLE once and are not older than 15 can choose to apply to Assumption Pathway School or NorthLight School, or repeat Primary 6. The remaining pupils, who have been unsuccessful after repeated attempts at the PSLE or are overaged, will be offered a place in Assumption or NorthLight.
    Alex, who is in the Gifted Education Programme, said his love for anything Chinese started with the children's songs he listened to when he was a toddler.
    He would ask his mother, aesthetics doctor Cindy Yang, 41, to write down the lyrics of the songs in a notebook, and learnt the characters that way. His father, Dr Tan Yi Ryh, 41, is a general practitioner.
    Dr Yang said: 'We were very surprised when we found out that he could recognise Chinese characters on signboards and could read them out from the age of three. I think he likes the language because he had an early start with it.'
    Dr Yang said the family speaks English at home, but she and her husband exposed Alex to Chinese by buying him Chinese books and magazines.
    In Primary 1, the boy was enthralled by the music played by his school's Chinese orchestra during a performance in school, and set his heart on mastering the erhu. He said he looks for the Chinese version of books he particularly likes, such as the best-selling children's book The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, because he 'wants to see how the Chinese version was written and whether it has captured the meaning well'.
    Gearing up for the PSLE was not stressful, he said. Preparation started about two months before the exams, and he would spend about 'an hour usually or two hours at the most' reading his notes and working on assessment papers.
    He will be attending Raffles Institution next year - he secured a place there through the Direct School Admission exercise, which allows schools to offer students places based on their academic and non-academic achievements before they get their PSLE score. 'I don't know what I want to be when I grow up,' he said. 'Maybe I will follow my parents and be a doctor or maybe I will do something connected with languages since I like English and Chinese.'
    ameltan@sph.com.sg
    See Singapore

    From village kid to corporate bigwig


    Nov 26, 2010

    From village kid to corporate bigwig

    Conglomerate chairman A.M. Naik is CNBC's Asia Business Leader


    The award winners on stage (from left) Mr Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, Tan Sri Francis Yeoh, Sir Gordon Wu, Mr A.M. Naik, Mr Ajai Chowdhry and Mr Yancey Hai with CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo. -- ST PHOTO: TED CHEN

    A VILLAGE kid who vowed more than 50 years ago that he was going to do the best he could to make it big in the world was honoured with one of the region's top enterprise awards yesterday.

    Mr A.M. Naik, chairman and managing director of Indian conglomerate Larsen & Toubro, was named Asia Business Leader at the CNBC Asia Business Leaders Awards, held at Sentosa's Capella Hotel.

    He was honoured for restructuring the company to make it more focused and enhancing shareholder value.

    He told The Straits Times that devotion, passion and conviction are the secrets to good leadership.

    'Good leaders maintain value. Great leaders add value,' added Mr Naik.

    Once unable to speak English, he studied hard and graduated from college to become an engineer with Larsen & Toubro in 1965.

    When he became chairman in 2003, he set about selling off small businesses to make the group more streamlined.

    'The world has become very uncertain. So having a fairly diversified group with moderate growth is much better that a wildly overdiversified one,' he said.

    Mr Naik also had some words of wisdom for aspiring leaders: 'Success is within you. Learn from the teacher in you.'

    The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented for the second time and went to Sir Gordon Wu, chairman of Hong Kong infrastructure and property giant Hopewell Holdings.

    Sir Gordon played a major role in East Asia's rapid economic growth in the latter part of the 20th century while also helping build regional infrastructure.

    Mr Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, chairman and chief executive of Ayala Corporation, a holding company of firms in various fields in the Philippines, was presented with the Asia Talent Management Award.

    He was recognised for implementing comprehensive talent development processes and mentoring key leadership talent within Ayala.

    Malaysian tycoon Francis Yeoh clinched the Corporate Social Responsibility Award for his company's efforts to help promote education, health and environmental improvements.

    Tan Sri Yeoh, who chairs YTL Corporation, was also cited for providing opportunities for young Malaysians through scholarships and for its strong support of the arts in the country.

    The innovator award went to Mr Yancey Hai from Taiwanese firm Delta Electronics. He notably recruited fresh talent while at the same time retraining older workers.

    CNBC viewers also got a chance to have their say, with Mr Ajai Chowdhry of HCL Infosystems, bagging the Asia Viewers Choice Award.

    Held for the ninth time, The CNBC Asia Business Leaders Awards aims to recognise 'stellar individuals who are visionaries behind today's outstanding businesses'.

    ddheva@sph.com.sg



    --
    Regards,

    Mr Chang C.L.

    _________________
    http://MrChang.com

    Wednesday, November 17, 2010

    ST Forum

    HOME > ST FORUM > STORY

    Nov 18, 2010

    Why parents think PSLE is critical

    I REFER to last Saturday's report ('PSLE levels playing field: MM Lee') about the importance of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and its impact on the education system.

    Parents place a heavy emphasis on the PSLE because of the array of different educational avenues awaiting the pupil once he leaves primary school.

    The PSLE decides the quality of a child's learning environment in the next five to six years, which is crucial in moulding him as an individual.

    A key question one must ask is: How can we expect a 12-year-old child to understand the importance of this examination to his educational future?

    Some argue that the O-level examination offers students a second chance to get into a good junior college or polytechnic programme.

    I beg to differ. If the child does not do well in the PSLE, his learning environment in secondary school may not help him realise his hidden potential.

    Furthermore, the tendency to gauge an individual's worth on the basis of the secondary school he attends is likely to further erode a child's self-esteem.

    As for JC entry, the chances are becoming slimmer as a larger share of places in the best colleges are locked in for integrated programme students from the better secondary schools.

    So it should not surprise anyone that it is becoming even more vital for a child to perform well in the PSLE.

    While the PSLE may have its merits, it is obvious that it is an examination that discriminates against late bloomers.

    It is unfair to place such an extreme burden on 12-year-old children who may not understand the gravity of the PSLE's implications.

    Shalaka Nanda Kumar (Miss)


    -- 
    Regards,

    Mr Chang C.L.

    _________________
    http://MrChang.com

    Sent from CCL's iPhone4