Film censorship correspondence, part 2

After a month, Amy Chua, chair of the Board of Film Censors, replied to my queries over the film Devotee. Read and judge her reply for yourself. Full essay.

Sucking demigods’ toes

Our Law minister, chief justice and the Straits Times commit unnatural sex again. In trying to defend their political masters from criticism, they only prove how well-founded the criticisms are. Full essay.

Burma VJ to be shown again

Maruah Singapore is arranging two more screenings of Burma VJ, an award-winning documentary about citizen journalism in extreme circumstances. A must-watch film. Full essay.

Tough tests serve a positive purpose

A week or so ago, parents wrote to the press complaining that the Primary Six exam’s math paper had questions that were unusually difficult. The Ministry of Education said this year’s exam was pegged to the same difficulty level as previous years. So, what’s behind the complaints? Full essay.

Throwing fish

The Asean Intergovernmental Commission for Human Rights is inaugurated in Hua Hin, Thailand to the lowest of expectations. At the same summit, the Singapore government joins its friends, the Myanmar regime, in making a farce of engagement with civil society. Full essay.

Sam Schwartz and the police, parts 1 and 2

What recourse is open to you when one fine day, the police sends you a formal WARNING over an offence you never committed? What happened to due process and the presumption of innocence? Sam Schwartz was falsely accused of running a massage parlour. That’s part 1.

Before that, his club was raided, he himself was tackled to the ground by police officers and falsely accused of biting someone. He refused the plea bargain offered because he wanted his day in court. Part 2.

Third-rate television for a Third-world country

Four young people were asked what they thought of local television. All four said it sucks. The lack of fresh ideas and creativity on television reflects a society-wide problem, one that will doom us to a Third-world future. Full essay.

Another teenager caught, set to hang

Yong Vui Kong was nineteen when in June 2007, he was caught for drug trafficking. He now faces the gallows. What hope of ever changing Singapore’s draconian, inhumane policy of capital punishment? Full essay.

Singer Stephen Gately found dead

Shockwaves  are reverberating around the pop music world with the news that Stephen Gately has died. He was 33. The cause of death is yet to be determined, but apparently, he went out the night before on the Spanish island of Majorca where he was holidaying with his husband Andrew Cowles, had a few drinks, went back to where they were staying, fell asleep and never woke up.

Gately was one of the five members of the band Boyzone, one of the most popular in the 1990s, with six no.1 singles. He bravely announced that he was gay in 1999, a step that is still uncommon in the entertainment world. After the band broke up in 2000, Gately launched his solo career. He was also in West End productions.

In 2003, he and Andrew Cowles held a commitment ceremony in Las Vegas, and when civil partnership became available in the United Kingdom in 2006, they got married.

More thoughts on the ‘Not a procession’ judgement

The judge acquitted the five defendants on one ground out of five defence arguments. Among those he rejected was the argument that the law and by-laws governing police permits for public assemblies and processions were unconstitutional, because the police never issue licences. He told the defendants: You should have applied for judicial review if you were dissatisfied by the police denying you a licence. Not as simple as it looks. Full essay.