Wake up to the new media

Read this online (link here).

New faces flamed online
But they say they will focus on working the ground for elections
By Rachel Chang & Robin Chan 

NEW People's Action Party (PAP) candidates may have been prepared beforehand for a frosty reception in cyberspace, but the speed and malice with which some of them are being picked apart online have come as a shock.

Within days and sometimes hours of their introduction to the media as PAP candidates, private pictures and even court documents have been dug up and disseminated online, and forums lit up with debate and speculation.

Although the new candidates admit that the sound and fury of cyberspace has taken them aback, they say they are trying to tune out the most vicious comments and focus on working the ground for the coming general election.

About time for a change

You know you need a new political climate change when you smile while watching it. This classy video took a dig at the so-called 'clean, white' image of the PAP. The intended pun was subtle yet it drove a strong message.

This is way better than the usual 'I have been around for the past 20 years' slogan that every PAP candidate and member had been practicing and regurgitating... like a pathetic broken record.

Looks like this GE is gonna pose a real challenge to the PAP with this kind of campaigning. About time for a change, don't you think?

We were in Japan when the earthquake hit!

There are two parts to this post - the first one is my personal account experiencing the earthquake in Japan. The other is a reflection of how the earthquake experience surfaced my true loyalty for my country.

----- Earthquake experience in Japan -----
I am still in Japan, Kyoto. My family is with me. This is our ninth day of our first holiday trip to Japan. I had more than I bargained for.

We experienced the effects of the earthquake on our first day. Having touched down at Narita Airport, we took the Narita Express train to Tokyo. We felt our first tremours when the train stopped at Chiba station, 45 mins away from Narita Airport.

The carriage we were in rattled quite violently. I seriously thought that we were changing lines but it became clear when I looked out the windows and saw lamp posts swaying to and fro! People we all scrambling out of the buildings nearby and there were loud siren sounds.

I think I cracked a toenail

The Straits Times reported (link here):

PM: Lower hurdle for opposition parties
Smaller GRCs and more single-seat wards offer more scope for contest
By Elgin Toh and Li Xueying

POLITICAL parties planning to contest the next election have to clear a lower hurdle than at previous polls, the Prime Minister declared on Friday in his first comments on the new electoral map.

He pointed to key changes in the way electoral boundaries are demarcated this time round, in line with guidelines he announced in Parliament in May 2009.

As a result, the average number of MPs per group representation constituency (GRC) has come down from 5.4 to five. The number of six-member GRCs has been whittled down from five to two, while that of single-member constituencies (SMCs) goes up from nine to 12.

'This should lower the hurdle for parties intending to contest the elections,' Mr Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday in comments to the media.