Yasmin Ahmad (1958-2009)
Yasmin directed the excellent MCYS video Funeral and that is when mainstream Singapore was wowed by her talent. However, she was already an established independent socio-political commentator across the causeway with works like Sepet. An award-winning touching film about ethnic relations that I’ve still unfortunately not watched yet, but heard so much about since it was launched with much controversy. It is a big shame that Yasmin is no longer around. You will be missed.
The spirit of Yasmin
mysinchew.com
Award-winning director Yasmin Ahmad did a non-commercial advertisement entitled “Tan Hong Ming In Love” two years ago.
The advertisement was filmed in a primary school and the camera focused on a primary school boy named Tan Hong Ming.
The interviewer asked the boy: “Who do you like the most?”
Tan replied: “Umi, Umi Qazrina.”
“Why do you like her?”
“She wears earrings, she ties a ponytail, she is pretty.”
“Does she know you like her?”
“No, I keep it a secret.”
“Why?”
“She doesn’t like me,” he said after some hesitation.
Then, the interviewer asked Umi Qazrina, a lovely Malay girl: “Who is your best friend?”
“Tan Hong Ming.”
“Do you like him?”
Umi did not answer but she blushed.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
She nodded shyly.
“Who is your boyfriend?”
“Tan Hong Ming.”
At that moment, Tan, who was standing next to her, was shocked in disbelief. He then held Umi’s hand with a smile on his face and walked away.
The footage ended with a statement: Our children are colour blind. Shouldn’t we keep them that way?”
The advertisement was made for the 50th Merdeka Day.
Many activities were held and a lot of money was spent on the 50th Merdeka Day celebration two years ago.
It was the 50th Merdeka Day, but so what? Political parties were still stressing on racialism, politicians were still playing up racial issues and everything was so frustrating.
I thought so at that time and only felt a little relief after I saw the advertisement. Finally, someone has actually made the point.
It was the spirit of Malaysia 50 years after Merdeka. It could be found nowhere else, but it exists naturally in our children’s world, and Yasmin found it.
Our children know that people living in this country or even in this world can actually get along and love each other without racial barriers. Problems among racial groups happen to be the worst man made invention.
Yasmin also made another non-commercial advertisement.
The interviewer asked a Malay boy:” Who is your best friend?”
He pointed at the Chinese boy next to him.
“What is his race?”
“What is race? Race, that means race car?”
Yasmin Ahmad had always made our hearts warm and brought us confidence.
She was a true Malaysian and she left us footages that represent the true spirit of Malaysia.
The government should gather all her works and show them to all Malaysians through schools, National Service and training centres of Biro Tatanegara, replacing all those racist teaching materials.
It is the best way for us to remember and thank her.
JI is Back with a Bang
The Marriott was again bombed in Jarkata. Australia has warned its citizens of holidaying in Indonesia after the recent bombing. Good move considering that ever since Howard took on the role of the US’ deputy sheriff for this region, it is a prime target for JI. The bombings in Bali in 2002 made Australians sure of the bullseye on them. But Australia was never this cautious about the JI. One month before Bali 2002, some in the Australian media scoffed the idea of JI terrorism in the region and insinuated it was pure rubbish. Famous last words.
The 2009 comeback bombing is hopefully an isolated one and not a return of the yearly JI bombings in Indonesia from 2002 to 2005 which saw Bali struck twice. While life must go on and terrorism can never be prevented, and fatigue would result from constant vigilance, I think it is still unfortunately too early to dismiss the JI and the JI-inspired scourge just yet. The militants like to remind us that they are still dead set on their terrorism.
When will our turn come and can we survive it?
Travel warning as more terrorist attacks expected
Tom Allard Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
July 20, 2009 – 12:15AM
THE Australian Government has warned that more terrorist attacks could be staged in Jakarta after the twin blasts that killed nine and injured more than 50 at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels on Friday.
By smuggling bombs into heavily protected buildings and by targeting a breakfast meeting of executives, it is becoming clear the murders were a sophisticated operation involving many people.
But there have been no arrests. The man many suspect of being the mastermind, the Malaysian-born terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top, remains a fugitive.
“There is a possibility of further terrorist attacks in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia, including Bali,” a government advisory said yesterday. “Reconsider your need to travel.” It is the second-highest level of alert, below the blanket warning of “do not travel”.
Three Australians died in the attacks: Craig Senger, Nathan Verity and Garth McEvoy.
Investigators were yet to identify either of the suicide bombers, said Nanan Soekarna, a national police spokesman. They are continuing to try to reconstruct their features from their severed heads.
There was speculation late yesterday that Nur Hasbi, also known as Nur Sahid, would soon be revealed as one of the suicide bombers. The man’s father, Muhammed Sahir, was visited in his Central Java village by investigators, who may have taken a DNA sample to match the bomber’s corpse.
A room in the Marriott that was the control centre of the operation was booked under the name Nurdin Aziz. Police are still trying to establish the bona fides of that name. A terrorism analyst, Sidney Jones, said she suspected the man was Nur Hasbi, a member of a terrorism group led by Noordin.
The discovery of a laptop believed to belong to one of the suicide bombers in a room at the Ritz Carlton could be a breakthrough for the investigation.
Chryshnanda Dwi Laksana, of the Jakarta police, said it contained information and codes, believed to have been used by the bombers to communicate with each other.
Australian security forces and the Malaysian and Singaporean governments are assisting in an intensified hunt for Noordin, who has played a role in terrorist attacks in Indonesia going back to the first Bali bombings in 2002.
The bombs used on Friday were similar to one uncovered at the home of Noordin’s father-in-law in Cilacap three days before the attacks. They are also like the bombs used in the second Bali bombings organised by Noordin.
Australia’s national security committee of cabinet has met four times since the bombings as intelligence chiefs briefed senior ministers on developments.
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, described the Jakarta bombings as “a violent, barbaric act of murder”. He said Mr Senger, an Austrade officer, was the first Australian civilian official killed by terrorists while on duty.
Mr Senger’s family issued a statement yesterday saying what a wonderful husband, son, brother and friend he was.
“Craig greatly enjoyed his life in Jakarta,” the family said. “He performed a rewarding job that he loved and he really valued the many friends that he had made there.”
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Stephen Smith, visited the sites of the bombings and spoke to family members of the Australian victims, including Mr Senger’s wife, Kate.
Mr McEvoy’s family flew to Jakarta from Brisbane to reclaim his body. Mr Verity’s wife, Vanessa, and father, Peter, visited the morgue where the remains of the Perth businessman were being kept.
Mr Smith paid tribute to the staff at the embassy in Jakarta, many of whom knew Mr Senger, who had worked there. “It has been a really terrific display of sympathy and solidarity to fellow Australians,” he said.
with Brendan Nicholson
Singapore facts stranger than fiction
Age Melbourne
September 21, 2002
By Mark Baker
THE latest Singapore government revelations about a plot by local Muslim fundamentalists to launch a series of terrorist attacks give the distinct impression that the murderous reach of al Qaeda is flourishing in Southeast Asia.
Increasingly breathless media reports in recent days have fuelled suggestions that the region has narrowly escaped a ferocious onslaught and that the danger is far from over.
The truth is stranger, and tamer, than such fiction. Stripped of the emotive language of terrorist cells and jihads, of shadowy operatives and clandestine codes, the latest disclosures by the Singaporeans if anything reveal how amateurish and naive the alleged conspirators were – and how comprehensively their plotting has been exposed and defused.
In a statement released late on Thursday, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs said that 21 alleged Muslim militants arrested last month had been plotting attacks on the Defence Ministry, Changi International Airport and strategic facilities including water pipelines and communications installations.
The group was said to be affiliated with 15 other men arrested last December and accused of conspiring to attack US military targets in Singapore and Western embassies, including the Australian high commission.
Almost all of those now being detained without trial for two years under the Internal Security Act are claimed to be present or former members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesian-based Muslim movement the Singaporeans and the Americans insist is the regional front for al Qaeda.
So who are these latest villains? Among a motley crew of delivery drivers and tradesmen are a butcher, a used-car salesman and a part-time foot reflexologist (who may have been pulling the leg of the earnest officers from Singapore’s intelligence agencies).
The evidence against them hardly smacks of a serious threat: a few photos of buildings and pipelines purported to be the result of surveillance operations, documents detailing a rough organisational structure and some shorthand pads with amateurish illustrations of military training. Not a weapon or an explosive device in sight.
Most improbable of all is the Singaporeans’ headline-grabbing allegation that the group was conspiring to design attacks that would be blamed on Malaysia, would in turn destabilise relations between the two countries and eventually lead to sectarian violence that would trigger the fall of the Mahathir government.
“The aim was to create a situation in Malaysia and Singapore conducive to overthrowing the Malaysian government and making Malaysia an Islamic state,” the Home Affairs Ministry reported, without a hint of incredulity.
The authorities also earnestly reported that three of the latest detainees had undergone weapons training at al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan. What was not spelled out was that that training took place in early 1990s when the US-backed mujahideen groups, including Osama bin Laden’s, had been fighting a common Soviet enemy.
Another detainee is accused of spending time at a southern Philippines training camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front – the main separatist group fighting for a Muslim homeland in Mindanao and a group the Philippines Government now recognises in peace talks.
Most of the incidents detailed by the Singapore authorities date back to 1999 and early 2000. No evidence has been produced that the accused militants were active in any serious way in the lead-up to September 11 last year or since.
In perhaps the most pertinent passage buried deep in the long account of alleged conspiracies released on Thursday, the authorities conceded: “None of these efforts is known to have led to a fully developed or finalised plan for attack.” Independent defence analysts are sceptical about how serious a threat Osama bin Laden’s alleged surrogates ever posed.
Spring is Here
Optimism is in the air. However, one must read between the lines. This increase in selected exports is because of stock replenishing, after inventories are used up when companies wound down production in recent months. The US, a major global importer, still continued an import decline for the 10th month in a row. The country is not buying and importing enough to pull the global economy out of recession. Besides, the fundamentals in USA still remain unsound. Home loan mortgage rescue might be faltering and with it, another round of credit crunches and banking shudders is expected. I want to be wrong but optimism is still too early. Good luck to those prospectors who snapped up condos in Singapore recently as they were riding on the optimistic wave that spring is here. They might have found Fools’ Gold instead and put more pressure on the anticipated mortgage foreclosure round here.
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore announced its economy grew for the first time in a year in the second quarter, suggesting the city is emerging from its worst recession and offering hope for other battered Asian economies.
Powered by electronics and biomedical exports, the economy soared 20.4 percent in the three months to June compared with the first quarter on a seasonally adjusted annualised basis, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said.
A Dow Jones Newswires poll of 10 analysts had tipped an average 14.1 percent economic expansion. It was the first quarter-on-quarter growth in five quarters.
Gross domestic product (GDP) is now expected to contract 4-6 percent for the year, better than an earlier projection of 6-9 percent, but the ministry warned that any recovery would be weak due to the fragile global economy.
Trade-driven Singapore last sank into a recession in 2001 when the economy shrank 2.4 percent, its worst slump since gaining statehood in 1965.
It became the first Asian economy to slip into recession in the second half of last year after a financial and economic crisis that started in the United States hit demand for its exports.
Tuesday’s data meant that Singapore is the first of the Asian countries hit by recession to release statistics pointing to a recovery.
Compared with the previous year, however, output in the June quarter was down 3.7 percent, indicating that the economy remained weak.
“The economy is growing again,” said David Cohen, an economist with research house Action Economics.
“Growth won’t be very strong but it should remain in an upward trajectory,” he told AFP.
Tuesday’s data compare with a 14.6 percent quarter on quarter contraction in the three months to March.
DBS Group called it a “stunning turnaround” in line with its forecast.
CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun said Singapore’s June quarter rebound boosts hopes that the worst is also over for China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other Asian economies affected by the global crisis.
“Because Singapore has an open economy and has the highest exports to GDP ratio, its performance reflects any improvement or deterioration in global demand,” Song said.
Despite the quarter-on-quarter growth, the trade ministry cautioned that “the outlook for the rest of the year remains largely unchanged: of a weak recovery susceptible to downside risks.”
“At this juncture, there is no evidence yet of a decisive improvement in final demand,” the ministry said, adding the second quarter surge “may not be sustained.”
The key manufacturing sector contracted by 1.5 percent in the June quarter, compared with a 24.3 percent shrinkage in the previous three months, reflecting the spike in pharmaceuticals and electronics, the ministry said.
But the services sector, which accounts for two-thirds of the economy, continued to shrink with a decline of 5.1 percent in the June quarter from a year ago, it said.
It noted that rising unemployment and reduced consumer spending in major export markets such as the United States and Europe reflected the continued weakness in the global economy.
The June quarter figures are computed mainly from the April-May period and the ministry is expected to release a more detailed picture in the next few weeks.
Action Economics’ Cohen predicted that “this will be the first in a series of upbeat GDP reports for the second quarter from Asian economies.”
“Maybe this will provide some reassurance to the markets which have been jittery in the last few weeks about the sustainability of the recovery. It shows that Asian economies have turned the corner in the second quarter.”
NEWater and New Security
Singapore International Water Week came and went, and with it, the re-endorsement of Singapore’s potable recycled water. NEWater, the distasteful survivalist strategy of augmenting Singapore’s water supply, makes us significantly less vulnerable to Malaysia’s occasional threats and tantrums about cutting off water to Singapore if the little red dot turns out to be, in Malaysia’s view, “pesky” on Pedra Branca, the crooked bridge and whatever bilateral spat that ignites.
Singapore doesn’t need to put up with the Malaysians that much since we become less dependent on the 2011 and 2061 expiry of the water treaties. Pundits might ask whether being more self-sufficient on water resources might make Singapore more arrogant in bilateral relations, and whether drinking waste water, albeit safely recycled supposedly, is the worthwhile price to pay. Personally, the taste in my mouth is not that awful if Singapore can attain water security.
Singapore’s NEWater reused wastewater passes latest test
The reclaimed wastewater from Singapore’s NEWater plants passed its 12th bi-annual drinking-water test by an independent international audit panel with flying colours during the country’s Water Week.
The PUB utility reported on 2 July 2009 that the seven-member panel, which meets twice yearly, found NEWater to exceed Singapore national, US Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization standards for drinking water.
The comprehensive sampling and monitoring programme was established in 1999 as part of the research and development for NEWater and has been gradually expanded from 190 physical, chemical and microbiological parameters to more than 290 monitored today.
Chair of the panel is Professor Joan Rose, Homer Nowlin Chair in Water Research, Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, Michigan State University, USA,
Said Prof Rose, “We are very pleased to note that the high quality of NEWater has remained consistent all these years. In tandem with the rapidly evolving water R&D sector, the audit process has become more rigorous over the years. Even with additional parameters to be monitored and lower levels of detection through more sensitive instrumentation, NEWater still goes beyond the mark in all measures of quality. This demonstrates that the quality of NEWater surpasses international standards, and it also stands up well against the criteria established in Singapore.”
Introduced in 2003, NEWater is high-grade reclaimed water produced using advanced membrane technologies. Four NEWater plants currently meet more than 15% of Singapore’s total daily water needs.
The latest and largest facility to date, with a capacity of 50 MIGD (227,300 m³/d), is being built on top of the Changi Water Reclamation Plant. With the combined capacities of the five plants, NEWater can meet 30% of Singapore’s daily water needs by 2010.
NEWater is mixed with raw water in reservoirs before undergoing further treatment at the waterworks for supply as drinking water. The existing plan is to progressively increase the amount of NEWater in reservoirs beyond current limits.
