Sunday, November 30, 2008

WSJ vs Singapore government 12:33 PM

I was reading this article online, published by the WSJ. And it stirred me up so much, I just had to give my own comments under the opinions column. Read the article first, then my response on the WSJ opinions page after.

"Singapore Strikes Again

The city-state resumes its campaign against the Journal.

Let us begin with an apology to our readers in Asia. Unless they are online, they will not see this editorial. For legal reasons, we are refraining from publishing it in The Wall Street Journal Asia, which circulates in Singapore.

Our subject is free speech and the rule of law in the Southeast Asian city-state -- something on which the international press and Singapore's government have often clashed. We can't say which side would prevail if the Singapore public could hear an open debate, but the fact is that we know of no foreign publication that has ever won in a Singapore court of law. Virtually every Western publication that circulates in the city-state has faced a lawsuit, or the threat of one.

Which brings us to the ruling against us this week in Singapore's High Court. Dow Jones Publishing (Asia) was found guilty of contempt of court for two editorials and a letter to the editor published in The Wall Street Journal Asia in June and July. The Attorney General, who personally argued the contempt case against us, characterized the articles as "an attack on the courts and judiciary of Singapore inasmuch as they impugn the integrity, the impartiality and the independence of the Court."

In suing for contempt, Singapore chose to go after us for the most basic kind of journalism. The first editorial, "Democracy in Singapore," reported on a damages hearing in a defamation case brought (and won) by former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew against opposition politician Chee Soon Juan. The second editorial, "Judging Singapore's Judiciary," informed readers what an international legal organization had said about Singapore's courts.

Regarding the first editorial, we'll note that court proceedings are privileged under Singapore law, which means they can be reported -- though Singapore's media rarely do the job. Mr. Chee wrote a letter in response to the first editorial, which we published and which is cited in the contempt charge. We also published two letters from Mr. Lee's spokeswoman.

In the second editorial, we reported on the International Bar Association's critical study of the rule of law in Singapore. This is the same outfit that held its annual conference in Singapore last year, a meeting that Mr. Lee himself touted as a sign of confidence in Singapore's courts. The Law Society of Singapore is a member of the IBA. If reporting on what such a body says is contemptuous of the judiciary, then Singapore is saying that its courts are above any public scrutiny.

Again, we published a letter from the Singapore government responding to the editorial. This one was from the Law Ministry, which blasted the IBA report and us for repeating its "vague allegations." The IBA then weighed in, in a posting on its Web site, saying it wished "to correct some inaccurate comments" in Singapore's letter. It invites readers to read the report and "see for themselves" that its views are "based on comprehensive examples and evidence." The IBA homepage is www.ibanet.org.

In his ruling, Justice Tay Young Kwang refers to us as a "repeat offender." He's right in the narrow sense that this isn't the first time Singapore has pursued the Journal Asia for contempt. In 1985, the newspaper and its editors were sued over an editorial about legal actions against opposition politician J.B. Jeyaretnam. The editors apologized.

In 1989, the paper was sued for contempt again, this time over a news story that quoted Dow Jones's then-president, Peter Kann. Mr. Kann had criticized a libel judgment won by Mr. Lee against the Far Eastern Economic Review, the Journal Asia's sister publication. The paper, its editor, publisher, local distributor and local printer were all named. They lost.

We are not eager to return to that fractious era, when the Journal Asia had its circulation severely restricted in Singapore and the paper's reporters were unwelcome. Since 1991, when the newspaper and Mr. Lee reached a settlement, our relationship with Singapore had been more or less stable until the latest contempt charge.

Meanwhile, in September, the Far Eastern Economic Review lost a defamation case brought by Mr. Lee and his son, current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, over an interview it published with opposition leader Mr. Chee. The elder Mr. Lee has long used defamation suits to silence his critics in the press and among the political opposition.

As for this week's contempt ruling, the first line of Justice Tay's decision is revealing as a standard for Singapore justice. "Words sometimes mean more than what they appear to say on the surface," he writes, going on to interpret the words as contemptuous because they had an "inherent tendency" to "scandalise the court." The fine he levied, S$25,000 ($16,500), is the largest ever meted out for such an offense. Justice Tay expressed the hope that it will deter "future transgressions."

We'll pay the fine. We'll also continue to express our views about politics, the courts and other subjects that we think our readers should know about. And we'll let readers decide what to make of the judiciary in Singapore."

Now, for my few cents worth.


"I am a Singaporean residing in the US and I am not ashamed to be Singaporean. When I tell my American friends I am from Singapore, they go, "Oh you guys can't chew gum there right? They will cane you if you do." or "I heard in Singapore, if you cross the road when you are not supposed to, the police will shoot you. Is that true?"

This goes to show how much or how little westerners know about our society. They believe we are a docile nation, used to listening to what our government tells us, and obey the rules meekly. But what would our tiny nation be like if it were not the way it is now? If people question the government, disobey the government, what would happen? If what is going on in Thailand right now is going on in our tiny nation, the results would be disastrous. The bottom line is, we cannot afford to screw up. To ensure that, our government tightly controls the nation.

Contrary to what many people believe, Singaporeans do know what is going on. We have assess to the internet, we know all the criticisms against our government. Yet, every general election, we still vote for the same government. Why? Because we dare not disobey? No. Because we know that this government is the best equipped to lead Singapore to a better future. They have proven themselves and will continue to prove themselves. I will invite everybody to visit Singapore, and live there for a couple of months to fully understand how the country functions before criticising blindly.

KS Lim
30th November 2008"


Hmm.. after reading it a couple of times, I should have edited a bit here and there before clicking submit, but my blood was boiling when I read all the horrible stuff other people were writing about our fantastic country. I couldn't help myself. Maybe I'm a patriot after all. Hehe..

Friday, November 28, 2008

Black Friday madness 12:45 PM

So I call home every week and talk to my parents and grandma. And the last weekend, when I called home, I was excitedly telling mum that 'THANKSGIVING IS HERE! There is gonna be a crazy sale everywhere! Tell me what you want me to buy! EVERYTHING you want me to buy for you guys!" That 1 second of generosity led to my genuine regret.. as my mum took my word a bit too literally. She started surfing Coach.com and Ebay.com looking for her luxury bag deals everyday, comparing prices, noting the items that she likes. All without my knowledge yet of cos.

And then, yesterday, on another spurt of generosity, I called her to ask her to check out this Coach bag on Ebay to see if she likes it because I was gonna bid for it if she does. Why only Coach? Because, for some reason I was crazy enough to lead her to believe that Coach is very very cheap in the US. I mean, it is, but you know, its not SO cheap that I can afford to buy her 3 bags every month. But anyway. So she went on her computer and started surfing Ebay. Another big mistake of mine. And she kept sending me links to bags she like. And she only chooses the big ones. I.e. the expensive ones. Because she wants to be able to put her laptop, her notes etc inside. Uh oh.. alarm bells started ringing in my head. I tried to direct her to cheaper alternatives and kept sending her links to other bags. But boy was she stubborn. She was adamant about getting one particularly big one.

By then, I had already bought 2 other Coach bags (for both her and my grandma, and maybe 1 for myself) and was pretty much broke. But I was kinda resigned to my fate and accepted that it was just this once, this Thanksgiving sale season. So I clicked buy. And right after she saw me clicking on the webcam, she said, "Hmm.. actually its kinda expensive.. well maybe never mind.. forget about it." Giving me that sly look. BLAH. AFTER I clicked buy. And then after I clicked 'confirm payment', she said, "Oh girl, why not I pay for it myself? I think you might not have enough money am I right? Come let me pay for my own bag.. use my credit card.." And then she gave me that all-too-innocent smile. BLAHHHHHH!!!!

Ok NO MORE Coach bags... for half a year at least!

And the story continues..

On Black Friday, the stores open at 12 midnight for the crazy Black Friday sale, which some argue that is the ultimate sale of the year in the US. And so we decided to go to the outlets at 12 midnight sharp. Initially, the number of people inside seemed normal. I mean, not normal for 12am on a Friday morning, but normal for like, normal mall shopping hours. But then we went to our first store.. the Nike outlet. WHOA the lines... the crowds.. its as though everything there was free or something. We waited about 30 minutes just to PAY! And then on to the next shop.. Ecko... another long wait in line... these bloody Mexicans in front of me kept cutting the line and letting their friends come in.. I felt like giving them a piece of my mind, except they are all like twice my size.. And then on to Gap, Kenneth Cole, Neiman Marcus, J Crew, American Eagle... all with crazy lines. AE was the only one with good crowd management. Kenneth Cole and J Crew had the best deals. Esprit had normal priced stuff, nothing special, and a couple other places were pretty boring too.

All in all, I spent at least 200 bucks in total. BUT!!! Of these 200 bucks, only 10% of the stuff are for myself. The rest are for family. And guess what? For 200 bucks I bought so many things at so many places... but its not even enough to buy one of the bags I got from Coach... BLAHHHHHH!!!! Haha... just joking. I'm actually rather excited.. waiting for the packages I ordered online to arrive!!! Hehe..

Wordplay 12:27 PM

So, the Korean friend had been having the time of his life making fun of me and making my life as horrible as possible.. I had been trying for the longest time to find some weakness of his so I could give him a taste of his own medicine. Aha. The chance came when we were studying one day.. he said we needed to "fuck us". I went, "WHAT!?" He repeated himself, "We need to 'fuck us' on our homework before studying other things. So, let's 'fuck us' and finish it up quickly. 'Fuck us', 'fuck us'."

And so, that was that..

Another chance came when we were getting ready to get drunk and high while playing Wii rock band at his place. We were at the liquor store. He was getting whiskey. Trying to educate me on the different types of alcohol. I didn't bother to explain to him that I took a course about different alcoholic drinks in UBC and I actually do drink quite a bit, since that would take too much effort. You know, the language thing. Its easier to pretend to understand what he's saying. And then, on the whiskey, he said, "Oh you should try this... it tastes very good with cock." I started giggling, I couldn't help myself. He went, "Why, why?" Hanyuan, who was nearby, came over. "Whats so funny?" I asked the Korean friend Kihyuck, "What does whiskey taste very good with?" Kihyuck, a little exasperated, went, "Cock, cock!"

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving 9:06 PM

Thanksgiving starts tomorrow.. black friday sales on Friday... Looking forward to it!!

I have couple photos to upload, but still waiting on our dearest Korean friend to give me the photos (He can upload it onto his Korean website but was too lazy to send it to us blah). So we went bowling and drinking and stuff, and did a couple more interesting fun activities but without photos taken..

OH and we played WII ROCKBAND!!!!!! ITS SO FUN! Omg.. waiting on Renata to send me the videos and pics she took..

Meanwhile.. online black friday shopping continues.. retail therapy yo!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Americulture 12:27 PM

Hello!! Long time no see! I can gradually see a pattern developing.. I will only blog whenever an exam just ended or something.. haha

So... anyway, yours truly here is slowly but surely being corrupted by the american culture.. LOL..

e.g.

One day while drinking coffee, we were discussing black coffee and how "Once you go black you would never go back." And then the girls started giggling. I was wondering why... and then Renata told me, that phrase is usually used in reference to other things. And she whispered something into my ears. And my eyes widened in shock...

e.g. 2

We were talking about Juicy Couture, the brand. And how they always have those tshirts that say 'Juicy Girl'. And then they were like how its not really nice and blahblah.. and I was like, why?? They stared at me. I asked, "Juicy as in yum yum juicy right? Like an orange is so juicy. You mean the girl is hot and sexy right? What's wrong?!" And they erupted with laughter when I said "Yum yum juicy." And then they made me go home and go on www.urbandictionary.com and type in Juicy and see what the definition is. Go on, try it. Its the second definition. Not the first.

Geddit??! NEVER in my WILDEST dream!!!!!!! HAHA oh god...

e.g. 3

This is kinda technical. So we were having this study group. We were discussing transcription (DNA to RNA). So there's this mechanism that the cell uses to check to see if there's enough RNA nucleotides before they continue transcription. They will first make a short length of RNA and abort after that length is made, before making the full length one. The amount of time needed to make the short length of RNA is used to gauge whether there's enough nucleotides present. While discussing, one of the girls started giggling wildly. We all stared at her.. wondering what's wrong.

She said, "Sorry, I just suddenly thought of an analogy for this whole thing."
And she proceeded to explain:

"The aborted short RNA is just like the, you know.. *giggle giggle* something you get before the real thing.. *giggle giggle* you know.. the precum? *giggle some more* And after you get the precum, you need to check if something is present before you can proceed to the real thing... the RNA nucleotides? That would be like the *giggle giggle* the condoms! No condoms, no sex yo! *giggle giggle*. And before everything, you need the DNA to unwind and open up.. *erupts in giggles* so the DNA is like the girl's legs... you gotta tease her a little to make her open her legs! And of cos then when everything is all set, you get your full length transcript, which is the *giggle giggle giggle* you know!"

HAHAHA holy shit!!! Now I would never forget the abortive trancription mechanism!

Hehe..

And so yea my mind is slowly being corrupted... hahaha but I totally love my classmates!! hehe.. its really fun to hang out with them. I don't even mind if its studying. When its not too intense. LOL

Talking about classmates... this recent month, there's suddenly a bout of marriages and engagements among my secondary school classmates... omg... I suddenly feel a sense of crisis.. I don't wanna be the last one to get married off!!! AHHH!!!!!

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Lucky 6:28 PM

Do you hear me? I'm talking to you
Across the water across the deep blue ocean
Under the open sky oh my, baby I'm trying
Boy I hear you in my dreams
I feel your whisper across the sea
I keep you with me in my heart
You make it easier when life gets hard

Lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again

They don't know how long it takes
Waiting for a love like this
Every time we say goodbye
I wish we had one more kiss
I wait for you I promise you I will

Lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we're in love in every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

And so I'm sailing through the sea
To an island where we'll meet
You'll hear the music, fill the air
I'll put a flower in your hair
And though the breeze is through the trees
Move so pretty you're all I see
As the world keeps spinning round
You hold me right here right now

Lucky I'm in love with my best friend
Lucky to have been where I have been
Lucky to be coming home again
Lucky we're in love every way
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed
Lucky to be coming home someday

Sunday, November 9, 2008

Dream 10:38 PM

What used to be a dream is now rapidly spiraling downwards into a nightmare. I'm falling into an abyss of despair.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Vitamin D deficiency 3:49 PM

So, the doctor told me I have vitamin D deficiency and told me I need to take supplements or eat salmon and tuna once a week at least. Being the poor PhD student, I of course chose to take supplements instead. Cheaper than salmon and tuna. So she told me to go get this over-the-counter drug called Viactiv, with calcium amd vitamin D.

GOLLY!!!! Why didn't anyone tell me about this before?! If I had known vitamins could be as tasty as this, I would have gladly eaten it everyday, even 3 times a day as recommended by my doctor!!!!


Hell, I'd even finish all 60 in 1 day!!!

Welcome to the blog of 武林盟主. In this space of hers, she is entitled to and responsible for her own thoughts and comments. You are welcome to give your few cents worth in the tag, but do not force her to accept your thoughts should they differ from hers. If everyone thinks the same way we would all be robots no?

武林盟主 is this pugilistic genius everyone calls a deranged lunatic. But that's cos they haven't witnessed her great powers yet! She can be regarded as the best product coming from the Pugislistic World in the past 100 years, and 武當, 少林 and 峨嵋 are scrambling to get her to be their 掌门人. She likes think of herself as the next 杨过, 郭靖 or 张无忌.

武林盟主 also has this slightly straight slightly crooked sexuality. At times when the Estrogen triumphs, she preys on hot guys. Other times when the Testosterone levels peak, she preys on hot girls. Some say that is a side effect of the 葵花宝典. Her doctors are still working to establish that.

Many say she's invincible. But that's not true. Bring a DURIAN in front of her, and she will ditch her sword and raise the white flag. She's still desperately trying to master the 闭气功 so she can overcome this weakness.

She now resides in a tiny little room in a tiny little building in a tiny little university/hospital in the tiny little city of Baltimore, studying her tiny little life away in the hopes of getting some Permanent Head Damage. If you feel you can communicate at her level and wish for her to be your soulmate, feel free send her a note of pugilistic admiration and alliance!