Entente Not So Cordiale

"Big fat red faces for Singapore leaders" thundered the Sydney Morning Herald this morning.  Naturally this got my curiousity going.

A too strong laksa perhaps?  No I was mistaken.

It proved to be the frank assessment by Singaporean diplomats of their ASEAN and Asian neighbours as (apparently) revealed in cables leaked to WikiLeaks.

The Straits Time's headline for the same news item was undertandably more subdued - "S'pore diplomats on region".

Which ever way one chooses to deliver it, the cable contents are embarassing and at variance to the public persona displayed, and public announcements made, by the ASEAN membership.

As I wrote in a recent article on the Digital Consultant blog, the WikiLeaks saga has "proved without doubt, the duplicity of diplomacy; what has been said publically is often at complete variance to what is being shared in private."

While privately many Singaporeans may agree with the sentiment that "Malaysia's "dangerous" decline is fuelled by incompetent politicians, Thailand is dogged by corruption and a "very erratic" crown prince, Japan is a "big fat loser" and India is ''stupid''" very few, if any, would say so publically.

What these revelations have done to the "binding spirit" of ASEAN, one can only imagine.

To cap off a week of diplomatic misery comes the news that there is a be a second and competing site, created by former WikiLeaks collaborators who are less than enchanted with Julian Assange.

This one is to be called 'OpenLeaks'.

..... and with Xmas in mind, Santa's cables and WikiLeaks

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A Hole In Geylang

Stories in the Republic must be few and far between if a pothole occupies the minds of Singaporean media; albeit a growing subsidence.




At a time when the world is focussing on student anarchy in Britain, the arraignment of WikiLeak's founder Julian Assange and the "Not So Nobel Prize", it is hard to see why a hole in Geylang should prove attractive?

Subsidence is after all not something new in Singapore.  The MRT and road tunnelling has produced subsidences in the past that have been far more spectacular.

In June of 2008 Marina Boulevard developed a five metre wide despression to the consternation of some citizens.

I have always marvelled at the levels of tunnels in the MRT especially where the various lines intersected at stations. Quite an engineering achievement.

In New Zealand we specialise in large holes which people through money into.  In most parts of the world  these are called ponzi schemes and just yesterday, a couple were charged with fleecing Kiwis out of $15 million.

These are minor glitches if one compares the 10 per cent of the entire stock of US currency on this planet which is unusable after printing problems in manufacture produced defective notes.  They are the also first bills to have Preident Obama's signature on them which is not exactly a good omen for the future.

A small hole in Geylang doesn't seem so bad after all.

Today's Print - Magnolia

Magnolia ..................................................................... Roger Smith  12 / 2010

Igniting The Passions

Bak Kut Teh Herbs

Radio advertising holds little attraction to me; it is a necessary evil that happens between the playing of tracks that I remember from my distant past.

CoastFM here in Auckland plays music I can sing along to and many of the the tunes I used to play in bands in my youth.

There are two recurring adverts that seem to monopolise the airways.  The first is a sexual potency product with the stimulating name of "Herbal Ignite". The second is is a concrete mould and gunge remover called "Wet and Forget".

I can't help but wonder what would happen if the courier van got the deliveries of these two products mixed up?  Very quick growing mould no doubt, or.......?

The copyrighting for the first product's radio advert is mildy amusing with references to satisfied wives and 'big boy'.  Wet and Forget extols the virtues of easy application and guaranteed performance -  somewhat similar to the Ignite I would have thought.

Ignite is New Zealand made and attempts to capitalise on the greener aspects of the country  - "produced in an environment famous world-wide for its pristine mountains and forests, and unpolluted air and water, free from pesticide or heavy metal contamination".

Wet and Forget's web site boasts a green superhero whose aim it is to eliminate the "Muggers of Mossville".

While I rarely listened to commercial radio in Singapore, I hazard a guess that very few of their advertisments were for sexual stimulants, unless one counts Tiger Balm, which is best kept for sprains and bruises.

Tiger Balm has an interesting history having originated from a herbalist of the Imperial Court who set up shop in Burma.  His two sons bought the ointment to Singapore at the beginning of the 20th century.

It is the other parts of the tiger that are meant to turn wimps into studs, but these potions are to be found in Chinatown, not on the radio.

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