Archives 2005

Abbreviations are explained in the column on the right of the screen.

Month	Title, etc		Relevance
Dec 2005	Churchman claims Buddhists and gays taking over Christmas celebration - and is the government going to turn a blind eye to such provocation?		Pol, Rel
Dec 2005	The political parallels to the NKF scandal - governance failure at Singapore's biggest charity must surely raise wider questions		Pol
Dec 2005	What the little hamster told the minister - an "in-your-face" condom campaign?		Pol
Dec 2005	Brokeback Mountain and the internet - here is a film that is impacting people even before they've seen it		Med, Soc, Hom
Dec 2005	Four persons arrested in a sauna let off with warnings - but why was the sauna raided in the first place?		Pol, Law, Hom
Dec 2005	Our national icons - they tell stories about Singapore and reflect our national character		Per
Dec 2005	Trying hard to forestall the rot - the Straits Times in the 10 days after the Nguyen hanging		Pol, Soc, Med
Dec 2005	700 to 1 - what do we mean by equality and how can we do something about it?		Soc, Hom
Dec 2005	Female presidents and prime ministers - getting common everywhere. Why not Singapore?		Pol
Dec 2005	UK: gay marriage in all but name - while Singapore won't even discuss decriminalising homosexuality		Pol, Hom
Dec 2005	Too few people for democracy? - Lee Kuan Yew says, with 4 million, we can only afford one political party		Pol
Dec 2005	Buses, boats and trains - the clueless, the incompetent and the inconsiderate		Soc, Per
Nov 2005	Thoughts from a married homosexual - and a different view of the world		Hom
Nov 2005	Exalting marriage abets human trafficking - man wants sex, so he buys a 'bride'		Law, Soc, Med
Nov 2005	The absence of trust - the government doesn't trust citizens to act responsibly, thus the numerous controls		Pol
Nov 2005	Creationist crusade reaches Singapore - TV station criticised for screening a documentary on human evolution		Soc, Rel, Med
Nov 2005	Government bunkum on press freedom - why 3 claims by our government are hollow		Pol, Med
Nov 2005	The insufficiency of good intentions - I saw Uncle Sam on a bus		Pol, Hum
Nov 2005	Film censorship: gays must die - ban on film Lan Yu reversed, but....		Med, Hom
Nov 2005	Only nuns and monks need apply - 5 guys charged for lying before donating blood		Law, Soc, Hom, Oth [Medical]
Nov 2005	Death penalty as deterrence - the easy way out - do low drug abuse rates correlate with death penalty?		Pol, Law, Soc, Kno
Nov 2005	Is homophobia essential to our 'national interests'? - another letter not published by the Straits Times		Pol, Med, Hom
Nov 2005	Reality in a world of make-believe - no butch-dykes on Ladies' Nights, no sex among teenagers		Soc, Hom, Kno
Nov 2005	Inhumanity towards maids - domestic workers should be given at least 1 day off a week		Soc, Hum
Nov 2005	One gay website banned, another fined - revealing only a mess in Singapore's internet governance		Pol, Med, Hom
Oct 2005	Stop hanging people! - it's immoral and it harms Singapore		Pol, Law,
Oct 2005	Again, why we need proportional representation - so that MPs think national, not municipal		Pol
Oct 2005	Buddhist leader: it's all the politics of hate and ill-will - Ajahn Brahm gave a talk to thousands at Bright Hill		Rel, Hom
Oct 2005	Unsung heroes - ruminations on the occasion of the 500th essay		Per, Oth [Curatorship]
Oct 2005	Confucius not allowed to teach here - Warwick University, Press Freedom Index and a meddlesome old man		Pol, Med, Kno
Oct 2005	Straits Times throws a fit over US ambassador's remarks - Frank Lavin criticised curbs on political expression		Pol
Oct 2005	Why is safe sex for adults only? - rising STIs and even HIV among teenagers		Soc, Kno, Oth [Education]
Oct 2005	What it takes to attract a university - Warwick University rejects proposal to set up a campus in Singapore		Pol, Hom, Oth [Education]
Oct 2005	Newspapers get into the preaching act - 4 Christians interviewed, flaunting their virginity		Rel, Med
Oct 2005	Elephant mahout plays hide and seek - the police won't name him, neither will he disclose himself. Why?		Pol
Oct 2005	Beware the human-interest story - corrupting society and politics, from Huang Na to Manila		Soc, Med, Hum
Oct 2005	The government is not homophobic, the Prime Minister says - in answer to a journalist's suggestion that it is		Pol, Hom
Oct 2005	Road names as markers of history - our streets preserve our follies		Pol, Soc, Oth [urbanscape]
Oct 2005	Burger and coke - obesity and my opinion of the Ramly Burger		Soc, Per, Oth [food]
Oct 2005	Our Christian jihadists - teachers and doctors waging religious war		Soc, Rel
Sep 2005	Two brothers on a bus - before you say 'Asians are conservative', explain this!		Soc, Hom
Sep 2005	The Sedition Act - why is our hate-speech law contained within the Sedition Act?		Pol, Law
Sep 2005	Civil disobedience: a government on the defensive - the government has been stressing that calls for change must be within the law		Pol
Sep 2005	Four murders - and troubling questions about our laws and justice system		Pol, Law
Sep 2005	Feverish minds cook up the wrath of God - why did the almighty punish New Orleans?		Rel
Sep 2005	Hate speech and seditious white elephants - bloggers prosecuted for racist comments, Buangkok residents investigated		Pol, Law, Hom
Sep 2005	Costly business broadband holds Singapore back - you think your home broadband is expensive? wait till you see the rates for business		Oth [Telecom]
Sep 2005	New Orleans, hurricane Katrina and America - the view from half the world away		Pol, Soc, Hum
Sep 2005	Ego trumps equity - the parliamentary debate in 1996 about alimony for husbands offers interesting insights into the PAP's mind		Pol, Law, Soc
Aug 2005	Fiji's unnatural sex laws overturned - violation of constitutional guarantees of equality and privacy		Law, Hom
Aug 2005	Openness and inclusiveness, bah! - just diversionary substitutes to avoid talking about freedom and equality		Pol, Law, Hom
Aug 2005	Hong Kong leads the way - a court strikes down the anti-gay laws		Law, Med, Hom
Aug 2005	He who knows what he knows - youth, AIDS, attitudes and scripture		Rel, Hom, Kno, Oth [HIV]
Aug 2005	When sex, condoms and HIV remain unspeakable - how a couple sought an HIV test but couldn't		Soc, Kno, Hum
Aug 2005	Do you want ice? - I witnessed this example of poor service, and rushed home to write about it		Soc, Per
Aug 2005	Presidential contest: the end - the institution of the presidency is badly damaged after the Andrew Kuan affair		Pol
Aug 2005	LTA: being considerate is for wimps - the Land Transport Authority told businesses and residents to move out of a building within one month		Pol
Aug 2005	Here, the first thing people register is your race - if they see you're Chinese, they speak to you only in Chinese		Soc
Aug 2005	Why are some people homophobic? - a review of latest research		Soc, Hom, Kno
Aug 2005	The mess that is our presidency 2 - will Andrew Kuan be disqualified from standing for the presidential election?		Pol, Med
Aug 2005	Let him stand, let me vote - I think Andrew Kuan should be allowed to stand for election, but it doesn't mean I support him		Pol, Rel, Hom, Per
Aug 2005	Poster boys of law and order - the police refused to allow the face of a hanged man to appear on a poster		Pol, Law, Soc
Aug 2005	A symptom of daylight - the MDA gave a permit for a recital by gay and lesbian poets		Pol, Hom, Per
Aug 2005	Fencing out, fixing in - my talk at a Singapore International Foundation symposium		Pol, Soc, Med, Hom
Jul 2005	Matchmaking or human trafficking? - what happens when a mail-order-bride agency can't find husbands for its parade of women?		Soc, Hum
Jul 2005	Indoor public talks: before and after - in August 2004, the Prime Minister said indoor forums don't need a police licence		Pol, Law
Jul 2005	Four low(er)-priced airlines - some observations from my experiences		Per, Oth [airlines]
Jul 2005	Can porn change sexual orientation? - a look at 41 replies		Hom, Kno
Jul 2005	Probing porn - 4 university students asked what value or harm Singaporeans saw in porn		Kno
Jul 2005	Gay civil servants redux - just a wayang show, said Chris Tan in his paper		Pol, Hom
Jul 2005	Anis Abdullah redux - our oral sex law still hasn't been updated		Pol, Law, Hom
Jul 2005	Singapore: a woman with a past - did you know that Singapore is one of the few countries in Asia allowing sex-changed persons to marry?		Law, Soc, Hom
Jul 2005	Butchhunt and clubbophobic me - butch night at a local club was a traumatic experience		Hom, Per
Jul 2005	Who is Malay? - what does it tell us when someone insists he is Javanese, not Malay?		Soc, Kno
Jul 2005	Phuket: struggling to attract custom - 6 months after the tsunami, cabaret shows in gay bars stretch to nearly 2 hours		Hom, Per, Oth [trave]
Jun 2005	Divine retribution - a school that sacked a gay teacher pays the price		Soc, Hom, Kno, Per
Jun 2005	Privacy rights and heads in the sand - the government asks too many personal questions in its surveys, Singaporeans don't care		Pol, Soc
Jun 2005	Nasi padang and the bigger story - what the place of Malay-Muslim food tells us about the place of Malay-Muslims		Soc
Jun 2005	Thailand 2, Singapore 0 - Nation party in Phuket, APQ conference in Bangkok		Pol, Med, Hom
Jun 2005	Why Singaporeans shop in Bangkok - because all our shopping malls are clones of each other		Soc. Per
Jun 2005	Burma and us - why don't we have a Little Yangon, and why don't we speak up about big brutal Yangon?		Pol, Soc, Per
Jun 2005	Pot reports that Kettle is black - pages in the Straits Times on Ching Cheong, almost nothing on Moser-Puangsuwan		Pol, Med
Jun 2005	Talking to the doorpost - this reply from the civil service is a classic		Pol, Hom
Jun 2005	The world according to my neurons - how our brains interact with people and things around us		Kno, Hum, Per
May 2005	The mess that is our presidency - someone asked why President Ong Teng Cheong wasn't given a state funeral		Pol
May 2005	Idols, race and brains - Singapore Idol, Malaysian Idol and the academically gifted making racist comments		Soc
May 2005	Filmmaker called up by police - it's illegal to make a film on anything that is political, unless....		Pol, Law, Med
May 2005	When Goliath needs to pull his punches - a top civil servant threatens a graduate student with a defamation suit		Pol, Law
May 2005	The erotic is too much fun - Lee Kuan Yew said Singapore needs to be a fun place		Pol, Med
May 2005	Making Singapore a 'cool' city - how to have fun in the heat?		Soc, Oth [urban planning]
Apr 2005	Why must casinos be out of bounds? - a member of parliament says no political leader or civil servant must step into casinos		Pol, Soc, Rel
Apr 2005	Single moms: another 'immorality' to be condemned - Singapore needs more babies, but the right kind only		Pol, Soc
Apr 2005	Look how the casino chips have fallen - the Singapore government wants two casinos		Pol, Oth [tourism]
Apr 2005	The Spice Trade case - Thai travel agency raided, Australian obsession involved		Pol, Law, Soc, Hom
Apr 2005	Parents in denial, children at risk - what June Chandler did is horribly commonplace		Law, Soc
Apr 2005	The NTUC Income survey - 54% were happy with one-party government and 76% said we should chuck out scholarships		Pol, Soc
Apr 2005	Choice is bad, for people may then choose evil - why those who want to protect children from smut dislike a magazine rating system		Soc, Rel, Kno
Apr 2005	Is Singapore really a food paradise? - speakers at a forum all seemed to have agreed that it's one of our city's assets		Soc, Kno, Oth [Food]
Apr 2005	When misleading becomes part of governance - when bureaucrats find their decisions challenged as indefensible, they start giving excuses that aren't totally honest		Pol, Hom
Apr 2005	Sirenes who will turn you gay - the government bans a concert because Jason and deMarco are a known gay couple		Pol, Hom, Per
Mar 2005	Polytechnics' admissions snafu - an example of how our elitist government treats our citizens		Pol, Soc, Oth [Edu]
Mar 2005	Balaji's big-stick approach to beating AIDS - and why its dangerously misguided		Soc, Oth [HIV]
Mar 2005	Ban homosexuality! Now, what are our reasons again? - the Straits Times published the 2 best letters they could find		Law, Hom, Oth [HIV]
Mar 2005	Singapore is not a liberal democracy, says Goh - our Senior Minister was trying to 'sell' Singapore to UK investors and knowledge professionals		Pol
Mar 2005	The picture that emerges - from a list of s.377 and s.377A cases		Law, Hom, Oth [Paedophilia]
Mar 2005	Police treated gay man like a paedophile - he wasn't charged, he wasn't convicted, he didn't even touch a child		Law
Mar 2005	Party AIDS: what the newspapers said - undermining public health messages by reinforcing homophobia		Rel, Med, Hom, Oth [HIV]
Mar 2005	Party AIDS: what the minister said - foreigners and gay parties led to rise in HIV infections?		Pol, Hom, Oth [HIV]
Mar 2005	How entrapment ended - an important sequence of events and a judgment by the Chief Justice		Pol, Law, Med, Hom
Mar 2005	How not to publish a gay guide - our tourism body felt we should have a guide for gay tourists, but insisted it shouldn't be gay		Pol, Med, Hom, Per
Mar 2005	Cinema: Rice Rhapsody - if we want to interest tourists in visiting Singapore through films, the films must first be good		Med, Per
Mar 2005	Sociologist says gays in Singapore have 'pretty much' everything - is there any substance behind this assertion, made in a TV program?		Soc, Med, Kno
Feb 2005	Every which way you look, it's a relic - the proposed temple for the Buddha's tooth relic is an embarrassment		Soc, Rel, Oth [Architecture]
Feb 2005	Towards an open and inclusive society - my presentation at the Singapore Forum on Politics 2005		Pol
Feb 2005	Small slip, big prejudice - the press posed a simple scenario to an ex-cop about a teacher having oral sex in a public area		Law, Soc, Hom
Feb 2005	The women with the black bananas - as the case of Nepal shows, good governance is the most fundamental priority of all		Pol, Soc, Per
Feb 2005	Vietnam's house of virgins - The Sunday Times ran a story about how quickie brides must submit to virginity tests		Soc, Med
Feb 2005	How censorship may bring down a superpower - why not seeing Janet Jackson's breast is bad for America		Soc, Rel, Kno
Feb 2005	Should our media report on the Spongebob nonsense? - in the US, the hysterical Religious Right accuses a cartoon character of promoting homosexuality		Rel, Med, Hom
Feb 2005	China: two little ironies - the death of Zhao Ziyang and the continuance of Tung Chee-hwa pose acute difficulties for Beijing		Pol
Feb 2005	Lee Kuan Yew and Jamie Han - a university student said we needed checks and balances; Lee said: go stand for election		Pol
Feb 2005	20 questions and an answer too inconvenient - Fridae's email interview that was never published		Med
Jan 2005	Lumphini Park: a window into cultural history - Lumphini represents the time when Asians held Western ideas in awe		Soc, Oth [urbanscape]
Jan 2005	Band-aid justice: when is public indecency public? - a couple had oral sex in a deserted stairwell; does its desertedness make any difference?		Law, Soc
Jan 2005	Poor quality English in Singapore - a former Singaporean, now living in Australia, was shocked at how badly today's Singaporeans speak English		Soc, Pol
Jan 2005	Tsunami reveals fanatics of all stripes - we can forgive confusion and inefficiency, but not those who put their fanatical agenda in the way of helping others		Rel, Hum, Oth [natural disaster]
Jan 2005	From kaya cans to the High Court - how we take something and use it for other than its original purpose		Pol, Law, Soc
Jan 2005	Cut babies and the horror of sex - a survey of non-religious, non-therapeutic circumcision		Soc, Rel