Le Filmografik - Un précieux circulation dans un instant

How fucked up is that?

Michael Jackson never had a chance.  He had to succeed for his family, his parents' dreams were dependent upon him.

And a boy with that much pressure delivers. He works truly hard, so he will be loved.  That's all Michael Jackson was looking for, love."

When I was in secondary school, his music was all the rage. And most of us born in the 1980s practically grew up listening to his music because it was everywhere.

RIP, MJ.

The tiny silhouette of space shuttle Atlantis looks like a pin-prick against the vast expanse of the sun in this amazing picture taken from Florida..

It was snapped as the Atlantis crew whizzed across the sun in 0.8 seconds during their mission to repair the telescope Hubble above the Earth.

View more pics by The Mirror here

It is believed that at least 10 unlicensed ice-cream vendors have left the shopping strip in the last month since they were slapped with orders to go."

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More stupid bureaucracy at work, don't these people at the NEA actually weigh the merits of having ice-cream sellers along Orchard Road? They are popular and in this tropical heat, I might even say they are a necessity.

Who the hell will want to stroll down Orchard Road now that these ice-cream sellers are gone? Idiots. I wish policymakers would actually use some common sense for once.

Singapore is a 33deg tropical city. People need their damned ice-cream. I know I do.

 

March 7, 2009

Foolish to advocate the learning of dialects

I REFER to yesterday’s article by Ms Jalelah Abu Baker (’One generation - that’s all it takes ‘for a language to die”).

It mentioned a quote from Dr Ng Bee Chin, acting head of Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) Division of Linguistics and Multilingual Studies: ‘Although Singaporeans are still multilingual, 40 years ago, we were even more multilingual. Young children are not speaking some of these languages at all any more.’

To keep a language alive, it has to be used regularly. Using one language more frequently means less time for other languages. Hence, the more languages a person learns, the greater the difficulties of retaining them at a high level of fluency.

There are linguistically gifted individuals who can handle multiple languages, but Singapore’s experience over 50 years of implementing the bilingual education policy has shown that most people find it extremely difficult to cope with two languages when they are as diverse as English and Mandarin.

This is why we have discouraged the use of dialects. It interferes with the learning of Mandarin and English. Singaporeans have to master English. It is our common working language and the language which connects us with the world.

We also emphasised the learning of Mandarin, to make it the mother tongue for all Chinese Singaporeans, regardless of their dialect groups. This is the common language of the 1.3 billion people in China. To engage China, overseas Chinese and foreigners are learning Mandarin and not the dialects of the different Chinese provinces.

We have achieved progress with our bilingual education in the past few decades. Many Singaporeans are now fluent in both English and Mandarin. It would be stupid for any Singapore agency or NTU to advocate the learning of dialects, which must be at the expense of English and Mandarin.

That was the reason the Government stopped all dialect programmes on radio and television after 1979. Not to give conflicting signals, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew also stopped making speeches in Hokkien, which he had become fluent in after frequent use since 1961.

Chee Hong Tat
Principal Private Secretary
to the Minister Mentor

Meeting at its annual summit, the 10-member bloc agreed to compile and pool information and interviews on the Rohingyas, who washed up on the shores of Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia having fled oppression in Myanmar.

Those found to have originated from the former Burma, which denies the Rohingya Muslims are from its soil, would be returned, under the proposal agreed on Friday.

'They have been trying to flee Burma because of extreme persecution. They will be tragically hopeless if they are returned,' said Ms Debbie Stothard of the Alternative Asean Network on Burma. 'They won't be monitored or supervised to ensure they aren't tortured, detained or simply put on another boat.

'This doesn't tackle the root problem. This shows a fundamental lack of political will in Asean ,' she said.

Annual migrations

Rickety wooden boats crowded with hundreds of Rohingya, a Muslim minority from Myanmar's northwest, have reached Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia in the last two months, the latest in annual migrations of people in search of better lives.

Their plight was brought to light last month when hundreds were feared drowned after they were towed out to sea by the Thai military and abandoned in engine-less boats. Some Rohingya who arrived in Indonesia said they were beaten and tortured at the hands of the Thai army.

Thailand's government has launched an investigation into the allegations and insist the Rohingya were treated humanely and were given ample supplies of food and water.

Malaysia's Foreign Minister Rais Yatim said Asean would tackle the issue with urgency and called on Myanmar to give its full cooperation.

'We recognise that the Rohingyas are people that need attention from the salvaging efforts of Asean...,' Mr Yatim told reporters. 'The fact that Myanmar has come forward is positive. Myanmar should play a positive role in endearing itself to our human rights demands.'

Mr Chris Lewa of the Rohingya rights group The Arakan Project said the agreement showed Asean's policy of non-intervention was more important to its members than human rights.

'This is simply a gesture to all the Asean countries and does not solve the problem,' Mr Lewa told Reuters.

'Asean needs to put pressure on Myanmar to recognise the Rohingyas. It's very clear these people do not want to go back.' -- REUTERS