Comments for s/pores http://s-pores.com new directions in singapore studies Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:25:22 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 Comment on A Public Oral History of the Singapore Left in 2006 by Jeyaraj C. Rajarao http://s-pores.com/2009/10/detention-transcript/#comment-455 Jeyaraj C. Rajarao Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:25:22 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=658#comment-455 First, I would like to congratulate the organisers for ensuring at least some of the honest truth of the past is revealed, and those who perpetrated a brutal regime put to shame. All attempts will be made to hide the past , and even present, political mechinations to deny human rights by an ingenious interpretation and callous imprisonment of those who struggle for human justice and freedom, by those who were and are in power to justify their brutal deeds. Second, I reach out to people like Michael and Jing Quee and many other friends to marvel at their discipline and dedication to ensure a just and free society. Third, I urge the youth of today not to be mersmerised by the glitter of material progress, but to secure a society which will respect human dignity and ensure a just and prosperous society based on democracy for the progress of humanity. The evil and calculated deeds by men filled with greed and no principles must perish at the roots. The youth of today must be made to be aware of this and always fight for justice and freedom. First, I would like to congratulate the organisers for ensuring at least some of the honest truth of the past is revealed, and those who perpetrated a brutal regime put to shame. All attempts will be made to hide the past , and even present, political mechinations to deny human rights by an ingenious interpretation and callous imprisonment of those who struggle for human justice and freedom, by those who were and are in power to justify their brutal deeds.

Second, I reach out to people like Michael and Jing Quee and many other friends to marvel at their discipline and dedication to ensure a just and free society.

Third, I urge the youth of today not to be mersmerised by the glitter of material progress, but to secure a society which will respect human dignity and ensure a just and prosperous society based on democracy for the progress of humanity.

The evil and calculated deeds by men filled with greed and no principles must perish at the roots. The youth of today must be made to be aware of this and always fight for justice and freedom.

]]> Comment on 学语以外 : Beyond Language Learning by huay leng http://s-pores.com/2009/07/beyond/#comment-440 huay leng Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:43:21 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=453#comment-440 good to hear that you've got them. i can't remember which shop did i get it from. in fact, i thought it's most common in the dvd shops. i got the cartoons while my father got his teow chew opera and cross-talks one evening when we strolled along the streets near the hotel. good to hear that you’ve got them. i can’t remember which shop did i get it from. in fact, i thought it’s most common in the dvd shops. i got the cartoons while my father got his teow chew opera and cross-talks one evening when we strolled along the streets near the hotel.

]]> Comment on 学语以外 : Beyond Language Learning by Nick http://s-pores.com/2009/07/beyond/#comment-439 Nick Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:12:53 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=453#comment-439 Hi. A friend of a friend found it, and I now have it. It's too bad they didn't dub the music though. Hi. A friend of a friend found it, and I now have it. It’s too bad they didn’t dub the music though.

]]> Comment on 学语以外 : Beyond Language Learning by Nick http://s-pores.com/2009/07/beyond/#comment-437 Nick Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:59:20 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=453#comment-437 I feel that learning one's own language for the sake of maintaining a cultural identity is important. Parents can only do so much to make sure their kids have even a tenuous grasp of their dialect. Once the kids go to school, they'll always naturally favor what everyone else is speaking, whether it's English in Singapore, French in France, or Cantonese in Hong Kong. However, this does not mean that parents should give up on the task before even starting. Using Teochew in the States as an example: I think parents should be resolute. If they do want to preserve their culture, then speak Teochew to their kids from the beginning, and never stop, it will be impossible for them to lose the ability to comprehend basic TC, unless of course, tired of their parents' constant use of what they consider to be an archaic language, they run away from home and lose all exposure to it. When the day arrives where the kid comes back from school refusing to speak a single word of TC, then so be it. This doesn't mean the parent has to stop. Just keep speaking to them in TC, and only use English when absolutely necessary. One day, if and when the kid wants to become fluent in their own dialect, then at least they have a basic foundation of comprehension they can rely on to learn on their own. Whether its through looping the Snow White DVD, or visiting Chaoshan for a few months by themselves. For a long time, I've harbored this dream of, when the day comes and I have children, sending them each summer to Chaoshan to live with relatives so that they can be fluent. That's still way in the future. I don't know if that'll actually happen, but if it does, I doubt I'll be the first to try. I feel that learning one’s own language for the sake of maintaining a cultural identity is important. Parents can only do so much to make sure their kids have even a tenuous grasp of their dialect. Once the kids go to school, they’ll always naturally favor what everyone else is speaking, whether it’s English in Singapore, French in France, or Cantonese in Hong Kong. However, this does not mean that parents should give up on the task before even starting.

Using Teochew in the States as an example: I think parents should be resolute. If they do want to preserve their culture, then speak Teochew to their kids from the beginning, and never stop, it will be impossible for them to lose the ability to comprehend basic TC, unless of course, tired of their parents’ constant use of what they consider to be an archaic language, they run away from home and lose all exposure to it. When the day arrives where the kid comes back from school refusing to speak a single word of TC, then so be it. This doesn’t mean the parent has to stop. Just keep speaking to them in TC, and only use English when absolutely necessary. One day, if and when the kid wants to become fluent in their own dialect, then at least they have a basic foundation of comprehension they can rely on to learn on their own. Whether its through looping the Snow White DVD, or visiting Chaoshan for a few months by themselves.

For a long time, I’ve harbored this dream of, when the day comes and I have children, sending them each summer to Chaoshan to live with relatives so that they can be fluent. That’s still way in the future. I don’t know if that’ll actually happen, but if it does, I doubt I’ll be the first to try.

]]> Comment on 学语以外 : Beyond Language Learning by Nick http://s-pores.com/2009/07/beyond/#comment-436 Nick Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:23:57 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=453#comment-436 oh sorry...just saw your name in chinese and realized your name is actually Huay Leng. i'm from the states, so i got a little confused. oh sorry…just saw your name in chinese and realized your name is actually Huay Leng. i’m from the states, so i got a little confused.

]]> Comment on 学语以外 : Beyond Language Learning by Nick http://s-pores.com/2009/07/beyond/#comment-435 Nick Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:21:59 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=453#comment-435 Lee Huay, I haven't quite finished reading your entry yet. I had to stop and ask you a question before I continue reading. Where in Shantou did you buy the Snow White dvd? When I visited the Chaoshan area, everytime I was in a DVD store and asked for things in Teochew, I'd get directed to the section with ancient movies like 蝦魚來 (don't have the dvd's in front of me, so I probably wrote the chinese wrong. but it was He Hou Lai in Teochew). so i have a bunch of these disks, mixed in with karaoke vcd's, but nothing as cool as Snow White. i am very, very jealous :-) i've only read one sentence so far, but I'm already loving your blog entry. now i shall continue reading your entry. btw, found your blog on a friend's facebook post Lee Huay, I haven’t quite finished reading your entry yet. I had to stop and ask you a question before I continue reading. Where in Shantou did you buy the Snow White dvd? When I visited the Chaoshan area, everytime I was in a DVD store and asked for things in Teochew, I’d get directed to the section with ancient movies like 蝦魚來 (don’t have the dvd’s in front of me, so I probably wrote the chinese wrong. but it was He Hou Lai in Teochew). so i have a bunch of these disks, mixed in with karaoke vcd’s, but nothing as cool as Snow White. i am very, very jealous :-)

i’ve only read one sentence so far, but I’m already loving your blog entry. now i shall continue reading your entry.

btw, found your blog on a friend’s facebook post

]]> Comment on “A Subaltern Perspective on History” (人下人的历史观): Reading Fang Zhuang Bi’s (方壮壁) Memoir by The Pariah http://s-pores.com/2007/04/subaltern/#comment-432 The Pariah Mon, 18 Jan 2010 05:31:48 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=75#comment-432 In response to my previous posting, I have since learned from Dr Hong Lysa that there is in fact a little known English translation: Fong Chong Pik, Fong Chong Pik: Memoirs of a Malayan Communist Revolutionary (Petaling Jaya, Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, 2008.) I have since found out that this translation is available for reference at the National Library. But if you wanna borrow it, you have to go all the way to Woodlands Library - and there's only one copy. In response to my previous posting, I have since learned from Dr Hong Lysa that there is in fact a little known English translation:

Fong Chong Pik, Fong Chong Pik: Memoirs of a Malayan Communist Revolutionary (Petaling Jaya, Strategic Information and Research Development Centre, 2008.)

I have since found out that this translation is available for reference at the National Library. But if you wanna borrow it, you have to go all the way to Woodlands Library – and there’s only one copy.

]]> Comment on “A Subaltern Perspective on History” (人下人的历史观): Reading Fang Zhuang Bi’s (方壮壁) Memoir by The Pariah http://s-pores.com/2007/04/subaltern/#comment-430 The Pariah Sun, 17 Jan 2010 04:02:34 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=75#comment-430 Given the national inclination towards positivist historiography, it is all the more cogent for NUS to fund the translation of this book into English to widen access - whether by researchers or the public. With Chinese being the 2nd language for most Chinese Singaporeans, I hope NUS will take up this suggestion for translation into English. Given the national inclination towards positivist historiography, it is all the more cogent for NUS to fund the translation of this book into English to widen access – whether by researchers or the public.

With Chinese being the 2nd language for most Chinese Singaporeans, I hope NUS will take up this suggestion for translation into English.

]]> Comment on Once Upon a Time, a Mendicant Professor in Singapore: Remembering the Enright Affair (November 1960) by Edgar http://s-pores.com/2008/01/mendicant/#comment-428 Edgar Sat, 02 Jan 2010 08:22:38 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=103#comment-428 Thanks a lot Prof Koh for all the heads-up and pointing the way towards a more nuanced reading! Thanks a lot Prof Koh for all the heads-up and pointing the way towards a more nuanced reading!

]]> Comment on Once Upon a Time, a Mendicant Professor in Singapore: Remembering the Enright Affair (November 1960) by Koh Tai Ann http://s-pores.com/2008/01/mendicant/#comment-427 Koh Tai Ann Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:40:12 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=103#comment-427 D J Enright passed away seven years to the day on New Year's Eve, 2002 and as a former student of his in the early sixties, I recall on this New Year's Eve (2009) his meticulous attention, both as teacher and poet, to meaning and sense with regard to everything one wrote and consequently, the importance of getting the details right, for the sum depends on the exactness as well as the fullest implications of its parts. It seems to me that several statements and arguments in Liao's piece could be more nuanced (but there's no space here to go into this). A symptom (or perhaps cause) is the neglect of significant detail and thus its implications: eg, in Note 4, the full title of my essay included in the festschrift for Enright's 70th birthday is “The Mendicant Professor: a Self-confessed Liberal in Singapore, 1960 - 1970”. His being a liberal in Singapore was at the heart of his critique of the PAP's then anti-"Yellow Culture" campaign (the many implications of which Liao's article does not explore and to which Mr Lee Kuan Yew's own Memoirs make ironic reference -- going some way towards explaining why no further action was taken against the 'politicallyinnocent' Professor at the time: he was both wrong and right). My essay published in 1990, 30 years after the event intended to put the whole "Affair" into perspective by looking at the issue from both sides in the context of the times, in terms of ideology (Enright's as much as the PAP's),local politics and (post)colonial sensitivities. I also noted that years after Enright had made his call for Singapore to be more culturally open, Mr Rajaratnam (who was once Minister of Culture) was to make the same call -- something that Enright was later to mention as having vindicated him. (He would find much to be ironic about in the current 'liberal' cultural scene, of which government-encouraged bar top dancing to raise Singapore's "buzz" quotient, is not among the most eye-brow raising.) Liao also fails to note and cite (perhaps did not know) that Enright published a new edition of his Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1990) where he deleted a chapter and added an Epilogue. There in retrospect, he characteristically questioned the liberal stance; but he none the less thought it preferable to 'the alternative' (ie, being illiberal). D J Enright passed away seven years to the day on New Year’s Eve, 2002 and as a former student of his in the early sixties, I recall on this New Year’s Eve (2009) his meticulous attention, both as teacher and poet, to meaning and sense with regard to everything one wrote and consequently, the importance of getting the details right, for the sum depends on the exactness as well as the fullest implications of its parts. It seems to me that several statements and arguments in Liao’s piece could be more nuanced (but there’s no space here to go into this). A symptom (or perhaps cause) is the neglect of significant detail and thus its implications: eg, in Note 4, the full title of my essay included in the festschrift for Enright’s 70th birthday is “The Mendicant Professor: a Self-confessed Liberal in Singapore, 1960 – 1970”. His being a liberal in Singapore was at the heart of his critique of the PAP’s then anti-”Yellow Culture” campaign (the many implications of which Liao’s article does not explore and to which Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s own Memoirs make ironic reference — going some way towards explaining why no further action was taken against the ‘politicallyinnocent’ Professor at the time: he was both wrong and right). My essay published in 1990, 30 years after the event intended to put the whole “Affair” into perspective by looking at the issue from both sides in the context of the times, in terms of ideology (Enright’s as much as the PAP’s),local politics and (post)colonial sensitivities. I also noted that years after Enright had made his call for Singapore to be more culturally open, Mr Rajaratnam (who was once Minister of Culture) was to make the same call — something that Enright was later to mention as having vindicated him. (He would find much to be ironic about in the current ‘liberal’ cultural scene, of which government-encouraged bar top dancing to raise Singapore’s “buzz” quotient, is not among the most eye-brow raising.) Liao also fails to note and cite (perhaps did not know) that Enright published a new edition of his Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor (Manchester: Carcanet Press, 1990) where he deleted a chapter and added an Epilogue. There in retrospect, he characteristically questioned the liberal stance; but he none the less thought it preferable to ‘the alternative’ (ie, being illiberal).

]]> Comment on A Personal Journey In Search Of Fajar by The Fajar Generation | The Online Citizen http://s-pores.com/2007/04/fajar/#comment-424 The Fajar Generation | The Online Citizen Sat, 26 Dec 2009 08:51:22 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=20#comment-424 [...] A personal journey in search of Fajar by Lim Cheng [...] [...] A personal journey in search of Fajar by Lim Cheng [...]

]]> Comment on Once Bonded by Once Bonded, Reloaded — Master Of The Obvious http://s-pores.com/2009/07/once-bonded/#comment-418 Once Bonded, Reloaded — Master Of The Obvious Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:33:39 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=308#comment-418 [...] Musings, Singapore Just like Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, I penned my name on a legal document in 2000 that effectively willed 6 years of my life – [...] [...] Musings, Singapore Just like Yu-Mei Balasingamchow, I penned my name on a legal document in 2000 that effectively willed 6 years of my life – [...]

]]> Comment on Once Bonded by s/pores: “Once Bonded” — Master Of The Obvious http://s-pores.com/2009/07/once-bonded/#comment-417 s/pores: “Once Bonded” — Master Of The Obvious Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:50:19 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=308#comment-417 [...] Musings, Singapore I was pleasantly surprised to read Yu-Mei Balasingamchow’s introspective article on her reflections as a bonded government scholar.  These are the sort of stuff that we scholars [...] [...] Musings, Singapore I was pleasantly surprised to read Yu-Mei Balasingamchow’s introspective article on her reflections as a bonded government scholar.  These are the sort of stuff that we scholars [...]

]]> Comment on Review: Dark Folke by intosite http://s-pores.com/2009/10/darkfolke/#comment-416 intosite Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:41:21 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=619#comment-416 i've a 2 vids i took when i attended the 2nd last performance. it might give you a feel to how it felt for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjwVkpuToZA&hd=1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XWy3bKYvO0&hd=1 i’ve a 2 vids i took when i attended the 2nd last performance. it might give you a feel to how it felt for me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjwVkpuToZA&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XWy3bKYvO0&hd=1

]]> Comment on Once Bonded by “Defending Scholarships but not all Scholars” « takchek (读书) http://s-pores.com/2009/07/once-bonded/#comment-415 “Defending Scholarships but not all Scholars” « takchek (读书) Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:58:39 +0000 http://s-pores.com/?p=308#comment-415 [...] 36.    Thank you. [1] See : http://s-pores.com/2009/07/once-bonded/ [...] [...] 36.    Thank you. [1] See : http://s-pores.com/2009/07/once-bonded/ [...]

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