Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Pilot your own Destiny

Dear students,

In the past few weeks members from the SDP had visited you in your schools. They had generated for themselves some publicity for their visits. They had not sought approval before they distributed their flyers and challenged your school authorities when confronted.

Failing to get approval for flyer distribution, SDP had proposed that students organise activities which could bring the party in to speak with students.

Why are they doing this and what are their objectives?

This is what they claim:
"For years, if not decades, the PAP Government has taken from you a valuable component of your tertiary education.

While students from top universities in the UK, US and Australia are providing quality education where students have the opportunity to develop their leadership skills, here in Singapore the Government is more interested in churning out graduates for the economy. It discourages students from engaging in social and political issues so much so that your educational experience is decidedly stunted."
The actual fact is that "NUS was ranked 33rd in the world and 4th in Asia in the Times Higher Education Supplement-Quacquarelli Symonds (THES-QS) University Rankings 2007. NUS continued to fare well in the major disciplines. It is top in Asia for Life Sciences & Biomedicine and Social Sciences, taking the 12th and 20th spots respectively in the world ranking for these disciplines. NUS also emerged second among Asian universities for Technology and Arts & Humanities while ranked 10th and 21st in the world respectively. The University remained within the world’s top 25 for Natural Sciences."^
"... the Government has bred this I-me-mine culture where few care beyond what affects them personally."
The fact is that "a survey five years ago by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre put the national volunteering percentage at 14.9% - up from 9.3% two years earlier."^^

SDP asked of you to be the "stewards of your own destiny", being guided by the inaccuracies of SDP propaganda. We asked of you to Pilot your own destiny. Apply your critical reasoning skills to sift out the untruths within the SDP propaganda. Do not be led by the nose with sensationalised, one-faced reporting.

For instance, while SDP posted the article "Temasek's Merrill investment bleeds as economic outlook worsens" and cause readers to be skeptical of the PAP government, SDP hid the actual results of the investment "Temasek may reap $15billion Gain from Merrill Lynch Takeover".

Bear in mind that Dr Chee Soon Juan was a Pyschology Lecturer in NUS, before he was booted out due to misuse of research funds. He craftly manages the SDP propaganda in way to lead Singaporeans by the nose.

Ultimately the decision lies within your hands. Be the Pilot? Or the Steward?

Be a Responsible Citizen.

Join the NOT MY SDP movement!

Sources & References:
^ NUS Ranking : http://newshub.nus.edu.sg/headlines/0711/ranking_21nov07.htm
^^ Student Volunteerism on the rise in Singapore : http://www.worldvolunteerweb.org/browse/countries/singapore/doc/student-volunteerism-on-the.html
http://yoursdp.org/index.php/news/singapore/1063-be-the-stewards-of-your-own-destiny

5 comments:

  1. "The fact is that 'a survey five years ago by the National Volunteer and Philanthropy Centre put the national volunteering percentage at 14.9% - up from 9.3% two years earlier.'"

    If you know anything about the kind of "volunteering" they do and why, you'd know that increase isn't really something to celebrate about so much.

    Anyway this blog actually does more good than harm to SDP. Although you're offering them bad publicity, you're still offering them unnecessary publicity. And I doubt people will be convinced by you but rather feel more urged to defend them.

    It's like them allowing all those critical comments onto their website articles, it can be a reverse strategy to their advantage. Think about it long and hard, you'll know why I say this.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wouldn't say that I aim to give them bad publicity. What I'm trying to do is to desensationalise the whole hoohaa over SDP.

    It is crucial that Singaporeans, especially the young, know that what they are reading might be half-truths.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alright then, you continue to waste your time AND help them in the process, not my problem.

    Strategy man, strategy. Scratching the itch only makes it more noticeable.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Strategy... Do you have a strategy then :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Like I said, not my problem anymore.

    ReplyDelete

Please note that we will adopt SDP-style of allowing no-reply-to-comments-and-no-allowing-of-anonymous-comments approach