Gay and political social and cultural issues from a Singaporean point of view.
Link: yawningbread.org
The way things are supposed to work in Singapore is that when employees are in a dispute with en employer, the Ministry of Manpower issues them with special passes so that they can remain in Singapore until the issues have been resolved. Having a letter from the Ministry of Manpower s...
Wanting to press for a resolution of his dispute with his employer, Xue Hanming, a construction worker originally from Jiangsu, China, called the Ministry of Manpower on 3 December 2008. "Ms Foo [Kim Hui] told me to go down to the ministry the next day," he told me. On the 4th, he arr...
In addition, the internet enables social mobilisation to an unprecedented degree among hitherto silenced and isolated communities. This mobilising power has been demonstrated most convincingly for mass parties -- understandably, since parties have the advantage of instant gratificatio...
The government's reply was an empty one (see the excerpt from the Straits Times on the right). Basically it said that the policy on state funerals was "still evolving" and is decided on a case-by-case basis by the Prime Minister and the cabinet. You'd notice that it completely failed ...
From my observation, this is similar to the experience of women who work in the SAF, in its early days. In the past, women in the SAF in combat or command positions were virtually unheard of. They were far less likely to serve in combat vocations and were more likely to be in administ...
But it is an icon of straight males' fear of losing their dominance. What we are seeing is an example of the crisis of masculinity. Straight men have lost legal and customary control of their womenfolk; they've lost the right to reserve priviledges to themselves at the expense of wome...
Sean Ho, a 33-year-old information-technology consultant surveys the scene. He's wearing a T-shirt that proclaims "Choose Sin" in large, red letters. Below, in smaller type, is "gapore." "Singapore's become much more tolerant and open," says Ho. "They are giving us a lot more space." ...
There is a range of views. There is also a range of degrees to which people are seized with this issue. Many people are not that seized with this issue. And speaking candidly, I think the people who are very seized with this issue are a minority. For the majority of Singaporeans - thi...
