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home :: world :: singapore

Fri, 09 Sep 2005

And you thought the debaters were nerdy

I used to think that my high-school resume made me a nerd. But I had nothing on these people:

Victoria JC, Nanyang Girls’ High win inter-school blogging contest

SINGAPORE : Victoria Junior College and Nanyang Girls’ High School have won the first National Inter-school Blogging Championship.

The event is jointly organised by SingTel and the Ministry of Education.

Victoria JC and Nanyang Girls’ High ‘outblogged’ 51 other Singapore schools to emerge champions in the ‘Junior College/Centralised Institute’ and ‘Secondary School’ categories respectively.

It’s even more interesting that a blogging contest would be held in a country so well-known for stomping on press freedom.

Update: Amit emailed to point out the web site of the blogging contest, which the Yahoo story hadn’t included.

22:01 EST | permalink | /world/singapore

Sun, 04 Sep 2005

LKY interview

Belmont Club links to a translation of an interview with Lee Kuan Yew, in which the Singaporean leader speculates upon China’s long-term ambitions. Well worth a read.

19:53 EST | permalink | /world/singapore

Sun, 07 Mar 2004

Pot, meet kettle

One of the front-page news stories on Yahoo! Singapore was an AFP thinly disguised HRW rant report about supposed abuses by US troops in Afghanistan. Notwithstanding the obvious irony of the story’s placement (Singapore isn’t exactly a beacon for human rights — the tiny island leads the world in executions per capita; possessing more than half an ounce of heroin carries a mandatory death sentence, a fact about which HRW’s main Singapore page is strangely silent), the article is a wonderful example of modern journalism. Take the lead:

US military forces in Afghanistan have mistreated detainees, arbitrarily detained civilians and used excessive force in arrests of non-combatants, Human Rights Watch said in a new report.

And then take the second to last sentence:

“But the United States has refused to allow any independent observers access to detention facilities in Afghanistan, except for the International Committee of the Red Cross, which does not report publicly on its findings,” the rights group said.

One would think the fact that (a) HRW hasn’t visited detention facilities, and (b) another major NGO has visited them, might be salient enough to land at the beginning, no? (And, if the ICRC doesn’t report on its findings, then what is this?)

21:27 EST | permalink | /world/singapore