Sunday, May 20, 2007

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070520/3/32532.html

This article is certainly news of great importance. It shows the return of a veteran of Singapore politics, and another important member of the opposition. The fact Jeyeratnam has returned with the intent to form another political party can only mean that there will be more opposition to the PAP and therefore a much more diverse political scene. This is likely to be beneficial in aiding Singapore from becoming a one-party state and promoting democracy.

Certainly, the fact that Jeyeratnam has returned has the potential for much political impact, most of which is positive for Singapore’s political scene, which has been dominated by the PAP almost effortlessly in recent years. However, as with all else, there can be negative consequences as well. Jeyeratnam has advocated reform tirelessly, and many fear that reform may well introduce much unneeded imbalance in growing Singapore that can only have negative effects. Similarly, there is the possibility that Jeyeratnam would be bankrupted by the Lee family once again, which would almost certainly snuff out his political career.

This article is a bit unique itself because in addition to Jeyeratnams views, there are opposing views as well, stated without quoting in the article. This is quite different from other articles and adds an extra bit of depth to the article; it shows that there are conflicting opinions regarding certain ideas and gives the reader food for thought on political issues in Singapore. Indeed, even outside of that, the article also provides points of view that go against the PAP, such as that of Amnesty International, for which I think, gives the article more coverage depth.

In regards to Jeyeratnam himself, one cannot help but hope somewhat that he is at the very least successful. If he does succeed, it can only mean some good things as it is unlikely he will be able to invoke massive reform, but will in the process give a new opinion and voice in the Parliament and provide more competition to the PAP, who may well be pushed to give better options to the citizens to maintain more seats. At the same time, it would be a much brighter future for Jeyeratnam himself after long years of bankruptcy and certainly a much welcomed change in his life.

Luckily, it appears that for this article there are not many influences that can give cause for my being prejudiced or biased. Since young I have taken very little interest in politics and do not care very much about my family members tendency towards the opposition parties. There may be a possibility of being biased towards Jayaretnam for being bankrupted, which I consider as a rather bad fate, but otherwise I have tried to be objective at all times possible and believe that this article does not show any major signs of prejudice.

3 comments:

RenWei said...

Interpretation: Perceptive ( 3 )
I think that you have gotten the gist of the article quite well. Your analysis about the short-comings of this article is fairly accurate. However, perhaps more attention should be paid to the issue of the effectiveness of this center and what it means if more people are joining such self-help agencies.

Application: Apprentice ( 2 )
Maybe more application of the experience and knowledge you have yourself should be applied to the article in order to bring a personal viewpoint into the picture.

Perspective: Considered ( 3 )
You have considered the issue from several viewpoints including that of the teenagers themselves and also pointed out the narrow viewpoint of the article. However, I think that your dismissal of the teenagers as "are happy at the moment" is not very in-depth. Perhaps more attention could be paid to this point.

Empathy: Sensitive ( 3 )
You appear to have an amount of empathy with the youths themselves. However, as stated above, perhaps more thought could be given to the minority of the youths instead of the "majority" as you have stated.

Self-knowledge: Circumspect ( 3 )
You do know of the assumptions that you have made in the blog post and refer to them towards the end of the post. I think that this indicates a degree of self-knowledge.

RenWei said...

Note: Please ignore the first comment as it is meant for the other post. This is the correct one.

Interpretation: (4)
I think that you have analysed the article and the possible consequences of the issue at hand very well, clearly giving both possible positive and negative sides of the issue. I also think that your point about the new party giving cause for the PAP to improve themselves is very alert as well.

Application: (3)
As you yourself said, you do not really know much about polititics or have much interest in them. However, you have applied the knowledge you gained from the article to determine possible consequences of this for Jeyeratnam. On the other hand, I feel that more effort could be put into considering the reasons why Jeyeratnam actually wishes so strongly to set up an opposition party.

Perspective: ( 2 )
You have mostly considered the issue only from your own viewpoint, although the article was more detailed than that. You should have considered the points of view of the current government and Jeyeratnam and their responses to this issue. Perhaps you could also have analysed the possible consequences of this new party for the public of Singapore.

Empathy: ( 3 )
As with PoV you did not consider enough people. On the other hand, you appear to have an amount of sympathy if not empathy towards Jeyeratnam and you also consider the possibility of biasedness.

RenWei said...

Part 2 of Comment:

Self-knowledge: Circumspect ( 3 )

You did mention in your post that you did not know much about the troubled teenagers and you also referred to your hope that you did not make a mistake in your assumptions about them. I think this is a display of self-knowledge.