So it's Workers' Party candidate Png Eng Huat (huat ah!) against People's Action Party candidate Desmond Choo (ah choo!). Bless you.
It has been debated whether this by-election is a national or "local" issue, which I believe is a usage of the word "local" that Singaporeans aren't familiar with.
More often, "local" is used to describe things that most Singaporeans don't care much about or even have disdain for, as in "local artistes", "local music", "local TV shows" and "local sports".
In this case, it means: If you don't live in Hougang, should you care about the by-election?
Even though I'm not a Houganger (or is it Hougangite? Hougangian? Hougangsta?), I still care about the by-election because it will determine whether the Opposition keeps or loses a seat in Parliament.
Also, it's just fun to see who the loser will be.
I usually root for the underdog to win, but in this case, I'm not sure who the underdog is. The guy who already lost once before or the guy from the same party as the guy who was kicked out of the party, which led to all this kerfuffle.
Anyway, this whole "national or local issue" issue got me wondering whether other recent issues are national issues or not.
For instance, the SingTel mioTV disruptions during the live telecast of the deciding match of the English Premier League (EPL) season.
SingTel blamed viewers for switching channels at the same time between the Manchester City-Queens Park Rangers and Sunderland-Manchester United matches.
I didn't know there were so many QPR and Sunderland fans in Singapore.
My own conspiracy theory is that since SingTel has the same corporate colour as the Red Devils, who failed to win the league title this year, the telco simply had to ruin it for everyone else.
Or maybe it's the universe's way of punishing football fans in Singapore for not caring enough about "local" football.
But is this a national issue?
Or does it only concern mioTV subscribers - albeit rather vocal mioTV subscribers?
The Media Development Authority pretty much made it a national issue by saying it is investigating the disruptions. Will there be a another long tedious inquiry like for the MRT train disruptions?
I remember how unhappy EPL fans were in 2009 when SingTel won the exclusive EPL broadcasting rights from StarHub. Now they finally have a good reason to be.
Back then, having to get another set-top box was such a major issue that it was actually addressed in Parliament. Hey, as long as we got our priorities right.I'm beginning to understand why "local" actress Felicia Chin doesn't think much of "local" men.
I may be generalising here (like Chin), but I believe the majority of EPL fans are men, even though I'm not one myself. (An EPL fan, I mean)
Chin, who is single, reportedly complained that Singapore men "lack quality", are "lacking in substance" and not "mature" like her father.
Is this a national issue?
Yes, it is. We have lost enough of our hot actresses to foreign men - Joanne Peh, Jamie Yeo, Sharon Au ...okay, maybe Au is not so hot, but you get my point.
And judging by her comments, I think Chin is headed that way too.
Man up, Singapore men! It's a matter of national pride.
Which brings me to my third thing - people queuing for hours for a new computer game, Diablo III.
Is this a national issue?
You bet, because how are you geeks going to impress a babe like Felicia Chin if you spend hours queuing for a computer game, then more hours struggling to log on to the Diablo servers and even more hours, days and weeks playing it?
It's like gift-wrapping our hot actresses for all the Bobby Tonellis of the world. They are the real Diablos.And now billionaire Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin has given up his US citizenship and is reportedly living the high life in Singapore (not in China).
Is this a national issue?
Yes, more competition for Singapore men.
I mean, this is the guy in the movie The Social Network who was played by the guy who’s the new Spider-Man. What chance do we have against Spidey?
If only we could have an election to vote for who Felicia Chin should date.
I understand Glenn Ong may be available again. Dr Poh Lee Guan could be the backup candidate.
- Published in The New Paper, 20 May 2012
Hey Smong,
Let's get to the f-ing point and get the head honcho of Singtel to say a few words abt d disruptions.
Softer ALL, he had a LOT to say n brag about wen he snagged this from Star Hub. Let's hear Wat the F he has to brag abt his wonderful product that he had brought to the screens.
Now on d subject of soccer, euros is being brought to US by StarHub that other gem of a Provider!!!
Last world Cup, They bragged about bringing it all to u on 3 or more platforms. Tv, Hp n Internet.
Alas only one of d three passed the test. No guess for getting whh one survived the grueling test.
Whenever I tried to log-on to IP or Hp protocol - it Failed n failed miserably.
StarHub reason- too many pple trying to access this service. The cheek of it all. Doesn't it sound familiar!!
After all Singtel/ StarHub. Is d right pocket/left pocket of our great govt money making machinery.
To fuck with the people who pay thru their noses for wanting to get decent coverage at decent rates.
Never mind that. After charging us the sun n moon to watch these games. They then tell us it's our fault that things went wrong.
What the Fuck. Only can happen in spore. Pay and pay so much and still e d up gettin FUCKed good and proper.
And all pple in d press, u included can do, is make a JOKE out of it.
Hey wake up man. And wrote a piece condeming this type of treatment they dish out to d good pple of spore.
Write something in defense of the common man n d masses.
Or else like That Neil HUMP-Frees guy says: Eat my balls.
And while we are on the subject of Dear Felicia, if she thinks that all spore men are Shit n wants some one like her Father..... Simple.... Tell her to go ....
Errrr... Better not. ..... That wld b
incestuous!!!!
But tell it to her, next time should you BUMP into her.
Michael Lim (Sent from iPhone)
