Monday, August 15, 2011
MediaCorp Channel 5 News
Anyone knows what happened to tonight's (15 Aug'11) News on Five at 21:30hrs?
Friday, August 12, 2011
ST Forum Page Letter on National Service
Next year marks the 45th year of National Service (NS) in Singapore.
Time flies. I still recall, somewhat vividly, reporting on the opening of the Army Museum during the 40th year of NS.
The letter below on NS from Ms Looi Pek Hong is worth reading and reflecting upon. I am quite sure Ms Looi isn't alone in nursing such sentiments.
One hopes that the Singaporean Ministry of Defence and Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will engage NS stakeholders with meaningful activities. These could include dialogue sessions and camp visits as Singaporeans need an opportunity to clear up unfinished business on NS matters such as the White Horse issue and NS deferments.
The Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com/
Published on Aug 12, 2011
National service: A mother's constant worry
By Looi Pek Hong (Ms)
As a mother of a full-time national serviceman (NSF) who is nine months into his national service and who has just graduated from the Specialist Cadet School, I feel the pain of the parents of Third Sergeant Ee Chun Sheng ('NSF on training exercise dies'; Aug 3).
Each day, since my son began fulfilling his NS obligations, I have lived in fear of the telephone ringing, or of a soldier in uniform calling at my house, to break some painful news.
We can live with the sores and cuts that he comes home with, but we fear the day we will never see him come home again.
Every year, thousands of our boys leave their homes, their studies or their jobs to fulfil their obligations to the nation. All they and we, their parents, ask for is their safe return two years later.
Why are there fatal accidents involving our NSFs almost every year? Why do they happen even after inquiries and investigations reveal that procedures were followed and safety measures were in place?
The Defence Ministry should correct this distressing record. Let us, the parents of current and future NSFs, live and sleep in peace.
Time flies. I still recall, somewhat vividly, reporting on the opening of the Army Museum during the 40th year of NS.
The letter below on NS from Ms Looi Pek Hong is worth reading and reflecting upon. I am quite sure Ms Looi isn't alone in nursing such sentiments.
One hopes that the Singaporean Ministry of Defence and Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) will engage NS stakeholders with meaningful activities. These could include dialogue sessions and camp visits as Singaporeans need an opportunity to clear up unfinished business on NS matters such as the White Horse issue and NS deferments.
The Straits Times
http://www.straitstimes.com/
Published on Aug 12, 2011
National service: A mother's constant worry
By Looi Pek Hong (Ms)
As a mother of a full-time national serviceman (NSF) who is nine months into his national service and who has just graduated from the Specialist Cadet School, I feel the pain of the parents of Third Sergeant Ee Chun Sheng ('NSF on training exercise dies'; Aug 3).
Each day, since my son began fulfilling his NS obligations, I have lived in fear of the telephone ringing, or of a soldier in uniform calling at my house, to break some painful news.
We can live with the sores and cuts that he comes home with, but we fear the day we will never see him come home again.
Every year, thousands of our boys leave their homes, their studies or their jobs to fulfil their obligations to the nation. All they and we, their parents, ask for is their safe return two years later.
Why are there fatal accidents involving our NSFs almost every year? Why do they happen even after inquiries and investigations reveal that procedures were followed and safety measures were in place?
The Defence Ministry should correct this distressing record. Let us, the parents of current and future NSFs, live and sleep in peace.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
National Day Parade 2011: Celebrating the Singapore Spirit
NDP 2011 will start soon.
Follow the "live" telecast of the parade by clicking here from 18:10 Hotel Time (10:10 Zulu).
Appreciate your thoughts on the NDP 2011 coverage by the print, broadcast and Internet media.
Happy National Day everyone!
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen's first press call at military exercise: More creativity needed in MINDEF/SAF defence media relations
Same old, same old: 2 August 2011, Pulau Sudong
1 August 2003, Pulau Sudong
Eight years after storming the hell out of a beach on Pulau Sudong, the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) were at it yet again on Tuesday (2 August 2011).
War games were staged on the island off Singapore for the new Minister for Defence, Dr Ng Eng Hen, to make his first press call at an SAF exercise.
It was an impressive setting as the exercise was about as tri-Service as one could ask for. Army, navy and air force elements were conveniently composed in one frame, with the action suggesting the brown water power projection capabilities of Singapore's war machine.
Though the SAF has made great strides in its people, war fighting concepts and defence technology, the media plan for Dr Ng seemed
On 1 August 2003, the Singaporean media was invited to the same beach to watch the same landing sequence, albeit without attack helicopter support as our Apaches were then still with Peace Vanguard in the United States.
Rather than repeat what defence watchers have seen before, Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) spin doctors should have used the opportunity to showcase a new, improved and more lethal SAF.
A strong deterrent message could have been sent to the
If one wanted to be more ambitious, the manoeuvre elements could be tracked during an overseas exercise with the live-fire elements on another continent.
The amount of C2 and coordination such an enterprise demands would speak volumes of the SAF's defence readiness.
It would also offer shutter bugs from the mainstream media a new setting rather than having them capture how Sudong's treeline has aged in the past eight years.
It is infinitely easier to run the same PR gig all over again. But defence watchers on the Singapore desk in regional countries who are trained to pick out trends and highlight capability developments would surely notice the rehashed camera angles and talking points.
The deterrent effect is blunted further when informed observers realise that the beach landing tactics are little changed from WW2 amphibious landing tactics.
Watching the Sudong beach landing sequence, Singaporeans who recall the opening scenes of the block buster Saving Private Ryan might be horrified at the thought of impending casualties when they are supposed to feel reassured at the vigilance of our men and women in uniform.
Imagine then what foreign defence observers might think.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Singapore Armed Forces OPFOR training ground
ST Life 4 August 2011
Was pleasantly surprised to see that photographer Ang Song Nian was allowed to take pictures of the oil palm plantation on Pulau Tekong, Singapore's largest offshore island which is exclusively used by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF).
I have yet to see such a direct reference between oil palm plantations in an SAF training area and those in Malaysia. The SAF also maintains rubber plantations on Tekong and mainland Singapore for its ground forces to stage war games.
The pictures will be part of an art show titled Imagine Malaysia.
The text of the Life! story reads:"Award-winning photographers Robert Zhao and Ang Song Nian both depict the uneasy relationship between the two countries through photographs laden with strong visual puns and symbols.
"Zhao's work features a lion and tiger while Ang's photograph diptych features what look like similar images.
"But one is a Malaysian oil palm plantation, the other is Pulau Tekong, the training site of Singapore's pool of soldiers in the event of war."
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Singapore Armed Forces training safety in the spotlight once again
Military training was suspended for a day on Wednesday after the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) reported one fatality out of two training incidents over the past three days.
Singaporeans who are tracking the SAF's safety record may ask why such time-outs, which allow the SAF to review and reassess safety protocols, only seem to be triggered after training incidents take place consecutively.
In June 2008, the Singaporean Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and SAF announced a three-day "time-out on physical and endurance training" after suffering two deaths in as many days.
In March 1997, the SAF halted training temporarily after three full-time National Servicemen died in two fatal incidents. Two NSFs were killed when their FH-2000 155mm heavy artillery gun blew up in New Zealand because of a defective Made in China fuze. One NSF was killed in Singapore after an unexploded warhead from a misfired Armbrust light anti-tank weapon picked up by infantrymen blew up. Five others were injured, including a Lieutenant who lost his arm.
But no training halts were reported in 2009 eventhough the 10 deaths that year is the highest on record. Do you wonder why?
Taken at face value, people might nurse the wrong idea that training deaths spread out over time have less impact on SAF safety awareness compared to a string of deaths over a compressed timeframe. Such logic may be flawed, but this is what defence watchers may conclude after trying to figure out when an incident merits a training halt and when it does not.
SAF training halts are discussed at length in a previous blog entry here. An audit on SAF training safety for the 2001 to 2010 period by this blog can be found here.
With the latest incidents both involving Specialist Cadets, unit morale is likely to take a hit. The loss is probably keenly felt among budding Specialists. SAF commanders and Specialist Cadet School instructors must therefore step forward to help the young soldiers cope with the loss of one of their own during this trying time.
Superstitious minds - and there are many of all races out there - who have theorised that these incidents could be linked to the Hungry Ghost month, which started on Sunday, are wrong.
During the decade just past, the month of August emerged as one of the safest months along with February, March and December with one fatality logged for each of these months. August usually coincides with the Chinese Seventh Month, which is also known as the Hungry Ghost month.
For the record, the deadliest month from 2001 to 2010 was June, with eight deaths during the period.
Internet chatter over the training deaths show once again that Singaporeans will demand, and are indeed entitled to, a clear and frank appraisal of the SAF's training safety record.
Telling Singaporeans realistic training is necessary and that training fatalities may occur despite all best efforts is of cold comfort to those with loved ones in uniform.
Whether MINDEF/SAF chooses to shares such statistics or not, Singaporeans will form their own ideas anyway.
And if people are going to do so, the system should help them make up their minds on the basis of accurate and reliable statistics, not street talk and wild rumours.
Singaporeans who are tracking the SAF's safety record may ask why such time-outs, which allow the SAF to review and reassess safety protocols, only seem to be triggered after training incidents take place consecutively.
In June 2008, the Singaporean Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) and SAF announced a three-day "time-out on physical and endurance training" after suffering two deaths in as many days.
In March 1997, the SAF halted training temporarily after three full-time National Servicemen died in two fatal incidents. Two NSFs were killed when their FH-2000 155mm heavy artillery gun blew up in New Zealand because of a defective Made in China fuze. One NSF was killed in Singapore after an unexploded warhead from a misfired Armbrust light anti-tank weapon picked up by infantrymen blew up. Five others were injured, including a Lieutenant who lost his arm.
But no training halts were reported in 2009 eventhough the 10 deaths that year is the highest on record. Do you wonder why?
Taken at face value, people might nurse the wrong idea that training deaths spread out over time have less impact on SAF safety awareness compared to a string of deaths over a compressed timeframe. Such logic may be flawed, but this is what defence watchers may conclude after trying to figure out when an incident merits a training halt and when it does not.
SAF training halts are discussed at length in a previous blog entry here. An audit on SAF training safety for the 2001 to 2010 period by this blog can be found here.
With the latest incidents both involving Specialist Cadets, unit morale is likely to take a hit. The loss is probably keenly felt among budding Specialists. SAF commanders and Specialist Cadet School instructors must therefore step forward to help the young soldiers cope with the loss of one of their own during this trying time.
Superstitious minds - and there are many of all races out there - who have theorised that these incidents could be linked to the Hungry Ghost month, which started on Sunday, are wrong.
During the decade just past, the month of August emerged as one of the safest months along with February, March and December with one fatality logged for each of these months. August usually coincides with the Chinese Seventh Month, which is also known as the Hungry Ghost month.
For the record, the deadliest month from 2001 to 2010 was June, with eight deaths during the period.
Internet chatter over the training deaths show once again that Singaporeans will demand, and are indeed entitled to, a clear and frank appraisal of the SAF's training safety record.
Telling Singaporeans realistic training is necessary and that training fatalities may occur despite all best efforts is of cold comfort to those with loved ones in uniform.
Whether MINDEF/SAF chooses to shares such statistics or not, Singaporeans will form their own ideas anyway.
And if people are going to do so, the system should help them make up their minds on the basis of accurate and reliable statistics, not street talk and wild rumours.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Mastering the art of social media communications: Substance over form, message over medium
If your message is worth sharing, you can trust netizens will do the job for you.
The more valuable or interesting the content, the faster it will spread. And when the message blazes through cyberspace like wildfire, your message would have gone viral.
A good example is the picture of the maid who carried the fullpack of a Singaporean full-time National Serviceman (NSF). Many of you would have seen it. No need to repost.
Here we have the example of an image with no author, subjects still unnamed, a picture with no caption, and material with no press officer or media plan.
Still, it went viral and made the news in the city-state and abroad.
Mainstream print and broadcast media reported on that now-infamous image. The number of eyeballs that single image attracted in the virtual world and the impact it made in the real world exemplify the pervasive reach of social media.
Mastering the intricacies of social media goes beyond understanding the technical aspects of every function on Facebook, every iPad app or having the largest number of followers on one's Twitter account.
Newsmakers who want to master the art of social media should concentrate on the basics. This means paying attention to substance over the form, message over medium. Let the blogosphere do the rest.
This may sound simple, indeed commonsense. But doing so will demand a mindset change from control freak newsmakers who cherry pick the reporters allowed to show up at their press conferences.
Some are even known to go to the extent of underlining key paragraphs of their speeches or press communiques so journalists won't miss the news point.
Substance over form also means ditching stunts such as being the fastest to respond on Facebook or answering queries on one's Facebook discussion wall in the wee hours of the morning. This pace cannot be sustained. When it drops, netizens will notice and your lack of attention will come back to haunt you.
Ignore journalists who spin stories like these because being quick on the draw is meaningless if the content of your message says nothing or is choked with motherhood statements.
A friend once mentioned that he found it amusing how officers in the Defence Ministry tended to add all sorts of bells and whistles to their Powerpoint presentations - animated text, pictures, video clips etc - instead of keeping the messages clear, easy to understand and remember.
In the social media realm, it is all to easy to get obsessed over every function that a virtual medium offers, rather than focus on what you really want to tell your audience.
Remember too that a Facebook presence does not equate to an effective social media presence. Facebook may be today's flavour of the day and medium of choice for social media advocates. But so was Friendster and ICQ not so long ago.
If one concentrates on ensuring messages are shared proactively and ground sentiments heard and addressed, then that message will spread whatever medium may excite us today or years from now.
What we're seeing today is the tendency for certain political figures to use their Facebook pages to connect with people. These virtual updates are then dutifully reported by the mainstream media, which is the reverse of how government media relations officers are trained to run the show.
Never ditch the traditional media for the gimmicky, 24/7 reach of virtual world communications.
Your communications strategy on red hot talking points, such as housing prices, could just as well be explained with the time-tested combo of background briefings for reporters/editors, a clear and concise news release plus fact sheet, a door-stop interview, with a news story and commentary piece written for good measure to give the background to the news. Commentaries allow your advocates to shape hearts and minds by injecting opinions and viewpoints that could subtly influence readers.
Avoid theatrics such as one-time only online chats. If one's grassroots intelligence and feedback mechanisms work as they should, one need not rely on the brutal candor gleaned from such real-time virtual chats. The worst they can do is make netizens feel used as a PR prop, with their queries amassed like virtual tributes to show how engaged and plugged in the newsmaker is.
Listening and engaging netizens demands a certain tenacity to accommodate viewpoints that run counter to one's point of view (POV).
The "noise" generated during discussions, especially when people can mask their identity with fake personas, means you should be ready to hear all POVs. Yes, even contrarian ones from what one MP calls the "lunatic fringe".
In the real world, half your battle is won by using the MICA press accreditation system to screen your scribes. This does not work in the virtual world.
Seeking a semblance of control, some have taken to driving hecklers and unfriendly voices from their websites. The act of sanitising comments on one's Facebook page by purging hecklers who get on one's nerves is not recommended. It will show you have low or no tolerance for dissenting voices or an impatience at consensus building with well meaning netizens who may hold stubbornly to their POV through lack of knowledge or insufficient guidance.
All it does is cull your discussants to
And as residents from the Maplewoods condo will tell you, the art of effective communications requires active intervention at all junctures when your residents' living space will be affected.
If you can't hide a hole in the road big enough to accommodate a tunnel boring machine, tell residents what to expect before the excavators move in.
Holding belated town hall sessions and presenting them a fait accompli, and putting the residents on a guilt trip for delaying national infrastructure by a month is a sure way of damaging goodwill. If there's even one road traffic accident despite official assurances, how do you think the Maplewoods residents will react?
With Singapore's 12th Parliament elected during the 2011 Generation Election (GE 2011) due to hold its first session on 10 October, netizens are already talking about the rematch during GE 2016.
Singapore's ruling People's Action Party has evidently taken heed of the impact of social media during GE 2011.
Former party chairman Lim Boon Heng said on 22 July during an appreciation dinner for retired MPs: "Whoever masters the art of communication gets his message across to the people. No one has matched founding Secretary-General and our first Prime Minister in speaking at public rallies. He mastered the medium of the day, first radio, then television. Today there is a new medium - social media - that has to be mastered."
Substance over form, message over medium is what your
Anything with more PR spin would be a virtual world version of Chinese street opera known as wayang - old school and entertaining in a quaint way, but a dying art.
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