The only thing we want to hear about the YOG are positive comments

"Even the newspaper report, I didn't even know about it until I read about it in the papers. It shows that I almost didn't care. I had more important things to do, I had good feedback and good suggestions from so many people, and I focused on that. I didn't lose sleep about that."
-- Vivian Balakrishnan, a Minister

"More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them."
-- Harold J. Smith, a Canadian Mohawk Indian actor

Oh how highly we have positioned ourselves in the name of YOG!

"I think this is not a trifling amount. But it is an amount that will give us value for money in terms of positioning ourselves, in terms of marketing ourselves, in terms of making sure we are on everyone’s radar screen the next time they make an investment decision."
-- Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan


So let's see where are we positioning ourselves and find our spot on the world's radar screen...

• YOG food poisoning - 21 volunteers, 16 from East Coast Park and five from the Singapore Indoor Stadium, were hit by food poisoning after consuming their meals while on duty.


• Food fit-for-maids for YOG volunteers - Change in caterer for meals provided to Youth Olympic Games (YOG) volunteers after a volunteer took a picture of the meal he was served and posted it on his Facebook page, igniting a furore. The meal, served in a plastic box, comprised a mound of rice, a meat fillet and six pieces of long bean.


• Half-empty YOG venues with tickets sold out - Organisers were forced to correct a ticketing problem that has seen scores of empty seats at the Games although tickets have been sold out.


• YOG blackout - A circuit trip at the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex during an evening saw the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) boys’ 10m platform finals delayed for close to 15 minutes. The incident happened while China’s Qiu Bo jumped off the platform in his fourth round dive. While those who were at the venue managed to catch his dive live, TV viewers at home could only see the floodlights going black in the background of their screens when Qiu made his dive.


• Dumb and Dumber YOG commentators - Over at the forum of reputed gymnast magazine “International Gymnast“, angry and bemused fans took turns to take pot shots at the two commentators for the gymnastics events. Even former national gymnast champion Mr Alex Liang had to let it out on her Facebook page.


• Adidas and Nike not allowed in YOG venues - MOE issued an advisory to schools that students going to watch the Games should not bring water bottles with the Nike or adidas logo, only to back off after much complaints from the Internet.


• Arrested for hating YOG - 27 year old project executive Mr Abdul Malik Mohammed Ghazali was arrested by the police for his criticisms of the PAP minister in charge of the YOG Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on the “I hate YOG” Facebook. He had written that it was time to “burn the sports minister and the PAP” and to “rally together and vote them out”.

So Mr Minister, are we in the correct position now?

The people were never blaming the athletes and volunteers

"I wish the cynics would just focus their negative energy on me, and let the athletes and volunteers have the time of their lives."
-- Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan

Hang on.

Mr Minister, let's just step aback and take a look at what the people have been unhappy about...

• How the government now expects to spend S$387 million on the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) - a three-fold increase from initial estimate of S$122 million in 2008, when the republic won the bid to host the Games.


• How the volunteers were fed sub-standard food, and worse, even escalated to food poisoning.


• How school children are warned not to bring any branded water bottle to the venues, particularly from Nike and Adidas.


• Ho the parents of Daryl Tan, Singapore's first YOG medalist, missed his parents at the match because they could not get any ticket, when the venue turned up half-empty because many of the empty seats were tickets that were allocated to schools.


• How the government suggested and insulted Singaporeans that they are not gracious enough to give way to YOG vehicles, and thus a fine has to be in place.

Seriously, the list could go on, and none of the criticism was ever vaguely related to the athletes and volunteers.

No sir, it is the authority that the people are unhappy with. Not the athletes and volunteers.

The YOG venue may be half-empty, but sorry, tickets sold out!

When asked about the situation of the embarrassing YOG ticket sales, this is what Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Teo Ser Luck had to say...

"I wouldn’t say we are disappointed, I think we are quite happy with the ticket sales so far but I also hope more Singaporeans will also support the games and Team Singapore."

But when Singaporeans decided to be supportive, all tickets to the half-empty venues are sold out.

'Toughest fight of my life'
Daryl is Singapore's bronze-medal hero
Source: Todayonline.com

SINGAPORE - Daryl Tan thrilled a nation when he secured Singapore's first medal yesterday in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.

The taekwondo exponent reached the semi-finals of the 55kg division and was guaranteed a medal, with no play-off for third place.

His bout in the last four against Iran's world junior champion Kaveh Rezaei was watched by many VIPs, among them Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan.

But not his mum and dad, Amy Yeoh and Raymond Tan, who were unable to get tickets.

It was a shame, especially when Hall 401 at the International Convention Centre at Suntec City, which holds a capacity of 840, was half-empty when Daryl took on the Iranian star. According to a source close to the event, many of the empty seats were tickets that were allocated to schools.

The schoolchildren missed out on a special occasion for Singapore.

If this is not a number game, I don't know what is.

We must robustly defend the integrity of our institutions of justice and law enforcement. Start by finding it.

"We must robustly defend the integrity of our institutions of justice and law enforcement when anyone maliciously attacks and undermines the public confidence and trust which have been earned over the years."

-- Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng


And that is with the assumption that the integrity of our institutions of justice and law enforcement is indeed sound and effective. But is it? Let's check...

Former MOM officer jailed six months for corruption
Source: TodayOnline.com

SINGAPORE - A former senior investigation officer with the Ministry of Manpower was sentenced to six months' jail yesterday for corruption.

Gordon Tan Hock Lye, 34, who pleaded guilty, was also ordered to pay a penalty of $1,000.

In January 2006, Tan told a female Chinese national who had been caught by the police for working at a massage parlour that he could help close the case for $3,000.

On Jan 23, 2006, he contacted Ms Wu Huixia and arranged to meet her at a coffee shop along Joo Chiat Road for the money.

Ms Wu said she only had $1,000. When the two met at the coffeeshop, Ms Wu passed Tan the cash. He kept the money and was arrested by Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) officers soon after.

Unknown to Tan, Ms Wu had approached the CPIB the previous day to lodge a complaint.

Yesterday, District Judge Jill Tan asked the prosecution why there was a delay in bringing the case to court.

The prosecution said investigations were ongoing all the time and cited Justice V K Rajah's comments that the CPIB had taken four to five years to complete investigations in an appeal case that was heard before him in June.

DJ Tan said later in her judgement: "Given that you (Tan) were caught red-handed, I'm unable to see why this case has taken so long to come to the court."

Tan had previously been charged with computer misuse for allegedly helping two Chinese masseuses modify the renewal of their special passes in 2005.

The court agreed to the prosecution's application for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for the two charges. It was not explained why this was agreed upon.

A former MOM senior investigation officer told a female Chinese national who had been caught by the police for working at a massage parlour that he could help close the case for $3,000. Enough said about his integrity as a member of our institutions of justice and law enforcement.

But hang on... the offense was committed in January 2006, yet the CPIB had taken four to five years to complete investigations on a man that is caught red-handed. That illustrates the efficiency of our institutions of justice and law enforcement. They certainly need to get better and betterer.

And here's the best part. This former MOM senior investigation officer is not new to breaking the law. He had previously been charged with computer misuse for allegedly helping two Chinese masseuses modify the renewal of their special passes in 2005. One may really wonder, how did someone with such record stayed on as a senior investigation officer?