19 Jan 2005

Anti-terror tops Singapore agenda:

or my preferred title, BIG BROTHER IS REAL.

If you don't feel paranoid, that you are being watched, then you are living in 'lah-lah-land'.

[World News]: Singapore, Jan 17 : Several Singapore ministries have set anti-terror and anti-crime as top priorities in their agenda for the years to come, Xinhua reports.

Domestically, police will make use of rapid DNA fingerprinting sensors at crime scenes to upgrade their forensic capabilities and establish a bomb database to facilitate investigations into blasts, media reports said Monday.

The National Security Coordination Secretariat plans to build up a horizon scanning capability to help identify possible terrorist threats while the Singapore Armed Forces will coordinate with other agencies to launch actions against the threats.

The responsibilities of the ministry of law include strengthening Singapore's legal system to deal with trans-national crimes, terrorism and terrorism-related issues and identifying regional and bilateral legal instruments and UN conventions on terror.

As far as foreign relations are concerned, Singapore will keep good relations with all major powers in the world while maintaining its autonomy.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will endeavour to enhance relations between Singapore and its neighbouring countries, especially with Indonesia and Malaysia.

The ministry advocated that members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) work together as politics, economics and security are bound up together in the process of globalisation and that no country can fight against terrorism alone.


Indo-Asian News Service

Below is a related article. Singapore had few civil liberties, now you have even fewer...


The Power of Nightmares


The threat of the evil-doers is now being used to invade schools and remove civil liberties from Singaporeans. Cameras in lecture halls, sounds like someone is frightened of what may be said in those rooms. The threat from 'terrorism' is the fear of an idea. When will the cameras be removed? Is there a timeline for installation and 'removal'?

Who will protect Singaporeans from their so called protectors?

The press became accustomed to publishing scare stories and not retracting them; politicians became accustomed to responding to supposed threats rather than questioning them; the public became accustomed to the idea that some sort of apocalypse might be just around the corner. "Insecurity is the key driving concept of our times," says Durodie. "Politicians have packaged themselves as risk managers. There is also a demand from below for protection." The real reason for this insecurity, he argues, is the decay of the 20th century's political belief systems and social structures: people have been left "disconnected" and "fearful".

The making of the terror myth

Yes, what occurred in Beslan was terrible, does the government have any evidence that such an attack was being planned, or is their argument going to be that it 'might' happen. The making of choices based on the idea of 'worst possible' scenario tends to hand control to those with the most frightening nightmares. Rule by fear has replaced the promise of hope.

"Those with the darkest fears became the most powerful."

Read on...


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