TODAYonline
offthebeatenpath personally feels that the heading should be, "voting must not only be secret, it must be seen to be secret"...
------------------------------------------
voting must be seen to be secret
Review current voting practices to ensure that the objective of a secret vote is always achieved
Tuesday • May 16, 2006
Siew Kum Hong
YOUR polling card states which voting lane you must use. The serial number of the ballot slip issued to you is recorded against your name. "They" can trace you, and "they" will blacklist or even "get" you, if you vote for the Opposition.
This is the urban legend that never dies, is raised and dismissed every election. It surfaced before and during the recent campaign, and continues to be talked about even days after Polling Day. It has a longevity surpassing the campaign and the issues raised.
Yes, credit must be given where it is due. I have voted twice, and voting was a breeze on both occasions: Fast, simple and efficient, a bit of an anti-climax even. That is no mean feat, and the Elections Department deserves fulsome praise for it.
But people do fear that voting is not secret, and it is not limited to the uneducated, the paranoid or virgin voters.
On Polling Day, a civil servant in her mid-30s told me how proud she was of herself, and how adult she felt — because she had finally overcame her fears and voted according to her conscience, something she had not been able to do in past elections.
It is worrisome when even professionals and repeat voters are afraid. It would be a mistake to simply dismiss these fears as being irrational and unjustified, without taking concrete steps to address them.
The main grouses surround the serialised ballot slips, the recording of serial numbers, and the allocated voting lanes.
The Elections Department has stated that the reasons are to deter ballot stuffing, prevent voter impersonation, and make voting smoother ("Why your vote is secret", May 10). But have they accomplished those objectives?
The serialisation of ballot slips neither prevents nor deters ballot stuffing. It only makes obvious any attempt to do so.
But even without this, any discrepancy between the number of voters and ballots would still be obvious — given how strictly the identities of voters are tracked. In any case, the only way to prevent ballot stuffing is to ensure the presence and vigilance of election officers and candidates' agents at all points of the process — which is already done.
The recording of serial numbers is to prevent impersonation. But a voter must produce both his identity card (IC) and polling card before voting. This is known as the two-factor authentication, whereby there are two criteria to be fulfilled before a person's identity is authenticated. It is more secure than the single-factor authentication used for online governmental transactions (SingPass) and Internet banking (password).
If a person loses or misplaces his IC, the polling card would have been sent to his address and would not have been lost. If a person changes his address, whoever received the polling card would not have the IC. Only persons close to someone would have access to both his IC and polling card — a situation that is hardly conducive to electoral fraud.
And if a person's identity is impersonated, then the problem lies in a failure by the voting officer to match the photograph in the IC with the person presenting it. The recording of serial numbers does not prevent this risk at all.
Furthermore, what happens if someone does allege that a third party had impersonated him to cast a vote? Will the Elections Department search through every ballot to identify the ballot corresponding to the complainant? But what would this achieve? And without CCTV footage of every single vote cast, how would the authorities ascertain that the complainant had not, in fact, cast the vote which is now being challenged?
Finally, I am not convinced that allocation of voting lanes is necessary for smooth voting. Why can't allocation of voting lanes be done on the spot? After all, that is how Changi Airport manages its taxi queues, and it does a wonderful job of channelling masses of people to different stations.
Just as justice must be done and seen to be done, voting must be secret and seen to be secret. The reality is that some voters are unconvinced that their votes are secret. Therefore, the onus is on the authorities to review the practices in question and determine whether they are needed and whether they actually achieve their stated objectives.
Otherwise, say what we will about the integrity of the electoral process and the need to defend it, some people will always view the process as flawed and suspect, and that is not an ideal situation to have in an otherwise efficient system.
The writer is a lawyer commenting in his personal capacity.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Saturday, May 13, 2006
2006 Parliamentary Election Results
Singapore Elections
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Broadcast - May 13, 2006 @ The Substation
a good line-up, pity that concave scream will not be performing...
Monday, May 08, 2006
Drowning in France's alphabet soup
BBC NEWS | Programmes | From Our Own Correspondent | Drowning in France's alphabet soup
looks likesingapore isn't the only country obsessed with acronyms...
looks likesingapore isn't the only country obsessed with acronyms...
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Greens must come out of the woods
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Greens must come out of the woods
agree with this article, the greens must first concentrate on issues that the man on the street can connect with.
agree with this article, the greens must first concentrate on issues that the man on the street can connect with.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Media holds its own in trust poll
BBC NEWS
This discovery doesn't bode well for our world. Not that offthebeatenpath feel that people should trust their governments more. People should not simply trust something without checking, regardless of the source.
This discovery doesn't bode well for our world. Not that offthebeatenpath feel that people should trust their governments more. People should not simply trust something without checking, regardless of the source.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Antec NSK2400 Media PC Case
silentpcreview.com
finally, a review of a PC case which offthebeatenpath thinks, is going to be a success story. Seems like SPCR had a hand in the design. Good news then, as the Antec P180 [their first collaboration] was a very good effort.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Ground Zero construction begins
BBC NEWS | Americas | Ground Zero construction begins: "Mr Silverstein signed a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center less than two months before the 11 September 2001 attacks." This was the sentence that stood out in the article. The conspiracy theorist in my basically kicked into high gear...more research needed.
Monday, April 24, 2006
Fringe Schedule: 19th Singapore International Film Festival '06
Fringe Schedule: 19th Singapore International Film Festival '06
Friday, 7th April
7.00pm
Speaking Up
Since the end of the ‘80s, Hong Kong has been through tremendous changes - re-unification with China, economic downturn, political reform, etc, have all greatly affected the way of life. In the film, about 60 people are invited to talk about their views on several major socio-economic and political issues.
Director: Tammy Cheung
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 60min
Year: 2005
Rating: PG
Quite good for the first 15 minutes, it then becomes a bore, as its non-stop talking heads. The people talking are placed in the middle of the frame, with a bare white background. I was interesting to see the different ordinary faces of Hongkongers [not like the movie stars we see], but the faces start repeating. I feel that it could have been shorter. but the fact that it made me consider repackaging what I always wanted to do, a human rights film, into one talking about transparency, is a good result.
Sound of Footsteps on the Pavement (PG)
About a bunch of guys trying to save the imminent takeover of their favorite coffee shop by an apparel company. A strange scenario to showcase non-violent action, but quite different.
9.00pm
Coffee and Milk (PG)
Milk is a 6th grader who takes pictures with a camera every day, training to someday be like ARAKI, the Japanese photographer. He is in love with a woman 12 years older than him named Coffee, who is deaf from birth. He tries to imagine what kind of world Coffee lives in, and at first, attempts to fill in what he thinks is lacking there, and fails. Next, the thinks about what his world and hers have in common. He grows by experiencing love, not because Coffee is older than he is, but because she mercilessly hurls her pain in Milk’s direction. Her seriousness is moving, and so when Milk tries to build a bridge again without giving up, his efforts are moving, too.
Director: Izuru Kumasaka
Country: Japan
Duration: 30min
Year: 2004
Rating: N.A
The usual heartwarming kid story. At first, it doesn't seem clear what the kid is photographing, a sleeping passenger, an old lady, plates being broken, aha. He's trying to photograph sound. The keyword here is trying. He also tries to experience what the lady feels, but putting on earplugs. When the lady gets all worked up because what he shows here makes her even more depressed, he sort of gets lost. Acting by the deaf lady could be better, but still a nice watch.
Lonely Planet (PG)
Traveling from one city to another, everyone is searching for something. Back and forth, we are only looking for a chance to start over again.
Director: Tsang Tsui Shan
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 25min
Year: 2005
Rating: N.A
2 close friends, talking about what they should do with their lives. One of those "lets laze around and think about life" films...
She3 (PG)
The director continues her fascination with the relationships between females, this time in the form of a personal documentary of the everyday lives of her mother and grandmother, capturing the different views of life from women of three different ages.
Director: Tsang Tsui Shan
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 25min
Year: 2005
Rating: N.A
Same director, better film. This documentary is natural, with the director filming her own mum & grandmum. You can see them going about their lives, zhi4 de2 qi2 le4. Nice look at rural Hong Kong.
Saturday, 8th April
2.00pm
Girni (PG)
10-year-old Samir lives in a chawl in a metropolis in India with his widowed mother and grandfather. An easily available means to earn money is a grinding machine which brings with it a horrible, incessant and oppressive sound that not only takes away the physical but the mental space of the whole family. Samir’s innocent mind is alert to this oppression and rebels against it.
Rage against the machine, literally. Well shot, but the story is a bit, shall we say, "commercial".
Terlena (PG)
Documentary about a nation that still believes the propaganda created by one general and his army. This film gives voice to those silenced during the dictatorship of Soeharto, and takes an in-depth look both on a cultural and personal level.
A powerful documentary, about how true events can be manipulated through propaganda.
4.00pm
The Three Dots (PG)
Abortion, Corruption & Cops (PG)
7.00pm
Indonesian Shorts 1
• A Very Boring Conversation
• Mail
• We are the Children of Indonesia too (PG)
• Lukas' Moment (PG)
9.00pm
The Fish (PG)
One Shot
Replay Revenge
Sunday, 9th April
2.00pm
Indonesian Shorts 2
• Bomb'n
• 60 Years
• To Die For
• Live Under the Same Sun
• Part II: Hell (PG)
• R.I 1 (PG)
• A Moment In and Out of Time (PG)
• Already the Evening Sun (PG)
4.00pm
Putek (PG)
Haus of Sing
7.00pm
Migrant Workers are not Terrorists (PG)
Tehran Taxi (PG)
Undo (PG)
Monkey Dance
Prayers from Kawthoolei (PG)
9.00pm
Skein (PG)
Al-Anfal (PG)
Waking Up a Nation (PG)
Monday, 10th April
7.00pm
Short Films of Ma Chun Fu (M18)
Tears (PG)
House of Sleeping Beauty (R21)
9.00pm
Indian Shorts by Sainath Choudhury
• Village Football (PG)
• The Stranger (PG)
• Cataract (PG)
Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker
Tuesday, 11th April
7.00pm
Tale of Carpet Flower (G)
Puppy (NC16)
9.00pm
What I'm looking For
Parajanov
Wednesday, 12th April
7.00pm
Blank page (PG)
Contrast (PG)
Beijing Bubbles
9.00pm
Looking for the Lost Voice
Musicians
Friday, 14th April
11am—10pm
Heremias
Saturday, 15th April
11am—1pm
Singapore Short Films: Finalists
2pm—6pm
Singapore Short Films: Non-Finalists
7pm—9pm
Singapore Short Films: Finalists (Repeat Screening)
9pm—11pm
Singapore Short Films: Non-Finalists
Download Singapore Short Films screening schedule.
Sunday, 16th April
11am
The Visit (PG)
On The North Diversion Road
1pm—8pm
Singapore Short Films: Non-Finalists
Saturday, 22nd April
4pm
Short & Sweet II - Short Films from Germany
Program I - YOU AND ME
• My Parents
• Transposed Bodies
• Annaottoanna
• Stay Like This
• Got to Go
7.00pm
Short & Sweet II - Short Films from Germany
Program II - CLOSE TO HOME AND FAR AWAY
• Finow
• Educational Film About State Security Files
• Inside Outside Mongolia
• Notes for the Head
• Howrah Howrah
• On a Wednesday Night in Tokyo
• Sky Film
• Free Choice
Sunday, 23rd April
4pm
Short & Sweet II - Short Films from Germany
Program III - YOUNG AND OLD
• Gregor's Greatest Invention
• Fragile
• The Schoolboy
• The Tell-tale Heart
• Talks
• Dead, At the Moment
• Heavy Pregnant
7pm
Short & Sweet II - Short Films from Germany
Program IV - SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO
• Bjorn - The Hurdles of Bureaucracy
• Small Change
• Great
• Escape!
• Rabbit in the Hole
• Business as Usual
• The Day Winston Ngakambe Came to Kiel
Friday, 7th April
7.00pm
Speaking Up
Since the end of the ‘80s, Hong Kong has been through tremendous changes - re-unification with China, economic downturn, political reform, etc, have all greatly affected the way of life. In the film, about 60 people are invited to talk about their views on several major socio-economic and political issues.
Director: Tammy Cheung
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 60min
Year: 2005
Rating: PG
Quite good for the first 15 minutes, it then becomes a bore, as its non-stop talking heads. The people talking are placed in the middle of the frame, with a bare white background. I was interesting to see the different ordinary faces of Hongkongers [not like the movie stars we see], but the faces start repeating. I feel that it could have been shorter. but the fact that it made me consider repackaging what I always wanted to do, a human rights film, into one talking about transparency, is a good result.
Sound of Footsteps on the Pavement (PG)
About a bunch of guys trying to save the imminent takeover of their favorite coffee shop by an apparel company. A strange scenario to showcase non-violent action, but quite different.
9.00pm
Coffee and Milk (PG)
Milk is a 6th grader who takes pictures with a camera every day, training to someday be like ARAKI, the Japanese photographer. He is in love with a woman 12 years older than him named Coffee, who is deaf from birth. He tries to imagine what kind of world Coffee lives in, and at first, attempts to fill in what he thinks is lacking there, and fails. Next, the thinks about what his world and hers have in common. He grows by experiencing love, not because Coffee is older than he is, but because she mercilessly hurls her pain in Milk’s direction. Her seriousness is moving, and so when Milk tries to build a bridge again without giving up, his efforts are moving, too.
Director: Izuru Kumasaka
Country: Japan
Duration: 30min
Year: 2004
Rating: N.A
The usual heartwarming kid story. At first, it doesn't seem clear what the kid is photographing, a sleeping passenger, an old lady, plates being broken, aha. He's trying to photograph sound. The keyword here is trying. He also tries to experience what the lady feels, but putting on earplugs. When the lady gets all worked up because what he shows here makes her even more depressed, he sort of gets lost. Acting by the deaf lady could be better, but still a nice watch.
Lonely Planet (PG)
Traveling from one city to another, everyone is searching for something. Back and forth, we are only looking for a chance to start over again.
Director: Tsang Tsui Shan
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 25min
Year: 2005
Rating: N.A
2 close friends, talking about what they should do with their lives. One of those "lets laze around and think about life" films...
She3 (PG)
The director continues her fascination with the relationships between females, this time in the form of a personal documentary of the everyday lives of her mother and grandmother, capturing the different views of life from women of three different ages.
Director: Tsang Tsui Shan
Country: Hong Kong
Duration: 25min
Year: 2005
Rating: N.A
Same director, better film. This documentary is natural, with the director filming her own mum & grandmum. You can see them going about their lives, zhi4 de2 qi2 le4. Nice look at rural Hong Kong.
Saturday, 8th April
2.00pm
Girni (PG)
10-year-old Samir lives in a chawl in a metropolis in India with his widowed mother and grandfather. An easily available means to earn money is a grinding machine which brings with it a horrible, incessant and oppressive sound that not only takes away the physical but the mental space of the whole family. Samir’s innocent mind is alert to this oppression and rebels against it.
| Director: | Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni |
| Country: | India |
| Duration: | 22min |
| Year: | 2005 |
| Rating: | N.A |
Terlena (PG)
Documentary about a nation that still believes the propaganda created by one general and his army. This film gives voice to those silenced during the dictatorship of Soeharto, and takes an in-depth look both on a cultural and personal level.
| Director: | Andre Vltchek |
| Country: | Indonesia |
| Duration: | 89min |
| Year: | 2004 |
| Rating: | N.A |
4.00pm
The Three Dots (PG)
Abortion, Corruption & Cops (PG)
7.00pm
Indonesian Shorts 1
• A Very Boring Conversation
• We are the Children of Indonesia too (PG)
• Lukas' Moment (PG)
9.00pm
The Fish (PG)
One Shot
Replay Revenge
Sunday, 9th April
2.00pm
Indonesian Shorts 2
• Bomb'n
• 60 Years
• To Die For
• Live Under the Same Sun
• Part II: Hell (PG)
• R.I 1 (PG)
• A Moment In and Out of Time (PG)
• Already the Evening Sun (PG)
4.00pm
Putek (PG)
Haus of Sing
7.00pm
Migrant Workers are not Terrorists (PG)
Tehran Taxi (PG)
Undo (PG)
Monkey Dance
Prayers from Kawthoolei (PG)
9.00pm
Skein (PG)
Al-Anfal (PG)
Waking Up a Nation (PG)
Monday, 10th April
7.00pm
Short Films of Ma Chun Fu (M18)
Tears (PG)
House of Sleeping Beauty (R21)
9.00pm
Indian Shorts by Sainath Choudhury
• Village Football (PG)
• The Stranger (PG)
• Cataract (PG)
Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker
Tuesday, 11th April
7.00pm
Tale of Carpet Flower (G)
Puppy (NC16)
9.00pm
What I'm looking For
Parajanov
Wednesday, 12th April
7.00pm
Blank page (PG)
Contrast (PG)
Beijing Bubbles
9.00pm
Looking for the Lost Voice
Musicians
Friday, 14th April
11am—10pm
Heremias
Saturday, 15th April
11am—1pm
Singapore Short Films: Finalists
2pm—6pm
Singapore Short Films: Non-Finalists
7pm—9pm
Singapore Short Films: Finalists (Repeat Screening)
9pm—11pm
Singapore Short Films: Non-Finalists
Download Singapore Short Films screening schedule.
Sunday, 16th April
11am
The Visit (PG)
On The North Diversion Road
1pm—8pm
Singapore Short Films: Non-Finalists
Saturday, 22nd April
4pm
Short & Sweet II - Short Films from Germany
Program I - YOU AND ME
• My Parents
• Transposed Bodies
• Annaottoanna
• Stay Like This
• Got to Go
7.00pm
Short & Sweet II - Short Films from Germany
Program II - CLOSE TO HOME AND FAR AWAY
• Finow
• Educational Film About State Security Files
• Inside Outside Mongolia
• Notes for the Head
• Howrah Howrah
• On a Wednesday Night in Tokyo
• Sky Film
• Free Choice
Sunday, 23rd April
4pm
Short & Sweet II - Short Films from Germany
Program III - YOUNG AND OLD
• Gregor's Greatest Invention
• Fragile
• The Schoolboy
• The Tell-tale Heart
• Talks
• Dead, At the Moment
• Heavy Pregnant
7pm
Short & Sweet II - Short Films from Germany
Program IV - SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO
• Bjorn - The Hurdles of Bureaucracy
• Small Change
• Great
• Escape!
• Rabbit in the Hole
• Business as Usual
• The Day Winston Ngakambe Came to Kiel
新加坡新闻
新加坡新闻
The speech by the new Chief Justice was very clear, and this article makes it even clearer. Things are going to be different now, as the new CJ is more concerned about providing a fair trial, then simply clearing the backlog of cases. This is a very good sign for the legal environment in Singapore. Lets hope that this will be seen on the ground.
The speech by the new Chief Justice was very clear, and this article makes it even clearer. Things are going to be different now, as the new CJ is more concerned about providing a fair trial, then simply clearing the backlog of cases. This is a very good sign for the legal environment in Singapore. Lets hope that this will be seen on the ground.
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