The mass media of Singapore will only tell you half stories. As always. It tells you how Rupert Murdoch praises Singapore’s “transparent and non-corrupt” govt is due to the highly paid ministers scheme.
Singapore as clean a society as you can find anywhere, says Murdoch
The attack on Mr Rupert Murdoch might have dominated newspaper headlines yesterday but it was the media mogul’s unexpected mention of Singapore as an example of an “open and clear society” which has sparked off a belated buzz online and in the international media.
During the hearing on the phone hacking scandal that has shuttered the News of the World, Mr Murdoch was asked by British Member of Parliament Damian Collins where the limits of legitimate investigative journalism lie.
The 80-year-old’s answer thrust the Republic into the spotlight – which included reports in The New York Times and on CNBC – on a scandal unfolding halfway around the globe: “When The Daily Telegraph bought a series of stolen documents of all the expenses of MPs, it caused a huge outcry, one which I feel has not been properly addressed.
“I think there is an answer to it, and we ought to look at them as open and clear as a society in the world, which is Singapore – where every minister gets at least a million dollars a year and the Prime Minister a lot more and there is no temptation and it is as clean a society as you find anywhere.”
Mr Murdoch’s response was a dig at a scandal in the United Kingdom last year where several MPs were found to have inflated their expenses.
What the media downplays is that Murdoch himself is the centre of a scandal.
Rupert Murdoch: scandal questions ‘difficult to answer’
James Murdoch repeatedly declined to provide information about News of the World employees who might have participated in phone hacking on grounds that disclosure would prejudice police inquiries.
“Detailed questions about the evidence we have passed to the police … are difficult for me to answer,” he explained.
With threats of criminal charges hanging in the air, the Murdochs and other witnesses examined by the Commons select committees were conscious that evidence could be used in other investigations.
So let’s get this straight. The Murdochs (themselves crooks who hacked phone lines) are calling the Brit MPs, who are questioning about the phone hacking scandal, crooks. And they are saying that to prevent such crooked guys in the govt, we need to have a system like Singapore where the ministers are highly paid.
Why does the Singapore media play down the fact that Murdoch is walking on murky ground himself? It looks like the media wants to highlight that a world personality praises the high pay scheme of ministers in Singapore, but does not want to highlight it comes from the mouth of a world crook.
Singapore is Complicit in Corruption -
Very unfortunately, the saying that it takes a crook to catch a crook rings true in this case. Murdoch, the crook, is able to see another crook – the system he so praises.
I have mentioned a few times in this blog before. Singapore is harbouring international criminals from Indonesia, providing them a safe haven for their ill-gotten funds, amounting to billions. Singapore also refuses to extradite them to Indonesia, citing that we don’t have an extradition treaty with Indonesia.
Aw…come off it! Even if we don’t have an extradition treaty, it won’t hurt kicking those scumbags and their ill-gotten money back to Indonesia! Problem is those scumbags and their ill-gotten billions come together and Singapore wants to hold that money! See this link for reference – Singapore Complicit in Laundering Ill-gotten Funds
I have also mentioned that Singapore appears to have allowed $$$ from the junta of Burma to be laundered here. Our squeaky clean image under scrutiny
So what’s all this stuff that Singapore is clean and white and not corrupt and what not? Is not Singapore’s image now tainted, seen as being complicit in money laundering?
The highly paid ministers scheme didn’t stop corruption from entering our shores, did it?
So what does this tell? That it takes a crook, Murky Murdoch, to know another crook – a system where the leaders are paid highly, yet don’t deliver a transparent govt.
