michaelbackman@yahoo.com
www.michaelbackman.com


KIASU is the term Singaporeans use to describe the unpleasant side of their culture. Acting in a kiasu manner means being greedy, unwilling to share and insensitive to others. Many Singaporeans feel this is a good description of the Government and its approach to power. The winner-take-all attitude is out of step with other nations.


No one can deny that Singapore is an easy place (although not necessarily a good place) to do business, compared with its neighbours.


Singapore scores highly on Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index: it is ranked No. 5 of 158 countries. The Global Competitiveness Report ranks Singapore No. 6 of 117 economies.


The Government likes to broadcast these figures. But it doesn't broadcast that it executes more people per head a year than almost anywhere else. Reporters Without Borders has Singapore No. 140 of 167 countries for media freedom.


It is as if Singapore is more a ruthless corporation than a country with a civil society, its people more employees than citizens, and its broadsheet, the Straits Times, more like a staff bulletin than a newspaper. As a Singaporean diplomat once told me, "We don't have journalists in Singapore; only propagandists."


Increasingly, people around the world are beginning to laugh at Singapore; they laugh at its Government's petty and self-serving restrictions on what people can and cannot do. But in Singapore, many people are unaware of this because the Government-controlled media feed them a diet of only good news stories.


Race relations are often used as an excuse for restrictions. But Singapore has one of the most homogeneous race profiles in the world: 77 per cent are Chinese, the rest comprise Malays and Indians. Singapore does not have the racial complexities of many countries.

The Maria Hertogh case is cited as an example of how Singapore is on the edge racially, and used to justify various restrictions. Rioting erupted among Malays after a court allowed a Dutch girl who was raised as a Muslim to be returned to her Catholic parents. This was 56 years ago.

No viable opposition has been allowed to form, and without robust national debate Singaporeans are becoming politically de-skilled. Accordingly, the Government comprises plenty of ministers but few politicians, and there is little elegance to their art. They know only how to clobber: too often alternative viewpoints are responded to with public humiliation, threats, defamation writs and detention. Business should consider these aspects and not just competitiveness when assessing Singapore as a place for investment.

The Singapore Government hates people like me commenting on what it regards as its internal affairs. It hates it because foreigners cannot be controlled. But that does not stop the Singapore Government from intruding in the internal affairs of other countries.

Eddie Teo, Singapore's new high commissioner to Australia, has written letters
to The Age critical of my recent columns. This is the first time Mr Teo has lived outside Singapore in 35 years and no doubt he finds a free media refreshing.

In one letter, Mr Teo claimed Singapore's defamation laws follow the English model. He is wrong. The British government does not sue opposition politicians so they are bankrupted and cannot run for parliament. If the British are to be blamed for Singapore's laws, then they can be blamed for Singapore's economic success. It was they who established Singapore as a free-trade port, which has made Singapore rich.

He says Singapore has a good legal system. That is true, but only compared with Indonesia, the Philippines, China and Thailand. Laws that have not had the benefit of open public debate and passage through a robust parliament are not really laws but decrees.
Rule of law becomes rule by law and many things are possible. Execution without a jury trial is one; torture is another.

Geoffrey Robertson, QC, writing last month for the Open Democracy Foundation, describes how torture was used in Singapore in the 1980s. A group of young lawyers, Catholic aid workers and women playwrights were rounded up by Singapore's Internal Security Department and detained without trial because they were suspects in an alleged Marxist conspiracy. They were not terrorists, they were political activists. The worst they seemed to have done was distribute Marxist literature.

They were deprived of sleep, doused with cold water and blasted with refrigerated air. The torture was not physical and left little evidence, which was its point. Instead, it was psychological and left what Robertson terms the Singapore scar. The minister then responsible for the ISD was Lee Hsien Loong. He is now Singapore's Prime Minister.

And who headed the ISD and Defence Ministry's Security and Intelligence Division for much of the 1980s? Eddie Teo, Singapore's high commissioner to Australia, the man who now enjoys our media freedoms, but who has spent much of his career denying Singaporeans similar freedoms.

Some might regard that as kiasu.
13:55

nYou said my influences are 'too European' but that's the result of my aspirations since I was young.
you may say that I'm being an elitist or snob or that it's a class divide. I don't think it's that.

fine I'll list out all my influences I've ever had and you see how I should have ended up then!

one of the first books I ever read was about van Gogh, his life, his works, his inspirations. Fine it may have been that I took an initial liking to him since he was my grandfather's namesake and they practically brought me up for the first 8, 9 years. But no other artist has ever moved or inspired me as so.
instead of working with my very close group of friends in sec 1 for our aep European history class on Renoir, I opted for van Gogh with some other girls who I was then just acquainted with.
my love for van Gogh trumped my loyalty to my friends.
those very same girls who shrieked out:

poor poor Renoir whatcha gonna do?
irene's died on you hey whatcha gonna do?

were absolutely lovely, they bought me loads of stuff from the Europe trip. I've a silver rimmed double mirror compact with a glass print of van gogh's painting of his room
pen with his iries
postcard booklet of his works
and his Japanese prints


anyway ballet was another thing. All I wanted to be was the prima donna ballerina performing in Europe which I rightly believed was the epitome of class, history, culture and romance. read books on Russian ballerinas, didn't mind waking up at 6 in the morning to catch a ride to school for ballet classes at 10 even when I was 7.
young children don't do things like that unless what they've got driving them is so powerful.

of all my family trips I enjoyed most, Spain and Barcelona took the cake. To be immensed in such unique culture, architecture firsts and the way of life. Good lord not to mention the food! haha I was bingeing on all the black olives in sight, my mom thought my snobby side emerged during that trip when I kept relating everything back to art history, wondering why I couldn't update my wardrobe to be more chic, while I whined for French ice cream, wanted to eat and live like the locals. The trip was this giddy exhilarating reverent experience for me. For the first time I was in Europe! Didn't mind that everything was so restricted by the mere presence of my father who embodied overprotectiveness and paranoia.

honestly to this day, some part of me is still angry at my dad for not letting me go on the Europe trip when I was sec 1 citing reasons that he would not be able to control what happens to me (HELLO! It's that the whole dogma of life? You can't lock me up in a box in the basement just so you could protect me from the world 24/7). I could have been enjoying the sunsets amongst the ancient ruins, artistic ingenuity, the place where all art and culture stemmed from.
I was missing out a pivotal point of my life!

Frank Sinatra, Al Martino? they were my main music influences that persisted all through the passing phases of Kylie and Rod Stewart, (both of which since enjoyed a revival), Mariah Carey, beatles (?), Michael Jackson (courtesy of my cousin Stephanie).
gosh come to think of those were the only things I ever listened to till I was 15!

14 was the begining to the crooners of tom jones and engelbert humperdinck which to this day still persists albiet everyone say that it's very unfashionable but heck i'm me and i'm old school! i like entertainers, the flamboyant energy and how they work up audiences into a frenzy and the charisma they exude. not many can do that.

haha PATRIZIO CAN!


of course 15 marked the onslaught of a1 and norah Jones. not forgetting the tacky 70s songs that jo, grace and I used to dance and belt to during robotics ahh sigh!

I've been maintaining for the past 10 years (or some equally insane long time) that:

I adore the idea of dainty and elegant gloves, floaty chiffon dresses, or lacy tulle, wide brim ladies hats.

for the fellas - polished black Italian leather shoes, cologne dabs behind the ears, slightly long hair that's minimally styled just to give the appearance of tousled, smart dress shirts and suits, long black socks a must whilst cuff links are optional, suspenders/braces are a bit extreme so I prefer morning jackets or cummberbands (which only a very select fortunate few can pull off ) but most of all.. A self tie bow tie is an absolute necessity.

watched this travel and discovery show where the host (who ness and i agreed was good looking) visited highly traditional way at the barbers with the massive gleaming intimidating blade (called a cut-throat) deftly scraping back the ooooodles of thick luxurious shaving cream applied with badger-hair shaving brush (i'm getting my brother that for his dreaded birthday when he would have to shave. I staunchly refuse to let him have ANY facial hair whatsoever, it's repulsive!)

the barber's blade for everyday grooming is impractical (but should be used for special occasions) so the more classic old-school way is with shaving cream that you lather up yourself and apply with a shaving brush

I'm lazy to continue, gonna finish up my warm warm minestrone brrrrrrr!

baby it's cold outside..
14:09

too hilariously scathing a fashion commentary not to put down:
it's about bai ling

Cheaper Bai the Dozen: Bai Ling is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside a craptacular enigma. A few burning questions we want answered: Why is she famous? Who keeps inviting her to red-carpet events? And how does she manage to find outfit after odious outfit? Is there a "Tarts R Us" store only she knows about? The sometime actress and full-time flashbulb addict modeled oodles of tacky togs at Cannes (surprisingly, she had an actual reason to be there -- she appears in "Southland Tales"), which made choosing her most hideous get-up akin to picking which Baldwin brother -- Alec, Stephen or Daniel -- would be the most fun to date. On the left, the coif-challenged Bai has us feeling blue with a ruffled, Garanimals-sized miniskirt, which she unwisely pairs with a matching halter, sandals and earrings for a turquoise atrocity of epic proportions. On the right, she shows that even the little black dress is beyond her grasp, as she covers up her lace Sin City-style disgrace with an aggressively beastly boa made from the hides of two of our favorite Muppets (rest in peace, Beaker and Fozzie).
18:08

got this off a fabulous msn website. when i have the time i'll go and find the properfer reference to this article don't want to be caught plagarising or whatever rubbish.
ugh universities can really be a pain when it comes to crediting the author of whatever.

found it to be a very enlightening piece. hope you'll enjoy acutally learn from it.
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Proper shaving has become a lost art. Shaving is one of those glorious male traditions that used to be passed down from father to son, but somewhere along the line, when shaving became more about cheap, disposable razors than a nice, precision-made metal tool in your hand, it became a brainless routine to rush through in the morning without even thinking about it.
A dull disposable razor dragged across a layer of foam or gel on your cheeks is a step backward from the past, not an improvement.

Q: What is “wetshaving” and how is it different from the way most men – and women – shave today?
A: Wetshaving is just what the term implies – keeping your face (or for women, their legs) wet with plenty of hot water before, and during, the entire shave. In fact, you should always shave after a hot shower, not before (if you need to shave without taking a shower, washing your face with hot water for a few minutes will suffice). With a layer of hot water between your skin and the lather, the blade skims the surface instead of dragging on it, which is the main cause of irritation, redness, and “shave bumps”.
Wetshaving gives you more effective shaves and better looking skin. The hot water opens the pores of your skin and relaxes your facial muscles, and it softens your whiskers for more effective cutting. Believe it or not, but your whiskers are tougher than the edge of a razor blade, and shaving “dry”, or mostly dry as with the vast majority of shaving creams, foams, and gels on the market, means you’re literally tugging on each and every hair on your face instead of neatly slicing it at the skin’s surface and moving on without irritating your skin. The key to proper wetshaving is keeping your face as wet as possible at all times during the shave. Even if you keep your current tools and routine, you’ll marvel at how much closer and more comfortable shaving can be when you keep your face hydrated at all times with lots of hot (not scalding) water.
Q: What are the basic tools you need for wetshaving?
A: The perfect shave has three ingredients: a good razor, a good brush, and glycerin-based shaving cream. But the biggest difference between wetshaving and the way most guys shave today is the use of a shaving brush. A good badger-hair shaving brush is the single most important ingredient in getting the perfect shave -- if you change no part of your shaving routine except to add a good shaving brush to the mix, you’ll be astounded at how much better and more enjoyable your shaves become.
Take it from a guy who used to use his fingers to smear cheap shaving gel on his face that smelled just like his deodorant – using a fine badger hair brush to brush high-end English shaving cream that smells like fresh-cut violets onto your face and neck isn’t just about treating yourself nicely after years of the ol’ slice’n’dice. It’s also the best possible way to prepare your skin and whiskers for the closest, most comfortable shave.
A shaving brush isn’t just a paint brush for your face. A good brush – and the best brushes are made of badger hair and start at $25 – absorbs hot water and then, after you dip the tip of the brush into your tub (yes, not a can, but a tub – I’ll explain later) the brush releases and mixes the hot water with the shaving cream as you skim the brush back and forth across your face and neck in and up-down motion. The combination of hot water mixing with the cream and getting beaten by the brush all over your face delivers a thicker, richer, more emollient lather that’s impossible to get with your fingers alone. A shaving brush also gently exfoliates, or removes the dead skin, from your face before shaving, which gets rid of anything coming between the blade and your whiskers. Finally, the up-down brushing lifts your whiskers and suspends them standing upright in the thick lather, which exposes the maximum whisker length to your blade as it skims along your face.
Genuine badger hair shaving brushes come in all sizes and hair types, costing anywhere from $25 for a basic pure-grade badger model to $550 for a monster-sized, high-end English hand-made job containing only the hair from the badger’s neck, which is said by some (though not by me) to be the finest and most rarefied expression of water-holding bristle known to man or badger.
The next tool you need for wetshaving is a razor. And by razor, I mean whatever high-quality, NON-DISPOSABLE razor you feel most comfortable with. I know, I know, disposables are cool because that’s what they hand out in jail, but they’re extremely hard on your skin because the quality of the blades isn’t as good as a cartridge razor, or better yet, the kind of razor that serious wetshavers use: the classic double-edge safety razor!
A DE razor is the kind that takes a single, disposable razor blade, and it’s the same type of razor that your father, your grandfather, Cary Grant, Lee Marvin, JFK, and John Wayne used, and in the opinion of many shave-o-philes, the classic DE wipes the floor with any modern razor. I entirely concur – ever since I switched to using a DE razor, instead of a multi-blade cartridge razor, I get much closer and more comfortable shaves, my face doesn’t burn at all anymore, and all the red irritation on my neck I thought was there for good went away completely.

new safety razors are available that bring back the spirit of the classic Gillette adjustable DE razors, which many shaving connoisseurs consider the finest double-edge razor ever made.
Once you’ve got a shaving brush, a razor, and some quality shaving cream, you’ll need a sink full of hot (not scalding) water. After you emerge from a nice, hot shower, fill the sink with hot water and let your shaving brush soak in the water as it fills the sink. Splash some more hot water on your face to keep it maximally wet. The key to wetshaving is keeping your face as hydrated with hot water at all times as possible.
Remove your brush from the water, hold it upside down until water stops pouring out of it, and then you’re ready to apply the cream. If you’ve got a tub of shaving cream, swirl the wet tips of your brush around in a circular motion on the surface of the cream until you get a small amount of visible white lather. You don’t need a lot of cream, but you you don’t want too little either. After your first few shaves, you’ll begin to get a feel for how much is just right.
Now you want to paint your face up and down, up and down all over the areas of your face and neck you’ll be shaving. Keep at it for a minute or so until you’ve got a thick, opaque layer of rich lather covering the shaving area. Then set your brush handle-down on the counter and pick up your razor.
You want to shave downward on your face and neck, WITH the direction your whiskers grow. At least for the first pass, a North-to-South stroke will get rid of most of your stubble without irritating your skin. If you want a closer shave, wet your face again, lather up again, and shave very lightly upward, against the grain, in a South-to-North direction. Most men’s skin is too sensitive to stand up to an against-the-grain shave without redness, razor burn, and even ingrown hairs, but if you can deal with it, go gently.
Once you’re done shaving, rinse your face with cold water to close the pores, thoroughly rinse your shaving brush of lather and shake it dry, and store it in your medicine cabinet on it’s handle, not lying down. This will let the bristles air-dry without damaging them, so your brush will last 20 years or more.
Pat, not rub, your face dry with a clean towel, and finish up with a good non-alcohol-based after-shave or moisturizer – I use and recommend Trumper’s “skin food”, but any good moisturizer will be better than that stinging alcohol-based stuff that we’ve all suffered with.
CAUTION: if you’ve been shaving with a disposable razor or one of the modern multi-blade cartridge systems like the Mach3, be aware that switching to a single-blade DE will require that you un-learn all the bad habits that modern razors are designed to let sleepy, lazy guys get away with. Mainly, that means slower, more careful strokes, and guiding the razor’s head over your skin WITHOUT PRESSING DOWN.
Let me say that again. WITHOUT PRESSING DOWN. AT ALL.
It’s really not a big deal – men were shaving this way for hundreds of years before plastic disposables and 2/3/4/?-blade razors were invented. Once you slow down and stop pressing the blade against your face so hard, you’ll find that not only do you get a closer, smoother shave, but all of that burning sensation and red marks all over your neck will start to go away immediately, and then disappear for good. Paradoxically, using a lighter touch doesn’t work nearly as well with modern multi-blade razors because they were designed to allow for the typical knucklehead who thinks the harder he rakes the razor across his cheeks the closer his shave will be. But with a DE, a lighter touch actually does result in a closer shave, and a much more comfortable and skin-friendly shave besides.
If you end up with a few nicks your first few shaves with a DE, don’t worry, it happens to all of us. It’s your face’s way of telling you to stop being a knucklehead. After a few shaves, you’ll figure it all out, and then you’ll wonder why you haven’t been shaving like this your whole life. This is one of those guy grooming secrets that separate the men from the boys.
Does the whole idea of using an old-school safety razor give you pause? Don’t worry – if you want to stick with your Mach3 or other cartridge razor, that’s okay. Just adding a shaving brush and quality cream to the mix will still give you a better shave, even if you use the same razor you were using before. But if you shave with disposables, you really should ditch them and at least start using a catridge razor. They’re not that much more expensive per shave, and they’re much better for your face.
A high-quality, glycerin-based shaving cream is the final ingredient in the perfect shave. If your shaving cream/gel comes in a can and costs less than a coffee at Starbucks, prepare to be astonished at what old-school European shaving cream lathers, shaves, and above all, smells like. Yes, I said smells like! If you’ve never lathered up in the morning with a fine English shaving cream that smells like fresh-cut violets, limes, or lavender, then you are truly missing out on one the great manly pleasures of all time.
The Europeans have been making this stuff for centuries, and they really do make the best shaving creams on the planet. At around $20 for a tub and $12 for a travel tube, they’re more expensive than the foams and gels at the drugstore, but since a little goes a long way when lathered with a shaving brush, these high-end creams last for many months of daily shaving.
I use and highly recommend Geo F. Trumper’s and Taylor of Old Bond Street’s shaving creams in both tubs for the bathroom and small tubes for travel. My personal favorites are Trumper’s violet and Taylor’s avocado, as well as their excellent lavender – these shaving creams will spoil you for anything else, and when lathered onto your face with hot water and a badger shaving brush, deliver the best skin protection and the finest shaves you’ve ever experienced. And the scents of these top-shelf creams will make you actually look forward to shaving, probably for the first time in your life.
I also use and recommend two inexpensive European creams which are also very popular with serious wetshavers. Portugal’s Musgo Real costs $8 a tube and has lanolin for an extremely moisturizing and comfortable shave. My favorite inexpensive shaving cream, though, is the legendary eucalytpus shaving cream from Italy called Proraso. This $7 wonder comes in a large, bright green toothpaste tube, and has been the best-selling shaving product in Italy since the 1940’s. Despite its budget price, Proraso actually shaves on a par with the fancy English creams, and it has the added benefit of eucalyptus oil, which gives your face an incredible cooling effect when you splash with cold water at the end of the shave. Like the Trumper and Taylor shaving creams, you can buy Proraso online, but if you have a local Italian deli or market, check there first, as many of them carry Proraso for their longtime customers. It doesn’t smell quite as intoxicating as Trumper’s violet, but it’s an outstanding shaving cream at an unbeatable price.
15:50

for the gentlemen:

http://www.classicshaving.com/Home.html
14:59

me being me i like being classical and old school - people are convinced that me with my ideals that are too 'old-fashioned' to have been born in this era, i would really like to think that i belong in the time of romantic crooners like sinatra, dean martin and al martino with the guys in suits or at least with suspenders (braces) very 1950-1960s up to when the era got all dodgy with americanisation of the laidback european way of life.

ahh amore! art history!

my old school tastes and preferences even extend to soap bar soaps to be specific rather than liquid ones. somehow using bar soap is more of a sentimental very traditional classic, almost reminesent of the era so long ago, with it's simply ways. ahhh..
reminds me of the great baths in ancient rome where people used to smother their bodies with olive oil then scrape it off with a small sickle like blade. that was their 'soap', i tried that once when i was really young around 10 and it wasn't a pretty picture (or pratical to begin with) having to scrub off all the oil i smeared on my legs.
wasn't in rome so don't quite know why i was doing what romans did.

anyway i like soaps that are made from pure vegetable (eg coconut, palm, olive) and/or fruit oils topped off with shea butter, beeswax, cocoa butter. mmmm almond oil..
was gonna mention lanolin but philly told me that lanolin is those grotty glunky grey parts from the sheep under its fleece, most of which are around the underarm areas.
ewwww. and i've been using lanolin for so long thinking it was a milk derivative.

those soaps are less processed than standard commercial soap you get off the supermarket shelves since more of the base oils which have all the healing properties are available for moisturing skin. the by prodcut of soap making glycerine is fabulous at attracting mositure to your skin helping to retain it's natural mositure. then those huge coporations skim off the natural glycerine from soaps esp liquid ones and sell them seperately at much higher prices. and they usually use cheap latering chemical substitutes in soap which just dry out your skin, making your dry skin situation worse than it was before.

those nice happy 'natural' 'handmade' 'small scale production' soaps don't contain all those nasty chemicals, detergents or petroleum bits that dry out and lead to long term deterioation of your skin. tralalala.
since natural soaps are made with vegetable oils or milk products, they softening and cleanse your skin instead of clogging the pores.
seriously your skin is the largest organ of your body and quite literally the first thing that people see, so i tend to pay insane attention and care to my skin.
soap is a small everyday luxury that really helps to end a hectic day.
i like to unwind like that before snuggling in my wonderous sheets.

haha sheets are also another luxry for me but i'll leave that to another entry.

ciao!
20:14

if others had to sum you up in one word, which word would it be?

there are words i won't mind (and hope) others think of me as..
altruristic
compassionate
passionate
talented
brilliant
intellectual
lovely..

and other more positive ones, though i know there are some who think there are other words that would be more appropriate for me such as
devious
scheming
cunning

but those complementary (wishful) adjectives aside i think one word could pretty much sum my philosophy and principles as..

OLD-SCHOOL

reason why i'm pretty much old school
1. i'm a bar soap person.
don't like those liquid ones, they're made by huge multinational corporation - doesn't give you the intimate feel when you're lathering up of special bar soaps. usually bar soaps are one of my little necessary indulgences. liquid soaps are just off the supermarket shelf, they lack the little personlised 'history' of boutique bar soaps.

2. grew up to sinatra, dean martin, al martino, romantic crooners

3. don't like all the rubbish techo/new wave/trance/poseur emo music of today

4. believe that guys who own pre-tied button/clip on bow ties should be shot

5. believe that you should never give it all on the first date

6. believe that guys who ask you out should foot the bill

7. guys are true gentlemen (VERY IMPORTANT) when they excuse themselves to the mens and pay the bill instead of doing it in front of you or at the table

8. leave a tip if the service was excellent

9. never fight with your dining companion over who gets to pay the bill. if you asked her out and had a final say in the place, you get to pay. however if she asked you out then she pays.

10. should always buy her a small present on the first proper date, doesn't have to be lavish. just something thoughtful, standard presents are acceptable such as flowers. kudos to you select the flowers on their hidden meanings. eg roses - seduction. daises - optimism and friendship.

11. for proper dates. a move that would get you right to the top of her list is instead of buying normal standrad presents as mentioned in point 10, buy her a corsage.

12. if the guy is astute enough, he should notice when his date is wearing a skirt. so when they are entering a cab, he should NEVER let her slide in, it is very unladylike. instead he should let her enter first. close the door then get in through the other door.

13. men should have pocket squares.

14. and black shoes, proper ones.

15. mark of a true gentleman is that he carries a clean handkerchief all the time.

16. always wears socks with his shoes.

17. owns at least a sports jacket or a casual blazer or dinner jacket (not necessary if he's below 21)

18. never talks about money in front of you

19. or drop names

20. he should ALWAYS escort her home.

21. have respect for the females around him.

22. believes that it is always better to be overdressed than overdressed.

23. must always offer his coat when the temperature drops.

24. believe that one must always have wardrobe staples such as simple yet chic dress that's not too revealing.
01:21

aww you look so pretty, no NO! i mean beauuuuutiful
like an angel.
if angles wore dresses..

-a drunk amy dynan to me
13:22