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[h=2]TNP Dty Editor: The Messiah is attacking ‘you’[/h]
November 5th, 2013 |
Author: Contributions
This is a copy of TNP Dty Editor Melvin Singh’s letter
which appeared on AsiaOne:
“This is addressed to You, the silent majority online who do little when
netizens break laws.
Offline, it’s a different story. When Jemaah Islamiah’s plans to attack
infrastructure here were exposed in 2001, you reacted with disgust and
concern.
But you are dismissive of online criminality. When a hacker, named “The
Messiah”, loudly proclaimed his intention to launch a cyber attack against the
Government, you said little.
The few, including former journalist Bertha Henson on website Breakfast
Network, and a writer on The Real Singapore portal, criticized the hacker’s
proclamations.
Others either distanced themselves from him without condemning his intentions
and worse, on socio-political website TR Emeritus, egged him on and even thanked
him for having the gumption to do it.
You, the silent majority, think it’s not your business.
You might even believe “The Messiah” and criminals like him should play
judge, jury and executioner because the Government has failed to meet your
needs.
You might be tempted to believe he’s attacking the Singapore Government, not
Singapore. That’s naive.
This is him attacking you.
Last month, software company Adobe Systems was hacked and information
relating to millions of customers, including encrypted credit or debit card
numbers, were stolen.
Your credit card details.
A month earlier, in Israel, criminals launched a cyber attack and immobilised
a major road network, disabling key operations for two days, resulting in
hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
That’s you, in a traffic jam.”
Firstly, the hacking of Adobe was not claimed to be the act of Anonymous or
Messiah. Now this guy comes in with his own theory suggesting so.
And the immobilization of a major road network in Israel is also not claimed
to be the act of Anonymous.
Lastly such hacking of banking and financial infrastructure has been going on
for years. Nothing new.
This guy ridiculously brings in wrong contexts to mislead the public and fear
mongers. After all in 2001 the mass media in Singapore successfully used the
paranoia of the 9/11 attacks to gain an overwhelming victory in the elections
that year.
All readers should be wary of Melvin Singh as he is the fear doctor sent out
by the PAP regime to conduct propaganda to mislead the public. First of all his
master needs to understand that claiming Singapore to be a technologically
advanced nation with lots of foreign talents means Singapore should be able to
handle these threats effectively. This is what the PAP govt claims. So where are
these IT security talents? have they gone back to India and Philippines?
A purpose of this futile exercise is to prevent the chain effect of
dissidence among Singaporeans as a recent survey suggests that almost 78% of
Singaporeans were cheering for
Anonymous.
Newsdesk
Editor’s
Note: Since TRE was mentioned in the letter by TNP Dty Editor, we feel
compelled to reply and to clarify. First and foremost, TRE DOES
NOT condone or support hacking/cyber attacks or any other unlawful
activities to effect changes to government policies or bring down the
government. Changes to government policies or the government should be done
through constitutional and democratic means.
The term “democracy” comes from the ancient Greek word, “dēmokratía” or
“rule of the people”, which was coined from “dêmos” or “people” and “kratos” or
“power/rule” in the 5th century BC. This term denoted the political system then
existing in Greek city-states. The converse of “dēmokratía” is “aristocratie” or
“rule of the elite”.
Having said that, TRE will not censor any negative ground sentiments on
any issues simply because they are negative. Indeed, part of TRE’s objective is
to be able to reflect as closely as possible the sentiments on the ground
through the internet. This is the reason why the article ‘85% netizens feel ‘shiok’ that ST website was hacked‘ was
published – to reflect the ground sentiments. It does not mean that TRE condones
or supports hacking or any other form of cyber attack.
In fact, our observation is that people felt ‘shiok’ about ST being
hacked not so much because they support hacking but because they are angry with
ST manipulating its reporting, especially as they are supposed to be a reputable
mainstream medium. This was reflected in our editorial:
In other words, The Messiah highlighted the fact that ST or its
journalist had changed the hackers’ threat of engaging in a “war against the
Singapore Government” into a “war against Singapore”.
Leaving aside the question whether what the hackers did was right or not,
ST’s reporting in this particular case is clearly questionable.
It is no wonder then that 85% of netizens who read the Stomp article said
they felt “shiok” (Singlish for “a good feeling”) about the ST website being
hacked.
Coming back to the TNP Dty Editor’s letter, whether the public believes
SPH’s position that “war against the Singapore Government” also means “war
against You, the Singaporeans”, we will leave it to the public to decide for
themselves. Still, that does not alter the fact that ST has misquoted what The
Messiah said, as evidenced by the video. The Messiah clearly said, “…war against
the Singapore Government.”
One of the most important aspects of news reporting is to quote someone
correctly, regardless who that someone is. Let the readers decide if they agree
with that person, quoted correctly.
which appeared on AsiaOne:
“This is addressed to You, the silent majority online who do little when
netizens break laws.
Offline, it’s a different story. When Jemaah Islamiah’s plans to attack
infrastructure here were exposed in 2001, you reacted with disgust and
concern.
But you are dismissive of online criminality. When a hacker, named “The
Messiah”, loudly proclaimed his intention to launch a cyber attack against the
Government, you said little.
The few, including former journalist Bertha Henson on website Breakfast
Network, and a writer on The Real Singapore portal, criticized the hacker’s
proclamations.
Others either distanced themselves from him without condemning his intentions
and worse, on socio-political website TR Emeritus, egged him on and even thanked
him for having the gumption to do it.
You, the silent majority, think it’s not your business.
You might even believe “The Messiah” and criminals like him should play
judge, jury and executioner because the Government has failed to meet your
needs.
You might be tempted to believe he’s attacking the Singapore Government, not
Singapore. That’s naive.
This is him attacking you.
Last month, software company Adobe Systems was hacked and information
relating to millions of customers, including encrypted credit or debit card
numbers, were stolen.
Your credit card details.
A month earlier, in Israel, criminals launched a cyber attack and immobilised
a major road network, disabling key operations for two days, resulting in
hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
That’s you, in a traffic jam.”
Messiah. Now this guy comes in with his own theory suggesting so.
And the immobilization of a major road network in Israel is also not claimed
to be the act of Anonymous.
Lastly such hacking of banking and financial infrastructure has been going on
for years. Nothing new.
This guy ridiculously brings in wrong contexts to mislead the public and fear
mongers. After all in 2001 the mass media in Singapore successfully used the
paranoia of the 9/11 attacks to gain an overwhelming victory in the elections
that year.
All readers should be wary of Melvin Singh as he is the fear doctor sent out
by the PAP regime to conduct propaganda to mislead the public. First of all his
master needs to understand that claiming Singapore to be a technologically
advanced nation with lots of foreign talents means Singapore should be able to
handle these threats effectively. This is what the PAP govt claims. So where are
these IT security talents? have they gone back to India and Philippines?
A purpose of this futile exercise is to prevent the chain effect of
dissidence among Singaporeans as a recent survey suggests that almost 78% of
Singaporeans were cheering for
Anonymous.
Newsdesk
Editor’s
Note: Since TRE was mentioned in the letter by TNP Dty Editor, we feel
compelled to reply and to clarify. First and foremost, TRE DOES
NOT condone or support hacking/cyber attacks or any other unlawful
activities to effect changes to government policies or bring down the
government. Changes to government policies or the government should be done
through constitutional and democratic means.
The term “democracy” comes from the ancient Greek word, “dēmokratía” or
“rule of the people”, which was coined from “dêmos” or “people” and “kratos” or
“power/rule” in the 5th century BC. This term denoted the political system then
existing in Greek city-states. The converse of “dēmokratía” is “aristocratie” or
“rule of the elite”.
Having said that, TRE will not censor any negative ground sentiments on
any issues simply because they are negative. Indeed, part of TRE’s objective is
to be able to reflect as closely as possible the sentiments on the ground
through the internet. This is the reason why the article ‘85% netizens feel ‘shiok’ that ST website was hacked‘ was
published – to reflect the ground sentiments. It does not mean that TRE condones
or supports hacking or any other form of cyber attack.
In fact, our observation is that people felt ‘shiok’ about ST being
hacked not so much because they support hacking but because they are angry with
ST manipulating its reporting, especially as they are supposed to be a reputable
mainstream medium. This was reflected in our editorial:
In other words, The Messiah highlighted the fact that ST or its
journalist had changed the hackers’ threat of engaging in a “war against the
Singapore Government” into a “war against Singapore”.
Leaving aside the question whether what the hackers did was right or not,
ST’s reporting in this particular case is clearly questionable.
It is no wonder then that 85% of netizens who read the Stomp article said
they felt “shiok” (Singlish for “a good feeling”) about the ST website being
hacked.
SPH’s position that “war against the Singapore Government” also means “war
against You, the Singaporeans”, we will leave it to the public to decide for
themselves. Still, that does not alter the fact that ST has misquoted what The
Messiah said, as evidenced by the video. The Messiah clearly said, “…war against
the Singapore Government.”
One of the most important aspects of news reporting is to quote someone
correctly, regardless who that someone is. Let the readers decide if they agree
with that person, quoted correctly.
