YPAP P65 blogger supports “cooling-off” day and condemns netizens for spraying “venom” at govt
December 9th, 2009 | 
Author: A Young PAP member and blogger from the P65 blog, Mr Fredric Fanthome had lent his support to the “cooling-off” day to be introduced in the next election due by 2011.
All public rallies, door-to-door visits and display of party logos will be banned on the day designated on the eve of polling day itself to enable voters to make a “calm” and “rational” decision.
The P65 blog was set up in the aftermath of the 2006 general elections and was supposed to be an online platform for the young PAP MPs to reach out to netizens.
However, it floundered due to lack of interest and readership and was “revamped” this year – the MPs are no longer blogging and their places are taken over by young Singaporeans from “various backgrounds”.
According to YPAP Chairman Teo Ser Luck, it will now be “open” to all post-65 Singaporeans, who can write about ‘anything under the sun’, from entertainment and the economy to race and religion.
Mr Fanthome began his blog post by pouring scorn on the reaction of the opposition and netizens:
“Predictably there’s been a hullabaloo raised by the opposition who claims vary from it being “a sign of the lack of confidence of the PAP” (Mr. Desmond Lim Bak Chum of the SDA) to it being “designed to hurt the opposition” (Mr. Gandhi Ambalam of the SDP) – not to mention the usual vitriol by the anonymous hordes online who randomly spray venom at every government move from behind pseudonyms.”
He wrote that he doesn’t see how the “cooling-off” day is designed to bolster the PAP and damage the opposition and applauded the ruling party to allow “more freedom in the coming elections:
“There will be more freedom in the coming elections – podcasts will be allowed, the internet will be abuzz – and the government is also putting in place measures to ensure the presence of at least18 non-PAP members or about a fifth of the house in the next parliament regardless of election results. That is remarkable by any standard. No other country gives losing parties anywhere near as much voice.”
Mr Fanthome felt that the new changes introduced by PM Lee will “help” democracy and plurality in Singapore and castigated the opposition’s reaction:
“So instead of constantly finding fault with every measure or decision taken by the government– almost as a knee jerk reaction – where the default is “oppose” and then some reason is found to justify it, it would be good to see politicians being more discerning – supporting initiatives that are good for the people and opposing those they see are harmful – rather than just opposing everything.”
Mr Fanthome’s rather shallow, harsh and insensitive remarks predictably sparked an outcry in blogosphere with many netizens lampooning him on the P65 blog.
Purpose of opposition commented:
“Frederic does not seem to understand the role of opposition. Such an important basic operation of a decent or civil society and he can be so ignorant about it to the point of writing this article. And this is the type of people the PAP loves.”
Pimpmaster chided Fanthome for his unsavory remarks on anonymous netizens:
“Someone is out-of-touch…..so deeply. It is strange that folks like Fredreric, journalists and all, consider the idea of having pseudonyms as an alien and unacceptable idea. But of course, they call it “anonymous” nowadays. I’m not sure if it just his lack of sophistication, or lack of education. I guess it’s both.
It’s not a mystery. If there is one, it’s the reasoning behind the “cooling off”. Fredric, with all his talk, can’t even explain the need for it.
Bottomline is – PAP only manages to get 60% of votes ,yet it holds 98% of seats. Even Lee Hsien Loong almost got booted out of his own GRC by a thin 1% margin.
Whatever the opposition does on the eve of election works. It’s an insult to disclose WHAT IT IS to Fredric. I’d recommend that he get out of the office once in a while and discover for himself what is happening in the middle class areas of Singapore….and what exactly they do in the eve of election.
Then you’d understand why PAP wants to prohibit campaigning on that important night.”
Sgcygnic challenged Mr Fanthome to outline the achievements of the ruling party since last election:
“Frederick, I would love to hear what progress has been achieved by the incumbent in the 4 years since the last election. I’m sure the “anonymous hordes online” would be able to “find, willy-nilly something to nit-pick and criticize”. The mature and educated electorate would be able to make a reasoned comparison of both viewpoints.”
For some inexplicable reasons, Mr Fanthome, who doesn’t appears to be enamored with the “anonymous hordes” actually published their comments and replied to them.
He regurgitated the oft-repeated PAP’s rhetoric that a “constructive” opposition should not oppose everything the government does:
“The role of the opposition is (or should be) not simply to oppose everything proposed by the government, but to provide constructive opposition – oppose what is felt to be harmful and support (even if you are in opposition) policies that are good…..
If you merely oppose every single policy on the grounds that everything proposed by the government must be by definition harmful, in my view that is a useless opposition because clearly they cannot be depended upon to exercise any sort of judgment. It is not possible that every single policy proposed by the government is wrong – especially so in the case of Singapore that has seen such a remarkable ascent in the living standards of it’s population in the hands of this government. Singapore is living proof that the government has got a LOT right.
In my view the cool off day does not disadvantage the opposition unduly and hence I felt that the strong negative response was really not well thought out, but merely a knee-jerk reflexive and unintelligent response.”
Mr Fanthome also claimed that the PAP’s winning margin of 66 per cent of the popular vote in the last election is a “very strong” mandate:
“If you know anything about politics, 60% of the popular vote is very strong mandate in a first-past-the-post system and can very well lead to a complete landslide victory given a weak opposition. If you are not aware, Barack Obama’s share of the popular vote in a win portrayed as a landslide with 349 electoral college votes compared to McCain’s 162 (68% of the Electoral College) was just 52%. Yes, just 52%, and against a powerful opposition . By comparison, a 60% share of the popular vote is a massive mandate and against a weak opposition will generally lead to a very high % of seats won. And are you counting the non-contested constituencies or only the contested ones? If you are counting all the seats in parliament to get your 98% figure, then you need to include 100% of the population of the uncontested constituencies in the PAP share.”
In one of his comments, Mr Fanthome revealed that he graduated from a business school which is “harder” to enter than Harvard University.
From the many lengthy and detailed comments he posted, one can’t help wondering where he finds so much time to “engage” the “anonymous hordes” who have read his article.
It will not come as a surprise if he is being paid full-time to write on the P65 blog.
It is amusing that a blog sponsored by the ruling party, run by known bloggers and given extensive publicity in the mainstream media should have a readership less than 1 per cent of The Temasek Review which belongs to the “anonymous hordes” so despised by Mr Fanthome and his fellow acolytes.
Unfortunately, PAP bloggers like Mr Fanthome remains in the minority and they will never be able to compete in Singapore’s blogosphere against “anonymous hordes” like us who will continue to call the shots, whether they like it or not.
In cyberspace, the content of a website matters more than anything else, not the identity of its writers and the more readers a news site has, the more influence it will be able to exert.
As for PAP bloggers like Fanthome who deliberately tried to court controversy in order to boost their site’s flagging readership, the most appropriate course of action is to ignore their existence altogether.
After all, we belong to the “anonymous hordes” and it is better that we are left alone in our own world where we are the ones who set the rules of engagement.
Related articles:
>> P65 blog now “open” to all Singaporeans
>> PAP MPs “MIA” from P65 blog!
>> Debunking the “constructive criticism” illusion
EDITORS’ NOTE:
A reader posted Mr Fredric Fanthome’s personal details here on 9 December 2009. Mr Fathhome had contacted us to remove his photos and particulars. We apologize for the oversight and are sorry for the distress caused to Mr Fathome.
Posted in 
Tags: 28 Responses to “YPAP P65 blogger supports “cooling-off” day and condemns netizens for spraying “venom” at govt”
Loading ...
Alex Tan Allan Ooi AWARE Chee Soon Juan Chiam See Tong Claire Lee David Widjaja DBS Dr Allan Ooi Dr Silviu Ionescu Dr Vivian Balakrishnan Foyce Le Xuan highnote5 Hong Lim Park Jack Lin Xinli Jack Neo Jack Neo affair Jack Neo scandal Josie Lau Josie Lau Meng Lee Lee Kuan Yew Lehman brothers Lighthouse Evangelism MAS minibonds Miss Singapore World NTU stabbing PAP Pastor Rony Tan Ris Low Romanian diplomat in hit-and-run Rony Tan S-League silviu ionescu Singapore Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games Tan Kin Lian Thio Su Mien Tiger Woods affair Tong Kok Wai Top 8 Vivian Balakrishnan Wendy Chong Y O G Youth Olympic Games
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck and Luke Morton requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Are my tax dollars paying for his knee pads and towel?
Oh and don’t spit k cos here in sg you get fined for it.
Another prospective multimillion dollar minister in the making? For money they would do or say anything.
Excuse me, I opine that the business school that enrolled Mr. Fanthome, does not teach grammar properly because, Mr. Fanthome committed many grammatical mistakes in the essay that he published!!! Hahahaha, more difficult to enroll than Harvard Business School! It must be nus and nothing else, I guess!!!!
“As for PAP bloggers like Fanthome who deliberately tried to court controversy in order to boost their site’s flagging readership, the most appropriate course of action is to ignore their existence altogether.”
Agreed but then readers will in time find the place full of dog shit and no longer go there anyway.
I SAY MIGHT AS WELL MAKE SURE ALL PARTIES TAKE DOWN EVEN THE BANNERS AND WHATEVER DISPLAYS LIKE THOSE AT GRASSROOTS PREMISES.
I WONDER WHO GOT MORE TO CLEAR FOR COOLING OFF?
HEY!A BANNER CAN ALSO BE A DISTRACTION;EVEN A PHOTO OR AN ARTICLE IN THE NEWSPAPER?…
WE ARE A WELL-BEHAVED CITIZENRY AND ELECTORATE AND AS OF NOW, I SEE NO NEED FOR A COOLING OFF DAY/S EVEN IN HOT SUNNY SINGAPORE…WE ARE ALREADY SO COOL-MINDED UNLIKE SOME OF OUR CLOSEST NEIGHBOURS AND THE ALL-HELL-BREAK-LOSE TAIWAN.
IF ANYTHING,OUR CITIZENRY NEEDS SOME ‘WARMING UP’ AS MOST OF US ARE ALREADY MADE COOLLY “APATHETIC”?
@fair and square, you see the problem when PM says such things is on that day itself, ANY opposition party flag or advertise banners in the thrash bin also they will catch and prosecute, then make a big deal out of it.
If on teh other hand, say 1 PaPies banner still hanging on the streets, you report police also no police dare to do anything, they will have to call ops room, ops room then consult watch officer, then watch officer call HI, HI call OC, OC then call some ACP or DCP, then DCP call CP.
CP then will maybe call Perm Sec of Home Affairs and Perm Sec will call Millister for Home Affairs, then only then someone will make a decision.
So while the concerned parties call here and call there, the 2 small policeman who at the scene DARE NOT touch the banner and lan lan have to stand guard until instructions come down from the way way top.
If opposition say buay song want to complain to AG, AG will just brush it aside say ‘Honest Mistake’ or maybe come up with another wayang explaination say the banner was hanged when it was already INSIDE the day, so it is legal to hang if not caught, remember the 200 metres rule?
Apparently, he is a new citizen from india.see below article by him
A City That Fits Like A Charm
Head of Business Development at Clearing & Payments Services Pte Ltd, Fredric
Fanthome has two words to describe Singapore – Singapore Works.
The electricity never fails, the transport system works, the drainage system works. You
can drink water from the tap without worrying about getting a tummy ache. “And the
air is clean, except when there are forest fires in Indonesia!”
To Fredric, Singapore feels like a futuristic city from some science fiction movie
– where everything works like clockwork. When he first came to Singapore, he
looked for chinks and failures in the system – dirt, decay, disrepair – finding it hard to
believe it was all real, but everywhere he looked, things just worked. The first thought
that sprang to his mind when he first came to Singapore was: ‘Is this all an act? A
temporary show, perhaps, for some special occasion?’ He waited for things to revert
to the rundown, mediocre state that he had come to expect from cities. But that did
not happen.
With the passage of time, he became increasingly aware of all the planning that
went on ceaselessly to keep Singapore the way it is today. Bowled over by the sheer
efficiency, safety, cleanliness, and accessibility here, Fredric remarks, “I have travelled
to, and lived in, several cities around the globe . Cities that are hailed as the global
capitals of finance and culture do not match Singapore, in my opinion, when it comes
down to facilitating enjoyable living.”
As a frequent business traveller, Fredric feels a sense of calm, of being home
every time his flight touches down at Changi Airport. Regardless of where he has
gone , he is assured of returning to a place where there will be no nasty surprises,
no breakdowns, delays, security failures or other inconveniences. A place where
everything just works.
Fredric prizes farsightedness in planning, mathematical precision in implementation,
and clockwork efficiency in execution, Singapore fits his idea of an ideal city like a
charm. He says: “I did not adapt to Singapore. I did not have to. Singapore was the
kind of city I was always looking for.”
It is therefore not surprising that he made up his mind rapidly, not only to live here,
but to contribute in whatever way he could to keeping Singapore moving ahead.
“I don’t just live here,” he notes, “I am Singaporean. Singaporean by choice, and
proud of it.”
just received jalan besar GRC calendar, wow, this year calendar is bigger than previous years pocket-sized ones. another sign that elections are around the corner
the “PAP(read pet)” owners who keep “mad” dogs which so routinely bark insanely may one day themselves get “rabies”.
just look at some of the many failed “so-scholarly-conceived”
policies and you would understand our sincere citizen-concerns.
i still believe strongly that one of the biggest boo-boo of this century would be the highly-schooled’s cliched FT POLICY.
just you wait and see…
…the trouble with almost “bosses” is that they prefer to hear
niceties and shove realities.
good luck,o! singapore!!!
when will the “sun” rise for us again?
Learning, I believe, advances in these four successive stages
1. unconsciously incompetent
2. consciously incompetent
3. consciously competent
4. finally unconsciously competent
Either Fanthome is a ghost farting nonsense or he really does not know what he is talking about
By this comment..
“putting in place measures to ensure the presence of at least 18 non-PAP members or about a fifth of the house in the next parliament regardless of election results” …
One is easily misled sublimally to believe that PAP will allocate 18 seats to Opposition parties regardless of the election result when in fact most Opposition will be denied of representation by the incumbent’s nomination and selection of its own preferred proxies. The descript “non-PAP” is an irrelevant misnomer of reality. Didn’t Mr. Fanthome knows of this? Or is he careless or hypocritical with his vitriol against anomymous bloggers in cyberspace?
If NOT, whatever he claims of his outstanding academic background of allegedly more superior than Harvard, I have to wonder in my mind if he really advanced beyond stage 1 of the 4 steps learning process – that is no progress from the stage of unconsciously incompetent.
For someone like me who has not even “passed the kindergarden leaving examination”, life experiences alone have advanced my intellectual learning to stage 4 of the learning process to know what is garbage excursion of meandering thoughts fabrication of a cobweb of fancy talks and reality of truth in substance.
The rest of his comments against Oppositions and anonymous, in my view, DOES NOT MERIT THE DIGNITY OF MY FURTHER COMMENTS.
Hot Air? New citizen? Politically correct faithful dog wagging its tail of gratitude to new found master spouting vitriol on all other bloggers in cyberspace?
Not very intelligent to take on invisible forces. Maybe he should go China to learn Sun Zi art of war before coming back to punch air in cyberspace
//cy
this guy has not been to HK or Japan apparently.
P65?
That is proof of young virgin of knowledge and lack of sufficient experience yet lecturing people who were born, live their entire lives here – how ironic of a dummy-sucking baby teaching grandma how to suck egg in a new political culture. It is amazing how the shallowness of niavety even takes his opinion on board
What he blew out of carbon dioxide is less than the oxygen I have breathe in to know the real world. On his first date in China on his business trip there, he might be served hot tea and cold bananas and wondering what the connection is.
Still has a lot of basic to learn but certainly by his unrestrained displayed enthusiasm he clearly has got lots of “POTENTIAL” for future long-term development WHILE OTHERS LIKE ME ALREADY ACHIEVED given the comparative age of experience globally.
Fredric is obviously trying to suck the toes of MIW, so as to gain some benefits. I bet he will heap the same praises to the ruling party of whichever country he resides in in future. Typical double-head snake.
@Democracy rising
i can fathom you but not than “phantome”,really.
i guess due to his stupidity,he is proned to utter
glibberish nonsene…no, he is not of basic human
conditioning,he’s still swinging from tree to tree
in that forested “university”.
i think for all singaporeans’sake,we need to invent another
pseudonym just for this “phantome”…”SARCAR-ISM”(apple-polishing)…sad,that’s all he managed to learn at the great
expense of the ‘poorer than us’ Indian taxpayers…what betrayal?…our heartfelt sympathies to the INDIAN PEOPLE.
Can this p65 blogger prove what he claims ?
yes / no?
else what does it mean about what he claim?
With people like this guy spouting things he spouts, i am concerned about our future. Would he be our future leader? The only way out is to put more opposition in to represent those who support the need to increase the strength of opposition representatives in parliament.
He is not welcomed in Singapore. The taxpayers do not approve of him becoming a Singaporeans. What PAP has done is against Singaporean taypayers’ will. Judgement day is about to come to oust PAP who has been insubordinate towards Singaporean taxpayers. I do not want my tax monies being exploited to pay for all these new citizn when the money can be used to help the poor and needy singaporeans who build the country in the past. The new citizens did nothing, not even serving the mandatory National Service. What make this chap think his voice should be louder than any of Singaporeans NS men!!!
“Indian Institute of Management” and thats as difficult to get into and more prestiges than Harvard MBA he claims? Please lar, don’t make my toes laugh
IMPORTED TALENT jor, no wonder he carry balls until like that, Sinkapore no matter how also ‘better’ than India mah, now I can understand why.
“at least18 non-PAP members or about a fifth of the house ” <- as bystanders or audience? From what i understand NCMP have no powers in the house.. they merely 'suggest' views which most of the time are being rebutted by MPs… whats the point of having so many powerless ppl in the house who doesn't even have a constituency to "REALLY KNOW AND UNDERSTAND THE GROUNDS"?
"The role of the opposition is (or should be) not simply to oppose everything proposed by the government, but to provide constructive opposition – oppose what is felt to be harmful and support (even if you are in opposition) policies that are good….." <- since when do opposition oppose everything proposed by govt? They do agree sometimes… If they disagree, they are providing alternate views from another angle that PAP MPs may have overlooked. This is to ensure the quality of the policy being proposed. I would like to give him another countering statement: "The role of ruling party should not simply to propose policy (or policy changes) without constructively seek views or recommendations from an independent group or committee formed by people from all walks including those of the ground (not doctors or lawyers) and opposing party members." Did they do it? No… from what I understand, they select committee themselves. The quality of the committee remains in doubt.
we need a change in the political landscape, not just a cosmetic type but within it is rotting by the day. you just cannot change the leopard’s spots. we are no longer competitive and dynamic in the international arena due to inertia . we really have to get out of this rut and not let foreigners come in and dictate terms on our behalf.
Hi All,
This Indian new citizen simply missed the point on 18 non-PAP MPs.
These are actually puppets in parliament as they don’t have voting rights.
Even if the PAP allows for 40 NMPs in parliament, so what? They cannot vote, and PAP will still pass laws unchallenged as usual, since the majority still belongs to PAP!
Only the naive will think this is opening up of political space or democracy in action.
Hey Fredric, I won’t be surprised if 5-10 years from now, you leave Singapore and springboard over to US, Canada or Australia.
Err..hello…all you people have forgotten that your ancestors were once migrants ah? In case you don’t realize, the Chinese ad Indians did not appear here by magic ok? It was all migration. Please open your eyes and your minds.
//ronin on Wed, 9th Dec 2009 10:56 pm
Fredric is obviously trying to suck the toes of MIW, so as to gain some benefits. I bet he will heap the same praises to the ruling party of whichever country he resides in in future. Typical double-head snake.//
And if Chee Soon Juan ever becomes PM the toe-sucker will
happily go lick his ass.
If MIW and WIW need the praises and balls-licking from THE LEAST INFORMED new citizens like Fanthome, they must have completely dried up of support among native born Singaporeans – IT IS THE LAST FRONTIER OF PUBLIC RESPECT or is it NOT?
His article is full of fallacious arguments.