eh this can or not?

One day in kambingpuraland, aidil lee checked his mailbox and received a mail from some human activists. perplexed, he asked one of his deputies, mr seng slick to review the letter.

L: " slick ah, you come listen to this mail. i don't understand what the fella trying to say ah..."

....As a network of the national, regional and international civil society organisations, we the undersigned express our grave concerns about the impending restrictions and threats reportedly being made that will hamper meaningful civil society participation at the upcoming WB-IMF meeting in kambingpura, 19-20 September 2006. These threats and restrictions will jeopardize civil society engagement with various inter-governmental bodies on strategic issues such as trade, aid, debt, sustainable development, human rights, peace and human security...

L: "what grave concerns he talking about lei?"

mr slick cooly takes his seat and with his stare, took out a comb to furnish his slick bob, shining even in the dimly lit room. his baritone escapes.

S: "ah lee, you must understand that he is giving you a clue. a clue to state that he is digging his own grave."

L: "what should i tell him then?"

S: "tell him, - better still warn him - that should he continue with this, we'll give him a spade."

L: "a spade? to re-arrange the suddenly new sprouted trees along suntit city?"

S: "no, to dig his own grave to replace the suddenly new sprouted trees. those are just standbys for these incidents."

L: "that's all ah?"

S: "no. reply to him with this downloaded copy of fix you. he'll understand. he does not want to swim with the fishes i can foresee."

L: "ok. but then come listen some more to this."

...we would like to highlight the importance of spontaneous and unrestricted civil society actions before, during and after the WB-IMF meeting.

we are also concerned by reports that only selected foreign organisations may be “allowed” to stage peaceful protests – waiving the rules that normally apply in kambingpura – and that like-minded kambingpuraans organisations will not be allowed to do so.We emphasise that freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, particular the right to organize and participate in peaceful protests are universal rights that should be enjoyed by all people, including kambingpuraans people and organisations.

we consider statements such as the one reportedly made by kambingpura's slick minister, that certain civil society actions may “attract severe punishment, including caning and imprisonment”, as veiled threats towards civil society.

L: "how should i counter that leh? i want the world to see my kambings to roam freely without any restrictions, but now this fella write in this i must counter react, pronto?"

S: "don't worry. we can use our members to potray that spontaneous and unrestricted civil society mentality."

L: "how? and who are these members by the way?"

S: "our members. the one who voted for us last may, remember? we can ask that one pakcik with the songkok who likes to joget and waves the flag. he's the one at the woozzaland stadium, remember? we can ask him along with those makciks who for some reason seem to be very enthusiastic at the polling stations waving our flags and clapping those 2 balloons which until now i do not know what it is called."

L: "excellent! now the world can actually see pakciks and makciks in kambingpura and finally they will understand that this place is not in china! what about the other point, in which he said that kambingpuraans cannot demonstrate, only cipalang foreigners can? how the heck do these people know one?!"

S: "again, you can put this into a positive perspective. remember just the other day you just mentioned you want to bring in more cipalang foreigners here. now is your chance. we cannot trust our kambingpuraans to conduct these activities. they lack the class ok as they've been programmed since they were in the herd not to do anything purposeful until we tell them to do so. only foreigners we can allow them to do anything. it's easier that way."

by this time aidil lee was beginning to slap himself danabelachan style.

L: "brilliant slick! brilliant! eh you not buaysong ah the writer mention you in the mail?"

S: "please, i can't be bothered less. with my voice, slick hair and incredible stare, even osama will quake in his boots. that is why he use quotes in those remarks."

L: "ok suit yourself. eh got one more last paragraph."

..Restrictions on peaceful civil society actions of any kind and threats of using cruel, inhumane and degrading punishments such as caning will only erode kambingpura's credibility in the eyes of global civil society.

We look forward to your response to our concerns...

L: "so what should we do about this?"

S: "easy, we'll do the most logical thing."

L: "which is?"

S: "appoint joakim gomez as his liason officer. he'll suffer so much from the droning soundscapes."

L: "excellent! now let's get back to work..."

And so he does.

Without realising that 2 more articles earlier this year were produced to bring out the attention of this.

FINANCE: CAN SINGAPORE SILENCE ACTIVISTS AT WORLD BANK/IMF MEET?

Activists Concerned over Singapore's "Caning" Threat

Tags: Singapore, IMF, World bank