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15 May 2010

Question Of The Day



How come Ong Teng Cheong no state funeral ah?


- Voxeros

1. Prashant Sarkar left...
Monday, 17 May 2010 12:49 pm
According to this wikipedia article, Ong Teng Cheong did not get a state funeral because his family rejected the offer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ong_Teng_Cheong


2. JayWalk left...
Monday, 17 May 2010 5:23 pm :: 
Prashant Sarkar: Welcome to the blog and thank you for the update. I stand corrected.

However, it seems like the feel on the ground is still otherwise. I wonder why is that?


3. Pam left...
Monday, 17 May 2010 10:00 pm
The feel on the ground may be 'otherwise' because 1. you are projecting your own opinions onto others (so it's impossible that others feel differently from you since your opinion must be the one true one - psychologically speaking, not necessarily true); 2. people like to be contrary esp in a situation where people are 'unhappy/frustrated/pee-ed off'; 3. people think that OTC should have had a state funeral but people didn't have the 'power of the media/social networking' at that time to demand for one; 4. you are so far away from sg - how do you know that 'the feel on the ground is otherwise'?; 5. people like to say 'people say'... but who are these' people'?!?!?
Not arguing either way - just putting forth suggestions of why things might be so.


4. JayWalk left...
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 4:00 pm :: 
Pam: I am physically far away from the ground. That is true but this question has been around for eons.

People say. Who are these people? Very simple. Hop into any taxi and ask the cabbie uncle this question. I can tell you all of them same sentiment.

Just this morning, I spoke to a friend about wiki mentioning that there was no state funeral coz the family rejected this offer. I was given a skeptic response. Somehow she wasn't too convinced.


5. Vandalin left...
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 4:28 pm :: http://vandalin.blogspot.com
Actually I am surprised that OTC didn't have a state funeral. Wee Kim Wee had one as well?


6. JayWalk left...
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 8:03 pm :: 
Vandalin: Mr Wee Kim Wee had a state funeral. OTC did not.




8. Pam left...
Tuesday, 18 May 2010 10:01 pm
Jay - I'm not saying it's either way - I'm just saying that it's vvv easy to be sceptical/contrary. You will be hardpressed to find someone who actually supports what the 'mainstream politicians' say, esp in a country where there is ONLY mainstream politicians, and no reasonable opposition parties.
besides, you spoke to 'a friend' - does this 'friend' represent the population of the country? It's a case of follow-the-leader and majority rules. People say this, so I oso say lor. esp when these 'people' are people that you somehow believe (whether they are your best friends, only friend, reliable media person, expert in their field... or basically just someone who seems to agree with you). If you want to read about it scientifically, you can check these out: anerjee, A. V. (1992). A Simple Model of Herd Behavior. The Quarterly Journal of Economics , 107 (3), 797-817. Birhchandani, S., Hirshleifer, D., & Welch, I. (1998). Learning from the Behavior of Others: Conformity, Fads and Informational Cascades. The Journal of Economic Perspectives , 12 (3), 151-170.


9. JayWalk left...
Thursday, 20 May 2010 10:12 am :: 
Pam: OK. I get what you are saying. Herd mentality could be at play here.

Still, would it be too much to ask to have even 1 or 2 opposing views? While I cannot say that I have asked every single person in Singapore about this, I can however say that I have not met one that has an opposing view to this particular issue.


10. Pam left...
Thursday, 20 May 2010 4:41 pm
er Jay, ok much as I'm not 'opposing' your view, I'm suggesting that it may not be true (ie it may genuinely be the case that his family didn't want a state funeral). does that not count as a 'differing view'?????
herd mentality dude...

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