Monday, March 9, 2015

Problem Solution Essay Draft 1

Terrorism remains a global issue that nations are facing today. Islamic State extremist groups have taken advantage of the anonymity of the online platform to execute their operations, such as propagation of their ideology, terrorist recruitments, fund raising and training-i.e. how to build a bomb. It is challenging to trace and crack down on all these terrorist activities with the rapid sharing of terrorist related materials that are easily accessible on social media websites.

A research that has been conducted by Gabriel W., Professor of Communication at Haifa University, have shown an exponential increase in the number of terrorist related websites from 12 in 1998 to nearly 10,000 today. In addition, online forums and chatrooms have allowed these terrorist group to dissimilate terrorist related information such as agenda and operation of the terrorist groups and answer queries that sympathizers of terrorist group had virally.

Referring to, ‘ Budget 2013: Self-radicalised individual re-detained’, an online news article by Bryna Singh, The Straits Times, it is challenging to de-radicalise someone once he has been drawn to terrorist ideology. Abdul Basheer, a law graduate turned self-radicalised terrorist, had been deeply drawn into terrorist ideology that despite being detained for three years, he returned to his old ways soon after his release. Not long after his release in February 2010, he was caught again later last year for wanting to undertake militant jihad operation abroad. This case study had shown the strong influence brought by the alteration of Islamic teaching by the Islamic State extremist groups. Based on Statistics Singapore, Census of Population 2010, Malay formed 13.3% of the total ethnic groups in Singapore. It is important that these Islamic practitioners receive proper preaching and not the altered version by Islamic State extremist groups online.

In order to counteract the influence of terrorist ideology brought by social media, the Singapore government had employed various strategies which range from heighten surveillance online and island-wide, mass scale simulation exercises to regional dialogue and exercises. These strategies are illustrated in the following sections.

As part of an initiative to counter against terrorism, the Internal Security Department Counter-Terrorism Centre (ISD CTC) was established in April 98. The ISD CTC is mainly involved in the monitoring and investigation of terrorist activities or incident. A 24 hours incident response centre was even set up to provide immediate response to security incidents. Intelligence gathered from cases of security incidents will be collected and stored by the ISD CTC for further evaluation and analysis of traces of terrorist activities.

As a means to identify and assess new emerging threat to national security, the Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning (RAHS) was developed and launched by the National Security Coordination Secretariat in 2004. Analytical tools such as SKAN and Vanguard are part of the software that RAHS had developed, enabling the modelling and monitoring of emerging strategic solutions.

To increase surveillance of suspicious terrorist activities or objects, the Police MRT Unit was established on August 2005 to increase patrol on Mass Rapid Transport network to protect the public transportation installations. Personnel from the Special Operations Command (SOC) and the Gukha Contingent (GC) have also been deployed to complement police officers on patrol. In addition, the Police Coast Guard (PCG) had stepped up its effort to inspect ferries and other vessels in Singapore territorial waters.

To deter against potential terrorist attack, specialised military, law enforcement and civil defence units are established. These units include, Singapore Special Operations Force, Special Operations Command and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosive Defence Group. Rigorous trainings and exercises was carried to prepare these special operation units for emergency civil attack. One of the mass scale impromptu simulation exercise, Exercise Northstar V, have been carried out to evaluate the readiness and coordination between the relevant units in civil emergency. This exercise also helps to raise the psychological readiness of publics in situation of terrorist attacks. A total of 22 agencies and 2000 emergency personnel and an additional of 3400 commuters are involved in this exercise.

Regular dialogues and information sharing between regional leaders and police officers enable the development of strategic counter-terrorists’ measures, monitoring and crack down of potential suspicious terrorist activities.

Up to date, Singapore have not encountered major terrorist attack apart from the Singapore embassies attack plot initialled by the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) in 2001. This might had lower the public awareness of the potential terrorist threats in Singapore. It is thus important to have regular roadshows and educational talks in schools and cooperates about the risk of terrorists and ways publics can aid in the uncovering of potential terrorists activities. Furthermore, the public can help notify the authorities of terrorist contents on social media once spotted.

In conclusion, it may be impossible to stop the propagation of terrorist related materials on social media due to their abundancy. Nevertheless, coupled with counter terrorism measures such as stringent surveillance virally and island wide, simulation exercises and regional and community cohesiveness, we can limit the operation of terrorist activities and casualties brought by terrorist attacks.

References




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Sunday, February 22, 2015

"An Influential Event"


"An Influential Event"

I had never thought of or realized what the true purpose in life was until my Grandmother had passed away.

It was five years ago, at the wake of my Grandmother’s funeral. The usual laughter and chattering within our family members were missing. Instead, sadness was written over every family members’ faces as each of us took turns to pay our respect to Grandmother before she was cremated.

On the way home after the funeral, I pondered about the fragility of life. It was hard to predict when we would die; but how could we had no regrets in life even if we only had a few weeks or months to live?

For some people, their sole purpose in life was to be the richest man in the world. They striven hard from young to old just to accumulate wealth that they could not even spent in a life time. By as they got richer, they got more depressed. True friends and life partners were hard to identify as people that roamed around them are people that were only interested in coveting on their wealth. Therefore, instead of the pursuit over superficial subjects such as wealth and fame, it was better to pursuit over happiness which could lead to a more enriching life.


To end off, life passed in a blink of eye, so it was important to cherish every moments in our life. Maybe life gave us lemon once in a while, but there would always be a rainbow after the rain. Pursuit of happiness instead of superficial objects such as material needs and fame can be a step further to a life of no regrets.
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Reader's Response Draft 3 (Edited Version)

Reader’s Response:
Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom- China, Russia, or the US?-
Morozov, E.

According to Morozov (2015) in ‘Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom-China, Russia, or the US?’, United States (US) despite being an advocate of internet freedom demanded to obtain internet information regardless of where it was stored as long as it was handled by US companies. This greatly offsets China’s policy in the blockage of foreign websites and Russia’s regulation which restricts the storage of surveillance data on servers inside the country.

US backing of internet freedom is indeed a mask to achieve her egotistic aims of increasing her internet sovereignty at the expense of violating civil and political rights of technology films and other nations.

In 2014, US, China and Russia were among countries that were marked as ‘enemies of the internet’ by Reporter Without Boarders, a distinction to highlight countries with the highest level of internet censorship and surveillance.

Despite the low level of internet censorship as compared to China and Russia, US had tried to propagate an extensive internet surveillance over technology films and other nations in the name of ‘internet freedom’. This is demonstrated in the article, where US demanded to bypass the legal procedures involved to obtain internet information from other countries as long as it was handled by US companies. Furthermore, US companies had also installed advanced network systems in other countries that were complex and costly to undo. Therefore, it is rather ironic for US to be supportive of internet freedom at one end and exploiting the political rights of other nations at the other.

In terms of economic purposes, US support of ‘internet freedom’ can be a cover for the rapid expansion of US Info-communication Technology (IT) companies in other countries to dominate the global IT sector. Referring back to the article, Google had even funded a $60million undersea cable connecting Brazil to Florida in order to promote connectivity between the two countries. Instead of the political reason of promoting a swift transfer of internet resources between the two countries, a possible reason for US to initial this project is to ensure her server stays relevant in other countries.

Referring to an online news report by Australian Broadcasting Corporation News (ABC News), US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Justice Department had even demanded Twitter to hand over user data without the acknowledgement of the users due to surveillance law. This had deeply violated the privacy of users of Twitter, whom every word was constantly monitored by the US authorities. In addition, US internet surveillance on Twitter users had violated the US constitution’s First Amendment which entitled citizens to the freedom of speech.

From the US perspective, the propagation of internet surveillance mainly brings about benefits for the nation. For instance, the omission of legal procedures in order to obtain internet data from other nations; globalization of US IT companies; deterrence against social unrest, child pornography and promotion of national security. However, propagation of internet surveillance by US may bring about mass surveillance worldwide, which violates the political and civil rights of other nations. It is also seemly impudent to demand every nation to disclose digital surveillance in order to promote internet freedom. These digital documentations are supposed to be highly confidential. Even if these digital documents are handled by US companies, the required legal procedures have to be done to prevent the leak of confidential information.

In conclusion, it may be difficult to put a definition on the degree of digital surveillance that nations shall impose, as that truly depends on the interest of the people involved. Nevertheless, US overbearing demands to propagate her internet surveillance over technology films and other countries is not acceptable. To build an ‘internet free’ society requires the cooperation between every nations and US self-centred ideology of building her digital empire in the name of promoting internet freedom is rather one-sided.


References
Morozov , E. (2015, Jan4). Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom - China, Russia, or the US?. The Guardian. Retrieved from: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/04/internet-freedom-china-russia-us-google-microsoft-digital-sovereignty
ABC News (2014, Oct8). Twitter sues US government claiming freedom of speech is being violated by surveillance laws. Retrieved from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-08/twitter-suing-us-government-for-breaching-freedom-of-speech/5799666




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Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Reader's Response: Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom- China, Russia, or the US?- Evgeny Morozov

Reader’s Response:
Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom- China, Russia, or the US?- Evgeny Morozov

Inferring to ‘Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom-China, Russia, or the US?’- Evgeny Morozov (2015), the author believes that United State despite being an advocate of internet freedom, had demanded to obtain internet information regardless of where it is stored as long as it is handled by US companies. This greatly offsets China’s policy in the blockage of foreign websites and Russia’s regulation which restricts the storage of surveillance data on servers inside the country.

In my opinion, United States backing of internet freedom is indeed a mask to achieve her egotistic aims at the expense of invading civil and political rights of other nations.

In 2014, United States, China and Russia were among countries that was marked as ‘enemies of the internet’ by Reporter Without Boarders, a distinction to highlight countries with the highest level of internet censorship and surveillance.

Despite the low level of internet censorship as compared to China and Russia, United State had tried to propagate an extensive internet surveillance over other nations in the name of ‘internet freedom’. This is demonstrated in the article, where US had demanded to bypass the legal procedures involved to obtain internet information from other countries as long as it is handled by US companies. In additional, US companies had also installed advanced network systems in other countries that are complex and costly to undo. Therefore, it is rather ironical for US to be supportive of internet freedom at one end and exploiting the political rights of other nations at the other.

In terms of economical purposes, I believe US support of ‘internet freedom’ is just a cover for the rapid expansion of US Info-communication Technology (IT) companies in other countries to dominate the global IT sector. Inferring from the article, Google had even funded a $60million undersea cable connecting Brazil to Florida in order to promote connectivity between the two countries. Is it really to ensure swift transfer of internet resources between the two countries or is to ensure her server stays relevant in other countries? The answer to this question is rather simple. Just like the saying,' There is no free lunch on this Earth.'  I believe there must be something up US sleeve for initialling this project. 

From the US perspective, the propagation of internet surveillance mainly brings about benefits for her own nation. For instance, the omission of legal procedures in order to obtain internet data from other nations; globalization of US IT companies; deterrence against social unrest, child pornography and promotion of national security. However, propagation of internet surveillance by US may brings about mass surveillance worldwide, which violates the political and civil rights of other nations. It is also seemly impudent to demand every nations to disclose digital surveillance in order to promote internet freedom. These digital documentations are supposed to highly confidential. Even if it is handled by US companies, the required legal procedures have to be done to prevent the leak of confidential information.

In conclusion, it may be difficult to put a definition on the degree of digital surveillance that nations shall impose, as that truly depends on the interest of the people involved. Nevertheless, US overbearing demands to propagate her internet surveillance over other countries is not acceptable. To build an ‘internet free’ society requires the cooperation between every nations and US self-centred ideology of building her digital empire in the name of promoting internet freedom is rather one-sided.


Reference
Evgeny Morozov (2015,Jan4). Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom - China, Russia, or the US?.The Guardian. Retrieved from
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/04/internet-freedom-china-russia-us-google-microsoft-digital-sovereignty


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Sunday, February 8, 2015

Outline of reader response

Thesis Statement:

United States backing of internet freedom is just a mask to achieve her egotistic aims.

Supporting Claims:

  • As a means of America's globalization agenda, US companies had installed advanced network system in other countries that is complex and costly to undo.
  • Instead of complex legal process involving bilateral treaties between the governments in order to obtain information sovereignty in other countries, the american government now wants to sidestep that completely and treat the handling of such data as a purely local issue with no international implications.

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Tuesday, February 3, 2015

‘Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom-China, Russia, or the US?’ Summary

‘Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom-China, Russia, or the US?’ Summary

Inferring to ‘Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom-China, Russia, or the US?’- Evgeny Morozov (2015), the author believes that United State despite being an advocate of internet freedom, had demanded to obtain internet data regardless of where it is stored as long as it is handled by US companies. This greatly offsets China’s policy in the blockage of foreign networks and Russia’s regulation which restricts the storage of surveillance data on servers inside the country.

Reference
Evgeny Morozov (4Jan2015). Who’s the true enemy of internet freedom - China, Russia, or the US?.The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jan/04/internet-freedom-china-russia-us-google-microsoft-digital-sovereignty


DONE BY: NGOH JIE RUI, ZHENG DA
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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Paraphrasing & Summarizing Group Assignment

Paraphrasing and summarising exercises

DONE BY : JIE RUI, YE MIN, YU XI

1.       A3 Paraphrasing exercises

1.1   Exercise (1)

In this short excerpt from David Crystal’s English as a Global Language, take note of the way that power relationships rather than the number of speakers influenced Latin language use.
“Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were simply more powerful.”

Paraphrased sentence:

Inferring from David Crystal’s English as a Global Language, Latin had become an international language among the continents Romans had conquered not because of the higher amount of Romans ruling over the land; it is rather because the Romans hold greater power then.

1.2   Exercise (2)

As you paraphrase the following paragraph, present the “expected” general features of the nuclear reactors from Declan Butler’s “Nuclear power’s new dawn,” taken from Nature, 20 May, 2004 (Vol. 429, p. 238). “These new reactors would all operate at high temperatures, improving their efficiency. And they would include simplified safety features that do not rely on sophisticated backup experienced operators — all are, in principle, ‘meltdown proof’ and can cool themselves down in the event of an accident with minimal, if any, human intervention. . . . Experts agree that reactors will need to be a lot cheaper to run. And to sway a nuclear‐ averse public, the next generation of reactors will need to produce much less radioactive waste at terrorist‐proof facilities.”

Paraphrased sentence:

According to Nature (2004) (Vol.429, p.238), Declan Butler’s nuclear reactors may offer a greater performance as they operate at a higher temperature. In additional, requirement for skilled operators is eliminated as the reactors are expected to be able to cool down automatically, or with minimal human interference, in emergency situations. Lastly, the nuclear reactors can be expected to be cheaper and generate lesser radioactive wastes.

2.       B2 Examples of Summarized Texts

Example ii. Title: What do you think an appropriate title is for this paragraph?
Original Text: “Overall, the first two quarters have been profitable for the company. Nineteen of twenty departments report cutting costs at least twenty percent, and sales from fifteen departments have risen five percent, or about $5 million. Despite these positive developments, most department heads believe that they will not be able to maintain these levels for the remainder of the year.”
 Summary: While the first half of the year has been profitable, the next six months are not expected to be as lucrative.
Source: Retrieved from Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2013). Paraphrasing and Summary. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/976/1/

 Appropriate title:  

Financial performance of ABC Company

3.       B3 Summarising Practice
3.1   Exercise (1)
Title: Social problems in a diverse society “In any one nation, there are both very wealthy and very poor individuals and families. When sociologists conduct research on these disparities, they frequently analyse secondary data that originally were collected by the World Bank and the United Nations. These data focus on quality‐of‐life indicators such as wealth; income; life expectancy; health; sanitation; the treatment of women; and education for high‐ income, middle‐income and low income nations.”
Source: Kendall, D. (2004). Social problems in a diverse society (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Summary:

All countries in the world are facing income inequality issue.

3.2   Exercise (2)

2. Title: English as a global language “Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it. It is much more to do with who those speakers are. Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they subjugated. They were simply more powerful. And later, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power – the ecclesiastical power of Roman Catholicism.”
Source: Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Summary:
Latin has become an international language to date as a reason of the influential power of Roman’s religious.

4.       Reporting

4.1   C1  Reporting Verbs

When incorporating information from an outside source, select verbs to convey your attitude towards the quotation and/or the author’s attitude towards the subject. The verbs in the list below can be classified according to their levels of certainty as certain, neutral or tentative. Some of them need to be followed by a “that (or noun) clause.” Here is one example: He implied that this work is not useful.
 Look at the list of reporting verbs. Do you know which verbs on the list below demonstrate certainty? Circle the verbs that should be followed by ‘that’.

 allege imply remark reject argue insist say examine assert discuss state propose believe mention suggest find claim note survey postulate comment observe write hypothesize
·         Verbs that demonstrate certainty are not highlighted
·         Verbs that should be followed by ‘that’ are the highlighted ones

4.2    Reporting exercise

Which of the verbs from the list above could be used to report the statement made by Tan in the excerpt below?

 Globalization has made an impact not only in business and politics, but also in people’s diet and the nature of food businesses. Large scale migration and foreign travel have been catalysts which have introduced new types of food and cuisines. According to Tan (2010), through travels abroad, Singaporeans have developed a liking for exotic and foreign cuisines and this has resulted in a wide range of restaurants being set up here to cater to their tastes.

·         Claim
·         Comment
·         Discuss
·         Observe
·         Remark
·         Say
·         Mention
·         State

4.3   C3 Reporting Information Practice

Example (1)
Title: Appropriate use of quotations in note‐taking
Original Text: “Students frequently overuse direct quotation in taking notes, and as a result they overuse quotations in the final research paper. Probably only about 10% of your final manuscript should appear as directly quoted matter. Therefore, you should strive to limit the amount of exact transcribing of source materials while taking notes.”
Source: Lester, J.D. (1976). Writing research papers (2nd ed.). pp. 46‐47.
 Paraphrase: In research papers students often quote excessively, failing to keep quoted material down to a desirable level. Since the problem usually originates during note taking, it is essential to minimize the material recorded verbatim (Lester, 1976).
Source: Retrieved from UEFAP. Academic Writing. http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm
Summary: Students should only make a limited amount of notes in direct quotation in order to help minimize the amount of quotes used (Lester, 1976).

Lester (1076) asserts that students should only make a limited amount of notes in direct quotation in order to help minimize the amount of quotes used.

Example (2)

Example ii. Title: What do you think an appropriate title is for this paragraph? Original Text: “Overall, the first two quarters have been profitable for the company. Nineteen of twenty departments report cutting costs at least twenty percent, and sales from fifteen departments have risen five percent, or about $5 million. Despite these positive developments, most department heads believe that they will not be able to maintain these levels for the remainder of the year.”
 Summary: While the first half of the year has been profitable, the next six months are not expected to be as lucrative.
 Source: Retrieved from Purdue Online Writing Lab. (2013). Paraphrasing and Summary. http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/976/1/
Purdue Online Writing Lab (2013) concluded that although the first half of the year has been profitable, the next six months are not expected to be as lucrative.
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