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Michael
Roston
26260 West Arthur
Chicago, IL 60645-5312
USA
(773) 262 6066
ending@probemail.com
19
June 2000
Jessica
Lim (Ms.)
Deputy General Manager
National University of Singapore
Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society Ltd.
Ground Floor, Central Library Building
Kent Ridge Crescent
National University of Singapore
Singapore 119260
Dear
Ms. Lim
I
refer to your letter subject-headed "Self-Censorship:
Singapore's Shame," dated on May 10 of this
year. In attempting to respond to Think Centre's
concerns that James Gomez's book on Singaporean
political culture has been given short-shrift,
your letter has promoted several misconceptions
of reason as well as breaks in etiquette that
must be corrected, certainly in a more satisfactory
fashion than your letter attempted.
Your
argument rests in simplistic fashion on a single
point: that Self-Censorship was given treatment
identical to any other textbook that had been
taken off peak. I have a number of difficulties
with accepting this 'clarification' of yours.
Initially, it would seem to me that the notion
of the Gomez title being off-peak within the bookstore
is nothing short of fallacious. The book sold
so well when initially brought into the store
that a second order had to be placed, certainly
not indicative of an off-peak title, but instead
of a title that has provoked sustained student
interest.
When
your shop took the title down, a consignment of
books were placed at the Ismath Store on campus
beneath the Yusof Ishak House where a good number
of the title continue to sell, although in smaller
numbers as the location is far less prime than
the store run by your organization. More to the
point, the book continues to sell in excellent
numbers throughout Singapore at such locations
as Borders, Kinokuniya, Select Books, MPH Booksellers,
Times, WH Smith in the airport, in addition to
numerous magazine stands in other locations on
the island.
The
notion that this title has somehow been reduced
to an off-peak status by a lack of interest clearly
has more to do with the personal belief of someone
making poor business decisions, and nothing to
do with student/customer demand. While the bookstore
clearly must serve the needs f 20,000 students,
you fail to present a reason why the book was
off-peak and somehow preventing you from completing
this mission of your organization.
In
terms of serving needs, it would seem to me that
by returning the book to the publisher as your
store did several months ago, you also failed
certain professors and students within NUS's academic
community. Multiple efforts seem to have been
made to indicate that Gomez's work fit well within
the academic community. That Dr. Emil Bolongaita
included the book in the curriculum of his Public
Policy course would seem to indicate that the
book is needed in at least one place on a sustained
basis. There is an enduring need to present good
examples of contestation of citizenship and political
space within Southeast Asian societies, a need
met by Self-Censorship according to Dr. Bolongaita.
Is the Co-op willing to re-order the title semester
after semester or if so requested by another lecturer?
Even further, the invitation by the Malay Studies
Department of Mr. Gomez to speak on March 2 of
this year would seem to indicate that the interest
in his arguments about Singaporean political culture
are deemed relevant for reflection by the NUS's
academic community. Thus your reasoning to return
the full order of the book to the distributor
somehow better served the needs of NUS students
is difficult to discern.
What
is more disappointing are the breaches in etiquette
that the Co-op made during the writing of the
original article. While the Co-operative Society
chose to respond in simplistic fashion to our
concerns with a paragraph-long letter more than
a month after it was published, it never saw fit
to respond to our quite simple and unloaded questions
about the book's treatment prior to the writing
of the story. In trying to ask these questions,
I received one after another convenient delay.
When I informed your subordinate Angeline Soh,
the assistant manager of the books division, that
I needed the information or a 'no comment' after
waiting a week for responses to my questions,
I was told two days later that she was on medical
leave. When I informed her that I still had time
to incorporate the Co-op's responses before sending
the article to Think Centre, I was summarily ignored.
You now insist that the book had been declared
off-peak, but this runs contrary to a subordinate
of Ms. Soh's who informed me in person that the
book was available on an 'ask-only' basis. If
it were true that the book had merely been moved
to this off-peak status and was being returned,
it would seem that Ms. Soh could have easily responded
to all my inquiries with a single sentence rather
than ignoring them. Yet somehow you are suggesting
that a reply two and a half months after the initial
inquiry was made, attempting to 'clarify' 'normal'
Co-op 'policy' would somehow be satisfactory.
At Think Centre, we feel that you have been less
than forthright about your actions throughout
our investigation, and this seems unnecessary,
unreasonable, and unfair.
Further,
your address of me within the letter as well as
the other individuals it was sent to seems like
two more breaches of good etiquette.. You addressed
me in my role as the Assistant Secretary for Publications
in the NUS Political Science Society. I never
at any moment in writing the article or attempting
to communicate with the Co-op presented myself
in this role. While I passed a name card with
that title upon it, I in fact indicated that I
was looking to submit an article for publication
in The Ridge (NUS student newspaper), something
your subordinate's delays made entirely impossible.
It would behoove you to address people in their
proper status as individuals and not as officers
of organizations unrelated to the matter at hand.
I
am also concerned at this letter's destination
with the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social
Sciences. I fail to see how my role as an exchange
student at the National University of Singapore
has anything to do with the investigation or writing
of this article. That the article appeared on
Think Centre's web site and nowhere on-campus
would seem to indicate that this matter had little
to do with my student status. I can only help
but wonder if it is your desire to create academic
difficulties for me in some fashion by Cc:'ing
the article to the Dean of a Faculty with which
my relationship has now ceased. It is disappointing
and unfortunate that you would for some reason
seek to create some kind of conflict for me in
a location that extends beyond my role as an occasional
investigator and assistant to the efforts at Think
Centre.
At
Think Centre, we do not consider your agenda to
be 'hidden.' Mysterious, certainly, but definitely
not hidden. The evidence contained in the original
article as well as herein would seem to indicate
that the Co-op deemed Self-Censorship too shameful
for its shelves. That the book spent more than
a month and a half behind the information counter
available on an ask-only basis before being returned
to Select Books would seem to indicate beyond
any reasonable doubt that it has not moved merely
through the book store's retirement policy for
'off-peak' titles. Instead, it seems that Co-op
deemed the book too sensitive for NUS's student
population despite receiving no direct imperatives
on the matter from the University.
I
believe you should correct this poor judgment
on your part by re-ordering the book and making
it available to NUS's academic community, a collection
of 20,000 individuals for whom the book certainly
can be appropriately considered, discussed, debated,
and consulted, not to mention be taught by interested
professors. Your organization has committed an
error based upon the same sort of self-censorship
that James Gomez wishes to criticize in his title.
Perhaps reading the book yourself would help you
to correct such calculations of political illegitimacy.
I
trust that this rebuttal has been more than satisfactory.
Yours
in earnest,
Michael
Roston
Cc:
James Gomez, Think Centre
Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
General Manager, NUS Multi-Purpose Co-operative
Society Ltd.
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