here are (again, thanks to yvonne) all the straits times articles on s rajaratnam collected in one place.

the state funeral service, it seems, will be held at the esplanade concert hall on saturday. slightly surprising, considering wee kim wee's family refused the same honour just last year. it's not about comparative merit or status of course, merely that once someone sets a precedent for refusing an honour and it's lauded as a mark of humility and identification with the common man etc it becomes very hard for anyone else to accept.

i was thinking about our national pledge last year when i was taking sollors and shell, when we were talking about english plus vs. english only legislation, and thinking how, for us, it is at once built into our belief that we are multilingual (in the recognition of four official languages, the over-rigid application of the bilingual policy, and the careful distinction between national language, official language and the "working language of government.") but also built into pledge is the idea that language differences constitute a divisive force.