Is This a Plagiarism Act?

Published: 23rd September 2020

Recently I came across two news article that prompted me to flip the dictionary for one word: plagiarism. The definition says: the process or practice of using another person’s ideas or work and pretending that it is your own.

Then I decided to look deeper on the internet and found this on a website: www.bowdoin.edu “The Common Types of Plagiarism”.  There are four types and one type particularly caught my interest: Mosaic Plagiarism.

I quote: Mosaic Plagiarism occurs when a student borrows phrases from a source without using quotation marks or finds synonyms for the author’s language while keeping to the same general structure and meaning of the original.    Sometimes called “patch writing”, this kind of paraphrasing, whether intentional or not, is academically dishonest and punishable – even if you footnote your sources.

Channelnewsasia.com mentioned on 20 September 2020, that from next month a series of engagements between the public and private sectors, as well as non-governmental organisations, will be held with the aim of identifying and tackling issues concerning women in Singapore.  Mr. Shanmugam even commented that, [and I quote]:

“Achieving gender equality requires a “deep mindset change” as well as changes to Singapore’s cultural value system. Every boy and girl must grow up imbibing the value of gender equality. They need to be taught from a very early age that boys and girls are to be treated equally and, very importantly, with respect”.

The article goes on to say that, [and I quote]: The initiative will be spearheaded by the Ministry of Social and Family Development, and supported by the Home Affairs as well as the Culture, Community and Youth ministries. 

Who gave that reporter the idea that:- the issue of Gender Equality needs to be re-look at, was an initiative thought of by the Government?

This initiative was already raised by the Reform Party in our party’s manifesto during the General Election (“GE”) 2020 campaign that was held in July this year, that means at least two months ago the Reform Party had spearheaded this idea that will be carried out if our candidates were elected into Parliament.

Our election manifesto stated:

6. Free university education …. Women should also be able to benefit from the opportunities of NS (which would be reduced to six months) as part of a comprehensive commitment to gender equality including an Equality Act, equal pay and a target of 50% female representation in Parliament and the boardroom. This should be mandatory for state-owned companies like Temasek and its subsidiaries.

 

Since the end of the election, we have set up a focus group with an expert in the field, Rachel Zeng, to review the issues which PAP now seems to be imitating our Party’s actions. She is  sending a questionnaire to our female members and volunteers. The feedback from this will be used to conduct  a public survey through social media. Finally the results will be used to refine our policy recommendations and incorporated into our manifesto. This seems to be exactly what the Government is proposing to do with the benefit of being unbiased and impartial.

 

I am not against the ruling party wanting to embark on a review of women’s issues.  However, it would be better if the media and the ruling party do not give a misleading impression to the general public that this review of women’s issues for the purpose of greater Gender Equality was an initiative promoted by the ruling party.  This initiative originated from Reform Party as mentioned in our election manifesto for the GE 2020 campaign.

Janice Chin Mei Lin
CEC Member
Women’s Wing
Reform Party

这是抄袭行为吗？

最近我阅读了两篇新闻，促使我翻字典查找一个字：剽窃。这个词的定义是：使用别人的想法或工作，假装是你自己的过程或做法。

然后，我决定在互联网上更深入地查阅，并发现这个网站：www.bowdoin.edu “剽窃的常见类型”。原来有四种类型。其中一种类型特别引起了我的注意：马赛克剽窃。 它的意识是：【我引用】当学生借用来源的短语而不使用引号或查找作者语言的同义词，同时保持原稿的相同一般结构和含义时，就是出现了马赛克剽窃.  有时被称为”补丁写作”，无论是否有意，在学术上都是不诚实和应受惩罚的——即使你脚注你的来源。

亚洲新闻台在2020年9月20日提到，从下个月起，公共和私营部门以及非政府组织之间将举行一系列接触，以查明和处理新加坡妇女问题。 山穆加姆先生甚至评论说，[我引用]： “实现性别平等需要”深刻的心态转变”，以及新加坡文化价值体系的改变。每个男孩和女孩在成长中都必须重视性别平等的价值。需要从很小的时候就教导她们，男孩和女孩应受到平等对待，而且非常重要，应受到尊重”。 文章接着说，[我引述]：该倡议将由社会和家庭发展部带头，并得到内政部以及文化、社区和青年部的支持。

我很想知道，谁给那个记者这样一个想法：-两性平等问题需要重新研究，是政府想到的一项倡议？

革新党在今年7月举行的2020年大选（”GE”）竞选宣言中已经提出了这一项倡议.  这意味着至少两个月前革新党已经率先提出这个想法，如果我们的候选人被选入国会，就会实施这项动议。

我们的选举宣言指出：

第六条. 为服过国民服务的人和残疾人以及因医疗原因获得豁免的人提供免费大学教育。妇女还应能够受益于国民服务服务的机会（将缩短至6个月），作为全面致力于两性平等的一部分，包括《平等法》、同工同酬和妇女在议会和董事会中任职人数达到50%的目标。对于淡马锡及其子公司等国有企业来说，这应该是强制性的。

自从选举结束以来，我们成立了一个专题小组，与曾小姐一起探讨。现在似乎人民行动党在模仿我们革新党的做法。

我不反对执政党想要开始探讨妇女问题。 但是，如果主流媒体和执政党可以不要给一个误导性的讯息给普罗大众，推动这项倡议：加强两性平等而对妇女问题进行审查/检讨说成好像是执政党的动议，那会更好。 我重申：这倡议源于我们革新党2020年竞选宣言中提到的。