Recently I wrote something about my reservist in Australia and also post an article in the Singapore Army Stories blog ran by Mr Miyagi. I was later informed by my commander that I have to seek clearance to post things about the army. So I gave him my url and asked him to get the relevant authorities to review it.

Later Miyagi advised me to remove them anyway, which I did. He also stopped the Singapore Army Stories blog. If you go there now, you only see this paragraph,

Dear readers and contributors of 'Days Were The Those', I am sorry I have had to take down the contents of this blog till I am given permission to put them back up again. Readers and contributors are reminded not to publish military-related information and photographs without first having clearance to do so. Warm regards, Benjamin Lee a.k.a. Mr Miyagi

Then I received an email from Jeremy Au Yong. He said that he is working on a story about servicemen blogging about their experiences and he noticed that I have removed my articles on it. He wanted to know if mindef put pressure on me to do so. He wanted to know what I think about blogging while in NS and whether mindef should or should not control this avenue.

I have nothing against Mindef trying to control what pp wrote abt what happens in the army. We could have let out some important secret. I had tried not to write on things that may be too sensitive. However, in my article in Singapore Army Stories, I wrote about an accident that happend in Australia. Nobody was injured in the accident, and my intention is to tell people about the dangers that we faced and that we should be careful and alert when handling the equipments. Apparently, this accident is still under investigation and is deemed too sensitive to be made public, and I was glad that it's taken down.

I would have accepted the interview by Mr Au Yong, except that I've read too many stories of how interviewers have their statements quoted out of context that the meaning came out very different. I would not want to get into trouble for doing that. I did not answer Mr Au Yong. He go and write about me anyway for today's Sunday times. Worse, he mentioned that I wrote about the accident. Didn't he have seen the message by Miyagi when he visit the site? I should have replied him and asked him not to mention me at all, though I am not sure if he would have heeded it.

This is not a heavily visited blog, but I would like to tell everyone that I am unhappy about been mentioned in Mr Au Yong's article.

I looked at my visitors stats just now. There were a few people who have searched for me via google and came here. They will be disappointed in not finding the article mentioned in the Sunday Times. I have been informed by the relevant authorities that,

Army Information Management group (AMC) wants to portray Army as an open minded organisation, so it expects people to be responsible in self censoring and ensure that what is published or discussed do not infringe on operation security, and the sensitivity of any individual.

List of operation security can be but not limited to the following: mission plan, system, equipment, weapons that are classied in nature.

For sensitivities issues, it can include discussion of cases where it is still
undergoing investigation, publishing of injured personnel before the direct
family is informed, and etc.

I am still trying to clarify some doubts with them. When they are clarified, then I will republish my articles, with the relevant changes if necessary. I am pretty sure the accident mentioned in the Sunday Times will not be there though.