Forum

i remember the time when i was in Rome and went walking around the ruins of the Roman Forum. it felt magical. a piece of ancient history right smack in the middle of a modern city. it felt as if one could almost hear the great Roman orators speaking if one strained one's ears hard enough.

but all that remains now are cold stones and the silence of the hustle and bustle of traffic. no more great speeches nor debates.

yet, the spirit of the Roman Forum is reincarnated in many forms today. and one of them is the blogosphere. our political leaders would do well to do a trawl of the blogosphere for honest, no-holds-bar feedback. people like Akikonomu, Garota, Dominic and Takchek have marvellous blogs which give very good analysis of various issues that society faces. not only that, they attract much discussion and debate which the government would do well to listen in on. i know that MOE, for one, would do well reading some of the posts that Takchek, Akikonomu and Dominic have and MFA would potentially benefit by reading some of the posts that Garota has.

in fact, i wonder whether they already have departments in ISD, SID and/or PSD where officers trawl through the blogosphere and writes reports.