Singapore in General

CNB REPORTS OF EERORS IN DRUG ARRESTS

2012-01-26T14:45:00.000+08:00

Possible link to tarnish the name of Ng Boon Gay? as commented by an anonymous poster in DOASM.

"Innocent until proven guilty in respect of Ng Boon Gay. Just hope it is not a personal revenge, to tarnish his image. He had the guts to do the right thing by revealing the wrong drug stats for the past 2 years by the previous CNB Directorate whom mislead the PS (MHA), Minister MHA, Parliment and the general public at large.One of them retired happily but the other then Dy Dir CNB Mr. Ng Ser Song is returning as Director CNB. A promotion for his glaring and grave mistakes!!! Looks like if Ng Boon Gay played along with the wrong stats or covered it up, he will verly likely given a GOOD CONDUCT medal!!!"

I am including the report by CNA below, just in case it gets deleted.

What actions have been taken against the people then in charge? of the CNB since the "Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean has described the technical glitch which resulted in the under-reporting of drug cases by the Central Narcotics Bureau as a "serious error"."

We have not seen any actions taken for this "serious error" and the previous Dy Dir CNB Mr Ng Ser Song has been promoted as the Director CNB?

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Singapore News
CNB reports error in drug arrests
By S Ramesh
Posted: 22 September 2011 1831 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore's drug enforcement agency, Central Narcotics Bureau has discovered an error in the statistical computation of drug abuser arrest statistics for the period 2008 to 2010 after it moved to a new IT system.

The correct data now shows higher numbers of drug abusers for that period.

The mistakes were spotted sometime in March this year.

CNB's director, Ng Boon Gay has assured Singaporeans that while the error resulted in incomplete statistics reported previously, all individual cases of drug abuse were correctly dealt with and in accordance with the law.

He emphasised there's no miscarriage of justice as a result of the IT error in computing the figures.

Giving details at a news briefing on Thursday, CNB explained that the revised figures now show that the number of drug abusers arrested for the period 2008 to 2010 was on an upward trend instead of a downward trend.

For 2008, it was reported that 1,925 abusers had been arrested.

The correct figure for 2008 is now 2,537 arrests.

Likewise for 2009, the figure has now been revised from 1,883 to 2,616 arrests and for 2010 it is revised from 1,805 to 2,887 arrests.

CNB said new abusers formed 46 per cent of the arrests in 2010.

The agency also stressed that the mistake in computing the statistics did not affect its enforcement efforts.

CNB said over the past three years the number of raids conducted annually has gone up by 44 per cent from 3,400 in 2007 to 4,900 raids annually between 2008 to 2010.

Checks conducted at the immigration checkpoints too increased from 38,000 to 170,000.

CNB said looking ahead, it expects the number of abusers arrested to continue going up, given the worsening regional drug situation.

Also, more repeat drug abusers who are currently serving sentences under the long-term imprisonment regime are expected to be released upon completion of their sentences and CNB said this group has had a higher recidivism rate.

There is also the danger that repeat drug abusers may also influence new ones and so a more structured aftercare and supervision system is being explored for repeat abusers.

CNB has apologised to the public for the wrong computation of figures and said it takes full responsibility for the error.

New chairman for the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Law and Home Affairs, Mr Hri Kumar said the error in the CNB numbers was unfortunate.

He added that it is more important that Singapore tackles the larger problem facing it as the data makes clear that the drug menace is growing, and the rise in the numbers of first-time users is particularly alarming.

Mr Hri Kumar added:" We need the community to get involved in this fight - not just family, but schoolmates, teachers, friends, neighbours, colleagues and grassroots. Our love and support will help stop people turning to drugs, and to persuade current abusers that their lives will be better without drugs."

He said the GPC will continue to work with the Home Affairs Ministry and CNB, but it will need the continued support from all Singaporeans in the fight against drugs.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean has described the technical glitch which resulted in the under-reporting of drug cases by the Central Narcotics Bureau as a "serious error".

In a statement, Mr Teo said he had asked CNB to look into three areas. One, to make sure that all individual cases were dealt with correctly. Two, to correct the data collation method. And three, to review the anti-drug policy to ensure that it is appropriate

Mr Teo had also asked the CNB to let the public know about the situation so that authorities can get support for their anti-drug efforts. He noted the CNB has assured him that all concerns have been addressed.

He said CNB has also done a thorough audit of its computation process to make sure its reported data is accurate.

Mr Teo said: "Singapore has maintained a zero tolerance policy on drug abuse. Hence although the numbers were under-reported, there was no let up in anti-drug efforts. The number of raids conducted by CNB increased by 40 per cent between 2007 and 2010, and more resources had been put into anti-drug education.

"Nevertheless, we are facing a persistent drug problem with a rising trend in the numbers of drug abusers. This is a cause for concern and we should act firmly to address it. We will step up operations and also explore ways to enhance our preventive education targeting youths, and rehabilitation programmes targeting repeat offenders."

To ensure that the country's anti-drug measures are on the right track, Mr Teo said he has appointed Minister of State for Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli to chair a task force on drugs, to look at the problem afresh and comprehensively.

The task force will review the current drug abuse situation, study trends and challenges as well as evaluate current programmes and recommend strategies to deal with the problem.

- CNA/cc/ac

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inShare1 26

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SINGAPORE: Singapore's drug enforcement agency, Central Narcotics Bureau has discovered an error in the statistical computation of drug abuser arrest statistics for the period 2008 to 2010 after it moved to a new IT system.

The correct data now shows higher numbers of drug abusers for that period.

The mistakes were spotted sometime in March this year.

CNB's director, Ng Boon Gay has assured Singaporeans that while the error resulted in incomplete statistics reported previously, all individual cases of drug abuse were correctly dealt with and in accordance with the law.

He emphasised there's no miscarriage of justice as a result of the IT error in computing the figures.

Giving details at a news briefing on Thursday, CNB explained that the revised figures now show that the number of drug abusers arrested for the period 2008 to 2010 was on an upward trend instead of a downward trend.

For 2008, it was reported that 1,925 abusers had been arrested.

The correct figure for 2008 is now 2,537 arrests.

Likewise for 2009, the figure has now been revised from 1,883 to 2,616 arrests and for 2010 it is revised from 1,805 to 2,887 arrests.

CNB said new abusers formed 46 per cent of the arrests in 2010.

The agency also stressed that the mistake in computing the statistics did not affect its enforcement efforts.

CNB said over the past three years the number of raids conducted annually has gone up by 44 per cent from 3,400 in 2007 to 4,900 raids annually between 2008 to 2010.

Checks conducted at the immigration checkpoints too increased from 38,000 to 170,000.

CNB said looking ahead, it expects the number of abusers arrested to continue going up, given the worsening regional drug situation.

Also, more repeat drug abusers who are currently serving sentences under the long-term imprisonment regime are expected to be released upon completion of their sentences and CNB said this group has had a higher recidivism rate.

There is also the danger that repeat drug abusers may also influence new ones and so a more structured aftercare and supervision system is being explored for repeat abusers.

CNB has apologised to the public for the wrong computation of figures and said it takes full responsibility for the error.

New chairman for the Government Parliamentary Committee (GPC) for Law and Home Affairs, Mr Hri Kumar said the error in the CNB numbers was unfortunate.

He added that it is more important that Singapore tackles the larger problem facing it as the data makes clear that the drug menace is growing, and the rise in the numbers of first-time users is particularly alarming.

Mr Hri Kumar added:" We need the community to get involved in this fight - not just family, but schoolmates, teachers, friends, neighbours, colleagues and grassroots. Our love and support will help stop people turning to drugs, and to persuade current abusers that their lives will be better without drugs."

He said the GPC will continue to work with the Home Affairs Ministry and CNB, but it will need the continued support from all Singaporeans in the fight against drugs.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean has described the technical glitch which resulted in the under-reporting of drug cases by the Central Narcotics Bureau as a "serious error".

In a statement, Mr Teo said he had asked CNB to look into three areas. One, to make sure that all individual cases were dealt with correctly. Two, to correct the data collation method. And three, to review the anti-drug policy to ensure that it is appropriate

Mr Teo had also asked the CNB to let the public know about the situation so that authorities can get support for their anti-drug efforts. He noted the CNB has assured him that all concerns have been addressed.

He said CNB has also done a thorough audit of its computation process to make sure its reported data is accurate.

Mr Teo said: "Singapore has maintained a zero tolerance policy on drug abuse. Hence although the numbers were under-reported, there was no let up in anti-drug efforts. The number of raids conducted by CNB increased by 40 per cent between 2007 and 2010, and more resources had been put into anti-drug education.

"Nevertheless, we are facing a persistent drug problem with a rising trend in the numbers of drug abusers. This is a cause for concern and we should act firmly to address it. We will step up operations and also explore ways to enhance our preventive education targeting youths, and rehabilitation programmes targeting repeat offenders."

To ensure that the country's anti-drug measures are on the right track, Mr Teo said he has appointed Minister of State for Home Affairs Masagos Zulkifli to chair a task force on drugs, to look at the problem afresh and comprehensively.

The task force will review the current drug abuse situation, study trends and challenges as well as evaluate current programmes and recommend strategies to deal with the problem.

Senior MHA officials under CPIB investigation

2012-01-26T13:33:00.005+08:00

Before speculating further on what the crimes that Peter Lim and Ng Boon Gay have committed, we should allow the due process.

The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) has stated that they are currently probing former Commissioner Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) Mr Peter Lim Sin Pang and former Director of the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) Mr Ng Boon Gay over allegations of serious personal misconduct.

No specific crime has been indicated. Is "serious personal misconduct" a corrupt act? The CPIB should indicate to the public which corruption offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), under which section of the PCA that has been legislated, are these officers being investigated, and on what basis.

The CPIB defines corruption as -
"An act done with an intention to give advantage inconsistent with official duty and the rights of others The act of official or fiduciary person who unlawfully and wrongfully uses his status or character to procure some benefit for himself or anther person contrary to duty and the right of others"
"Corruption involves the dishonest or preferential use of power or position which has the result of one person or organisation being advantaged over another.
"Corruption is the solicitation, receiving or agreeing to receive, giving, promising or offering any gratfication as an inducement or reward to a person to do or forbear to do any act, with a corrupt intention."

Powers of Arrest under Section 15 of the PCA
The Director or any special investigator may without a warrant arrest any person who has been concerned in any offence under this Act or against whom a reasonable complaint has been made or credible information has been received or a reasonable suspicion exists of his having been so concerned.

What means .. ?
1. "....whom a reasonable complaint has been made.."
2. ".. or credible information has been received ..."
3. ".. or a reasonable suspicion exists..."

So which of this has the investigation been the basis that the two officers have been arrested upon?

I cannot but agree with blogger Feed Me To The Fish - http://feedmetothefish.blogspot.com/2012/01/corruption-whats-that.html

"If the Commissioner of the Singapore Civil Defence Force and Director of the Central Narcotics Bureau lost their lucrative jobs because of mere "allegations", they deserve my sympathies. Not unlike the sympathies I have for the "Marxists Conspirators" like Vincent Cheng and Teo So Lung and other political detainees like Chia Thye Poh, Lim Hock Siew, Said Zahari and others for being "not agreeable" and victims of ISA. However, if Peter Lim Sin Pang and Ng Boon Gay are investigated and found to be guilty by a court of law to be guilty of "alleged personal misconduct" (whatever that is), then both Peter Lim Sin Pang and Ng Boon Gay deserve their just deserts!"
The CPIB also states that -
"In Singapore, the Government's anti-corruption stand is firm and clear. It will not hesitate to bring whoever is corrupt to court, irrespective of his status, creed or rank."

It will be interesting to see if the government will be fully transparent and not use the excuse of "privacy of the individual" to not to fully reveal the case as this is a serious crime if proven and convicted under the specific sections of the PCA and not because of some mere "allegations. These are very high ranking government officials, making lucrative remuneration from the Singapore taxpayers. The governement and the PMO should inform what measures will be taken to prevent such recurrences, as evidently high paying salaries is enough to curb such potential crimes of corruption.

UPDATE -
An interesting anonymous comment on the blog of DOASM - "Innocent until proven guilty in respect of Ng Boon Gay. Just hope it is not a personal revenge, to tarnish his image. He had the guts to do the right thing by revealing the wrong drug stats for the past 2 years by the previous CNB Directorate whom mislead the PS (MHA), Minister MHA, Parliment and the general public at large.One of them retired happily but the other then Dy Dir CNB Mr. Ng Ser Song is returning as Director CNB. A promotion for his glaring and grave mistakes!!! Looks like if Ng Boon Gay played along with the wrong stats or covered it up, he will verly likely given a GOOD CONDUCT medal!!!"

26/1/12 11:01

NUS prof apologises to Chip Bee Gardens neighbours

2012-01-14T20:54:00.002+08:00

What else does Mr Loh expects... Dr Kera has already apologised. Why is ONLY Mr Ivan Loh complaining and calling the police and not ANY of the other neighbours, and six times for that matter. We have heard nothing of any complaints from the other neighbours. What axe has Mr. Loh to grind? If there was really a problem with Dr Kera, shouldn't the police have done something by now? maye Mr Loh should check with the police if he thinks that they are not doing their job, and as he claims "Dr kera has no respect for the police?" Besides, apologies have also been made.

After he gets the apologies, he now has a different agenda? to raise his profile? or what?
- "moral standards must be upheld", whose moral standards? Mr Loh's?
- talking about "moral standards" - how about his own actions of stalking the neighbours, making recordings of people in the privacy of their homes? would Mr Loh be comfortable if there were people watching his house, his home and what he does in the privacy of his home? and then he goes about preaching "moral standards"

It is also interesting that the reporter while providing a full profile of Dr Kera and her profession and employer, says nothing about Mr Loh, a photographer? for who, what does he acutally do, that he has such high moral standands he seems to want to impose on others.

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By Goh Shi Ting

RazorTV

Thursday, Jan 12, 2012

NUS Professor Dr Denisa Kera has apologised to her neighbours at Chip Bee Gardens for their loss of peace and privacy in the midst of a dispute between her and her next-door neighbour Mr Ivan Loh.
However, Dr Kera insists she has not stepped out of line.

"I'm just a researcher, a normal person in my late 30s. I don't think I make much more noise than any person in their late 30s," said Dr Kera who is from Prague and has been staying in Singapore since 2008.

Even though Mr Loh observed that his neighbour has kept quiet since the first media reports were published last week, he is not letting the matter rest.

"My course has moved slightly because Singapore needs to know what kind of lecturer we have," said the 41-year-old photographer who lives with his wife and a 1-year-old baby.

"The moral standards of the person must be upheld, if not how do you teach our children of the future?"

Mr Loh told RazorTV that he made sound recordings of the noise coming from his neighbour's, while he was in his living room.

On one occasion, he said the police was called in but after they had left, the noise level from Dr Kera's house was still the same.

What appalled Mr Loh further was that he could hear the words "Asian assholes" in the conversations which took place subsequently.

"What kind of foreigners are these people, coming to our country and saying things like that?" he said.

Dr Kera, however, said that her friends were watching a foreign film that evening and were merely commenting on the plot; the remark had nothing to do with her neighours.

"We were watching a Serbian movie with some very negative stereotypes about Serbs. It was a comedy, about a Singaporean delegation of businessmen visiting Serbia and being shocked to see what Serbians do," she explained.

"I honestly don't understand why they [her neighbours] get the feeling it concerns them.

"I find it strange that people stalk other people and take recordings of what goes on in someone's house.

"I also want to apologise just to Singaporeans to have to witness this ridiculous dispute about expats and Singaporeans, which has nothing to do with one noise dispute.

"If people start to use this dangerous argument any time they have a personal problem with someone, where will we end?"

Dr Kera said that she had apologised to Mr Loh repeatedly for an incident last April, when she was out of town and a party was held at her house.

Politicians who are savvy users

2012-01-12T14:05:00.005+08:00

First, let's get the definitions of the various words used by the writer in my paper

1) "savvy" used by "my paper" to describe the politician. It was used as an adjective -
Adjective: Shrewd and knowledgeable in the realities of life.

Synonyms: noun. understanding - nous - gumption - common sense
verb. understand - see - twig - get - comprehend - know

2) Politician: A politician, political leader, or political figure (from Greek "polis") is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making. This includes people who hold decision-making positions in government, and people who seek those positions, whether by means of election, coup d'état, appointment, electoral fraud, conquest, right of inheritance (see also: divine right of kings) or other means. Politics is not limited to governance through public office. Political offices may also be held in corporations, and other entities that are governed by self-defined political processes.

Online persona - why is there no online persona for all the rest of the politicians in the group except CSM and Gerald Giam. Interestingly both are from WP. The only one from the PAP group is LBW. So what is the writer trying to subliminally message? Has MOST of the PAP politicians, no online persona? Is that what the writer is trying to tell its readers. If they do have, then why has it not been included, unless it is for some subliminal reasons?

Below is a summary of the writer's assessment of the "politicians who are savvy users"

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Highlights and comments in "red" are mine.
my paper
Thursday, Jan 12, 2012

Tan Chuan-Jin
Social-media presence: Very high. The Minister of State for National Development and Manpower updates Facebook almost daily and writes timely notes on hot-button issues.
He has a blog, but is mainly active on FB and Twitter.
Number of "likes" on FB: 6,942. Online persona: An animal-lover who has his ear to the ground. How savvy? Very. He pens well-balanced and carefully worded arguments in his notes. He uses FB to rally for causes in the community.

Chen Show Mao
Social-media presence: Fairly high. The Workers' Party member tweets and regularly updates his Facebook page with simple but subliminal messages.
Number of "likes" on FB: 34,500.
Online persona: Philosophical scholar oozing Obama-esque charm.
How savvy? A natural. He knows how to promote himself without appearing to be doing so.
His FB pictures tend to attract a lot of attention - one of him standing in front of a billboard featuring PAP MP Fatimah Lateef garnered more than 2,000 "likes".

Khaw Boon Wan
Social-media presence: Very high.
The National Development Minister is very responsive to comments on his Facebook page, replying within minutes at times.
His blog is updated regularly and even used to make important announcements.
Number of "likes" on FB: 3,419. Online persona: Friendly uncle next door.
How savvy? Rather. He chooses to engage in meaningful dialogue on Facebook and switches off comments on his blog, presumably to avoid convoluted arguments about policy issues.

Gerald Giam
Social-media presence: High.
The Non-Constituency Member of Parliament is the media representative of Workers' Party.
His FB page and blog are updated regularly; he tweets occasionally.
Number of "likes" on FB: 3,058.
Online persona: A professional, 24/7 press secretary How savvy? Good.
He reveals very few personal details on these online platforms, saving all the airtime for parliamentary debates.
His FB page and blog are one-stop sites for Parliament debate transcripts and links to news reports.

Indranee Rajah
Social-media presence: Fairly high. The Tanjong Pagar GRC MP has even replied to FB comments at 5.22am. (so what, as if she is the only one doing this?)
Number of "likes" on FB: 1,058.
Online persona: Ms Fixit.
How savvy? Good, but her FB presence might be working against her. Constituents are using her page as an extension of Meet The People sessions, demanding her attention for municipal matters that can be time-consuming.
If she does not get someone to help moderate her page soon, she may be accused of being unresponsive.

Lee Bee Wah
Social-media presence: Fairly high.
The president of the Singapore Table Tennis Association and Nee Soon GRC MP updates her FB almost every other day and tweets several times daily.
Number of "likes" on FB: 805.
Online persona: Consistent with her offline persona - hardworking, vocal MP with strong grassroots links. (really, who is the writer kidding?)
How savvy? Surprisingly savvy, but has received less attention from netizens in comparison to the other five.
She needs to beef up her personal profile. (the writer means propoganda?)

DBS TO ALERT CUSTOMERS IF ATM WITHDRAWALS VIA SMS

2012-01-12T11:48:00.002+08:00

"DBS Bank and POSB customers can soon expect SMS alerts if withdrawals over a certain amount are made from their bank accounts.

This was revealed yesterday by DBS Group Holdings chief executive Piyush Gupta, who apologised for the inconvenience and anxiety caused by automated teller machine (ATM) fraud cases earlier this month, The Straits Times reported."

DBS is kind of slow in implementing security measures for their banking customers. Most major international banks are already providing such services - of sending sms'es to their clients whenever withdrawals are made irrespective of the amount.
- so why limit the amount when the alert will be sent?
- why is this implemented so late and after a major security breakdown where hundreds of customers had their accounts fraudulently accessed.

"DBS told my paper that the threshold that would trigger the SMS alerts cannot be revealed for security reasons.
Should it be made known, scammers would be able to withdraw just below the threshold to avoid detection."

If there is no minimum amount limit set for the sending of the alert, this will not even be an issue. Why should an amount be set. Is it costing DBS more to send sms'es if no limit has been set?

"In response to a media question on other fraud-prevention measures, DBS said replacing the magnetic strip on ATM cards with a smart chip can prevent the theft of data.
However, many countries do not yet accept the use of such cards, so implementing the chips would inconvenience customers"

Most international banks in developed countries and those with security utmost in their minds, have mostly replaced the magnetic strip on the ATM cards with a smart chip.
- Is this again a cost factor for DBS when they are considering this, rather than the secruity
- "..many countries do not accept..?" - which countries are they pointing to? the underdeveloped countries, or more likely the neighbours up north?
- "..inconvenience customers..?" - I believe most bank customers will prefer to have security over convenience, and NOT have their accounts being potentially accessed fraudulently just because of convenience? What a load of crap fromt he CEO.

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my paper

Thursday, Jan 12, 2012

DBS Bank and POSB customers can soon expect SMS alerts if withdrawals over a certain amount are made from their bank accounts.

This was revealed yesterday by DBS Group Holdings chief executive Piyush Gupta, who apologised for the inconvenience and anxiety caused by automated teller machine (ATM) fraud cases earlier this month, The Straits Times reported.

DBS told my paper that the threshold that would trigger the SMS alerts cannot be revealed for security reasons.

Should it be made known, scammers would be able to withdraw just below the threshold to avoid detection.

Although DBS declined to say when the service would start, it is currently providing SMS alerts for any suspicious overseas withdrawal.

About 400 customers were affected in the ATM fraud, with about $500,000 stolen from their accounts.

In response to a media question on other fraud-prevention measures, DBS said replacing the magnetic strip on ATM cards with a smart chip can prevent the theft of data.

However, many countries do not yet accept the use of such cards, so implementing the chips would inconvenience customers.

Tony Tan is president but not endorsed by most Singaporeans

2011-08-28T13:10:00.009+08:00

As expected, the Straits Times is splashed overwhelming with pictures and stories of "victory" of Tony Tan being elected as president? 6 pages on the online version? I cannot imagine such splashing of victory will be given to the newcomer and upstart on the political scene Tan Jee Say.

This election has shown how the people of Singapore in general think. There is more than 64% of the electorate who REBUFFED him, despite the usual low tactics to get the clans, business association, and god knows what to endorse him with the government of the day telling its citizen that this is a non partisan election? really. Tony Tan won with ONLY 35.2 per cent and he thinks he has the mandate to rule over Singapore as the president. Must be the biggest joke in town.

He won by ONLY a dismal margin of 0.35% to his PAP colleague Tan Cheng Bock, though not endorsed by the PAP explicitly, and made to believe that he is an independant candidate? so as to take away the votes from the people opposing the incumbents, like Tan Jee Say, after portraying him in the extreme. This seems to have worked strategically for the PAP, as they are aware that there is no ground support for the endorsed candidate Tony Tan.

With the full media support behind him, the current incumbents, and then the local business associations and clans, it clearly shows who is in support of Tony Tan, only the establishments, the business people BUT not the ordinary Singaporeans.

PM should shut his trap if he has nothing else to offer than -
"Voters have chosen Dr Tony Tan as out head of state, to represent us at home and abroad, and to excercise custodial powers, including our reserves and key appointments."

ONLY 35.2 per cent have chosen Tony Tan, meaning that most, the over 64 per cent do NOT believe that Tony Tan is capable to represent us as the head of state at home and abroad, or excercise custodial powers, including our reserves.

Most believe that Tony Tan's role is more likely to be for covering up for the billions of losses he, the President has made on behalf of his people, and Singaporeans while heading the GIC. Singaporeans can thank our lucky stars that Tony Tan is now no longer in charge of GIC to continue wth his ground breaking record of losing billions of our reserves in the past decades with no qualms.

"This was an intensely fought election and the result was very close.Dr Tony Tan and Dr Tan Cheng Bock (who hd the next highest number of votes) both conveyed strong unifying messages, and declared their intention to work closely with the government."

There you go, the PM has now explicitly endorsed also Tan Cheng Bock, who claims to be independant of the PAP?

Unifying messages? like what? like Tan Cheng Bock's idea of women participating in elections is to first get permission from their husbands? what a joker. At the least Tony Tan knows how to keep his trap shut and not make such type of statements.

"delcared their intention to work with the governement.."

PM perhaps mean that these two PAP supported candidates intend to keep silent and their traps shuts and be another prata man just raking in their millions for the 6 year tenure? These are the two who apparently do not have the conscience, and do not think the the current presidential salary of millions is obscenly disproportionate to what they have to do, that is, to keep silent and continue to do what their predecessor the prata man has done?

What about Tan Jee Say. PM has conveniently and intentionally left out mentioning this upstart in the race, and who has done seeming well, taking more than 25 percent of the votes. The whole PAP machinery including the mainstream media has taken a lot of effort to portray Tan Jee Say to the extreme to their advantage. Tan Jee Say has also indicated that he will work with the governement. PM should perhaps dig his ears and listen carefully but apparently not, as he is very capable of shutting out what he does not want to hear, and so far his claims of listening to Singaporeans is left much to be desired.

"Voters faced difficuly choice between Dr Tony Tan and Dr Tan Cheng Bock. This explains why the margin was so narow, and why the winner only gained slightly more than one-third of the votes."

Voters faced NO difficulty nor was it a difficult choice. 64.8 percent of voters DO NOT want Tony Tan as the president of Singapore, PERIOD, not by a narrow margin. Only pro PAP voters faced the difficult choice not voters per se.

"I have called Dr Tony Tan to congratulate him on hs election, and assured him of my full ooperation."

Pinky, please don't continue to insult the intelligence of Singaporeans, you don't have to tell us that Tony Tan has your full support. It is already OBVIOUS even before he is elected. One wonders what kind of speech this will be if Tan Jee Say has been elected, or if your reaction would have been this speedy.

"I called Dr Tan Chen Bock and his supporters for having fought an effective and dignified campaign."

Of course, you would Pinky, to try to win their votes over? Afterall Tan Cheng Bock is also an endorsed PAP canadiate, though not explicitly as Tony Tan, and as a second choice like Tony Tan was second choice to Goh Chok Tong for the Prime Minister post.

It also shows how petty the PM is. Why only call these two people. Shows how he is treating people with differing views from him and PAP, like how he has treating our past president Ong Teng Cheong.

Both Tan Jee Say and Tan Kin Lian has done the country a service by providing alternates for the people to vote, and the opportunity for the country and the people to show that it DOES NOT endorse a PAP endosed president, and not as the PM who is living in netherlands that he still has the mandate of the people. PAP is till in power becuase of the routine amendment to the constitution and laws to give them the continued grip over power.

S'pore too small to afford gridlock: PM

2011-08-22T12:44:00.006+08:00

S'pore too small to afford gridlock: PM
ST 22 Aug 2011 By Zakir Hussain

"SINGAPOREANS must make sure they get their politics right in the face of economic challenges ahead, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said yesterday.
We must have a harmonious political system where we make important decisions in the best interests of Singapore and Singaporeans and keep ourselves safe in this uncertain environment he said."

Singaporeans appear to be waking up and are slowly getting their politics right, starting with the GE2011. Is the political system now, not harmonious because we have elected non PAP members into parliament?

Make important decisions in the best interests of Singapore and Singaporeans? Like what? increasing the ministers pay to astronomical sums, changing and passing laws in parliament to hinder political opponents, electing a slient, inactive president who is deferring 100% to the cabinet and paying him also millions to do this? Increase the immigration of foreigners without even any planning on the housing and infrastructure, with almost every aspects of the daily life bursting at seams. These are just some of the few major policies causing difficulties and hardships to Singaporeans, and the PM is telling us that they have been implementing policies in our best interests? What solutions have they provided to date?

"We are too small to afford impasse and gridlock, to have two sides blocking one another, so you can't move, you can solve problems, you can't go ahead."

Is the PM expecting impasse and gridlock just because a minority of the opposition parties have been elected into parliament? The elected President has no powers to block the passing of the legislation, laws in parliament, so desired by the PM and his cabinet, so what impasse and gridlock is he ranting about? Even with the current opposition elected in parliament, these minority of opinions will automatically be over rided by the PAP and their groupthink. The only result is that we will probably have a more robust debate in parliament with more issues highlighted in the open, then just passed qujickly with a mere mention.

"..you can't solve problems.."

Even with majority in parliament, the ruling PAP appears to have problems solving many nationals issues, including answers to why the CPF is continually raised, issues with transport, security. Shouldn't the PM be more focussed to solve these problems. The oppositions have provided many feedback, some of which are useful and can be adopted. The PAP may have done so and adopted some of these ideas, but obviously without crediting the one who provided the idea. In the academic circles, this is know as plagarising.

"Luckily Singapore has done well so far, he added. Its people had stayed cohesive and have supported policies to strengthen the economy, enabling the country to recover quickly from the crisis."

Done well so far - he means for him and his merry ministers, and all the people with close links to the PAP and its members. How have Singaporeans in general fared, the PM should enlighten us?

"Among those reacting to Mr Lee's message was administrative executive Taufig Razali, 25, who felt that Singaporeans were divided politically, even three months after the general election and during the current presidential election. He said: We need a united front - not a situation where politiking for the sake of self interests prevents decisive actions needed to deal with the economic challenges."

Perhaps Taufig should try to understand why there is this political division even three months after the GE2011. Obviously, the ruling PAP must have not delivered on it promises, and appear to have backtracked with statements that there will be NO change, mind you , NO change in the current economic policies, even after so many feed back from the masses on the issues and problems of these policies.

Self interests - the elected president will have no power to over rule the PM on the policies that the he makes with his Cabinet., so what politiking is there, when many Singaporeans prefer to elect a president who is not ONLY conerned about the economic policies, but is proposing to implement this with a heart, and Singaporeans in mind. The self interests appear to be more of the PAP wanting to have total control, including that of the presidency, so that SIngaporeans, "daft" as these ministers call us, continue to be kept in the dark about the so many issues that have been highlighted since the GE2011 but have so far no forthcoming and "real" response from the ruling PAP. The answers are typical and TT has shown what these will be by his "spectacular" performance in the TOC debate for the presidential candidates.

Giving suggestions not interfering: Tony Tan

2011-08-22T11:56:00.002+08:00

Giving suggestions not interfering: Tony Tan
by ST Cai Haoxing 22 Aug 2011

"Dr Tony Tan yesterday said that he does not regard giving the Government suggestions as interfering in day-to-day politics."

If it is TT, then is not interfering, if it is TJS or TKL, then it would be inferred as interfering?

"The presidential candidate said his background and experience would enable him to make useful suggestions to the economic field to the Prime Minister and Cabinet."

What background and experience? the experience of losing billions in GIC when he was in charge, not once but twice?

"Dr Tony Tan, a former deputy Prime Minister has spoken for the need for the Government to plan for the impending economic crisis - such as drawing on its experience in 2009 when it implemented the resilience Pckage to help the households and business."

What experience? the success or the failure?

"And the Resilience Package was one initiative that was very successful... I think we should learn from what we've tried."

TT claims this to be "very successful". In terms of what? did it really help the households as he claimed. Where are the statistics, information to back up what he says.

TT has alot to explain about his background and experience, as one writer to the ST Forum appears to be targetting only TJS to question his background. I believe most Singaporeans are interested to understand what was behind the mind of this"brillant" scion of a banker as he seems to think himself as, and who is the ONLY one with experience (probably of the worst kind, as in losing billions) to be able to advise the Cabinet.

What have he been doing all the while before this? No explanation whatsoever, and we should not be expecting any, after his "astounding" and mind/eye opening performance at the TOC debate for the presidential candidates.

Seeking more clarity on Tan Jee Say's job record

2011-08-22T10:43:00.000+08:00

MS Clara Tan on ST Forum 21 Aug 2011

"While I am glad that voters have a choice in electing the president in this election, there are still concerns about some candidates and their background. I for one do not want to be swayed by online rumours, but I wish candidates would be more forthcoming with their track records and background so that voters can make a ratinal decision."

The presidential candidates have all been given the CE, so they are qualified, and have no qualms that the election depeartment will disqualify the candidates, especially ones not backed by the PAP on any hairs they can find. If the writer has question on the eligibility, or if they are qualified, perhaps she should redirect this to the election department.

By making such a request, it is quite obvious that the writer is already swayed by the online rumours. It will be useful to understand the candidates background and track record. Perhaps, the "distinguished" TT can start by, for eg. explaining the decisions taken when he was in charge of the GIC, and the losing of billions and billions of taxpayers money, his track record and what he has done for Singaporeans in the past few decades? not the stories and the cover ups by SPH, one of his tools and machineries used, during his active political period, to ONLY print positives on anything related to the incumbents, the GIC & TH, all managed by people with strong links the PAP, but have done visibly BADLY.

"In particular, I am concerned about Mr Tan Jee Say's economic and business credentials and track record."
Why is the writer ONLY converned about TJS, and not about TT who has shown to blow away billions with his track record, and TCB with absolutely no financial experience, like Ho Jinx who has also blown away billions in Temasek with no repercussion most likely because of her links?

"One key role of the preseident is handling the national reserves"
Why is the writer NOT concerned about TT's track record of losing billions, and asking him to explain? If the writer expects TJS to provide an explanation and clarification of his track record, then all the rest of the presedential candidates should also be expected to do so. Why is the writer tageting TJS? Shouldn't all the candidates be allowed to clarify and provide us "daft" Singaporens more insights on what they did for Singaporeans in the past decades. It will be interesting to hear what the rest of the candidates have to say, especially TT.

Pick a peacemaker, not a warrior

2011-08-22T10:12:00.003+08:00

Koh Ching Feng in the ST Forum on 21 Aug 2011

"I AM concerned that a couple of presidential candidates have advocated different perspectives on the constitutional roles of the president in their speeches. If these candidates are confused about the roles of the preseident, shouldn't they be disqualified. It is important that candidates do not defraud the electorade with empty promises in order to win votes."

Which different perspectives is the writer Koh espounding that is not within the constitution? Is the writer an expert in the constitution? Which candidates are confused about their roles. Disqualify them? this is a serious request? Another PAP type reasoning? Is the writer talking about TT, who seems to be confused about what he needs to do - (i) to be independant - which he has shown he is clearly not, by the immediate reaction to the statement made by TJS on the ISA question, and then declining to explain the english definition of his "threat" (where he said this is a serious charge, what do you have to back up what you say) to TJS after RUDELY interrupting his speech.

What empty promises have the candidates made to defraud the electorate? This is a serious charge! The writer should elaborate. Is he referring to TT who has LOST billions when he was in charge of the GIC, who now claims with this experience he can protect the reserves of Singapore? How does TT intend to protect the reserves, by losing more billions?

"We have a parliamentary system of government whereby issues are debated in Parliament through our elected MPs, and relevant laws enacted. There should not be any advocacy of new political roles for the presidency, resulting in deviation from the constitution. Opposing views on the policies have to be debated and challenged in parliament. Instead of of electing a politically active president, we need a president who can get along, and is amiable, with the Government. Independence must not be confused with opposition."

The current Government in ruling is the PAP, and they appear to continue to place daunting obstacles to oppositions parties who are elected to form part of this governement, as can be seen, as an eg. in the workings of the PA, who is also supposed to be apolitical but who are they kidding. An elected MP of the people is even barred from attending a simple dinner with residents under the guide of being non political. No advocacy of new political roles for the president - who is the writer to expound this? trying to be another old fart? Hasn't the roles of the presidency been changed, and also the constitution. All because the PAP is the majority in power and is able to make these changes, changes to the roles of the Presidency, amend various laws in the parliament to curtail the opposition, without any proper debate, referendum.

I believe most people do not view the candidates as, opposing the government for opposing sake but that they have differing views with a moral compass in to mind to be the check and balance of the current dominant and strong Governement ruled by the PAP, and independence of the PAP so that this check and balance can be executed neutrally, except for one candidate who is showing OBVIOUSLY the opposite and still behaving as if he is part of the cabinet formed by the PAP, and defending it with his life.

If Singaporeans, like the writer prefers, to elect a President who is totally inactive like the prataman who have collected millions over his 12 year tenure, then why are we paying so much for this practically ceremonial head of state, who is, in the case of the prataman is deferring 100% to the PAP goverment, doing practically nothing besides of kissing babies, shaking hands. Probably so that he will still have somewhere to go after he retires? See how quickly he is requested to sit on board an organisation? Why the change in the roles of the presidency then? The ruling party should explain why then, if is is not to have check and balances, and to protect the reserves.

"Peacemaker not warrior"
Who is the warrior? what is the writer's definition of a warrior? Singaporeans like to have a President with a HEART and the moral compass to look after their interests, and remind the Cabinet as such whenever there is a need to, NOT just defer to them, and NOT provide EVASIVE answers to the people whom they are supposed to serve, which is practically testing the intelligence of the people.

The debate hosted by TOC, carried out by the 4 Presidential Candidates is an eye opener, and is quite clearly showing who is committed to Singaporeans, can speak from the heart, is assertive, and corrects incorrect assumptions and "threats" withour fear, unlike some of the candidates who need to read from a script in order to make his speech, interrupts RUDELY, unable to provide clear, concise answers to SIMPLES questions posed, and only able to provide typical round the bush bu..sh.t, so typical of the PAP style, even with their new cadres like the Lanfang Kee Chiu ex-BG

What chance for S'porean job seekers? Employers now specifying only FT wanted

2011-07-12T13:00:00.002+08:00

STOMPer Sadroid spotted an ad calling specifically for Filipino workers..
"Wanted Filipino for customer service. F & B service,Admin Exec. Procurement Engineer. Interested pls send your resume:- xxx@qmail.com J157801l"

In most first world countries, any form of discrimination is banned. However in Singapore, who prides itself as a first world country, such balatant discimination is allowed, and even in the written form, and what more against its own citizens.

Singapore likes to compare itself with its favorite country in Asia, HK. In HK, such discrimination is illegal and the employers can be charged for any form of discrimination, especially one so balatant as this ad specifying the nationality!

Where in the world is Singapore working towards... such anti-discrimination laws are basic, what more in "FIRST WORLD" COUNTRY, and Singapore doesn't even have any such laws to protect the people, and especially its citizens. I have NEVER come across any such ads in HK, UK, USA or Australia where I have spent periods of time in these countires.

Netizens can help by naming the organisations and companies carrying out such balatant acts, and a survey can be carried out to review how out of hand this situation is unravelling to.

Collection of evidence treated with utmost seriousness: Police

2011-07-10T09:31:00.007+08:00

What a disgrace? The Police have issued a statement? Instead of chastising and letting us know how they will prevent a reccurence of such injustice done on a poor and lowly educated Singaporean, they issued the statement full of crap... and is intead informing us how hardworking they are? yes.. hardworking in fabricating evidence.

I don't see them working "hard' on cases where the evidence are aplenty.. Rin Tin Tin's case is one of these. We are still waiting for this status of the investigation by our "hardworking" police, where the Police claimes to "treat all such cases and the collection of evidence at such crime scenes with the utmost seriousness." of tailcoat MP, who now sits on the panel of advisors for the Home Affairs...instead of being charged.. so pathetic.
__________________________________________________________________

Police have issued a statement in response to comments from the Court of Appeal on the case of Mr Ismil bin Kadar.

Mr Kadar, now 42, was acquitted of the 2005 murder-robbery, where housewife Madam Tham Weng Kuen, 69, was killed in her Boon Lay home.

He had spent six years in prison and two yeas on death row before he was released on Tuesday.

Justice V. K. Rajah, the presiding judge, said the 42-year-old's confessions were obtained 'in troubling circumstances' and issued a strongly worded judgment highlighting 'serious lapses' by police and prosecutors.

Below is the statement from the police, in full.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

1 In response to media queries over the comments of the Court of Appeal in the case of Muhammad bin Kadar and Ismil bin Kadar v Public Prosecutor, the Police acknowledges that legal procedures in relation to the recording of any confession should be observed. In this regard, it has reminded its officers to ensure that they endeavour to always comply with such procedures under any circumstances.

Remind? Are they not as law enforcers EXPECTED to observe the legal procedures instead of being reminded? What actions have been taken for officers not observing the legal procedures? Give them a reminder? what a joke.

2 Senior Station Inspector (SSI) Zainal Abidin bin Ismail was criticized in the judgment of the Court of Appeal. He was one of a team of officers deployed to investigate the murder of the deceased at Block 185 Boon Lay Avenue #05-156, which was discovered on 6 May 2005.

What actions have been taken against this inspector? An INOCENT man was nearly hanged because of his 'GOOD" work on the case

3 Ismil had been arrested earlier that day and held for an unrelated theft case at Boon Lay Shopping Centre. The next day, when he was being brought to Block 185 Boon Lay Avenue (Ismil lived one floor below the murdered victim) for investigations, he revealed to SSI Zainal while seated in a police car that he had attacked the deceased. SSI Zainal immediately informed his superior officers. At that juncture, SSI Zainal did not record Ismil's statement in his field diary, as he did not have it with him. Instead, he recorded it on a piece of paper, and later that day transferred it to his field diary. Ismil was immediately taken to a nearby Neighbourhood Police Centre for further interviews and for the collection of forensic evidence by a forensics officer. This was the priority to avoid such evidence being lost or contaminated before a written statement was taken from the subject.

I cannot imagine Ismil, unless being absolutely RETARDED or forced would reveal to a policer officer that he attacked the deceased.

SSI Zainal testified that later that day, when he interviewed Ismil at the Neighbourhood Police Centre, Ismil repeated the confession he had made earlier in the police car. Ismil was also interviewed subsequently by a Senior Police Officer and he repeated his confession again which was recorded in a written statement, duly read over to him and signed by him.

Repeated the confession? What would SSI Zainal now say of the case? It has now been proven that Ismil is INNOCENT. Police reording statements from the public has generally be dismal, what more of statements from some who is going to be accused of murder. Did Ismil have a lawyer with him when he signed the confession? It is also highly possible that the SSI would not have explained the statement clearly, and just probably asked him to sign. In my experience in making statements at a Police NPC, that the quality of the police officers there are much to be desired, and you have to look clearly at what they write, to ensure that there are NO errors. What more for Ismil, for is probably not as literate or understand English (which I presume the statement is written in).

5 SSI Zainal had acted in a manner which in his judgment he believed was reasonable under the dynamic circumstances which he faced. The High Court accepted SSI Zainal's explanation and admitted this evidence but the Court of Appeal has found that the statements made by Ismil to SSI Zainal should not have been admitted into evidence, because they were not properly recorded and this materially compromised their reliability.

SSI Zainal believed his actions as reasonable under the dynamic circumstances? Reasonable ... really, his actions caused an innocent man to be jailed for 6 years, and the evidence he gathered under dubious circumstances? the victim CONFESSED 2 times? Who in the world will confess to a murder, if he has really done it?

The Court of Appeal also commented that more effort should have been made to collect objective evidence in this case. This case involved a particularly brutal murder. The Police treat all such cases and the collection of evidence at such crime scenes with the utmost seriousness. Each scene is processed by a team of experts from the Forensic Management Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department.

So please explain what happened for this case? What were the experts doing? Sleeping?

7 In this instance, there was also a scientist from the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) activated to the scene to give advice on the collection of forensic evidence. The entire team at the crime scene looked for likely places where evidence such as DNA or fingerprints might have been left. The experts then collected evidence to be sent for analysis, which they hoped would yield leads to potential suspects. In this case, their painstaking efforts turned up a piece of critical evidence - the DNA of Muhammad Kadar on the purse of the victim.

So what about Ismil? NO evidence? Yet they deem it fit to charge him with murder based on JUST the "confessions" collected by their SSI under dubious circumstances, and not even done accoring to the procedures?

8 While the investigation team had put in much effort to collect all evidence, including forensic evidence, the Court's comments that more effort should have been made to collect objective evidence are noted. We will convey these comments to our officers to motivate them to work harder to collect such evidence at the scene of crime.

"Convey comments to our officer.."? to work harder? My god, what is the world is the police coming to? The point is not to work harder, but to ensure that the policer officers do NOT fabricate evidences, as in this case p where is the evidence to convict Ismil of murder, except his forced "confessionss' to the SSI. Motivate them? really. Shouldn't disclipinary measures be taken for such an injustice done by one of the police officers on an INNOCENT member of the public, who was NOT able to defend himself, unlike the rich and well off... I don't believe we have heard of any cases... as such happening to the "elites" and well off.

Shanghai International Commodity Auction Signs Joint Agreement with Australian Wine Index, as the pioneer to hold fine wine auctions in China.

2011-05-24T01:56:00.007+08:00

There are many frustrated wine investors who have invested in wines purchased from Australian Wine Index (AWI) who had major key employees leaving the company from 2007, including directors of the company. The company had to even send letters to the clients on the termination of their employees in 2008.

The brokers of the company promised clients that they are purchasing valuable investments which they have a trading department who will be able to sell these off for the clients at a profit. Many of these brokers may have now left AWI or are terminated according to the letter sent to the client in 2008.

Many of the frustrated investors, some as early as 2005, after investing in these "valuable" wines, find that AWI suddenly seem unable to help them sell of the wines which they gloated about when it was touted to the clients. The brokers in the mean time had changed, and were continuing to change after many months.

AWI managed to keep the investors at bay with lots of excuses as to why the wines could not be sold, and also mande it difficult for the clients to find the traders at AWI to handle this, with the continued change of staff within the company.

Then AWI came up suddenly with a "brilliant" idea to "help" the clients sell their wines, at the end of 2010, by selling these at an auction in China, and hence the supposedly fantastic signing of the agreement with the Shanghai International Commodity Auction (SICA) in Dec 2010.

AWI then recently sent a whole new set of terms and conditions to bind the clients, besides of the unkown criteria they had that the wines could be included in the list for the auction:

* increase their commissions from 10% to 16%
* a new service charge has to be paid prior to the commencement of the Fine Wine Auction for each bottle of wine
* they do NOT gaurantee that the wines listed int he Provisional Auction List can be entered into the Fine Wine Auction
* do NOT gaurantee that the wines will be sold at the auction

The new set of Terms & Conditions is basically to cover them and ensure that they will not be legally responsible in the event that the sale do not go through, but it however is binding the client, and making the client pay for various costs if the client wants to terminate the agreement after the auction, even if the wines are not sold.

There is nothing spectacular about the agreement signed by AWI and SICA. SICA has absolutely no experience with the auction of fine wines while AWI who claims that "AWI are able to source the rarest, and most valuable wines for our clientele." don't appear to be so based on how they have handled their investors who purchased their "valuable" wines since 2005. Their inexperience in China shows, as they are unable to carry out their 1st auction claimed to be held March 2011 due to ludicrous reasons they emailed to their clients, including -

"We regret to advise that at this time, none of the wine within your portfolio has qualified for auction as we have not been able to obain the documents required to satisfy China's import regulations. We are continuing to work with the wineries to ensure that your wine can be successfully sent for later auctions and another update will be sent before the end of June."

The auctions are now pushed back to August 2011 and it is a wonder if they will ever happen.

Fine Wine Auctions have been carried out in HK by famous auctioneers like Christie's for the past few years and they never had any problems to get investors to purchase these wines at their auctions.

It appears that AWI claim of "Our services encompass all aspects of fine wine collection — from due diligence when purchasing wine, logistics & provenance, to providing capital growth advice to investors who desire to profit from their wine collection." rings hollow as they should be considering for the auctions to be done in HK by companies such as Christie's, who are epxerts in Fine Wine Auctions, and the tax free status that HK has, without the need for the wines to go through all the hassle that the current AWI wine investors now have to face because of their (AWI) lack of experience and incompetence.

There is a link on facebook of these frustrated Australian Wine Index investors at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/why-wont-Australian-Wine-Index-Singapore-try-to-sell-my-wines/111957718835318#!/pages/why-wont-Australian-Wine-Index-Singapore-try-to-sell-my-wines/111957718835318

_______________________________________________________________
World Exclusive
Shanghai International Commodity Auction Signs Joint Agreement with Australian Wine Index, as the pioneer to hold fine wine auctions in China.

Shanghai, China, Thursday, 9 Dec 2010 – Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co. Ltd. has signed an joint agreement with Australian Wine Index (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. to operate fine wine auctions together.

“AWI is proud to be the first in company in history to hold fine wine auctions in Mainland China” said Mr. Andrew Basset, Director of Australian Wine Index (Singapore). “This will provide fine wine collectors in China, the venue and opportunity to start, and profit from their wine collection”.

Mr. Edward Davidson (AWI) will be the appointed Fine Wine Expert, who will lead Australian Wine Index, together with Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co. Ltd, as the pioneers to auction fine wine collections in Shanghai.

A Fine pedigree
Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co, Ltd. was established two decades ago in Shanghai, by approval of Commerce Ministry of China and Shanghai Municipal Government. It is one of first two auction houses that emerged after the Reform and Opening policies were implemented in China.
Since its establishment, GUOPAI organizes many auction activities that draw famous reputation in China – In March 2003, it sold a naming right by auction for a maglev train, the first commercial one in China. November of 2009 witnessed its honor to be the official auction partner of Expo 2010 Shanghai.
After the financial crisis in 1998, it liquidated and sold the most nonperforming assets by public auction.

http://www.alltobid.com/guopai/shexpo2010/expospecial/

Wine Expertise
Australian Wine Index (AWI) was established in 2000 in Sydney, Australia; In 2003 AWI relocated their HQ and became the first fine wine brokerage company in Singapore, opening to respond to the increased demand for fine wine in the Asia Pacific region.

Due to the long standing relations with the leading wineries, and vineyards in Australia, AWI are able to source the rarest, and most valuable wines for our clientele.

Our services encompass all aspects of fine wine collection — from due diligence when purchasing wine, logistics & provenance, to providing capital growth advice to investors who desire to profit from their wine collection.

AWI has achieved ISO9001:2008 certification, ensuring that we meet high standards of quality that are respected throughout the world. www.australianwineindex.com

Press contact :
Australian Wine Index Pte. Ltd., Singapore
Mr. David Chong, (65) 6327 8975
david.chong@australianwineindex.com

Change policies, not just ministers: SDP’s statement on cabinet appointments

2011-05-19T17:13:00.007+08:00

Why should policies be "be significantly different from their predecessors". Dr Chee or his party for that matter doesn't represent the majority of the electorate (60%) who still voted for the PAP, and the 40% who voted for the opposition, wants to have change but I do not believe that that are advocating for MAJOR or significant changes, perhaps only the voters who voted for the SDP. The change in the ministers' portfolio has already shown a step towards change, and we should not hasten changes, just for the sake of having change, for change sake.

"How will the performance and effectiveness of the Government be raised with such lateral movement?"

How will it NOT be raised? There has already been a major revamp... one should not push to the extreme, if the main reason is for the good of the country. Who does CSJ thinks can handle these ministries better? he himself?

I have not heard anywhere in the world where the government have to explain each appointment, especially to an opposition, who has their philosophy at the other extreme of the spectrum according to the recent analysis of a pro-SDP supporter, blogger Alex Au.

"PM Lee Hsien Loong must explain to the people why he has made these appointments and how these posts help in the more effective governing of Singapore."

The appointments have just been announced. Their roles will be clearer in the weeks to come. Why is Dr Chee so impatient? or perhaps he is writing to just show people how well he writes.. I would expect more substance than asking such simple questions. What makes him think that PM Lee will not explain these appointments? Is this an attempt by CSJ to try to then claim credit that - oh, I was the one who asked them to explain.. blah,, blah ... blah..

"Finally, if PM Lee is genuinely contrite and is determined to lead a government that listens to the people, then he will announce an across-the-board reduction in the Ministers’ salaries. The astronomical wages that the Ministers draw, despite the poor performance of the last government, have caused much anger among Singaporeans.

Also, who is Dr Chee to tell PM Lee what to do? genuinely contrite - by CSJ's definition? There have been relatively major changes, not seen since the past decades, which shows that the PM is taking steps to address these. The PM is taking these steps apparently systematically, in listening to Singaporeans, not what CSJ has to say, but what they may have planned to do. Again, it smacks of CSJ trying to take credit to call for a reduction in the ministers' salaries, and then claim again that, oh.. it was again my (CSJ) suggestions.

WP has been more effectvely apparently in winning oppositions with their moderate stand, while addressing the key issues, and without always tyring to claim that.. the idea was theirs.. come on, the PAP may have already thought of it, but have not got around to implementing it.

POST GE 2011

2011-05-11T01:16:00.001+08:00

Well, again the voters in Singapore have shown, that is, 60% support the PAP. With this, Mah Bow Tan, Wong Kan Seng and Lim Swee Say are telling all Singaporeans that they have our "mandate" even after scoring below the national average?

Seems like alot of Singaporeans are apparently PAP loyallists? Well for one, Overseas Singaporeans (OS) are generally not pro-PAP, and the main reason thus, for creating obstacles after obstacles for these OS to vote. If all the OS were given their basic rights to vote without the need to "register"? and for that matter on time, where the incumbents were not broadcasting this before they issued the writ in April 2011, HK included, where the picture and outcome of the GE 2011 may have been very different.

Constituencies like Joo Chiat and Potong Pasir will have definately fallen to the oppositions, and perhaps even the East Coast GRC. Well it seems that there are still many Singaporeans who like to continue to suffer under the autocratic leadership of the PAP while the rest of us, Singaporeans have to suffer with them.

The PAP talks about healing; to work as one Singapore? Really.... looking at (i) what MM just said about the Workers Party (WP) post GE2011, where he is paranoid about their increase in supporters, and (ii) where Vivian Bala still insists that there is nothing wrong with the PAP policies, only how they should communicate these? (iii) Khaw and a few others called for the healing...let's also wait and see what they have to say in the coming weeks. There apparently is already a "victim", an NSP supporter working at the Jurong Town Council who was sacked because of her activities in her personal time to help the NSP. Let's see how the PAP start to "listen" to Singaporeans as LHL claims he would after due introspection within his party? I believe it will be more how to "fix" the oppositions and their supporters.

With the social media now playing an active role, it will be interesting to see if LHL will walk his talk about "listening" to Singaporeans, or is "sincere"with his apologies, which he made, in the last minute of the election campaign to apparently sway voters, which seeming he succeeded or would have lost more constituencies in this election.

Singaporeans who have been aware of LHL's strategies for the past several elections, are apparently sceptical, watching to see if LHL will think of ways to "fix" the opposition. Let's see who in the opposition, will they incarcerate this time round.

Let us "pray" as I understand that, there were Christians who have been "praying" for Vivian Bala to be elected, that we have not given the "mandate" to the evil, and have all our reserves looted before we wake up.

LOW THIA KHIANG WINS BIG. WHAT NEXT?

2011-05-08T15:24:00.013+08:00

"But even if the government treats Low’s team with as much civility as George Yeo demonstrated in his concession speech, WP's First World Parliament vision may prove elusive."

George Cherian in his post GE2011 political analysis that the WP's First World Parliament vision may prove elusive for 3 main reasons:
1. "...opposition's presence in the next Parliament still amounts to less than 7 percent of elected seats. This is at most a speed bump, not a barrier, on PAP's road to writing or rewriting laws". Well, at least there is a speed bump. A lot of Singaporeans have shown their discontent during this election through their votes, though you will still have many PAP loyallists around. Singaporeans are not expecting that their (the oppositions) increased presence in the parliament will railroad the PAP's road to writing or rewriting laws. At the least, Singaporeans will be informed of and be aware of these bfore they are implemented, and if it is showing that the government is still pushing laws through even after a meaningful debate from the high calibre candidates now in the opposition, as promised by LTK, then scene at GE 2016 will again be interesting.

"As observed decades ago by political scientist Chan Heng Chee, ours is a political system designed to give maximum leeway to the executive branch."
With the increased oppositions in the parliament, even if they have the maximum leeway, their actions will be exposed to the public by the oppositions instead of the previously only having 2 MPs in parliament and the PAP MPs ridiculing the oppositions because of their size, as in the case where LTK was stumped for an answer from LHL, as to whether Wong Kang Seng should resign for his major fiasco.

2."A second dampener on the WP’s aspirations is the absence of a First World electorate, as Ho Kwon Ping noted in a recent Straits Times op-ed piece. Political reform anywhere depends not only on political parties but also on active citizens who participate through civil society."

With the social media now in place and apparently many Singaporeans involved more than before, I believe this impetus will continue, and we should also credit Nicole Seah for this, for awakening the younger generation, a lot of them if not all, to a cause for Singapore. The younger generation wants to be represented by someone credible and Nicole Seah seems to fit this bill and also makes politics "cool" unlike the PAP youngest candidate who has just sailed through to be an MP, on the coat tail of the senior minister who is now providing her with a buddy hold her hands?

The social media will continue to play an important part, as the MSM will probably continue in its old way being controlled by the PAP, with no professionally journalistic voices, and are only forced to print articles when it have become viral in the blogosphere. The social media is therefor now behaving like a check and balance on the MSM, as the increased oppositions in the parliament are for the check and balance of policies of the PAP MPs and Ministers,who have been rail roading these, before in parliament .

3. "The third and biggest potential obstacle to Low’s dream of a significantly enlarged opposition is a much-improved PAP. The signal from voters that the ruling party must change is unequivocal. Couple this with its resolve to maintain its dominance, and it’s inconceivable that the PAP will sit around twiddling its thumbs while letting the opposition set the pace."

If the PAP improves, then we should thank LTK and all the oppositions who have participated in the GE 2011 for their efforts. If they had not been there, the PAP will have continued to strut around, as they did at the start of the election campaign, with continued arrogant remarks from their million dollar ministers like Wong Kan Seng, Mah Bow Tan. Lim Swee Say. AMost if not all the oppositions have the same vision to have a better Singapore, to be more inclusive, not to leave anyone behind, better tansparency ad accountability,which the current PAP one party dominant rule, is precisely NOT doing providing that.

"The government knows that if it can show dramatic improvements in the coming years, it can take the wind out of the opposition’s sails. When the next general election comes, some Singaporeans may still be wedded to the vision of a two-party system, but many others may not crave an opposition as much as they did in 2011 if the PAP has given them less to complain about"

"IF"... that is the big "IF" which has never seen the light of the tunnel, if not for the oppositions who have SACRIFICED so much this time, to participate in the GE 2011 with a slate of extremely credible opponents and without going into dishonourable ways to win the elections, as some of the PAP ministers did. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts ABSOLUTELY.... so this is a major reason why there MUST be an increased number of oppositions in the parliament to put a check and balance to this. LTK has clearly and specifically stated this which is resonating with the public to have give him such an outstanding support in this GE 2011.

"The big issues that have dominated the elections – such as HDB prices, traffic congestion and the cost of living – will, ironically, be the easiest for the PAP to solve. These are problems that are open to technocratic solutions, and the PAP leaders and their civil servants are masters of navigating complex policy terrains when they have the political will to do so."

George Cherian thinks that HDB prices, traffic congestion and cost of living are the only big issues? There is still the call for transparency and accountability, like the overspending of the YOG budget, losses in billions of dollars by the PAP town council mismanagement, losses in billions by Temasek & GIC, to name a few other critical issues. The opposition have now people who have the ability to debate this on a high and new level, and "IF", again "IF" the PAP is moving forward by being more transparent and accountable, then we all have to thank the oppositions for their efforts. However, I believe that this will be difficult for the PAP to do. They have too many skeletons in the closets

"Reinvesting in its political capital will be difficult because an emboldened public is not going to be satisfied with verbal assurances or token consultation. But it’s not impossible. For a start, imagine if the PM were to be much more stringent in his appointments and picked a smaller but stronger Cabinet, with none of the face-saving gradualism that has long been associated with the PAP. Then, what if the government were to abandon the ministerial pay formula in its current form, which after all has failed to meet its original purpose of depoliticising public sector remuneration.

Just these two moves alone would substantially address the nub of voters’ main political quarrel with the PAP – that its leaders are too comfortably insulated from the real-world impact of their policies – and deny the opposition a ready supply of ammunition."

The above two moves will help PAP regain some of its "credibility" but there are still other major glaring issues that it has to address, which includes:
- their supposedly selective process of selecting new candidates for MP, turning out with low quality candidates like Tin Pei Lin, Foo Me Har, and even the Ah Beng ex-MG Chan Chun Sing, and if they are listening to the public views which have been clearly expressed at the GE 2011, and it appears that they were apparently not, and will be yet to be seen in the days ahead.
- the transparency and accountability of its spending of the public monies, like losses of the town council funds in toxic investment, losses of billions in Temasek & GIC, where the head has not been taken to task?
- their gerrymandering of the elections process by redrawing boundaries to dilute opposition voters.
- their handling of the opposition wards, with the penalty of not giving them priority, and what the PAP wards gets. The PAP is forming the goverment because it forms the majority. They are NOT the government per se, only the ruling party. It will be shown and revealed in Potong Pasir if PAP secures this ward, which I think should NOT have been declared because the overseas vote has YET to be included and the loss was only by 114 votes. If Potong Pasir suddenly gets all the support, upgrading, etc.. then we will all know that the leopard has NOT changed its spots. Opposition wards are also Singaporeans, who have paid taxes, completed NS, unlike their new MPs and the Ah Beng Chan ex-MG who do not think this is an important criteria.

"And, above all, it cannot take voters for granted. So what’s left as a winning strategy? Only dedicated service and the humility to treat all citizens as equals. After Aljunied, elections will have to be fought on these basics."

Well, if this happens... that is, we get a "dedicated" service and the "humility" to treat all citizens as equal... that will be the day. It will actually be beyond anyone's imagination, to witness a dedicated and humble service, from the likes of
- Lui Tuck Yew, whose strategy is to disengage when he thinks he is getting negative feedback,
- Mah Bow Tan who still believes that HDB is affordable to this day or
- Wong Kan Seng, who thinks that he has performed so well and Singaporeans should not jusde him because of his major mistake of letting loose a terrorist
- Charles Chong belittling Singaporeans as lesser mortals,
- Lim Swee Say, who is a "deaf' frogs to our negative feedback and treat them as "noises"

"This is the great favour that Low Thia Khiang has done for the citizens of Singapore. The irony, of course, is that it’s also a favour to the ruling party – forcing it to reform and come back far stronger in 2015/6. In 2011, opposition politicians wanted to teach the government a lesson. Next, they’ll have to face the daunting possibility that the government actually learns it."

Singaporeans will be happy "IF", again I say "IF" the PAP really learns a lesson from this GE 2011. LTK efforts I believe were also in this direction, and not that they have other agendas, as insinuated by a few of the PAP ministers during the GE 2011 campaigning.

Most Singaporeans, I believe will continue to support the oppositions for what they have done in this historic and watershed election in 2011, so that the PAP will NOT have the 100% dominance that it had held in the past 52 years, after what we all have experience when they had the ASBOLUTE POEWER where -

- they ensured a total control of the MSM to only propogate the PAP propoganda
- there were no transparency or accountability in many of issues concerning Singaporeans.
- they were passing dracognian laws unilaterally and without debate, like even the assembly of one person is a crime?
- smearing of opposition candidates like how they have demonised Dr Chee
- issue threats to its citizen over the past, of which without the social media, that CSJ would not have been vindicated.

With the social media platform, of which the PAP have seemingly no total control, I believe Singaporeans can move forward more informed of alternative views, that are silenced in the MSM and which I believe will continue to be.

Today is a historical start and moment for Singaporeans, which we will cherish and thank Low Thia Kiang for, and where I hope that all Singaporeans will continue to watch and be involved with the issues of Singapore, for a better future for Singapore.

PM SAYS HIS APOLOGY RESONATES WITH PEOPLE, PAP IS NOT TAKING ANYBODY'S VOTE FOR GRANTED:PM

2011-05-06T01:11:00.002+08:00

PM SAYS HIS APOLOGY RESONATES WITH PEOPLE
PAP IS NOT TAKING ANYBODY'S VOTE FOR GRANTED:PM

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday said that the PAP will do well in Saturdays' polls, but it is not taking anybody's vote for granted"

Sure Lee Hsien Loong is NOW not taking anybody's vote, for granted after he has seen the ground feel and the reaction of some people to his party, even to the stage where Lui Tuck Yew has to file a police report?

The PAP inlcuding LHL, has taken Singaporeans for granted for decades, and WILL CONTINUE to do so, unless there are sufficient oppositions and voices to let this ARROGANT ruling party, understand and listen to the voices of the people. They have and will continue to treat Singaporeans shabbily, push forward with policies and changes which Singaporeans do not agree. Just looking at how they started with the election campaign, it is ovbious that they were over confident to win, coming out swaggering and complacent. Very quickly they realised what they up against in both the quality of opposition candidates as well as a ground swell of citizens extremely angry with them. If you observe what the ministers and PM are doing and saying these few days, they sound like drowning people grasping at straws. We should hope for at least 4 or 5 GRCs going to opposition and then we will have a proper parliamentary representation, and won't be treated as "daft", noises, people to be "disengaged".

If the oppositions are not here at this GE 2011 and contesting all the seats except for Tanjong Pagar, it would have been difficult to imagine the PM "finally" apologising? So what does it tell us; without any representative numbers of opposition in the parliament representing us, the PAP will continue to say that they have the MANDATE from the people, the negative comments are but of a few and only confined to the blogosphere, and noises to be ignored.

Isn't the apology at the wrong time, and ONLY when the PM suddenly feel his hand being twisted, and the REALITY of the thought of losing some GRCs to the oppoisition? Singaporeans are very CLEAR how his million dollar ministers replied and responded to these screw ups. Even at the start of the campaign before his "apology", Wong Kan Seng asked if voters should judge him because of this one incident of the Mas Selamat escape, and that without them Mas Selamat would have escaped. Mas Selamat DID ESCAPE not once but twice under his charge. Goh Chok Tong then goes onto say that most Singaporeans are not concerned with the high ministerial pays when interviewed? Are they are in touch with the ground feel as they claim... really?

PM says "We are fighting for every vote"
He already has the votes of many Singaporeans who seem not to be able to think objectively and see the ruling party for what they are - a bunch of men/women who are there just to enrich themselves. To the people who vote for them, they should not complain later because they have made their choice, and will be called complain kings by the PAP, if they do, and who has treated their votes as their MANDATE to do whatever they like.

Unfortunately the rest of Singaporeans have to suffer because of these people who are easily led by the nose. Years of education, elections after elections, seem to have not made any difference with them.

Why does the PM need every vote. They are already in MAJORITY with how most Singaporeans will vote and can still push policies without the consent of Singaporeans. They will still be able to railroad policies in the parliament, even with the increase in oppositions, except that their polices will now be scrutinized and made known to Singaporeans before they are passed. There has been no referendum since decades even on major policies that they pass. This is the type of democracy of Lee hsien Loong and his PAP government? Only with the threat of an increased opposition are they now more "humble", and finally for Singaporeans to be able to hear the PM making apologies in his lunch time rally in the city centre?

PM only apologised for the floods, Mas Selamat, high cost of HDBs. What about the mismangement of the town council funds, losses in billions by Temasek and GIC, and all the other mistakes. Or are these not mistakes? Where is the accountability and transparency. His minister in his PMO, Lim Hwee Hua has the gall to take potshots and making scandalous insinuations on the credibility of the strongest opposition member Low Thia Kiang, to divert the public from the main issues for this election. Imagine what would happen to an opposition member who is making such accusations. The PAP themselves have not been able to account to Singaporeans for their losses in millions at Temasek & GIC, and the mismanagement of the funds at the twon councils run by the PAP and who is Lim Hwee Hua to ask such questions and make the insinuations when there is no more sh.t in their backyard. Then you have the latest glimspe of their A-Team, with the introduction of their so called next generation leaders, people like Dr Janil Puthu who do not think serving NS is important, and confirmed by the Ah Beng ex-Chief of Army, Chan, Foo Mee Huh, a citizen only two years in the making, Tin Kate Spade, as credible candidates and leaders that can represent us Singaporeans in Parliament? This is even after so many negative feedback from its citizens. Are they really in touch with the people?

An apology that needs to be reinforce by the Teo Chee Hean, to be sincere "he meant every word..." Singaporeans are perhaps capable of evaluating how sincere his apology is without the n

WONG KAN SENG ASKING WP TO EXPLAIN THEIR POLICIES?

2011-04-10T22:05:00.003+08:00

"When people look at all these items (on the manifesto), they should look into the details, ask for better explanation on how these policies can be implemented," said DPM Wong Kan Seng.

WKS is asking Singaporean to go into details on the WP manifesto? WKS should instead make the effort to explain PAP policies, especially the ministry that he heads, for the past 5 years; what these were, what have been implemented, the reasons for the scr..w-ups, and what accountability to the voters who have voted them into power in the GE 2001, before having the cheek to tell Singaporeans what to do with the opposition's manifestos,especially with the million dollar salaries that they have been paying themselves.

Singaporeans have been asking for accountbility from the PAP government, voicing concerns, which his party, especially senior ministers, totally out of tocuh with the eletorate, have been treating as noises.

Have any member of the PAP, epscially the million dollar ministers, even made the slightest effort to explain to the public their manifestos in the past 5 years after the last election in 2006? They do not think it is necessary.. they think that they are the elites who know what's best, the party that know ALL, where they do not need to account to the public for their mistakes, overspending of the budgets, losses of billions of dollars, and not be responsible for the over priced housing, shortage of public housing, increased cost of living, loss of jobs for many Singaporeans due to their policies. They tell you what they want you to know, not what you want to know.

In fact, these people who think they are the elites have been making degratory remarks, labeling Singaporeans as daft, lesser mortals, and god knows what else they can think off.

Then they spring us with an immature, feet stomping woman who does not know what to say, have no strong views about any of the policies, and expect Singaporeans to swallow such a low quality person, to coat tail on a senior minister, and enter parliament to be an MP? A role model indeed? Even the woman minister from the PMO office, who herself is a question mark, is out to defend this "role model" using the gender card?

Even more interesting, the PM of the country thinks it is politically correct to penalise voters in the opposition wards, by depriving these constituencies of what all other PAP constituencis received in funding from the government, just because they are opposition wards, and he so states this clearly to a young undergraduate who posed the question.

GOH CHOK TONG FACEBOOK: ONLY POSITIVE COMMENTS ALLOWED

2011-04-03T01:41:00.005+08:00

It appears that the Ministers who has facebook accounts, in this case, where I have the actual experience, has a brigade of people handling the answers for them, and DELETING them, within minutes, after receiving negative feedback and then totally blocking them from posting again.

I am a Marine Parade resident and was happy that Goh Chok Tong decided to interact with the Marine Parade residents on facebook. How sincere he appeared to be. I shouldn't be surprised actually but the experience on his facebook page leaves much to be desired.

I left several comments on the MParader Wall. Two comments under -

MParader
Pei Ling just called. Media wants her comments on my post. They have failed to appreciate my tongue-in cheek post. True, she has been thru baptism of fire. My use of medical metaphor is becos Fatimah is a trauma specialist. No need for media to chase PL for comments. She is strong n working hard.--- Goh Chok Tong

They were both deleted together with another poster, Alexus Yang's posting which was also deleted possibly because it was also negative.

I was also posting on how I would not support him (GCT) if Tin Pei Ling, an immature, feet stomping woman, who does not know what to say, and have no strong views about any policy is getting into parliament, riding on his coat tails.

After a few minutes still logged in, I noticed that one of my comments (the one above about not supporting him) was deleted. I then posted a new comment to ask if Mr Goh was deleting negative feedback from his facebook page. The comment went through, and sensing that all the comments will be deleted, I "print screened" the comments on the facebook wall just in case.

True enough, in the next few minutes, all my comments were deleted, as well as several of the other negative comments, and I could also no longer post any further comments - "Unable to post comment. Try again."

I have attached the screen with only one comment left which was not deleted but is no longer there confirming the deletion process, and the speed of this.

So, it seems like the PAP ministers are trying to show the online community that are are:
- savvy socially? I cannot imagine GCT being able to react so fast in replies, and IT literate enough to be able to delete all the comments within minutes
- appear to be well liked? now I know why they appear so. Only positive comments appear on their facebook page. Most of the negative comments are deleted , and the posters locked out

Goh Chok Tong can rest assured that I will not support him in the Marine Parade GRC, especially after this incident, showing how much he respects the online feedback even from his residents, irrespective, and definately not when he is expecting us to support such an incredulous candidate, getting traumatised? because of the criticisms online.

Like the ex-Solicitor General said in his interview which I watched on a link by Martyn See. Singaporeans are many things but they are NOT STUPID.

Poster Alexus Yang has responded to a comment by another poster
Wong Ching Haw: Hello SM Goh! Whats a normal day for you like?
with :
Alexus Yang: Deleting posts from fb walls

hahahaa what a joke

Another poster had similar comments -
Sin Rak Sin: Read before it get deleted and banned me from posting. hat what they always do to shut us off..

Since it now in the middle of the night, the brigade are possibly sleeping.. and it will be a matter of time before Alexus Yang and Sin Rak Sin's comments also get deleted and them blocked from further posting.

Nuclear Disaster Training

2011-03-28T13:59:00.005+08:00

With the major disaster at Fukushima plant, and the potential to have an out-of-control nuclear reactor, what is the Singapore governement doing to educate its citizens on preventive measures, and protection against this disaster and the nuclear fallout.

This should be one of their priority as they are still considering the proposals of having nuclear plants in Singapore?

Most people could easily survive the nuclear disasters because they won't be close enough to any "ground zero". Unfortunately, though, few people will be prepared to next survive the later coming radioactive fallout which could eventually kill many times more than the actual disaster. However, there is still more good news possible, as well over 90% of those potential casualties from fallout can be avoided, IF the public was pre-trained through an aggressive national Civil Defense educational program. Simple measures taken immediately after a nuclear blast, by a pre-trained public, can prevent agonizing death and injury from radiation exposure, contamination from the water and food chain.

Most governments today is doing little to promote nuclear preparedness and Civil Defense instruction among the general public. Regrettably, most of our politicians, like the public, are still captive to the same illusions that training and preparation of the public are ineffective and futile against a nuclear threat.

Singapore Day 2011 in Shanghai

2011-02-28T11:01:00.000+08:00

It looks like the PMO office is all out to woo overseas Singaporeans again with a big and FREE celebrations, and you can bet the elections will not be before this date - 16 April 2011.

Not bad looking at the summary of the circular issued to overseas Singaporean for this FREE extravaganza.
- EXTRAVAGANZA: one day extravaganza
- A FIESTA: promises to be a fiesta of sights, sounds and tastes of all things Singaporean.
- GUEST OF HONOR: Gracing the event as Guest of Honour will be DPM Wong Kan Seng, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National
Security.
- CELEBS: Many of our home-grown celebs will be there
- HAWKER CELEBS: Our very own true blue hawker celebs will be flying in to whip up a gastronomical Singaporean storm.
- FREE : AND IT'S ALL FREE!
- ORGANIZER: Singapore Day is organised by the Overseas Singaporean Unit, Prime Minister's Office.

Wonder what it is costing the tax payers to do this?

"Singapore Day is an annual event held in a different city every year to celebrate our Overseas Singaporeans."

Celebrate what about our overseas Singaporeans? that Singaporeans, probably the smarter ones? have moved overseas to work, and for the ones that have migrated? like the many sons and daughters of the ministers?

____________________________________________________________

Singapore Day 2011 is here! Tell Singaporeans in Shanghai about it!

Singapore Day 2011 will be held in Shanghai, Century Park*, on 16 April 2011! Spread the word!

If you haven't already heard, Singapore Day is an annual event held in a different city every year to celebrate our Overseas Singaporeans. The one-day extravaganza has been held in New York, Melbourne and London. Shanghai's next on 16 April 2011! An event for Singaporeans only, Singapore Day promises to be a fiesta of sights, sounds and tastes of all things Singaporean. Gracing the event as Guest of Honour will be DPM Wong Kan Seng, Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National
Security.

If you have Singaporean friends and family in China, do spread the word!

Who's Who!

Many of our home-grown celebs will be there! Catch Kit Chan and Singapore Idol winner Sezairi Sazali as they serenade you in song. Eavesdrop on Phua Chu Kang and the hilarious Rosie while Tan Ah Teck and Dolly have you in stitches. Meet TV artistes Michelle Chong, Elvin Ng and Pierre Png. You might even rub shoulders with Radio 91.3FM's Daniel Ong and Yes! 93.3's Pei Fen. And that's not even the whole list of celebs yet!

True blue Singaporean hawker fare!

Our very own true blue hawker celebs will be flying in to whip up a gastronomical Singaporean storm. Char Kway Teow from Hill Street, Wee Nam Kee Chicken Rice, 328 Katong Laksa, Geylang Lor 29 Hokkien Mee, Alhambra Satay and Grilled Seafood from Boon Tat Street are just some of the hawker fare you will get to taste.

Something for everyone!

Singaporeans can visit our experiential showcases and catch up with Singapore's latest transformations in the heartlands and downtown@Marina Bay. Children can experience interactive lessons conducted by MOE teachers in a classroom setting and gigantic ice-kacang Kidszone. Those manly enough can experience what a young NS man goes through during Basic Military Training. There will be fun and games for the entire family!

AND IT'S ALL FREE!

VISIT
WWW.SINGAPOREDAY.SG
TO REGISTER^ AND GET MORE DETAILS

^Register before 21 March 2011 and stand a chance to win $100 worth of shopping vouchers from TopShop, Fox, G2000, Miss Selfridge and Warehouse. Terms and conditions apply.

*Due to enthusiastic response, the event will be held at Century Park, Pudong - the largest park in Shanghai. Other details remain unchanged. Singapore Day is organised by the Overseas Singaporean Unit, Prime Minister's Office.

Singapore Day is organised by the Overseas Singaporean Unit, Prime Minister's Office.

Army veteran to be Perm Sec

2010-07-04T16:59:00.001+08:00

Another LG parachuting into a senior government role, for a SAF Scholar and a military man at the end of his "loyal" service in the army?

What experience has this LG Kuek has, to be able to be appointed as the Perm Sec for the MOE? Appears to be absolutely none in this area? All his experience is in the military service..

Wikipedia has a brief on his career - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Kuek_Bak_Chye

In the course of his military career, Gen Kuek went on to command the 41st Singapore Armoured Regiment in 1992, the 4th Singapore Armoured Brigade in 1994 and the 3rd Singapore Combined Arms Division in 1998. He also held command of the 54th Singapore Armoured Brigade, an operationally ready National Service Brigade, for a major overseas exercise in 1993. He has also held a number of key staff appointments in the Ministry of Defence and SAF. As Head of the Defence Studies Department in the Ministry’s Policy Office from 1993-94, he was responsible for defence policy research and information management. As the Assistant Chief of General Staff (for Operations) from 1995-97, he contributed to the high level of operational readiness and planning in the Army. He was appointed the Director of the Joint Intelligence Directorate in the SAF from November 2000 to March 2003, and concurrently held the appointment of Chief of Staff (General Staff) from Sep 2002 to March 2003.[2]

Gen Kuek also held concurrently the appointment of Military Personal Secretary to the Minister for Defence for two years from 1989 to 1991; and was an Honorary Aide de Camp to the President of Singapore from 1992 to 1994. In 2000, he chaired the Executive Committee to organise the millennium National Day celebrations, which included the National Day Parade at the Padang, the Carnival at Marina Bay and the Maritime Review – a series of events commended by the President as “a stupendous success”.[1] He was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Military) (Gold) in 2002.[5]

Before assuming the post of Chief of Defence Force, Gen Kuek was appointed Chief of Army on 1 April 2003. As COA, he steered the Army towards organisational excellence, transforming its force structure to enhance operational efficiency and eliciting peak performance from servicemen through the L.I.V.E (Leadership and Learning, Image and Identity, Values and positive Experience) movement. He significantly improved the Army's combat capability, especially in the areas of command and control, firepower and urban operations.[2]

Another of PAP's men in the army infiltrating into the civil service? There are so many of these in the key government positions, it leaves one wondering what the criteria are for such positions? (i) a loyalist PAP? (ii) trained in the army to say "YES" to the master?

Is the Singapore government becoming a bed for military officers at the end of their careers, and a convenient retirement at the end of their loyal service in the military. There have already been many cases, of military officers also being moved in GLCs at the end of their "loyal" careers.

___________________________________________________
>> ASIAONE / NEWS / ASIAONE NEWS / SINGAPORE / STORY

Army veteran to be Perm Sec

Sat, Jun 26, 2010
RazorTV

By Shivali Nayak

Lieutenant-General Desmond Kuek Bak Chye, the former Chief of Defence Force, will soon be exploring a whole new terrain.

After 29 years with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), LG Kuek will assume the role of Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources from July 1, 2010. He takes over from the current Permanent Secretary, Tan Yong Soon.

Mr Tan will be appointed the Permanent Secretary (National Climate Change) in the Prime Minister's Office.

LG Kuek follows in the footsteps of one of his predecessors, Lim Chuan Poh. When Lieutenant-General Lim relinquished his appointment as Chief of Defence Force in 2003, he became the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education. He is now the Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR).

Under LG Kuek's leadership, the SAF was transformed into a third-generation army, which harnesses advanced technology and directs its men towards honing core military skills. The 46-year-old has won a slew of awards for his outstanding contributions. Last year, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal (Military) at the National Day Awards 2009.

The father of two is also a keen sportsman, leading a team of service chiefs in the Singapore Biathlon 2009.

Heavy flooding in Orchard Road

2010-07-04T11:22:00.006+08:00

LHL's attempt to answer to the flooding problem is probably pathetic -

"ANY attempt to eradicate flooding in Singapore would require plenty of money and land said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong."

How much land would be required, and how much money would be required to eradicate flooding in Singapore? It cannot be more than the billions lost by his wife, the CEO of Temasek or his father, the Chairman of GIC?

"A more realistic objective, he added, is to prevent widespread and prolonged flooding, and limit the risk to lives and damage to property. Mr Lee made the point while assuring Singaporeans that the Government "will continue to implement new drainage works, to improve the design of the drainage systems and deal with more intense storms".

How is this being done, one may ask? to (i) prevent widespread and prolonged flooding (ii) limit the risks to lives and property? Will LHL be providing a full report on what has actually happened, and what the corrective actions are being taken to remedy these, instead of just making statements without any substantiations. The storm drains have been designed for decades and appears to be uless against such storms as proven in the recent flash floods or "once in fifty years" happening according to the million dollar minister for environment, Yaccob. Their recent exuse was clogged drains?

"But I don't think it is possible in Singapore to expect the place to be completely free of floods," he said, as heavy downpours are very much part of the climate for an "island in the tropics".

No one is expecting Singapore to be "completely free of floods". Is LHL exagerrating the expectations so that he has the excuse that this cannot then be done? However Singaporeans are expecting, that at the least that their PRIME areas like Orchard Road is NOT swimming in water, or perhaps like the MM indicated, become a catchment area? HK has heavy monsoons, back thunderstroms coupled with very heavy rains, also for days on end, but I don't see the Central business district or the major shopping areas in Causeway Bay or Tsim Sha Tsui being submerged in inches deep of water as had happened in Singapore, with million of dollars of damages/losses inflicted on the businesses.

"The Prime Minister stressed the need to have contingency plans for unusually heavy rain to ensure swift response in pinpointing the problem areas, dealing with them and "putting them right"."

What contingency plans have they had or will have? The floods are not only just happening. It has been there for decades, as he is fully aware of this himself where he says "heavy downpours are very much part of the climate for an "island in the tropics". So what happened during these flash floods, as it appears that ther were also no sufficient warning given to those that will be affected.

"He was keen to make sure the recent floods that caused chaos and disruption in Orchard Road, Thomson Road, Bukit Timah and Tanjong Katong would not happen again.
"We have to learn from these episodes, do post-mortems, find out what happened, and upgrade our infrastructure and systems," he said."

Keen? after being paid millions, LHL is ONLY keen to make sure the floods that caused chaos ... would not happen again? learn from these episodes? Really? Is this what the PM of Singapore response to this major catastrophe is?

Learn from these episodes - appears that they are more keen on finding ways to provide "reasons" more like exuses for their failings. What happened in the months after the flooding in Bukit Timah? were they learning from this, or as Yaccob excuses himself, as a "one in a fifty uears" occurence where it is out of his control? this is learning?

Talk is perhaps relatively cheap... LHL plans to do "post-moterms"? How does he plan to do this? Get the same department which scr.wed up to do the evaulation, and then what? There is doubt that there will be any transparency if or when such a report is available for public scrutiny.

____________________________________________________________
>> ASIAONE / NEWS / ASIAONE NEWS / SINGAPORE / STORY
Costly to be flood-free
Fri, Jul 02, 2010
tabla!

Heavy flooding in Orchard Road

ANY attempt to eradicate flooding in Singapore would require plenty of money and land said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

"If you are going to do that, you will need huge tracts of land put aside for huge monsoon drains, which will be empty most of the time, (and) the infrastructure will cost a lot of money and it is not worth it," he said, speaking in the wake of the recent flash floods here.

A more realistic objective, he added, is to prevent widespread and prolonged flooding, and limit the risk to lives and damage to property. Mr Lee made the point while assuring Singaporeans that the Government "will continue to implement new drainage works, to improve the design of the drainage systems and deal with more intense storms".

"But I don't think it is possible in Singapore to expect the place to be completely free of floods," he said, as heavy downpours are very much part of the climate for an "island in the tropics".

The Prime Minister stressed the need to have contingency plans for unusually heavy rain to ensure swift response in pinpointing the problem areas, dealing with them and "putting them right".

He was keen to make sure the recent floods that caused chaos and disruption in Orchard Road, Thomson Road, Bukit Timah and Tanjong Katong would not happen again.

"We have to learn from these episodes, do post-mortems, find out what happened, and upgrade our infrastructure and systems," he said.

StarHub CEO Not Sure Singaporeans Need Fiber to the Home

2010-06-17T14:48:00.000+08:00

The speech from the Starhub CEO makes one wonder if he is in touch with the ground.

Most Singaporeans, the young generation for sure will prefer to have high speed internet connections. The current access speed at 100Mbps which the telcos offer in Singapore is behind times, and at a exhorbitant cost, which may be the main reason why only 5% of their subscribers signed up for this service.

Hong Kong offers this at a fraction of the cost, and is still continuing to upgrade its speed all the time. Many of the buildings, especially the new ones are already built to have access to high speed fibre optic network. For starters, Starhub's service cost of S$46 per month for a 6Mbps connection is already more expensive that most of the service providers in Hong Kong for a 100Mbps connection. Cost is a major factor for the consideration of most people in selecting high speed internet, if this is not obvious to the CEO?

Singapore likes to lay claim to be the first in everything, including being the most linked. Linked yes, but the fastest, it is still a long way, and especially at competitive rates. Also, it cannot lay claim to being the most internet accesible country, with no free access anywhere, while in Hong Kong, there are many areas that have free internet access, without the paranoid need to register any email address or mobile (as required in Singapore, at a time where "free" access is provided), notably the HK Airport, and many cafes downtown.

Low competition with relatively few players, have allowed these players in Singapore to dictate exhorbitant pricing, which is experienced in the recent subscription for the World Cup Series, where it is freely telecasted in several countries or reasonable rates. Since the Singapore government appears to make no move or effort to monitor or curb the excessive pricing, in part probably because they may have also stakes in these companies, through Temasek or GIC, these players have a good time for all when it comes to pricing. Consumers and the locals suffer these consequences, not the millionaires.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

StarHub CEO Not Sure Singaporeans Need Fiber to the Home
More… Facebook Twitter Digg PrintShareThis
By Sumner Lemon, IDG News

Singapore is in the early stages of building a high-speed broadband network with fiber optic connections to every home and building, but it's not yet clear what Singaporean users will do with all of the extra bandwidth they will soon have, according to the chief executive at one of the country's operators.

People who read this also read:"Nobody's sure what's going to happen," said Neil Montefiore, CEO of StarHub, which offers mobile, Internet and cable television services, speaking to attendees on the opening day of Singapore's CommunicAsia telecommunications exhibition.

Singapore will likely be the first country to have every home connected to a high-speed fiber optic network -- a feat made possible by the country's tiny size and high population density. The Southeast Asian city-state has a population of 4.8 million living in an area just 3.5 times the size of Washington, D.C.

Under Singapore's Next Generation Nationwide Broadband Network plan, 60 percent of all buildings in Singapore -- including homes, schools, businesses and hospitals -- will have access to a 1Gbps (bits per second) Internet connection by the end of this year. By 2012, 95 percent of buildings will have access to a 1Gbps connection.

It's not yet certain that Singaporean users currently need, or even want, Internet connections that fast, Montefiore said, noting that 5 percent of StarHub's 408,000 Internet subscribers signed up for its 100Mbps Internet service, the fastest that it offers. "We'll see what happens," he said.

Of course, speed isn't the only factor users weigh when they choose an Internet plan. Price also matters, suggesting many consumers may not see enough benefit from having a higher connection speed to justify the added cost. StarHub's 100Mbps service costs S$124 (US$89) per month, while a 6Mbps connection is priced at S$46.

From StarHub's perspective, the biggest change from the new fiber optic network will the ability to extend its services to 24,000 commercial buildings that its existing network doesn't reach, Montefiore said.

Town councils fare generally well in first management report

2010-06-12T17:23:00.013+08:00

A very interesting report that town councils fare generally well in first management report.

In order to assess if the report is accurate or biased towards any one side

* the criteria to determine their performance is crucial, and this should be based on the people's perception and expectation of what they think is a well run town council, not the incumbent's ruling party generally biased criteria.
* After all the town councils are instituted to serve the people, not the other way round
* the details of exactly how the performance is judged, quantitatively and qualitatively should be transparent and for all to view
* the details of the public tax payer's funding each town council receives from the government is also an important factor
* how such public funding, collected conservancy charges, have been used or lost in speculative investments should also be measured, as such funding is for the use on the estates, not for speculation

Four areas were used for this assessment - (i) cleanliness (ii) estate maintenance (iii) lift performance (iv) management of service and conservance charges arrears. This appears inadequate and do not aapear to reflect the full role of the town councils. The people/public should be empowered to monitor their performance and grade them, and be one of the criteria of the performance - that is, residents satisfaction of their performance. What were the KPI's set for each of the Town Councils, or were there none set?

"Most of them fared well in the assessment which took place from last October to this March." -

* why is this assessment only now done, from last October to this March?
* was there no prior assessment before?
* is ths another propoganda for the incumbents to look good for the coming GE, and these Town Councils were probably informed and told to be prepared for, to look good for their masters.
* will this assessment continue? every half yearly?
* will the full report of the performance be made available for public scrutiny?
* scale of 1-5, what are the criteria to determine this scale? subjective or objective criteria, any qualitative criteria included?
* who determined the criteria?

(i) Cleanliness - "Four town councils — Tanjong Pagar, Marine Parade, Bishan—Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio—Yio Chu Kang — secured the highest level of 1."

* Tanjong Pagar - One cannot imagine in a citystate with LKY still in perpetual control and background that Tanjong Pagar would not be performing the best, especially if this is a LKY constituency? Just a word from him on anything, and all the minions will probably scramble to rectify what they perceive as pointers from LKY. However at what cost? How much taxpayer's public funding was given to this estate during the financial year?
* Marine Parade - one of the cleanest? not when I last visited it when I was in Singapore? Perhaps the criteria of cleanliness is different, and it could have been the cleanest of the dirtiest?
* What about the food posioning incident at Geylang? Shouldn't this constituency get 5 for cleanliness? or perhaps all is forgotten since this is a PAP constituency?
* Ang Mo Kio - I have not been there to make an accurate assessment and cannot but have the perception that this has to do, in part because it is the PM's constituency, like in the Tanjong Pagar case.

(ii) Estate maintenance - how much public funding has each of these estates received, paid by taxpayers. The report should show how much is recieved and what is being spent on, for public scrutiny. Without any figures made available, it is almost possible to guess that Tanjong Pagar, Marine Parade & Ang Mo Kio could have among the highest of public funding.

(iii) Lift performance - this has the same rationale as estate maintence. How much public funding were given to all the Town Councils. Each time I am back in Singapore (a few times a year) and in Marine Parade, I have experienced several lift breakdowns, and the service is apalling, especially for cases that happens late into the night. Making calls to the emergency service on the number indicated near the lift, takes ages and layers of bureacracy before anything gets done, if they do. How is the performance measured?

(iv) Management of service and conservance charges arrears - there should be probably no doubt that the PAP constituencies will EXCEL in this, taking people in arrears over just a few hundred of dollars to court, while losing millions investing in dubious fund, and as LKY said, with their eyes open. Arrears have to viewed in perspective, and it is dependin on the area, rich people area like Tanjong Pagar will not face such problems like in Hougang, though not condoning their inability to collect. However, this should not be a major criteria in the assessment of the performance of the town councils.

"Putting things in context, however, the National Development Ministry says the TCMR should not be used as a basis for comparison between towns."

* I am then curious what is this report for, and being issued at this opportune timing?
* Any recommendations provided? None I will assume

"Ms Indranee Rajah said: "What the assessment process does is that it makes the town councils think about their KPIs (key performance indicators) — these are the things we have to achieve. It also helps the residents to focus on what they want and it helps the town councils to know that these are the things the residents want. So I guess it’s helpful, because it gives you something to shoot for, and you can works towards improving it."

* Think about their KPI? really? shouldn't the KPIs be smilar across the Town Councils? otherwise Ms Rajah should perhaps explain how the assessment was then made if the Town Councils have all different KPIs, though I have seen none on their websites.
* Helps resident to focus and helps the town council to know that these are things that the residents want? - after so many years running the town councils with the grassroots, this is probably the absurdiest thing for an incumbent to reiterate. The Town Council, people who are working in it,especially those of the incumbent, where I believe are paid handsome salaries out of public funding, and are supposed to be capable and competent to run and manage this well, and to have an understanding of the residents requirement. Are the residents now supposed to help the people in the town councils manage so that they, for. e.g. don't lose millions in taking unnecessary risks?

"Besides the town councils, the job of looking after an estate must be shared.
"Residents must also play their part in keeping the estate clean, because it’s good for us," said a resident."

Share the work? then what is the town council there for? How abut also sharing the fruits then? Over the last 50 years, Singaporeans have been trained to keep the country clean with the innumerous campaigns and fines. Why has the level of cleanliness deteriorated? Have the town councils and the governement evaluated the possible causes? I can think of many -

* Influx of innumerous foreign workers who does not have the same culture for cleanliness, though not all of them
* Influx of high percentage of Mainland Chinese (MC) who are well known worldwide for their poor hygiene and cleanliness habits. In China & HK, these MC literally throw rubbish just outside their living perimeter and expect someone esle to pick up after them. In China, they have billions of people, and hundreds hired just to clean up rubbish, especially in the major cities. Most of them take this behaviour with them all over the world, in the UK, in Australia where the dirtiest cities in that country has usually the highest population of Mainland Chinese

The government appear to be so keen to welcome these foreigners and spend millions of taxpayers money to make them feel welcome, should also set up programs to teach them manners, hygiene and cleanliness. Most foreigners intergrate when they immigrate to a foreign country. However in Singapore, it seems the government is expecting that Singaporeans adapt to the pecularities and behaviour of these foreigners.

In Austrlia, the Aussies get pissed off, and just shoot them..

____________________________________________________________

By Channel NewsAsia, Updated: 10/06/2010
Town councils fare generally well in first management report

SINGAPORE: Town councils have received their first—ever report card from the Ministry of National Development.

They were assessed in four areas in the inaugural Town Council Management Report (TCMR): estate cleanliness, estate maintenance, lift performance and management of service and conservancy charges arrears.

Most of them fared well in the assessment which took place from last October to this March.

All 16 town councils scored at least a level 2 for cleanliness on a scale of 1 to 5 with one being the best and 5 being the worst. Four town councils — Tanjong Pagar, Marine Parade, Bishan—Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio—Yio Chu Kang — secured the highest level of 1.

The best performer was Tanjong Pagar Town Council. It achieved top ratings for all except estate maintenance.

Indranee Rajah, vice—chairman of Tanjong Pagar Town Council, said: "(First), the staff worked really, really hard and two, input from residents. Our Residents’ Committees as well as the residents have been quite diligent in bringing things to the attention of the town council which allows for fairly quick response.

"What the Tanjong Pagar Town Council did was, their officers, especially the property officers, general manager and the staff, they put in a lot of effort on the ground, in terms of identifying the things that needed to be improved, and taking concrete measures to try and implement them."

In the other areas of assessment, most town councils also achieved at least a level 3.

However, town councils in opposition—held estates didn’t fare as well. Potong Pasir for instance scored a level 5 in several areas of assessment including maintenance and arrears management. Hougang estate also scored 5 for arrears management.

No other estate scored a five in any area of assessment.

But residents in Potong Pasir appear to take the poor assessment in their stride.

"It’s okay because at least they clean it every day. And I see the person cleaning the lift and sweeping the corridors," said one resident.

"I see a big improvement from previous years, such as the roadside, the gardens, the walkways," said another.

Putting things in context, however, the National Development Ministry says the TCMR should not be used as a basis for comparison between towns.

That’s because each town differs in terms of its residents’ profile and property profile.

Hence, it says a more appropriate use of the result is for monitoring the performance of town councils over time.

Ms Indranee Rajah said: "What the assessment process does is that it makes the town councils think about their KPIs (key performance indicators) — these are the things we have to achieve. It also helps the residents to focus on what they want and it helps the town councils to know that these are the things the residents want. So I guess it’s helpful, because it gives you something to shoot for, and you can works towards improving it.

Besides the town councils, the job of looking after an estate must be shared.

"Residents must also play their part in keeping the estate clean, because it’s good for us," said a resident.

— CNA/jy/ir

SINGAPORE DAILY - A PHISING WEBSITE?

2010-05-07T16:05:00.003+08:00

It was a shock to note the following when I tried accessing the Singapore Daily website today at their link at: http://singaporedaily.net/

Danger: AVG Active Surf-Shield has detected active threats on this page and has blocked access for your protection.
The page you are trying to access has been identified as a known exploit, phishing, or social engineering web site and therefore has been blocked for your safety. Without protection, such as that in the AVG Security Toolbar and AVG, your computer is at risk of being compromised, corrupted or having your identity stolen. Please follow one of the suggestions below to continue.

URL: www1.firesavez5.com/?p=p52dcWpkbG6HjsbIo216h3de0KCfYWCdU9LXoKitiJ%2FY1cRflJ2dcZqTgX6ZU9janW1kZWNslGSTY5WcYYnX15Krp6mikomqb1qtnaygnXaHk83Slm1Tqpud22qImaCjX5SdkWhvYGeYl5FqZ2Rfpp2adV%2FVoKGXY2dgZmNvnF2UVqTZX6CVlWhqZGecmZNrWJeccYB%2FXrDKkaGeamg%3D
Name: Rogue Security Threat Analysis (type 1007)

I have written to Singapore Daily to explain why the anti-spy software is detecting this avtive threat, and am publishing this, so that the public/netizen/readers beware... when accessing the Singapore Daily website, especially if they have no anti-spyware on their compueter systems.

I have since stopped viewing their website until this is cleared up.

Mainlanders gamble in Singapore as macau permit squeeze continues

2010-05-03T01:21:00.001+08:00

An interesting article in the SCMP on the casinos in Singapore, and who they are attracting.

_______________________________________________________

Mainlanders gamble in Singapore as macau permit squeeze continues
SCMP Fox Yi Hu Sunday May 2, 2010

Curbs on mainlanders visiting Macau, Asia's biggest casin hub, remian tight as Beijing continues to crack down on money laundering and gambling officials misusing public funds

They find it easier to get ot Singapore - where the world's second most expensive casino resort, built at a cost of US$5.5 billion, has just opened -than to Macau. Mainland gamblers at Marina Bay Sands, the resort tat Las Vegas Sands Corp opened on Tuesday, said approval for their visits to Singapore come quickly and smoothly.

It's very easy to come to Singapore, "said Fang Hong, 36, from Anhui Province. "It took me just one week to get approval. This new casino is impressive and offers good service."

Fang said he has lost S$100 (HK$567) in the hour after Marina Bay Sands opened.

A Shenzhen public security official in charge of reviewing applications for overseas travel said there were no restrictions on residents visiting Singapore, although civil servantshad to get their supervisors approval.

The official asked not to be named as he was not authorised to give the information.

He said it is now extremely difficult, if not impossible for Shenzhen civil servants to make private visits to Macau.

Some government employees in Shenzhen and Guangzhou siad their recent applications to visit Macau had been rejected.

A limit of one Macau visit every two months was still in place for civil servants, Zhang Gao, a Guangzhou-based manager for China Travel Service said. Approval of applications by mainlanders qualified to visit Macau normally takes two to three weeks.

H said Guangzhou civil servants in sensitive departments such as the police, judiciary and state-owned banks, were limited to one Macau visit a year. But Zhang sais there were no restrictions to Singapore visits by ordinary residents or government employees.

Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adleson said after opening his Singapore casino that Beijing would not crack down mainlanders traveling there.

"This country only has a small percentage of of visitorsthat come from China," he said. I don't believe they'll punish Singapore because they've got a casino there"

But the millionaire was bullish on Macau's casino revenue growth, pointing to Chinese people's penchant for gambling. Asked whether Macau's growth would stop, he said: "Never."

"In order for Macau to stop growing, the culture of Chinese people will have to change. I never see that happening."

Macau raked in US$14.9 billion in gambling revenue lasy year, up 9.6 per cent on 2008.

The number of mainlanders visiting Singapore passed one million the first time in 2006, according to the Singapore Tourism Board. Last year 937,000 visited the city state and spent an average of S$1,494 each.

Strigent laws mwn money laundering is less of a concern in the Lion City. Gaming analyst professor Zeng Zhonglu, of Macau Polytechnic Institute, said Singapore excercise rigorous oversight of high roller's gambling, in part to protect its reputation as an international financial centre.

He said the city state's tough laws would deter many high rollers from the mainland and elsewhere. "VIP gamblers don't want their identities known," Zeng said.

"The complex disclosure rules are bound to lower their interest."

In Singapore, junket agents, the middlemen sho bring high rollers to casinos, are required to disclose detailed information about themselves and the players.

High rollers must disclose their names, home address, passport numers, and the value of all free amenities received from casinos or junket operators.

Operators must give detailed financial information about themselves, foot the bill for background checks and submit finger and palm printing.

Casinos planning to host junket players must provide Singapore's Casino Regulatory Authority with a report five days in advance of a trip that details its agreement with the junket organiser.

Casinos must lodge an arrival report with authorities at least an hour before play begins, listing each player's name and bigraphical data.

Marina Bay Sands opened 963 of its 2,500 hotel rooms, a casino with more than 600 tables and 1,500 slot machines, convention facilities and part of its shopping mall.

The Singapore casino market operates under a duopoly comprising Sands and Malaysia's Genting Group, which opened Resorts World Sentosa in February.

Has incoming US ambassador to Singapore David Adelman embarrassed Kenneth Jeyaretnam?

2010-03-21T22:53:00.003+08:00

E-Jay writes about some degree of embarrassment for Kenneth Jeyaratnam with regards to the speech by Adleman which I beg to differ.

"Daniel Adelman emphasized that Singapore is not a multi-party democracy, and that if confirmed, he would use public diplomacy to work towards greater press freedoms, greater freedom of assembly, and ultimately, more political space for opposition parties in Singapore to strengthen Singapore into a multi-party democracy.
Mr Adelman’s comments were immediately hailed by Reform Party Secretary-General Kenneth Jeyaretnam who wrote on the party website that he welcomed the ambassador-designate’s initiatives. Mr Jeyaretnam’s endorsement of Mr Adelman’s comments were also reported by the Straits Times.
However, it seems that Mr Adelman has done some backtracking on his earlier comments, possibly causing some degree on embarrassment to Kenneth Jeyaretnam who may now be regarded as having been too quick to jump the gun."

I don't see why there should be any embarrassment by Kenneth Jeyaratnam (KJ) with regards to Adelman back peddling or backtracking... too quick to jump the gun? Really, I wouldn't think so. If Adelman is backpeddling, then the problem is with Adlemen and his credibility is at stake, and not KJ. E-Jay seems to have his guns pointing in the wrong direction. Just because CSJ and LTK or CST held their silence does not reflect that they are better politicians than KJ. There is nothing absolutely wrong to welcome Adleman's initial enthusiam to work towards greater press freedoms, etc... in Singapore. Keeping quiet so that they don't embarass themselves? Is that how CSJ works? Seems to be a contradiction. What is there to be embarrass about?

"Fortunately, veteran opposition politicians like Chiam See Tong, Low Thia Khiang and Dr Chee Soon Juan held their silence on Mr Adelman’s initial remarks, possibly because they all know that such remarks are mostly likely a flash in the pan. Perhaps being a new politician, Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam should spend some time under the tutelage of these senior political figures."

Fortunately? what is so fortunate about holding back? so that they don't get embarrassed? E-Jay should perhaps not speak for LTK or CST as his views cannot represent them. Who knows why they are not doing this. We can however safely assume since E-Jay representing SDP has written this that CSJ is holding back so as NOT to be embarrassed? What kind of a politician is such as this?

E-Jay got to be kidding when he suggests that "Perhaps being a new politician, Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam should spend some time under the tutelage of these senior political figures.".

Really, I cannot imagine what they can offer to KJ. LTK's party wants to be more moderate to be more credible? and CSJ is the other extreme and who is apparently only interested in human rights, and civil disobedience, challenging LKY to absolve him of his debts and bankruptcy which he has a fondness to get into. As Solo Bear has blogged.. if CSJ really has so many supporters, these supporters should help him, not Lee Kuan Yew, so that he can stand for the coming GE. However knowing his predictable behaviour, he will probably get into this same predicarment in no time.

"For the record, I personally welcome foreigners to comment on Singapore politics. We cannot afford to be xenophobic and closed-minded anymore.

What I do not approve is foreigners using their financial muscle or other material assets to pervert the course of local politics to suit their private agenda which may not be in the best interest of Singaporeans.

The Singapore Democratic Party has often been accused of trying to enlist the help of foreigners to interfere in and pervert the course of domestic politics. In an article published on their website in October 2007, they clarified that “the SDP welcomes support for efforts to democratise Singapore … beyond that we reject attempts to influence the policies of any political party by outsiders.” View the article here."

Really, is that what the SDP is expecting ... just for foreigners to comment on Singapore politics whithout any further interference.. just talk only? Then why are they (SDP) bitching when there is no action by such people. CSJ even has the gall to try to get Obama to support his cause with his speeches? How does CSJ expect Obama to support his cause? just talk only and NO action? Who is kidding who?

Singapore's unbecoming response to my blog post of Lee Sufering a heart attack

2010-03-15T10:58:00.008+08:00

"Singapore's state owned and controlled newspaper or propaganda sheet, which ever way you look at it, the Straits Times online edition of March 13, 2010 has this story "Ministry of Information Communications and the Arts. Netizens can self regulate. Minister praises the sceptical reaction to claim that MM was ill" about my deliberately incorrect claim about Lee Kuan Yew's illness.

I have to say, this uncontrollable outburst by this island city state, Singapore; a so called first world country is totally unbecoming and totally disproportionate to my blog post about Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew."

What uncontrollable outburst? A reply in the Straits Times is an uncontrollable outburst? Is this the definition of this so called lawyer who is NO longer a Singaporean

"In fact I am going to totally ignore Singapore's high ranking officer, Minister for Information Communication and the Arts, Lui Tuck Yew, a handpicked toady of Lee Kuan Yew."

Action speaks louder than words. If this laywer is going to totally ignore the MICA, then what is this blogpost for.. to tell the world that he is ignoring the MICA when he apparently is not.

"On the same day I wrote another blog "My last post about Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew was a hoax. However it was deliberate.
According to this Singapore government state controlled official mouthpiece, this Minister in Lee Kuan Yew's government, in response, says "Secondly when he (Gopalan Nair) confessed that it was a hoax, many sites actually came out to condemn him roundly and many netizens themselves did so".
Anyone knowing any English would know that my correction of my earlier deliberate untrue blog posting, was hardly a "confession".
In the English Language "confession" means, "to tell or make known (as something wrong or damaging to oneself) Websters 9th Collegiate Dictionary.
In other words it is something that a criminal does to admit his crime.
I have not done anything wrong to make a confession. I intended it. I haven't confessed to anything.
Of course, Singaporeans who have some understanding of English would realize that."

How very selective when it comes to properly defining the English words... so what is "ignore" then. In the merriam-webster, it is defined as "to refuse to take notice of" - so what is this blog for, if it is not to take notice, the reverse of what the writer sprouts.

"When asked to a question in Parliament why the government of Singapore did not come out with an official response immediately, he answers that he did not want to "dignify the hoax with a formal response" then.
Well what is that he is doing now in Parliament? Was he not "dignifying" my hoax, with his answer in the parliament of the island city state? "

Why should anyone especially the governement come out with an official response immediately, knowing what Gopalan stands for. No one in the sane mind would believe such ludricous statements made by such a writer... some of the netizens, Solo Bear for one, had a response to this on the day it was posted by Gopalan, to write it off as a FAKE.

"If he did not want to "dignify" my hoax, would it not have been better not to reply at all?
Why the need to direct his state controlled newspapers to publish his response? Who is he trying to fool?"

This reply was in a question in parliament. As usual, whatever the response, Gopalan will have his say. An answer is provided, he says "why dignify his hoax". If no answer is provided, he will ask why is the million dollar minister not even able to respond to something as ludricous as his blog on on this issue.

"And then he goes on to state that I (Gopalan Nair), should be "treated with the contempt he deserves. All it shows is the character of the man"!
Surely this Minister is being carried away by his anger!"

Making a statement as such is "being carried away by his anger" - really? wonder who is really is the one that is getting carried away by his anger to have to resort to such writings

"What did I do to deserve such "contempt"! And why is my "character" so bad just because I wrote a fictitious blog post in this blog! One would have thought I was a serial murderer, having just slit the throats of 20 people in broad daylight! "

A good thing coming out from this for netizens, some of which have been in support of this character is that he writes "fictious blogs". So whatever he writes in the future could potentially also be "fictious" and hence reinforcing concerns by the government that some bloggers are spreading malicious, in this case of this writer "fictious" stories instead of facts.

"But surely the need to show "contempt" for me is a bit too much."
- really... then what does he expects most people to show? pleasure in what he did?

"What it does in fact show is that this island city state is so insecure and so totally dependant on this tottering old 87 year old man for survival that if in fact he were to die, the small island will indeed collapse."

Nothing, ziltch has happened in Singapore, as he predicted with his ludricous writing.. what is it to Gopalan if, a big "IF" that the citystate is dependant on LKY? He is after all NOT a Singaporean but a pesky American who appears to be in general getting their fingers everywhere, in Iraq, Iran and god knows where else in the name of democracy?

"And that is why any attempt by anyone to even suggest such an unthinkable event, has to be discredited with everything at their disposal."

Why should there NOT be. His blog was largely IGNORED by the government, which should not be surprising. There was no reaction to his blog except for alternative media like TR and TOC who was caught wth their pants down in believing this writer.

"Surely I have proven my point."

Proven what point? Nothing, ziltch has happened? Zero reaction to the blog by the government onth day it was published, everything moving as if NOTHING has happened in Singapore. So what point was proven?

"And as for me, I am not going to "dignify" such an outburst of a Minister in an island city state, a response thoroughly unbecoming of a so- called city state, which it likes to think is First World."

Who in the world does Gopalan thinks he is that a Minister needs him to "dignify" the response. Why write this response then, if he is adamant on NOT providing a reponse.

"It is more like something you would expect of some Third World banana republic in Sub Saharan Africa.
I am simply going to ignore him. And that my friends is what he deserves."

What ever the response, Gopalan will have his say. So what if it is some "Third World bana republic' to him? Most people are not interested in what he thinks, especially coming from an American, who claims to have the "interest" of Singapore.

The coming around of Chee Soon Juan and SDP

2010-03-02T16:02:00.001+08:00

An interesting article by Martyn See.. but I decided to publish my comments here, as I note that comments are moderated on his blog.

So it appears that the SDP themselves are not being forthcoming? KP has sent a congratulatory message which they chose not to share. Also, it appears that you (Martyn See) are only banked on criticising at all costs. What ever the government do, you appear to have mostly negative inputs. Do this die, do that also die... so what are you really expecting? do according to what you want or what Chee wants?

MSM writes and article on Chee. Shouldn't we be happy that the MSM is at least slowly opening up. You don't see KP at the celebrations, not only you don't check the facts, you conclude otherwise? Why should WP and for the matter CST join in SDP celebrations? Isn't this their perogative and choice, and is this a MUST attend EVENT?

The matter with the congratulatory message is relevant.... sure it is not your problem but SDPs' However the problem is that you haven't got your facts correct before blasting your mouth off about KP. Don't you owe him an apology instead of telling him to sort it out with Chee? and then try to talk it out about your spin on the article which is disingenuos. What is there to sort out with SDP if Chee CLEARLY wants to CENSOR the congratulatory message from KP, it is of course his perogative and choice. However, Chee should not go around claiming others censor him if that is what he himself is clearly doing, which by the way Chee does it too on his website, with the excuse that there are too many? emails. I do not believe KP is feeling agrieved as you seem to think, and which he restates in a later comment. He is just pointing out facts which you clearly have not bothered to check before writing your piece, and irresponsible as he put it. As a reader, well I may be wrong, but what I read is CLEAR that you are insinuating that KP is not present because of.....

"Whatever the motivations are, one thing is certain - Chee Soon Juan and the Singapore Democratic Party are not the sort to crave for mainstream media coverage. Anybody who knows Chee can attest that there isn't one Singaporean who distrusts the MSM more. In recent years, the party has resigned itself to the use of the internet and street hawking of publications to engage the citizenry."

If they don't crave to be repesented in the MSM, then why the continuous bitching on this. Afterall they have their internet and street hawking to promote their wares.

Singapore. Time to abandon a sinking ship

2010-03-01T22:16:00.002+08:00

"I am not sure if the Singapore strongman is 86 or is he 87, but in the main, I don't think it really makes much difference. A man cannot go on for ever, even if he is Lee Kuan Yew. He has to die very soon, this year or next. And even if he doesn't die, he would be for all purposes useless anyway, certainly not up to running around dictating the way he used to."

If it does not make much difference, then why state this and be so vindictive. Everyone wll obviously die sooner or later, some may be sooner. Who knows, one may die tomorrow, so what is the purpose of stating this. Even if he is wishing for LKY to go soon, his time may not be up. You never know who will go first.

"Despite all his claims for intelligence I think he is quite incompetent, really quite incompetent. Anyone wanting to preserve at least some of what he has built would have realized that governance has to spread out. All power being in him alone is not a good idea because when he dies or becomes bedridden, power does not seamlessly shift to someone else. It may happen in North Korea or Cuba, both closed societies, but it is most unlikely in a English speaking (or a form of it anyway) city state with open borders. That is why if Kevin Rudd resigns, Australia does not collapse and neither does Britain if Gordon Brown does it."

Did LKY claim that he was intelligent? I don't believe so. If Gopalan thinks that LKY being present or not makes no difference, then why is he so disturbed by this. What makes him think that the power will not shift seemless. Is there something he knows that we do not? He seems to be so absorbed and vindictive of LKY.

"In an island city state run up till today by a man who has held power since 1959 and puts anyone in jail for criticism, ruling through fear, can it be fairly accepted that the people would turn their kowtows to his son, who will in turn become the Dear Leader?
I doubt it."

Is this Gopalan's main fear? that people will kowtow to LHL? Why the obssession?

"If you are not thinking about it, you should do so now. It is not safe. The Belinda Ang Saw Eans of Singapore, the Judith Prakashs, the Walter Woon Cheong Mings, the K Shanmugams should really take stock of their prospects now."

Why is it not safe? Is he a phophet prophesising the future?

"I predict Singaporeans refusing to pay homage to Singapore's Dear Leader's son in the event of his demise. I expect unrest but on what scale I cannot say. But there will be unrest. There will be a outgoing flood of foreign companies, foreign assets, and people with cash trying to save what is left of their savings. You are going to see a run on the Singapore dollar, and on the whole mayhem. After some time, just as after all calamities, the situation will become stable but to what extent one cannot say."

Again, why the obssession? Who is paying homage to whom? Is this what Gopalan is hoping for to happen to Singapore, that is unrest? Singapore is what it is today not just because of one person. There is a structure and system that has been set up to handle the country operationally unless he is not aware of this

"Singapore, will not produce a new despot such as Dear Leader Lee Kuan Yew and out of this melee, something else may come out in the end; unrest, chaos and uncertainty."

Most Singaporeans would not like to see this (unrest, chaos, uncertainty) happen but Gopalan NO longer being a Singaporean can say all he wants.. something else may come out of it... may? really? another prophesy from the enlightened one?

"But if you are the standard Singaporean or Belinda Ang Saw Ean, one of Lee's ever willing judges, is it not time to pack up? Better to be to be able to keep some of your money and in Belinda Ang Saw Ean's case, better to be alive than dead! "

Standard Singaporean - what is a standard Singaporean. Who tf is he to tell Singaporeans that it is time to pack up. He has packed up and left for America, that's his perogative, but who is he to label Singaporeans as such and tell them what they should do. Why would they in the world listen to someone like him?

"The "SS Singapore" is listing badly and taking water. It may be time to abandon ship."

He may have abanodned ship but that doesn't mean most Singaporeans in general will do what he did. He is now in no longer a Singaporen so it is not surprising that he does not have the interest of Singapore in mind. What is it to him if Singapore fly or sink?

A Creative Future?

2010-02-26T10:20:00.002+08:00

It appears that “The boy who knew too much” has much to gripe with after the Singapore Public Institution who has been accommodating his son, rebuffed his further expectations of Singapore to help? him “groom” his “genius” son, to tailor specially just for him, while one of Malaysia’s private institution, remember “private” not “public” was willing to do it.

He writes
“A creative future - It is interesting to contrast Singapore and Malaysia. These two nations, once one, have taken a different path – “

Isn’t this stating the obvious? This is more than 50 years ago and the path taken is obviously different.

“…and whilst many would think that Singapore is the more "successful" of the two, I am not at all sure that this will always be so.”
No one can be sure of the future, who knows if tomorrow China will overtake the USA?
“Successful” - one wonders what his definition is?

“After all, it is not so great a secret that many of the "talents" that make Singapore a success actually come from Malaysia.”

“Talents” from Malaysia – these people come to Singapore because they have a better future period, and were not able to find it in Malaysia. Most of these ”talents” if one is to observe are mainly of the Chinese and Indian race, where race discrimination is rife in Malaysia even today, including in the public education. Many successful Chinese and Indian Malaysians have gone abroad, not only to Singapore to be educated, but also abroad in the UK, Australia & USA, where most of them eventually take root and stay in these countries, as the Malaysian Public education system is dismal, at one stage even requiring Malay to be the language of teaching?
Singapore success doesn’t actually come from Malaysia – it comes PARTIALLY from the Chinese and Indian economic migrants who chose Singapore to settle down in. There are other migrants from all over the world, migrating into Singapore in the last 50 years, mind you NOT JUST Malaysia.

“Anyway, the way things are now, is not, necessarily, the way it will always be. I read, today, something that suggests that Malaysia may have a brighter future than its neighbour, in decades to come.”

Anything can happen in the future. What is “something suggests that Malaysia may have a brighter future than its neighbor…” What? Where are the citations? Is it just because his “genius” son is now being educated in Malaysia…?

“Malaysia has recently expressed the wish to do something different.”

Any citations? Or just what he thinks? Well Malaysia has ALWAYS wished to be better than Singapore. This is well known. It is interesting to note if they “wish to do something different”. Let see when and how far this “wish” will take them?

“Not for them the focus on "straight As" or rigid educational atmospheres where conformity is sought as a prime objective. No. Malaysia is going to adopt a mellower kind of education, one that encourages individuality, allows for creativity and doesn't demand perfect grades from all, as a basic requirement. What they are seeking is an education system which will allow creativity to grow and genius to be born. The whole education system is going to move away from being focussed on exams - as Singapore's is - and focus instead on nurturing creative young minds.”

Is he talking about the public education system or the private one? These two systems operate differently and are different ball games. I will be surprised if the public education system in Malaysia will change along these lines as proclaimed by “the boy who knew too much”. It is the public education system in Singapore that he has so much to gripe about. Has he even tried out the private education system here in Singapore, or perhaps he CANNOT afford it, and expect our public education system to take to his whims and fancies.

“Now, if this change can be achieved - and I do wonder at how teachers who were themselves brought up with rigidity and conformity can be expected to give something different to their students - then Malaysia will soon become a very interesting place indeed. If the promise of this idea is kept, Malaysia will become a very special place indeed: it will produce generations of creative young minds, able to change the world, with their ideas. I hope they succeed. It would be refreshing, indeed, to be in a country focussed on creativity and not "grades". It is good to see that Malaysia realizes which, of the two ideals, is the more important.”

The KEY word is “IF”. This is a big “IF”

“Realizing which, of the two ideals, is the more important”

I don’t think so, if previous record is to show, and with regard to the the implementation, your guess is as good as mine. So if the “IF” doesn’t happen, then it is just all talk, as what “the boy who knows too much” seems to be expounding.

SGX allows China Printing to delist without exit offer

2010-02-20T20:59:00.002+08:00

Shocking news... again the minority investors' interests are not taken care of, like in the mini bond fiasco..

Why is the SGX allowing the company to delist without making any offers of buyout to the minority shareholders? and not allow it more time, since the economy is now slowly picking up. If this stock is so bad, why was it allow to "quick" list in the SGX in the first place. Where were the due diligence done, or were there none? What has the ex-SGX CEO has to say of this since this is occuring during this tenure, and he was paid a handsome bonus on exiting. Perhaps there will be more such "quick" list companies in the SGX that will follow suit?

"Earlier this month, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) had informed CPD that it will not be granted further extensions of time to resume trading.
SGX then called on CPD to be delisted, saying that CPD should offer a reasonable exit alternative."

MM will probably tell these minority shareholders that they went in "with their eyes open".

The ex_SGX CEO is now Ho Ching's strategic advisor? How much are Singaporean taxpayers paying for this? What happen to HC? Isn't she able to make any more strategic decisions for the investment without advisors, consultants and what have you? Isn't she supposed to be the best of the best, and there is no one in Singapore for that matter that can do a better job than her? This is perhaps accurate in one aspect - no one in Singapore can do a better job of losing billions of taxpayers money in such a short span of a few months, and do not have to account for this.

The problems with this company started since October 2008. What has the SGX been doing from then till now, to investigate and take the necessary actions to safeguard the minority shareholders. Apparently there appear to be nothing done on this, to the extent that they are now even allowing the company to delist without any offers of buyout to the minority shareholders. What a shame. But again, this is probably how a "top" financial centre like Singapore handles such cases.

>> ASIAONE / NEWS / THE STRAITS TIMES / STORY

SGX allows China Printing to delist without exit offer

Sat, Feb 20, 2010
The Straits Times
By Jonathan Kwok

MINORITY investors of debt-laden China Printing & Dyeing will likely lose every cent now that the firm has been allowed to delist without having to make an exit offer.

The firm's shares have been suspended since October 2008 after the founders fled while owing millions, leaving minority investors in a state of limbo.

The company, which is under judicial management, had proposed to the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to be allowed to delist without offering to buy investors out. Yesterday, China Printing said the SGX had no objections to the company's proposal.

History of demise of China Printing & Dyeing

* Singapore-listed China Printing & Dyeing (SIN:M67) unit's property to be auctioned (12/29/2008 22:11:34)
* Singapore-listed China Printing & Dyeing (SIN:M67) files claim against Zhejiang Jianglong (12/04/2008 09:26:11)
* Singapore-listed China Printing & Dyeing (SIN:M67) CEO arrested (11/25/2008 09:40:05)
* Singapore-listed China Printing & Dyeing (SIN:M67) to delay Q3 results release (11/20/2008 10:13:29)
* China Printing & Dyeing (SIN:M67) CEO arrested - official (10/23/2008 15:13:13)
* China Printing & Dyeing (SIN:M67) says local govt providing assistance to unit (10/21/2008 12:28:08)
* Singapore-listed China Printing & Dyeing (SIN:M67) faces debt repayment problems - report (10/10/2008 21:18:49)

China Printing & Dyeing says it may not be able to provide reasonable cash offer for delisting
21 Jan 2010
Media Corp
Singapore-listed firm, China Printing & Dyeing (CPD), said today that it may not be able to provide a satisfactory offer for shareholders as it seeks to be delisted.

It says it has limited funds and will be unable to pay its debts as a result of its troubles.
Earlier this month, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) had informed CPD that it will not be granted further extensions of time to resume trading.
SGX then called on CPD to be delisted, saying that CPD should offer a reasonable exit alternative.
CPD has been placed under judicial management since its woes started in late 2008.
It had appealed unsuccessfully to the SGX for an extension of time to submit a resumption proposal.
It submitted the appeal as it says a potential investor is interested in undertaking a reverse take-over of CPD.
CPD’s troubles began when its CEO Tao Shoulong and Deputy CEO Yan Qi disappeared suddenly in October 2008.
The duo fled after a subsidiary announced it was unable to honour 2 billion yuan worth of debts.
The husband-and-wife pair was subsequently arrested in the Chinese province of Guangdong.
Though CPD says it cannot provide a reasonable exit offer, which is normally in cash, it will still write to SGX to seek a delisting as required

POST BUDGET 2010 FEEDBACK

2010-02-20T03:06:00.000+08:00

Interesting...received an email on a feedback session for the Budget 2010. However one wonders why the need for so much information on the reply slip to participate in this, that is, the age, occupation, organisation.

"**Personal information provided above is used for broad statistical purpose only and will be kept with strict confidence."

What if you are jobless. Are they assuming that people who would like to participate all have jobs? Is this information gathering to prepare for the GE?

Will be interesting though to see what they finally do with the feedback... probably just chuck it down the drain as with previous other feedbacks, and a show that they are engaging the public?

Mrs Lim Hwee Hua who could not even answer questions on how much losses Temasek made is chairing one of this feedback session?

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Dear fellow Singaporean,

On behalf of REACH (Reaching Everyone for Active Citizenry@Home), the Overseas Singaporean Unit would like to invite you to participate in its Post-Budget 2010 e-Townhall webchat. REACH is the lead public service agency for engaging and connecting with Singaporeans, with the aim of encouraging and promoting an active citizenry through citizen participation and involvement. REACH's message is as follows:

Dear Friends,

Budget 2010 will be announced on 22 February 2010. Following the announcement, REACH is inviting the public to share their views on the Budget with us from 22 February to 5 March via multiple channels such as emails, SMS (+65 9-7732587), online discussion forums, Twitter, REACH Singapore Facebook Group, a public forum, and e-Townhall webchats.

We hereby invite you to share your views at our Post-Budget 2010 e-Townhall webchat. The details are as follows:

E-Townhall webchat
Date: 24 February 2010

Time: 7.30 pm - 9.00 pm (Singapore time)

Website: www.reach.gov.sg

Chairpersons:
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports

Dr Amy Khor, Chairman, REACH

If you would like to participate in the e-Townhall webchat, please fill in the reply slip (go to http://app.reach.gov.sg/reach/NewsEvents/Events/FeedbackExerciseonPostBudget2010/tabid/263/Default.aspx) and return it to us by 22 February 2010.

You may also look out for more upcoming details on our Post-Budget 2010 activities at www.reach.gov.sg/budget2010. Following the annoucement of Budget 2010, you may wish to check out the Straits Times online, which is accessible online for free, at http://www.straitstimes.com for coverage on the Budget.

We look forward to your keen participation.

Thank you and regards,

REACH

Citizen-PR distinction has sharpened: MM

2010-02-19T23:52:00.003+08:00

MM Lee should provide the differences in the "very different treatment in government policies" between citizens and PRs, which he so claimed in his speech. "..this distinction has sharpened further in recent months.." - why is this so, and only in the recent months? Is this because there is so much criticisms in the blogoshpere? Is it because the GE is nearing?

Then he espouses that we should not forget the "contributions that the foreigners have made to the economy.." How about the contributions that the Singaporeans have made in the past 50 years in support of the PAP government, in silence and to the economy? What have the PAP governement done in recognition of this?

Increase the public housing prices and laying claim to it being "affordable", and again with new progpagada by the ST that more than 95% of the public are "satisfied" with their HDB's,
"The survey also found that over 95 per cent of households were satisfied with their flats and neighbourhood.
About 80 per cent of homeowners indicated that they are proud of their flats.
About 85 per cent of homeowners felt that their flats were value for money."

Increasing FTs - more like foreign workers inflow into Singapore, relaxing the immigration rules to allow for mainland Chinese to settle in Singapore, to boost the Chinese population? more rift rafts..

Is the MM still trying his best to convince the Singaporeans that foreign workers are a necessity? It has shown how much this low level class of worker has affected our productivity in the last decade. A "deflating economy"? We are already deflating..

MM also dwelt at length about the importance of productivity? Were they not able to forsee the drop in the productivity with their relentess drive to allow more foreign workers into the country. Isn't the MM supposed to be the so called "radar" he claimed to be? .. to forsee? the only thing that he says he does.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASIAONE / NEWS / THE STRAITS TIMES / STORY
Fri, Feb 19, 2010
The Straits Times

Citizen-PR distinction has sharpened: MM

By Clarissa Oon

SINGAPORE citizens and permanent residents (PRs) receive very different treatment in government policies, and this distinction has sharpened further in recent months, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday.

As the Government slows down the inflow of foreign workers, he urged Singaporeans not to forget the contributions that foreigners have made to the economy.

However, should the foreign worker tap be turned down too much, it could lead to a 'deflating economy', he warned, in a speech that also dwelt at length on the importance of boosting productivity.

ASSESTS DISCLOSURE OF OFFICE BEARERS

2010-02-10T10:04:00.000+08:00

ASSESTS DISCLOSURE OF OFFICE BEARERS

It is about time that Singaporeans, and opposition parties should request for a law for all office bearers to declare all their personal assets while in office. Since the Singapore PAP governement lay claim to being transparent and incorruptible, then it should not be a problem for them to declare their personal assets as the Japanese government has done, and also in many first world countries.

It will be interesting to know how much in personal assets the Lee family has, with so many of them and the relatives being in the government.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Japanese prime minister, brother top list of lower house asset holders
by The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network|10 February 2010
Keywords: japan, assets, prime minister, millionaires

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his younger brother Kunio ranked first and second, respectively, in terms of personal assets possessed by 480 House of Representatives members, according to a calculation by The Yomiuri Shimbun based on a lower house report of its members' assets released Monday.

The prime minister's assets amounted to about 1.64 billion yen ($26 million), followed by about 816 million yen held by his brother, who was a former internal affairs and communications minister and member of the Liberal Democratic Party.

Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa, whose assets amounted to about 193 million yen, was ranked 12th.

About 80 percent of Ozawa's assets comprised land, and he had no designated savings.

The figures were as of Aug 30 last year, the same day the 480 lawmakers were elected in the general election.

The lawmakers were obliged to report the total amount of their time deposits, call deposits and time reserve funds.

Cash in hand, ordinary savings and current account deposits were excluded from the disclosure, as such amounts can fluctuate wildly.

The prime minister has now topped the list three times in a row since an asset disclosure in April 2004.

Of the prime minister's assets, about 1.25 billion yen was designated savings, with company bonds, trust funds and other securities worth about 189 million yen being newly reported.

The Hatoyama brothers' combined assets accounted for 16 percent of the total of all lower house members.

The average amount of assets per lower house member, excluding stock, loan claims and borrowed money, was about 31.45 million yen.

The number of lower house lawmakers whose assets exceeded 100 million yen fell to 25 from 45 in the previous report.

Minister Mah welcomes electoral fight in Tampines GRC

2010-01-31T14:33:00.003+08:00

There is currently insufficient opposition to replace most if not all the ministers that the people of Singapore considers incompetent in the incumbent party. Most of which are not deserving of the million dollars in salaries. Therefore it is a foresight to remove and replace the ministers of the incumbent party, with the most shortcomings, imcompetencies including -

* having no understanding of the people, their needs when policies are made
* are are not open to views from the people
* having all kind of excuses for thir incompetencies
* the unwillingness to admit to mistakes and correct these
* having no viable solutions to the problems
* not accountable and transparent

Mah Bow Tan (MBT) is one such minister who is characterised by most of the flaws above, and hence to remove him in the coming election will be a reinforcement of the views of the people in Singapore which have been constantly ignored, treated as complaints and rumblings.

MBT has been MP in Tampines since 1988. This is only because he was elected into the parliament by the back door, via the GRC scheme created by the PAP government, after being kicked out the year earlier contesting in a single constituency. MBT has stayed in a GRC since, as he will not survive (99%) if he was to contest in a single contituency.

MBT is right in that the "key lies in how the People's Action Party gets its message across to the public." The PAP is apparently paying some? attention to this now, after so much "rumblings" in the blogoshphere. The PAP has not come across as open, transparent or accountable, with quite a few of its senior members, denigrating Singaporeans, calling them lazy, not hungry enough, choosy, and god knows what other names, "lesser mortals".

What message is the PAP trying to get across to the public -
(i) that a single party is good enough for Singapore, with some token opposition who are "milder and more credible", some NMPs, some NNMPs, so the people should vote for them irrespective of how poorly they have performed in terms of governance, handling of the state's billion dollar reserve
(ii) whatever policies they have made for Singapore is for the "good" of Singaporeans?
(iii) having the government and government corparations run by the current PM and his relatives as they are the only ones that are the best and capable for these positions?
(iv) have less opposition so that the PM do not have to spend time to "fix" them?
(v) maintain their overwhelming majority, better still, just a single party, to be able to introduce any law into parliament without any oppostion?

MBT thinks too highly of himself and believes that ""So I offer myself up for elections because I believe I can do the best, I can do the most for them. But ultimately, it is for the residents, the people to decide." - do the best? what has he done in the years after the last election?

The government is formed by all parties, but apparently the Singapore governement does not appear so, and appears to be a PAP government. Workers Party although elected, and should be part of this government, appears to be totally fenced out. The current Workers Party (or was this Wayang Party) Secretary General Low Thia Kiang (LTK) is a far cry from its previous vibrant leader the late JBJ, and have led the party now to be "midler and more credible"? LTK appears intimidated by the old man. When he had the chance to say what most Singaporeans would want the government to know, he cringed in silence when asked by the old man if Wong Kan Seng should resign for the fiasco of the Mas Selemat escape. The obvious answer is "yes". It is really difficult to understand the problem he has to mouth this. A language problem, what?

The opposition should unite and work for a better Singapore, and represent the views that are often unheard, as there are currently layer and layers of bootlickers, "cowards" who are not telling it like it is.

Even the old man confirms this that there is no one, none of his ministers who are capable of advising him, otherwise, of the various f..ked up policies which he initiated and implemented, which he now admits, is a mistake, and only after hearing this from his spinster daughter?

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Minister Mah welcomes electoral fight in Tampines GRC
Posted: 30 January 2010 2253 hrs

Minister Mah welcomes electoral fight in Tampines GRC

SINGAPORE: National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan says he welcomes an electoral fight in Tampines GRC, where he is the anchor MP.

He was speaking to reporters at a community event earlier on Saturday evening.

Mr Mah has been MP in Tampines since 1988. The area has long been an election battleground.

Recently, three opposition parties expressed their interests to contest the ward in the next general election, with the plan to turn growing concerns over the affordability of public housing into an election issue.

Mr Mah said the key lies in how the People's Action Party gets its message across to the public.

He said: "The opposition said they want to target Tampines because of me. I think what I can say is that in a general election, it's not about me, or an individual minister or an individual MP. It is really about the people, the residents themselves.

"So I offer myself up for elections because I believe I can do the best, I can do the most for them. But ultimately, it is for the residents, the people to decide." - CNA/de

PM Lee identifies 3 areas of priority for govt

2010-01-25T13:25:00.002+08:00

If the PM is sincere about restructuring the economy and helping Singaporeans thrive in the new world, this should be an inclusive policy which is taking care of many of the fundamental problems that is affecting Singaporeans and their livelihood. It appears that they are attemping to get feedback? from Singaporeans. This message was sent from one of their overseas network to Singaporeans.

Subject: S'pore Govt/URA launches public consultation exercise for Concept Plan 2011

Singapore Government (through the URA) is seeking feedback from Singaporeans on how the country should use its land over the next 40 to 50 years. Four issues will be considered during the planning process, including how to enhance the quality of life and build a sense of belonging. The other two issues deal with an ageing ...population and growing the nation in a sustainable way. You can leave your feedback on the URA website (http://www.facebook.com/l/5772c;spring.ura.gov.sg/conceptplan2011/)

Are they really attemping to get feedback from Singaporeans, or is this merely another exercise, in an attempt to show that they are trying to engage the population. There has been many feedback initiatives before but none that I am aware of, of such feedbacks that have actually been used, perhaps only the ones that they already have in mind, drawn out by their own own policy makers consisting of mainly of bureaucrats, people within their inner circle, and people who are unable to speak out, especially if the idea comes from LKY, the man himself, even if this sucks, so that they can hang on pathetically to their multi million salary paychecks.

"Mr Lee said Singapore's economic policies must enable the country's economy to perform to its limits"
- what is this "limits"? What criterias are our multi million dollar salaried ministers including the PM measured on, and have they performed to this "limits"? which they are setting for Singaporeans? Apparently the PM still needs to have a MM, SM and 2 DPMs to help him on? There are a total of 23 political appointees and their assistants in the PMO. What have they been doing since the last elections? One of them is to do the forecasting, scanning the horizon? while another coming out to provide some supporting speeches like reinforcing the need to "don't stir up excitement about GE"? What have the rest been doing or perhaps they do not need to account for this as usual to the public?

"On the population shortfall, Mr Lee said Singapore's birth rates are not improving despite the government's best efforts."

What has been the government best efforts? Were these in consultation with the public or as usual implemented because the PAP govenment know best. What were the initiates implemented that the PM believes were their best efforts? and have the response and results for these measured and publicised for the public, not just some propoganda stories by the MSM on some specific and perhaps cases which are not the norm.

"Therefore, he said the government needs to encourage Singaporeans to start families with parenthood benefits and other incentives."

How is this possible if most of the Singaporeans are struggling to keep their jobs, work long hours just not to lose their jobs, pay high mortgages for their supposedly subsidized public housing for 25-30 years, which one of his ministers still lay claim to this being "affordable".
What benefits & incentives is he believing now will alleviate this major problem which was casued by the PAP in the first place, with his predecessor implementing the "stop at 2" policy with no advise from his aides, giving litigation benefits decades ago, to reduce the population when the ecnomy was at its peak. Then there was the graduate mothers benefit. Are only graduates capable of producing the type of offsprings that the PAP governement would like? It appears that intelligent people do produce defective offsprings. However if they belong to the elite, then they can opt to attend special schools not made available to the Singaporeans at large.

"However, he added that the country must also top up the population and talent pool with immigration in a measured and calibrated manner."

This must the the point the PM was trying to get to - to allow for more FTs. Top up the populaton with what type of people - leftovers from China? people who are unable to make it to Australia or the States? like study mamas, who can double the role to provide prostituting services? low skilled workers in the kopi-tiams, cleaners in the hawker centres, and god knows where else.

"Talent pool" - really, what talent would these be, that the PM is unable to find within Singapore, or perhaps, most of such talents have left the shores because of the current policies which are favoring "foreign" talents?

"Turning to the subject of updating the political system, Mr Lee said that while having a sound system is essential, that in itself is not enough to produce political stability and good governance."

Sound system as in what? the using of laws or the setting up of new laws to cripple the opposition and dissenting voices, and then brush these off as propoganda from CSJ and the critics according to the Law Ministry. There has been several new laws set up since the last election and passed because there has been no oppostion parties to counter this in parliament.

With alternative information becoming available from the internet and citizen bloggers who provide information otherwise unavailable from the MSM, whose role is apparently providing mainly propoganda for the PAP governement, publishing of articles which is putting this incumbent party in positive light most of the times, while clearly omitting the reporting or other information available elsewhere that is putting the PAP govennrment in a negative light.

"...key task for his predecessors and himself has always been to identify promising people to form the next team. "

Let's hope that these promising people that they have identified to form the next team are not including the group of YPAPs involved in the recent fiasco, with netizens like Seah Hock Rong, Edgar Khieu, Genesis Shen, Teo Ser Luck, Zaqy Mohammed, Eric How. Are these YPAP "really promising". It is anyone's guess I can imagine.

"Mr Lee also stressed that leadership renewal will be a major issue in the next general election."

What leadership renewal? It was supposed to be a renewal when he took reins as the PM after being relected in the last elections, but what have you got in his cabinet... really senior senior (or old people to be more precise, and some who are above board and rules that Singaporeans have to abide by) people. What renewal? With the type of people they are grooming? Are they the YPAPs?

-------------------------------------------------------
PM Lee identifies 3 areas of priority for govt
By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 25 January 2010 1117 hrs

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday identified three areas of priority for the government: restructuring the economy, addressing the population shortfall and updating the political system.

In a wide-ranging speech to the annual Singapore Perspective Conference organised by the Institute of Policy Studies, Mr Lee said Singapore's economic policies must enable the country's economy to perform to its limits and help Singaporeans thrive in the new world.

He said the Economic Strategies Committee will publish its recommendations next week and the government will respond to them in the Budget.

On the population shortfall, Mr Lee said Singapore's birth rates are not improving despite the government's best efforts.

Last year, there were about 170 fewer live births than in 2008.

This would mean that the total fertility rate would have gone down further.

PM Lee stressed that while the decline could have been due to the global economic downturn, it was still a grave trend. If left unchecked, Singapore will face not just an ageing, but a shrinking population.

Therefore, he said the government needs to encourage Singaporeans to start families with parenthood benefits and other incentives.

However, he added that the country must also top up the population and talent pool with immigration in a measured and calibrated manner.

Turning to the subject of updating the political system, Mr Lee said that while having a sound system is essential, that in itself is not enough to produce political stability and good governance.

He said that the nation is still dependent on having the right people in charge and an able and committed team coming forward to lead the country.

The Prime Minister said a key task for his predecessors and himself has always been to identify promising people to form the next team.

He said good progress has been made in this area but he does not have a complete next team lined up in Cabinet yet.

He is confident that by the next general election, the People's Action Party (PAP) will field a team which will consist the core of the next generation leadership.

Mr Lee also stressed that leadership renewal will be a major issue in the next general election.

S’pore workers need to raise productivity, improve capabilities

2010-01-24T22:59:00.004+08:00

"Singapore workers need to raise productivity and improve capabilities to spur economic growth"

What Singapore workers are the SM refering to? the Singaporeans, the new citizens, the PR's, the FTs? It has been noted that the productivity has dropped in the recent years, and this is probably linked to the change in the landscape of the Singapore workforce, with the marginalization of the Singaporeans who have been working most of their lives for the past 50 years of "golden rule" under the PAP? with new citizens, PRs & FTs

It will be interesting to see what they will address in the report by the Economic Strategies Committe.

It is interesting to note how SM classify young people who choose to join the opposition - "they are decent people with good views". Is SM expecting that young people who are joining the opposition, not decent people or have good views? in order that he has to emphasize on this.

The election will be exciting, at least for most of the netizens, who appear to be looking for a change, at least in the overall political landscape and SM is telling Singaporeans not to "stir up any excitement"?. Is this a follow up of PM's "cooling off day" required for the election.

If they had more financially experienced/capable leaders, not academics, technocrats, engineers to manage the economy of Singapore and the wealth of the nation via Temasek and GIC (and lose billions and billons of taxpayers monies because of such leaders) these losses could be well used to spur the economic growth, or at the least cushion the severity of the situation that some of the Singaporeans, especially the lower income strata of the society are facing even now.

Quality candidates is not dependant on the sex. Perhaps SM finds women more compliant, colorless. Well the PAP has a showcase of these in their ranks. Is the PAP really searching and trying to attract younger candidates - well, it wouldn't be surprising, if they also include an old lady in their scheme of things... the precedent has started to include a woman minister in the PMO, the next step shouldn't be difficult to predict.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

S’pore workers need to raise productivity, improve capabilities

Channel NewsAsia - 1 hour 56 minutes ago
S’pore workers need to raise productivity, improve capabilities

SINGAPORE: Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has said Singapore’s workforce needs to raise productivity and improve capabilities to spur economic growth.

Mr Goh said these two issues will be addressed by the Economic Strategies Committee when it releases its report on 1 February.

He was speaking on the sidelines of a community event at his Marine Parade ward on Sunday.

Mr Goh also responded to reporters on the news that more young people are joining the opposition parties.

He said: "If they wish to choose to contest against us — they are decent people with good views — I think it is to be welcomed. Of course, I will be happier they would join us, but let it be.

"We have been interviewing people. But frankly speaking, don’t stir up any excitement about election. I think we are still concentrating on economic recovery."

Mr Goh added that the People’s Action Party (PAP) has also been going out to attract younger candidates, including more women.

Singapore, the repressive state

2010-01-23T11:48:00.008+08:00

Singapore is a democratic state - in whose terms? LKY? Apparently it seems only his word counts these days, based on what he is saying these days, and where he has no one to advise him? from the multitude of million dollar salaried ministers? Free elections? the change of boundaries and grouping single constituencies under the GRC changes the game of the rule of a democratic elections, to that of favoring the PAP, where many of these GRCs go uncontested because of the new rules attached to it, the high fees just to contest, and the allowing poor quality canadidates (who would otherwise be unable to get into parliament) to coat tail on more known senior ministers. Candidates like Mah Bow Tan & Ng Pock Too who has been kicked out in previous elections in single constituency seats, get elected via this back door process of the GRCs, and now one of them becomes a minister who was caught unaware recently? with the needs of the housing for the poor in Singapore. This is probably not a democratic process of electing candidates, as the candidates are not directly elected by the people.

"Transparent" government - not the case in the recent months, where most Singaporeans are apparently kept in dark of various government policies, inclduing the losing of billions of taxpayers monies through GIC and Temasek, in the name of protecting Singapore's security/financial policies, the selection of a non financially experienced CEO manage Singapore's wealth, where the process of this selection criteria non transparent to the public, and who is coincidentially related to the PM and Chairman of GIC, who was stepping down after losing billions and billions of dollars, without having to account for a single cent of this, then the hiring of a non Singaporean to replace the CEO, and who was then stepping down due to strategic differences even before taking office, with absolutely no reasons given to the public for this, after highly touting his qualifications when he was hired. The ex-CEO who made billions of losses is reappointed, with the Chairman laying claim that this is the best person for the job? There are multitude of cases which I believe many other people will be able to contribute to the state of non transparency.

The dictionary definition of probity refers to uprightness and honesty. Within Government, ‘probity’ is often used in a general sense to mean ‘good process’.

Good procees? to perhaps sustain the PAP to help keep them in power. It is difficult to imagine, why admirals, generals with no related experience or even expertise are moved into positions of importance in various of the government owned corporations when they retire from the service, and even ex-consuls, and ex-government officials, who are taking on several directorships in such corporations, and most of these people are affliated to the PAP. One wonders if such dead wood are employable outside of Singapore, if they have no more links with the government, and at salaries in the millions. There is currently only one minister that comes to mind - an old Guard, Goh Keng Swee who has made it outside of Singapore, and was the economic advisor to the Chinese government.

Rebut this report point to point then, instead of just rejecting the allegations. Afterall the PAP government was accepting, wholly, when an international report, the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report which was rating Sinagpore excellently without any questions? and the PAP government is then citing this, while crying foul when another report like the HRW rates them otherwise. Did they wonder why it was rated excellent in the report they cited? The critics beg to differ.

HRW recycling propoganda of the opposition politician CSJ and other government ctitics? What propoganda? What channels do CSJ and the critics have in Singapore to do this? one can be assured definately not with the mainstream media. With the alternative media in the blogshphere of late, it appears that more than one view can now be heard, not just that of the PAP government. A special law was errected recently perhaps specially for CSJ where even one person protest is now a crime in Singapore?

"And their approach seems to be that before they issue these pronouncements, they do not need an understanding of the facts or our viewpoints -- what we think and why we have chosen a specific governance model. These appear to be irrelevant to them."

Would HRW had a chance to understand the facts of the PAP government viewpoints - even the citizens are denied any knowlegde or information when questioned, and brushed aside their questions as a "public curiousity" ? when the issue at hand is serious.

Since the PAP governement is so adamant that they have been misaligned by HRW, they should enlighten, especially the Singapore public on "the facts or our (PAP) viewpoints -- what we think and why we have chosen a specific governance model."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Singapore rejects 'repressive state' tag by rights watchdog
AFP - Saturday, January 23SendIM StoryPrint.
Singapore rejects 'repressive state' tag by rights watchdog
SINGAPORE (AFP) - – Singapore on Friday rejected allegations by a US-based human rights group that it is a "politically repressive state".

"Singapore is a democratic state with a clean and transparent government, whose public officials are held responsible against the highest standards of probity and integrity," the Ministry of Law said in a statement to AFP.

The ministry cited the latest World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report which rated Singapore as "first out of 133 countries for public trust of politicians and transparency of government policymaking".

Human Rights Watch in its annual report released Thursday slammed Singapore for jailing critics of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) and hitting them with financially devastating libel suits.

The New York-based group also criticised the mandatory imposition of the death penalty for certain crimes, legislation that permit caning as well as laws that ban street protests and allow detention without trial.

"Singapore remains the textbook example of a politically repressive state," said HRW deputy Asia director Phil Robertson in a press statement Thursday.

HRW's global report had a chapter on Singapore, a wealthy city-state known for political stability, a low crime rate and a conducive environment for global businesses to operate, but also criticised for its little tolerance against dissent.

"Individuals who want to criticise or challenge the ruling party's hold on power can expect to face a life of harassment, lawsuits and even prison," Robertson said.

The Law Ministry rejected the allegations, and accused HRW of recycling propaganda put out by opposition politician Chee Soon Juan and other government critics.

Chee is a long-time critic of the PAP who has been jailed several times in his struggle against the government.

"Human Rights Watchs approach seems to be that they can issue these pronouncements and we should follow them," the Ministry of Law said.

"And their approach seems to be that before they issue these pronouncements, they do not need an understanding of the facts or our viewpoints -- what we think and why we have chosen a specific governance model. These appear to be irrelevant to them."

Don't shun flats in newer estates

2009-12-29T11:03:00.002+08:00

"Based on the volume of public griping in newspaper stories and letters to the editor over the availability and affordability of homes, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the HDB has been satisfying - and will continue to satisfy - the housing demand of a large number of Singaporean households."

On what statistics, facts is Dennis Chan basing his "fact that the HDB has ben satisfying..."

"If they are willing to settle for a new flat in Punggol or Sengkang, they are likely to get one fairly quickly. But that will mean blowing their chance of getting a new flat in a mature estate in future."

But are these flats affordable? I have known people who ARE living in the Sengkang and Punggol area, that have been unable to carry on with their mortgage for 25-30 years, and had to sell off and then unable to rent from the HDB because they may have already bought 2 HDBs before (upgrading from a smaller one to a bigger one). The flats in these remote areas are not cheap, maybe for Dennis Chan, but not a lot of other people.

"Dawson is located in Queenstown, where some of the most expensive HDB resale flats are found. Under the circumstances, it was a foregone conclusion that the Dawson flats would be heavily oversubscribed, and balloting would be required once again. This means the chances of securing a flat at Dawson are slim.

If you succeed in getting a flat at Dawson, congratulations, you have hit the jackpot. If you fail, don't be disheartened. Go for other flats in newer estates where the success rates of first-time buyers being offered a flat are eight in 10, or, if they failed in their first attempt, 9.6 in 10 on their second try."

Why should the HDB in Queenstown be the most expensive, even on par with some of the private condos in the area. HDB is supposed to be PUBLIC housing, to provide low cost housing to the public, not HIGH COST housing, irrespective of the location, unless the HDB policy has now changed and the goal of the million dollar minister in charge is to make profiteer at the expense of the citizens. Overall the HDB flats have rocketed to prices that are not cheap and is hence NOT catering to the needs of Singaporeans who have to swim in debts to be able to keep with up the high mortgage for 25-30 years becuase of the high prices.

Interesting statistics from Dennis Chan, but where did he get his data of eigth in 10, ....etc.. from. However this is only on part of the problem. The other is that BASICALLY, the price of the HDB flats in most of these areas are also EXPENSIVE, in relation to what HDB is supposed to be doing for public housing for the citizens.

"Home buyers are a savvy lot. They know that new flats in mature estates are limited, particularly when these are a mere 10-minute drive from Orchard Road."

Nothing to do with being savvy. The old man has more or less gauranteed that the prices of HDB will continue to go up, inspite of the current economic conditions. It will be interesting to know who these buyers are? Singaporeans, PR, new citizens?

>> ASIAONE / BUSINESS / MY MONEY / PROPERTY / STORY

Sat, Dec 26, 2009
The Straits Times

Don't shun flats in newer estates - By Dennis Chan, Deputy Money Editor

A young couple pushed past me the other day at the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh, chattering excitedly and pointing at some documents in their hands.

Looking at their beaming faces, the mild annoyance I had felt at being shoved by them evaporated. Clearly, they were so engrossed in selecting their dream home that deliberately giving offence to anyone was the furthest thing on their minds.

Seeing their enthusiasm in the crowded Housing Board sales office was gratifying, as it reinforced my view that many Singaporeans - a solid but silent majority - go about their business of acquiring a home with little fuss.

If you read the newspapers regularly, you could have an entirely different impression.

Based on the volume of public griping in newspaper stories and letters to the editor over the availability and affordability of homes, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the HDB has been satisfying - and will continue to satisfy - the housing demand of a large number of Singaporean households.

Much of the griping, I feel, is generated by a small but vocal minority, and their views carry a disproportionate weight in the great housing debate.

Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan has said the HDB expects to offer 10,000 to 12,000 new flats a year for the next five years to accommodate rising demand for public housing. The bulk of these flats will be located in new estates such as Punggol and Sengkang.

This building programme should take care of the majority of home buyers.

But satisfying the demand of those who insist on a new flat in a mature estate near the city is harder. Last week's launch of 1,718 flats in Dawson Estate will go some way towards meeting the aspirations of first-time buyers of new flats in a mature estate.

Although a significant number, the 1,718 flats will be gobbled up in no time. On the first day of the launch, flat applications exceeded supply.

Home buyers are a savvy lot. They know that new flats in mature estates are limited, particularly when these are a mere 10-minute drive from Orchard Road.

Dawson is located in Queenstown, where some of the most expensive HDB resale flats are found. Under the circumstances, it was a foregone conclusion that the Dawson flats would be heavily oversubscribed, and balloting would be required once again. This means the chances of securing a flat at Dawson are slim.

Still, I suppose there is no harm trying your luck. I would do the same if I were still eligible for a flat.

Just don't raise your hopes too high, lest disappointment follows.

If you succeed in getting a flat at Dawson, congratulations, you have hit the jackpot. If you fail, don't be disheartened. Go for other flats in newer estates where the success rates of first-time buyers being offered a flat are eight in 10, or, if they failed in their first attempt, 9.6 in 10 on their second try.

I understand why some buyers hold out for a new flat in a mature estate.

Having been a city dweller for most of my life, I too was leery at the thought of living in the suburbs.

When my wife and I were hunting for our first home in 1995, Singapore was in the throes of a housing boom, not unlike the property frenzy in 2007 and, more recently, between May and September this year.

Five-room HDB flats in popular estates near the city were changing hands at half a million dollars or more. By 1996, rooftop executive maisonettes in Bishan were going for $800,000.

There was no way we could afford those prices. Buying a flat directly from the HDB was our best bet.

Back then, new flats were sold either through a queue system (for flats in non-mature estates) or via balloting (for flats in popular estates).

After a wait of about two years, we had reached the head of the queue and consequently received an invitation from the HDB to book a flat in Woodlands. Around the same time, an opportunity came up for us to ballot for a flat in Holland Village, where we really wanted to be as it was also where my wife's parents live.

There were a few hundred flats up for grabs, but the number of applicants was at least thrice that.

We were in a bind.

If we rejected HDB's invitation for a flat in Woodlands and opted to ballot for a flat in Holland Village instead and were unsuccessful, we would be relegated to the back of the queue. This could lead to a wait of another two to three years before getting another bite.

On the other hand, accepting HDB's offer meant that we had no chance at all of getting a home in a dream location.

After agonising over it for days, we chose certainty over desirability, but with much regret.

First-timers today are also facing a struggle.

If they are willing to settle for a new flat in Punggol or Sengkang, they are likely to get one fairly quickly. But that will mean blowing their chance of getting a new flat in a mature estate in future.

Theoretically, a second-time buyer is eligible to buy a new, bigger flat directly from the HDB. In reality, their chances are small as first-time buyers are allotted the lion's share of new flats.

Taking everything into account, my advice to aspiring home owners is: Don't be too choosy in terms of location. Get out of your comfort zone and go for a flat in a new estate.

Having lived in Woodlands for 12 years, I can vouch that living in the suburbs is not bad at all.

My family loved the surrounding parks, like Sembawang Park and Admiralty Park. Other rustic attractions like the Singapore Zoo, Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Hay Dairies goat farm and numerous hydroponic farms in Lim Chu Kang are a mere 15-minute drive away.

Getting to the city is also not a hassle, as an MRT ride to Orchard Road takes just half an hour.

I moved to Toa Payoh two years ago to cut down on commuting. But I miss my old home in Woodlands as well as the friendly neighbours with whom our ties remain strong.

Leaving to live in centrally located Toa Payoh, I think, was perhaps a wrong choice.

Now that's quite an admission from someone who dislikes living anywhere outside a 15-minute commute.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.

PAP RULE - APATHY

2009-12-13T11:31:00.003+08:00

An interesting artilce in the ST Onlne version, though it may not be giving the full details of what Alex Tan has spoken during this event.

This is a rare show of outspokeness from one of our younger generation.

Interestingly, the YPAP has blocked this same person from their facebook recruitment - to perhaps silence him, and not let him be heard by their potential recruits?

This now not any anonymous blogger but someone who has the boldness even to stand up during one of the events organised by the YPAP.

More youths should speak up, and perhaps a general platform to allow them to do so, since the YPAP has now apparently blocking users who do not have similar views from their site.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Dec 11, 2009
Has PAP rule led to apathy?
Youth Wing debates issue with great fervour
By Zakir Hussain & Rachel Chang

PROJECT engineer Alex Tan did not mince his words as he blamed the ruling People's Action Party for the apathy of Singapore's youth.

He pointed his finger especially at the PAP's dominance and the lack of press freedom. The 22-year-old also said the PAP may feel it is helping the people but the people feel disadvantaged by its policies, from foreign talent to national service.

His stark statements surprised, not for their content but for where they were made. Mr Tan was speaking last night at a dialogue organised by the Young PAP, and which was attended by 150 youths and two PAP MPs.

They were first-term Mr Sam Tan, who is six months into his job as Parliamentary Secretary in two ministries - Trade and Industry, and Information, Communications and the Arts - and Mr Christopher de Souza, vice-chairman of the Youth Wing.

Mr Alex Tan was the most hard-hitting from among a dozen young people who spoke during the two-hour dialogue titled, 2010: How Can Our Youths Serve Singapore?

The issues raised by the others include ways to get more youths to be volunteers, how the political system discourages alternative voices and puts opposition parties at a disadvantage, and that schools discourage political discussion.

Dec 13, 2009
Young PAP bars user
By Rachel Chang, Political Reporter

The youth wing of the People's Action Party has blocked a 22-year-old project engineer from its Facebook recruitment page.

It has also deleted his posts after a war of words between the two sides last month.

Mr Alex Tan has been banned from the page until he agrees to 'abide by the rules', according to a message sent to him on Nov 29 by the administrators, who are members of the Young PAP (YP).

The ban comes some six months after Mr Tan started posting on the page. He maintains that he was silenced for his outspoken views against policies like national service (NS) and the Central Provident Fund.

He considers NS unnecessary and harmful to young Singaporean men, and claims that CPF takes away Singaporeans' choice on what to do with their own money.

YP administrators said the Temasek Polytechnic graduate was booted off the page for indulging in name-calling and vulgarities. Mr Tan's rejoinder is that the flame war was started by YP members

YOUNGER POLITICIANS IN SINGAPORE

2009-12-12T18:45:00.004+08:00

Acording to Mr Lee in CNA

"Let the younger politicians step up: MM Lee
Channel NewsAsia - Saturday, December 12

SINGAPORE: A system where younger politicians are allowed to take office can create better results for the country, said Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew."

Who are these younger politicians in Singapore that MM Lee is espousing? Of the 30 ministers listed in the gov.sg website,

(i) only 6 is in their late forties
(ii) 8 below 55's
(iii) 9 in late fifties 55's and above
(iv) 4 in early sixties 60's
(v) 1 in late sixties 65's and above
(vi) 1 in the seventies 70's
(vii) and of course you know who the one is in the eighties 80's

In the next election in 2012, more than 50% of these ministers if they are still retained will be in their last leg before their end of life at 65.

Perhaps MM Lee was not digressing about the ministers, more of the MP's. Ever since the last election, there is not much heard from most of these PAP MP's whom, most have walkovers, sitting on coat tails of the senior ministers in the GRC's, to get into the parliament.

"Mr Lee was speaking at a dialogue organised by the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry on its 40th anniversary on Friday.

Noting that the economic and political system in Japan is still based on seniority, he said leaders there could learn from China, which requires its political leaders to step down when they turn 65. This allows a younger, more dynamic generation of leaders to step up."

"The Chinese watch other countries including us, and now they have an age rule: In the centre, in Beijing, at 65, you retire. Whether you’re good or no good, 65 is the cut—off date ... They still use you as adviser in the back row, that is in the centre," observed Mr Lee.

However in the provinces and small towns, the leaders are younger, he said. Mayors, for instance, are in their 40s, and many come armed with PhDs.

Mr Lee said this was what Singapore practised: "We also have a rule — I’m the exception to the rule: I’m 86. But I’m not doing the work, I’m just forecasting, I’m the radar over the horizon."

The Singapore system also appears to be based also on seniority with so many old men still in the cabinet holding more than one portfolio's, including some which have been booted out in previous elections.

What rule? LKY rule? where he can be the exception to the rule? So succintly said "I'm 86 but I'm not doing the work..." - so why is Singapore paying millions of dollars for this. not bad to just do forecasting for several millions of dollars

"The work is being done by younger people in their late 40s and 50s. So there’s an energy and a drive and an understanding of the contemporary world, and they’re also linked up with the younger generation of voters."

Noting that senior leaders in Japan may be concerned about letting younger leaders run the country, Mr Lee had this to say: "Don’t stop them; point out the dangers and let them go, and you might have better results. We have done that."

Point out the dangers? Like what LHL said previously - to teach the younger leaders "how to fix the opposition"?

Minibond fiasco settlement in HK

2009-07-23T10:18:00.005+08:00

South China Morning Post
Bank payouts on minibonds to top HK$6b
No penalty for lenders in deal with regulators for Lehman refunds

Enoch Yiu and Maria Chan
Jul 23, 2009

Banks will repay at least HK$6.3 billion to 29,000 people who bought Lehman Brothers minibonds in what is likely to be the world's largest compensation package for retail investors.
The agreement involving 16 banks, announced yesterday by the Securities and Futures Commission, means 90 per cent of investors will get back more than 70 per cent of their money from September.

This will effectively allow the banks, who were accused of understating the risks of minibonds, to escape regulatory penalties. Individual investors who do not accept the payout can still sue banks.

Under the agreement, banks will have to hire independent inspectors to check their internal controls to prevent further mis-selling.

"The agreement is a watershed in the regulation of financial services in Hong Kong," SFC chief executive Martin Wheatley said.

More than 33,000 Hong Kong investors bought HK$12 billion worth of high-risk Lehman Brothers minibonds that became virtually worthless when the US bank collapsed in September. Angry investors have since lobbied the government through street marches and other protests for the return of their money.

Despite their name, minibonds are not corporate bonds but credit-linked derivatives whose worth depends on the health of the underlying assets.

While the deal is expected to be accepted by most, about 80 unhappy investors kept up their protests at the SFC's offices. They said the bank payout fell short of the full refunds two brokerages have made to minibond buyers. Sun Hung Kai Financial agreed to fully repay HK$85 million to 310 clients, while KGI Asia fully repaid five clients their HK$1.6 million.

Mr Wheatley said the deal was a "reasonable compromise" and pointed out it involved banks repaying more money and more customers than the brokerages.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and SFC will cease investigating the complaints of investors who accept the payout.

The 16 banks are ABN AMRO, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Bank of Communications (SEHK: 3328), Bank of East Asia (SEHK: 0023), Chiyu Banking Corporation, Chong Hing Bank (SEHK: 1111), Citic Ka Wah Bank, Dah Sing (SEHK: 0440) Bank, Fubon Bank (Hong Kong) (SEHK: 0636), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (SEHK: 1398) (Asia), Mevas Bank, Nanyang Commercial Bank, Public Bank (Hong Kong), Shanghai Commercial Bank, Wing Hang Bank (SEHK: 0302) and Wing Lung Bank.

The banks will send letters to investors next month. They will have 60 days to decide if they want to accept the deal. Those aged under 65 will receive 60 per cent of the value of their initial investment. Those over 65 will get 70 per cent back.

The banks will also need to repay their combined commission of HK$200 million from selling minibonds to fund legal action to recoup from the liquidators of Lehman Brothers any collateral left in them. Provided the residual value of the collateral is at least 10 per cent, investors will receive at least a further 10 per cent of their initial investment.

A banker involved in the negotiations said: "We believe most investors will accept our proposals because they do not have to wait for a long legal process before getting back their investment."

HKMA executive director Raymond Li Ling-cheung said the agreement would allow the authority to shift resources to investigate about 9,000 complaints of alleged mis-selling of other investment products.

________________________________________________

An article from the South China Morning Post will give a clearer picture of how the minibond fiasco is being handled.

Looks like the investors in HK are getting better protected than those in Singapore who as posted by LuckySingaporean in his blog -
"Although financial institutions have violated guidelines and have been banned from selling these products, most compensated investors received only 10-30% of their money and many have not been compensated."

DBS is apparently not in the list of the 16 banks involvement in this settlement.

What Singapore has done for its minority investors is a far shadow what the HKMA has done.

Possible Singapores, beyond Lee Kuan Yew

2009-04-21T20:44:00.005+08:00

Another mainstream propoganda at work? Just wondering who in the Nanyang Technological University’s Asian Journalism Fellowship programme chose this topic? Very enlightening.

Channel NewsAsia - Tuesday, April 21

SINGAPORE: A People’s Action Party (PAP) split by internal schisms. Future leaders bereft of the "huge political legitimacy" that could be gained from endorsement by the man with unmatched moral and historical authority. These are some of the leadership fates that could befall a post—Lee Kuan Yew Singapore, as hotelier Ho Kwon Ping sees it.

And such "imponderable" scenarios could help explain why a "system of elders" is now taking shape in the political landscape.

"System of elders" - is this to explain/excuse for the top heavy recent re-structure in the PMO? Is the current leadership including the PM himself unable to lead an effective and cohesive party? This is surprising, after so many decades of mentoring from LKY, and they still need to have these elders around? And at what price to Singapore? After already draining the reserves for their million dollar salaries for so many years, shouldn't they be expected to provide this service FREE to Singapore, after benefiting also so much from just being around. Incidentally this is not in support that they should be around to entrench themselves and ensure that the legacy of LKY is institutionalised. What makes Ho or Mahbubani think that most Singaporeans are for an institutionalisation of the elders to keep the legacy of LKY?

"Perhaps it is to restrain factionalism, arbitrate disagreements, groom and assess future leaders, that the positions of senior minister and minister mentor have been institutionalised," said Mr Ho, who feels the PAP’s "extraordinary cohesion" over five decades has owed much to "the forceful personality of Lee Kuan Yew".

Forceful personality? I think this is an understatement of his personality. Since more restricted documents are now released by the former British Empire, more is to be seen of what LKY is, and what history could have been?

Mr Ho, who is also MediaCorp chairman, was speaking on Monday alongside Professor Kishore Mahbubani at a seminar organised by Nanyang Technological University’s Asian Journalism Fellowship programme. The topic? "Singapore Beyond Lee Kuan Yew: Institutionalising the Singapore Way".

Of this future, Prof Mahbubani, who Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, would not rule out a "significant reversal" of Mr Lee’s legacy, or the rise of a stronger Opposition usurping the one dominant party system — though he gave each scenario only a "one—sixth probability".

While a "smooth and seamless transition" was a two—thirds likelihood, Prof Mahbubani harked back to the words of former Deputy Prime Minister Goh Keng Swee, after the PAP’s long monopoly of parliament was broken in 1981. "As (Dr Goh) has wisely told us, failure happens when we fail to consider the possibility of failure."

Can Singapore fail? In some ways, yes...
- Deih Kishore! Singapore already failed already lah! http://wayangparty.com/?p=7017
- http://soojenn.blogspot.com/2009/03/can-singapore-fail.html

So, for instance in the unlikely event of a strong opposition arising, would Mr Lee’s legacy be weakened? In fact, the "sharper political debates" arising could make Singaporeans more aware of the "precious political legacy they have enjoyed", said Prof Mahbabuni.

Political debates - since when was this allowed in the open with the public or with the opposition members? What "precious political legacy" have we enjoyed? Inflated ministers salaries, and being the highest paid in the world? Losing billions with "no regrets"?

On the other hand, as has happened in South Korea and Taiwan, it could also lead to the old legacies being quickly lost and forgotten by the new generation. "I am frequently shocked when I meet younger Singaporeans who have never heard of Dr Goh," he said.

People like Dr Goh do not clamour to be remembered or to be instituionalised, like some of the incumbents. His contribution is remembered. Interestingly, he needed not remain in Singapore to collect million dollar salaries to provide his economic expertise which has been even recognized by China. I wonder who, which young Singaporeans Mabubani comes in contact with? for him to have such a dim view that they do not know Dr Goh. Seems to be a sweeping statement. So does Mahbubani now proposes to institutionalised the legacy of LKY so that he will be remembered? remembered for what? for everything and not just the propoganda? if so, this will be really interesting.

Both speakers were not alone in expressing uncertainty over how Singapore’s future, sans Mr Lee, would play out. During the Q&A session, which was off—the—record, the audience raised concerns such as how the country would be deprived of its most astute and influential critic — and whether Mr Lee’s legacy, or indeed Singapore, could unravel.

If Singapore unravels, it will be the doing of LKY. A great leader knows when to let go, and not cling on till the end. It has been apparent of late that he is possibly approaching senility. LKY has done some great things for Singapore in the past. Since no one is indispensible, he should let go and allow the current leaders to lead without his intimidating presence in the foreground, unless he thinks poorly of the current leadership, as incompetent and incapable to lead without him in tow?

While Mr Lee’s retirement would "create a huge political vacuum", Prof Mahbubani believes Singapore has "done a lot" to protect his legacy, such as instilling a deep culture of meritocracy and incorruptibility.

Meritocracy as decribed in Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meritocracy - is a system of a government or other organization wherein appointments are made and responsibilities are given based on demonstrated talent and abilitymerit), rather than by wealth (plutocracy), family connections (nepotism), class privilege (oligarchy), friends (cronyism), seniority (gerontocracy), popularity (as in democracy) or other historical determinants of social position and political power. In a meritocracy, society rewards (by wealth, position, and social status) those who show talent and competence as demonstrated by past actions or by competition.

In the Singapore situation, it is difficult to see that this (meritocracy) has happened? There are so many cases of incompetencies which have been rewarded instead.

Incorruptibility - incapable of being bribed or morally corrupted (merriam-webster definition) : Singapore ministers require million dollar salaries to carry out their duties for the country? Isn't this a shame? Is this is incorruptibility? more perhaps like corruption legalized? If the ministers are morally incorrupt, shouldn't they not be expecting to be so obsencely paid when the rest of their countrymen are getting mere pittance of what they get?

And Mr Ho had no doubts Singaporeans could "muddle their way through", even if the PAP’s leadership renewal "fails to deliver what it has done for the past 50 years".

Past 50 years - the PAP's leadership renewal has apparently "failed to deliver" and completely unravelled in the past year with "no regrets".

Mr Lee’s greatest legacy, he said, "is that the Singapore which he so passionately shaped will outlive not only him, but even his own party, should that ever come to pass".

I read this as - LKY greatest's legacy is to entrench himself, his family and people who say "yes" to him, to be in power forever?

The reason: In his single most critical imperative — nation building — Mr Lee has largely succeeded, said Mr Ho, who has found young Singaporeans to own a strong sense of involvement and ownership in the country, contrary to stereotype.

Based on what statistics Mr. Ho? What young Singaporeans? Does he mean people like Teo Luck Ser and the gang of YPAP? What about the emigration statistcs and the thousands who leave Singapore annually?

"Equally contrary to some people’s wishful thinking, there is not likely to be dramatic, broad—brush social or political liberalisation," said Mr Ho. "This is not a pent up society waiting for the demise of the strongman in order to overturn highly unpopular laws."

"..there is not likely to be any dramatic .... political liberalisation.." because the current government has continously passed Bills in the parliament contrary to what the people wishes are, and enacting laws to restrict, limit civil liberties, even to the extent of not allowing a one person protest? Why is there such a need, if there is no danger, as Mr. Ho says of political liberalisation? It is the fear of this possibility that so many laws, amended to tighten, or added new for precisely this purpose.

Rather, the government has the support of the politically—vital heartland in its pragmatic, incremental approach to change, even as it responds to tomorrow’s generation, he said.

Pragmatic, incremental approach to change? where? more like an approach to stifle dissent, close all loopholes for any possible upsurge of protests. Support of the vital heartland? really Mr. Ho?

Don’t lash out, look for solutions

2009-03-31T11:50:00.008+08:00

In the article by the Singapore Enquirer by March 30, 2009 by Daniel Ling
at http://singaporeenquirer.sg/?p=2988&cpage=1#comment-1023

What does LHL expects the ordinary people to feel? For that matter, does he really understand the suffering that some of these people are undergoing and what has really been done to DIRECTLY help them, not just talk. I don't have the impression of anything direct and concrete being done.

The "ordinary" people might feel helpless and frustrated during this coming long drawn out recession because they are probably unable to manage it through this very difficult period, and the governement are of not much help. LHL and his million dollar ministers - the "elites", not "ordinary", obviously do not have these problems, some are even attending corden bleu courses in France, without much of a thought.

"And this anger can lead them to blame someone for the difficulties they are in, as psychotherapists point out."

Is LHL now telling the people again that the government has NO blame for the current difficulties that the people are in? Free of blame? Right, it is all because of the financial crises and we should have been thankful for their superb leadership in handling the crises, loosing the billions without have to give an account for, and leaving the ship with major losses "with no regrets".

The high inflation in almost everything doesn't say much for what the government has done to manage these basic fundamental needs of the people, especially crucial in such difficult times. Buy non branded goods, some nincompoop minister was saying. Another told the people not to eat in expensive restaurants to save money? Are these the constructive solutions LHL is speaking about?

It is a farce... and perhaps easy for LHL to say don't lash out. Look for solutions? My gosh? What is our current highly paid ministers and civil service doing to provide the solutions, or is LHL expecting this to come from the people now. They have never been open to recommendations from the public, why this sudden appeal for us to look for solutions for them, and NOT just lash out? There are many socio-political bloggers who have written recommendations but appear to have been sidelined and ignored. What are they thinking? Does the government seriously want the people to think of solutions for them? You are only kidding right, Hsien Loong.

At least in France, people are allowed their freedom of speech to voice their dissent to the economic policies and reforms. In Singapore, even if there is a one man protest, he gets obstructed and arrested. We should perhaps think of reducing the amount of redundant people in the police / security force, whose duties appear to be gathering in large numbers to stop even an ounce of protest.

President Nicholas Sarkozy’s salary is a fraction of our dear Prime Minister, so we are expecting (like what LKY claims to have put in place - great talents which you have to pay millions to retain their "loyalty" to serve the country, so that the country will not go apesh..t and our mothers and daughters become maids of other countries) that with a salary so many times higher than President Sarkozy, that LHL will be able to show Singaporeans if he is worth a cent of what he is paid. We are still waiting.

By the way, is he thinking that Singaporeans are on the verge of lashing out? Isn't it about time? However, has he ever thought that, after laws and laws passed, in order to crush any possible dissent, this is leading to the very thing he fears. It will also only be a matter of time before the government resort to using the ISA to crush all possible opponents, if the defamations suits fail to rein them in, if necessary.

LHL uses HK as an example of advocating constructive actions? HK is vastly different from Singapore, and is an inclusive society where they have representations of the various sectors and people in the legislature where issues are debated and discussed and implemented according to the majority views. In Singapore, is this possible? I have my doubts. Implementation of any policies appear to be just the jurisdiction of the governement and out of bounds for anyone else, unless of course if they have concurring views.

HK labor force and structure is also different from Singapore. HK's main industry is in tourism, other than being a important financial center. Is Singapore mainly in service industry like HK? I don't think so. The current unemployment stems from all other industries, and is also affecting the middle management people in Singapore. How do we manage these? Have them retrained and enter the service industry? My impression of the service industry in Singapore is that they are currently hiring younger people, the cheaper the better, and hence lots of foreigners, like filipinas have replaced such jobs in this industry. What are the other possibilities that have been created for the middle aged management people? who are out of a job, or perhaps like Lee Shu Min has blasted in her blog when an "ordinary" Singaporean details his difficulties, for him to"get out of her uncaring elite face"

Improve our standard of service? What has the government done to improve their service to the people? instead of sitting on their throne and passing judgement. Let us know. We are really interested.

"‘They worry about their families, about their jobs and whether they can continue to support their children.’ But focusing on training can help workers prepare for the turnaround in the economy."

What contradictory statements these are, Hsien Loong. People worry about their families, jobs, etc... so what is the government doing NOW to help allay these fears. Focusing on training..... to preapre for the turnaround in the economy? Our honorable minister mentor has now said that it wil take at least 2-3 years to turnaround. But wait, there is a condition, that is, if the US economy also turns around. I think even a five year old would know that conditional "if".

What about NOW? What does LHL expect this people to do? Live on love and fresh air? Apparently neither LHL nor his ministers have this IMMEDIATE problem, sitting on their fat salaries.

New faces watching new media

2009-03-31T02:31:00.006+08:00

I would have thought that only the MSM writes a load of bul..it

It appears the TOC is picking up and continuing this trend into the internet, of late with their less than insightful articles, besides of the moderation out of comments which is NOT portraying them in a positive light. The article by PN Balji Monday, 30 March 2009 on

New faces watching new media

is delighful and as entertaining as the MSM.

"Who says Cabinet changes here don’t spring surprises? Dig a little deep into the reshuffle announced by the Prime Minister on Thursday and you will find at least one.
Of all the ministries, only one has an Acting Minister. And for support, that Acting Minister has just one Parliamentary Secretary; that too a newbie as far as political appointments go."

- What is so surprising with this? The government just doesn't think that this is important enough to warrant more of time and attention, as they probably think that the new media is just a bunch of faceless bloggers hiding behind their anonymous identity, and who has no credibility, or impact, except maybe for some websites like the TOC who seems to think that they can represent the new media, with alternative views. I really wonder and have serious doubts with the TOC. Afterall, what is so difficult for Lui TY, who has had the whole government machinery behind supporting him in railroading the new film act through in parliament, even after all the recommendations from AIMS. What is there more that he cannot do. Just railroad a new law if necessary. Wake up Balji. Which old goats - minister I mean do you think this ministry should have? These old ministers would not have any idea about the new media, or any clue how to manage it, NOT that I am saying that Lui TY is any better. I will NOT be surprised if they even answer their own emails and have instead their secretaries to do so for them. Look at what is currently happening, and what these old goats are saying in reaction, and which are already indication of what levels they are at in engaging with the new media.

"If there is one Cabinet appointment that needs an experienced hand, it is Mr Lui’s. With the internet media getting more shrill by the day and with the government still in a reactive mode in what’s thrown up in this largely faceless community, his job is going to be an onerous one."

- Experience hand to do what? Isn't Ah Lui doing perfectly well now? Do you mean he will need like the PM, to have two SM, one minister, one DPM to help him?

"Three events in the last four months show how tricky things are getting."

- what's so tricky? They have so far ignored most of the websites? Have they truly responded to the blogs. I don't have the impression that they had. TOC may think so, but others probably think otherwise. Simplistic answers are provided and period. You think they will continue to engage? Lee Kuan Yew as reiterated time and again that Singaporeans will hear what he wants them to hear, and not what they expect to hear.

"Having tasted blood, the new media is likely to push the envelope further. In fact, one website in a commentary recently said that bloggers will continue to push and push an issue until they get a reaction. In short, they are going into an area that has been out of bounds in Singapore: crusading journalism."

- Come on Balji, don't be a COWARD. Have you no ba..ls to name the website. We all know who you are insinuating. "Out of bounds in Singapore" - so what are you trying to say? Be a pathetic COWARD like the TOC, and once in a while write on hot issues so that netizens will think that the TOC is speaking out, and then try to paint a "balanced" picture? and not say and push on for what should be rightly pursued, if no proper response has been forthcoming, that is, answers to FUNDAMENTAL questions asked by many bloggers, who write and articulate perfectly well and well within the boundaries of reason and citizen's rights.

"Mr Lui and his team have no other alternative but to engage this community. A robust defence of established principles is just not going to work. Instead, an unemotional sifting through of the issues discussed, identifying the talking points and responding to them is the way to move forward."

- Don't Lui and his team have websites like the TOC in helping them already? I am sure that there are plenty of other spooks around.

"Responses like this don’t wash anymore."

- Do you really think so Balji? The way the article has been written gives the impression that the TOC, since you are writing on their behalf, is not for "pushing an issue until they get a reaction" so the response must probably "wash" with TOC.

"Mr Lui and his team need to convince the unconvinced that online media, despite misgivings of it being faceless and priding itself in a talk-first-think-later culture, is here to stay. And its influence can only grow."

- Please reserve this opinion for yourself Balji, and for the TOC as I believe most bloggers are not "a talk-first-think-later" writer as you seem to generalise. Most of the blogs that I have read (which may not be the same ones that you read) write and articulate well, and definately well thought through. TOC may of course have the "talk-first-think-later" type of writer which you are opining of.

"Mr Lui and Mr Sam Tan should not be the lone rangers in this fight. They need all the help they can get from every other arm of government. From MPs to civil servants, they must realise that the shift to the internet is irreversible."

- Who are you kidding? Isn't it is obvious that the whole government machinery is behind them, for god's sake.

"MICA needs help and with the Cabinet changes already in place, the next best thing is to look at a high-level committee drawing people, even bloggers, to come together for a serious re-look of a policy that is in danger of being swept away by the currents of change."

- You are probably speaking for yourself and the TOC. No respectable bloggers would "come together for a serious re-look of a policy that is in danger of being swept away by the currents of change.".

Why waste our time? Isn't the one and a half year of consultation on the film act (AIMS) with a supposedly broad spectrum of people who spent time to provide the feedback resulting in an almost ZERO result, and in fact, perhaps more negative and tightening of the act, which shows what the ULTIMATE result and what the foregone conclusion will already be. Most anonymous bloggers would probably like to continue to remain anonymous. If the TOC and yourself like to be self serving and be known for your work in the internet, be our guest. Good writers, concerned netizens don't need to be known, or need any recognition from the government.

Governance, management of a country's fund/wealth

2009-03-29T23:28:00.016+08:00

The HKMA, manages an Exchange Fund, not disimilar to the GIC, amounting to billions in Hong Kong dollars, albeit in much smaller amounts that what the GIC manages.

This article was written in the SCMP, HK mainstream newspaper, not unlike the ST. However the information and details provided appears to be totally and vastly different from what ST is providing to public in general, especially on the performance of GIC & Temasek, Singapore wealth funds:

(i) the SCMP is able to provide easily the figures of bonus (variable pay) cuts which the MSM in Singapore appear to have a hard time to do so. Even the minister in charge Teo Ho Pin "don't know" what these were, and claimed that salaries are "confidential" when there was a public outroar over the 8 bonuses months paid to the CDC staff, became public. Tax payers are paying for these bonuses and presumably have the rights to such information, which is still not forthcoming from the relevant authorities to date.

(ii) the salary of the Chief Executive of the HKMA, as he is paid by tax payers, it will be interesting if the ST is able to provide information on the salaries of the GIC Chairman, CEO, as well as that of the Temasek CEO? unless these information is again cconfidential? or as a tighly controlled government media do not see the need to do so?

(iii) actual amount in figures and percentages of the losses of the HK fund, whereas it takes the lone oppoisition member in Singapore to put forth a query before the government scrambled to put some figures to these. Even the minister in charge couldn't be sure of the exact figure and was fumbling for the answers when asked? The MSM should have done their investigative work to provide such fundamental information to the public and not wait for the alternative media in the cyberspace to provoke for some answers to these. Being government controlled, it is presumed that they are privy to such information. Instead of reporting on such important issues, they instead spin stories about unfortunate suicides.

With sufficient legislators from the dfferent parties, and NOT just overwhelming from a single party, some checks appear to be in place in HK. The bonuses (variable pay) of the HKMA has been reduced even before any major outcry from the public, for losses suffered on the investment, even for percentages of 5.6% for the end of last year, another 5.66% in January, and 10.99% (from December). In Singapore, nothing appears to have happened, even after GIC & Temasek suffered major losses. GIC lost 41% of its portfolio and Temasek fell 31% according to our first lady Minister in cabinet - Lim Hwee Hua. No one has been brought to task on this to answer to the public for their worst ever and disastrous performance of managing these portfolios. This is presumably because the current authorities do not believe that thave done very poorly on these, further stressed by the PM's press secretary that "This is not a disreputable record."?

Singaporeans even had to be reminded:
(i) by our venerable MM that "it can weather the storm for 10 years if necessary,.."
(ii) by The PM’s press secretary, on Temasek and the GIC’s performance, that "This is not a disreputable record."
(iii) by the Chairman of Temasek - Dhanabalan on the resignation of Temasek CEO : "But Mr Dhanabalan dismissed talk that the losses, as well as those from the company's investments in Thailand's Shin Corp, were the reason for Ms Ho's leaving. 'Absolutely not...It has got nothing to do with performance,' he said." If it has nothing to do with performance, why is she then leaving earlier than the slated term?

The legislators in HK represent most of the interest of the public and are themselves recognized in the private sectors in their field in order to be selected to represent the sector. This can be seen with Legislator Chim Pui-chung, who represents the financial services sector as commenting that, "The investment returns of the Exchange Fund last year was so poor that Mr Yam and other staff should receive a lower bonus.".

Even after the bonuses were cut, the legislator Chim is putting further pressure on the government to further redue the bonuses. This would have been unheard of in Singapore. There is not even a whisper among the ministers or MPs.

In Singapore, there is nothing of this sort. The lone opposition member cuts a pitiful appearance in parliament when the matter is brought up with no appropriate answers and the our new first lady Minister in cabinet appeared unprepared to even provide the actual percentages of the losses. Perhaps, she did not think this was relevant for Singaporeans to know, or for that matter be prepared for this during the debate, and mind you, she is representing the Ministry of Finance.

She wouldn't have survived in the parliament in HK, let alone be promoted. Her promotion to a ministerial level in the PMO's office would also not have gone by without any opposition from the other parties, looking at her pitiful performance.

In Singapore, it is sadly just one party and whether she is promotional material or not, is subject only to the PM, and perhaps MM and no one else, especially not the lesser mortals.

In such important positions where the country's fund is being managed, Chim also stated that "What is important is the government should set a fixed term and a more transparent way to set the salary for Mr. Yam's successor."

Singapore in nowhere near in terms of transparency and I cannot imagine the government ever answering to such a request, that is, what is the term of the current GIC Chairman? until he is dead and buried? or its CEO, as well as the in coming CEO for Temasek

_____________________________________________
Article in the SCMP, Hong Kong

Bonus cut to 2 months for KMA staff
Enoch Yiu and Eva Wu

The Monetary Autority froze the salaries of its Chief Executive, and about 600 employees this year and reduced their variable pay - similar to a bonus - by 30 percent last year, the authority said yesterday.

The measure cuts the bonus to the equivalent of two months pay on average, down from 2.9 months in 2007. The HKMA's total payroll this year will be reduced by 3.4 percent.

Legislators expressed unhappiness with the size of te reduction.

"The Exchange Fund suffered investment losses last year, while many private companies have no bouns to offer or offer only a one-month bonus to staff," Sin Cung-kai, deputy chairman of the Democratic Party, said. "The two month salary from the authority seemed a little higher than the market level."

Mr Sin said it should pay no more than a one-month bonus.

Mr. Yam was paid about HK$9.5 million last year - his last full year in office - down about 4 percent from a year earlier. Government sources have confirmed that Mr. Yam, the de facto central banker in the city, will retire in September.

He remains the second highest paid regulator in the city, below Hong Kong Exchange & Securities Chief executive Paul Chow Man-yiu wh earned about HK$12 million.

The Exchange Fund, which the authority manages, suffered a loss of 5.6% - its first investment loss - last year. The loss appeared to continue in the first two months of this year with the HKMA reporting yesterday that the accumulated surplus n the fund stood at K$403.63 billion in February, down HK$24.2 billion, or 5.66%, from January, which in turn saw a drop of HK$52.82 billion, or 10.99% from December.

Legislator Chim Pui-chung, who represents the financial services sector said, "The investment returns of the Exchange Fund last year was so poor that Mr Yam and other staff should receive a lower bonus."

"I do not think Mr. Yam would mind his pay cut as he will retire in September anyway. What is important is the government should set a fixed term and a more transparent way to set the salary for Mr. Yam's successor."

Mr. Yam earned variable pay of about HK$1.92 million last year and in 2007, HK$2.74 million. His fixed pay last year has not been announced, but if he received an average raise of 5.85 percent like the rest of his staff, it should total HK$7.18 million in 207.

Chan Kam-lam chairman of the Legislative Council's financial affairs panel, said the salaries should not be linked to the performances of HKMA's investments. The pay freeze and two months' variable pay were acceptable, he said.

The salary review was conducted by the governance sub-committee of the fund's advisory panel and approved by Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah.

Singapore is far better than Hong Kong

2009-03-29T12:22:00.010+08:00

It is surprising and one wonders the purpose of TOC printing this article here " Singapore is far better than Hong Kong", link at http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/03/singapore-more-attractive-than-hong-kong-says-expat/ with no commentary from the TOC team.

Anyway, it is pretty surprising that TOC editor-in-chief - Zheng Xi commented on March 26th, 2009 2.15 saying “I actually agree with what the writer said, but don’t like the way he said it. Very smug and insulting. I think there’s a way to talk up Singapore without having to put another country down.” - Agree with the writer, my god, what do we have here at the TOC? Zheng Xi - what do you agree? everything the writer wrote? except for the way it is written?

Typical type of propoganda like the MSM, to make Singaporeans feel good about themselves? Come on Zheng Xi, Singaporeans are better than that or you, for that matter in analysing what the expat wrote is CRAP, and for that matter does not represent what Singaporeans in general think.

TOC should do better than to print offending articles without any commentary and which reflects poorly on Singaporeans especially if it was NOT as true as it has been written, with the possibility of unneccessarily afffecting our good relationship, in this case with HK.

A letter to the Sunday Morning Post today in HK is expressing this sentiment.

Sunday, March 29, 2009, Sunday Morning Post

Singaporeans have a high regard for Hong Kong and its citizen

I refer to the letter by Simon Morliere ("Singapore is far better than Hong Kong in every way", March 22)

I assume that Mr. Morliere is just expressing his personal opinion and not the opinion of thousand of expatriates, including Singaporeans, living and working in Hong Kong nor Singaporeans in general. It is rather sad that he choses to see Hongkongers in this manner.

I have lived in Hong Kong for the past 11 years and I find Hongkongers intelligent, hardworking, enterprising, open minded, innovative, charitable and, most importantly, very tolerant towards non Hongkongers.

Hong Kong is probably one of the safest places to bring up a family, with its efficient police and security forces, very high standards of education that provide a multilingual medium of instruction and also multi-ethnic living environment.

As a member of the Singapore Chamber of Commerce (Hong Kong), I am fortunate to have the opportunity to interact with Hong Kong people from different walks of life and I personally feel that Hongkongers are one of the friendliest and most caring peole in the world

They are fast and efficient in their work, and, as far as I know, Singaporeans do not have the impression that Hongkongers are people who talk and take no action.

Singaporeans living in Hong Kong are very appreciative of the inclusive society that Hong Kong is, where visitors afrom other countries are invariably treated well by Hongkongers.

Vincent Chow, honorary director
Singapore Chamber of Commerce (Hong Kong)

FIRST FEMALE SINGAPORE MINISTER?

2009-03-27T18:18:00.006+08:00

"Singapore will also have its first female cabinet minister when Lim Hwee Hua, 50, currently the junior minister for finance and transport, becomes minister in the Prime Minister’s Office as well as Second Minister for Finance and Transport." in an article by the SIngapore Enquirer at the link http://singaporeenquirer.sg/?p=2942

First female cabinet minister in Singapore - so what? In my humble opinion, she does not represent the female Singaporean, or anywere near it. Her performance has been appalling of late, and what are her achievements to make it there? being female?

Her notable quotes as blogged by http://mysingaporenews.blogspot.com/2009/02/notable-quote-by-lim-hwee-hua.html
"Reserves won't be depleted . They are long-term investors and Govt is confident they will deliver: Lim Hwee Hua"

What are her achievements to merit (through our system of meritocracy?) her being in this position. There are pathetically few, even after googling for more information in the internet which gleaned the following information:

(i) Wkipedia has the following to say of her -

Lim Hwee Hua (陳惠華, born 26 February 1959) is a Singaporean Member of Parliament. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1996. Between 1996-2006, she represented Marine Parade GRC.Since 2006, she has represented Aljunied GRC. She is also currently the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for Finance and Transport. She was Deputy Speaker of Parliament for three years until 2004.[1] In her capacity as Minister, she has given public addresses, such as for the inauguration of services by Tiger Airways [2]

In the 2006 general elections, her party, the PAP, contested Aljunied GRC against the Workers' Party of Singapore. The PAP garnered 56.09% of the votes in this GRC and won.

In 2006, she was appointed as Minister of State, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Finance. In this role, she was the minister in-charge during the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Meetings when held in the country in 2006.

In 2008, she was promoted to the rank of Senior Minister of State, maintaining her appointments at the Transport and Finance Ministries.

In 2009, she made history by becoming Singapore's first full female Cabinet minister, having been appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and promoted simultaneously in both her current ministries to Second Minister rank.

She is married and has 3 children.

(ii) Other information from the internet
- gleaned from the website http://www.siiaonline.org/?q=events/surviving-extraordinary-crisis-dinner-dialogue-with-mrs-lim-hwee-hua states the following about her:

Mrs Lim began her career as an Administrative Officer in the Ministries of Finance, Education and Law. In 1989, she joined Swiss Bank Corporation as an investment analyst and moved on to Jardine Fleming in 1992, where she served as Head of Research and Director of Business Development. In August 2000, she joined Temasek Holdings first as Managing Director of Corporate Stewardship and later, Managing Director of Strategic Relations.

An Overseas Merit Scholar, Mrs Lim graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Mathematics/ Engineering from the University of Cambridge in 1981. She also has a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Los Angeles, majoring in Finance.

Mrs Lim is presently a member of the Central Executive Committee and Chairman of the Women’s Wing of the People’s Action Party.

Is that all she had done to get promoted to be the first female minister?

(iii) Her CV - at http://www.parliament.gov.sg/AboutUs/Org-MP-CV-LimHweeHua.htm

(iv) in the new media by bloggers:

- Her famous fumble in parliament which went unreported in the MSM, reported in mr Brown's blog at http://www.mrbrown.com/blog/2009/02/unreported-lim-hwee-hua-gic-fumble-in-parliament.html

"Mrs Lim Hwee Hua was stumped for words for a few seconds, stammered a little, mumbled something about “it was reported during the budget debate last week”, while frantically flipping her file in front of her to look for an answer. Sylvia Lim spread her hands in a gesture asking “what number”, and Lim Hwee Hua, after not being able to give a specific number, suddenly succumbed and threw out a number, “41%”. The Speaker was nice to Lim Hwee Hua, seeing that she was not very sure of the number herself, and asked if she wants to clarify the number later. She took the opportunity, and since it was also time for the recess at 1520hrs, the Speaker declared that the Parliament go into recess.

* by E-Jay at http://www.sgpolitics.net/?p=2248
* by Civic Advocator at http://civicadvocator.net/?tag=lim-hwee-hua
* by Sg Forums at http://politics.sgforums.com/forums/10/topics/347781?page=1
* by SGFrag at http://sgfrag.net/2009/02/19/the-unreported-lim-hwee-hua-gic-episode/

- petitions - which probably had NO response
* sent by Wayang Party to Lim Hwee Hua at http://wayangparty.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/petition-to-mrs-lim-hwee-hua/.
* sent by Tan Kin Lian at http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2008/10/petition-3-to-mrs-lim-hwee-wah.html

- article by Dr Kenneth Paul Tan’s article, “Who’s afraid of Catherine Lim? The State in Patriarchal Singapore” where he succintly describes her image at link http://catherinelim.sg/2009/03/23/whos-afraid-of-catherine-lim/

What else have she done in the meantime?

(i) Attending meetings, some of which includes?
- MRS Lim Hwee Hua TO ATTEND THE SPECIAL ASEAN+3 FINANCE MINISTERS' MEETING ON 22 FEB 2009 IN THAILAND Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Senior Minister of State for Finance and Transport, will be attending the Special ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers' Meeting on 22 Feb 2009, link at http://www.silobreaker.com/View360.aspx?Item=11_225331, http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/410584/1/.html
- Lim Hwee Hua to attend ASEAN+3 Finance Ministers' Meeting in Phuket, link at http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/410584/1/.html

(ii) making speeches like
- at Zero-GST Warehouse Licences Presentation Ceremony, link at https://www.tradexchange.gov.sg/tradexchange/default.portal;jsessionid=TcJGJMpLTjQYLsTsJTGcQ1TJ28B6XHrS2SLcHjQq8GMYtnhXB1QR!2100961655?_nfpb=true&_nfls=false&_pageLabel=main_hidden&_type=hidden&_page=17july2006openingaddress&_action=view and also speeches, speeches at link http://stars.nhb.gov.sg/stars/public/search.jsp?speaker=Lim+Hwee+Hua
- a peech on Women in parilament? - Am I hearing correctly? at link http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/17657/print
"Our female MPs have been persuasive and impressive during parliamentary sessions, including the recently concluded Budget debate. We have not confined ourselves to the traditional women’s issues but tackle a wide range of matters from inflation to education and healthcare policies, to safety of workers, to helping low-wage workers secure fair terms and conditions of employment, and providing for old age."

Is that how our PM select ministers for his cabinet? Our honorable PM Lee Hsien Loong, what has Lim Hwee Hua achieved, or the criterias, you considered, for you to promote her to be the first female Singapore minister?

Or is it because there no other better choices, or talent? as our venerable Lee Kuan Yew has been lamenting of late? Even Temasek requires an American to be the CEO to run this sinking? ship.

MODERATION OF COMMENTS

2009-03-27T14:28:00.010+08:00

It seems and appear that some websites use "moderation" of comments as an excuse to not print comments that are not supporting the articles that are presented, espcially if this is reflecting and showing the shrotcomings of the editorial board or the writers.

I would have thought that TOC who is claiming to try? to be an alternative media for Singaporeans would be better that their counterpart in the MSM, the ST, to NOT try to censor comments, unless they are racial or religious comments, or a better excuse they (TOC) appear to use "moderate" to screen out negative comments out of their website".

I have tested time and again with ST on the types of comments, articles that they would print in the mainstream and it is clear to me which types they do not print:
(i) with the excuse of having hundreds, or better still that there are thousands of comments, which which they have to select. Is TOC trying to lay claim to this, also?
(ii) on selecting your comment to print, this is not the end of the story - they can censor, take out any portion which is deemed as unsuitable by the editors (a clause & condition which they include when you submit comments, articles to them)
(iii) an article that is seemingly against the view or propoganda, becomes otherwise when the article is printed incomplete and out of context

It appears that the TOC is no better than the ST in this case and I wonder what is TOC definition of moderation? Is this to also screen out/censor comments that are not palatable to TOC? and print only the ones that puts them in positive light?

As with the ST, I have tested this, and note that the detailed comments made on their article, Singapore more attractive than Hong Kong, says expat at:

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/03/singapore-more-attractive-than-hong-kong-says-expat

has NOT yet been published as of now/ 2:43pm 27 March 2009.

The comment at "no. 41) soojenn on Your comment is awaiting moderation. March 26th, 2009 11.36 pm" is still showed on my submission page.

However TOC has published various other comments after mine,

- no. 42) Heong-Gong. on March 26th, 2009 11.52 pm to 48) Heong-Gong on March 27th, 2009 12.21 pm

As with "the boy who knew too much", who was also not publishing comments/rebuttals to his responses, I had a sense that this comment on the TOC may not also be published and have published it on the blog at

http://soojenn.blogspot.com/2009/03/singapore-more-attractive-than-hong.html

just in case, and do NOT believe the that comments could be a possible cause to be censored unless off course, the TOC do NOT want to have views that are opposed to theirs.

I am in general giving the benefit of the doubt, in the event that they (TOC) are too busy...? I have left it till now, 3:07pm on 27 March 2009 and after they have published seven (7) other new comments, including several today.

This brings us to several questions about TOC:
1. what is TOC's definition of moderation?
2. what types of articles / comments do they censor?
3. Are they really the "alternative" they are trying to claim to be? or is this just a show in the initial stages to print provocative articles? that they are differnt. With this new insight I beg to differ

TOC appears to have forgotten that we are in the new media. I do not need, as in the case with the ST for them to print my comments, or articles as it may be. A blog can be easily set up, to do this, print this comment elsewhere like at the Wayang Party or the Singapore Daily where such comments are generally printed, unless it is a racial or religious comment.

Since TOC is not "OPEN" to alternative views of their articles, it will probably be a waste of time to continue to engage with them on their website, as most people now don't with ST or STOMP.

However, if they can still provide interesting, new or provocative news, other than what ST can do, good for them. It will probably be useful, from now onwards, when reading the TOC website, to have a different view of this online website, knowing that they may have censored or moderated out many other comments, other than mine from their website.

Singapore more attractive than Hong Kong, says expat

2009-03-26T23:38:00.017+08:00

I am surprised and wonder the purpose of TOC printing this article at the TOC site, with no commentary from the TOC team, at http://theonlinecitizen.com/2009/03/singapore-more-attractive-than-hong-kong-says-expat/comment-page-1/#comment-59132

Anyway, I am pretty surprised that TOC - Zheng Xi on March 26th, 2009 2.15 am says "I actually agree with what the writer said, but don’t like the way he said it. Very smug and insulting. I think there’s a way to talk up Singapore without having to put another country down."

- Agree with the writer, my god, what do we have here at the TOC? Zheng Xi - what do you agree? everything the writer wrote? except for the way it is written?

Singapore is a better place than Hong Kong. This depends what means better? Better in terms of what?

The writer makes the following statements:
(i) "comforts" - what comforts is he referring to? Are MOST Singaporean very comfortable now?

(ii) "Stability" - is he implying that HK is unstable? HK has never been better after reverting back to China with their one country two systems, meaning the system is left intact but they still get plenty of support from the motherland? I wonder what the angmoh has in mind when he talks about stability. I don't see any chaos, riot in HK although they allow protests on the streets, unlike Singapore who are now even banning the protest of a single person. Before it was 5 persons and above?

(iii) "safety "- I cannot imagine HK being less safe than Singapore

(iv) "cleaner air" - this is probably the only point that I can concur with

(v) "plus the many more nice places and resorts that we can travel to in less than two hours" - like for example? this angmoh must be living in his own ghetto and not integrating, and perhaps living only in the city itself, mixing only with his own kind. There are so much more walks, historical sites (that have not been merciless torn down because the people have a say in it, NOT like in Singapore)

(vi) "and the much more advanced and lively dining and entertainment options" - I cannot imagine....? Singapore more advanced and lively dining and entertainment options? Am I hearing correctly? Give me some examples? does he mean bugis street?

(vii) "This contrasts with the dirty and mundane, yet much more expensive Hong Kong." - dirty and expensive yes, mundane - definately not. Singapore is also catching up to be one of the most expensive cities to live in. The costs of living has come down in HK. The people in HK are more versatile and prices follow the market, and is comparable on the basis of the income.

(ix) "But most important is the ease and efficiency of getting things done in a language I am more comfortable with, English." - there was just another angmoh - another arrogant one at it, a Brit who blogs on "the boy who knows too much" at http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2009/03/mysteries-of-singlish.html, seems to have an opposite view and thinks otherwise, and claims to represent ALL native English speakers, that MOST Singaporeans do not speak intelligble English.

(x) "Singapore beats Hong Kong in so many areas." - like what?

(xi) "Singaporeans may not be upfront with their thoughts and appear to be reserved,.." - does he know why? I am sure most of the people in the New Media can enlighten him. It has absolutely NOTHING to do with being reserved! more like being intimidated with "fear" time and again, and probably beaten into silence.

(xii) " they are not like most arrogant but ignorant Hongkongers who think they know it all, and criticise and comment on almost everything and anything. " - arrogant? looks like he is the more arrogant one from the condescending manner he writes. However he is right on one point and... that's the major difference. Hong Kong has the freedom of speech, to put their views forwards and being reported in the MSM like the SCMP where his critical letter of HK is also published, NOT like in Singapore where most forms of criticisms are blackout in the MSM and hence the reasons for the new media to become popular. Does he know why Singapore has one of the highest number of bloggers in the world as a percentage of the population. The criticisms and comments from the Hongkongers, some of which are then debated in the LEGCO by members of the opposition parties, sufficient enough to make some difference to the Bills to be passed or halted, and NOT railroaded through as can been seen with the various Bills being passed in the Singapore parliament in the past and also recently.

"I can’t help but find most Hongkongers just a bunch of empty vessels, and definitely NATO (no action, talk only idiots - that’s how Singaporeans would describe Hongkongers)." - This is the angmoh's description after probably NOT being able to integrate into that society. I for one would NOT make such condescending remarks. And as Weijia on March 26th, 2009 1.19 am says "I have not met a single Singaporean who describes Hong Kongers as NATO idiots. Mr Moliere should not presume to speak for Singaporeans when he is not even one himself… especially when he is insulting other people."

Perhaps the angmoh have had it when he cannot get the Hongkongers to obey his every word like he could with the Singaporeans... "just listen and don't talk back, I am an angmoh and I am the king. You are all my servants to just do my bidding.. NO questions asked, no comments, no cirticisms - the perfect specie for LKY) and also

As Bruised Ego on March 26th, 2009 6.59 am says"Maybe the Hongkongers never give face to Simon as a foreigner, and Simon’s ego got bruised, hence, tah-boleh tahan and came over to Singapore, then find Singaporeans say “Yes” to everything he says, and worship him like “god” , so he wrote the letter to the paper loh…"

As Mr E on March 25th, 2009 9.18 pm, "HK is alive", dyanmic, not sterile.

As smallvice585 on March 25th, 2009 9.45 pm says "Of course you seldom hear about Singaporans migrating to HK. MSM MEDIA BLACKOUT! Such news would only put PAP in a bad light."

- there are thousands of Singaporeans in HK for that matter.

As winston cheng on March 25th, 2009 10.27 pm "Yeah, every now and then, feature some `ang mohs’ saying how much they love Singapore and we will feel SO..oooo proud. Yeah right, we ain’t that ignorant no more."

- right who is kidding who TOC?

As Curious on March 25th, 2009 11.52 pm asks "Hi, I’m just curious and do find the comments here all very intriguing! Why is it that here there’s someone who heap praise on Singapore, and yet readers here all are so cynical and skeptical? Does this means that readers here had totally given up hope on the fact that there is nothing good about Singapore?"

- it is not that there is nothing good but what written by the angmoh was CRAP and Singaporeans, especially the ones who read widely internationally, and also in the new media can tell what is real and what is a hoodwink.

CAN SINGAPORE FAIL?

2009-03-26T00:06:00.009+08:00

I found an interesting article by Kishore Mahbubani....

To avert failure, Singapore must conceive it – Kishore Mahbubani

MARCH 25 – I have just finished writing an article for the Wilson Quarterly, an American journal, on the topic, “Can America Fail?”

The opening paragraph reads as follows: “In 1981, Singapore’s long-ruling People’s Action Party was shocked when it suffered its first defeat at the polls in many years, even though the contest was in a single constituency. I asked Dr Goh Keng Swee, one of Singapore’s three great founding fathers and the architect of Singapore’s economic miracle, why the PAP lost. He replied, ‘Kishore, we failed because we did not even conceive of the possibility of failure’.”

The simple truth is that any society can fail. America is vulnerable. So, too, is Singapore. And as Dr Goh perceived, the only way to prevent failure is to conceive of failure.

The aim of this article is to stimulate Singaporeans into thinking how Singapore might fail.

Let me emphasise that I do not believe Singapore is going to fail. But to ensure it does not fail, we must think of how it might fail.

Such thinking is absolutely essential as we sail through the biggest economic storm the world has experienced since the Great Depression. I have come to the paradoxical conclusion that Singapore’s greatest strengths may also be the source of its greatest vulnerabilities.

One of Singapore’s greatest strengths is that it is the world’s most globalised nation. The Foreign Policy magazine has a globalisation index. Singapore ranks No.1.

There is no doubt that Singapore has succeeded in a spectacular fashion because it has been the best surfer on the tidal wave of globalisation.

But what happens to the Singapore economy if we move from an era of globalisation to an era of de-globalisation? De-globalisation has not arrived. However, there are early warning signals of its possibility.

Earlier this month, The Washington Post painted a gloomy picture of the global recession, noting that many countries were now entering a period of de-globalisation with plummeting world trade. It noted that Singapore’s predicament was that it faced an “ebbing of a golden age of trade, innovation, wealth accumulation and poverty reduction through globalisation”.

Against this backdrop, we should heed Dr Goh’s advice and conceive of the possibility of globalisation failing. And if it fails, how does Singapore avoid failure?

Another of Singapore’s big strengths is good governance. In May this year, Singapore will celebrate its 50th anniversary of good governance, since self-government in 1959.

As an amateur student of politics who has travelled around the world, I cannot think of any other developing nation that has enjoyed 50 years of good governance.

Singapore is unique; good governance is not the historical norm. Every society in the world, without exception, has experienced bad governance.

Inevitably, Singapore will experience it some day. Can Singaporean society cope with bad governance? Can we ever conceive of the possibility of Singapore experiencing bad governance?

The best way of preparing for bad governance is for the population to rely less on the government to provide solutions and to rely more on individual citizens to find solutions. But the unfortunate corollary of good governance is that Singaporeans have come to rely on the government to solve their problems.

Let me provide one small but significant example: Singapore is one of the cleanest cities in the world. But this happens because we employ an army of cleaners. Few Singaporeans take personal responsibility to remove litter. I see this most vividly when I go running in the East Coast Park after a weekend. Mountains of rubbish are left thoughtlessly everywhere.One way to create a greater sense of responsibility is for each citizen to take individual responsibility for litter. Each citizen should pick up at least one piece of litter each day. If we cannot even pick up our own litter, can we prepare ourselves for the day when more individual responsibility would be needed?

A third strategic strength of Singapore is our ethnic harmony. Indeed, it is remarkable what Singapore has achieved in this area.

One of my favourite comparisons is the following: The British Empire left behind several small multiracial colonies in all corners of the world, including Guyana, Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Fiji. Only one has experienced continuous ethnic harmony since independence: Singapore. Can we fail in this area?

The older generation of Singaporeans has fully absorbed the virtues of ethnic harmony. I experienced that when I accompanied then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong on an official visit to Malaysia.

We stayed in the Carcosa. One day, the Malaysian butler asked Goh what he would like for breakfast. He expected Goh to choose either a Chinese or English breakfast. To his amazement, Goh said: “Get me thosai from Brickfields.”

Goh’s generation of English-educated Singaporeans has a near total blindness to ethnic differences. I am not sure that the younger generation of Singaporeans can match this. Some of the anecdotal evidence I have heard suggests that the younger generation of Singaporeans are more aware of their ethnic differences, partly because of the segregation caused by our second-language policies.

Modern sociological methods of research can tell us whether ethnic harmony is growing or diminishing over time in Singapore. This is one area we need to monitor carefully, if we want to look for possible causes of Singapore failing.

I have suggested only three possible ways how Singapore might fail. The likelihood is that if Singapore fails, the failure will be due to a completely unanticipated cause.

Ironically, Singapore is a legend in military history because it provides a textbook example of how badly things can go wrong when you don’t think of alternative ways of failing.

The British expected a Japanese naval attack on Singapore from the south. Instead, the Japanese came on bicycles from the north. The British discovered too late that their big guns were pointed in the wrong direction.

Winston Churchill and other British leaders were shocked when the supposedly invincible fortress of Singapore fell to the Japanese in February 1942. Having fallen once as a result of a complete surprise, can we fail again?

Pray let us not give any future historian occasion to say of Singapore: “They failed because they did not even conceive of the possibility of failure.” – The Straits Times

____________________________________________________

My take on this is that:

At least, Dr Goh is open to the possiblity that Singapore can fail. However, I wonder if LKY will concur with this interesting perspective, or just believes that as long as he has his one-party is dominantly in rule, with no threat from the opposition, there will be no possibility of failures, and the reason why he has to pay them in the millions. Perhaps this is also possibly why we have had so many recent failures (which LKY and for that matter the government may not perceive it as such) in the financial crisis.... The people in power "did not even conceive of the possibility of failure"?

With regards to good governance, Kishore writes - "Another of Singapore’s big strengths is good governance. In May this year, Singapore will celebrate its 50th anniversary of good governance, since self-government in 1959."

I beg to differ. The definition of good governance includes (can be found in the UN ESCAP link at http://www.unescap.org/pdd/prs/ProjectActivities/Ongoing/gg/governance.asp), unless Kishore is using a different definition, perhaps a UNIQUELY Singapore one:

"Good governance has 8 major characteristics. It is participatory, consensus oriented, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, equitable and inclusive and follows the rule of law. It assures that corruption is minimized, the views of minorities are taken into account and that the voices of the most vulnerable in society are heard in decision-making. It is also responsive to the present and future needs of society."

In view of this definition, I cannot but beg to differ that another of Singapore's big strengths is good governance. Perhaps Kisore should elaborate further on how he is arriving at this conclusion.

"....The likelihood is that if Singapore fails, the failure will be due to a completely unanticipated cause."

In essence the current situation where Singapore has made major losses via GIC, Temasek, Town Councils, and God knows where else, the current ruling party are blaming it some something they cannot anticipate? Are we in the process of failing then...Kishore?

The potential failures are already obvious, in what Kishore thinks as Singapore having as one of its big strengths - good governance.

I don't see the current government being:
(i) participatory - I cannot imagine Singaporeans are called to particpate in any major discussions, especially in issues, laws that affect the citizens. Many examples have shown to be a display or an act of allowing participation. This is a fallacy, proven at the end with the results that what has been discussed at length perphaps over the year, to be discarded and not included in the final laws, act that are implemented, passed as Bills in parliament.
(ii) concensus oriented - the recent events with the Film Act shows otherwise
(iii) accountable - we are still waiting for accountability on some many major issues. Now that Temasek reiterated as being a non government company and can have a foreigner as the CEO, then what is the issue to provide accountability as to how the investments were made by the outgoing CEO Ho Ching?
(iv) transparent - I am still scratching my head to try to convince myself that they are
(v) responsive - we rank 140 and falling for our freedom of speech. Recent reporting or spinning in their angle of news, censoring of feedbacks in the MSM forums doesn't say too much of how responsive the government is. They are responsive ONLY as to protect or perhaps cover up? taking weeks to provide even the most simplistic response.
(vi) equitable and inclusive - I think Singapore is way off the mark here

Out of 7 criteria listed for good governance, they perhaps only make it at two -
(i) "being effective and efficient", by being able to bulldoze their way to implement the various Bills and laws, which will be passed because there is no opposition sufficient to stop them railroading this through
(ii) "follows the rule of the law" - this is an easy one, since the laws are changed as they would have it (in the interest of the country and national security?), and passed simply in parliament, without a beep from the rest of the members of the ruling party.

"The aim of this article is to stimulate Singaporeans into thinking how Singapore might fail."

What is the aim of the article for? if you have a unresponsive government, who are non inclusive and adverse to alternate views which are at times negative.

Dialects - The Mysteries of Singlish

2009-03-24T15:41:00.008+08:00

I found the article by "The boy who knew too much" amusing with his perspective on Singlish. There is a Cantonese saying ... "Lack, than hai mou lan lack". I am sure that there is a Singlish version for this.

When the writer said Singlish is the version current among MOST Singaporeans, I must assume that he had done some research? What was the basis of his assumptions? Who were the people he mixed with? Were these ONLY his spouse's immediate group? or were there others who provided him with this interesting insight.

As Anon 6.54 indicated in a comment on this post, that most of the Singaporeans can code switch. I have no doubt of the abilities of the English educated Singaporeans who are able to do this.

Perhaps before make such sweeping statements regarding Singlish and Singaporeans, the writer should have done more research as to the origins of Singlish, or at the least read the wikipedia which attemps to explain this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singlish. That Singlish is unintelligible to western foreigners is because they do NOT understand the syntax of this version of the English, or take the effort to understand. A Chinese speaker of English would be able to decipher most of the meanings of the phrase.

The phases quoted are literally translated form the Cantonese version -
- "Got people sit one" is from "Yau Yan Chor"
-"Like that also can, a?" is from "Kam Yeung Tou Tak?"
- "Die, die mush finish" - is from "Sei, Sei, Tou You Chou Yuen"

Singlish is NOT impenetrable if one understand the origins, and therefore the syntax used, in this case a Southern Chinese language. Being a researcher and an apparently intelligent writer, it would have been expected that the writer had researched this thoroughly before writing such sweeping statements. Again, perhaps, this is only his narrow views, which of course, he is entitled to.

By the way, I am not condoning the use of Singlish as the national language for Singapore but to write of it in such a condescending manner is not helpful either. A curious question would be if the writer have any Chinese friends or if they are they all of the Malay origin which I summise from his previous articles. Any Chinese person well versed in the English language would have been able to enlighten the writer, the very same thing which I have stated.

Intelligence has no relationship to the ability of a person being able to speak English instead of Singlish. Middle aged Singaporeans in business whom the writer claims to have communicated with - do these happen be the Chinese or English educated Singaporeans? I suppose this has never occured to the writer to try to understand? Most of the Singaporeans who are Chinese educated do not have a good command of the English language. Good expamples, like what the writer has observed and also indicated, include politicians. Low Thia Khiang is Chinese educated and admits freely that his command of the English language is poor. However most English educated Singaporeans are able to speak proper English well. Lee Kuan Yew who graduated from Cambridge, is of course able to speak English eloquently, perhaps more eloquently than most of the English speakers in the UK, where the English language is supposed to have originated? The English language has also its versions - so which version is the writer attributing for this discussion? Queen's English? Cockney English, American English? These are all variations of the English language, and with pronounications that are sometimes unintelligible.

Again, who is the writer claiming to be correcting his English? the coffeeshop stalls below the HDB's? who? I for one, and believe that this includes a multitude of English educated Singaporeans would be able to recognize it when we hear it.

"Singapore is not, in short, an English speaking country, it is a Singlish speaking country with some English speakers in it (those whose English has, perhaps, benefitted from overseas exposure)."

It is interesting to understand how ythe writer arrived at this conclusion, and who were the people he interacts with? I could say the same for the UK, that I wonder if UK is an English speaking country. If you are in Liverpool, one wonders if the English language has really been originated by them?

Dying To Make A Point

2009-03-16T16:37:00.004+08:00

A passing tribute to Dr Allan Ooi and an article well articulated and lucid by "Sam Thoughts".

Each paragraph is so well written. Some of my own thoughts were

"And most of these analyses and speculation are done by folks not trained in media studies, yet they raise enough questions for us to doubt the 'truths' that are spun by mainstream press."

- I don't believe one needs to be trained in media studies to be able to analyze the "truths" more like half truth that the MSM sprouts in the past decade and more. With the availability of alternative information from the new media, the picture is evidently much more glaring.

"The case of NTU student David Widjaja. There have been facts, no doubt. But people have pointed out the manner in which these facts have been pieced together. The manner in which a news medium stitches a story is called an angle. It is a particular spin put on the information."

- I do not think that people are only disputing the manner in which the facts have been pierced together.. some concoction of the story is baseless and without facts, and do not do justice to the the deceased.

"The case of Dr Allan Ooi also prompted some netizens to point out certain media blackouts on some details. The official reason for a 'blackout' is usually the news organisation's reluctance to engage/report speculation until they confirm it with credible sources. That is textbook journalism and journalistic integrity. But what if these "credible sources" are dubious themselves."

- reluctance of news organisation to engage/report speculation until they confirm it with credible sources? The MSM was already prnting speculation but on Dr Ooi's personal life and possibly unrelated reasons. It is difficult to understand what journalistic integrity there is to blackout , in Dr Ooi's case the work related issues. I will be surpised if the MSM like the ST or the Chinese papers have an ounce of journalistic integrity.

The dead will definately have a more profound impact on the society at large, especially if this is someone who appears to have it all, a SAF scholar, a medical officer, a well heeled family. If this is someone from the lower rungs of society, it will just be dismissed as an mental person, or more with economic problems, etc.. There are already examples..

"I find it ridiculous that we continue to individualise and medicalise such cases. Blame it on depression, blame it on gaming, blame it on gambling. This is how we attempt to rationalise and neutralise death and disaster. We check not the foundations upon which we stand and on which our system also sits. At the same time, it may seem a little far-fetched for most of us to continually politicise everything we experience, resulting in an over-rational and bordering-on-speculative externalisation of our problems."

- this is how the MSM seem to work, blaming it on depression, etc.. and not attempt to take a reflection and "check on the foundations upon which we stand and ..." and not the netizens. Do you think that in the current situation with Dr Ooi, that this has been over-rationalized? I don't think so. It is usually with cases that affect the system, government, that news, information are "blacked out" by the MSM - in this case his work issues with SAF, which I am sure that there are many reliable sources to cofnirm this. At the least, they should make the effort to investigate the deceased's claims and not just white wash over it.

".....It is still very unfortunate we see such individuals as not being able to cope, and never consider that it might be the system/establishment itself that is the one that isn't coping well."

- To me, it is clear from the note from Dr Ooi that he knows and understands clearly why he is doing it. It is the system/establishment itself that cannot reconcile this, and will not accept it failures or even a mention of any possiblity during the current ruling party's reign and will probably continue in the next decade if they are still in power.

".....Unpredictability is uncertainty, and uncertainty is always a challenge to any one, never mind a leadership or a system."

- Sam has hit the nail on the spot.. isn't it evident with the current system trying to crush any possible dissent, uncertainty at the slightest notice of this.

I do not condone suicide but as Sam put it succintly, I do not rationalize it as cowardly.. In Dr Ooi's case, I believe he had thought through this thoroughly in months, to even be able to write his thoughts so luidly.

"We are bound to a culture of political correctness, such that large-scale self-censorship (superego... away!) prevails. So the advocacy of suicide and (interpretive forms of) martyrdom is socially unacceptable. But does it make it morally wrong?"

- why do you think we should be bound to a culture of political correctness? this is the brainwashing when you start your education in a PAP kindergarden and educational systems of the governement. Good question on if it makes it morally wrong. Well in this society in Singapore, governed by the current ruling party, it is morally wrong and needs to be blacked out in areas were it will leave a black mark on the system or the government.

TEMASEK HOLDINGS COSTS CUTTING

2008-11-22T15:40:00.002+08:00

Look like we get more information from overseas report like Reuters..

"SINGAPORE, Nov 21 - Singapore's state investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] said on Friday it would cut pay across the board in a bid to slash costs as the firm projects tough economic conditions in 2009 and beyond.
Temasek, headed by Ho Ching, the wife of Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said senior managers had volunteered to take a pay cut of between 15 and 25 percent."

Senior Managers had volunteered to take the pay cut? including or not including Ho Ching. The government top salaries are pegged to the top private sectors - so is Mr lee Hsien Loong, and his senior ministers? looking to volunteer to take a pay cut? of between 15 to 25%, or they will have some ludricrous excuses to still main the high salaries of the senior ministers who has not shown their abilities or capabilities in managing the current crisis.

"We anticipate a global recession in 2009 and possibly beyond. Therefore, Temasek will institute a firm-wide wage cut," said Robert Chong, managing director of human resources at Temasek.
Chong also said the current crisis "will throw up tremendous opportunities" and that the majority of wage savings will be borne by their key managers. Temasek said it aimed to increase headcount by 15 percent over the next two years."

The government should follow the expample - institute a minitry wide wage cut!

"Temasek owns stakes in global banks such as Standard Chartered , Barclays , Merrill Lynch , Bank of China <601988.SS> and India's ICICI Bank , the stocks of which have all fallen as the credit crisis unfolded, some of them very sharply."

So what has the multi million dollar salaries done for Singapore. We were supposed to have the TOP, brightest people in control? What do we have then?

"Final government data released on Friday confirmed that Singapore was in recession. The city-state's economy shrank at a worse-than-expected rate of 6.8 percent on an annualised and seasonally adjusted basis in the third quarter, and the government said the economy may shrink next year."

So the government is finally conceeding to having a full blown recession?

Singapore - A Police State

2008-01-02T17:30:00.001+08:00

It is interesting that most if not all of the governement departments in Singapore government are linked.

I have been away from Singapore for more than 15 years, and imagine my surprise on receiving a scanned copy of a "failure to file return" from the IRAS from my family in Singapore as I am still away from Singapore, and who panicked on receiving this. This the the first letter from the IRAS after more than 15 years and it is a letter of composition and penalty - for Pay and Pay? The contents of the letter starts ...

"You have not filed the following for the Year of Assessment 2007 by 15 April 2007 - Documents/Form B1. This is an offence under the Income Tax Act. The penalty is a fine not exceeding S$1000.

However I am prepared to compound this offer if you forward all of the following to me WITHIN THE NEXT 14 DAYS.
(a) the required form B1
(b) payment of the composition fee of S$50

If the offer of composition is not accepted a summons will be issued.

Please note that if you pay the composition fee WITHOUT filing of the form B1, such payment will be treated as credit to your tax account and a summons will be issued to you.

.........

Leo Linda Geraldine (Miss)
Assistant Manager
Enforcement Division
for Comptroller of Income Tax

------------------------------------------------------

It reflects basically from this experience;

how very efficient the government is, in collecting taxes, issuing fines & penalty irrespective, and espeically in compounding such fines, to unimaginable amounts over and above of the original penalty
how well linked all the departments are, especially the IRAS, and the data of each and every Singaporean that they share. It wouldn't be too far fetched to believe that they will also have the information of all your bank accounts of banks in Singapore, especially DBS?

Like LKY has mentioned in some of his speeches before, Singaporeans are just digits... the Singapore ID, and all information of these digits are controlled by his autocratic and draconian government, every single detail for his use if he has needs for this.

Just imagine, I have been away from Singapore for more than 15 years. I couldn't figure out what the tax filing was for, so I called up the IRAS for them to clarify. Not surprisingly, they knew I had rental income in 2006 (for a property which I had purchased back then), and I had no idea after being away so long that this is personally taxable. I have paid for the property tax in advance. They have also expected me to do the filing online? Like some bloggers have mentioned, do they expect all Singaporeans to be internet computer/literate.

Not so, and even if they are, the ones who really need the government assistance may not have the access to computers or afford them, let alone have enough food to feed the family, and they expect everyone to claim their GST offsets online. Who is kidding who?

This autocratic government is also an expert in compounding fines to unimaginable amounts over the original penalties, which usually happens to the poor, since they may not be able to pay in that time frame, and if this happens, they then issue a warrant of arrest? How riddiculous? An obvious daylight robbery legalised by this autocratic government. I believe many Singaporeans have also encountered such ridiculous experiences.

I suppose Miss Leo Linda Geraldine is doing her job superbly in helping the government to collect more money to pay for the astronomical salaries for our PM, his ministers,and not forgetting the MM and SM

Donating To Charity

2006-12-16T18:45:00.001+08:00

HK people are tops on donating to charity - Straits Times 16 Dec 2006 Page 10
An extract of the article in the Straits Times, but written by Reuters.

When action star Jacky Chan announced he would leave half his fortune to his charity that helps young people, the news barely created a ripple in his homecity.
- I suppose we hardly see any examples from local Singapore stars.

That is because his largesse is typical in Hong Kong.
- and NOT typically so in Singapore

The southern Chinese enclave may be a beacon of the free-market capitalism with the highest number of Rolls Royces per capita in the world.
- The Hong Kong government does not go into the businesses or competes with the people as with the Singapore government, which is in any business possible and competes with the local SME's. They are in the coffin business, the logistics business, the insurance.... any trade that you can name, they are in it, and are eventually squeezing out these SME's from whatever business is doable, in the guise of government related companies, that is, the likes of GIC, subsidiaries of government related companies and organisations, taking all the lucrative bsuinesses.

But its residents are also among the world's most generous donors to charity, a trend that is accelerating.
Charitable donations by Hong Kong companies surged 83% between 2000 and 2004 to HK$1.28 millions while donations by individuals jumped by 56% to HK$2.89 billion according to the latest data from the Inland Revenue.
- Hong Kong does not yet have POOR experience that Singaporeans have had with the likes of NKF, which is supposed a government managed charity and which do not appear to have the transparency and accountability expected of such an organisation.

The territory's commitment to charity may appear to be odd bedfellows with its laissez-faire economic policy that encourages self reliance.

But Mr. Woods said of the city's philanthropic tendencies: "Hong Kong is a culture of performance and results. People want to know that if they give they can see a direct result."
- In Singapore, presumably most people refrain from giving generously in view of the various scandals that has happened involving the NKF and or any other charities which may not have come to light. Most people who donates in general likes to see the direct result of the donation, not just talk of what will happen as in the case of most of the Singapore charities, and the major amount of the donation is contributing to the administration of these charities, and could be as high as 60% and in some instances where millions have been paid out for bonuses?

In Singapore - 'Adopting' and caring for families in their own time - Straits Times 16 Dec 2006 Page H10 by Jessica Lim

- The Breadline Group (http://www.breadlinegroup.org/) : This is a plausible charity to contribute to, where the group are formed mainly of volunteers, and the expenses are kept to the minimum.
However shouldn't the Singapore government be doing more? After all, aren't they saying ALL the time that the economy has picked up and everything is going well.
The story in the Straits Times may only be the tip of the iceberg, as there are many others who do not want to be named or interviewed.

Job Creation Hits Record High

2006-12-16T18:45:00.000+08:00

Job creation hits record high - New Paper 16 Dec 2006 Page 24
No work because I'm short - New Paper 16 Dec 2006 Page 8
Jobs created at an all-time high - Straits Times 16 Dec 2006 Page16

New Paper quotes statistics from the MOM... 43,000 jobs created in the third quarter of the year, the "highest ever recorded" said the Manpower Ministry (MOM) yesterday"

- highest ever recorded? since when? Figures don't tell the full picture and papers such as the New Paper and Straits Times, both propogating what the government wants the population to hear ONLY, and are in general providing incomplete information, which in turn mislead. Basic information which should be included, have NOT been provided albeit conveniently or perhaps the writers are incapable of extracting this from the source:
(i) what type of jobs are created? ... for cleaners, road sweepers, Fast Food centers waiters, what???
(ii) which industries are these in?
(iii) what was the salary ranges of these jobs?

MOM also claimed:
"The jobless rate among residents fell to 3.6% in September, from 4.2 % a year ago"
- what type of jobs were these residents filling? massuers, garbage collectors?

"The proportion of unemployed workers who have been job hunting for more than six weeks also shrank to 0.7% in September, a six-year low"
- how is this % arrived at? I am intirigued as I still hear from many people I have spoken to, describe about the difficulty that they have in finding jobs after being retrenched. Six weeks is a short time. If the MOM is claiming this, they should show us some data on this. Many of the people are unemployed for months on end, some in years.

New Paper writer Alvin Chiang (alchiang@sph.com.sg) writes a pathetic article "No work because I'm short" of one case which is not representative, perhaps to try to show the MOM case that there is more work? in the market but the people are picky and choosy? Perhaps Alvin is unable to get anyone else to be interviewed, knowing how this will be portrayed as has now happened, by a writer of a Singapore newspaper known to propogate the government's view.

Instead of showing empathy for Mr. Leong Tse Seng, the writer criticises him for quitting the office job... Mr. Leong is 57 and has apparently some physical disabilities. It is unimaginable that Bizlink Centre Singapore is unable to find him a job closer to where he lives and take into consideration the disabilities. Didn't the MOM as just reported by Alvin proclaim that are jobs aplentiful?

Straits Times writers Lydia Lim & Keith Lin must be kidding when they sang the same tune with their couinterparts in New Paper Alvin and appears to be propogating further what the MOM wants heard -
(i) NUS labor economist Park Cheolsung - how would he know that " the economic growth has a positive effect even on the unskilled workers"? on what basis is his comments? just because he is an economist in the NUS? people in such position who make statements should provide the basis of their statements.
(ii) "NTUC president John de Payva said on Wednesday that companies were likely to pay an average bonus of rwo to three month's this year."
- I am surprised but perhaps shouldn't be, as he is probably part of the setup of the government machinery. Well let's watch and see what happens at the end of this year, and if he has to EAT his words! John de Payva could perhaps have been already promised the two to three months bonus for this year.

Expensive Wine Cafe in Orchard Road

2006-12-16T18:08:00.000+08:00

I went with two friends to the cafe next to the California Fitness Centre in Orchard Road on 13 Dec 2006 after our dinner to continue our chat after not meeting each other for a long time.

The place though relatively pleasant delivered a shock when my friend ordered a glass of red wine. The wine was costing more than S$9 per glass and delivered in a glass shockingly less than 1/3 full. After several discussions with the people in the cafe, they insisted that this is the company's policy, to serve the wine which they claimed is 150 cc and is a standard. Totally shocking - 5-star hotel price for the wine at ridicuously low quantities. The cafe is set in the open air.

We spoke eventually to the supervisor who insisted that this is the management's policy for all their establishments. We did not bother to find out where or what the other establishment were as we were not planning to visiting this place again.

On leaving, there was a group of people apparently having too much to drink, seemingly starting to brawl, and so we were glad to be leaving probably never to be back again.

AsiaMedia :: SINGAPORE: Believe those blogs? Only 1 percent find them credible

2006-11-10T10:19:00.000+08:00

AsiaMedia :: SINGAPORE: Believe those blogs? Only 1 percent find them credible

Although newpapers provide full coverage, it depends on which newspapers we are talking about. I think only 1 % will find the Straits Times credible. At least bloggers are writing from experience, perhaps with some biasness. The Straits Times on the other hand is a pure government propaganda machine, most of the aricles written of which are biased towards the government, and forum pages only print articles censored or fitting the line of the government. reading the same news on several different newspapers will clearly show how pathetic and inadequate the coverage from the Straits Times is.

As this survey is commissioned by the Straits Times, one wonders about the accuracy of the survey. Who did they commission to do the survey? How many participants were there? What were the demographics? Using percentages have usually been misleading with no actaul data to support this.

I cannot imagine why news website should be lagging behind on credibility, as most of these news websites are part of the newspapers, which provide an alterenative medium ofr overseas readers. Perhaps no one is reading the Straits Times news website, as no one would like to pay for propogana, and where most of the other websites are free.

NUS - Faculty of Science. Dept Head Selection

2006-10-30T06:21:00.002+08:00

It is not surprising that many high quality people appear no longer interested in joining NUS or its current set of "dead woods" in the Department of Pharmacy since:
• The selection of the Head of Department, especially for the Pharmacy department in the Faculty of Science carried out by its Dean of Science Prof. Tan Eng Chye is probably as much of a joke as it can get by (i) Putting up the advertisement on the NUS website to search for this potential head, which is just a front and an exercise to follow the procedures so that he cannot be faulted, (ii) using biased selection process of providing insufficient information to the selection team on the candidates, (iii) and then using this an excuse that the university has been unable to find a suitable head, having supposedly followed all the procedures, (iv) and finally selecting his own stooge Assoc Prof - Chan Sui Yung as Head of Dept of Pharmacy which was probably the Dean's original intention from the start
• A university's standing is measured by its ability to produce credible researchers who publish in well known and recognized peer reviewed journals and publications. Assoc Prof Chan Sui Ying has dismal records of research or publishing in any well known journals, which is shown by the lack of reference to such works in the NUS website. If there is any, it can be probably be counted on one hand. To have someone who lacks the calibre in research to lead the department which is already weak and lacking in credible research works is confounding.

During the selection process, apparently
• one potential candidate changed his mind on the offer probably because of the way the department has been run and
• is probably expected to be run in the way the Dean would have it, that is, it appears more important on how it is to be able to be a "yes" man to the Dean, and it is apparent that Assoc Prof Chan Sui Ying is fitting this description perfectly, to take his bidding without question, instead of running the department as it should be and moving it forward to improve its dismal records for research.

It is also disdainful for the Dean of Science to:
• label potential candidates from lesser known universities as "unknown, small, unheard off and irrelevant" when the university in mind has more students than the NUS, and
• write off the candidates on this basis, besides of their impressive CV's which had much more (hundreds) of research papers written and published in well known Pharmaceutical journals, as compared to the current Head of Department and the Dean put together, who has so pathetically few, perhaps none in any well known publications.

Guandong wants Singapore investments

2006-10-30T05:50:00.000+08:00

The article written by Peh Shing Huei on October 28, 2006 in the Straits Times fails to provide a clear and accurate picture of Singapore investments in China.."After successful invstments in China's Jiangsu, Lioaning and Shandong provinces, will Guandong be the new frontier for Singapore.... told visiting Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday that he would like Singapore to bring its successes in other parts of China to its southernmost province."

What were the successful investments, and in what terms have they been measured? I don't see any examples being listed. What about the failures where Singapore lost at least a billion dollars in investments in China with Singaporean's money?

Wee Shu Min - Give her a break

2006-10-30T04:23:00.000+08:00

Give her a break.. everyone is entitled to their view. No apologies should necessary. The view may be blunt and insensitive, but it is still a veiw. Don't crucify Wee Shu Min just because her father is a MP.

Who is Ong Soh Chin to say that an apology is required? Just because she is a senior writer for the Straits Times.

Using the example of "a friend and her young son..." in her article on Sat., Oct 28, 2006 is hardly relevant to this case. However she correctly points out at the end of her article "At the end of the day, it is perhaps not up to me or anyone else to judge Miss Wee."