Home » Archive for September, 2007
Archive for September, 2007
Free Burma! International bloggers to support freedom for Burma on Oct 4th
Sep. 30 | LATEST: Several Burmese nationals at the Peninsula Plaza in Singapore have told TOC that the Singapore police has stopped Burmese nationals from wearing and selling t-shirts with the words “STOP Bloodshed In Myanmar”. Many Burmese were seen wearing...
Debt of Honour: Singapore’s Ties to Burma’s Junta
Sep. 29 | This is an updated article of the one published on TOC earlier, titled “Singapore’s debt of honour”. By Benjamin Cheah The crisis in Burma is escalating. For the first time in two decades, the people are taking to the streets. It started...
TOC On Site: More than 1,000 gather at Burmese temple in solidarity
Sep. 29 | By Andrew Loh I met my Burmese contact at Toa Payoh MRT at 7 pm. A tip off had told TOC that members of the Burmese community were organizing a special prayer service to be held at the Burmese Buddhist Temple off Balestier Road. I was expecting a couple...
TOC Breaking News: Singaporean graduate student files application for Burma protest
Sep. 29 | The remark on Andrew Teo’s online application form to protest the violence in Burma is simple: “Free Burma. General Than Shwe: Stop the killing”. This afternoon, Mr Teo, a graduate student at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and telecommunications...
TOC condemns violent crackdown on peaceful Burma protesters
Sep. 27 | LATEST: Burma seals off key monasteries – BBC LATEST: S’porean man shot and kicked by Myanmar riot police – Straits Times In recent weeks, the world has witnessed the largest peaceful street protests against the military government to...
“That is what we are elected to do” – MP Josephine Teo
Sep. 27 | By Andrew Loh In a letter to the Straits Times Forum Page on September 25, MP for Bishan-Toa Payoh, Mrs Josephine Teo (right) said: “I REFER to the Insight special on CPF reforms (ST, Sept 22). Journalist Li Xueying had raised a number of issues for...
Bloggers’ reaction to protest in Burma
Sep. 27 | LATEST: Burma monastries in night raids – BBC “Witnesses say security forces in Burma have launched raids on monasteries and arrested scores of monks..” Please sign the petition in support of the people of Burma. Myanmar needs our support…...
Time to take a stand – an open letter to George Yeo
Sep. 26 | UPDATE (28 Sept): Jie Kai has informed TOC that Minister George Yeo has read the following Open Letter. TOC also understands that ASEAN ministers are in “intense discussions” about the situation in Burma. Dear Mr Yeo, The situation in Myanmar has...
Monks lead protest in Burma
Sep. 26 | Latest: Burmese riot police attack monks – BBC Below are 2 BBC reports on the protests in Burma which are being led by Buddhists monks. You can also view another BBC report here. Pictures of the protest here and here, The Democratic Voice Of Burma.
Why does HDB need to increase prices of flats so rapidly?
Sep. 26 | By Leong Sze Hian I REFER to the article, ‘HDB launches sixth build-to-order project in Fernvale.’ (ST, Sept 21). The HDB’s pricing policy recently has increased the prices of new flats, and may lead to Singaporeans having to incur higher...
TOC report: Public forum on ASEAN Human Rights Working Group
Sep. 25 | By Andrew Loh and Choo Zheng Xi The modest sized Victoria Room at Allson Hotel was packed to overfilling with 90 people who were there to attend the public forum on the establishment of a Singapore Human Rights Working Group. It was chaired by well-known...
Can bloggers be journalists? Leslie Fong: “Emphatically not!”
Sep. 24 | The following quote is by Leslie Fong (picture, right), taken from the Singapore Press Club website here. Fong’s quote is in reply to the question posed : “Are bloggers journalists?” TOC is highlighting this so that our readers, and fellow bloggers,...
Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9: Are our ministers also confused by the annuity… erm… Longevity Insurance scheme?
Sep. 24 | By Andrew Loh and Leong Sze Hian Just when we thought the confusion was over! Do you get the feeling that this annuity …erm… sorry… this Longevity Insurance thing is messed up? Even the New Paper reported that Singaporeans “liak bo kiew” (literally:...
TOC Report: PM Lee at NUS Ministerial Forum
Sep. 22 | By Ng Sook Zhen If Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong were right, even if we change Singapore twice over, there still will be many improvements to be made. KT Speaking at the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum organized by the National University of Singapore Students’...
TOC Opinion: PM Lee at NUS: Where’s the substance?
Sep. 22 | By Choo Zheng Xi The Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum was a surreal experience. Throughout the forum, I had trouble believing that this event was being held the day after one of the most contentious Parliamentary sittings I had ever followed was concluded....
Is compulsory Longevity Insurance necessary?
Sep. 21 | SUMMARY (in italics, by Yeo Toon Joo, Peter): Contrary to the Manpower Minister’s protestations in parliament over CPF’s poor rates of return to members and the unpopular proposed longevity insurance scheme, the Government, if it so inclines, can...
When saying “traditional, conservative society” doesn’t cut it anymore
Sep. 19 | By Joel Tan The spotlight is once again on the fight for gay rights in Singapore- it is an increasingly emotional war of words and like all wars, is inherently fruitless. I say fruitless because, after 22 years since the last review of the penal code...
Subtle but significant shift in government’s stance
Sep. 18 | By Andrew Loh If you were in Parliament, as I was, when the Manpower Minister, Dr Ng Eng Hen, delivered his ministerial statement on the changes to the CPF, you might have noticed a very telling omission. It was also a very significant one. What...
Highlights from Parliament
Sep. 18 | Committee to study annuity scheme A new committee will be set up to study the National Longevity Insurance Scheme, which is better known as “annuity”. Manpower Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen said in Parliament that this committee will be chaired by...
Hong Lim Park protest – revisited
Sep. 16 | The international media was not there, neither were there scores of policemen and policewomen or helicopters circling above. There was no big crowd and the only photographers clicking away were a handful – from the local press and some members of the...
TOC Breaking News: Police allow SDP march to Parliament
Sep. 16 | The police have allowed a protest march by Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) activists to take place without incident. At 3.10 pm this afternoon, a group of six SDP activists turned up at Singapore’s Speaker’s Corner at Hong Lim Park to commemorate...
Statistics: Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9?
Sep. 16 | By Leong Sze Hian I refer to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) “Labour Report, Second Quarter, 2007: The strong labour market performance last year has continued into the first half of this year”, dated 14 September, 2007 (pdf file) It...
Highlights of questions to be asked in Parliament by MPs
Sep. 16 | Below are highlights of some of the questions which MPs will be asking in the September 17th (Monday) sitting of Parliament. Ministerial Statement: Minister for Manpower: CPF Reforms and Other Measures for a Secure Retirement. QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWER On...
Playing an active part as Singaporeans
Sep. 15 | By Andrew Ong After casual exchanges with friends over some local socio-political issues, I have to say that generally, majority of us Singaporeans take a very passive if not an apathetic approach when it comes to Singapore socio-political issues. I...
Education and excellence through a fairer Tuition Grant program
Sep. 13 | By Pin-Quan Ng In his National Day Rally address, our prime minister suggested the possibility of developing a fourth public university to meet the increasing demand for university education, perhaps in response to the recent controversy over the number...
Analysis of PTC’s news release on fare increase
Sep. 12 | By Leong Sze Hian I refer to the Public Transport Council’s (PTC) News release on 11 September, on the increase in bus fares from 1 October. I would like to comment on the following:- “PTC considered Singapore‘s economic outlook...
Public Transport: Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9?
Sep. 11 | In light of the just-announced increase in transport fares (again), theonlinecitizen has decided to publish this series of letters which our writer Leong Sze Hian had sent to the press over the last few years. This is to allow the public to see for themselves...
TOC Exclusive: Otto Fong’s Open Letter
Sep. 10 | Theonlinecitizen has obtained a copy of the original blog entry by Raffles Institution teacher, Otto Fong. It also includes comments which were originally posted by readers of his article. The original posting on his own blog has since been taken down....
TOC Breaking News: Gay teacher deletes his “coming out” article
Sep. 10 | Latest Update (10 Sept, 20:00 hours): TOC understands that Otto’s case has attracted the attention of the Ministry Of Education. We expect both MOE and Raffles Institution to release a press statement on the matter very soon. Otto Fong is a gay teacher...
TOC Report: annuity protest draws small crowd
Sep. 9 | A protest against the government’s move to introduce an annuities scheme was held at Centrepoint on Saturday afternoon. Around 30 people were spotted wearing black throughout the five storey shopping mall, but it was unclear how many of them were...
The Internet’s reaction to Otto Fong
Sep. 9 | Below are some reactions from the internet regarding Raffles Institution teacher Otto Fong’s “coming out” blog post. Letter to Raffles Institution regarding Otto Fong by Jasper Chen “I must say that I am deeply touched by Mr Fong’s article....
Planning cycling events: Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9?
Sep. 8 | By Leong Sze Hian I refer to Sembawang GRC MP Lim Wee Kiak explanation to the media that, “While it is true that the YP had put up on its calendar a night cycling event on July 28, it was canned because of poor response from residents. Also, it...
Canned events not due to WP ban: Young PAP
Sep. 8 | Straits Times report, Sept 7, 2007 A MOVE by Young PAP (YP) to drop two outdoor events from its calendar has invited online talk that it was prompted by what happened to the Workers’ Party recently. But that is not true, two PAP MPs, who are advisers...
Young PAP removes “Night Cycling” item from its website
Sep. 7 | For latest update – please see below The YoungPAP has removed its “Night Cycling Event” item from its “Event Calendar” (sic) page on its website. The item was previously listed in the folder “Event Calendar – YoungPAP”, under the month...
“Ministers are not given pensions” – Halimah Yacob
Sep. 5 | By Andrew Loh “Ministers are not given pensions, not the ministers after a certain age, similar to civil servants…. Civil servants after 1984, ‘86 no longer are paid pensions. They’re all on CPF, the same as ministers. So whatever other schemes...
What has university places got to do with compulsory annuities?
Sep. 5 | By Leong Sze Hian According to the article “Fourth varsity: Third time’s the charm?” (Straits Times, September 1), 23.5 per cent of each cohort makes it to the local universities, “But what is significant though is that up to half...
3rd World Savings, 1st World Cost of Living
Sep. 4 | This is a letter from Jason, one of our readers. It has been argued strongly that elderly Singaporeans are not saving enough, despite the CPF scheme. This is hardly surprising. The CPF was introduced in 1955 when Singapore was a Third World colony. Our...
Senior government officials should do better
Sep. 3 | By Andrew Loh Four recent issues need a closer look. Minister of State for Education Lui Tuck Yew’s remarks about the Alfian Saat case. Minister of State for Education and Manpower Gan Kim Yong’s expected clarification in Parliament about foreign...
