Home » Archive for January, 2008
Archive for January, 2008
Healthcare: Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9 – How mean can means testing be?
Jan. 31 | By Leong Sze Hian I refer to the articles “No basis for rise in premiums” (Today, Jan 29), “MediShield premiums to go up for better cover” (ST, Jan 30), “Half of workers to get full subsidy” (ST, Jan 16), and “Means testing...
Means testing or comprehensive medical insurance?
Jan. 30 | By Gerald Giam Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has announced that means testing will likely be implemented in restructured hospitals by the end of this year. Although the details of how it is going to be administered have not been confirmed, one fact seems...
TOC Opinion – Police: Foreigners not allowed to complain
Jan. 28 | By Joel Tan Singapore residents have made notable complainers over the years, in what may, along with eating, be described as the nation’s favourite past-time. Over the weekend, however, an interesting twist on this seemingly harmless activity has...
TOC Report: Bureacratic muddle leads to canning of International Fringe Festival event
Jan. 27 | By Choo Zheng Xi Members of the Singapore Complaints Choir have an additional grievance to add to their future lyric sheets: they have been effectively muzzled by the city state’s police. The arrival of the Finnish ‘Complaints Choir’ in Singapore...
Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9 – helping the poor?
Jan. 26 | By Leong Sze Hian I refer to the article “Second shot at ComCare for needy families” (ST, Jan 13), and media reports about the setting up of a ComCare Supervisory Committee to reconsider borderline cases that do not qualify for ComCare assistance. The...
My future as a Singapore citizen
Jan. 23 | By Andrew Ong Much attention has been on Singapore‘s greying population and it will likely remain a perennial national challenge for many years to come. According to the United Nations, population ageing will be most significant in Asia. By year...
Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9 – Workfare statistics?
Jan. 22 | By Leong Sze Hian I refer to the articles “Workfare payout going out to 287,000″ (ST, Dec 29), “First Workfare payments to be made on Jan 1″ (BT, Dec 29), and “Workfare Income Supplement Payment on New year’s day”...
Election reform effort needs everyone’s involvement – forum
Jan. 20 | By Andrew Loh Chaired by the Singapore Democratic Party chairman, Mr Gandhi Ambalam, the election reform public forum at the Allson Hotel focused on getting Singaporeans from all persuasions to be involved in the effort. The speakers were Mr Chia Ti Lik,...
Principals who put down students have no place in educating our young
Jan. 20 | By Andrew Loh ‘It is very sad when your principal doesn’t have faith in you and will not give you a chance.’ - Student from school where the principal’s “apply for ITE” remarks sparked outrage. That sums it up for me. This is...
“The people look to us for leadership. Let us provide it.” – Dr Chee Soon Juan
Jan. 18 | By Andrew Loh This Sunday at the Allson Hotel at Victoria Street, members of The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) will head a public forum calling for election reform in Singapore. The forum, titled “Reform of the Election System in Singapore”, is...
Have we lost our audacity to hope?
Jan. 17 | By Choo Zheng Xi I’m completely unashamed to admit that watching Barack Obama give his Iowa Caucus victory speech sent shivers down my spine and made me more than a little misty eyed. This wasn’t the first time I felt this way watching him speak:...
HDB to provide Mdm Lee with new stall
Jan. 12 | HDB compromises with Mdm Lee. Update: Reprieve for ex-hawker by TODAY, Jan 15. By Andrew Loh “If you had a mother who’s been working all her life, would you still want her to work at such an advanced age?”, Ms Gina Lau asked when explaining why...
HDB’s mistake but she’s made to pay – 4 years later
Jan. 11 | By Leong Sze Hian A close friend whom I have known for about 20 years, a 75 year-old widow, has received a registered letter from the HDB, informing her that “HDB had mistakenly paid her the sum of $18,000 under the impression that she was eligible...
A gracious society? I’d settle for a gracious government
Jan. 9 | Where is the graciousness in govt?
Cabby’s actions now not “illegal”. He only “flouted rules”
Jan. 9 | By Gerald Giam Last night (this morning actually), I wrote a post commenting about the article, Discount ads on taxis illegal: LTA, which appeared in the late Monday night (7 Jan) edition of the Straits Times. The sub-header was, “Marketing tactics...
2007: The year virtual reality shaped reality – A review of the new media landscape in 2007
Jan. 6 | By Terence Lee for theonlinecitizen Who would have known that in a brightly-lit street along Clarke Quay, an old trishaw driver would attain near-celebrity status when he was bullied by three British tourists. Certainly not the trishaw driver. The video...
Al Jazeera talks to Singapore university students
Jan. 5 | Riz Khan of Al Jazeera hosts a panel of 6 university students from the city-state of Singapore. They discuss their country’s restrictions on many freedoms for the sake of order and stability, as well as relations between the various ethnicities...
The healthcare funding gap
Jan. 4 | Special blog feature: By Yawning Bread Leong Sze Hian devours numbers like almost no one I know. Recently, he noticed something about healthcare costs and subsidies that begged a lot of questions, and on at least 3 occasions, he tried to interest me in...
Ministerial Pay: Uniquely Singapore, F1 or F9?
Jan. 3 | By Leong Sze Hian 77% Private sector benchmark = 9 months performance + GDP bonus? I refer to the Public Service Division’s (PSD) reply “Public sector’s benchmark pay includes all bonuses” (Today, Dec 26) to my letter “A...
Singaporean activist protests outside Malaysian High Commission
Jan. 2 | Singaporean activist, Seelan Palay, is fasting without food for five days (starting at 9am, 31st Dec 2007) outside the Malaysian High Commission in protest against the ISA detention of the Hindraf leaders in Malaysia. (Read here for the background to...
