Home » Archive for February, 2009
Archive for February, 2009
Bad omen?
Feb. 28 | In a rare incident, Singapore’s longstanding icon, the original Merlion statue at the mouth of the Singapore River has been struck by lightning. Channel NewsAsia
Free-falling
Feb. 28 | Singapore is in free-fall. Nick Brooke, Hong Kong-based Professional Property Services (Business 24/7)
Chiam’s still standing
Feb. 28 | Excerpts from Today, “Chiam’s still standing”: IF POLITICS could be likened to a game of chess, this grand old man of Opposition politics readily concedes that he is still a novice at disguising his next moves. Which is why Potong Pasir MP Chiam...
“Government by gentlemen”
Feb. 28 | Heng Ching Sheng Recent public discussions about anything Singapore has been mired by a series of bad news – escape of number one terrorist Mas Selamat, Lehman Brother minibond fiasco, influx of foreigners, public transport woes, escalating costs...
Jobless migrant workers protest in Singapore again
Feb. 27 | Excerpts from Reuters: “We don’t want to go back to Bangladesh. We take loan, we cannot pay, we die,” said Rahman, who gave up his farming job in Bangladesh and took a loan of S$7000 from money lenders back home to pay an agent fee to...
“Free Education for All” – students protest in London
Feb. 27 | TOC International guest writer, Elaine Toh, who is doing her MPhil/PhD in London, witnessed the protest and gives her personal take on it. (Article updated) Elaine Toh The muffled rumblings of a gathering, the scene of students holding banners and standing...
“It wasn’t me”
Feb. 27 | I went through the Singapore education system, studied Chinese as my mother tongue, and I would never put my own country in a state of shame. Kelly Poon, Sigapore singer, denying that she had said, “’There are no Chinese idioms in Singapore”...
Making ends meet
Feb. 27 | Andrew Loh Along Serangoon Road, her fragile frame bends as she reaches into the trash bin. In Little India, the tiny woman with her hunched back draws nothing more than a few nonchalant passing stares. She had earlier emerged from a crowd of pedestrians,...
US State Department on S’pore’s Human Rights record
Feb. 27 | Excerpted from the US State Dept website. Released on the 25th of Feb 2009. Singapore is a parliamentary republic in which the People’s Action Party (PAP), in power since 1959, overwhelmingly dominates politics. The population was approximately...
Reform Party to hold forum on the Budget
Feb. 26 | The Reform Party, founded by the late Mr JB Jeyaretnam, will be holding a public forum this Saturday, 28 February, on the recently-announced Budget 2009. Touting it as “a public forum to discuss, debate and put forth alternatives” to the Budget, the...
Thousands at community job fair
Feb. 26 | CNA news: Thousands turn up for Singapore’s largest community job fair Mayor of North West District, Teo Ho Pin, said: “Over the last four months, we had seen an increase of about 40 to 50 per cent of residents coming to North West CDC for...
What’s going on here?
Feb. 26 | HUNDREDS of thousands of lower income earners in Singapore are to be given greater access to relatively small unsecured loans from banks. (Straits Times, 26 Feb, Page A3) Credit card debt hit an estimated $3.4 billion last December, the highest for...
Blog Feature: Mediacorp snips Oscar speeches
Feb. 26 | Today’s Blog Feature is from Must Have Been Good, on Mediacorp’s censoring of speeches at the recent Oscars awards show. Here are excerpts: I still furrow my brows at how the media development authority develops practically nothing, but instead...
DAB, DAMN, DAFT – some ideas to help foreign workers
Feb. 26 | Joshua Chiang I’m feeling lazy tonight so I shall not pretend to be a professional journalist and just write about this Indian restaurant at Cuff Road, Little India. For the past two years (at least), it serves a free meal a day to any unemployed,...
Losses but not “indisreputable”
Feb. 26 | This is not a disreputable record. The PM’s press secretary, on Temasek and the GIC’s performance
What the Temasek debacle reveals
Feb. 25 | Aloysius Foo A Temasek wrapped up in a mystery within the abyss of the Singapore economy Public displeasure should be directed correctly, for it to be effective. The recent revelation, that Temasek Holdings has lost 31 percent of its net portfolio value...
Why so many empty seats at Budget Debate?
Feb. 25 | The following is an excerpt of a letter to the Straits Times by Rhea Tan, “Why so many empty seats at Budget Debate?”: LAST month’s Budget Debate was one of the most important Parliament sessions in recent history. For the first time, the ‘dual...
“Worst insult possible”
Feb. 25 | The imputation that the Singapore courts are ‘kangaroo courts’ was a serious and scurrilous insult that struck at the foundation, the body and the spirit of the justice system in Singapore. Justice Judith Prakash, explaining her decision...
What is public service?
Feb. 24 | Low Hansiong In November 2008, the Economic Development Board (EDB) announced in the Straits Times its intention to market Singapore as regional hub for Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) and Non-Profit Organisations (NPO). This brings me to an...
Why an election in September is most likely
Feb. 24 | Jason Lee In recent weeks, a hot topic that is buzzing at coffee shops and online forums is whether a general election (GE) will be held soon? In my view, the answer is a clear cut YES. The next question is: When? While some have argued that the ruling...
Totally Defensive – Totally Defenseless
Feb. 24 | In the previous article “Total Defense – (Total Control)”, KJ posited that Singapore’s doctrine of Total Defense is as much about the defense of Singapore, as it is about state indoctrination for social control. This article continues where it...
Wild wild web?
Feb. 23 | Well, there is a place called the Wild West and there are other places which are not so wild. And the new media – some of it are Wild West and anything goes and people can say anything they want, and tomorrow take a completely contrary view. And...
Reserves – more or less?
Feb. 23 | Notice: The organisers of the “Our Thoughts are Free” book launch has kindly requested that the announcement be removed from TOC. More details will be given at a later date. Leong Sze Hian Why can’t GIC’s losses be revealed like Temasek’s? I...
Blog Feature: The newspaper’s the problem, not the blogs
Feb. 23 | Today’s Blog Feature is from the blog Looking For Words, titled “The newspaper’s the problem, not the blogs”. Here’s an excerpt: I just had a look at a Straits Times weekend article after reading about it now on The Online Citizen(Moderating...
A global sickness
Feb. 23 | The whole (Resilience) Package will prevent damage to our economy during the downturn, but we cannot cure the problem because fundamentally, the sickness is not our sickness. It is a global sickness and you have to wait until the US picks up, and Asia...
Moderating the Internet – lets hold the wild horses
Feb. 22 | Andrew Loh Each time the issue of moderating the Internet surfaces, I have images of wild horses running round, trampling on and destroying all in its wake, in some mad rush fueled by some invisible and unknown fear that not doing so will jeopardize...
Unfair concession becoming a source of “disappointment and disillusionment” among students
Feb. 22 | The following is a press release from the organizers of the campaign for fairer transport fares for tertiary students. Press Statement Re: 4.6% Reduction in Bus & Train Fares From 1 April 2009 We refer to the joint press release by the Public Transport...
Bugis bomb hoax – time to wake up to potential loopholes
Feb. 22 | Deborah Choo I received a text message around 2.20 pm on Saturday. It referred to a possible terrorist attack around Bugis Junction. I headed to Bugis to check it out. What I observed There were many policemen, as mentioned in the SMS. Six, to be exact,...
‘human rights can’t interfere’ with other crises
Feb. 22 | CNN: Clinton: Chinese ‘human rights can’t interfere’ with other crises “Human rights cannot interfere with the global economic crisis, the global climate change crisis and the security crises,” Clinton said in talks with...
Light touch.. tough talk
Feb. 21 | Anonymity in cyberspace is an illusion… if need be, we can identify you, and if we have to, we will be prepared to prosecute you. Vivian Balakrishnan
Problems accessing TOC
Feb. 21 | Dear everyone, You might have experienced difficulties in accessing The Online Citizen the past one week. Each time you visited TOC or refreshed your browser, the same page appears – displaying the article from Feb 14, “Would Khaw Boon Wan send his...
Singapore a prisoner of its own success
Feb. 20 | Bigger countries may be able to ease the recession by stimulating domestic demand. Countries like China, India, America, Germany, Japan, France and Britain have large populations. Not Singapore. Singapore has to continue to depend on export markets for...
China’s social safety net – should S’pore do the same?
Feb. 20 | China is setting in place a social safety net for its 1.3 billion people, as reported by Xinhua news agency. (See article below) In light of the economic crisis, the ageing population and Singaporeans facing retirement problems in terms of finances, do...
Respect other people’s views – Tan Kin Lian
Feb. 20 | Tan Kin Lian Minister for Health Khaw Boon Wan suggested that some people can consider sending their elderly parents to a nursing home in Johor Bahru, where the cost is less than half of the cost in Singapore. This created a big uproar. It attracted more...
S’pore citizenship – serious consequences
Feb. 20 | TAIWAN’S top cuesports official has warned pool double world champion Wu Chia-ching that there will be ‘serious consequences’ if the player takes up Singapore citizenship. Straits Times
The Alternative Green Economic Policy
Feb. 20 | Ravi Philemon The Ministry of Environment and Water Resources saw its budget for the next fiscal year increased from $1 billion to $1.09 billion. Despite the increased budget, there is a imperative need to develop Green Energy and the Green Workforce. ...
TOC Breaking News: Mainstream Media preparing for GE2009?
Feb. 19 | TOC would like to thank Mr Alex Au of Yawning Bread for the following tipoff.
Should TOC allow comments in other languages besides English?
Feb. 19 | Dear everyone, We would like to seek your opinion on whether The Online Citizen should allow comments which are in other languages, besides English, to be posted on TOC. Namely, should comments in Chinese, Malay and Tamil be allowed? Although we have...
Blog Feature: Make it compulsory for President to make public his decisions
Feb. 19 | Today’s Blog Feature is from Gerald Giam, “Greater transparency needed for Presidential decisions”, on President Nathan approving the government’s draw on the reserves. Here are excerpts from Gerald’s post: Firstly, the President should be required...
No more 56-man years to know reserves
Feb. 18 | Straits Times: When you made the decision, did you have the information on like how big our reserves, how much of a draw this would be on the reserves…? President Nathan: Of course I have. Of course I have. Straits Times, 18 Feb 2009
Your money at work and the curious disappearing acts of the prime minister
Feb. 18 | Latest: The Government Gazette has revealed that changes have been made to polling districts. Such changes are part of the steps that need to be taken ahead of a General Election. (Straits Times) Andrew Loh “This is your money. You have a right...
Explanations were not called for
Feb. 18 | It would be presumptuous on my part to go forward and start to give explanations when explanations were not called for. President SR Nathan, when asked if he could have held the press conference before the start of the Budget debate (Straits Times,...
President Ong’s interview with Asiaweek – revisited
Feb. 18 | In light of President Nathan’s press conference where he explained why he approved the government’s request to use the reserves, we re-publish former President Ong Teng Cheong’s interview with AsiaWeek (10 March 2000) where he revealed the obstacles...
Think carefully before opting for ‘no refund’
Feb. 18 | The following is a letter written by Leong Sze Hian and published by The New Paper on 17 February. I REFER to media reports about the changes to the CPF Life scheme. Changing CPF Life’s original 12 options to four, is not just making it less confusing...
“My loyalty is, first and foremost, to the people of Singapore”
Feb. 18 | Jason Lee Watch the video of President Nathan’s press conference at the Istana below. An Elected President can do more to protect our interests – regardless of whether he is an executive or non-executive president. I became worried when I first...
Last to go
Feb. 18 | Malaysia’s understanding of Singapore’s “unwritten policy” on retrenchment of foreign workers is that Malaysians will be let off last. Malaysian Human Resource Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam
What price have we paid for today’s success?
Feb. 17 | Fang Shihan “That’s the amazing thing about being young. You’re not aware of the risks you’re taking” – Dr M. K. Rajakumar Nearly half a decade ago, Malaysia and Singapore were one entity known as Malaya. Political pluralism was...
Malaysian politician speaks up on nude picture saga
Feb. 17 | Malaysian opposition politician and Selangor executive councillor Elizabeth Wong today offered to quit her state cabinet post and state assembly seat following her nude photographs controversy. Wong, who first appeared calm, could not hold back her tears...
GIC lost $33 billion, according to sources
Feb. 17 | Breaking News: THE registers of electors here are due for an update, and the Prime Minister has directed that the revision be done by April 30. (Straits Times) From Bloomberg: Feb. 17 (Bloomberg) – Government of Singapore Investment Corp., one...
