Home » Archive for March, 2009
Archive for March, 2009
Student panel discuss restrictions for sake of stability
Mar. 31 | Riz hosts a panel of students from the city-state of Singapore. They discuss their country’s restrictions of many freedoms for the sake of order and stability, as well as relations between the various ethnicities on this prosperous Southeast Asian...
Human Organ Transplant Act – optimism despite concerns
Mar. 31 | Anthony Yeo / Consultant Therapist, Counselling and Care Centre. The amendment to the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) allowing for reimbursement of living kidney donors was passed in Parliament with heated debate recently. It generated such heat that...
Financial crisis has become full-blown economic crisis, says George Yeo
Mar. 31 | Donaldson Tan / Head, TOC International / London Cambridge – Last Friday, Minister of Foreign Affairs George Yeo visited Cambridge University in conjunction with its 800th Anniversary. During the visit, he discussed the state of the world and the...
PM’s health
Mar. 31 | My health is okay. I’ve lost weight because my doctor ordered me to lose weight. I have a medical check-up every year. Doctors scrutinise me, pursue all possible avenues (as to) what may be wrong. So far, I’m okay. Prime Minister Lee Hsien...
The Pope, condoms, AIDs prevention and a controversy
Mar. 30 | Cookie Boy Pope Benedict XVI’s made his maiden trip to Cameroon and Angola in the African continent recently. What was a well-intentioned trip to deliver ‘a word of hope and comfort’, however, was marred by a gaffe about condoms and AIDs prevention. The...
Reaching the needy? More publicity needed
Mar. 30 | Leong Sze Hian The media recently reported that those seeking financial assistance at the five Community Development Councils (CDCs) have increased by about 40 per cent. Comcare also dished out financial assistance to about 24,000 needy families,...
TOC Report: Workers’ Party hit by latest spate of resignations
Mar. 30 | Andrew Loh with contribution by Choo Zheng Xi Four party cadres, including two candidates from GE 2006, resigned in the past one week but renewal process is on track, says Organizing Secretary “Salim has the idealism and passion to pursue what he feels...
Third WP candidate from GE 2006 resigns from party
Mar. 30 | Latest:. TOC has learnt that 3 more party cadres from the Workers’ Party have resigned in the last one week, besides Mr Abdul Salim. One of them is Ms Lee Wai Leng, who was also a candidate in the last elections together with Mr Salim in Ang Mo...
New faces watching new media
Mar. 30 | PN Balji 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,...
Foreigners here to stay, reach out to them, says Vivian
Mar. 30 | They are of different races, languages and religions. Their presence is being felt around the neighbourhood, in places of worship, and at community activities. Many of these newcomers are here to stay. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, urging Singaporeans to...
MM Lee on marriage and his daughter, Dr Lee Wei Ling
Mar. 30 | From littlespeck.com: After saying that one-third of men and women in Singapore were single “and quite comfortable with their lives”, the Minister Mentor said: “My daughter is one of them. What can I do?” Then in an unusually emotional mood, Lee...
Employers still discriminating against older workers
Mar. 29 | Gilbert Goh Having met more than a dozen unemployed Singaporeans either through my unemployment support site transitioning.org or my own personal contacts, I observed that there are two main issues that frustrate them. One is the huge influx of foreigners...
Getting Singaporeans excited about conservation
Mar. 29 | Report by Teng Jingwei / Pictures by Damien Chng Singapore marked its inaugural participation in Earth Hour on Saturday 28 March with a Green Carnival cum concert event at the Esplanade Park. Earth Hour, which was also being observed in other parts...
Staying united, moving ahead
Mar. 29 | During tough times, it is understandable that people feel anxious and stressed. They worry about whether they can hold on to their jobs and take care of their families. Our tradition of tripartite cooperation is especially valuable at this time, and...
Leaving the world a little better
Mar. 29 | Ravi Philemon “Not even all scouts in Singapore know about Earth Hour”, admits Mr. Muhammad Khair Bin Samil’an, the National Rover Scout Programme Commissioner. “So, how can we expect most of the public to know about Earth Hour? That was...
The “biggest losers” in these cases were the Singaporean people
Mar. 28 | No and no … We won’t pull punches because some government threatens us. Melanie Kirkpatrick , deputy editor of The Wall Street Journal, who was recently found in contempt of the Singapore courts.
Mahathir to rejoin UMNO after Badawi steps down
Mar. 28 | From the Malaysianinsider: KUALA LUMPUR, March 28 — Despite saying that he would not come to the Umno General Assembly because of rampant money politics in the party elections, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today surprised Umno delegates by making an...
Good bedside manners
Mar. 28 | She’s very engaging. Maybe because of her training as a doctor … she has good bedside manners. Marine Parade MP Lim Biow Chuan, on fellow MP Fatimah Lateef
Earth Hour – The world gets ready to switch off
Mar. 28 | Darren Boon What will you be doing come Saturday 28 March at 8.30pm? If you are out and about in the Esplanade area, you might notice that the façade lights of some of the buildings have been switched off for Earth Hour 2009. The blackout will...
Cabinet changes – what does it mean for next General Elections?
Mar. 27 | Tan Kian Hwee There have been many cabinet reshuffles in the PAP government’s history. The most recent one announced on 26 March 2009, coming just up to two years before the next general election is due, gives away some telltale signs of the...
An unnatural order
Mar. 27 | Coming soon on TOC: A look at the Cabinet changes and the implications for the next General Elections. Why the proposed Public Order Act seems patently unnecessary On the heels of its proposed changes to the Films Act introducing fresh restrictions...
Sardine City
Mar. 27 | As it is, many of my peers have expressed a sincere wish to emigrate, not because of the high cost of living or the stressful lifestyle. It is primarily because they are appalled by how Singapore has been transformed into a city where it is difficult...
Singapore among nations on tax havens “blacklist”? No such list, says OECD
Mar. 27 | Darren Boon / Head, Reporting Team In response to a media enquiry from The Online Citizen, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has dispelled talk of a blacklist of non-cooperative tax centres. There had been speculation...
Beyond dialects and languages
Mar. 27 | Kelvin Teo / TOCI Writer So the dust has now settled over Minister Mentor Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s provocative call to chinese Singaporeans to focus on learning mandarin instead of their dialects. From a personal perspective, I didn’t find Mr...
Courts cannot be led by public opinion, says Chief Justice
Mar. 27 | Sentencing cannot be fully democratised, lest it becomes populist and ruled by fashionable opinions of the most articulated members of the public. Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong
SM Goh’s misdirected attack on the press
Mar. 27 | Choo Zheng Xi / Editor-in-Chief In an article in Monday’s Straits Times entitled, “Report Card on Class of 2006”, journalist Li Xueying previewed the newest batch of PAP MPs. One particular quote regarding the grassroots work of Member of Parliament...
Better put it right, says SM Goh
Mar. 26 | The suggestion that a minority MP could be biased against others who don’t believe in your own religion, is I think, a very serious one. I do not think the reporter or the journalist writing it realised the implication. A Malay MP could not reach...
The unimpeachable court
Mar. 26 | The Attorney-General’s efforts may be having the opposite of its intended effect A week ago, news that the Attorney-General would be initiating contempt proceedings against a deputy editor from The Wall Street Journal was greeted with some surprise...
Breaking News: Changes to cabinet appointments
Mar. 26 | The following is the press release from the Prime Minister’s Office on the changes to the Cabinet. The Prime Minister will make several changes to his Cabinet and other appointments. These changes are part of continuing leadership renewal and testing...
The relation between GRCs and cabinet appointments
Mar. 26 | The following was first published in The Kent Ridge Common. Kelvin Teo A foreign counterpart of mine once asked me how our cabinet ministers performed during our 2006 General Elections. Admittedly, I did have great difficulties answering his question....
Can S’poreans conceive failure?
Mar. 26 | Can Singaporean society cope with bad governance? Can we ever conceive of the possibility of Singapore experiencing bad governance? Kishore Mabhubani
$20m bonus for CapitaLand’s chief
Mar. 26 | The Straits Times, on 25 March 2009, reported that Singapore-listed company Capital Land had rewarded its president and chief executive with a S$20.52 million bonus in 2007. Mr Liew Mun Leong, “a civil engineer who spent 22 years as a civil servant...
MOM takes action against illegal lodging for foreign workers
Mar. 26 | Andrew Loh MOM’s actions comes several weeks before minister’s visit to new “up-market” dormitory’s opening In a press release on 25 March, the Ministry of Manpower said it conducted two nationwide operations on 16 foreign workers’ dormitories...
Singapore more attractive than Hong Kong, says expat
Mar. 25 | The following is a letter to the editor of the South China Morning Post. It is written by an “European expat” who claims that he is living in Singapore currently. TOC thanks our reader Tony for alerting us to the letter. I refer to the article “Singapore...
Was Minister Lui Tuck Yew confused by AIMs’ recommendations?
Mar. 25 | Andrew Loh Senior Minister of State (Information, Communication and the Arts) Lui Tuck Yew defended the Government’s amendments to the Films Act stoutly. He even described the changes as “significant liberalisation and change, and it will widen...
UK primary school shake-up
Mar. 25 | Children to leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter as sources of information and forms of communication. The Guardian, on the overhaul of the UK primary school curriculum
NMP Siew Kum Hong opposed amendments to Films Act
Mar. 25 | Here is NMP Siew Kum Hong’s Parliamentary speech on amendments to the Films Act.
HOTA – Four MPs abstained and one said no
Mar. 25 | When the final vote on the amendments to the Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota) was taken, four MPs abstained and one said ‘no’. The four were Madam Halimah Yacob (Jurong GRC), Ms Denise Phua (Jalan Besar GRC), opposition Hougang MP Low Thia...
Rethinking the term “elitism”
Mar. 25 | Excerpts from The Kent Ridge Common: SINGAPORE - When Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek interviewed our then education minister Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the latter made a tacit admission that the Singapore system has not been effective in producing world-beaters. One...
Why duplicate training help schemes?
Mar. 25 | The following is a letter to the Straits Times forum by Gilbert Goh: I REFER to Monday’s report, ‘CDAC training help for Chinese Singaporeans’. I was astonished to read that the Chinese Development Assistance Council has rolled out similar...
JB nursing homes – MOH clarifies
Mar. 24 | For those who missed it, this is the full statement from the Ministry of Health on Mr Khaw Boon Wan’s remarks about nursing homes in Johor Baru: From feedback received and online discussion, it is apparent that there is much misunderstanding on Minister...
Press statement from Anwar Ibrahim on repressive actions by Malaysian government
Mar. 24 | March 24 2009 A phase of repression descended on Malaysia as Najib Razak seizes control of the reins of power, even before officially taking over as Prime Minister, and unleashes his brutality and violence on the people. Last night, a rally of about 10,000...
What happened to learning from China?
Mar. 24 | Even in communist China, peaceful protests are tolerated. Chee Siok Chin, on the new Public Order Law
An affront to Singapore’s history
Mar. 24 | Andrew Loh / with contribution from Farquhar The changes to the Films Act, announced yesterday by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), is a vintage example of PAP doublespeak. In introducing the amendments Senior Minister of State for Information,...
Singaporeans should be informed of what is going on within our borders, whether legal or not
Mar. 24 | Therefore, any unrelated bystander caught filming a protest could be prosecuted. To me, this does not make sense. Citizen journalism is a useful counterpoint to the official mass media. Singaporeans should be informed of what is going on within our borders,...
WP: Political films “an expression of diverse opinion in a healthy democracy”
Mar. 24 | The following is the Parliamentary speech by NCMP and Workers’ Party Chairman, Ms Sylvia Lim, on changes to the Films Act. Sir, it is 10 years since the Films Act was amended to ban political films. The 1998 amendment, carrying heavy penalties, was...
TOC Editorial: A bad law just got worse
Mar. 23 | Choo Zheng Xi / Editor-in-chief The final nail in the coffin of liberalizing the legal regime on online political films was driven in today, as amendments to the Films Act were passed by Parliament. TOC previously participated in the process of submitting...
An all-and-sundry legislation
Mar. 23 | The internet is rife with different opinions questioning the intent of the amendment. Is this really a step forward towards liberalisation or is this a step backwards to contain certain political parties? Even worse is this to introduce a catch-all clause...
