Home » Archive for March, 2010
Archive for March, 2010
Electricity charges to go up in April
Mar. 31 | “Electricity will cost more for the upcoming quarter, starting April. It will be the fourth consecutive quarter of increase. SP Services said that is because of a continued increase in fuel oil prices.” Channelnewsasia
Singaporeans furrow their brows over water festival
Mar. 31 | By Denise Lim The Water Festival is a highly celebrated festival in countries such as Thailand, Burma and Cambodia. While it is greeted by the natives with ostentatious pomp and fanfare in their home countries, the same festival that will be held in...
ASEAN human rights commission stumbles at first hurdle
Mar. 31 | The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently set up its own Inter-Governmental Commission on Human Rights. You may remember Amnesty’s and other NGOs’ campaigning to ensure that its mandate would be effective in addressing...
Death sentences and executions in 2009
Mar. 30 | “We do see an end in sight to the death penalty… More people around the world are realising that this is a punishment that is against human dignity, it doesn’t achieve any purpose, and it should be consigned to history the same way...
Vivian Balakrishnan – fallen off the speeding boat?
Mar. 30 | By Andrew Loh Once upon a time, Vivian Balakrishnan was among a group of PAP candidates which was termed “super-seven” by the local mainstream media. In the 2001 General Elections, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong had introduce the seven –...
BREAKING NEWS: Las Vegas Sands may be involved with triads
Mar. 30 | Excerpt from Reuters At first, the men had been ordered to break the arms and legs of a dealer at Sands Macau suspected of helping a patron cheat millions of dollars from the business. Later, a call went out to murder the dealer, court records show. But...
Singapore in top ten – for the wrong reasons
Mar. 30 | “Singapore’s extensive trade links and efficient ports have lured opportunistic wildlife smugglers, who use the country as a transit point to ship exotic fauna to customers worldwide, animal welfare activists said. Wildlife trade monitoring...
HDB: cannot withdraw cash profits anymore when you sell?
Mar. 30 | By Leong Sze Hian I refer to the report “Govt to explore ways to increase use of CPF for buying HDB flats” (Channel News Asia, Mar 27). One possible implication or policy change may be this: cash profits from the sale of HDB flats may have...
Dr Chee writes open letter to all opposition supporters
Mar. 30 | The following is an open letter from the secretary general of the Singapore Democratic Party, Dr Chee Soon Juan. The report in the Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao (29 Mar 10) quoted Ms Lina Loh (Mr Chiam See Tong’s wife) as saying that I was the...
Burma needs a general election, not an election of generals
Mar. 30 | By Ivan Lewis, Minister of State, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office The message could not have been clearer. On Armed Forces day, as soldiers marched through Naypyidaw, Burma’s Senior General Than Shwe set out his vision for “disciplined...
CPF – we’ve got it right
Mar. 30 | “This issue of balance between housing, health and cash is always on the table. And there’s no perfect answer to that. By and large, we got it right so far. The problem is, we need to make it last a lifetime, because that’s what people...
Killing the Dying
Mar. 30 | By Dr Wong Wee Nam “You will not mistake my meaning or suppose that I depreciate one of the great humane studies if I say that we cannot learn law by learning law. If it is to be anything more than just a technique it is to be so much more than...
The bribe-taking, sex-hungry Singapore policemen
Mar. 29 | From The Bangkok Post Aged only 31, he lures poor Thai women to Singapore with the promise of wealth by selling their bodies. He is the head pimp, or mangda in Thai, of the infamous jungle prostitutes of Woodlands, an outer suburb of the city-state where...
PM Lee living in a fool’s paradise
Mar. 29 | “Can you blame the pent-up netizens for opening up an alternative media channel to disseminate the truth about the iniquities of the PAP government? The Prime Minister will be living in a fool’s paradise if he thinks that their online crticisms...
Five years to be among top Asian footballing teams
Mar. 29 | “We have identified the gaps between us and the Asian giants like Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Australia.” Zainudin Nordin President of the Football Association of Singapore (FAS)
Selling flats to settle debts
Mar. 28 | The growing trend of homeowners selling their flats to pay off debts has got the authorities concerned. So, the government is tightening the use of CPF for buying HDB flats.
Yong Vui Kong – the defence’s argument
Mar. 28 | By Andrew Loh Lawyer Mr Madasamy Ravi, who is acting for Yong Vui Kong, the Malaysian who was sentenced to death for drug trafficking, made an impassioned plea in the hearing of 15 March 2010 at the Court of Appeal. Mr Ravi’s case centered on the argument...
TOC Editorial: PAP, ignore Sheng Siong debacle at your risk
Mar. 28 | By Choo Zheng Xi, Editor-at-Large In Singaporean political lore, Dr Seet Ai Mee of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) is widely held to have lost her seat to Mr Ling How Doong of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in 1991 after being caught...
Engaging Singaporeans in new media: focus on the issues
Mar. 28 | By Leong Sze Hian This article has been updated with an edited version. During a recent REACH forum, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that feedback obtained online needs to be assessed “critically and carefully”, and that it is easy to...
Poor? Government “will deliver meals to you”
Mar. 28 | By Andrew Loh This article is updated with the video of the minister’s remarks. (Please see below). Read also: Vivian Balakrishnan – Wannabe tough guy’s fall from grace on TOC Facebook. At a forum organised by REACH, the government’s...
Singapore best place to be poor – Dr Vivian
Mar. 27 | “If you were a poor person, anywhere on this planet, Singapore is the one place where you will have a roof over your head, where you will have food on the table. Even if you can’t afford it, we will have meals delivered to you. You will get...
PM Lee on engagement of new media
Mar. 27 | “Mr Lee (Hsien Loong) noted the government must also be cautious of what he calls ‘Astroturfing’ campaigns. That’s where individuals or groups fake identities and orchestrate online movements.” Channel NewsAsia
Church member critical of City Harvest Church’s investment in Suntec
Mar. 27 | City Harvest Church member Simon Teoh, an investment banker, is critical of where the $310 million investment by City Harvest Church into Suntec will go. He wants to know how much would be spent on the lease and how long it would last. Troubled by the...
Reporters Without Borders – open letter to PM Lee Hsien Loong
Mar. 26 | The following is an open letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong from Reporters Without Borders Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Prime Minister’s Office Orchard Road Istana Singapore 238823 Paris, 25 March 2010 Dear Prime Minister, A foreign news organisation...
PM Lee, MM Lee and SM Goh wins libel suit again
Mar. 25 | “In a February 15, 2010, article, Mr. Bowring nonetheless included these two men in a list of Asian political dynasties, which may have been understood by readers to infer that the younger Mr. Lee did not achieve his position through merit. We...
TOC Editorial: Sheng Shiong’s extortionate increase – a failure of political representation
Mar. 25 | By Ng E-Jay From next month, supermarket chain Sheng Siong will increase the stall rentals by a whooping 30% at five of the wet markets it purchased last year. The five wet markets are in Choa Chu Kang, Bukit Batok and Serangoon. The current monthly...
Early childhood teachers: why are they being frowned upon?
Mar. 25 | By Farah Aziz I know someone from Australia and she told me a story that stayed with me for a long time. She had gone to a party and met some new people, but there was one gentleman that she remembered in particular. They had a casual conversation and...
A struggle but one worth fighting for – Chee Soon Juan
Mar. 24 | “To be certain, it has been a struggle financially. We live in a three-room flat. We don’t go overseas for costly holidays, and we don’t buy each other expensive gifts. We eat simple meals and don’t dine in fine restaurants. I...
Universities increase fees: $677m net investment loss?
Mar. 24 | By Leong Sze Hian I refer to media reports about all three Singapore public universities raising fees for the incoming cohort of students. For example, the National University of Singapore (NUS) will raise fees by four to ten per cent. Since NUS’s...
Do heartlanders support the Mandatory Death Penalty?
Mar. 24 | On the 20th of March 2010, TOC TV headed to Toa Payoh to speak to the heartlanders. We were interested to find out what their understanding of the mandatory death penalty for drug trafficking was, and if they supported it. However, many of the answers...
MARUAH Pillar Talk – Human Rights in Singapore History: Questions, Assertions or Parenthesis?
Mar. 23 | MARUAH is launching the first of its quarterly Pillar Talk Series on Human Rights titled “Human Rights in Singapore History: Questions, Assertions or Parenthesis?“. The talk will feature Professor Loh Kah Seng who is a Singapore Historian,...
Sexual harassment and sanctity of the workspace
Mar. 23 | By: Ravi Philemon I recently hyperlinked The New Paper article, ‘Be my special designer girlfriend’ on TOC’s Facebook (FB) page and most people who commented on the link chided TOC for giving a wider circulation to the ‘gutter journalism’ of...
Ho Ching and western names
Mar. 23 | “One nephew, when he was in school, asked his parents’ permission to adopt a western name. His mother Ho Ching told him: ‘In China, only waiters and waitresses use western names.’ My father also explained how ‘Harry’...
The Moratorium on the Mandatory Death Penalty campaign
Mar. 23 | TOC’s MDP Campaign Video For easier access, the following is a listing of all the articles and videos published on TOC regarding the Mandatory Death Penalty. THE DEFENCE’S CASE: Main Submissions. Applicant’s Submission. Appellant’s...
When discretion could have saved a life: the case of Rozman bin Jusoh
Mar. 23 | By Mohan Gopalan On 24 November 1993, an undercover officer from the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) approached Rozman bin Jusoh, a 22-year-old Malaysian, asking him if he had cannabis. Rozman told the officer that he did not have any cannabis. Undeterred...
Australian court says presumption of guilt a subversion
Mar. 23 | “In our view, there is no reasonable justification, let alone any ‘demonstrable’ justification, for reversing the onus of proof in connection with the possession offence. As we have said, the combined effect of s 5 and s 72(1) is to presume...
Presumed; presumption; deemed – and we take your life
Mar. 22 | For those of you (or your friends) who wonder why we’re against the Mandatory Death Penalty for drugs trafficking, here are the reasons – the many presumption clauses in the Misuse of Drugs Act. (You can view the entire Act here.) Count the...
Gerard Ee – right in slamming physician assisted suicide
Mar. 21 | By Ravi Philemon In April 2009, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan categorically stated that, “euthanasia, which means helping the patient to commit suicide, is not what Ministry of Health (MOH) is promoting” and that MOH is actually “promoting...
Red light area gets out of line
Mar. 20 | From the Star Online By Seah Chiang Nee With Singapore allowing in a million foreigners in the past 10 years, it just had to happen. Recent police crackdowns on hot spots was an eye-opener on how deep organised crime has dug in Do not be afraid of the...
Celebrity scandal – transgression, media circus, spectacle
Mar. 20 | By Howard Lee, Guest Contributor By now, Jack Neo’s fall from grace would stand a good chance at winning News Story of the Year. The highly-acclaimed filmmaker and actor’s multiple infidelity has been well-documented in every major newspaper...
Has Singapore a future?
Mar. 20 | By Dr Wong Wee Nam, Guest Contributor As the present now Will later be past The order is Rapidly fadin’. And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin’. - Bob Dylan - The young are the builders of tomorrow. There...
Wage hikes must come with increased productivity: Gan Kim Yong
Mar. 20 | “However, gains from productivity improvements may not necessarily lead to higher wages, and could be in the form of a productivity bonus.” Gan Kim Yong, Minister for Manpower, on how wage hikes must come with increased productivity
Breeding a subsidy mentality in housing
Mar. 19 | By Alex Au of Yawning Bread In late January 2010, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, in announcing the increase in the Additional Housing Grant from the previous S$30,000 to S$40,000, said that with the increase, some 8,000 households annually would...
Undercover investigation on illegal tiger parts trade
Mar. 19 | TOC APPEAL We have 19 photos from you, our readers, so far – please continue to support The Anti-Mandatory Death Penalty Photo Project by simply taking a photo of yourself that says you do not support the Mandatory Death Penalty, and send it to...
Some creative messiness, please
Mar. 19 | “But to become a great centre for the arts and culture, like New York or London, Singapore needs unbridled freedom of speech and expression, and some tolerance for the creative messiness that accompanies it.” Dr Narain D Batra Professor...
Singapore – no grand story to tell the world
Mar. 19 | “But to become a great centre for the arts and culture, like New York or London, Singapore needs unbridled freedom of speech and expression, and some tolerance for the creative messiness that accompanies it. It is freedom of speech in all its manifestations...
Performing law
Mar. 19 | The following article was written by Alex Au and published on his website, Yawning Bread, on January 2007. We highlight it here to raise concerns, as Alex did back then, about the mandatory death penalty. By Alex Au Once more, a life is taken. Iwuchukwu...
ST and LHZB censor Chee’s letter on PAP undermining Singapore’s interests
Mar. 18 | This article first appeared in SINGAPORE DEMOCRATS In an interview which Lianhe Zaobao (28 Feb 10) did with Dr Chee Soon Juan, reporter Ms Yew Tun Lian implied that Dr Chee was being funded by foreigners to undermine Singapore. This story was also reported...
