Home » Archive for April, 2010
Archive for April, 2010
Happy Labour Day – have a picnic
Apr. 30 | A group of Singaporean activists is organizing a celebration of Labour Day on May 1st with a picnic at Speakers’ Corner. The event, the group says, is “to express gratitude and thanks to the backbone of the world’s economy – her workers.” The...
Did Today “ascertain the facts”?
Apr. 30 | This is a report from the Today newspaper on 30 April 2010. Note that the report carries no name of the author. Note TOC’s remarks after the article. SINGAPORE – Even as Al Jazeera stands by its report on homelessness in Singapore, which it feels...
TOC’s response (Part Two) – A “tidy sum”?
Apr. 30 | Four weeks ago, Samiah and Eddie* granted Al-Jazeera an interview for their story, ‘Government policies force some onto the streets’. They hoped it would generate greater awareness about homelessness in Singapore and maybe, just maybe, lead to a way...
SDP’s May Day message
Apr. 30 | The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has published its May Day message on its website. (Click here to view it.) In its message, the SDP says that Singaporean workers “have been systematically reduced to mere digits without dignity and tenure of...
No lack of sophistry from the government concerning the homeless
Apr. 29 | By Ng E-Jay It appears that there is absolutely no lack of sophistry and intellectual dishonesty on the part of the PAP government concerning the homeless in Singapore. It is widely noted that every nation has its share of homeless folk. But our government...
TOC’s response to remarks by MCYS minister – Part One
Apr. 29 | This is Part One of The Online Citizen’s (TOC) response to recent remarks made in Parliament by the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, in relation to the issue of homelessness in Singapore. The minister’s...
Four out of six sex ed vendors are Christian organisations
Apr. 29 | In a Straits Times article today, it was reported that four out of six external sex education vendors approved by the Ministry of Education (MOE) are Christian organisations. The chosen vendors are as follows (lifted from ST): 1) Fei Yue Community Services...
NMP speaks up against restriction of non-mainstream opinions
Apr. 29 | In the second reading of the Parliamentary Elections (Amendments) Bill, Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Viswa Sadasivan raised the issue of amendment to Section 61 of the Act where the words in the original Act, “the transmission by an individual...
Asia Calling – Singapore homelessness
Apr. 29 | From Asia Calling Singapore is a nation of homeowners, largely thanks to a comprehensive system of government subsidised housing. The public can either buy public housing flats directly from the government or a resale flat, which is more expensive as...
Al Jazeera responds to Vivian Balakrishnan’s accusations
Apr. 29 | The following is Al Jazeera’s response to Dr Vivian Balakrishnan’s remarks in Parliament on 27 April 2010. The MCYS minister had accused Al Jazeera of “[failing] to ascertain the facts” in its report on the homeless issue in Singapore. TOC...
Certain ethnic groups marginalised by government policies, UN expert says
Apr. 28 | Singapore needs to better protect the human rights of low-skilled migrant workers and review policies that marginalise certain ethnic groups, a United Nations racism expert said Wednesday. “I would strongly urged the government to act swiftly to ensure...
Never mind what the people think
Apr. 28 | In an article for Petir, Mr Sin Boon Ann, MP for Tampines GRC, expressed his difficulties of doing what is “right” and doing what is “popular”; to illustrate his point, Mr Sin recounted his encounters with his constituents after...
Cooling-off day open to abuse in ruling party’s favour : Sylvia Lim
Apr. 27 | Parliament debated the introduction of the “cooling-off” period. Here is Sylvia Lim’s speech on the issue. Here’s the transcript of Ms Lim’s speech: Sir, the Bill carries several amendments. While some of the amendments...
MCYS minister slams TOC over homeless issue?
Apr. 27 | The following is a report by Channelnewsasia which reported MCYS minister Dr Vivian Balakrishan’s response to questions in Parliament about the homeless issue. The minister said: “Some irresponsible websites have also caused these falsehoods to circulate...
From son to daughter: A Singaporean family’s transformation
Apr. 27 | From pinkdotsg blog: “When you walk out on the street you have to face the cold hard facts, the world, and the way people look at you…it’s hard. Home is supposed to be the safe place where you can go to for warmth and love, and at the end of...
Overreaction? Or under-reaction on issues that matter?
Apr. 27 | Keeping foreign workers ‘out-of-sight’ and ‘out-of-mind’ is not a ‘sustainable’ solution for an inclusive city, so why do we keep kidding ourselves? In 2008, when the Serangoon Gardens housing saga peaked, I was asked, by an Internet TV reporter,...
GRCs and gerrymandering – the root causes of problems: Sylvia Lim
Apr. 27 | The following is the parliamentary speech by NCMP and Workers’ Party Chairman, Ms Sylvia Lim. Sir, I next move on to the changes of the composition of Parliament. First, entrenching Nominated MPs in the system. The Workers’ Party’s position...
At least 18 non-ruling party MPs after next elections
Apr. 26 | From the Straits Times PARLIAMENT on Monday passed laws ensuring at least 18 people not from the ruling party will enter Parliament after the next election. The House voted 74 to one in favour of the amendments to the Constitution that would increase...
Degree-holders easier to get retrenched. True?
Apr. 26 | I refer to the report “More jobs saved as Singapore emerged from recession“ (Channel News Asia, Apr 26). According to the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) Redundancy and Re-employment report 2009: - Redundancies increased from 8,590 in 2007 to...
Setback will not divert us from our goal, says Anwar Ibrahim
Apr. 26 | The following is a message from Malaysian opposition leader, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to his supporters after the results of the Hulu Selangor by-election, which was won by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN). I thank the workers and volunteers from Pakatan...
Why associate race with sports?
Apr. 26 | The following is a letter by Mr Rafiz Mohyi Hapipi sent to the New Paper in response to its report, “A new generation”. Dear Siang Yee and NP Sports Editors, I wish to raise a response to your article featured on page 38 of The New Paper on Sunday,...
The dirtiest words in the PAP vocabulary
Apr. 26 | The reason unfailingly given by the PAP government for any ruling that seems to put yet another curb on civic liberties is that there would otherwise be ‘disruption’. For instance, the Public Order act, passed in April in 2009, gives the police powers...
Astroturfing — stamp it out
Apr. 25 | By Denise Lim You may have heard of this term astroturfing. It refers to political, advertising, or public relations campaigns that are formally planned by an organization, but designed to mask its origins to create the impression of being spontaneous,...
Reality check for opposition unity
Apr. 25 | Liberal International (LI) and the Council of Asian Liberals & Democrats (CALD) jointly organised a roundtable discussion titled “Fortifying Liberal Democracy and Partnership in the Region” in Singapore. Several political parties were invited. Notably,...
CPF has worked well for Singaporeans’ retirement?
Apr. 25 | I refer to the report “New survey shows 60% of Singaporeans want to retire by 60” (Channel News Asia, 22 April). In the light of this survey’s findings, it may be timely for us to evaluate how well the Central Provident Fund (CPF) system has served...
Give up your seat – CCTVs are watching
Apr. 25 | I am not sure if I am saddened or amused by this little piece of news I read on the Asia One website. The Singapore Kindness Movement (SKM), for reasons which I do not understand, was reported to be looking into installing “closed-circuit cameras...
Director Ivan Heng of W!ld Rice on his Animal Farm
Apr. 24 | The highly anticipated revival of W!LD RICE’s Animal Farm opened this week. The play, based on the classic tale by George Orwell, opened to rave reviews back in 2002 and this revival has played to full houses and standing ovations at the 38th Hong...
MPs’ views ahead of parliamentary debate full of hot air
Apr. 24 | Member of Parliament (MP) Zaqy Mohamad reportedly said, “People elected who are accountable to their residents think differently because at the end of the day, you know you have to answer to someone”, when responding to The Straits Times’ query...
Graduate student interviews TOC on its purpose
Apr. 24 | Ms Chak Sopheap, a graduate student at the Graduate School of International Relations, International University of Japan, interviewed The Online Citizen several weeks ago. The following is the interview which was published on the website, Technology...
New migrants are hungrier
Apr. 24 | From The Star Online: Lee Kuan Yew’s assertion that today’s Singaporean has turned soft has not gone down well with some quarters, but the reality is successive generations of migrants lose some of their forefathers’ pioneering spirit. ARE Singaporeans...
Retraction of invitation to hearing-impaired teacher “a mistake”, says MOE
Apr. 23 | “Susan Elliot has spent three decades in education and taught thousands of students. She is bright, articulate, and has a great sense of humor,” writes Mr Anthony Mullen on the Teacher Magazine website. “She teaches social studies and history to...
Have we lost our ability to appreciate?
Apr. 23 | The title of this article is a question which I have been pondering on for some time now. Have we lost our ability to appreciate the good things which Singapore offers? And to be sure, there are good things about Singapore. In fact, there are many of...
The little that we do
Apr. 22 | It is not my intention, in this posting, to trumpet what we at The Online Citizen do. This post is simply to let you, our readers, know some of the things which we engage in behind the scenes. At times, we have been questioned and even criticized for...
A philosophical dilemma
Apr. 22 | Hi Mr Goh Was wondering if you could spare me a few moments of your time to help me with this philosophical phase of my dilemma:- Having gone through two “dry periods” in which I have been unable to find a job (10 months and now the ongoing spell...
Here to provide a listening ear
Apr. 22 | Introduction When Andrew, Chief Editor of The Online Citizen, asked me to help out with TOC as a guest counselor for a new column last year, I readily agreed as I feel that Singaporeans, by and large, are besieged by many issues which are often beyond...
2.5% fare reduction for all – except for when it rises!
Apr. 21 | After reading the articles ‘Cheaper bus, train rides‘ on The Straits Times website and ‘Public transport fares go down by 2.5% from Jul 3‘ on the Channel NewsAsia website, this is my conclusion: Maths has certainly changed since I was in school....
Teenage demonstrators threaten national security
Apr. 21 | Why have our youth fallen to such a deplorable state? Look no further. The answer can be summed up in three letters, S-D-P. It seems that the nefarious group has succeeded in brain-washing our valuable youth by glamorizing the so-called “civil disobedience”....
Advantageous for the PAP to leave Bukit Panjang as it is
Apr. 21 | Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has written to the Prime Minister’s office to leave Bukit Panjang as a Single Member Constituency in the next General Elections (GE). SDP claims on its website that the party has been visiting the constituency for years...
Transport fares reduction: For better or for worse?
Apr. 21 | I refer to the reports “Public transport fares to go down by 2.5% from Jul 3” (Channel News Asia, 20 April) and “Lower fares from July” (Straits Times, 20 April). The former report states that “overall public transport fares will dip by 2.5...
NSP’s Goh Meng Seng pledges to sell flat to fund election bid
Apr. 21 | By Ng E-Jay The Secretary-General of the National Solidarity Party (NSP), Mr Goh Meng Seng, has revealed to close associates and supporters that he intends to sell his HDB flat in Serangoon North in order to fund his upcoming election campaign. This...
When one door closes, a closet door opens
Apr. 20 | Excerpts from pinkdot.sg: The feeling of falling into a deep pit is how Yiap Geok Khuan, 67, would describe her state-of-mind when she first received word that her daughter, Eileena Lee, 38, is gay. Tears filled her eyes before she even heard the words....
Religion in the public sphere
Apr. 20 | Now, all this (Law Minister Shanmugam’s remarks on the encroachment of religion into public space) rather reasonable. When in public it’s better to speak with a secular vocabulary than a religious one because you reach more people. However, this...
Singapore’s political system a one-legged stool
Apr. 20 | The Straits Times last Friday [1] carried excerpts of an interview by US television journalist Charlie Rose with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. I found Lee’s answer to two questions very interesting. The first answer was almost curt,...
Sham elections and the fear of voting for the opposition
Apr. 20 | Though there is no well documented case of someone being persecuted specifically because they voted for the opposition, I personally know dozens of Singaporeans who vote for the PAP out of fear. People working in GLCs and the civil service also frequently...
Vaginismus – When a woman’s body says: ‘No entry’
Apr. 20 | Recently a girlfriend admitted that until she met me, she had always thought that vaginismus was a myth – a disease that was made up, or had been eradicated in the ’80s, and most definitely did not exist in modern day. In fact, vaginismus is a very...
Fairer pay for migrant workers, NGO urges NWC
Apr. 20 | A letter to the National Wages Council by Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) The Secretary National Wages Council c/o Labour Relations Department Level 6-01 Ministry of Manpower 18 Havelock Road Singapore 059764 Dear NWC, As a society concerned with the...
Differentiating between PRs and S’poreans?
Apr. 19 | I refer to the report, “HDB to spend $1 billion on upgrading; 85,000 households to benefit” (Today, Apr 19). It reported: “Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng said this comes up to nearly $12,000 of upgrading...
An opportunity missed?
Apr. 19 | Former Attorney-General Walter Woon (picture) chose a middle path: Reveal quite a bit but leave a lot to the reader’s imagination. Here’s a sampling of his diplomat-lawyer speak: “The longest period in my life”. One can read that...
