Home » Archive for May, 2010
Archive for May, 2010
Singapore coping with oil spill
May. 30 | Singapore: Almost a week after 2,500 tonnes of crude oil leaked into the sea about 13 kilometres off Changi East – the result of a collision between the 57,017-tonne tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 (below) and the 15,272-ton bulk carrier MV Waily early...
Ex-detainee Vincent Cheng barred from speaking in history seminar
May. 28 | Former detainee Vincent Cheng has been prohibited from speaking at the NUS History Seminar to be held on June 4th at the National Library. The organiser NUS History Society has apologised to Mr Cheng and offered to read his speech at the event. Over the...
Opacity from MAS concerning some foreign stock counters
May. 28 | The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been discreetly compelling stock brokers in Singapore to impose trading restrictions on certain foreign stock counters, particularly Exchange Traded Notes (ETNs). Affected counters can no longer be purchased. ETNs...
Blast from the past: reinventing the heir
May. 27 | Seven years later, is he (Lee, known popularly as “BG Lee”) kinder and gentler? Perhaps. He says the government can’t legislate away social change: Young people are more Westernized, have greater access to information, and won’t...
Did Najib swap KTM land to settle RM$363b debt?
May. 27 | Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in a statement urged Najib to explain in detail the terms and conditions of the deal (swap deal between Malaysia and Singapore regarding Keretapi Tanah Melayu Bhd‘s (KTMB) land in Tanjung Pagar). “We...
Why is transparency of statistics so important?
May. 27 | There are quite a number of statistics which are either not available, or are not broken down to give more transparency to issues like the electricity tariff, unemployment, healthcare and CPF. Electricity Tariff The contracts between the suppliers of...
“Marxist conspirator” Vincent Cheng to speak
May. 27 | UPDATE (27 May 2010 @4.35pm): “We have been told by the National Library Board that the event has now been put on hold. All registered participants will receive an email by tonight.” - Bernard Chen, President, NUS History Society _________________________________________________________ Vincent...
My awakening: political education of an ordinary Singaporean student
May. 27 | SDP website, 27 May 2010, by Natalie Koh I am an ordinary Singaporean student who, until now, has been brainwashed like many of you. Now I know the ugly truth. I’d like to share my experience with you about my struggle in taking off the blindfold...
Confessions regarding a utopian journey
May. 27 | Claudia Cadelo, a well-known blogger in Cuba, was one of the bloggers invited by the German government to attend a 10-day Bloggers Tour in Berlin in May. Her application to travel to Berlin was denied. Here is her account of what took place when she made...
Int’l non-governmental coalition launches campaign to divest ST Engineering of $1 billion
May. 27 | A global coalition of civil society groups intends to strip Singapore Technologies Engineering (STE) of over US$1 billion because of its manufacture of cluster weapons. The grouping claims that divestment will be a legal obligation for governments which...
Costa Rica – a nation without an army
May. 27 | Ask any Singaporean if they thought that every country on Earth has a military force, and the overwhelming answer would be yes. Everyone has been taught in school that a military is essential in the protection of its borders, its citizens and the exertion...
Travails of a community cat lover: the Bishan case
May. 26 | He was an orange-and-white domestic short haired (DSH) kitten, probably no more than a couple of months old. He was hiding timidly underneath a neighbourhood park bench overlooking a long canal, along a route I usually take when I walk home every...
Workers cheer NWC recommendations?
May. 26 | I refer to the report “Workers, HR experts expect wage increases of 3-5%” (Channel NewsAsia, May 25). It states that “After weathering one of the worst global recessions, workers have cheered the National Wages Council‘s (NWC)...
Singapore says second soldier was accidentally shot in Thailand
May. 26 | Singapore’s Defence Ministry said Wednesday that two of its soldiers, not just one, were accidentally shot by a villager while they were taking part in a night training exercise in March in Thailand. A ministry spokeswoman confirmed a report by...
That sound you hear is the collective jerking of knees
May. 26 | While I was writing this post I was struck by a thought: how would Singaporeans, men in particular, respond to it? The answer is in, and it is both expected and disappointing how people would so easily miss the forest for the trees in bouts of defensive...
Local graduate pessimistic about her future
May. 25 | Hi Gilbert, I am glad that I have chanced upon this website. Truly, I have some frightening tales to share with regard to the current employment condition in our country. Let me share abit about myself first. Armed with a local degree (even though without...
6,700 S’poreans’ foreign spouses denied long-term visit pass or PR each year
May. 25 | The TODAY newspaper article headlined “Longer wait, harder to get PR or citizenship” (Today, 19 May) was amended on 19 May at 1615hrs. The second last paragraph of the story originally stated: “As for foreign spouses of Singaporeans, the ICA...
Will we have a smaller electricity bill?
May. 24 | The price of crude oil has been dropping steadily. Since seeing the high of S$122.45 on May 3rd, crude oil has fallen to a low of S$98.78 today. Will small consumers and households benefit from this downward trend in crude oil prices by seeing a reduction...
Goh Keng Swee leaves behind some unanswered questions
May. 24 | The Star, 22 May 2010, by Seah Chiang Nee He engineered Singapore’s industrialisation and overall economy, transforming the country from a squatter city into an affluent, modern city state. Ironically, few Singaporeans under 30 know much about...
True gender equality benefits men and women
May. 24 | Corinna Lim’s assertion that “Singaporean fathers are not rising to the task of child rearing, and state support for equal parenting roles is not adequate” is an accurate description of the causes of Singapore’s woeful birth-rates. Singapore...
A refreshing way to engage bloggers
May. 24 | The 10-day Blog Tour has come to an end in Berlin. On Friday evening, the group of 15 bloggers from different parts of the world gathered for one last meal at the Gugenhorf restaurant. And as I looked around the table, it was evident that everyone had...
Vulvas and vaginas are pink
May. 24 | I didn’t know I had a vulva until I went to sex school. Don’t get me wrong. Of course, I do have a vulva (pronounced as ‘vuhl-vah’) and a vagina (pronounced ‘vha-gine-a’). I just didn’t know what they were called. I couldn’t even pronounce...
Thank you for doing your best – a tribute to Dr Goh Keng Swee
May. 23 | “Because I think my effectiveness depends on whether I can make a contribution in terms of analysing a problem and telling them that these are the priorities or that is the way of doing it, or whatever. If they accept it, and they find me useful,...
CPF: can’t withdraw more at 55 even with property pledge?
May. 23 | The CPF Minimum Sum (MS) is the amount a member has to set aside in his or her Retirement Account (RA) for retirement needs. The RA is set up when a member reaches 55 years of age, drawing from savings in the Ordinary and Special accounts (OA and SA respectively)....
Did Britain really need to give millions to the wealthy state of Singapore?
May. 21 | From The Telegraph I do not believe that charity should begin at home. I believe that the plight of sub-Saharan Africa is an affront. What I say is that the kind of charity doled out by the overseas aid budget is often fundamentally ill-directed, or worse. Looking...
Reader distressed over unpaid hospitalisation bills
May. 21 | I did an email interview with a wheelchair-bound reader distressed over his unpaid hospitalisation bills: 1. What is your current financial situation? Currently employed but after deduction of CPF I’m left with about $1200. I have maintenance fee...
Death penalty declared illegal
May. 21 | The High Court yesterday declared illegal and unconstitutional the provision of awarding death sentence under the Women and Children Repression Prevention (Special) Act 1995. Section 6(2) of the act carried out the provision of awarding death sentence...
State’s decisions threat to secular society
May. 21 | Indian economist Amartya Sen in his book Identity and Violence: The Illusion of Destiny argues that we are becoming increasingly divided along lines of religion and culture, ignoring the many other ways in which people see themselves, from class and...
Words of tribute and remembrance for Dr Goh Keng Swee
May. 21 | Dr Wong Wee Nam, Dr Patrick Kee, and Dr Marvin Leong pen words of remembrance and tribute for the late Dr Goh Keng Swee, architect of Singapore’s modern economy. Former Deputy Prime Minister Dr Goh Keng Swee passed away last Friday at his home in...
Suggestions on how to prevent deaths on MRT tracks
May. 20 | Due to the recent spate of incidences involving MRT trains being held up by people who jump onto tracks causing train delays, I’ve decided to do something civic-minded with my creativity for once. Below is a list of 5 suggestions on how we can prevent...
Criminal Procedure Code: tilting the law in their own favour
May. 20 | Some of the proposed changes to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) make me wonder just how far this government will go to tilt the playing field in their own favour, even when it means compromising on the fundamental rights that people in many other developed...
Singapore Can Speak
May. 19 | “To make youths of today aware of the social issues affecting the nation.” This was the noble vision with which Singapore Can Speak (SCS) was started. SCS hopes to enable youths that are afraid to speak up and voice their views, by letting them...
Bloggers – enemies of the State? (Part One)
May. 19 | TOC’s Chief Editor, Andrew Loh, is currently in Berlin, Germany, for the International Bloggers’ Tour. 15 political bloggers were invited by the German government to attend the tour, which includes meeting with various German blogging practitioners,...
Did Kong Hee plagiarise?
May. 19 | University students know the seriousness of it. So do journalists, whose reputation stand on their ability to tell the truth. Even literary writers, whose job is to craft fiction, understand the need to be original. So I was surprised to learn that large...
Impossible to determine if fewer foreigners were accepted
May. 19 | Fewer Permanent Resident and Citizenship applications went through in the past year due to more stringent requirements. Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and Law, Ho Peng Kee, said eligibility rules were tightened in the last quarter of 2009...
Singapore – a nation or merely a state?
May. 18 | Singapore has a nascent national identity despite being lacking the depth of culture, linguistics and history which many other nations possess, said a group of panelists representing academia, the legislature and civil society. And while this represents...
Families speak out – Pink Dot 2010
May. 18 | An exclusive TOC video capturing the thoughts of individuals, families and ambassadors of Pink Dot 2010… …. and here’s one that captures the highlights! ______________________________________________________
Suicide in the heartlands
May. 18 | An unidentified man in his fifties seemingly committed suicide by jumping out of his 7th floor flat in Choa Chu Kang this morning. Neighbours The Online Citizen (TOC) spoke to said that the man who lived with his mother (in her seventies) is unwell, unemployed...
Drink savvy; drink safe
May. 18 | Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) has recently embarked on a first-of-its-kind campaign that aims to put the fun back into drinking whilst keeping a firm eye on safety and responsibility. Instead of leaving the advising to the authorities, APB – the...
The conservative renaissance – part 2
May. 17 | Ambiguous clauses and the problem of interpretation Far from providing clarity, the latest statement issued by the National Arts Council (NAC) has farther mystified the supposed guidelines that are adhered to in awarding grants, by throwing out a set...
Sex is not the same as sitting for the ’10-year series’
May. 17 | I tell my clients that sex is not the same as sitting for the ‘10-year series‘. For those who don’t know, the 10-year series is a colloquial term unique to Singapore where students refer to official compilation books of examination papers...
Death Penalty for drug offences decline but hundreds still executed
May. 17 | A comprehensive study released today by the International Harm Reduction Association finds that hundreds of people are executed for drug offences each year around the world, a figure that very likely exceeds one thousand when taking into account...
A world cup for the red-green giants (only)
May. 17 | Even before soccer’s biggest show – the FIFA World Cup – has even started, the public is already divided. The facebook group lobbying for the boycott of Singtel-Starhub world cup packages has gathered storm over the past week and, surely,...
Why should death sentences be mandatory?
May. 17 | While the death penalty and other tough measures like caning may seem barbarous to many, I feel as deterrents to serious crimes they have few equals. But why should such sentences be mandatory? It is as if the circumstances leading to every crime are...
The conservative renaissance – part 1
May. 17 | “And I think censorship takes many, many forms. It may not be as blatant as cutting your words but they certainly give you a rating, which severely limits your audience. And ratings prevent you from reaching out to a younger audience who may also need...
Workers’ Party Youth Wing Youthquake HDB public forum
May. 17 | I was invited to speak at the Workers’ Party’s (WP) Youth Wing Youthquake HDB public forum on 15 May. The other speakers were Mr Png Eng Huat, a Central Executive Committee (CEC) member of the WP, and Mr Gerald Giam, a WP member and former...
Pink dotted!
May. 16 | Pink Dot 2010 Hong Lim Park was awash in pink on Saturday afternoon as thousands came together for Pink Dot, a communal celebration of the freedom to love. If the inaugural event last year presented a compelling show of solidarity, this year’s Pink...
