Home » Archive for July, 2010
Archive for July, 2010
YOG – a litany of screw-ups
Jul. 31 | Andrew Loh – On 23 April this year, I wrote an article entitled, “Have we lost our ability to appreciate?” It was a reflective piece questioning if we are able to appreciate the good things which Singapore offers. One of these things which I mentioned...
Join SADPC & TOC at Speakers’ Corner this Sunday
Jul. 30 | It’s been three years since then-19-year old Vui Kong was sentenced to death in Singapore. He’s been sitting on death row since 2007 at Changi Prison awaiting the day he would be hanged. For someone so young, that in itself is torture. His family,...
90 per cent “not interested at all” in YOG
Jul. 30 | Poll on Channelnewasia’s website – as at 3.45pm on 30 July 2010. Out of 3,912 votes, 3,513 say they are “not interested at all” in catching any of the Games. Only one per cent say they will watch the Games at selected venues. With...
Self before service
Jul. 30 | Richard Seah For want of 10 cents, I once nearly made a mess of myself. It could have been worse. I could have made a mess of the place I was at – the Maxwell Road Food Centre. I am talking about those public toilets operated by turnstiles. You deposit...
Singaporeans’ national duty: buy women from abroad
Jul. 30 | The Sunday Times knows him well. Virtually annually, they run a feature selling to its Singaporean readers the idea of buying foreign brides. They ran one again last Sunday, 25 July 2010, mentioning once again like in years past Mark Lin and his business,...
Lee Kuan Yew – a sad sight indeed
Jul. 30 | Andrew Loh - I remember in the ’80s when I would look forward to each National Day Rally on television. Lee Kuan Yew was gonna speak and I’d always found him to be a great orator, someone who enthralls me each time. I would be glued to the...
Upset S’porean writes to SSC, slams YOG
Jul. 29 | A woman, who wishes to be known as “Bystander”, is so upset with the way the Youth Olympic Games has been organized that she has written to the Singapore Sports Council (SSC) to voice her disapproval. We publish her letter below (without edits). The...
Retire? Shrivel and face the wall – Lee Kuan Yew
Jul. 29 | “WE’VE got to make old people productive and I don’t think there should be a retirement age. You work as long as you can work and you’ll be healthier and happier for it. ‘You ask me to stop working all of a sudden, I think I’d...
Why I do not like high GDP growth
Jul. 29 | A letter from one of our readers. Mohamad Khan - Recently the local papers have been telling us “great” news. The information I gathered from the articles I read are about how our economy is booming and how we as a nation are poised to take over the...
Legal charges threat to freedom of expression: HRW
Jul. 29 | From Human Rights watch. British author’s critique of death penalty leads to arrest (New York, July 28, 2010) – Singapore officials should cease using criminal defamation and contempt laws to silence government critics, Human Rights Watch said...
High Court reserves judgement on judicial review application
Jul. 28 | Wong Chun Han - The Supreme Court reserved judgement Wednesday in a hearing on the pardon process for Malaysian death row convict Yong Vui Kong, who is asking for his execution to be stayed on the grounds that he had been denied a fair clemency process. The...
Medisave – pay up or be charged?
Jul. 28 | Leong Sze Hian – Several Singaporeans living overseas and in Singapore have contacted The Online Citizen to tell us that they have received letters from the CPF Board asking them to pay their CPF Medisave arrears, incurred many years ago. For example,...
London’s history, Singapore’s future?
Jul. 27 | James Goh – The party had already commenced the night before with throngs of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) crowd from different parts of the European Union (EU) and beyond descending upon one of the most popular gay capitals in Europe...
Press Muse – Ivory tower irony in last-gasp YOG pitch
Jul. 27 | Spiegel - The Straits Times yesterday (26 July) ran a curious little piece on its review pages. Tucked into a bottom left, quarter-page slot, an NUS academic asked in an op-ed, with discomfiting earnestness: “The YOG is coming. Are you excited...
Floods and politicking – which hits worse?
Jul. 27 | Howard Lee You know the recent floods are mighty serious when Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew weighs in on it. On 22 July, Today quoted him as saying: “…whatever we do when we get extraordinary rains like we had recently, no amount of engineering can...
Dr Lim Hock Siew – A remarkable man
Jul. 27 | By Dr Wong Wee Nam “You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn I first...
Fastest growing economy – what about jobs and wages? (Part 2)
Jul. 27 | Leong Sze Hian / Andrew Loh - The Prime Minister, on 15 July, was reported by the Straits Times as having said that the 100,000 foreign workers who are set to enter Singapore “was unavoidable as the labour market was bursting at the seams.” (Link) However,...
High COV? Fight it out, says Mah
Jul. 26 | “It’s in the interest of buyers to have low COVs, but it’s in the interest of sellers who own the flats to have high COVs… So, between these two groups, we must let them fight it out… The Government prefers not to interfere.” Mah...
The good fight
Jul. 26 | My heart leapt when I saw this status update on Vui Fung’s Facebook page a couple of weeks ago: “I try my best to face all of this… I never wanna try to hide it again…” It was a huge step for her – this shy, awkward girl who hates being...
Employers bear brunt of unnecessary foreign worker levy hike
Jul. 26 | Pritam Singh The points raised with regard to the foreign worker levy hike in the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) Report released in February 2010, and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s announcement of the arrival of 100,000 more foreigners into...
Arts Engage – taking aim at censorship
Jul. 26 | The arts community has recently launched a campaign to make censorship history and to call for a system which regulates content in its place. Driving the petition is Arts Engage, a network of 180 arts practioners from various disciplines. A position paper...
Save Vui Kong Campaign (Updated: 25/7)
Jul. 25 | Malaysian politicians and activists have started the campaign to save 22-year old Vui Kong from the death sentence in Singapore. The event kicked off with a press conference held in Sandakan, Sabah, the hometown of Vui Kong, on 21 July. Sabah Member...
Helping the needy – Mr Koh replies
Jul. 25 | On 5 July, and on Mr Koh’s behalf, we asked you our readers for suggestions on how Mr Koh should use his S$500,000 funds to help needy Singaporeans. (See here: How should I help?) We have received quite a few replies and suggestions – both in the...
Next Gen broadband system may not be for next generation S’poreans
Jul. 25 | Henry Cheong / Leong Sze Hian – We refer to Thomas Lee’s letter: “World Cup rights: Problem lies with MDA, not the telcos”. (ST, Jul 24). It states that: “The MDA erred in not foreseeing the problem that would arise from the two telcos...
Review : Once A Jolly Hangman
Jul. 24 | A review of “Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore Justice in the Dock” by British author/journalist Alan Shadrake Dr Vincent Wijeysingha Abolitionism conjures up images of bewigged nineteenth century reformists campaigning against the evil mercantilist...
I am not going to be cowed: Alan Shadrake (Updated)
Jul. 24 | Latest: Alan Shadrake visited the Gleneagles hospital on Saturday. TOC understands he has been advised to wear a heart monitor for 24 hours starting Tuesday as his heart is weak. Excerpts from the British Weekly’s interview with author of Once A...
Civic Life project announces short-film competition
Jul. 24 | The UK-based directors Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor of the community project, TIONG BAHRU, a short film starring over 150 volunteers from Singapore, talk about the process of putting the project together and share their experience of filming in...
Political pokerplay: the government’s gamble
Jul. 24 | Khairulanwar Zaini ‘Our glory days were behind us but our excess was just beginning.’ – Jeanette Winterson Do not blink, friends, because an audacious game of political poker has just begun. Our government is very much aware of its eroding popularity...
Better, betterer, betterest in sex
Jul. 24 | Dr Martha Lee Is it possible to get better, ‘betterer’ and ‘betterest’ when it comes to sex? A certain Singapore minister was cited in the media as saying, “If you’re the best today, strive to be better. If you’re better today, strive to...
Don’t focus solely on GDP growth, NMP says
Jul. 24 | Wong Chun Han - Used under Creative Commons licence Singapore should cut its focus on economic growth and measure its progress with socio-economic indicators apart from the gross domestic product, a nominated member of parliament said Monday. “The changed...
Students to pay for YOG Village “readiness test”?
Jul. 23 | Straits Times, 23 June 2010, Page C2 Reporter: Amelia Tan The headlines says: Free YOG Village stay for 200 boys But the report says: “The ‘stay and play programme’ , which spans two days and one night, gives organisers a chance to...
Press Muse – Oh what a tangled Web
Jul. 23 | Spiegel - Eons ago, an Invisible Magic Friend raised some luscious, fertile trees yet thought it inappropriate to share their goodness. So he told his young ‘uns to lay off, or risk death. But seriously, who could turn down something so expressedly...
Dear Ms Saw…
Jul. 22 | The following is an email which was sent to Ms Saw Phaik Hwa, CEO of SMRT Corporation, on 1 July 2010. As of 23 July, we have yet to receive any replies from Ms Saw. If you have pictures of crowded trains, pls email them to us and we will update it here...
Radio Australia speaks to James Gomez on Shadrake
Jul. 22 | From Radio Australia: [Listen to the podcast on the website] A British author arrested in Singapore while promoting his book on executions in the island republic, is out on bail pending police investigations. Alan Shadrake, aged 75, was freed after local...
Author Alan Shadrake arrested for “alleged criminal defamation” (Update 8))
Jul. 22 | UPDATE 8: Lianhe Wanbao reporter’s tape recording of book launch is believed to have been seized by the police. When contacted by TOC, the reporter - Ms Koh Hsingyu – declined to comment. UPDATE 7: Alan Shadrake presents himself at 11am...
Lawyer M Ravi files judicial review on Yong Vui Kong’s case
Jul. 22 | By Choo Zheng Xi Mr M Ravi, the lawyer for death row inmate Yong Vui Kong on Wednesday filed a judicial review application to ask the Singapore courts to hold that his client’s right to a fair clemency hearing has been undermined. Mr Ravi’s application...
Our police state is fraying at the edges
Jul. 21 | By Ng E-Jay Recent events have shown unequivocally that not only has the PAP government run the country as a police state, but also that the authorities are now getting panicky and desperate to the point that they are fumbling and making glaring mistakes. Barely...
Alan Shadrake’s crime?
Jul. 19 | Choo Zheng Xi - Alan Shadrake’s book “Once a Jolly Hangman” makes for uncomfortable reading. One case in particular might have made those in power uncomfortable enough to arrest Mr Shadrake on the rarely used draconian charge of criminal defamation. A...
Philippines news report “100,000 jobs opening” in S’pore
Jul. 19 | On 15 July, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore needed 100,000 foreign workers in the coming year. He said this was “was unavoidable as the labour market was bursting at the seams.” (See here.) The Prime Minister’s remarks have apparently...
The neglect of professional responsibility by the mainstream press
Jul. 18 | Choo Zheng Xi – 22-year old Yong Vui Kong might soon be hanged. His neck and spine will be snapped, an effect calculated with precision by the hangman who places the noose around his neck. [Picture left: Vui Kong, third from left, with his sister, Vui...
Illegal hawker? My story (by Goh Meng Seng)
Jul. 18 | From Goh Meng Seng’s blog, Singapore Alternatives: There is nothing shameful to admit that I was also an illegal hawker since I was 5 years old, helping my parents to mend our temporary “stall” or going around the flats to sell their lasi...
A safe system of equal justice for all?
Jul. 18 | Andrew Loh – “Does Singapore have a safe system of equal justice for all? I say no,” Alan Shadrake [picture, left] told the audience at the launch of his book, Once A Jolly Hangman, at the Post Musuem on Saturday. “It is unsafe, it is warped,...
Photographer handcuffed by police for taking flood pictures
Jul. 18 | Mr Wu Qing Shun, a photographer with the Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao, was handcuffed by the police for taking flood pictures at Upper Bukit Timah road yesterday, 17 July. (See Omy’s report here.) The daily reported that during the downpour yesterday,...
Here we go again
Jul. 17 | Report from The Straits times. HEAVY rains lashed Singapore early on Saturday morning, uprooting trees and causing flash floods in many area. The affected areas included Braddell Road, Changi Road and Bukit Timah, where rising floodwaters stranded several...
S’pore pavilion – long wait not worth it
Jul. 16 | Stephan Ortmann - Along with more than 190 countries, Singapore is represented with its own pavilion at the Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China. Situated between the Malaysia and Australia pavilions, the Singapore pavilion, which boasts 3,000 square meters,...
The PAP’s obsession with GDP growth (By Gerald Giam)
Jul. 16 | From Gerald Giam’s blog: After a drop of just 4,200 foreigner numbers last year due to the downturn, the PAP’s “open-the-floodgates” immigration policy is back with a vengeance. So much for all their promises of “moderating” the inflow of...
Fastest growing economy? What about jobs and wages?
Jul. 16 | Leong Sze Hian – After adjusting for historical inflation of about two per cent, the annual real wage increase may only be about 0.6 per cent. I refer to the articles “Economy set to grow 13% – 15%” and “100,000 foreign workers needed:...
Lack of funds threaten food aid project for migrant workers
Jul. 16 | Wong Chun Han Hundreds of jobless migrant workers may go hungry as the food aid programme they depend upon could fold due to a lack of funds. Some 450 men, forced out of work by injuries or non-payment of wages, are receiving free meals everyday from...
