Home » Author Archive
Author Archive
Getting into bed with Jack Neo
Mar. 12 | By Lee Song Kwang, with additional reporting by Ravi Philemon Mr George Yeo, Minister for Foreign Affairs, wrote in his personal blog recently that he was concerned for Jack Neo’s wife (Rallying around Jack Neo and his family). Was not Mr Yeo concerned...
WP Chief Low on homelessness in First World Singapore
Mar. 11 | “Sir, how can we aspire to be a First World country with a world class public housing programme if we have homeless citizens camped out in public parks?” Workers’ Party Chief Low Thia Khiang, in parliament
Why not apply ‘town council logic’ to worker wages?
Mar. 11 | By Gangasudhan This morning a TODAY report (No hike, say some town councils) proclaims that “(r)esidents in at least seven People’s Action Party (PAP) town councils can breathe a sigh of relief for the time being”. Never mind that the...
Straits Times’ outrageous opinion piece on homelessness
Mar. 10 | By Callan Tham The Straits Times, true to its form of operating as a government mouthpiece, publishes this gem of an opinion piece disguised as ‘Prime News’ entitled Life’s a beach but it’s no holiday (complete with the accompanying...
Survey on IT knowledge among Singaporeans
Mar. 9 | TIP Media hit the streets recently to find out from the man (and woman) in the street what they understood by some IT terms – with some hilarious results! _________________________________ About TIP Media TIPMedia.net was started by 2 innovative...
Who elected these clowns?
Mar. 8 | Newsflash: Gopalan Nair, who yesterday claimed that he had received information that MM Lee Kuan Yew had suffered a heart attack, has now admitted on his blog that “the hoax was deliberately written by me” and “(i)n fact I don’t...
Documentary film screening at NUS by Kampung Halaman
Mar. 6 | Kampung Halaman of Indonesia, a non-profit organization to support the increase of youth’s role in community transition through educational programmes using community-based media, involved Bound of Kepulauan Riau-Yogyakarta Students – Ikatan Pelajar...
At the Ringside of the global village
Mar. 6 | By Ho Rui An The central thesis of Work-Life: The Making of Community, a two-day forum presented by the Theatre Training and Research Programme and the British Council argues that communities are centered on creative activity. It puts forth that communities...
TOC’s Andrew Loh and Leong Sze Hian interveiwed by Asian Voices
Mar. 6 | The January issue (Asian Voices Issue 17) of ‘Asian Voices’, a monthly radio magazine programme produced by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) in Singapore focused on alternative media in Southeast Asia and invited...
Lim Swee Say, the consummate joker
Mar. 6 | By the author of Singapore Recalcitrant Can you believe your ears when the honourable Mr. Lim Swee Say, minister and secretary-general of the NTUC, said that he was like the little frog in the unheard of fable “kingdom of frogs” that he was...
Sylvia Lim on GRCs
Mar. 6 | “Group Representation Constituencies can be chopped and changed; Member Constituencies can be created and dissolved with a stroke of a pen.” WP Chairman Sylvia Lim, in parliament
RIP Michael Foot
Mar. 4 | “We are not here in this world to find elegant solutions, pregnant with initiative, or to serve the ways and modes of profitable progress. No, we are here to provide for all those who are weaker and hungrier, more battered and crippled than...
Interview with Rev. Dr. Edward Job on Death Penalty
Mar. 4 | Rev. Dr. Edward Job, a person with over 16 years of experience in helping drug addicts, speaks his mind on the death penalty.
Anti-Death Penalty in Singapore
Mar. 4 | One reader reflects on the situation in Singapore. Yong Vui Kong’s appeal is going before the Court of Appeal this March. It seems that Singapore cyberspace is pretty much silent on the issue but a few interesting points in the death penalty debate...
Subhas Anandan on Walter Woon stepping down
Mar. 4 | “He’s (Attorney General Walter Woon) more of an academic, but there’s also a possibility he would stand in the next General Election as a candidate.” Subhas Anandan, president of the Association of Criminal Lawyers of Singapore
Award-winning director’s take on community
Mar. 4 | Award-winning Singapore director, Tan Pin Pin, succinctly points out how the simple act of watching a movie in a cinema theatre is also a form of community. Ms Tan will be speaking at the Work-Life: The Making Of Community forum this Friday and Saturday...
30 minutes that changed the people’s lives
Mar. 3 | By Ajax Copperwater On 1st January 1982, Singapore celebrated the New Year 30 minutes earlier because of a decision by the PAP government to move the time in sync with Malaysia’s for political and economic reasons. Of course, the move to change...
Vivian Balakrishnan on protecting homeless children
Mar. 3 | “I have insisted that (to) anyone with children. The children must be put in a proper home; they must continue to go to school. They must continue to get access to good food, good hygiene. And if any family has difficulty providing these things...
Low Thia Khiang: Low productivity not workers’ fault
Mar. 3 | By Gerald Giam Workers’ Party chief Low Thia Khiang has slammed the PAP government for seemingly suggesting that Singaporean workers have only themselves to blame for their low incomes, because of their low productivity and skills. He said it was easy...
Low Thia Khiang on low wages
Mar. 3 | “How long more must our low-wage workers wait to enjoy a first-world pay? Must they wait until our productivity reach two to three per cent?” Mr Low Thia Khiang, in parliament
Singapore playwright on making communities
Mar. 2 | Alvin Tan, Founder and Artistic Director of The Necessary Stage shares his thoughts about what community means within the Singapore context. Mr Tan will be speaking at the Work-Life: The Making Of Community forum this Friday and Saturday – for more...
Youths unite in creating 169 kites of well-wishes for the 2010 YOG
Feb. 28 | Over 150 local and international youths created 169 kites – the number of days from the event date to the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games (Singapore 2010) – at the CAN! Create event yesterday. Made and designed by youths from the Mongolian community,...
Work-Life: The Making Of Community Forum
Feb. 27 | What makes a community? How can community celebrations help to celebrate identity and difference? Can art bring communities together? And how do artists work with communities to empower them to make their voices heard? All of these questions and more...
Is there any value in the study of genes?
Feb. 26 | By Jethro Xu While I would not necessarily claim that we are slaves to our genes, it is my firm belief that our genes affect us in very definite, and very real ways. Certain character traits, genetic diseases and even physical appearances are governed...
Electric Scooter now available in Singapore!
Feb. 25 | By Bhavani Prakash, founder of Eco Walk The Talk Zeco Systems Pte Ltd, a Singapore born and bred clean technology company, is paving the way for a quiet revolution in the way we move around. The firm launched a global rollout of its EV charging solutions...
Post Budget Day blues….
Feb. 25 | See more of Sei-Ji’s brilliant work at My Sketchbook… ___________________________________________________
Singapore ranked 70 in Quality of Life Index
Feb. 18 | By Gangasudhan International Living, a magazine whose business for the past 30 years has been to inform readers on the best places to live and work, released its 2010 Quality of Life Index last month. This year’s index places Singapore at Number 70...
‘Tiger Show’ by Cat Welfare Society!
Feb. 17 | The Cat Welfare Society will be hosting a week-long event from 21 – 28 February 2010 provocatively titled ‘Tiger Show’. The event, held in conjunction with the birth of the Year of the Tiger, welcomes the lunar new year in celebration...
The irony of being Singaporean
Feb. 17 | Sei-Ji Rakugaki illustrates the sad state of being Singaporean – where you have less access than foreigners. See more of Sei-Ji’s brilliant work at My Sketchbook… ________________________________________
Aftermath of the Rony Tan incident: it has only just begun
Feb. 12 | By Alvin Phoon For most, the Rony Tan issue is resolved. Apologies have been made, hands have been shaken and people have been humbled. However, what this issue has successfully accomplished is to further expose the perils of religion in a multi-cultural,...
MFA update on accident involving Romanian embassy vehicle
Feb. 12 | The Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned HE Aurelian Neagu, the Romanian Ambassador to Singapore (who is based in Tokyo), to MFA on 11 February 2010 on the matter of the two hit-and-run traffic accidents on 15 December 2009 that involved the Romanian...
ST Forum letter on homeless situation and official reply
Feb. 11 | ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN The Homeless Deserve Better Treatment Letter from Joshua Chiang as published in the Sunday Times on 8 Feb 2010 As a private citizen who is working with other concerned individuals to aid and raise awareness for the homeless in Singapore,...
Grit and Grime: the migrant worker in Singapore cinema
Feb. 11 | By Ho Rui An How do we record memories, sensations and feelings? How do we adequately translate the fleeting and ineffable into a concrete expression of the most visceral human experiences? Capturing the “truth”, in its purest and most unadulterated...
What the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer really says
Feb. 8 | By Gangasudhan Last week, TOC critiqued the Straits Times’ misrepresentation of the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer report, and soon after managed to get in touch with some Edelman representatives. The localised press release for Singapore was duly furnished...
Limited-time trials on Singapore’s first synthetic ice rink
Feb. 8 | Working in collaboration with the Singapore Ice Hockey Association (SIHA), Stamford American International School (SAIS) has is offering Singapore’s first synthetic ice-skating rink on the school’s Foundation Campus at Lorong Chuan. This trial of...
Fail; Fail Again; Fail Better…
Feb. 5 | By Song Kwang Photo courtesy of Singaporean Says Few would know who Samuel Beckett is – well, I didn’t know who he was either. But what caught my attention was his quote “Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better” that I came across whilst...
In bed with the Economic Strategies Committee
Feb. 5 | One of our resident cartoonists, Sei-Ji Rakugaki, wonders about the ESC through his sketchpad – is this further from reality or closer to the truth? See more of Sei-Ji’s work at My Sketchbook… __________________________________________
Is multiracialism also just an aspiration?
Jan. 4 | Breaking News: HDB resale flat prices rose 3.8 per cent over the third quarter which saw prices going up by 3.6 per cent. (Straits Times) Singapore’s economy shrank 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter to December from the previous three months…...
Higher HDB prices good for Singaporeans?
Dec. 21 | Leong Sze Hian Our columnist picks apart the latest announcements and replies from HDB. I refer to the HDB’s latest announcement on Build-to-order (BTO) flats for December – in Queenstown (Dawson), Bukit Panjang and Sembawang. Once again, the...
Media reports on Killer Litter case miss the point
Dec. 17 | By Gangasudhan Reports focus on the incident instead of the fact that it could have been prevented months ahead Photo source: Simpsons Crazy In Wednesday’s copy of TODAY, a report (below) mildly suggests ‘In court over chilli sauce bottle’ whilst...
DNA suggests China Chinese originated from Southeast Asia
Dec. 15 | Farhan Ali Recent study shows DNA evidence pointing to an original migration pattern of humans from Southeast Asia to China believed to have happened about 20,000 years ago Photo courtesy of Salon The Chinese are the dominant group in Singapore and recently,...
By 2015, born and bred S’poreans may be the minority in S’pore
Nov. 25 | Gangasudhan Recent figures revealed in parliament show that less than 2 in 3 persons on the island hold pink NRICs – but that’s not all… In response to MP Chiam See Tong’s query on Permanent Resident figures, Minister for Home Affairs, Mr...
Goh Chok Tong: The pioneer bond-breaker?
Nov. 13 | Gangasudhan / Photo courtesy of country-data.com Speech in 1990 seems to suggest that the SM had technically broken his bond in 1964 – albeit temporarily
Talking Point(s) with NMP Viswa Sadasivan
Nov. 9 | Gangasudhan with contribution from Ravi Philemon >> TOC Review TOC caught up with Nominated Member of Parliament Mr Viswa Sadasivan who discussed his views in a candid chit-chat session TV personality, CEO, consultant, trainer and now NMP, Viswa...
And so the castle crumbles…
Nov. 4 | Terence Lee >> TOC Review Think conservative, and the angry parent comes to mind. Domineering and overprotective, she grumbles over every trespass of her sensitivity. She also writes frequently to the press, railing against rising sexual promiscuity...
