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Jewel Philemon
Human Rights = Cultivating Humanity?
Dec. 12 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ “Talking about human rights in a rights-based perspective is not wrong, but it is insufficient.” Instead, Mr Richard Magnus, Singapore’s representative to the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR), said...
“If you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys for ministers.” Really?
Dec. 6 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ “If we underpay men of quality as ministers, we cannot expect them to stay long in office earning a fraction of what they would earn outside.” “If you pay peanuts, you will get monkeys for ministers.” These are some of...
Apolitical: When Gen Y marks ‘X’
Oct. 15 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ Singapore Management University’s (SMU) first student political association, Apolitical, held a panel discussion titled, When Gen Y marks ‘X’: Young voters and the 2011 elections’, on the 14th of October at their school of...
SPP rejuvenates Chiam See Tong’s tradition of humble service
Oct. 3 | by Jewel Philemon with contributions from Rina Choo/ “At its core, the SPP believes that able Singaporeans should look out for the less able. We believe that a society is only as successful as it’s weakest members. Our service must therefore be...
SPP brings MPS to the Doorsteps
Oct. 1 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ Singapore People’s Party (SPP) members and volunteers, including Mr & Mrs Chiam, Mr Mohammad Hamim bin Aliyas, Mr Benjamin Pwee and Mr Jimmy Lee, will be meeting and distributing food to needy Toa Payoh residents today in an...
When Tan Meets Tan – Cooling off Day has never been this hot
Sep. 27 | UPDATE: THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED. Please contact the organisers for more information. ~by: Jewel Philemon~ Sight Lines Entertainment presents its debut production, ‘When Tan Meets Tan’, a political parody musical revue, hot on the heels of the...
Absurd inconsistencies in SHRI’s administrative processes
Sep. 26 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ “Mr See had not stated the subject matter of the forum in his application form. The Institute’s constitution states that it is not allowed to hold events of a political nature.” – David Ang, Executive Director, Singapore...
Lily Neo: It was a typo disaster
Sep. 21 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ Dr Lily Neo, MP for Tanjong Pagar GRC, has lunched the community project ‘Stop Pest’ which aims to improve the living conditions of the low income families living in one-room rental flats at Kreta-Ayer Kim Seng constituency...
Our growing population – the need for deforestation
Sep. 20 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ The 2010-2011 flash floods, which hit Singapore by surprise and took the lives of four, were, as everyone knows, caused by higher than average rainfall. But were these torrential downpours and chokes in drainage the only cause of...
NUS’ disrespectful reference to Lee Kuan Yew
Sep. 14 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Biological Sciences announced a public seminar titled ‘Fragmentation and Land Use Change: Impacts on Tropical Forest Diversity’. Luke Gibson, a graduate student...
PKMS terminates and strips membership of its President
Sep. 13 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ The supreme executive council (SEC) of PKMS (Singapore Malay National Organisation) has terminated and stripped its ex-President Mr Ali Asjadi of his membership and all his duties in PKMS. The political party’s...
Interview with a new citizen
Sep. 12 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ the following is an email interview with a 46 year-old new citizen Raj (an actual but shortened name): – TOC: Where are you from? Raj: I am from Chennai the capital of Tamil Nadu, India. TOC: When did you become the citizen...
School of Tomorrow – firing the passion for learning
Sep. 7 | ~by: Elliot Aruldoss~ ~with contributions from: Jewel Philemon~ “We should recognize many paths of success”, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally Speech. Mr Raj, principal of Victory Life Christian School could not...
Keeping Singapore young – The IPS report Lee Kuan Yew referred to
Sep. 7 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ On 6 September 2011, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, speaking at the annual Ministerial Forum series organised by the NTU Students’ Union said that there were “grim statistics” from the Institute of Policy Studies stating that...
Fear of Writing: A commentary on political art and censorship
Sep. 1 | ~by: Jewel Philemon~ Local playwright, Mr Tan Tarn How, returns to the world of theatre after a hiatus of ten years with his latest full-length play, ‘Fear of Writing’. The respected writer, who has written several critically acclaimed plays...
Tony Tan promises to not be a ‘Super MP’
Aug. 25 | by: Jewel Philemon/ The 2011 Presidential Election’s first lunchtime rally was kicked off by Dr Tony Tan, yesterday at 12.30pm. A crowd of two-thousand over people gave up their lunch hours and battled the hot sun as they gathered at UOB Plaza to...
I am not a hooligan: Presidential Candidate Tan Jee Say
Aug. 25 | Interview by Elliot Aruldoss and Jewel Philemon/ Videography by Joshua Chiang In this interview, Presidential Candidate Tan Jee Say talks about his brush with Dr Tony Tan at TOC’s Face to Face 2 forum, the public perception of him as a confrontational...
Tan Jee Say is the most popular candidate according to F2F2 survey
Aug. 25 | by: Jewel Philemon/ On 24th August, we asked our readers who had watched our ‘Face to Face 2: Presidential Forum’ (F2F2) videos to take a survey which asked three questions. The 3 questions being: Did you decide who to vote for before watching...
What do you do, Mr President?
Aug. 23 | by: Jewel Philemon and Justin Tan/ Photographs: Terry Xu/ Maruah (working group for ASEAN human rights mechanism), held a public forum,’ What do you do, Mr President?’, discussing the key roles and functions of the President, on Saturday 20th August....
TOC photographer hauled to police station by SBS Transit staff
Aug. 22 | by: Jewel Philemon/ On 17 Aug 2011 at about 9.30am, one of our photographers noticed an accident along Marine Parade Road and started taking pictures of this incident involving two SBS Transit buses (one double-decker and the other a normal one). A staff...
All four Tans receive the Certificate of Eligibility
Aug. 11 | by: Jewel Philemon/ Mr Tan Kin Lian, Mr Tan Jee Say, Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Dr Tony Tan have all received the Certificate of Eligibility to contest the Presidential Election 2011. In its media release the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) said that...
Updated: MP Penny Low preoccupied with phone in the midst of singing national anthem at NDP
Aug. 10 | by: Jewel Philemon/ Update: TOC contacted Ms Penny Low and asked her if she has a response to this incident which is widely being discussed online. Ms Low responded to TOC and said: Thank you for your enquiry. This is the clarification posted on my FB...
The ‘Other’ National Day Video
Aug. 8 | Jewel Philemon/ The iconic words, “This is Home”, will never have the same meaning again after ‘Another Home’ was released on 28th July. The parody music video, created and produced by local independent film website,...
NLB clarifies on the old newspaper articles that went missing
Aug. 4 | by: Jewel Philemon/ TOC excerpted an article from the blogosphere yesterday which highlighted that some archived newspaper articles have gone missing from National Library Board’s (NLB) searchable online Singapore newspaper archive NewspaperSG....
100% home-grown Singaporean artist decides to leave Singapore
Jul. 29 | by: Jewel Philemon/ Inch Chua a Singaporean singer-songwriter, musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist, who gained national recognition after being the first Singapore solo artist to be invited to the prestigious South by Southwest Music...
Enough with the ‘endorsements’ of Tony Tan
Jul. 28 | by: Jewel Philemon/ First it was the lecture in Singapore Management University, then it was the care provided to the boy who had injured himself, and now it is a dialogue organised jointly by Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) and Singapore...
The Baby Isaac Story
Jul. 18 | by: Elliot Aruldoss and Jewel Philemon/ Three year old Mohamed Isaac made waves recently when he was repatriated to Malaysia as a ‘stateless’ child despite being born in Singapore as the son of a Singaporean man, Because there was a perception that...
“How could I remain a spectator?” Dr Tony Tan
Jun. 23 | by: Jewel Philemon/ The former Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam, announced his bid for the 2011 Presidential Election, this morning. Dr Tan, accompanied by his wife Ms Mary Chee Bee Kiang, arrived at the Election Department at...
AGC will take no further action against Alan Shadrake
Jun. 23 | by: Jewel Philemon/ Attorney-General’s Chambers (AGC) has decided not to take any further action against Alan Shadrake, the author of ‘Once a Jolly Hangman‘, following their investigation into offences of criminal defamation and wrongful...
Tan Cheng Bock: I refuse to compromise
Jun. 22 | by: Jewel Philemon/ Jovial, open and down to earth. These are the words that immediately come to mind when one tries to describe Dr Tan Cheng Bock, prospective Presidential Election Candidate. For our team, which included youths who are not as familiar...
Potong Pasir petition campaign called off after police intervened
May. 24 | Elliot Aruldoss, Jewel Philemon It all started on 7 May when the results of the 2011 General Elections were revealed. A group of Potong Pasir residents gathered at a coffeeshop at Block 108 eagerly awaiting the results. This was the same coffeeshop which...
MK resident files complaint against alleged Cooling-off Day violation
May. 19 | Jewel Philemon, Elliot Aruldoss On 6 May 2011, the eve of Polling Day which is Cooling-off Day, a resident living in Moulmein-Kallang constituency filed a police report about ongoing election activity in the area. According to the Singapore Elections...
Mrs Jeannette Chong Aruldoss – the Everyday Superwoman
May. 5 | Jewel Philemon / The 2011 General Elections has surprised many in Singapore with the emergence of well-qualified opposition candidates. Taking the Mountbatten battlefield is Mrs Jeannette Chong Aruldoss, a contender for the Single Member Constituency...
“I am more than a match for Mr Lim Biow Chuan”
May. 3 | Jewel Philemon / The crowd was in the hundreds when we arrived and it was pushing over 15,000 as the rally ended. People spilt into the sidewalks and the roads opposite the field as they hoped to get a glimpse of the opposition candidates. There were...
SDP manifesto tackles major issues
Apr. 28 | Jewel Philemon, additional reporting by Elliot A. Pictures by Jeremy Philemon The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) unveiled its election manifesto, “The SDP Solution”, on Wednesday at a press conference held at 22 Marshall Road. The SDP is the only...
Time to make a decision on S’pore: SDP
Apr. 22 | Jewel Philemon/ Pictures by Jeremy Philemon The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) unveiled its first batch of six candidates for the upcoming General Election (GE) on Thursday, at a press conference held at The Landmark Village Hotel. SDP secretary-general...
Mountbatten close to her heart
Mar. 20 | Jewel Philemon / The National Solidarity Party (NSP) today unveiled its candidate for Mountbatten Single- Member Constituency (SMC) for the upcoming General Election (GE), lawyer Ms Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss. At a walkabout at Kampong Arang Hawker Centre...
Afghan Star – risking their lives to sing
Nov. 16 | Review by Jewel Philemon In Afghanistan, you risk your life to sing. “I have to hurry this interview. There are security problems when you become famous.” Celebrities worldwide will be familiar and agree with this statement. But for those...
Celebpreneur Uncovered
Oct. 20 | Report by Jewel Philemon / Photos by Jeremy Philemon “THE PRESSURE to succeed is even higher because people are watching you every step of the way. People do notice you and they do judge you in a different scale,” says Vernetta Lopez when asked if...
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi – my inspiration to be my father’s daughter
Aug. 8 | Jewel Philemon “As my father’s daughter, I felt I had duty to get involved in this struggle,” said Daw Aung San Suu Kyi when she made up her mind to give up her idyllic life at Oxford University and rededicate it to a non-violent movement...
