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Banned in the City Of Possibilities
Oct. 18 | “It is not our objective to increase the level of censorship in Singapore. Just maintaining the existing level of censorship is difficult enough.” - Minister for Information and the Arts, George Yeo (1998) (Reuters) Below is a list of events...
Parliamentary petition to repeal 377A: not just any other petition
Oct. 12 | By Choo Zheng Xi In the most formal challenge to Singapore’s gay sex laws yet, Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Siew Kum Hong will be sponsoring a petition in Parliament calling for the repeal of section 377A of the Penal Code. The petition was...
TOC Report: Myanmar Peace Awareness Day in university campuses
Oct. 5 | By Ng Sook Zhen Chaos may be an abstract concept for youths in Singapore, but this has not stopped students from taking material action against the current chaotic situation in Myanmar. Yesterday, at Myanmar Peace Awareness Day(MPAD) held at three local...
Police rejects permit for outdoor protest by S’pore student
Oct. 2 | Andrew Teo, a student at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, had applied for a permit to hold an outdoor protest about the situation in Burma. (Reported here by TOC earlier.) His application has been rejected by the Singapore police. The following...
Candle light vigil at Burmese embassy
Oct. 2 | This is a short video of scenes at the candle light vigil at the Burmese embassy in Singapore, 1st Oct 2007. *Pictures are taken from Ko Naing’s public gallery here.
TOC On Site: More than 1,000 gather at Burmese temple in solidarity
Sep. 29 | By Andrew Loh I met my Burmese contact at Toa Payoh MRT at 7 pm. A tip off had told TOC that members of the Burmese community were organizing a special prayer service to be held at the Burmese Buddhist Temple off Balestier Road. I was expecting a couple...
TOC Breaking News: Singaporean graduate student files application for Burma protest
Sep. 29 | The remark on Andrew Teo’s online application form to protest the violence in Burma is simple: “Free Burma. General Than Shwe: Stop the killing”. This afternoon, Mr Teo, a graduate student at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and telecommunications...
TOC condemns violent crackdown on peaceful Burma protesters
Sep. 27 | LATEST: Burma seals off key monasteries – BBC LATEST: S’porean man shot and kicked by Myanmar riot police – Straits Times In recent weeks, the world has witnessed the largest peaceful street protests against the military government to...
Bloggers’ reaction to protest in Burma
Sep. 27 | LATEST: Burma monastries in night raids – BBC “Witnesses say security forces in Burma have launched raids on monasteries and arrested scores of monks..” Please sign the petition in support of the people of Burma. Myanmar needs our support…...
TOC report: Public forum on ASEAN Human Rights Working Group
Sep. 25 | By Andrew Loh and Choo Zheng Xi The modest sized Victoria Room at Allson Hotel was packed to overfilling with 90 people who were there to attend the public forum on the establishment of a Singapore Human Rights Working Group. It was chaired by well-known...
TOC Opinion: PM Lee at NUS: Where’s the substance?
Sep. 22 | By Choo Zheng Xi The Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum was a surreal experience. Throughout the forum, I had trouble believing that this event was being held the day after one of the most contentious Parliamentary sittings I had ever followed was concluded....
Hong Lim Park protest – revisited
Sep. 16 | The international media was not there, neither were there scores of policemen and policewomen or helicopters circling above. There was no big crowd and the only photographers clicking away were a handful – from the local press and some members of the...
TOC Breaking News: Police allow SDP march to Parliament
Sep. 16 | The police have allowed a protest march by Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) activists to take place without incident. At 3.10 pm this afternoon, a group of six SDP activists turned up at Singapore’s Speaker’s Corner at Hong Lim Park to commemorate...
TOC Exclusive: Otto Fong’s Open Letter
Sep. 10 | Theonlinecitizen has obtained a copy of the original blog entry by Raffles Institution teacher, Otto Fong. It also includes comments which were originally posted by readers of his article. The original posting on his own blog has since been taken down....
TOC Breaking News: Gay teacher deletes his “coming out” article
Sep. 10 | Latest Update (10 Sept, 20:00 hours): TOC understands that Otto’s case has attracted the attention of the Ministry Of Education. We expect both MOE and Raffles Institution to release a press statement on the matter very soon. Otto Fong is a gay teacher...
TOC Report: annuity protest draws small crowd
Sep. 9 | A protest against the government’s move to introduce an annuities scheme was held at Centrepoint on Saturday afternoon. Around 30 people were spotted wearing black throughout the five storey shopping mall, but it was unclear how many of them were...
The Internet’s reaction to Otto Fong
Sep. 9 | Below are some reactions from the internet regarding Raffles Institution teacher Otto Fong’s “coming out” blog post. Letter to Raffles Institution regarding Otto Fong by Jasper Chen “I must say that I am deeply touched by Mr Fong’s article....
“Ministers are not given pensions” – Halimah Yacob
Sep. 5 | By Andrew Loh “Ministers are not given pensions, not the ministers after a certain age, similar to civil servants…. Civil servants after 1984, ‘86 no longer are paid pensions. They’re all on CPF, the same as ministers. So whatever other schemes...
US ambassador says “US will fight” if China invades Taiwan
Aug. 30 | By Gerald Giam If the People’s Republic of China decides to take Taiwan by force, the US will fight on behalf of Taiwan against the Mainland, said a former US ambassador. Chase Untermeyer, who just completed his tour as ambassador to Qatar and is...
In Parliament: government’s reply poorly reasoned, insulting
Aug. 28 | By Choo Zheng Xi The Worker’s Party MPs asked why their party was not allowed to hold a cycling event at East Coast Park as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations. If Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee’s answer is any...
WP Youth Wing elections set new tone for youths in politics
Aug. 22 | By Choo Zheng Xi It was not so long ago that the single most familiar refrain of opposition politicians was a constant complaint about a ‘climate of fear’ surrounding politics. If the Workers’ Party Youth Wing (WPYW) elections were any gauge, this...
PM Lee’s National Day Rally Speech
Aug. 18 | The Prime Minister’s National Day Rally Speech has been likened by some to the US President’s State of the Union address. It has traditionally served as a summary of the trends and events of the year, and used them to project a direction for the...
Has new media gone off the radar?
Aug. 6 | By Aaron Ng If PM Lee’s National Day message is any indicator of what is coming up on the National Day Rally speech for this year, it is perhaps not surprising that new media has been thrown off the radar, despite having occupied a relatively prominent...
TOC interviews Ephraim Loy
Aug. 3 | Ephraim Loy, one of the men behind Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo’s foray into blogging, has become something of a piñata on TOC. Of the 44 comments so far posted in the article welcoming him on board, many were overwhelmingly negative,...
Displaying the national flag
Jul. 28 | By Andrew Loh National Day is just around the corner but walking around some HDB estates, you will notice the scarcity or absence of the national flag being displayed. So, why are Singaporeans not displaying the flag – proudly and openly? Is it because...
Fare hike for public transport in October?
Jul. 26 | By Andrew Loh The Public Transport Council (PTC) has given public transport operators until August 2007 to apply for any fare revisions they wish to make. (Straits Times, Mar 23, 2007). Any fare hike will take effect from October, according to a PTC...
WP Youth Wing reaches out to youths downtown
Jun. 25 | The Workers’ Party’s Youth Wing held an outreach programme in downtown Singapore on Sunday to celebrate Youth Day with young Singaporeans. The team of about 20 WP members from the Youth Wing strolled down Orchard Road handing out specially-designed...
Award winning local playwright fired from teaching position
Jun. 11 | TOC report Alfian Sa’at, one of Singapore’s most illustrious playwrights, was recently fired from a relief teaching position by the Ministry of Education (MOE). The reason for his dismissal? In the words of the Ministry, he did not ‘best meet the...
Auditor General’s Report – Millions Missing
Jun. 1 | TOC Exclusive The original Auditor General Office’s (AGO) audit of 12 Ministries and associated statutory boards has revealed irregularities to an extent not fully revealed by the recent Public Accounts Committee (PAC). According to the AGO, losses...
JBJ to set up “The Reform Party” (Report)
May. 20 | Video of the press conference is at the end of this article. Recently discharged from bankruptcy, former Workers’ Party chief JB Jeyaretnam announced that he is registering a new political party. Wearing a polo shirt with the words “The Truth Will...
Packed audience at SDP forum
Apr. 14 | The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) held a public forum to a packed audience of between 160 to 180 people at the Sheraton Towers hotel on friday. The Singapore Police and the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) had earlier rejected the SDP’s...
DiaSpura – Singapore club at the University of Pennsylvania
Apr. 4 | DiaSpura is a speaker series and musical organized by the Singapore club at the University of Pennsylvania. Among those who attended the event were Singapore Ambassador to the US, Prof Chan Heng Chee (right), former Singapore solicitor-general Francis...
The construction of noise – Singapore de-constructed
Feb. 20 | Singapore is in upheaval – literally. I am sure that all of you have noticed it too – the many construction sites and construction activities going on around our little city-state. Building, re-building, knocking down, piling up, digging underground,...
“Are we moving towards a punitive society?”
Feb. 4 | “Are we moving towards to punitive society?”, the Workers’ Party chairman, Sylvia Lim, asked the packed room of more than 80 people at the party’s headquarters who were there to attend the WP’s forum on the government’s proposed amendments...
Report on the P65 Dialogue on GST implications
Jan. 24 | Starting later than the scheduled time of 7pm, the P65 Dialogue – GST Implications took place at NTUC Centre Jan 23rd, 2007. Chaired by the post-65 PAP MPs Teo Ser Luck, Michael Palmer, and Zaqy Mohammed, the event was a rather scaled-down affair....
New northern hospital – public transport concerns
Jan. 10 | Construction of the new $400 million, 400-beds Alexandra@Yishun hospital is now underway, and is expected to be completed by march 2009 (It was first announced as an election promise by the PAP in the 2001 general elections, by the way. 8 years to build...
w w w . H e l p N a z a n i n . c o m
Jan. 10 | Go to the website here to learn how to help Nazanin. On January 3, 2006, 18-year-old Nazanin Mahabad Fatehi was sentenced to death for murder by court in Iran after she stabbed one of three men who attempted to rape her and her 16-year-old niece in a...
My neighbourhood… after dark.
Jan. 5 | By zyberzitizen In the heartlands of Singapore – and away from the glamour and glossy pictures we see on promotional brochures, advertisements and postcards – lies a question. A question which will be asked at the end of this essay. I took...
A stranger, my friend.
Dec. 21 | By zyberzitizen He sleeps there every night – rain or shine. Everytime I get home from work, I see him there. Sometimes, he stares into space while drawing on a cigarette. Other times, he is already sleeping. A cat nearby keeps him company, sometimes...
Freedom Walk
Dec. 14 | The Singapore Democratic Party, along with some like-minded Singaporeans, commemorated Int’l Human Rights Day by embarking on a Freedom Walk from Hong Lim Park to Queenstown remand prison. You can view pictures of the event here.
