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Four out of six sex ed vendors are Christian organisations
Apr. 29 | In a Straits Times article today, it was reported that four out of six external sex education vendors approved by the Ministry of Education (MOE) are Christian organisations. The chosen vendors are as follows (lifted from ST): 1) Fei Yue Community Services...
Reality check for opposition unity
Apr. 25 | Liberal International (LI) and the Council of Asian Liberals & Democrats (CALD) jointly organised a roundtable discussion titled “Fortifying Liberal Democracy and Partnership in the Region” in Singapore. Several political parties were invited. Notably,...
MPs’ views ahead of parliamentary debate full of hot air
Apr. 24 | Member of Parliament (MP) Zaqy Mohamad reportedly said, “People elected who are accountable to their residents think differently because at the end of the day, you know you have to answer to someone”, when responding to The Straits Times’ query...
Retraction of invitation to hearing-impaired teacher “a mistake”, says MOE
Apr. 23 | “Susan Elliot has spent three decades in education and taught thousands of students. She is bright, articulate, and has a great sense of humor,” writes Mr Anthony Mullen on the Teacher Magazine website. “She teaches social studies and history to...
Advantageous for the PAP to leave Bukit Panjang as it is
Apr. 21 | Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has written to the Prime Minister’s office to leave Bukit Panjang as a Single Member Constituency in the next General Elections (GE). SDP claims on its website that the party has been visiting the constituency for years...
Worth implementing Pre-Employment Grant
Apr. 19 | The Ministry of Health (MOH) is looking to increase the number of doctors inthe public sector by expanding the two local medical schools, and offering a”pre-employment grant” (PEG) to graduating Singaporean medical students studying overseas....
The elephant in the bedroom: Talking about sex
Apr. 16 | For most people, sex is a sensitive and difficult subject to talk about. I have come across a man who, after 15 years of marriage, admitted that he and his wife have never talked about sex. Don’t get me wrong. They do have sex. They just don’t talk...
Flawed opposition strategy and next GE
Apr. 14 | I Interviewed Mr Hans van Baalen, Member of European Parliament and the current President of Liberal International (LI), the worldwide federation of liberal and progressive organizations and political parties for the article on The Online Citizen, “Opposition...
Threes and fives of an alternative economic stratagem
Apr. 13 | Latest: Ministry of Trade and Industry revises economic growth forecast Singapore to 7 – 9% growth from the previous forecast of 4.5% – 6.5%; and Monetary Authority of Singapore re-centres the exchange rate policy band to allow for a stronger...
Homeless in Singapore due to technicality
Apr. 13 | Zia is a 42-year old divorcee with five children. Four of the younger ones are in school whilst her eldest son is due to complete his National Service this year. As a Patient Service Assistant at a health care centre, she earns a gross income of $1500...
The Satirist Says: Vice-Raids to encourage IR patronage
Apr. 12 | In an unusual show of disdain for the ‘veterans’ at Geylang and Joo Chiat, a multi-agency task force swooped down on Thursday to evict the area of 108 persons involved in “illegal gambling activities, secret society involvement, peddling...
Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum 2010: Once more, with fear
Apr. 12 | We derive a strange and sickly comfort in the familiar, even if that familiarity invokes fear. It is otherwise hard to explain our enduring vulnerability. When Teo Chee Hean began by reminding his youthful audience that Singapore begun as ‘an accidental...
Opposition alliance will force openness and democracy
Apr. 10 | “If I were a citizen of Singapore, I would want to speak and vote freely. And this would be what I would demand from all political parties”, says Mr Hans van Baalen, Member of European Parliament and the current President of Liberal International...
Do you want me to stay at the beach?
Apr. 8 | “Do you want me to stay at the beach?” retorted Jacob, when the officer from Housing and Development Board (HDB) informed him a few days ago that he would soon have to vacate the place he has been calling his home for the last one year at Havelock...
Singapore policies force some onto streets
Apr. 5 | Al Jazeera reports on the homelessness issue in Singapore. Singapore is a nation of homeowners, largely thanks to a comprehensive system of government subsidised housing. But despite the system’s overall success, the strict rules also mean that...
SPF should build strong community partnerships in cyberspace
Apr. 1 | By Ravi Philemon The Online Citizen (TOC) sent in the following opinion to The Straits Times (ST) Forum on 30 March 2010. At the time of putting this up on TOC, ST had not responded if they would put this up in their papers. So, we publish our opinion...
Sexual harassment and sanctity of the workspace
Mar. 23 | By: Ravi Philemon I recently hyperlinked The New Paper article, ‘Be my special designer girlfriend’ on TOC’s Facebook (FB) page and most people who commented on the link chided TOC for giving a wider circulation to the ‘gutter journalism’ of...
Gerard Ee – right in slamming physician assisted suicide
Mar. 21 | By Ravi Philemon In April 2009, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan categorically stated that, “euthanasia, which means helping the patient to commit suicide, is not what Ministry of Health (MOH) is promoting” and that MOH is actually “promoting...
Undercover investigation on illegal tiger parts trade
Mar. 19 | TOC APPEAL We have 19 photos from you, our readers, so far – please continue to support The Anti-Mandatory Death Penalty Photo Project by simply taking a photo of yourself that says you do not support the Mandatory Death Penalty, and send it to...
TOC Editorial: Cooling-off day may lead to heated confusion
Mar. 16 | By Ng E-Jay Three bills were tabled in Parliament last week to amend the Constitution as well as the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections Acts. The proposed changes include raising the maximum number of Non-Constituency MPs from six to nine, making...
Judges reserve judgement in Yong’s mandatory death penalty appeal
Mar. 15 | By Wong Chun Han The Court of Appeal reserved judgement today in the case of convicted Malaysian drug mule Yong Vui Kong, who has challenged the constitutionality of the mandatory death sentence he received. Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong told a packed...
Time for someone new to drive Singapore
Mar. 14 | BREAKING: The Court of Appeal has heard Yong Vui Kong’s appeal. After hearing submissions from Mr M Ravi, representing Yong, and the response from Attorney-General Walter Woon for the prosecution, the Court has reserved judgement for a later date. By...
Lonely out of the gravy train
Mar. 13 | By Khairulanwar Zaini Compassion remains scarce in Singapore. The status quo prevails for the government: public transport concessions will remain elusive for the almost 120 000 disabled people. Addressing the plight of the disabled was Workers’ Party...
The story of a boy
Mar. 13 | Yong Vui Kong’s appeal hearing takes place at 10am on Monday, 15 March 2010. By Andrew Loh Yong Vui Kong was 12 when he left his grandfather’s palm oil estate “deep in the forests of Sabah” in Malaysia to strike it out on his own. He had had...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Raising foreign worker levy will not solve problems, say critics
Feb. 26 | By Wong Chun Han Raising the foreign worker levy will not reduce Singapore’s dependence on foreign labour or raise productivity, but will increase the financial burden on workers and employers, social workers and analysts say. The levy hike – part...
Dissecting Budget 2010
Feb. 23 | Announcement: The electoral rolls for the next General Elections are now open for inspection. Please go to: http://elections.gov.sg . By Ng E-Jay Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam delivered the Budget Statement in Parliament on Monday 22 Feb. In...
On the beat to the hustings?
Feb. 19 | By Ng E-Jay On Wednesday 17 Feb, PM Lee Hsien Loong called for the Registers of Electors to be updated, exactly one year after the Elections Department had conducted the previous revision. [1] The Registers of Electors contain the particulars of all...
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...
Malay sketches
Feb. 18 | By Alfian Sa’at Jason wanted the whole works for his wedding. Hawa, his wife-to-be, was actually nervous about having the bersanding ceremony, where bride and groom would sit side by side on a dais. She thought that too much attention would be focused...
Cultural revolutions, wilting flowers
Feb. 16 | By Choo Zheng Xi (Editor-At-Large) and KJ We wonder if Rear-Admiral Lui Tuck Yew knows that our city was the subject of a Hollywood film. No, not Ivan Heng’s cameo in Luc Besson’s Fifth Element, but a full Hollywood film shot on scene in Singapore. In...
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,...
The anger of displacement
Feb. 11 | By Choo Zheng Xi, Editor-at-Large Why are Singaporeans unhappy, the PAP wonders. It is said that Singaporeans are a migrant stock. Coming and going, it’s in our blood. My own mother was born and raised in Hong Kong. She met my Singaporean father...
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...
Statutory rape law – a paternalistic anachronism
Feb. 10 | By Ravi Philemon and Gangasudhan I wonder why Channel News Asia has gone for sensationalism in reporting the Singapore Police Force’s (SPF) annual crime brief. SPF’s crime statistics have more important issues such as the increase in petty theft...
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...
The Straits Times thinks only businessmen are Singaporeans
Feb. 6 | By Gangasudhan and Ravi Philemon In a show of scant regard for the intellect of Singaporeans, the Straits Times splashed the authoritative headline “Highest trust level in government” for an article that starts of with “people in Singapore trust...
SERS flats converted to condo for expats
Feb. 5 | Andrew Loh / Joshua Chiang Blocks 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 along Tiong Bahru Road were built by the Singapore Improvement Trust (SIT) which operated between 1927 and 1959. The SIT was a body set up by the British colonial authority to solve the housing problems...
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...
SERS flats to be rented out to foreigners again – this time in Bedok
Feb. 4 | Andrew Loh / Leong Sze Hian / Special thanks to Lynn Lee “If everybody jumps onto this safety net, whether they deserve to or they don’t, that safety net is going to break. … They could easily afford a studio apartment or a small resale flat....
Polarization: The symptom, not the illness
Feb. 4 | By Choo Zheng Xi, Editor-at-Large Rachel Chang’s piece in the Straits Times “Power of the Net to polarise” (04 Feb 2010) highlighting the increasing polarization of the internet has some truth. Views are increasingly polarized as a result...
HDB’s inflexible policies will result in more homeless S’poreans
Feb. 3 | Andrew Loh / Leong Sze Hian / Picture from Wikimedia ‘There’s no question that our policies are designed for the good of the people. While there may be certain parts of the policies that are not favourable, overall, I think these policies...
Raising the foreign worker levy is a blunt move
Feb. 3 | How will raising the foreign worker levy improve the lot of locals who are faced with stagnant wages and rising costs? By Ng E-Jay The Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) has suggested raising the foreign worker levy to discourage businesses from importing...
The truth about nuclear energy
Feb. 2 | By Ravi Philemon Led by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) in unveiling its ambitious plans for Singapore’s economic transformation suggested the feasibility of using nuclear energy to meet the base load...
“The government’s first responsibility is to Singaporeans”
Feb. 1 | Andrew Loh / Pictures by Joshua Chiang So, the homeless at Sembawang Park have been relocated to HDB flats. All seem to be well. And on the surface, at least, the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, should be congratulated for stepping...
Men in White silent on key historical issues, say scholars
Jan. 19 | Wong Chun Han / Pictures courtesy of Asia Research Institute, NUS Rather than shedding light on the unfamiliar chapters of Singapore’s political history, the authors and publishers of Men in White have kept readers in the dark in some regards,...
