SingaporeSurf

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Sylvia Lim: R&D Spending Needs To Be Accounted For

geraldgiam.sg

What other output/outcome indicators are tracked by the government? How are we doing in terms of R&D output or outcomes vis-à-vis other countries at a comparable stage of their R&D?

LTA Trying To Scam Singaporeans' Money?

Brad Farless

What's going on here is that LTA has recognized an opportunity to try to shaft people out of more of their hard earned money by making them pay for something they've already paid for and is moving quickly to capitalize on it. Shameful, and it should be illegal.

Ionescu 'Criminally Concerned' In Death

Leong Wee Keat, Today

No Hike, Say Some Town Councils

Ong Dai Lin, Today

Despite rising electricity prices and maintenance costs, these town councils tell MediaCorp they will not be raising Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) for now. They are Ang Mo Kio-Yio Chu Kang, Bishan-Toa Payoh, East Coast, Holland-Bukit Panjang, Jalan Besar, Sembawang and Tampines.

MOE To Relax Eligibility Criteria For CL 'B'

Zul Othman, Today

In an effort to encourage more students to acquire a functional command of Chinese, the education ministry will further adjust standards to match the capabilities of weaker students. This move will have an impact especially at the junior college and centralised institute level, where MOE will relax the eligibility criteria for taking CL 'B' from the current O-level E8 grade or below, to D7 grade or below.

Radicalism In Students

Zul Othman, Today

As part of schools' pastoral efforts, teachers keep an eye out for tell-tale signs of students who may be "drawn into violent or extremist ideologies and counsel them", senior parliamentary secretary for education and home affairs Masagos Zulkifli told Parliament yesterday.

Summoning Hither The Dolphins

Hoe Jia Wen, The Online Citizen

Animal activists have raised legal and welfare concerns about the impending transfer of 18 bottlenose dolphins to Marine Life Park Resorts World Sentosa. These wild dolphins, caught from the Solomon Islands, are currently being trained in Ocean Adventure Park in Subic Bay Freeport of the Philippines, while awaiting the completion of the integrated resort.

Singapore: As Casino Opens, Watch For Its Social Impact Begins

Stanislaus Jude Chan, Inter Press Service

Already, the crimes are rolling in along with the chips that the casino is raking in.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Public Assistance Scheme To Be More Flexible From July

S Ramesh , Channel NewsAsia

What Singapore Could Learn From Rupert Murdoch

Ben Bland, Asian Correspondent

Yesterday, Rupert Murdoch spoke at a media conference in Abu Dhabi, where he warned Gulf states that they must cut regulation and end censorship if they want their creative industries to truly flourish.

Much of what he said could apply to another city-state that tightly controls the media landscape while insisting that it aspires to become "a leading cultural capital" and "a hub for the arts": Singapore.

PAP Minister Dodges The Question By Pretending To Answer A Different Question

Singaporean Skeptic

Large Foreign Workforce A Buffer?

Times They Are A-Changin'

If the buffer created by a large pool of foreign workers has indeed worked, there should be jobs left for Singaporeans after the natural attrition brought on by the financial crisis of 2008. However, it was not the case.

Sorry No Enough Minister Khaw

Goh Meng Seng, Singapore Alternatives

We are now seeing a distinctive pattern in this multi-millions PAP government. They have sat on the problems without doing anything to anticipate the impact due to the increase of population, which in turn due to their flawed liberal Foreign Talent policy.

No Lowering Of CL Standards

Leow Si Wan, Straits Times

The education ministry will not lower standards across the board in its attempt to make sure that students weaker in the Chinese Language master it. Instead, efforts would be made to help every student learn the language to as high a level as they go, said senior minister of state for national development and education Grace Fu in Parliament on Wednesday.

Singapore’s Economy May Expand 6.5% This Year, MAS Survey Shows

Shamim Adam, Bloomberg

Singapore’s economy may grow faster this year than economists initially predicted, boosted by manufacturing, construction and private consumption, a central bank survey showed.

Who Voted This Ong Ah Heng Into Parliament?

Dee Kay Dot As Gee

Mr Ong Ah Heng should be ashamed of himself for making such statement in Parliament. Has he ever questioned why the senior citizen have to work as cleaners instead of enjoying their retirement? Does he know that these senior citizen have contributed to the development of Singapore when they were younger? Why isn’t the country taking care of them when they are old? Is this how the Government treat it’s citizens who had contributed to the country? Replace them with foreign workers when they grow old.

Utterly disgusted that we have this kind of MP in Singapore. Has he forgotten about PM Lee’s New Year message for 2010 where he emphasized that Singaporeans are top priority for the government?

No GIC Losses? 'Not Realistic'

Straits Times

The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) takes it 'very seriously' every time there is a decline in the value of its portfolio or an individual investment, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua said yesterday. But it is 'not realistic' to avoid losses on every investment as that would require GIC to be completely risk-averse, added Mrs Lim, who is minister in the prime minister's office and second minister for finance and transport.

Bed Crunch At Hospices

Joan Chew, Straits Times

Hospices are so short of beds that terminally ill patients sometimes have to be put on a waiting list for a place, with some dying before they can be admitted.

Batam Hopeful About Tourist Overflow From Singapore Casino

Fadli, The Jakarta Post

Batam tour operators in Riau Islands province are optimistic that the presence of a new casino at Singapore’s Resort World Sentosa will boost the province’s tourism sector.

PAP Member Lodged False Police Report Against Opposition

Singapore Democrats

This case gives Singaporeans a glimpse into how the PAP and its members operate, and demonstrates how the PAP continues to use so-called grassroots organisations to further entrench its power.

The Challenge Of Overcrowding In S'pore

Samuel Owen, Straits Times

Clarification

Lionel Lee, Action for Aids Singapore, Today

In the report, I was quoted as saying that "free treatment subjects the healthcare system to abuses and 'may not translate to long-term economic benefits'". The statement has been quoted out of context. The intended meaning should be that: "Completely free medication could possibly lead to carelessness and increase the practice of unsafe sex. We have always supported the provision of affordable treatment with some form of co-payment scheme by patients."

Singapore Least Corrupt, Graft In Indonesia Worsens

AFP

The Republic remains the least corrupt of 16 major Asia-Pacific investment destinations, in a just-released business survey.

MDA Looking Into Mio TV Outage

Esther Ng, Today

The Media Development Authority (MDA) has told MediaCorp it is looking into the breakdown of SingTel's mio TV service, which was down for three days from last Monday to Wednesday.

S'pore Government Calls Halt To iPhone App Service

Victoria Ho, ZDNet Asia

A popular Singapore iPhone app has hit a snag following instructions from government body, the Land Transport Authority (LTA), to stop pulling data from the latter's web site.

Essentially, the government wants money from citizens to take data from the government which the government collected using citizen's money.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

In Singapore, It's Easy To Get Lost In Translation

Mark D. Meruenas, GMA News.tv

Just when I thought I was going to leave Singapore without blunders in conversing with the locals, I got a taste of how their unique Chinese accent can leave me – as the famous Hollywood film depicts – lost in translation.

Group To Review Screening

Straits Times

The Health Ministry will set up an expert group to review the range of healthcare screening available here, and recommend a framework to determine what is appropriate health screening to ensure that Singaporeans do not get fleeced.Professor Lee Hin Peng, a senior public health specialist who has a special interest in cancer screening and prevention, will chair this expert group, said health minister Khaw Boon Wan.

S&C Charges Raised, Still No Transparency

Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp

While the two town councils were clear that they did not increase the charges due to botched investments in Lehman-linked financial products, they did not indicate any willingness to be more transparent in revealing their costs of maintaining the estates.

Wrong Answers From The Wrong Questions

Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp

Can Singapore Cyber-Police Without The Police?

Straits Times

Ultimately, the question that begs to be asked is: As cyberspace becomes a growing constituency, why can't it do its own self-regulation the way civic society does it offline? Is there not an in-between course of action that does not involve tying up police resources and wasting taxpayers' money? In other words, can cyber-policing be done without calling the real police?

Productivity! Productivity! Productivity!

Brad's Blog

Economic Growth Benefits All Citizens

Yours Truly Singapore

The issue at hand isn’t about growing slowly but how we grow.

eBooks For Public Libraries: Is The Current Business Model Sustainable?

Ivan Chew, Rambling Librarian

Daft & Dafter

Feed Me To The Fish

On the same note, I appeal to PAP leaders to speak up if a leeder (or MP) within their own party makes comments that are offensive, dangerous and divisive. Especially derogatory comments that make morons out of citizens.

Sgpolitics.net Condemns Gopalan Nair’s Actions In The Strongest Possible Terms

Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net

It is the likes of people like Gopalan Pallichadath Nair that cause some Singaporeans to look upon the local blogosphere as essentially untrustworthy when it comes to current affairs or political commentary.

At Least 2 Town Councils To Up S&C Charges

Leong Wee Keat, Today

With electricity prices and maintenance costs going up, at least two town councils, Aljunied and Jurong, will raise their Service and Conservancy Charges (S&CC) next month.

For Singaporean households in Housing Board flats, the hike per month will range between 50 cents for a one-room flat and $4.50 for a five-room flat.

Breeding A Subsidy Mentality In Housing

Yawning Bread

We need to be able to build cheaper flats. Too much of Singaporeans' disposable income is spent on an investment that does not give productive returns.

The policy direction should be not to build costly flats with bells and whistles and then dishing out subsidies so people can buy them. Instead, it should be to build them at an affordable cost, so that no subsidies are necessary.

The subtle policy shift by the HDB from building flats that people need to flats people want is, on hindsight, wrong and counter-productive.

French Expert Says HIV Infections In Singapore Higher Than France

Wang Eng Eng/ Alicia Wong, Channel NewsAsia

A French HIV expert from the Institut Pasteur in Paris said she's surprised with Singapore's HIV infection numbers especially the over-400 new infections in 2008. Professor Francoise Barre Sinoussi said she was surprised at Singapore's HIV infection numbers.

Study On Nuclear Energy To Begin This Year

Channel NewsAsia

A feasibility study by a multi-agency group of whether nuclear energy can be a long-term option for Singapore, will be commencing later this year.

Online Hoax About Lee Kuan Yew's Health Receives Wide Condemnation

Bhavan Jaipragas, Journalism.sg

New media practitioners in Singapore reacted sharply to condemn the online hoax regarding Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's health yesterday. The hoax had caused a significant buzz in the blogosphere over the weekend.

Grants, Smaller Flats Instead Of Shorter Lease Tenure

Ong Dai Lin, Today

Instead of reducing the HDB flat lease of 99 years to make the flats more affordable, the government prefers to use other methods to help those with a lower income own a flat, said national development minister Mah Bow Tan.

新加坡金沙抢先睇

陈薇薇, 广州日报

继1月中位于圣淘沙的名胜世界部分开业后，耗资70多亿新加坡元（折合350多亿元人民币）的航母级项目-滨海湾金沙也将于4月27日开幕。这个位于滨海湾区的大项目，融合娱乐、购物、酒店等元素，且正对新加坡国家象征——鱼尾狮，占尽天时地利。