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by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread
It was, as usual, a story that faithfully recorded what the minister said in answer to Eunice Olsen's question in parliament and no more.
by Mollymeek
Chee Soon Juan stopped, Richard Yong got through. Chia Thye Poh securely detained for decades, Mas Selamat Kastari escaped.
by Mr Wang Says So
To think that we pay the world's highest ministerial salaries to our political leaders. Wong Kan Seng is paid two million dollars per year and he cannot even keep an arrested man under proper lock and key.
by Channel NewsAsia
MediaCorp will be launching in the 4th quarter of 2008, dedicated television channels for the Indian community and children.
The final 'official language' in Singapore to get its own dedicated taxpayer-sponsored free-to-air television channel.
by Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia
The smoking ban will be extended to more areas next year. From 1 January 2009, it will be an offence to smoke in all children's playgrounds, exercise areas and markets.
I'm waiting for the day when smoking is prohibited totally in Singapore, except destinated areas, preferably enclosed and segarated.
by Jessica Cheam, Straits Times
HDB will buy back the tail-end of a flat lease at market valuation, leaving a 30-year lease for the household. The scheme will be available only to 25,000 low-income households in Singapore.
by Jan Dahinten, Reuters
Singapore said on Thursday it was not a tax haven but a low-tax country and that there were no parallels between it and Liechtenstein, where rich EUropeans have been dodging tax through secret bank accounts.
by Julia Ng, Channel NewsAsia
Deputy prime minister and home affairs minister Wong Kan Seng said: "The question for Singaporeans is whether we should accept the risks and accept the culture of street protests. In my view, one riot is one too many. Violence in the community takes a long time to heal. Once lost, public confidence in our security would take a long time to return."
One suppression of free speech and expression is also one too many.
See Also:
Liberalization And THe Singaporean Absurd (Disturbingly Funny), by Mollymeek.
by Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia
Deputy prime minister Wong Kan Seng who apologised for the incident said Mas Selamat was being taken to the toilet before a meeting at the family visit room when he escaped.
by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
Tomorrow, I will be starting my 2.5 weeks of reservist duties. So, updates to this website will be very infrequent and minimal. Regular updates will only resume on the 1st of March, when I finally resume my civilian life.
And if you are in the same reservist unit — you probably know who you are — please feel free to say hi. :-)
by The Anti Neo-Democracy Theorist
It is very heartening that the government is going to assist Singaporeans with this rising food and petrol costs in the upcoming budet. But did Wong Mun Wai from CNA had to do this additional (seemingly unneeded) P-R work for the government?
by Imelda Saad, Straits Times
The National Longevity Insurance Committee has submitted its full report to the government outlining a life-long insurance scheme that's said to be 'fair and flexible'.
See Also:
Singaporeans Are Living Longer, by Singapore Department Of Statistics, Singapore Government. (Note: PDF document.)
by Thomson Financial
by Abdul Rahman, Tan Chea Hoon, Today
I used to do that unfailingly. But I have never gotten a simple "Thank you". Some people don't even bother to look at me. It was really frustrating. Now, I give my seat up only to the disabled. But if a senior citizen were to approach me and ask politely for my seat, I would not say no.
by P N Balji, Today
by Lee Siew Hua, Straits Times
Asia will not tip into recession even though the United States economy is faltering, minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew said.
by Arnaud De Borchgrave, UPI
See Also:
Interview: Lee Kuan Yew - Part 2, by Arnaud De Borchgrave, UPI.
by World Gone Mad
by Selwyn Parker, Sunday Herald
by Renee Loth, Boston Globe
Singapore's growth is driven by a seeming national philosophy that there is no problem, geographic or social, so big that it can't be solved by good engineering.
by Lianhe Zaobao
by Zakir Hussain, Straits Times
Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said details of any cabinet reshuffle will be looked at only after the budget is settled.
by Chin Kian Keong, Land Transport Authority, Straits Times
Road pricing works only when users know in advance how roads are priced and change their behaviour accordingly, so there will be no dynamic pricing that would surprise road users.
Notice the reply said "change... behaviour accordingly," and not "change routes accordingly." ERP is meant to push users toward public transport, and not toward secondary roads. Don't be surprised if all roads will be tolled in the future.
by Hasnita A Majid, Channel NewsAsia
Ah Meng, the Sumantran orgn utan that was considered an icon at the Singapore Zoo, died on Friday. She was about 48 years old and had died of old age.
by Xinhua
Singapore is "honest government first, high salary second."
by Neil Chatterjee, Reuters
Small is beautiful, or so Singapore hopes to convince members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) when they vote on the site of the inaugural Youth Games this month.
by The Legal Janitor
I think if there ever was a reason for censorship to exist, it would be to prevent people like you from contributing to the decline of the average Singaporean's intelligence.
by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread
Children in their formative years being particularly vulnerable to all kinds of social pressures, it is particularly important for schools to keep religious encroachment at bay. Thus, I am all for a kind of militant secularism in our schools. And it shouldn't stop at the canteen.
by Christopher Tan, Straits Times
A satellite-tracked electronic road-pricing system that could charge drivers for using congested roads anywhere in Singapore may be ready as early as 2010.
by Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
This website is going on hiatus for the rest of Feb. Updates will be minimal and irregular, as I celebrates Chinese New Year, followed by 2.5 weeks of reservist duties in the army. (No, I am not celebrating the latter.)
Regular updates will resume on 1 March 2008. See you then.
by Caramel Corn
My first brush with Singapore food happened when I was only 18.
by Chris Nicholls, Current
Gerry Harvey, Harvey Norman co-founder and executive chairman, has warned high rents are putting its Singapore operation at risk, along with the operations of its two major competitors.
Online stores may be the way forward, I think.
by Kathryn Lau, TransitLink, Kuek Chor Ling, SMRT, Today
by Lydia Lim, Straits Times
Mr Lee Hsien Loong assured Singaporeans, in his traditional message to mark the Chinese New Year, that the country is 'in a strong position to weather any storm'.
To a lot of people, the Year of the Pig is probably not a very good year.
See Also:
PM Lee Calls On Singaporeans To Brace Themselves For Further Uncertainties, by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia.
by Tan Chui Hua, Straits Times
Could the town council explain why aesthetics is a good reason to remove these washing lines as compared to convenience and practicality for the residents?
by Tan Poh Cheng, Straits Times
by Thomson Financial
The Singapore government is expected to announce a cut in personal income tax to cushion consumers as inflation accelerates and growth slows this year, analysts said.
by Investor Central
Starbucks may be a global franchise, but the difference between Starbucks in Singapore and in Malaysia is an interesting microcosm of hte competitive nature of the two countries.
by Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times
Singtel said on Tuesday that it would step up its efforts to buy content for its fledgling pay TV service.
Why isn't MediaCorp distributing its content to StarHub and/or Singtel? Is it still thinking that its MobTV is going to be successful?
by Sandra Davie, Straits Times
The education ministry has urged all schools to provide a mix of halal and non-halal stalls in their canteens to cater to children of all races. MOE will work with schools, including a handful which have only halal-certified stalls, to ensure that they provide a good mix of different types of food.
by SDA Asia Magazine
by Reuters
by Reuters
China has freed Ching Cheong, a Hong Kong reporter for the Straits Times sentenced to five years for spying for Taiwan, Hong Kong's RTHK reported on its website on Tuesday.
by Andrea Tan and Liza Lin, Bloomberg
Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. said finding takeovers in Asia has become challenging as competitors vie for assets in emerging markets in the region, home to the world's two fastest-growing wireless markets.
by SeoulSteves.com
by Where Bears Roam Free
Speaking one's mind, in my opinion, is not interfering.
by Lu Caixia, Lianhe Zaobao
by Looking For LaLaLand
The question is not whether "branded" breads are cheaper than "non-branded" bread. The issue here is that branded or not, prices of bread have increased.
by Leong Sze Hian, theonlinecitizen
by Another Brick In The Wall
When LKY speaks, damn it listen properly for there is some insidious intention.
by ed'sperience
A true leader of the people is not one who looks for reasons why the people mightst not be included in determining their own destiny, but how they mightst be elevated to the point that she herself becomes nothing more than a representative.
by Times Of London
MPs should have a notably higher salary and far less scope to exploit expenses.
by Koh Gui Qing, Reuters
Singapore bond yields, already below inflatin, are likely to slip further, boosting stocks and property despite an uncertain economic outlook.
by Sandra Davie, Straits Times
A priminary school in Jurong West that upset non-Muslim parents by insiting that only halal food could be eaten or taken into its canteen will now overturn its policy.
See Also:
Halal Canteen In A Singapore School!, by My Singapore News.
by Keith Lin, Straits Times
Singaproeans and permanent residents who stay abroad for a continuous period of at leat 12 months are now excluded from its population count. With the revision, Singapore's resident population - made up of citizens and PRs - is 3.58 million as at end-June last year.
by Tessa Wong and Lee Pei Qi, Straits Times
Desperation rules every weekday morning at Jurong East MRT interchange station, where a place on board a city-bound train is the prize.
by Thomas Koshy, Today
Such anti-competitive acts should be considered a criminal offence and not be treated lightly.
by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread
The desire to see public transport as purely commercial enterprises has led the government to forget the social aims that should be served. Underinvestment is now bearing political costs.
by Jason Pathera, Yawning Bread
If the discrimination against homosexuals enshrined in government policy changes, I will seriously consider returning. Otherise, I know that there are other shores that are more appreciative and welcoming.
by Singapore BMX
I hope that bastard that did that cowardly thing gets his just desserts.
by Tan Hui Yee, Straits Times
See Also:
Fifty-Eight Sites Selected For HDB Upgrading, by HDB, Singapore Government.
by Peter Thal Larsen and Martin Dickson, Financial Times
by AFP
Signapore's inflation rate could exceed five percent this year, the prime minister was qouted as saying on Monday. He said that while the budget, to be delivered on February 15, will offer something for the poor and elderly, "We cannot just distribute money and make the problem go away."
by Gillian Murdoch, Reuters
The critics may have turned up their noses at the latest Rambo offering, but for 600 Myanmar nationals in Singpaore, the Vietnam War veteran's single-handed demolition of swathes of the Burmese army was a huge hit.
by SOURgrAPESatSG
by The Boy Who Knew Too Much
I don't know if minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew is aware of it, but Singapore's population density is already rather high, even compared to Hong Kong's.
by Cara van Miriah, New Paper
Female employees at public entertainment outlets at the beach or at swimming pool shave been given the green light to wear bikinis at work. Male employees can now go topless. This applies to performers too.
by Gerald Giam, theonlinecitizen
by Alfred Siew, Straits Times
by S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia
The trade and industry ministry said while Singapore is not spared from the general increase in global food prices, the survey of 14 countries from 2005 to 2007 showed Singapore had one of the lowest rates of food inflation for all three years. That is because Singapore's open and competitive environment kept food price increases less pronounced than for most countries.
There is an "international standard"?
by Dominique Loh, Channel NewsAsia
The National Lifelong Income Scheme will take effect in 2013, once approved by the government, said manpower minister Ng Eng Hen. This will allow Singaporeans to draw out monthly income from their CPF accounts from age 65 "for as long as they live".
by Seah Chiang Nee, The Star
These huge investments at home and abroad are carried out with hard-earned savings built up — virtually brick by brick — over four decades. They should bear fruit in 10 years.
by Ho Lian-Yi, New Paper
Singporeans upset over Disney charcters in Chinese New Year Chinatown decorations.
by Au Waipang, Yawning Bread
The long-term effect — and that's a reason to complain — would be to erode the credibility of the rule of law when the enforcers themselves start to behave in such inconstant and hypocritical ways.
by Mavis Toh and Tan Dawn Wei, Straits Times
Crashes happen mainly on CTE and PIE because traffic volumes on these 2 expressways are highest.
by Cherian George, Journalism.sg
Largely because of their fundamental distrust of the people, officials continue to hold on jeaously to the security of a compliant press. Breaking this addiction requires a strength of will on the part of the government's seniormost leaders that has not, so far, been evident.
by Perspective Unlimited
If boldness and decisiveness are indeed virtues, where does it leave consultation and compromise?
Correct decision — no matter how bold and how decisive — can only come about because of consultations, listening, and experience.
by Wong Mun Wai, Channel NewsAsia
by The States Times
For minister of national development Mah Bow Tan, it must have sounded like the slap that was heard around the world.
by Foodhoe's Foraging
by Loh Chee Kong, Today
Why mega cities will be the norm and where Singapore's edge is.
by Farik Zolkepli, The Star
AirAsia will push for more flights on the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore route as well as services from Kota Kinabalu, Kuching, Langkawi and Penang into the island republic.
by Alvin Chiang, New Paper
by Nazry Bahrawi, Today
by Leong Wee Keat and Ansley Ng, Today
by Christie Loh, Today
Unhappy that the new foreign investor GIC will receive favourable terms in exchange for a massive cash infusion to cover the bank's sub-prime losses, a shareholder has put up an alternative proposal to be voted on during a special meeting on Feb 27 in Basel.
by Tania Tan, Straits Times
Among the stations to benefit from the added trips, Kallang is tops. Other stations with similarly heavy traffic are Toa Payoh on the North-South Line and Clementi on the East-West Line.
by Lim Soon Chien, Straits Times
by Chaing Meng Lee, Straits Times
I'm sure the author will get her wish: less COEs means higher upfront car cost, despite taxes being lowered; jams at weekends will simply mean ERP extended to weekends.
See Also:
Scrap ARF, Road Tax, Hike ERP, by Tan Chor How, Straits Times. It really doesn't matter how much ARF and road tax are being reduced; the COE price will rise to make up the difference.
by Kenneth S Chiang, Today
In the American perspective, Singapore probably falls in betwen Norway — a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally with an SWF worth over US$380 billion — and the Gulf states that seek decent returns on their petro-dollars and euros, and that probably have the fewest links in the Arab world to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
by Li Xueying, Straits Times
"I think there's an optimum size for the land that we have, to preserve the open spaces and the sense of comfort."
by Zakir Hussain, Straits Times
by Nurun Nisha M Heallmy, Home & Beyond
Spending the last 19 years of my life in Singapore, and hardly crossing the little body of water that the island is surrounded by, September 17, 2007 will forever be negraved in my memory as the day I left the all too familiar concrete city, and start to embrace chaos and see that the world stretches beyond strict laws and mundane routines.
by Karamjit Kaur, Straits Times
After six years of lobbying by carriers and travellers on both sides of the Causeway, budget airlines began flying the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur route on Friday, ending 30 years of fare-fixing by the national cariers and opening the way for wider liberalisation of the region's air corridors.
by Jeremy Toh
The Straits Times might have altered the numbers in the headlines, through the use of ambiguous writing, to make it seem that foreigners are getting less of jobs created in Singapore than they actually are.
See Also:
Reporter Under Pressure To Change Article Title & Content? Creative Reporting!, by Ahgong Hippo's Blork.
by George Yeo, Beyond SG
A proper historical evaluation of a great man needs the efflux of time after the early positive or negative emotions upon his death had subsided.
by Leong Wee Keat, Today
The Park and Ride scheme seems to have been left behind even as its premium counterpart got a major boost in the recently-unveiled Land Transport Review.
Given that traffic jams are now frequent even at locations far away from the city fringes, I don't see a good future for any Park-and-Ride schemes.
by Loh chee Kong, Today
What was floated as a risk-pooling annuity — which families will not get back if members fail to live beyond 85 years — could no turn out to be a refundable "lifelong income scheme" that starts dishing out monthly payments to members from the age of 80.
Professor Lim Pin said that there are no 'robust data' to support the 'perception' that the rich live longer than the poor. No details are given, but this will need to justified by the government with real hard data. I am not convinced.
by Lau Ai Lin, Straits Times
Involving foreigners in the performance not only works towards being an inclusive society in which foreigners now make a large part of, but it would also highlight our ability to be self-deprecating among foreigners without losing our self-respect.
That the orginators were from Finland and have taken the project to cities such as Helsinki, Birmingham, Hamburg and St Petersburg without a hithc proves that Singapore, in its endeavour to be a 'Global Arts City', has lost itself to rigidities in legislation.
by Kuek Chor Ling, SMRT Corporation Ltd, Straits Times
We would like to clarify that SMRT adjusted train services along the East-West Line in 2003 to better serve our passengers. In the adjustment, the direct train service from Boon Lay Station to Changi Airport Station was replaced with a shuttle train service between Tanah Merah and Changi Airport stations, which led to the reduction in total train kilometres operated.
by Alfred Siew, Straits Times
A few hundred movie-goers suddenly found their contact list expanded over the weekend when an attachment containing e-mail addresses of more than 7,000 people was sent to their inboxes.
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