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Waywardlife’s Posterous
I propose a gumfree world. If I had a billion dollars I would buy lobbyists and make it a priority. Until then, I will have Singapore. Tweet
NationNews.com
The Barbados Prison Service plans to adopt a Singapore model of rehabilitation for inmates. That was one of a number of best practices that Superintendent of Prisons Lieutenant Colonel John Nurse said they planned to look into after the closing of the 11th annual general meeting and conference of the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) at Hilton Barbados. Tweet
Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
If A then C, and if B then C, does *not* implies that A == C.
Given that the citizens of city A voted in the same party year after year, and citizens of city B voted in the same party year after year, if city A is democratic, that does not imply that city B is also democratic. Tweet
Gangasudhan, The Online Citizen
Instead of making sweeping judgements that the index is absurd, the government would do well to consider what press freedom really means and look at the rather simple criteria on which it fails. Tweet
The Temasek Review
For a fouth day running, Singapore Law Minister K Shanmugam tried desperately hard to convince a skeptical audience that Singapore is a “democracy”. Tweet
Seah Chiang Nee, Malaysia Star
While the rich few rejoice, many Singaporeans are making do quietly. Tweet
Financial Times
Ministers from two of Asia’s tiger economies have said worries about climate change must not compromise business, casting further doubts on whether an international framework on greenhouse gas emissions can be agreed at Copenhagen in December. Tweet
Sameer Reddy, Diane, A Shaded View On Fashion
The Singapore Tourist Board was kind enough to extend an invitation to experience the country's five-star hospitality options. Here I'm reporting on my favorite part of the experience: the incredible hotels that they booked me into. Tweet
Christine Chow, New York Times
As Singapore’s thirst for cocktails has grown steadily over the last few years, a new generation of bars and clubs has emerged in some memorably unusual places. Tweet
Peter Drysdale, East Asia Forum
Lee’s speech traversed the implications of the shifts in world power and the institutional changes that are under way or in contemplation, and deserves close study, especially for those who are students of how thinking in Singapore might develop towards the Rudd and Hatoyama proposals for renovating regional architecture. Tweet
严孟达, 联合早报
吴资政的三点提示，有为这次的争论起定音的作用。美国、澳洲等直到今天都还被普遍视为移民国家，那我们建国方44年，要否认新加坡是个移民社会确也不容易。而且我国还在接受一波又一波的移民，移民社会的特征只会越来越多，而不是渐趋淡薄。 Tweet
Sam Ho, Sam's thoughts
Why would a stat board bother about owning full rights to someone else's song? They probably want to save up on paying royalties and licenses. And if they exclusively own the song, they could profit from royalties themselves. But isn't the PA about fostering community togetherness? I find it unjustifiable they adopt this "peripheral competency" of owning rights to a bunch of songs. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
The Republic may not be under any international obligations to make "absolute cuts" in carbon emissions, but it must - and is prepared to - do its part in tackling the global problem of climate change, said prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.
"Unlike many bigger countries, we face serious limitations in switching to alternative energy sources or reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. Nevertheless, we are a responsible member of the international community, and we have to bear our fair share of the collective global effort to reduce carbon emissions," he said, at the launch of the Clean and Green Singapore campaign at HortPark on Friday. Tweet
Ken Kwek, Straits Times
As a film-maker and dramatist, one of the things I continue to question is the criteria for censorship, and the censor's lack of balance in reflecting the public's values and respecting the artist's craft. Tweet
Tan Teck Leng, Straits Times
Even if one disproves the dire circumstances of one individual, the problem is not non-existent. Tweet
Khushwant Singh, Straits Times
Zoo cleaner Nordin Montong, 32, deliberately got himself mauled to death by two white tigers on Nov 13 last year, said state coroner Victor Yeo, who recorded a verdict of suicide on Friday. Why the Malaysian ended his life was however not evident. Tweet
Jessica Lim, Straits Times
More than 80 per cent of Singaporeans are satisfied with public service here, according to a recent study conducted research company Forbes Research. Tweet
Blowin' In The Wind
It's clear the government scheme to keep unemployment low by helping people defer job search and further their studies has had only a temporary benefit. Tweet
Associated Press
Singapore's unemployment rate crept higher in the third quarter with a recession earlier this year triggering layoffs in the manufacturing sector. Tweet
Zakir Hussain, Straits Times
Shanmugam cites US economist who sees the Republic as a challenge to time-tested models. Tweet
China Post
Trade-reliant Singapore will increasingly look to its services sector in the future as it tries to soften the impact of any further global economic crises, the central bank said Thursday. Tweet
Nopporn Wong-Anan, Reuters
Singapore's government plans to attract pharmaceuticals makers and raise the number of drug factories on the island by two thirds in the hope that a broader product range will reduce the wild swings in industrial output. Tweet
Gillian Tett, Financial Times
If you talk to financiers in Singapore these days, the topic of property prices keeps cropping up but, unlike in America, it is not the threat of further real estate market falls.
Instead, as Wall Street worries about American house prices - exemplified by a downbeat report from Goldman Sachs this week - in Asia there is mounting concern about property booms-cum-bubbles. Tweet
吴辉云, 联合早报 Tweet
AFP
US president Barack Obama on Wednesday lauded Singapore's "legendary" founding father Lee Kuan Yew, as he sought advice ahead of his first trip to Asia since taking office. Tweet
Alastair Su, The Online Citizen
Therefore, rather than asking the question: “What are Singaporean values, and how does that apply to a democracy?” we should be asking ourselves: “What is a democracy, and how does that apply to Singapore values”? Though the answer will still have a distinctly Singaporean paradigm, this shift in thinking will result in a democracy more authentic and meaningful for its citizens. Tweet
Imran Ahmed, The Grand Moofti Speaks Tweet
Singaporean Skeptic
Singapore has the right to reject the emissions cuts. So does Indonesia. So the next time Indonesia produces more haze, our PAP government shouldn't complain since it would be hypocritical. Tweet
Today
With two weeks to go before heads of state gather for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit here, Singapore is wary about allowing the entry of well-organised civil groups and disruptive individuals bent on derailing the talks or championing their causes. Tweet
Sally Kong, Straits Times
I travel the AYE every day during this period at speeds of 80kmh to 90kmh, keeping within the speed limit. Traffic is smooth-flowing. From Buona Vista exit to Lower Delta Road, it takes me about eight minutes. Tweet
Lynne Tan, Straits Times
Do we want more citizens or more PRs? One way to get more 'pink' is to allow dual citizenship. Tweet
Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times
Speaking to The Straits Times on the sidelines of the 11th Asean Ministerial Meeting on the Environment on Thursday, minister for the environment & water resources Yaacob Ibrahim said: 'We are not obligated to set targets or reduce emissions, but...we will do our part.'
'Whatever we do, we cannot compromise our ability to grow. So how we find a balance will be a continuous process.' Tweet
Jen Beasley, Gazette.net
Respect is something internationally understood. It is also the October trait at Newport Mill Middle School, which is appropriate, because the school received a lot of it last week when educators from the Ministry of Education in Singapore visited to learn about the school's character education program. Tweet
Alexandra A. Seno, Wall Street Journal
Longtime rivals in trade and finance, Hong Kong and Singapore are vying to become Asia's regional arts hub, part of a strategy to be crowned Asia's top city. Tweet
Singapore Government Tweet
Singapore Democrats
And so while Mr Shanmugam tells America that there is no repression in Singapore, his audience politely nod and smirk that 'yeah-right' smirk.
Think about it. Which governments need to repeatedly declare that they don't repress their citizens? The ones that repress their citizens, of course. Tweet
Straits Times
Between Oct 12 and 23, officers from the Traffic Police and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) conducted a joint operation and issued a total of 310 summonses to errant cyclists, particularly those found using unapproved motorised bicycles or not wearing suitable protective bicycle helmets. Tweet
The Temasek Review
If a precedent is set which allows for laws as outlined in the Singapore Statutes to be ignored and disobeyed, what will our country become? Tweet
Hetty Musfirah, Channel NewsAsia
Singapore's fourth public-funded university, which is scheduled to open its doors in 2011, has been named the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SU). Tweet
Pitram Singh, The Online Citizen
In shrewdly seeking to conflate Singapore’s economic success against the irrelevance of international press freedom rankings, Law minister K Shanmugam sought to justify the importance of maintaining the government’s indirect control over the press in Singapore.
In reality, Singapore’s economic success since the 1960s is of little relevance to RwB, as is the economic performance of any other country it ranks. Correspondingly, the Law minister ought to have respected the objective ranking standards of RwB, in step with his triumphant references to reports from the World Economic Forum, IMD, Moody’s, Mercer and Mori, which rank Singapore favourably in economic, legal and quality of life indices. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Unless Mr Shanmugam can release classified information about Operation Spectrum to lend support to his words and to debunk the allegations directed at the ISA by the ex-detainees, it will be an uphill task for him to convince Singaporeans as well as foreigners that “ISA is subjected to checks and balance”. Tweet
Bloomberg
Singapore will grow at a “slower and steadier” pace in the coming quarters as the construction industry contributes less to the city-state’s expansion and external demand remains “challenging,” the central bank said.
Singapore is dependent upon a rebound in exports to sustain its recovery from the global slump. The central bank, which said earlier this month it will maintain a zero appreciation stance in its currency policy, said today it “intervenes” to reduce pressure for the Singapore dollar to strengthen as investments in Asian assets rise with the region’s economic revival. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
The Singapore economy is likely to settle at a more gradual pace of expansion, with GDP growth in 2010 expected to be lower than in previous post-recession periods. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in its Macroeconomics Review released on Thursday that compared to six months ago, the outlook for the second half of 2009 and for 2010 is "markedly more optimistic". Tweet
Abdul Gafoor, The Temasek Review Tweet
Vincent Brossel, Reporters Without Borders, The Temasek Review
About the “improvement” (in Singapore’s ranking to 133th), it is mainly due to the fact that the previous year was worst with several trials. Tweet
Jay Tan, The Temasek Review Tweet
杨永欣, 联合早报
吴资政认为，张元元的选择没有错，身为一名中国年轻人，能够参加祖国60周年国庆的检阅礼是极为光荣的事。更何况，张元元只是新加坡永久居民，还不是新加坡公民。吴资政说，更应该关注的是，如何吸引这些永久居民成为新加坡公民。当然，如果一个人成为了新加坡公民，他自然就不应该参加其他国家的国庆检阅礼。 Tweet
Imran Ahmed, The Grand Moofti Speaks
Singapore's opposition parties face many obstacles in their drive to win public support. One can sympathize with their plight. However, it is not apparent to the public that the opposition parties are serious in their efforts to create a viable alternative to the PAP. Tweet
Liau Chuan Yi and Norvin Chan, Asian Correspondent Tweet
Blowin' In The Wind Tweet
Today
It has improved on its overall score on equality between the sexes, but Singapore has slipped again in the world gender gap index by the World Economic Forum. Tweet
Matthias Chew, Straits Times
While I can accept that opposition MPs cannot, and should not, be placed in a position where they are held accountable for government policy, surely the unelected grassroots advisers, who are not members of the government but merely of the ruling party of the day, may only be held accountable to the party, and not the government.
Civil servants already competently execute most national programmes, under the direction of their elected political masters, so it makes little sense to task specific aspects of implementation to unelected political appointees. Tweet
Wilson Choo, Straits Times
Most ez-link card users are average citizens who requires the card to travel daily. It is not their fault if their cards are defective. Tweet
VIvian Yeo, ZDNet Asia
The public sector has made strides toward nurturing a paper-free culture, but its interaction with a myriad of stakeholders means it will take years before a true paperless government becomes a reality, observes an analyst. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Singapore Democrats
You would think that a Superintendent (Supt) of the police would be competent enough to get his story straight when testifying in a court of law. Apparently that's a myth in Singapore.
Supt Abdul Khalik, Head Investigations of the Central Police Division no less, contradicted himself and his subordinate so badly that he ended up being chastised by the Judge. Tweet
Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia
The Ministry of Education (MOE) will review initiatives aimed at getting students to stay in school. It said more will be done to help the schools keep their drop-out rate low. Tweet
Bruce Hextall, Reuters
Asian cities are likely to beat Australia in the race to become a carbon-trading hub, despite Australian plans to set up the region's first cap-and-trade market, industry experts said on Wednesday. Tweet
DPA
As Singapore prepares to host the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit next month with US president Barack Obama and other world leaders, authorities are warning of a terrorist threat. Since suicide bombers attacked the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels in Jakarta in July, killing nine people and injuring more than 50, Singapore fears that terrorist groups might look at similar targets during the November 14-15 APEC meeting. Tweet
The Temasek Review
For those who are aware of Singapore’s political system, it is neither stable nor is it a democracy. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Does Mr Shanmugam really believe that the press – both local and international will dare to criticize the Singapore government given its proven low tolerance for criticism and dismal track record of suing the media for defamation? Tweet
The Edge Singapore
Will the two integrated resorts, Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World at Sentosa, which are�now fast nearing completion, be a huge jobs bonanza for Singapore? The way one resort operator tells it, everyone may have underestimated exactly how many people might be needed to keep the iconic resorts humming. Tweet
Chan Sue Ling and Mary Schlangenstein, Bloomberg
Singapore Airlines Ltd., the world’s biggest carrier by market value, said it was too soon to say whether a rebound in air travel last month marked the beginnings of a long-term revival in demand. Tweet
陈映蓁, 联合早报
目前，落户新加坡的四大日式快餐品牌包括Mos Burger、Pepper Lunch、Yoshinoya及R Burger，日式快餐版图逐渐扩大。 Tweet
Diary of A Singaporean Mind
Imagine that you're a full time journalist whose family depend on your income, what kind of articles will you write? Tweet
Readings From A Political Duo-ble
While Shanmugam was right to argue that Singapore is not suffering from internal instability, he has mistakenly conflated press freedom with the political climate. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
朱庆财，建屋发展局, 联合早报
我们要澄清，电梯没有在每层楼停留不是设计上的缺陷造成的。早年，确保组屋价格是人们能够负担得起的是我们的优先考虑。为了把成本压低，建屋局兴建的组屋，电梯并不停在每一层楼。 Tweet
杨雪慧, 联合早报 Tweet
Cherian George, Journalism.sg
RSF’s method means that, at the end of the day, what it gives us is not really a “press freedom index” but a “national perception of press freedom index”. Actually, it’s not even that. Tweet
Zheng Xin, Epoch Times
Singaporean border officials denied entry to two Falun Gong practitioners on Oct. 19 and 22 who had previously frequented the country, one from Indonesia and the other from Malaysia.
As the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in November approaches, the practitioners believe hosting officials are concurrently engaged in a politically motivated attempt to limit the presence of Falun Gong practitioners in the areas where events will be held. Tweet
Asia Sentinel Tweet
Maria Almenoar, Straits Times
How much would a motorist be willing to pay to avoid congestion on the roads? Or, if you prefer public transport, how high would you go for a seat on that bus or train to work? Just about double whatever it takes now to get a smooth ride, it seems, according to a new survey commissioned by the Land Transport Authority (LTA). Tweet
Today
Some have alleged that Singapore pays just lip service to the rule of law; others question the independence of its judges. Chief justice Chan Sek Keong, addressing such criticisms yesterday, made it clear: "Political authority must be exercised subject to, and in accordance with, the law," he told his audience at the New York State Bar Association seasonal meeting held here. Tweet
Imelda Saad, Today
In the struggle to survive, some mom-and-pop retailers in heartland estates have gone 24 hours. Tweet
Tang Kah Wai, Straits Times
Why wait till something bad happens before anyone takes action? Tweet
Sabrina Wong, Straits Times
I do not doubt that smart phones are a hit with school children. However, to inculcate a love for nature, human presence and interaction are much more effective. In the first place, I doubt that a machine can impart enthusiasm, excitement and respect for flora and fauna like an impassioned human guide or teacher. Tweet
Zakir Hussain, Straits Times
Singapore does not seek to ban press criticism of the Government or policies, but demands the right of reply, Law minister K. Shanmugam has said. If factual allegations are made, a libel suit will follow and those accusations must be proved. Tweet
Annie Scott, Tonic
Still, no brawls, no drug busts, no clouds of pot smoke. Who are these 4.98 million people? Tweet
Blowin' In The Wind
Now that is something others could learn from Singapore: how to get richer in a recession. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Given the Singapore media’s dismal track record and lack of any improvements in terms of journalistic freedom, integrity and independence over the past one year, it is “quite absurd and divorced from reality” that it is now ranked 11 positions higher than its 144th ranking last year. Tweet
Associated Press
Singapore tourist arrivals rose in September for the first time this year, boosted by holidays in neighboring Indonesia and Malaysia. Tweet
Yawning Bread
I see in a few letters that parents feel children should not be demoralised by tough exam questions. Is this a good enough justification for tinkering with what a good testing regime should be? Or is this yet another facet of the expectations problem? When a child and his parents start expecting to be able to do all the questions in a test with relative ease, then of course it will come as a rude shock when he is faced with a paper that contains some truly difficult questions. But this worries me less than the prospect of a society where large numbers of kids grow up thinking highly of themselves, on no better foundation than that they've had a lifetime of flawless exam results. Tweet
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times
Customers in Singapore continue to see a decline in their satisfaction levels for the first three quarters of this year for six out of eight sectors measured. Tweet
The Temasek Review
While foreigners are not subjected to the quota system, Singaporeans have been subjected to a racial quota which limits on who they can sell their flats to. Tweet
Melvinder Singh Kanth, Today
I have had nothing to hide and have had always placed everything in the scanner in plain view of the officials.
Putting luggage in the scanner is not declaring GST duties. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia Tweet
Singapore Democrats
Supermarket chain Sheng Siong has declined an invitation to meet with the Singapore Democrats, citing the reason that it is “inconvenient” to do so. The SDP had written to the company to meet with its representatives over its takeover of wet markets in Singapore. Tweet
唐恩, 大纪元 Tweet
The Temasek Review
The pervading and sometimes overwhelming sense of apathy, scepticism and fear of participating in politics is the biggest stumbling block to Singapore becoming a healthy and functioning democracy for there is no democracy without participation from the people. Tweet
The Temasek Review
The root cause of the problem lies in the lack of a clearly defined demarcation between the state and the party which resulted in many supposedly apolitical institutions like the People’s Association being made use of by the PAP to serve its partisan interests. Tweet
王如晨, 第一财经日报
金融危机以来的产业变局正促使“人才战”升温。最新的一个例证是，新加坡政府专程来中国招揽半导体等行业的人才。 Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Flaneurose
Diehard shopaholics may disagree with me, but Singapore seems to have a surfeit of shopping malls. Not that I'm complaining much, mind you. Tweet
Shamim Adam and Seyoon Kim, Bloomberg
Policy makers from South Korea to Singapore, confronted with rising real-estate values that threaten to mimic in Asia the U.S. mortgage bubble that roiled the global economy, are stepping up efforts to rein in prices. Tweet
Lexton Snol, PC Advisor Tweet
Today
It is a modern, prosperous city-state based on the rule of law - but if you only read about Singapore in certain American publications, you would think it a repressive state that controlled people's very thoughts.
"As if that is possible in a modern, successful, wired and internationally connected city," added law minister K Shanmugam. Tweet
Richard Foo, Straits Times
As we are allowed to top up our previous Minimum Sum of $84,500 to the prevailing Minimum Sum of $117,000, I see no reason why we should not get a higher payout of $1,040, rather than $668 and a prolonged period of payout. Tweet
Lim Yuin Chien, Press Secretary To The Minister For National Development, Straits Times
The roles of MP and adviser are distinct and separate, even though government MPs, wearing their other hat of advisers, are expected to perform both roles. Opposition MPs cannot be appointed advisers, because they do not answer to the ruling party. They have no constitutional or legal obligation to carry out national programmes on the Government's behalf. Nor can the government hold them to account if they perform this role unsatisfactorily.
What was left unanswered is how does the government intent to hold non-MPs PAP advisors accountable? Tweet
Leong Sze Hian, Today
Address abnormality to ensure all workers start on a level playing field. Tweet
Joanne Chen, Channel NewsAsia
The worst of the haze appears to be over. The National Environment Agency (NEA) said Singapore is unlikely to be affected by transboundary haze from late November onwards. Tweet
Yawning Bread
These technicalities are designed to obscure a simple truth: The Singapore government, like its friends, the generals in Burma, refuse to engage with activists of any sort. Why else did the foreign ministers adopt such a policy in the first place? Tweet
Hindu Business Line
Come 2010, a grand casino will be thrown open at Singapore’s Sentosa island to attract tourists, especially from India, in large numbers. Tweet
RTT News
Monday, Managing Director of Monetary Authority of Singapore, Heng Swee Keat said managing the cyclical recovery of Asian economies amid uncertainty presents several challenges. While the outlook has improved, the sustainability of the recovery is not clear at this point, Heng added. Tweet
Singapore Government
The progress of our Masterplan measures so far, together with the 2008 household survey results, affirm the need for us to stay the course. The Land Transport Masterplan’s overriding goal is to ensure that our people continue to enjoy a high quality urban living environment even as the economy and population grow. Tweet
The Temasek Review
In other countries like Australia and Canada, migrants must pass an English proficiency test before they are even allowed to work there. In Singapore, the ruling party will offer free English courses to foreigners using public monies. Tweet
Francis Chan, Straits Times
Consumer confidence continues to rally in the run-up to Christmas with figures out on Monday showing that credit card spending is up while payment delinquency rates at record lows. The latest numbers from the Credit Bureau Singapore (CBS) show that spending patterns have stayed steady despite the recession. Tweet
Shamim Adam, Bloomberg
Singapore’s industrial production fell for the first time in three months in September as output at pharmaceutical companies dropped, heralding a moderation in the pace of the economic recovery. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
The number of people using public transport in Singapore has declined over the last four years, despite a land transport masterplan to get more people on buses and trains, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said Monday.
LTA said a lack of major infrastructural improvements in public transport during that period could be one of the reasons behind the decline. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Grace Fu claimed that the operation of wet markets should be left to “market forces”, but NTUC has enjoyed an unfair advantage right from the beginning with access to plentiful resources provided by the state. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Democracy does not mean simply conducting elections every five years. Other integral components such as a free press, an independent judiciary and an active civil society must be present as well without which democracy becomes only a hollow name, a facade put up by the regime to legitimatize its rule. Tweet
The Temasek Review
The double standards practiced by the police and the criminalization of legitimate political activity is detrimental to the growth of the opposition as well as the civil society in Singapore. Tweet
Michele Sager, Tampa Tribune
With U.S. students lagging behind their counterparts in some countries, local educators are turning to Singapore to shake up their math curricula. Several private schools have adopted the Singapore Math curriculum – based on the principles used in the Asian nation – and the Hillsborough County school district is thinking about adding it, too. Tweet
Littlesquare Blog
我不禁想到身在大马的华人，大家为了要争取自己生活在一个回教国能够立足的机会，而努力的保护华教，华小，好不让别人剥夺属于自己的母语。而在这里的华人，却双手供奉了自己的母语，投向所谓的‘国际语言’，没有自己的特征，没有属于自己的身份。 Tweet
Karen Tan, Ministry of Health, Straits Times
As for Mr Tan's concerns about autism and vaccination, there is strong scientific evidence to show that there is no link between vaccines and autism. This view is shared by the health authorities in the United States, Britain and the World Health Organisation. Independent reviews by the Cochrane Collaboration and the US Institute of Medicine have also come to the same conclusion. Tweet
Times They Are A-Changin' Tweet
Today
The Housing and Development Board will consider measures to prevent the congregation of permanent residents, if necessary. Tweet
Leong Wee Keat and Ong Dai Lin, Today
A Singaporean walking around Boon Lay Shopping Centre could be forgiven for thinking he is in a foreign land. It has six minimarts - four Myanmarese, one Thai and one Indian - while seven remittance shops and Internet cafes dot its aisles. Tweet
Neo Chai Chin, Today
The National Environment Agency (NEA) may have no plans now to change the use or management of the 82 wet markets it operates, but the Housing and Development Board, which provides the facilities, will allow the sale or conversion to other uses if market forces send the "signal". Tweet
Today
Consumers, it seems, are losing out following the introduction of new contactless cards. Tweet
Jakarta Post
Singapore is more of a city than a country and one that is quite ambitious when it comes to promoting itself. Some people might call this Napoleon Syndrome; however we have to admit that Singapore actually has some success as well as ambition. Some though (in particular the last Formula1 leg) could hardly be called successful. Tweet
Fang Shihan, The Online Citizen
The mere questioning of whether Singapore and the PAP are synonymous is indicative that we are in a transition of finding the anwer. Tweet
Martyn See, Only "Objective" And "Factual" Political Films Please, We're Singaporeans Tweet
Wang Eng Eng, Channel NewsAsia
Dhoby Ghaut Green, just outside the Dhoby Ghaut MRT station, is the latest addition to the 28 parks in the city. Tweet
S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia
Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has warned that ASEAN risks becoming marginalised if it does not stay relevant. Speaking during the ASEAN leaders retreat on Saturday morning, he said it was vital for the grouping to strengthen cooperation, deepen integration and enable all its member countries to develop and prosper. Tweet
Saifulbahri Ismail/Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia
Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong has urged companies to adopt a fair and equitable stance in dealing with workers' wages when they turn 60. Mr Gan said employers should not simply reduce salaries by the maximum 10 per cent permitted by the law. Tweet
Thomas Fuller, New York Times
Southeast Asian governments inaugurated their first human rights commission on Friday in what they hailed as a milestone for a region ruled by governments as diverse as the thriving democracy in Indonesia, the hermetic communist regime in Laos and the repressive military dictatorship in Myanmar.
But human rights activists called the body toothless and walked out of a meeting here Friday when “civil society” representatives from five countries were rejected by their governments. Tweet
Frederik Balfour, BusinessWeek
The government hopes to boost tourism with two new casinos but will try to keep local gambling in check by charging Singaporeans a steep admission. Tweet
AFP
President Barack Obama will meet Singapore's founding father Lee Kuan Yew next week, the White House said Friday, as the US leader gears up for his first official visit to Asia. Tweet
Peter S. Green, Bloomberg
The U.S. may have less than a half- century left as the dominant global economic power before it will share top billing with China and India, former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said in an interview. Tweet
张曦娜, 联合早报
可戏法人人会变，巧妙各有不同，不论是辣椒螃蟹或黑胡椒螃蟹，其实各家餐馆这些年来已变化出各种不同的风味。目前新加坡每一家海鲜餐馆做这两道螃蟹料理时，都说有自制酱料或秘方烹调，味道非比一般，至于哪家水准高还真考老饕的味蕾。 Tweet
WBALTV.com
A delegation of educators from Singapore is looking to Maryland schools for help in developing a character education program.
Maryland has gotten high marks for its school-based character education programs that encourage academic and cultural understanding. Tweet
Alastair Su, Gimme Some Truth! Tweet
Seah Chiang Nee, The Star
As foreigners with PR status compete with young Singaporeans for public housing, impacting also on private development projects, prices rise and the government limits the entry of foreign arrivals. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has responded to media queries on the statement from the organisers of the ASEAN Peoples' Forum/ASEAN Civil Society Conference that it was "shocked" to learn that Singapore had selected "substitutes from government-sponsored agencies" to the Informal Dialogue with ASEAN Leaders.
The ministry referred to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phuket in July, where it was agreed that each ASEAN member would choose its own civil society organisation (CSO) representative for the Informal Dialogue with ASEAN Leaders at the 15th ASEAN Summit. Tweet
Die Neue Welle
The reason why self-centredness finds its expression in political engagement is that people believe that they can make a difference. As long as we never have this impression that we can make a difference, then apathy is here to stay. Tweet
James Hookway, The Temasek Review
Southeast Asia's efforts to create a commission to curb human rights abuses and encourage free-trade deals got off to a rocky start Friday when delegates from several countries refused to meet with a group of pre-selected civil society activists. Tweet
Singapore Government Tweet
Singapore Government
This press release provides housing data for the HDB Resale and Rental Market transactions in 3rd Quarter 2009. Tweet
Zach's Thought Blot Tweet
Fiona Chan, Straits Times
Prices of HDB resale flats hit another record high in the third quarter, jumping 3.6 per cent over the second quarter.
This is higher than HDB's estimate earlier this month of a 3.2 per cent increase, and comes after HDB resale prices rose 1.4 per cent in the second quarter over the first quarter. Tweet
Shamim Adam, Bloomberg
Singapore’s consumer prices fell for a sixth month in September as a stronger currency reduced the cost of imports and housing and transportation prices eased. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Media
The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) has put out a tender for an agency to conceptualise and implement an integrated education campaign around public-service broadcasting. Tweet
Bloomberg
Singapore’s private home prices rose 15.8 percent in the third quarter, the most in 28 years, as cheap money and improving economic conditions lured buyers. Tweet
Wall Street Journal
Officially, Genting hasn't strayed from its target date of early 2010 for the opening of its US$4.4 billion Resorts World on the holiday island of Sentosa. But despite its cautious public projections, the developer has quietly been preparing for an earlier ramp-up, and a consensus is emerging among market-watchers that Resorts World will open ahead of Sands' Marina Bay Sands project in the heart of Singapore's business district. Tweet
D Arul Rajoo, Bernama
The governments of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore have rejected members of civil groups from their respective countries at the 15th Asean Summit here. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Kevin Brown, Financial Times
Singapore is attracting a surge of Russian investment as rich business people seek a politically stable home for personal wealth as well as exposure to Asia's rapid recovery from the global financial crisis. Tweet
李叶明, 联合早报
我们为什么要谈融入呢？不就是希望把更多外来人才变成“自己人”吗？我们所谈的融入，不就是一个把客人变成主人的过程吗？如果把客人永远当客人，还时常提醒他们遵守为客之道，那融入的意义又何在呢？ Tweet
胡洁梅, 联合早报 Tweet
Glenn Collins, New York Times
Chef Daniel Boulud announced Thursday that he will be opening a 120-seat DB Bistro Moderne restaurant in the new $5.5 billion Marina Bay Sands project, a luxury hotel and casino resort under construction by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns the Venetian resort-hotel-casino in Las Vegas. Tweet
Ivan Chan, The Online Citizen
I urge everyone to break this cycle, to think about the future of living in Singapore, regardless of the molly coddling and the perceived certainty that life will always be smooth sailing. Tweet
David Lim, Straits Times
In essence, the Government has forgotten the difference between the organs that implement policies - for example, civil service and municipal concerns - and the government, thinking both are the same. In fact, in 40 years, it has institutionalised state organs to be People's Action Party (PAP) organs. Tweet
Lin Yanqin, Today
As the Singapore economy turns the corner and with potential growth ahead, more employers here plan to hire staff in this final quarter - more than at any other period this year - according to the latest report on manpower outlook by Hudson. Tweet
Desiree Tresa Gasper, THe Star
Resorts World Sentosa, which is expected to open its doors early next year, will provide up to 45,000 job opportunities. The resort’s assistant director of communications, Robin Goh, said the vast employment opportunities created would also help boost the economic situation in the region. Tweet
Hard Hitting in the Lion City Tweet
Rachel Kelly, Channel NewsAsia Tweet
Costas Paris, Dow Jones
Singapore's state-owned investment fund Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. wants to invest more than US$1.8 billion in the next few months, with a focus on China, India, Mexico and Brazil, people familiar with the situation said.
Investment teams are currently approaching Temasek with proposals on how the money might be put to work, one of those people told Dow Jones Newswires, adding that the amount to be invested could grow if a major opportunity comes along. Tweet
The Online Citizen
Now that MM Lee has said a social divide is “inevitable”, will Singapore society be “destroyed”, as PM Lee warned in 2006? Apparently, the “deliberate policy” of the PAP government has resulted in this “inevitable social divide”. Tweet
Neo Chai Chin, Today
It may be no surprise that bosses in Singapore keep a watchful eye on the health-care costs of their workers. But why are they then not tabulating how much they reap from each health-care dollar spent? Tweet
Today
Having a piece of Singapore's world famous tourism icon - the Sentosa cable car - in your home is not an impossible dream if, like Associate Professor Jeremy Goh, you are prepared to pay at least $2,888 for it. Tweet
Malaysia Star Tweet
Martin Abbugao, AFP
Asian leaders meet here this weekend to discuss ways to deepen economic ties further in order to sustain the region's rebound from the recent global downturn, diplomats and analysts said. Tweet
何惜薇, 联合早报
受访的摊主认为，受波及的不再只是摊主，政府应扮演更积极的角色 Tweet
Everyday Is Meant To Be Beautiful Tweet
Malaysia Star
Malacca pays 10 times more than Singapore to buy raw water from Johor, according to the 2008 Auditor-General’s Report on Johor.
“In the audit’s opinion, the raw water rates are inconsistently implemented because the Singapore Public Utilities is paying a very low price compared to the Malacca government." Tweet
Mary Ann Benitez, Hong Kong Standard
Hollywood producer and director Steven Spielberg lent his hand to boost the profile of upcoming Universal Studios Singapore as the city-state tries to drum up Hong Kong interest in the project. Tweet
Groundnotes
Bullshit may come in all shapes and sizes but we all know pedigree manure when we smell it. Only in a parallel universe is a 133 ranking in the Press Freedom Index indicative of “press credibility”. Only in Singapore do a government-controlled TV station and a government-controlled newspaper constitute “media diversity” and “competition”. Tweet
Choo Wing Kheong, Straits Times
While I can understand - thought I do not agree - why the Traffic Police do not take strict action against cyclists riding on footpaths, I cannot comprehend why they allow motorcyclists to do the same. Tweet
Singapore Democrats
Make no mistake, our economy is like an old showgirl. We have to constantly keep ourselves attractive by piling on layer after dreadful layer of economic makeup just to keep ourselves looking attractive for the foreign businessman. Meanwhile the gobs of powder and lipstick hide the ageing rot beneath. Tweet
Dylan Loh, Channel NewsAsia
Singapore looks set to get a touch of Broadway next year. Simba - the lion cub - will make an appearance in "The Lion King" musical at Marina Bay Sands in September 2010. Tweet
DPA
Singapore Wednesday urged the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) to stay on track with integration efforts so that the region could boom along with China and India. Tweet
Blowin' In The Wind Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Douglas Tan, Today
No one has since contacted me from vPost, despite my request to escalate the matter to a full investigation. I have given up on hearing from them again. Tweet
Mok Fei Fei, Channel NewsAsia Tweet
Diana Othman, Straits Times
The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has said it cannot take over the wet markets or interfere with the commercial negotiation between the new owner and the stallholders.
In a statement on Wednesday, it added that it cannot also 'impose new requirements that are more stringent on the new owner, compared to those already imposed on the existing one.'
I don't know... if HDB can limit me, as an apartment owner, what I can or cannot do in my apartment, who I can or cannot sell to, how I can or cannot rent out my apartment, and even move me out of my apartment in the name of development... why so much barrier with a little wet market? Tweet
A Blog Day’s Work
The justification of the WP’s proposal in the 2006 GE to dismantle the PA – dubbed as one of the four “time bombs” – actually becomes stronger because the latter has clearly not acted in good faith. Tweet
Tan Weizhen, Straits Times
The new contactless card introduced by the Network For Electronic Transfers (Nets) two weeks ago cannot be topped up at most automated teller machines (ATMs) in Singapore. Despite earlier promises that users would be able to do so, checks by The Straits Times show that this is not the case. Tweet
Liau Chuan Yi and Norvin Chan, Asian Correspondent Tweet
Ng Kok Lim, The Temasek Review Tweet
DPA
Singapore Law Minister K Shanmugam on Tuesday said the city-state would not allow unwarranted financial investigations in the fight against cross-border tax evasion, even after it had implemented the international standard on tax information set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). "Spurious requests and fishing expeditions will not be entertained." Tweet
Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net
A social divide may be inevitable in Singapore, but what MM Lee does not acknowledge is that a lot of it is in fact caused by PAP policies that favour Big Business and the elites, and not merely due to the unstoppable tide of globalization. Tweet
Imran Ahmed, The Grand Moofti Speaks
The law enforcement machinery has to answer not just for illegal littering and bicycling on pavements but also for the disappearance of millions by the Sunshine Empire business partners. Tweet
Liau Chuan Yi and Norvin Chan, Asian Correspondent Tweet
Sheere Ng, The Enquirer
Dear Mr Prime Minister, at the Ministerial Forum a month ago, you talked about helping new citizens adjust to life in Singapore. Have you also considered the early immigrants who are having trouble adapting to this fast-moving country? Tweet
Leong Wee Keat, Today Tweet
Ong Dai Lin, Today
After falling three places last year, Singapore has rebounded up the Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders. It moved up from 144th spot to 133rd, just shy of Thailand (130rd) and Malaysia (131st). Tweet
Gregory Gerald Danker, EZ-Link Pte Ltd, Straits Times
In the past, TransitLink offered automatic Giro top-ups at no charge to commuters. This was not because the top-ups were free, but because the cost was absorbed by TransitLink, which is jointly owned by the two public transport operators - SMRT and SBS Transit. They were willing to absorb the cost because the old cards were mainly used on buses and trains. However, this is not possible now as the new Cepas-compliant cards issued by EZ-Link can also be used in private vehicles for Electronic Road Pricing, retail shops, libraries and many other places unrelated to public transport.
And why doesn't EZ-Link Pte Ltd want to absorb the cost? Perhaps they themselves have no confidence of earning enough transaction fees from the other many commercial places? Tweet
Singapore Democrats
Depriving workers the ability to speak up while allowing corporations to dictate wage levels is not market forces. It is bad policy making. It is exploitation. It is greed.
It is also unsustainable. Society is going to be so drained of spirit if we keep paying our workers lower and lower wages that our competitiveness and productivity will be critically undermined. Tweet
The Temasek Review
MM Lee forgot to mention the fact that though it is important to create jobs for the people, measures must be put in place to ensure that the wages are sufficient for them to maintain a minimum standard of living. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia Tweet
Charlotte Cuthbertson, The Epoch Times
The arrest of a 70-year-old Singaporean man last week has seen the collision of freedoms expressed under constitutional law with new laws that give police arbitrary powers. Singapore’s Public Order Bill, introduced in April this year, was invoked for the first time for the arrest of Chua Eng Chwee on Oct. 14. Tweet
Manisha Kumari, The Temasek Review Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Felicia Wong, Straits Times
While the Government cares about Singapore's branding, it does not see a need to regulate beauty pageants as it believes that the 'market discipline' imposed by sponsors will keep such events in check. Minister for trade and industry Lim Hng Kiang said beauty pageants are run as businesses and the organisers rely heavily sponsorship for funding. As such, they risk backlash from sponsors for badly-organised events.
Is there an approval for anything goes, so long as sponsors are okay? Hmmmm.... Tweet
Associated Press
Southeast Asian nations unveil a landmark human rights watchdog this week, but critics charge that it will be both toothless and include in its membership one of the world's worst human rights offenders - military-ruled Myanmar. Tweet
Random Thoughts Of A Free Thinker Tweet
Diary of A Singaporean Mind
MM Lee now tells us that the income gap is inevitable. The resentment among the population caused by the income gap and rising cost of living is also inevitable. When people are resentful and the govt does nothing about a problem except to blame it on everything else but themselves, it is also inevitable what the voters do at the ballot box. Tweet
Singaporean Skeptic
I always wondered why Singaporeans vote for the PAP when they are constantly berated and insulted by the ruling party. What's worse, our lives have actually gotten worse over the past 10 years. The best analogy I can think of is that of a battered wife. Tweet
Ben Bland, The Asia File
If the government is not willing to release this information in the first place, then how are people supposed to research the issue in a credible and accurate manner? Tweet
游润恬, 联合早报
民众惯性地把湿巴刹的去留问题推给政府去决定。如卫生部长许文远日前所说，居民不能只一味地要求保留湿巴刹，而应以行动去支持，如果居民不光顾湿巴刹，摊贩生意惨淡、负担不了租金，那么就算湿巴刹不被收购，也难以维持下去。湿巴刹如果无法面对超市的强力竞争，始终会被人们抛弃。
Think: there are so many things that will not survive in the market, but we still keep them. From minority television programming to police and fire service, we as a society decides to pay for it as a common good. Why not good cheaper food for the poorer among us? Tweet
Khairulanwar Zaini, The Online Citizen
We are all Lee’s children, and as far as we remain so, we will be cursed to settle for the pale imitations of a nation, one never true, never substantive, never moving. We are all Lee’s children, and this knowledge must have been of great comfort to the Father as he laid last night to repose, for every cry “For Singapore!” is one “For Lee Kuan Yew!” – the nation of Lee will prevail, that mechanical, technocratic and bureaucratic edifice, it lives on in the meek and soulless monotony of the young. Tweet
Wall Street Journal
Critics of this island-nation often have fun referring to it as the "nanny state" for its laws against spitting, littering, or leaving behind an unflushed loo. When it comes to health care, however, Uncle Sam has better claim to the nanny title. Tweet
Jeremy Au Yong, Straits Times
Having a minimum wage in place here to narrow the income gap could do more harm than good, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said last night. In fact, every country that has set a minimum wage over what the market will bear has found that the move cuts jobs, he noted. Employers who are forced to deal with higher staff costs would simply find ways to hire less people.
So we are not doing a minimum wage scheme just to cover up the fact that we have no idea how to create enough good and sustainable jobs? Tweet
覃木, 凤凰网
新加坡为何拥有这样的魅力，让东方人和西方人都在这里工作、生活，成为新加坡人？ Tweet
Sgpolitics.net
It is ridiculous and cold-hearted to force households to take on such potentially large risks on their own. Unlike corporations, households don’t hire foreign help for a profit motive. They do so because the elderly or the young need care.
This is nonsense. By all means, help the households who need help in elderly and child care, but I do not think that the majority of households who hire maids are so desperate for cheap help labour that they cannot survive without a maid. Tweet
Singaporean Skeptic
Correct me if I am wrong. The stock market increase is driven mainly by a flight from low interest rates. How much of it is due to proper economic fundamentals? Tweet
Gerald Giam
This government needs to bite the bullet and clean up its own mess – even if it means losing some votes – for the sake of future generations of Singaporeans.
Instead, the government in recent years continued to push the cost of living in order to chase after the older, richer voters. Tweet
Alan Lee, Today
Drivers can choose to pay a small premium for smoother traffic and less congestion. However, this begs the question: Should drivers still have to pay for the use of roads which are congested due to accidents?
This, I believe, is a myth. ERP cannot survive as a payment to avoid congestion. It is a tax for congestion. If the road is congested and you still drive into it, I would suggest you should pay even more ERP. Tweet
Imelda Saad, Today
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has said "no" to placing a cap on the maximum medical liability of an employer for foreign maids brought here to work. Tweet
Sira Habibu, Malaysia Star Tweet
Singapore Democrats
The SDP has applied for a permit to speak at Fajar Road over the wet market issue. Assistant Secretary-General John Tan put in an application for party leaders to address Bukit Panjang residents on Sunday, 25 Oct 09, from 9 am to 12 noon. Tweet
Jessica Lim, Straits Times
All 82 of the government-run wet markets in Singapore will remain in government hands, along 'with the smell, the sound and the sight', minister for environment and water resources Yaacob Ibrahim told Parliament on Monday.
As for the rest of the 19 wet markets run by private companies, he reiterated that approval from the Housing Board would be needed for their sale and any change of their uses. Tweet
Nopporn Wong-Anan, Reuters
Singapore will lift spending from infrastructure to education next year and maintain a similar budget deficit, a sign the export-dependent country fears an economic rebound may not hold without government support. Tweet
Nazry Bahrawi, Guardian
Asean countries need to instil a much-needed paradigm shift that will see its people define 'culture' beyond superficialities. Tweet
Phare Anderson, Singapore Social and Political Thoughts Tweet
Cassandra Chew, Straits Times
'Malaysia authorities have given our security officers access to Mas Selamat. He was, however, uncooperative during the interview, and refused to talk. So at this point, the Internal Security Department's assessment is that he remains defiant,' senior ministertatertate (law and home affairs) Ho Peng Kee disclosed. Tweet
Desmond Wong, Channel NewsAsia
Prime office rents may be on a downward trend, but analysts say there is nothing much to worry about as the decline is a necessary correction. Tweet
Desmond Wong, Channel NewsAsia
Finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has hinted that next year's government budget is likely to be expansionary, with no major shift from the fiscal stance taken in Budget 2009. Tweet
Jia Mei, Channel NewsAsia
Singapore and Malaysian carriers will soon be able to fly freely between Changi and six new destinations in Malaysia after both countries agreed to expand their air services agreement. Tweet
Nopporn Wong-Anan, Forbes
Singapore, under pressure from the G20 to improve banking transparency, passed a bill in Parliament on Monday amending its income tax law to comply with OECD standards to fight cross border tax evasion.
The new bill enables the Singapore government to ask banks for client information in potential cases of foreign tax evasion, and not just for domestic tax cases as allowed by the previous law. Tweet
Ministry Of Home Affairs, Singapore Government
1,312 summonses were issued to errant cyclists for cycling offences between July 2008 and June 2009. Of these, the largest number of 615 summonses were issued to cyclists for cycling on the footways of roads. Other common infringements include failing to ride in an orderly manner such as not keeping a proper lookout and not giving way to traffic with the right of way, riding on expressways and riding against the flow of traffic. Tweet
Chua Hian Hou and Terrence Voon, Straits Times
Acting minister for information communications and the arts Radm (NS) Lui Tuck Yew told Parliament on Monday that the Media Development Authority (MDA) is currently exploring various 'short and long term regulatory options'. Tweet
AFP
Singapore is urging local businessmen to explore investment opportunities in Sri Lanka following the defeat of the Tamil separatist insurgency there, a report said here Monday. Tweet
This Lush Garden Within
I have already gave up hope on a better Singapore, or a better life for me and my future family in Singapore. My heart is elsewhere, and my mind is already focused on how to achieve a better future, somewhere else besides in “Uniquely Singapore”. Tweet
人民网
有关移民问题向来是极易引起争论的。一方面，作为移民本身，无论持有何国国籍，首先要解决的是如何融入当地社会，所谓入乡随俗。另一方面，作为本地公民，也应以宽容心态接纳外来移民，所谓海纳百川。这是一个硬币的两面，是互为因果的现实命题。 Tweet
Tessa Wong, Straits Times
The economy may be technically out of a recession, but there is no let up in the numbers of those looking for help. Deputy prime minister Teo Chee Hean said on Sunday that the effects of the upturn have yet to be felt on the ground. Tweet
长沙晚报
我们应学习借鉴新加坡河治理经验，把浏阳河的污染治理好，把流域的生态环境保护好，把区域的资源开发利用好。 Tweet
Shelley Smith, Bloomberg
Temasek Holdings Pte, Singapore’s government-owned investment company, hired a group of three banks to help it sell 10-year bonds denominated in U.S. dollars. Tweet
Netty Ismail, Bloomberg
Hedge funds in Singapore will “almost certainly” need to be licensed as the central bank seeks to tighten regulation of the industry, according to the local chapter of the Alternative Investment Management Association, the largest trade group for hedge funds. Tweet
Clare Matheson, BBC News Tweet
Cassandra Tay, Media Development Authority, Ng Sook Fun, Infocomm Development Authority, Straits Times
The Media Development Authority and Infocomm Development Authority are working with the industry on the Next Generation Interactive Multimedia, Applications and Services initiative. Potentially, this could allow more seamless inter-operability between multiple service providers, as well as interactive applications and services such as IPTV to be more easily deployed across different service providers' platforms. Tweet
Perinpanayagam James, Straits Times
It is a shame that an employee, in the last years of his employ, instead of being respected for his experience and contributions to the organisation, faces a wage cut for doing the same job. Tweet
Rick Lim Say Kiong, Today
Lessons have to be learned here that senior workers are assets in any company but employers who are concerned about their bottom line do not seem to recognise this fact. Tweet
Clement Tan, Asian Correspondent
What does the floundering healthcare reform attempts in America and the sorry plight of foreign workers in Singapore have in common? They are both victims of corporate interests. Making profits has become the overwhelming concern that it has shrouded the reality these profits might have come at a huge social cost. Tweet
Feed Me To The Fish
There is a great difference in frugality practiced by the rich and frugality practiced by the poor. The poor can't choose. Tweet
Ian Choo, The Online Citizen Tweet
Chua Kim Choo, Today Tweet
Sharon Bakar, Bibliobibuli
It is really nice to see the organisers of the Singapore Writers' Festival reaching out to Malaysian authors and book lovers. They were in town Thursday for a press conference at MPH Mid Valley. Tweet
Andrew Loh, The Online Citizen Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
刘丽仪, 联合早报
一名法轮功成员被指不理警方下达解散的指示，日前遭警方逮捕，是首个在今年刚通过的公共秩序法下的被捕者。 Tweet
SpotlightOnSingapore
In Singapore our gesture toward our senior citizens is widely seen as half-hearted or tight-fisted as in public assistance to the very poor many of whom are senior citizens. Tweet
梁捷, 东方早报
新加坡既可以实行国际上通行的多元民主，成为世界潮流即多元民主国家中的一员，又能保持执政党的长期执政，保持着持续政治稳定与经济繁荣的历史纪录。这种做法借用民主之形，施行威权之实，可谓一举两得。 Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
The Temasek Review
The former coach of the Singapore Table Tennis team Liu Guodong had categorically denied reached an “amicable” solution with the STTA over the latest fiasco started by its president and PAP MP Lee Bee Wah. Tweet
Ben Bland, Far Eastern Economic Review
Welcome to Singapore's last remaining slice of rural life: the Kranji countryside. The Southeast Asian city-state may be better known for its banks, shopping malls and sprawling public housing estates but here, in the northwestern corner of the island, Singapore's hardy farmers struggle on, producing 18,000 tons of vegetables, 47 million chickens, millions of eggs and 5,000 tons of fish each year. Tweet
Gisela Williams, New York Times
A small group of chefs is reinventing the city’s traditional food culture, finding a balancing point between the city’s cheap but hard to navigate street food and the expensive white-tablecloth spots. Tweet
Gerald Giam
I can’t see how the PAP advisers, being volunteers (I hope!) and not under the government payroll are “answerable” to the government. Tweet
Singapore Recalcitrant Tweet
Lim Yuin Chien, Press Secretary To The Minister For National Development , Straits Times
We do not expect the Workers' Party to accept these basic facts, and we will agree to disagree. In the final analysis, the people of Singapore will decide. In the meantime, the interests of Hougang residents are best served by concrete actions, not words. Tweet
Straits Times
The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) sent a clear signal yesterday that taking someone to court for criminal defamation is not an action to be taken lightly.
In a highly unusual move, it stepped in to end a series of private prosecutions taken by and against Singapore Swimming Club members for criminal defamation. Tweet
Temasek Hedge Tweet
Straits Times Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
Questions over the rights to air the English Premier League (EPL) as well as other sports channels will be raised when Parliament sits on Monday. Tweet
Ben Sandilands, Crikey Tweet
Bernama
Malaysia is promoting lesser known places of interest to Singaporeans, according to Tourism Malaysia Director-General, Datuk Mirza Mohammad Taiyab. He said as Singaporeans are frequent visitors, Malaysia needed to offer fresh, all-year round attractions, to ensure their stay was fun and worthwhile as well as to keep them coming. Tweet
AFP
Singapore's key exports fell for the 17th consecutive month in September as demand from crucial markets including the US and European Union continued to decline, data released Friday showed. Tweet
The Temasek Review
The ball is in the government’s court to ensure that HDB stay true to its original mission and vision of providing quality and cheap public housing to every Singapore citizen which is not merely affordable, but easily affordable such that the people do not have to deplete their CPF accounts in order to finance the astronomical 30-year mortage loans and will have adequate disposable income to enjoy a standard of living commensurate with a first world country besides saving enough to meet one retirement needs. Tweet
The Secret Political Blog
Regardless, it is too early to say whether the actual policy will restrict free speech on the internet, but it is certainly not to point out how all these contributes to an atmosphere of repression. Tweet
The Temasek Review
In the editors’ note they inserted below Mr Yoong’s letter in the Straits Times Forum, the authors claimd that what they wrote in the book was based on newspaper reports in 1986, which said that Yoong had been boarded out as a result of the incident with Mr Seow.
Who wrote the report? And what is it based on? These lingering questions were not addressed by SPH. Tweet
Urban Rant
Given the Singapore government's pro-business stance, and its willingness to use a blunt tool to 'protect' jobs, this indeed a welcome reprieve. Tweet
Today In Singapore
That’s the norm at Abu Ghraib. Tweet
Diary of A Singaporean Mind
Unless the cost of living is low, workers cannot afford to suppliers of cheap labor. Lim Swee Say doesn't come cheap and as labor chief he cannot expect Singapore workers to be cheap. Tweet
Yoong Siew Wah, Straits Times
Do you think that a little note of correction in your newspaper is in order to preserve my reputation? Tweet
Sue-Ann Chia, Straits Times
It is time to review the practice, said labour chief Lim Swee Say, because most companies have moved away from a seniority-based wage system where salaries are determined more by length of service rather than performance. Tweet
Neo Chai Chin, Channel NewsAsia
Former Internal Security Department (ISD) chief Yoong Siew Wah has requested a correction with regards to an "unflattering mention" of him in the book "Men In White", which chronicles the untold stories of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP). The book's publisher, the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) has agreed to the request. Tweet
Diary of A Singaporean Mind
While corporatization very often is beneficial because it introduces economy of scale and efficiency, in many cases it merely converts income of small scale independent businesses into profits of large corporations without benefit to the consumers. Tweet
Maria Almenoar, Straits Times
SBS Transit was fined $500 - less than its fine of $4,500 in the last review - for having overcrowded buses on five occasions.
SMRT was also fined $200 - up from its $100 in the last review - for not meeting the scheduled headway standards on one occasion and having over crowded buses on another. Tweet
Sylvia Lim, The Workers' Party of Singapore Tweet
Philip Lim, AFP
In affluent and technologically advanced Singapore, belief in spirituality persists and traditional religious practices are considered essential to good luck and prosperity, whether it involves health, love, a job or the lottery. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
The Public Transport Council (PTC) said both SBS Transit and SMRT Buses have complied with the standards on service provision and scheduled trips operated. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
Singapore's Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) Thursday announced the purchase of Dutch lender ING's Asian private banking business for 1.46 billion US dollars. Tweet
Shamim Adam, Bloomberg
Singapore’s retail sales dropped the least in eight months in August as the city state’s economic recovery spurred an improvement in spending at supermarkets and department stores. Tweet
新墨客 澳洲新生活
加坡的移民政策可以说非常不具人性化，尤其是对夫妻一方已经在新加坡获工作或居留签证的，想申请配偶来新团聚是非常难的，相比较而言，澳洲的移民政策就非常人性化，一人获得签证和永久居留，配偶也同时获得的签证，有利于家庭稳定。 Tweet
苹果树0416
在新加坡停留6天后刚刚回来。脑海里挥之不去的不是这个城市街头的繁华和建筑物的高大壮观，而是那些细致入微的温馨细节。 Tweet
Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, New York Times
Times may be hard in the contemporary art market, but Asian auction houses are fighting the downturn with energy and innovation. Far from pulling back, new players are joining the fray. Tweet
Imran Ahmed, The Grand Moofti Speaks
Will someone please educate Singapore's private bankers about the lessons learnt from the global banking crisis? Tweet
Zul Othman, Today
Even though sea pirates are stepping up their activities in the straits of Malacca and Singapore, this "is a modest concern", according to Australia's Inspector of Transport Security. This is because the governments of Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia have done well in keeping the number of piracy cases low, Mr Mick Palmer told reporters at a press conference on the sidelines of Interpol's 78th general assembly held here yesterday. Tweet
Seelan Palay Tweet
Gerald Giam
Contrary to what MICA accused Zahari of doing, I did not think the film gave any “distorted portrayal”. The entire film consisted of Zahari talking into the camera, with Martyn See occasionally asking questions in the background. There were no animations, slick edits, or emotional scenes. I can’t see how a testimony of one person talking about himself could be a “distorted portrayal”. Tweet
Tng Ying Hui, The Online Citizen
It is necessary to upgrade wet markets to improve hygiene, but to wipe it out from the face of Singapore portends means that we would lose something dear to our hearts, raising a generation further adrift from their roots. Tweet
Desmond Wong, Channel NewsAsia
Inflation is unlikely to pose a threat to the budding global recovery as it is expected to remain low for at least the next few years. And so, some analysts said, interest rates will remain depressed across Western economies. Tweet
Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times
Indonesia needs to ratify a seven-year-old regional haze agreement to prove its commitment in tackling climate change, a top United Nations official said at a conference in Singapore on Wednesday. Tweet
Simon Kearney, Christian Science Monitor
Shopping is a national pastime in this wealthy city-state and a bit of the retail culture is helping the government hold down hospital costs – at a time when much of the world is searching for an antidote to rampant healthcare spending.
One of Singapore's secrets: compulsory publication of the cost of hospital procedures. It has turned having a hip replacement into something similar to buying a pair of shoes. Tweet
Hetty Musfirah Abdul Khamid, Channel NewsAsia
A 75-year-old grandmother has become Singapore's oldest living organ donor. Madam Chee Leng Yin donated one of her kidneys to save her seriously-ill daughter. Tweet
Zakir Hussain, Straits Times
The ban stays because the film gives a 'distorted and misleading portrayal' of his arrest and detention under the Internal Security Act, said the press secretary of Mica's acting minister Lui Tuck Yew. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times
As an indication of the red hot demand for public flats, the Housing Board (HDB) was swamped with 20,691 applications for its biggest sales exercise - 2,132 flats - in recent times on its closing day. Tweet
Harriet Baskas, USA Today
On a visit to Singapore earlier this month, I asked most everyone I met to tell me what they liked most about their island city-state. Locals sang the praises of the Lion City's food, its culture, its cleanliness and its safety. And more often than not, they told me how much they loved their airport.
Yes, their airport. Not something you're likely to hear from anyone living in Chicago, Detroit or New York City. But it seems most citizens of Singapore are sweet on Changi Airport. Given how often Changi lands on top of (or near the top of) surveys ranking airport shopping, dining, cleanliness and leisure activities, so too is the rest of the world. So I decided to set aside an afternoon to find out what makes Changi so charming. Tweet
中国新闻网
这次北京首都国际机场力压群雄获得第一很不容易。因为这几个机场实力都很强，其中，多数人对新加坡的樟宜机场都比较熟悉，它1981年启用以来，就以优质服务享誉航空界，在1987年至2007年间共赢取超过280个奖项。 Tweet
Neil Chatterjee, Reuters
Singapore port terminals handled 5.8 percent fewer containers in September than in August, a downturn after two months of rises, and traffic was 16 percent lower than a year earlier, government data showed. Tweet
Jermyn Chow, Straits Times
More workers died or were disabled on their jobs in the first six months of this year, despite efforts by government safety officials and companies to make worksites less dangerous. Tweet
S.Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia
Singapore's labour movement is playing to win and the next two years will not be any less challenging. That's the view of the labour movement's chief Lim Swee Say who has called on workers and employers to play their part in making the economy and workforce cheaper, better and faster. Tweet
Lingling Wei and Craig Karmin, Wall Street Journal Tweet
Charlotte Cuthbertson & Matthew Robertso, The Epoch Times
Facing deportation to China and possible torture, Falun Gong practitioners in Singapore are calling for international support in a case which has seen five arrested for putting up posters with Sticky Tack in a park. Tweet
Recruiter Tweet
Imran Ahmed, The Grand Moofti Speaks
Are the existing methods sufficient for a constantly evolving online environment? It may be time to review personal privacy laws to ensure that the penalties associated with the unauthorized distribution and use of personal data is severely punished. Tweet
Chee Soon Juan, Singapore Democrats
Fighting elections on the PAP's terms without doing anything else is to launch a direct frontal assault – and only a direct frontal assault. The PAP simply lays all the booby traps and landmines, fortifies its position and then signals for the opposition to charge. Tweet
Lin Junjie, The Enquirer
As dramatic as the censorship of Chee’s visit was, it was definitely not the first time an article had to be edited or played down to avoid offending the powers that be, or in extremely rare cases such as the Chee saga, removed entirely. Chee’s visit was however the only time in recent history that the president of the university—and the publisher of the paper by virtue of its funding—had intervened to order a removal of an article. Tweet
Cheng Shoong Tat, Today
It is the duty of the regulator, in this case the Housing and Development Board, to assign permitted land uses and plot ratios to plots of land, in the overall interests of estate and community development. Within those parameters, market forces work to allot plots to those who can make the most productive use of them. Tweet
Thong Keng Wai, HDB, Today
Our parking enforcement service provider incorrectly issued a summons to him. We have reminded our service providers to adhere strictly to our guidelines. Tweet
Tan Weizhen & Tessa Wong, Straits Times
Millions of contactless cards have been sold in Singapore but retailers are slow to offer consumers the option of paying for goods with them. Tweet
How Peng Soon, Straits Times
From its customer database records, EZ-Link must have known the number of old ez-link cards that were linked for the auto Giro top-up (EZ-Reload). It could have worked out the necessary lead time needed to seamlessly handle the card replacement exercise. Tweet
Gerald Giam, geraldgiam.sg
If town councils are expected to fork out 5% of the LUP costs, don’t they deserve a say in the upgrading? This is taxation without representation. It is nothing short of political gymnastics to say LUP is only possible because of budget surpluses. Why don’t they say road maintenance, MRT lines or government polyclinics in Hougang are possible only because of budget surpluses? Tweet
Joanne Chan, Channel NewsAsia
The Housing & Development Board (HDB) has seen strong demand for the 2,100 flats being offered under its "Sale of Balance Flats" exercise. The HDB received more than 19,000 applications, just a day before the exercise closes, which means that the flats are nearly nine times oversubscribed. Tweet
Martyn See, Only "Objective" And "Factual" Political Films Please, We're Singaporeans
"The prohibition stands as the film gives a distorted and misleading portrayal of Said Zahari's arrest and detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) and is an attempt to exculpate him from his past involvement in communist united front activities against the interests of Singapore. The film was assessed in its entirety, and every part of the film should be taken in the context of the entire film which presents a distorted portrayal of Said Zahari's arrest and detention under the ISA." Tweet
AFP
Singapore's MobileOne Ltd (M1) said Tuesday it has reached an agreement with US computing giant Apple to sell the iconic iPhone to customers later this year. However, the telecommunications firm said that information on pricing, tariffs and availability dates will be released later. Tweet
Mathia Lee, Plans and Preoccupations Tweet
RN Bhaskar, Forbes India
How Singapore became the most attractive route for the flow of money in and out of India. Tweet
Shamim Adam, Bloomberg
Singapore will extend a wage subsidy program for employers set to expire this year to avoid an increase in job losses that may derail the city-state’s economic recovery, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong said. Tweet
Malaysia Star
The Johor bridge project is still an issue. Is the bridge so important to Dr Mahathir because it will boost the economy or is it because it is part of his vision?
“It’s not about my vision. There is this perception that the Government is afraid of Singapore, that it does not want to build it because Singapore is against it.” Tweet
Urbanrant
The letter is a clear indication to the extent for which the civil service believes it is an instrument of the ruling party. The lack of a regular 'check' of the systems causes the system to be rigid and non-responsive. Tweet
韩咏红, 联合早报
“我确实是挺爱国的，但是我想每个人都是爱国的吧。”说起自己的爱国心，张元元总会直觉地补上这一句。她小心地说明“爱国”与“喜欢新加坡”即有区别又不相互排斥，同时暗示永久居民爱祖国（中国）与新加坡人爱国都是同一种感情，应该得到理解。 Tweet
Straits Times
Next year's budget will provide new and enhanced programmes to support companies' efforts to grow, innovate and compete based on higher productivity, said prime minister Lee Hsien Loong. Tweet
李静仪, 联合早报
刚面市的免触式多用途“万捷通”现金卡与易通卡“水火不容”，两张卡如果摆放在一起，是无法顺利用来扣除车资的。 Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
南洋视界
新加坡报业控股说，互联网的影响是晚报发行量大幅下跌的其中一个主要原因。同时，报业控股最新的年报显示，报业控股过去一个财政年度的广告收入大幅减少。 Tweet
新加坡法轮佛学会, 大纪元
我们严正呼吁新加坡政府及警察悬崖勒马，不与行将灭亡之中共为伍，与全世界正义国家、善良人民一起制止对法轮功的非法迫害，为新加坡及其民众选择光明美好的未来。 Tweet
顾时宏, 中国新闻网 Tweet
Tay Shi'an, New Paper Tweet
杨澜的博客
在采访的一个多小时的时间里，这位依旧保持挺直腰杆的老人，对上面的问题一一作了回答，思维敏捷，反应迅速，根本看不出他已经86岁了。 Tweet
Christopher Johnson, Reuters
A third of the staff of the Singapore office of RBS Coutts, a private bank that is part of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), have quit in a mass resignation, the bank said on Tuesday. Tweet
Yawning Bread
The crisis in local television is a harbinger of the crisis that Singapore as a whole will soon face. In a nutshell, it's an inability to compete in a world of ideas. Censorship and authoritarian politics are the root causes. While occasionally a direct connection can be made, the truly damaging effects are indirect. That is to say, even if censorship is lifted tomorrow, it will still take a long time to overcome the effects. Tweet
ANTARA News
Indonesia will help secure the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) summit to be held in Singapore next month, National Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri said here on Monday.
Indonesia had been asked to help secure border regions while the summit is in progress, he said when visiting the Riau Islands regional police command. Tweet
Leong Wee Keat, Today
Singapore may have reported its first year-on-year gross domestic product (GDP) growth in five quarters yesterday - but if your first instinct is to demand a restoration of pay cuts or salary increments, the advice from economists and employers is to keep that in check. Well, at least for another six months. Tweet
Lim Yuin Chien, Press Secretary to the Minister for National Development, Straits Times
Opposition MPs are not answerable to the government, nor are they obliged to carry out and explain the government's policies.
Opposition MPs are not responsible for generating budget surpluses. There is therefore no basis for opposition MPs to lead the LUP - a national programme funded mainly by the government. Tweet
Liau Yun Qing, ZDNet Asia
Local carrier Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) "will not make a profit" from winning the rights to broadcast the English Premier League (EPL), but it can prove a critical tool to boost subscriber numbers for its mio pay TV service, says analyst. Tweet
Bernama
Singapore today sent the largest ever delegation of local companies to Sub-Saharan Africa to seek business opportunities in a big way there. Led by minister of state for trade and industry and manpower, Lee Yi Shyan, the 31-company strong delegation comprising 44 representatives, will make its first stop in Nigeria, followed by South Africa and then Ghana. Tweet
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times
The government is contemplating a move to ban property agents from representing both sellers and buyers of HDB flats -one that has cheered the public and left some agents unhappy. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said Monday it would maintain its policy of "zero percent appreciation" for the city's dollar, despite data pointing to a modest recovery from recession. Tweet
The Temasek Review
The real agenda behind the move, however, is probably to deter potential donors from funding and supporting bloggers, especially socio-political blogs with a high readership like ours.
Sorry, but I really don't find any evidence of conspiracies behind this announcement by MDA, especially since it came so close after U.S.' FTC doing the same. Tweet
Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times
Bloggers and users of other new media may soon have to say so upfront if they receive gifts or money for their write-ups. The Media Development Authority (MDA) has said it is looking at stricter disclosure rules. Tweet
Jimmy Mun, Frankly Speaking
Most Singaporeans can tolerate the situation... as long as they have a job. If citizen unemployment rises significantly, or if wages fail to keep pace with the costs of living rocketing up due to resource competition with foreigners, I fear the unease with foreigners will turn into full blown irrational anger, and that is not going to do anybody any good. Tweet
Straits Times
More than 40 per cent of the original ez-link cards issued have not been exchanged for new cards, meant for more purposes than just paying public-transport fees.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) declined to comment on the possible reasons for such a large number of cards remaining unreplaced. But the bulk of these cards are likely to have been cards that were not in active use. Tweet
The Hantu Bloggers Tweet
联合早报
新加坡本来就是一个移民国家，这里汇聚了众多其他国家的移民，如果每个国家的移民都希望在公共场合悬挂自己原国家的象征物，那新加坡的国家文化就会显得纷乱而毫无秩序。而在新加坡不断发展的过程中，她也在不断提炼，形成自己的新加坡文化和民众的国家认同感。新加坡需要的，是所有新移民把这里当作可以成长、发展的新的大家庭。仿佛母国是曾经童年时代让人眷恋的故里，而很多新移民选择了新加坡，必定是把这里当作可以搏击风浪、迅速成长的新家。 Tweet
Straits Times
The strong economic rebound in the third quarter is not likely to be sustained as significant challenges remain, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Monday.
Despite two consecutive quarterly growth in Q2 and Q3, the central bank said the Singapore economy is 'likely to settle at a more gradual pace of expansion.' It also expects GDP growth in 2010 to be slower than in previous post-recession periods. Tweet
Straits Times
Singapore's inflation is likely to be around zero per cent this year, before rising to one to two per cent in 2010, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Monday. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
The Temasek Review
Singapore has no business in helping China nationals improve their English or their marketability. Mr He should realize that there is no free lunch in the world and Singaporeans do not owe him or his fellow countrymen a living. Tweet
Costas Paris and P.R. Venkat, Wall Street Journal
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. is competing with Singaporean rival DBS Group Holdings Ltd. and HSBC Holdings PLC to acquire the Asian private-banking assets of ING Groep NV, and analysts say a possible deal offers good growth prospects for either of the two Singapore banks. Tweet
Nopporn Wong-Anan, Reuters
Singapore's central bank kept its loose monetary policy unchanged on Monday, citing uncertainty over the sustainability of its economic recovery or demand for exports and expectations of limited inflation next year. Tweet
AFP
Singapore's economy grew by an estimated 0.8 percent in the three months to September from a year ago, the first such growth in five quarters, the government said Monday. Tweet
联合早报
最近大型连锁超市集团昇菘和全国职总超市申请收购几个湿巴刹的举动，原是自由市场的商业动作，同样在民间引起不小的反响，这让人看到湿巴刹（以及小贩中心）的去留问题不完全是市场经济的问题。 Tweet
Khalil Adis, The Temasek Review Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
The economic growth forecast for 2009 has been revised upwards to between -2.5% and -2.0%, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a news release Monday.
It also said the Singapore economy expanded by 0.8% year-on-year in the third quarter of 2009 with growth driven by the biomedical and electronics sector and improvements in the trade-related and tourism sectors of the economy on the back of a gradual stabilisation in global economic conditions. Tweet
Straits Times
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) kept its loose monetary policy unchanged on Monday, citing uncertainty over the sustainability of the global recovery, although its economy is recovering from its worst recession. Tweet
Heng-Cheong Leong, MyAppleMenu
Look, a foreign sports entertainment is a luxury product, no two ways about it. There is nothing essential nor nationalistic of having Singaporeans watch foreign sports clubs competing in a particular foreign sports league. And that's already a damn fine reason for the government not to step in and regulate the broadcast of foreign sports entertainment.
What about the inconvenience of having two set-top boxes? Tough! If you cannot handle that, maybe you are not that much of a fan anywhere.
But, on a more serious note, do you really want the government telling how companies should conduct their businesses, or what you, as a customer, can or cannot buy in Singapore? Do you want the government telling Apple that it should license Mac OS X to Acer before they are allowed to sell Macintosh in Singapore? Do you want the government telling F&N that Yeo's can also bottle Coke, before allowing Coke to be sold in Singapore? Do you want the government telling McDonald's that Burger King must also be able to sell Big Macs, before the Golden Arches can set up shops in Singapore? If you don't like Apple computers, you can go buy Acer, HP or Dell. If you don't like F&N, you can drink the same kind of sugar water from Yeo's. And if you don't like how McDonald's run their restaurants, you can go eat burgers at MOS or Botak Jones.
Stop running to the government for regulations every time you are inconvenienced or when a certain luxury product is priced beyond your ability to purchase. If you want the government to regulate everything thing, pretty soon you'll just be able to watch a 1.5 hour of "World of Sports Incorporating [insert foreign league name] soccer" every Sunday morning.
So the government should sit around and do nothing, you ask? Why, sure! Have a smaller government, and perhaps you don't need to pay that much GST in the first place.
What government need to do, on the other hand, is to remove barriers to competitions. If a newcomer can bid high enough to secure another foreign sports entertainment, this newcomer should be able to sell the content to Singaporeans without SingTel or StarHub or MediaCorp or SPH putting unjustified barriers. If SingTel want to subsidize the foreign sports entertainment package by selling broadband internet at a higher price, make sure there are broadband internet companies that can sell at a lower price than SingTel without a need to cross-subsidize. Don't limit what SingTel can or cannot do unnecessary, but make sure SingTel will be penalized in the marketplace if it is selling unreasonably.
Don't agree? Feel free to e-mail me. Or write it up on a blog post and send me the link to your blog post. Tweet
Imran Ahmed, The Grand Moofti Speaks
The question before policy makers is how to marry the idealism and energy of Singapore's younger generation with the practicality of the real world. One response may be the phased deregulation of Singapore's media sector. Tweet
Tattooed Banker
When was the last time an average Singaporean visited a library? When was the last time an average Singaporean took tuition at CDAC? When was the last time an average Singaporean had to beg for a job at a CDC? Keep the wet markets, not because the average Singaporean visits one every single day, but because the poorer among us need them for cheaper food that can be had at cheaper quantity. Tweet
Gregory Gerald Danker, EZ-Link , Straits Times
Due to an overwhelming response in the number of Ez-Reload applications received, applications may take slightly longer to process. We would like to apologise to Mr How for the delay, and are currently investigating the status of his application.
I don't believe there are significantly more GIRO customers for the new cards than the old. This is mainly a migration exercise, where the number of customers is more or less known on advance. This is a bad excuse from Ez-link. Tweet
Today Tweet
Alastair Su, The Online Citizen
In many ways, Singapore resembles a firm where its citizens, like shareholders waiting for the quarterly announcement of revenue, have understood progress solely in terms of GDP. The first problem is that like GDP, revenue isn’t everything; there are always costs to take into account, as well as the question of the revenue actually translates into actual value for the firm’s shareholders. The second problem is that Singapore is a nation, not a firm, so our understanding of progress shouldn’t be understood purely in the monetary sense. Let’s remember GDP alone does not measure the happiness, prosperity and progress. Tweet
Singapore Democrats
Dr Teo must understand that he is a Member of Parliament, not the postal service. We are asking him to take a stand on the issue and not just convey the residents message to the HDB. He needs to state clearly his position on whether he supports the privatisation of the Fajar wet market. Tweet
Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia
The government is looking into whether the Jobs Credit Scheme fits into its long-term economic strategy for Singapore. It will announce its decision on the future of the scheme on Tuesday.
But a more immediate concern for some workers is whether the scheme, which helps companies offset a portion of wage costs, is being abused. This was raised at a dialogue with minister in the prime minister's office and second minister for finance and transport, Lim Hwee Hua, on Sunday. Tweet
The Temasek Review
The Singapore government has always eschewed “foreign interference” in its domestic affairs. Foreign speakers are frequently barred from speaking at indoor forums and events organized by opposition parties.
It appears that the rules are bent especially for Li and Zhang which is not surprising since they are promoting the “virtues” of the PAP government to its own ignorant and naive citizens. Tweet
Yeo Ghim Lay, Straits Times
Stallholders at Sembawang New Market in Canberra Road - the only wet market in Sembawang - will stay put after all, instead of making way for a FairPrice supermarket. Health minister and Sembawang GRC MP Khaw Boon Wan said on Sunday the market operator has decided to extend its lease with the Housing and Development Board. Tweet
Yawning Bread
Whatever the list of crimes may be for which a country specifies the death penalty in its laws, there is a common thread, and that is that there are certain ideas valued higher than life. People who clamour for or defend the death penalty hold this as an unspoken assumption. Tweet
Times They Are A-Changin' Tweet
The Temasek Review
While some Singaporeans scoffed at the government’s attempts to “import” more foreigners as “cheapening” our citizenship, there is nothing they can do about it as long the incumbent remains in power. Tweet
George Fu, The Epoch Times
Seven Falun Gong practitioners were arrested while doing exercises in a local park in Singapore on Oct. 5. Police handcuffed four of the practitioners, citing “vandalizing public property” after they put posters on a wall. Three others, who were meditating, were not handcuffed, since "meditation is allowed," according to police. Tweet
Cai Haoxiang, Straits Times
Close to 12,000 people have signed up for the new Central Provident Fund (CPF) annuity scheme opened last month to Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 55 and older.
Minister of state (trade and industry and manpower) Lee Yi Shyan last night described the number signing up for CPF Life as encouraging. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Singaporeans are not angry over Ms Zhang’s loyalty to her motherland, but rather at the liberal immigration policy of the ruling party which has altered the demographics of Singapore completely over the last few years. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Singapore Democrats
Attorney general Walter Woon has appealed District Judge John Ng's decision to acquit the SDP leaders of conducting a procession. Tweet
Today
SingTel has unveiled its price plans for the Barclays Premier League, which it won the rights to for three years commencing August 2010. The Barclays Premier League will cost $23 (excluding GST) per month and will include all 380 Premier League matches. This includes one high-definition set-top box. Customers who sign a one-year plan to watch these matches will enjoy the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League at no additional cost till May 2011. Tweet
Pat Clawson, Optimal Security
We could all learn a thing or two about developing an effective cyber security strategy from the government of Singapore. Tweet
Doug Palmer, Reuters
A senior Republican senator called on Friday for a free trade agreement between the United States and countries in Southeast Asia. Tweet
Seah Chiang Nee, The Star
A beauty queen shocked Singaporeans with her poor diction in English, triggering a storm of online debate that indirectly reflected on the city state’s education system. Tweet
Singapore Life and Times
You can never satisfy all of them, but can you blame people with this laundry list of demands when the price of a public housing apartment these days is upwards of S$200,000? Tweet
Singapore Recalcitrant
The most decent thing for the minister mentor Lee Kuan Yew to do now is to undo the harm he has caused me and to restore my reputation. But will he? Tweet
陈佳誉, 联合早报
其实上午8时到下午2时是比较理想的学习时间，也和家长的工作上班时间相近，不会影响生理时钟，上学前时间也比较充裕，让学生有时间用个早餐才上课，也比较健康。 Tweet
Jessica Lim, Straits Times
The wet markets will have to stay because they do not meet the criteria for conversion into supermarkets, the HDB said on Friday. Tweet
Low Thia Khiang, Member of Parliament for Hougang, Straits Times
This is the manifestation of the Government's attitude towards elected opposition MPs, that they are not representative of the constituency but the grassroots advisers are, despite the fact that the grassroots advisers, candidates of the People's Action Party (PAP), had been rejected by the voters in Potong Pasir and Hougang. Tweet
Lily Chan-Wong Jee Choo, Housing & Development Board, Straits Times Tweet
Sharon Tan, Media Development Authority, Straits Times
The bidding for the EPL rights is a commercial process, with the bidding and broadcast terms determined by the Football Association Premier League and agreed upon with the bidders. Tweet
Chan Wah Siong, Straits Times
Once, Singaporeans were treated to the English Premier League, European Cup (now Champions League) football and the semi-finals and finals of Grand Slam tennis tournaments on free-to-air television. Now we must open our wallets for more than one subscription package just to enjoy the sports telecasts we used to get for free.
Because you sports fans are willing to open up your wallets, that's why. Simple Economics 101. Tweet
Ravi Philemon, The Online Citizen
If it is indeed government practice to implement national programmes for residents through advisers to grassroots organisations, then they should change their policy to appoint elected MPs as grassroots advisers (even if they are opposition MPs), or hold separate elections for the proper election of grassroots advisers by residents. Tweet
Rina Ota, Reuters
Next time you're at your local cafe, don't gulp down that coffee -- Japanese contemporary artist Rei Sato believes coffee shops harbor precious moments that should be savored. Tweet
Hard Hitting in the Lion City
A study by National University of Singapore economists Tilak Abeysinghe and Gu Jiaying published last year found that the buying power of people's lifetime earnings in 2007 was lower than it was in 1990 when it is tracked against the prices of HDB resale flats. Basically, prices of HDB resale flats have become less affordable for Singaporeans. Tweet
Ting Kheng Siong/Lynda Hong, Channel NewsAsia
Five privately owned wet markets won't be converted into air-conditioned supermarkets if Sheng Siong takes over. This is because HDB told MediaCorp, the supermarket chain has expressed taking over the wet markets in their existing state. Tweet
Lin Jiamei, 938Live
The Media Development Authority (MDA) has asked SingTel to provide clarity on the pricing of their sports packages following its successful bid for the English Premier League for three seasons starting next year. Tweet
Lloyd's List
Cruiseship agents are in uproar over a decision by the Singapore Cruise Centre to charge ships an additional docking fee of 10 times the usual amount if they are forced to berth at container terminals due to congestion. Tweet
Straits Times
It's finally here, the Nets multi-purpose contactless payment card which is also the first to break EZ-Link's long time stranglehold on the transit market. Tweet
Singapore Democrats
If you think being charged for "walking" is ridiculous enough, take a look at this: Six SDP members and activists are charged with distributing flyers in 2006. Tweet
The Temasek Review
As an important minister, Mr Mah should stay clear and aloof of such petty politickeering on the ground and put the interests of the nation above that of the party. Tweet
Saeed Azhar, Reuters
Singapore state investor Temasek Holdings will meet bond investors on Oct 13-14 to update them on its recent performance and outlook, sources said on Friday. Tweet
Lin Yanqin, Today
When the lights in the MRT train went out and the air-conditioning hummed to a stop, passenger Kalarani Shunmugasundram knew she was in trouble.
Asleep when the announcement came on asking passengers to disembark as the train was terminating its run at Punggol station, she woke up just as the doors were closing. Along with another passenger, she was stuck on the train for nearly an hour on Monday as it headed for the depot. Tweet
Shamim Adam, Bloomberg
Singapore’s economy probably expanded for a second consecutive quarter as the global recession eased, adding to evidence of a regional recovery that has prompted policy makers to consider ending stimulus measures. Tweet
Randolph Tan, Today
Withdrawing the Jobs Credit scheme will allow policymakers to re-direct their focus to areas which could help unemployed individuals in ways that will alleviate possible challenges in a new global economic order. Tweet
The Temasek Review
All government agencies should deal directly with the elected MP regardless of their political affiliations and not outsiders who have no right or business to be intefering with the management of the ward in any way. Tweet
李静仪 韩咏梅 谢婷婷, 联合早报
近来接二连三有湿巴刹被大型超市集团收购，令市民担心货源会被资金雄厚的大集团垄断，受影响的摊贩都担心往后的生计问题。人们也担心改建后的冷气巴刹或超市物品售价可能更高，还有一些人担心具有传统风味的湿巴刹会从此走入历史。 Tweet
Chin Yen Yen, Communications Competition Commission of Singapore, Today
There has been much public interest on SingTel's winning of the rights to telecast the Barclays Premier League. We need to clarify that, under the law, competition issues in the media sector do not come under the jurisdiction of the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) and hence CCS cannot make any ruling on this matter. Tweet
The Economist
Critics say that Singapore needs to shift faster from building cheap but resource-intensive concrete structures towards more expensive construction techniques that use, say, more steel and glass.
Relying as it does on low-wage, low-skilled migrant workers from South Asia, Singapore’s construction industry is not yet ready for such a high-tech transformation. And in the short term there are still plenty of willing suppliers. Tweet
John Krich, Wall Street Journal
Before heading back to the city-state where such a colorful scene might well have been hosed down, sprayed over and turned into a Fishland Amusement Park -- complete with turnstiles -- long ago, we continue a bit farther up the coast in search of more curiosities. Tweet
Snurblog
Singapore is a particularly interesting case as it presents a paradox: a young and successful nation with strong ICT use, but a heavily regulated media environment (including the Internet) - but with regulation which has nonetheless proved unable to prevent the emergence of online sites of resistance. Tweet
Elites TV
Will a cash incentive make women want to have a child? Going by recent figures under Singapore’s recent Baby Bonus initiative, a government plan to raise declining birth rates in the country, the answer ostensibly is “no”. Tweet
Straits Times
Dollars and cents should not be the overriding consideration with institutions that are distinctly Singaporean like wet markets, which are a popular and valuable part of our identity. Tweet
Low Siew Ling, Straits Times
Why should wet markets be private concerns and even if they are, should the HDB and town council absolve themselves of their responsibility to residents? Tweet
How Peng Soon, Straits Times
The previous ez-link card only took five minutes to link up for auto Giro top-up with an ATM card at any MRT station general ticketing machine.
Why is the Land Transport Authority taking so long to roll out this service? The least it could do is to extend the use of the old card until the EZ-Reload feature is ready. Tweet
Aw Chon Wai, Straits Times
The existing configuration may improve traffic flow and save time for everyone. However, the issue here is whether this is worth the trade-off with road user safety.
We don't really have to be the number one in everything. Really. Tweet
Balderdash
But then, the easiest course of action is not always the one we should follow. Tweet
The Secret Political Blog
The defendants were acquitted because the law under which they were prosecuted was not applicable to them and not because political assemblies suddenly became acceptable to the establishment. Tweet
Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen
Instead of just saying that Singaporeans are choosy, the HDB should give the break-down of the statistics as to the reasons why people rejected flats. Tweet
Ryan Huang, Channel NewsAsia
Some contractors are taking no chances with news that Vietnam is banning sand exports to Singapore on worries that the pace of extraction would damage the Mekong Delta. Tweet
Neil Chatterjee and Don Durfee, Reuters
As Singapore and Hong Kong prepare to grant foreign governments unprecedented access to the financial affairs of their bank account holders, Asia's private bankers sound confident business will only improve.
But they may be too optimistic. Tweet
Matt Walker, BBC News Tweet
Cheryl Lim & Ting Kheng Siong, Channel NewsAsia
The Housing and Development Board (HDB) said on Thursday it will consider the needs of residents before approving any application to convert wet markets into supermarkets.
HDB also said it will ensure the area retains the same variety of choices, as far as possible, when the application is approved. Tweet
Amanda Lee, The Online Citizen
A nation is like a tree. Even if the tree crown is beautiful and is a home to many organisms living together, it is very important to remember the roots. The tree crown represents the different immigrants and Singaporeans living together and making Singapore a progressive society and nation. However, we must not lose our ancestral roots which are us – Singaporeans. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Fadli, The Jakarta Post
The Singaporean government seems unwilling to return control over Indonesia's airspace in the Riau Islands province, for economic and strategic reasons, a Batam airport official says.
Based on the 2009 Flight Law, Indonesia's airspace over Riau Islands should be returned to Indonesia, Tevi Amir, the chief air traffic controller at Batam's Hang Nadim Airport, said Tuesday. The airspace over the province had been under Singaporean control for around 10 years because of the limited capacity of Indonesia's radar systems, but this issue was no longer relevant, Tevi said. Tweet
BBC News Tweet
Singapore Democrats
Mr Ambalam challenged Dr Teo to state publicly his position on the sale of the wet market. Silence and inaction on the part of the MP on such a controversial issue, one which has riled many residents, is not an option. Tweet
Diana Othman, Straits Times
Government's total land sale revenue for financial year 2008/2009 fell to $7.3 billion from $12.4 billion a year ago. But it is still higher than 2007's $6.2 billion, said the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) in its 2008/09 annual report released on Thursday. Tweet
Kor Kian Beng, Straits Times
The Attorney-General's Chambers is considering whether to appeal against the acquittal of five opposition leaders and supporters charged with taking part in an illegal procession in September 2007. A spokesman for the Chambers told The Straits Times on Wednesday that it has up to 10 days to file the appeal. Tweet
AFP
A group of Singaporean pro-democracy activists won a rare legal victory after being acquitted of involvement in an illegal march two years ago, according to court documents obtained Wednesday. Tweet
Joanna's Singapore Adventures
Despite their strong desire to develop a national identity and instil patriotism, the Singapore government is decidedly unimpressed by Singlish. Tweet
Wall Street Journal
The appeals-court panel on Wednesday agreed with a ruling last year that a 2006 Far Eastern Economic Review story improperly tied Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his father, the former prime minister, to corruption. The court also found the Review improperly suggested the Lees used libel lawsuits to cover up misdeeds. Tweet
Diary of A Singaporean Mind
Scrutinising the nickels and dimes given out to the poor while taking big risks with state reserves simply makes no sense.... Tweet
Who Moved My Singapore Cheese
I nearly threw my shoes onto the PC screen when I saw Mah appear on RazorTV news saying there are enough flats again. Tweet
Richard Ho, Straits Times
The Duxton skybridge will surely be a national and international attraction, and so generate income for the town council. I am surprised that the HDB has informed future residents at Pinnacle that monthly maintenance charges will be higher than those for other HDB blocks, to cover the higher cost of facilities, apparently to ensure proper use of the skybridges. Tweet
Lawrence Lee, Straits Times
The LTA's approach - that road safety is a shared responsibility - is too idealistic. In the corporate world, I believe many employees understand what 'shared responsibility' is. But that is easier said than done. How will the LTA share this with the 63-year-old van driver involved in the recent accident? Tweet
Constance Grace Chew, Straits Times
It seems there are more demerit points than merit points when changing to the new card. This may explain why so many are reluctant to change their cards. Tweet
Straits Times
HDB figures yesterday showed that eight in 10 first-timers could get a flat on their first try if they were not choosy; the success rate was 96 per cent for the second try.
Of course, if one have lots of money, one can get a shelter over one's roof anywhere in Singapore on the first try. Tweet
Ng E-Jay, Sgpolitics.net
Judge Ng’s implicit concession that not all outdoor political activity leads to public disorder is a milestone in Singapore’s legal system, as Mr John Tan of the SDP pointed out.
But Judge Ng has failed to make the simple but very logical conclusion that each case must therefore be examined on its own merit, and not banned simply because it is political in nature. Tweet
Yawning Bread
And you know what? The government itself knows its actions are unlawful. It knows that if ever a judicial review is conducted enquiring into its standing policy and individual decisions, the court will likely rule against them. A court with integrity will rule against them.
What grounds have I to arrive at this perspicuous insight? Simple, my dear Watson. You can tell who are the guilty parties from the way they sneak about. Tweet
Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia
The Health Promotion Board has received 171 responses from the public on proposed amendments to the Smoking (Control of Advertisements and Sale of Tobacco) Act. Tweet
Straits Times
The latest markets to be taken over by supermarket chains are at Block 623, Elias Road and Block 21, Hougang Street 51. Tweet
Tan Hui Leng & Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia
Singapore's Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said on Wednesday the recent restrictions on sand exports by Vietnam have not affected the supply of construction sand to Singapore. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
The Ministry of Education (MOE) has released guidelines which external vendors conducting sexuality education programmes in schools will have to adhere to. Tweet
admin, Singapore News Alternative
The announcement that the magazine would close was in fact seen by skeptics as a maneuver by Murdoch to nullify the lawsuit or as a quiet capitulation to Lee Kuan Yew, who staged a long series of lawsuits and other battles with the magazine and particularly with its onetime editor, the late Derek Davies. Although the Review no longer has assets in Singapore, its parent company, Dow Jones Co. does. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Yesterday.sg Tweet
黄诗荷, 大纪元
今天笔者在新加坡鱼尾狮风景点附近亲历了一场警察非法抓捕好人的闹剧，十多个警察和便衣一大早就来到鱼尾狮榴莲壳的桥下法轮功学员摆展板的地方。有的便衣 警察装作游客想要了解真相以骗取善良法轮功学员的信任，有的拿着摄像机对在场法轮功学员录音录像，引起众多世人的围观，最终警察以“破坏公物罪”强行带走 几名法轮功学员，并把法轮功真相展板全部收走，在没有给出任何合理解释的情况下带上手铐把她们带到新加坡中央警署進行非法审问、拘留，剥夺他们合法炼功和 人身自由的权利。 Tweet
Se Young Lee, Wall Street Journal
A person familiar with the situation said Friday that SingTel paid more than S$280 million for the English soccer rights, which is about 90% of StarHub's full-year net profit last year, and that SingTel likely cannot recover the cost from the pay TV business.
"Effectively what SingTel's done is throw the balance sheet and crowd out the competitor," CLSA analyst Ashwin Sanketh said Thursday. "If this is a precedent for any content coming up, then you basically have the incumbent using their size... which is obviously not an ideal situation." Tweet
Alastair Su, Gimme Some Truth! Tweet
Chee Soon Juan, Singapore Democrats
Judge Ng had ruled that the Miscellaneous Offences Act (MOA) under which the defendants had been charged was not unconstitutional. He wrote that "There was no basis for the defendants to attack the constitutionality of the legislation."
Perhaps. But Mr Ng misses the bigger point which is that the police will not approve any application for outdoor political activity. The defendants made this point their main contention. Tweet
Carolyn Quek, Straits Times
Former Ren Ci Hospital founder Ming Yi and his former personal assistant Raymond Yeung were found guilty on Wednesday on charges over an unauthorised loan from the charity's funds to his aide in 2004. They will be sentenced on Nov 11. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Mr Eric Low’s latest attention-seeking antics did not go down well with netizens. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Bhaskaran Kunju, The Temasek Review
It is indeed of some comfort to note the Prime Minister’s pledge to alleviate the concerns of the citizens but as mentioned earlier the promises are long standing and are still not yet fully resolved. Perhaps with the General Elections right around the corner there could be some practical changes in the immediate timeline. Tweet
胡宝, 联合早报 Tweet
Neo Chai Chin, Today
The incident has got animal lovers up in arms over the treatment of the cat, and SBS Transit has apologised for the way procedures were not followed for such animal intrusions. Tweet
Kor Kian Beng, Straits Times
District Judge John Ng, in a written judgment, said he acquitted the five on the sole ground that he did not consider what they had done a 'procession'. Tweet
Straits Times
Applications are pouring in for the HDB's sales exercise for 2,132 flats in 24 estates across the island. Tweet
Lydia Sung, Neoseeker
Governments around the world always need a scapegoat for its people to blame, and Singapore has its sights set on video games as well. Tweet
Imran Ahmed, The Grand Moofti Speaks
At some point the government must create a mechanism for returning excess investment returns to their source – the Singapore taxpayer. Tweet
Straits Times
Even if there were 10 pay-TV operators and each carries exclusive channels and content, they will all have monopoly power because exclusivity triggers monopolistic behaviour.
This is not a good definition of the term monopoly. After all, only Creative sells Creative MP3 players, only Burger King sells Woppera, and only the chicken rice stall at m local coffeeshop sells the chicken rice I like. All of them will laugh in your face if you say they are monopolies. Tweet
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times
Moderate sales at two Housing Board projects launched last year suggest that first-time home buyers still have plenty of choice despite the high demand for flats in some areas. Tweet
Vivian Yee, Yale Daily News
Yale is turning its international attention southward from China to lend a hand to the National University of Singapore. The Southeast Asian island’s largest university invited Yale administrators and professors to consult at the end of June on a new liberal arts college that NUS hopes to open. Administrators have not decided the extent of Yale’s commitment to the project, and there is no timeline for the college’s opening. Tweet
Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp
As citizens, let us get mad at our national leaders, but for good reasons, and not just pop a vein whenever they say something stupid. It's very unhealthy if you opt for the latter, and worse yet, makes us mirror images of the same people we criticise. Tweet
Yawning Bread
One is also reminded of the case of Senior District Judge Michael Khoo who acquitted the late J B Jeyaretnam of nearly all charges when in 1986, he was accused of mis-stating his Worker’s Party accounts. Jeyaretnam was an indefatigable opponent of the ruling party. Not only was Jeyaretnam’s case retried under a different judge (with the usual result), but Khoo himself was transferred out of his job into the Attorney-General’s Chambers. This move was widely seen as punishment for deciding the case the way he did.
Another thing to watch out for is whether the government will now amend the law to write in a definition for “assembly” and procession” that will catch all future walkabouts with a political message. It’s known as killing Singapore with a thousand cuts. Tweet
Singapore Democrats
In a stunning decision, District Judge John Ng acquitted leaders of the Singapore Democrats who were charged with taking part in a procession on 16 Sep 07. Judge Ng said that the walk “did not cause inconvenience to the public, affect traffic flow or make noise which disturbed the public peace.”
Citing definitions in the Oxford and Collins English dictionaries, the Judge said that he could not accept the Prosecution's “simplistic” interpretation that “so long as a group of 5 or more people walk[ing] from one point to another point in a public place to commemorate an event” constitutes a procession. Tweet
Donaldson Tan, The Online Citizen
The pre-General Election campaigning is already in full swing. While some opposition political parties have quietly begun their weekly walkabouts to reach out to the community in their targeted wards, the People’s Action Party has begun their onslaught with eye-grabbing headlines on the Straits Times. Tweet
Leong Sze Hian , Today
KPIs should motivate councils to serve residents better, instead of making life more difficult for financially stressed residents. Tweet
Today In Singapore Tweet
The Temasek Review
With the exception of lower housing and education subsidies and CPF contributions, PRs enjoy the same rights as citizens except that they are not permitted to vote. Tweet
美国侨报
新加坡近年来有大批中国大陆移民，由于排挤到新加坡本地人的工作，因而引发一些新加坡人在公共场所排挤中国大陆移民，最后让总理李显龙、内阁资政李光耀纷纷公开呼吁，要新加坡人接纳新移民，强调新加坡的繁荣需要靠新移民和外来人才。 Tweet
My Paper
The results of the study, released yesterday, showed that 70 per cent of the most-visited sites here send e-mail that do not bear electronic signatures, which verify that they had been sent by the legitimate websites. Tweet
Ben Bland, Asia Sentinel
When 19-year-old student Ris Low stepped forward to receive the Miss Singapore World crown in the Island ballroom of the Shangri-la Hotel back in July, she was blissfully unaware that it would turn out to be a garland of thorns. Tweet
Temasek Hedge
Here’s the killer: the current government worry about falling productivity – partially as a result of JC – will be neatly taken care of once the JC is removed, almost inevitably leading to employers slashing the workforce, and forcing the remainder to take up the slack. Tweet
Adam Pincus, The Real Deal
The Singapore government paid $29.5 million for a 40,000-square-foot garage building near the United Nations that will be converted to office space, a broker on the deal said. Tweet
Elena Chong, Straits Times
The Reform Party's secretary-general and a central executive committee member turned up in court on Monday to support a party member, who is wanted by the United States authorities for alleged terrorism activities and brokering an arms deal with the Tamil Tigers. Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp
Civil servants know which side their bread is buttered, and fear career stagnation or even losing their jobs if they dare to risk angering their paymasters. This is why PAP-run Town Councils have the temerity to gamble, and subsequently lose, at least S$16 million dollars in taxpayers money without the need to account for them. Tweet
The Temasek Review
It is disappointing that the MPs, who are supposedly close to the grassroots, are unable to grasp the real concerns of Singaporeans and make no comments on the government’s immigration policy. Tweet
杨荣发, 联合早报 Tweet
Zul Othman, Channel NewsAsia Tweet
Selina Lum, Straits Times
A mother who had her child taken away because she was deemed too controlling was reunited with her seven-year-old daughter on Sunday after the High Court overturned the decision of a lower court. Tweet
Kenny Ching, Straits Times
Competition works only if certain assumptions are met, namely perfect information and free entry and exit of consumers and firms. In Singapore, those assumptions fail and the small market simply cannot sustain more than one hegemonic player in a capital-intensive industry.
So, why are we not removing barriers to better information and entries by new players, but are instead looking into regulations to make the companies grow into 'too-big-to-fail' sizes? Tweet
Annie Scott, Gadling.com
The Fullerton Hotel is a luxury hotel in the heart of Singapore with a claim to fame that few hotels can boast: it used to be the post office. Tweet
Kevin Brown, Financial Times
Many Singaporeans are sceptical about the concept of resorts combining gambling with family entertainment, fearing they may bring gambling addiction and even crime to the tranquil city. However, the operators appear confident the casinos will generate substantial revenue. Tweet
Chan Sue Ling, Bloomberg
Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. are flying fuller planes. Profits may take longer to recover. Tweet
Imran Ahmed, The Grand Moofti Speaks
Unfortunately, Singapore's stock exchange has not provided a solid foundation from which to build a regionally competitive capital market. The inadequacies of size and liquidity are painfully evident to local and regional market participants. Tweet
Conrad Raj, Today Tweet
Ong L S, Today
The new signs installed on upgraded bus stops around the island do not display the corresponding stage number for the buses plying those routes. Without this information, passengers are unable to check the fare they have to pay, or whether the sum deducted from their ez-link card is accurate.
The larger question: why are still using 1970s technologies in determining bus fares? Tweet
Kent Tan, Today
How does using 5 x $2 coupons differ from displaying a single $10 coupon?
Very simple: this is to plug a loophole. Since parking coupons are not tied to a particular car park, coupons can easily be reused elsewhere. Tweet
Gregory Gerald Danker, EZ-Link Pte Ltd, Today
We are pleased to inform the writer that currently, ez-link cards can be used for payment at more than 5,000 non-transit merchants touch points across Singapore.
Note the use of 'merchants touch points', not merchants. The list of merchants -- much less than the figure of 5,000 -- is listed here. Tweet
Tan Chak Lim, Straits Times
Whatever the long-term scenario, the public expects that, at least for the telecast rights to World Cup 2010, the Media Development Authority (MDA) does not remain passive. Whoever wins the rights must share with other service providers at a price determined by MDA if they cannot agree among themselves. Do not deny those with access to only MediaCorp channels or who cannot have SingTel's mio TV yet, this quadrennial extravaganza.
One question is this: what is the cost of additional regulations to the taxpayers, and how much does the non-football-watching public have to pay to 'subsidize' the airing of foreign sports entertainment for the few people who do watch? Tweet
Singapore Democrats
At a time where inflation is already outstripping wages, such a move is reprehensible. It will only lead to more difficulties for the people.
Singaporeans must put a stop to this hawking of the people's interests to the highest bidder. This has caused much hardship for the people as prices continue to escalate beyond our means. Tweet
See Leong Kit, Today
The losses reported in HDB financial statements could well come from "transfer pricing" accounting between HDB, Singapore Land Authority and Ministry of Finance. Tweet
Joseph Khoo, Today
It is rather pointless for HDB's policy makers to keep using the term "affordable" when actual buyers are not the policy makers themselves but heartlands folks who really find it a challenge to "afford" a roof over their heads. While I love the word "affordability" used in the table as part of the article in "7000 on stream in next 3 months" (Oct 2), one key number missing is the actual number of years needed to pay off the flat loan. After working out the numbers, it sure doesn't look that affordable anymore! Tweet
Yeo Kia Thye, Changi Airport Group, Today
Photography and video recording are not allowed at all immigration areas for security reasons. This is indicated on signs placed in front of each immigration counter. Tweet
Ian On The Red Dot
When a customer’s contract has expired, I think the telcos should treat these customers as potential new customers instead of treating us as people who will always just stay around.
In a surprisingly shocking parallel, our government treats those they want to attract better than those they already have here. Tweet
An American girl in Singapore
Singapore, you people are way behind in modern forms of payment. Tweet
Jimmy Yap, iMerlion
So far, Singapore has done a great job in creating useful online government services, from tax filing to business registration. However, Singapore's government agencies can do more. They have lots of data that would be of immense use if it were easily available to consumers. Tweet
The Temasek Review
The study is obviously flawed because of selection bias. Teenagers between the age of 13 and 18 have no experience in the real life and as such they do not encounter problems faced by working adults who need to compete with the newcomers. Tweet
星洲日報
檳州首席部長林冠英揭露他到新加坡招資引商時，驚訝發現新加坡的政府醫院約40%專科醫生來自大馬。
他贊揚新加坡愛才若渴，並打趣表示，若大馬能說服人才回流，新加坡將“垮台”。 Tweet
The Temasek Review
The article which relates a Singapore PR by the name of Zhang Yuanyuan, who chose to return to Beijing and took part in China’s 60th National Day parade was still available in the morning of 4 October 2009 under the “Home” section, but by the afternoon, it was nowhere to be found. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Though the above calculation is only a simplistic model and cannot be used to predict population trends in the next decade, it does throw up the possibility that Singaporeans may become a minority in their own country like Dubai if the current influx of foreigners continues unabated. Tweet
林慧慧, 联合早报
主管三巴旺集选区的卫生部长许文远认为，是否要保留湿巴刹应该由市场需求来决定，要是需求不大，坚持将它们保留下来并不实际。 Tweet
林佩碧, 联合早报
一名摊主则指出，该湿巴刹其实是当年应居民的要求而开设，如今却因为业者的一个决定，导致巴刹的数十名摊主和助手们可能突然失业，以及给附近居民带来极大不便。他吁请建屋局重新考虑业者要求把湿巴刹转让给职总平价的申请，或延长搬迁期限3至6个月。 Tweet
联合早报
建屋局表示，任何向当局购买地产的业者，在转换用途时，例如从湿巴刹改成冷气超市，必须获得建屋局和市区重建局的批准。 Tweet
Ben Bland, The Asia File
The political humour was interspersed by copious amounts of cross-dressing, stupid songs and all-round pantomime silliness. Thus any hard message behind the political humour was diluted and deliberately deprived of any semblance of legitimacy.
To put it another way, Leong is adopting the role played by court jesters in England during the Middle Ages. Tweet
林叔献, 联合早报 Tweet
Conrad Raj, Today
What is the Media Development Authority (MDA) doing about what appears to many as wasteful competition?
The question to this question: when is competition wasteful? Should we only have one insurance company, one supermarket/wet-market company, and one food court company? Tweet
The Temasek Review Tweet
AFP
Asian textiles, once considered a fading industry, are now showing strong growth prospects thanks to technology and demand from expanding middle classes, a leading industry player said. Tweet
Kwong Hui Hen, Straits Times
Ez-link has spared no effort to promote its new Cepas ez-link card. But I am not sure if convenience and lower cost to the consumer were what it had in mind. Tweet
Ong Siew Chey, Straits Times
Now we worry about our ageing population and the need to infuse young blood to sustain ourselves. But all young people eventually grow old. Will our problem be compounded then? Tweet
Lin Yan Qin, Today
When the Jobs Credit scheme comes to an end, new programmes and initiatives will be needed to keep - and grow - jobs as Singapore faces a more competitive world in the upturn, said labour chief Lim Swee Say yesterday. Tweet
Straits Times
'Japan, like other countries, was hit by the global economic crisis. It now has a new, non-LDP government. It is important for Singapore to understand the profound changes taking place in Japan,' he said, in a written reply released yesterday. Tweet
Serene Luo, Straits Times
Sembawang residents will still get their fresh cuts of meat and produce, Health Minister and Sembawang constituency adviser Khaw Boon Wan said on Sunday. He reassured residents that he understood how important wet markets were to them and that he is working on keeping such markets available to them. Tweet
Peter Low, Today Tweet
Eisen Teo, Straits Times
The Campus Observer (TCO) and The Enquirer - online university newspapers led and staffed solely by undergraduates - are finding it tough to sustain their projects on passion alone.
Because these publications are not affiliated with schools or on-campus organisations, their staff do not receive Co-Curricular Activity points, and neither are they paid. Tweet
Yawning Bread Tweet
Seah Chiang Nee, The Star
Singapore has always been dependent on migrants for its economic prosperity and making up for a low birth-rate, but there are fears that this is just pushing it too far and too fast. Tweet
Jason Chiam, Straits Times
Only in 'uniquely Singapore' does free market competition not lead to lowering of prices for consumers.
That's a myth. Competition drives prices to fair and competitive level. A price war, on the other hand, kills off everybody. Remember the great MediaCorp-SPH Media Works price war of the early 2000s? Tweet
Ong Soek Peng, Straits Times
While I can buy fresh produce like fish, meat and vegetables in the cool comfort of supermarkets, I prefer to buy them from the wet market near my home. This is because I feel I must support small businesses, and I find I can build relationships with the wet market vendors. They are always willing to go the extra mile for a customer, be it in offering advice or reserving a special product one might need.
We should also not eliminate choices -- especially budget choices -- from our marketplace artificially. HDB should learn from its mistake to stop building 3-room flats. Tweet
Jack Chew, Straits Times Tweet
Dylan Loh, Channel NewsAsia
The government is aware of consumer concerns over the local pay TV market, said Acting Information, Communications and the Arts Minister Lui Tuck Yew on Friday.
MDA said it is monitoring the situation and will consider the implications of the final agreement of the EPL bid. SingTel has yet to set its pricing policy, but added that rates will be competitive. Tweet
Miral Fahmy, Reuters
Ask Singaporean artist David Chan about society and he'll say that it's a jungle out there, with weeping crocodiles, wolves in sheep's clothing and fat, arrogant pigs -- all animals he features in his paintings. Tweet
Dee Kay Dot As Gee
It is a impressive looking tricycle many camera mounted on top. The whole system is powered by a power generator which is next to a box that houses the computer. There is a small display mounted on the handlebar for the rider to monitor the status. Looks cool huh? Tweet
Straits Times
Property developers are in talks with the government to increase the supply of affordable land across the island. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Friday that all citizens known to the ministry when the earthquake struck in the Sumatran city of Padang in Indonesia, are accounted for and safe. Tweet
Straits Times
The good news: The second cruise terminal at Marina South broke ground on Friday afternoon, and will have two berths with no height restrictions for cruise ships.
The bad news: It will be ready in 2011, a year later than originally planned. Tweet
Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp
The government's argument that rising flat prices is beneficial to us is just flat out wrong. Using excuses to lead the people on a merry dance is yet another sign of the PAP losing touch with the electorate, and it is beginning to be obvious that they are too blind to even see that. Tweet
Ben Bland, The Asia File
In a Kafkaesque twist, FEER says it is unable to send me a copy of my own story because of the restrictions enforced by the Singapore government on foreign publications in 2006 after FEER was accused of "engaging in domestic politics" by the government. Tweet
The Temasek Review
This is a clear indication that the current supply of flats is insufficient to meet demands even at such high prices. Tweet
Katrina Nicholas, Bloomberg
Singapore millionaire Oei Hong Leong, who sued Citigroup Inc. over more than S$1 billion ($708 million) in trading losses, said he’s “happy” with the settlement he reached with the U.S. bank and plans to remain a client. Tweet
Dow Jones
The Federal Court today dismissed an appeal by Singapore Airlines against the competition watchdog's jurisdictional right to investigate alleged price-fixing by the carrier. Tweet
Lam Chun See, Good Morning Yesterday Tweet
Blowin' In The Wind
The IMF is now even more optimistic than the Singapore government, which expects the economy to shrink by 4 to 6 percent this year. Tweet
Malaysia Star
Ultimately, the race itself wasn’t the main event. The real achievement here is the master class of organisation, planning and event management that is the Singapore Grand Prix. Tweet
Kevin Lim, Reuters Tweet
Chua Hian Hou, Straits Times
SingTel's surprise win of pay-TV's crown jewel, the English Premier League (EPL), could allow it to displace rival StarHub as the republic's dominant pay-TV player over the next few years. Tweet
Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, New York Times
At first sight, Li Chen’s monumental, whimsical sculptures of stylized, rotund Buddhas and bodhisattvas may bring to mind works by the Colombian master Botero, but the sculptor from Taiwan is quick to point out important differences. While “Botero is more about the weight of material and flesh, my work is more about the emptiness and void, two important concepts in Buddhism and Taoism,” Mr. Li, 46, said through an interpreter. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Mr Mah does not seem to understand that the 30 per cent benchmark cannot be used as an arbitrary figure to determine housing affordability which should be linked to other factors such as the cost of living, retirement planning and a country’s welfare system
As Singapore does not have a social safety net to speak of, it mandates that Singaporeans save more to prepare for old age when they are expected to work for lesser hours and more prone to illness. Tweet
See Leong Kit, The Online Citizen
HDB’s “market-based” pricing approach is the root cause of prices of new flats and resale flats chasing each other in a never-ending upward trend. Tweet
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times
The $8,000 household income ceiling for public housing benefits will stay, despite growing calls for a review. However, the Government will be offering more executive condominiums (ECs) to address the needs of middle-income buyers in the $8,000 to $10,000 monthly income bracket.
The moves were announced by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan on Thursday. Tweet
News Release by UncleYap Tweet
Feed Me To The Fish
It's all well and good when careless politician speaks of buying votes and fixing oppositions but to callously deride the sacrifices of so many true blue Singaporean NSmen is really asking for trouble.
Mr Prime Minister, why rock the boat further with such insensitivity? Tweet
Sam Ho, Sam's thoughts
Gerrymandering is a problem on its own. At the next level, I feel a bit uneasy, as an ethnic Chinese Singaporean, that we use race (racial/ethnic representation) to justify gerrymandering. If that isn't race-based politics, the notion we so often criticise our Malaysian neighbours of, I don't know what is. Tweet
Edwin Yeo Tee Yeok, Today
Wouldn't it be better to structure the competition by separating the content from the transmission platforms?
Soon, we'll all buy content from content owners directly over the internet. Stop wasting taxpayers' money to pay regulators to regulate a dying business. Tweet
Teo Chun Nee, Today Tweet
Tay Ai Cheng, National Library Board, Straits Times
Within the reference section of the regional libraries, about 20 per cent of the tables are set aside for library users who need to consult library materials. The remaining seats are for anyone to use. However, priority will be given to users who have to access and use library materials. The National Library Board reserves the right to request users not consulting library materials to give up their seat to other users who do use library materials. Tweet
Leong Sze Hian, The Online Citizen
With about 117,000 unemployed residents as of June, and perhaps hundreds of thousands of Singaporeans suffering from reduced earnings in the current economic downturn, isn’t it time for a review of our national utilities policies, which allow the power sector to make huge profits, and to sell companies to foreign companies, without the need for parliamentary debate or approval? Tweet
Muhd Nurluqman, Straits Times
Firefighters will soon be able to get a preview of the blaze they are going to fight before reaching the scene. The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) will tweak its 995 emergency line to allow video calls from mobile phones which have the technology. Tweet
Jessica Lim, Straits Times
The Housing Board (HDB) has stepped in to say that it has yet to receive an application from boutique property developer Heeton Holdings for clearance to sell the wet markets to supermarket chain Sheng Siong. Tweet
Patrick Frater, Hollywood Reporter
The deals have the potential to change the course of pay-TV development in Singapore. Sports, in particular the EPL, and movies are the single biggest incentives to subscribers. Tweet
Kevin Lim, Reuters
Singapore investors, who bought structured notes linked to failed U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers, may recover what is left of their investments after the receiver gained control of the notes' underlying assets. Tweet
Singapore Democrats
Singapore Democrats' Assistant Secretary-General John Tan has called for international organisations to monitor elections Singapore, given the way that polls are run by the PAP government.
Mr Tan made this appeal during the 3rd World Forum for Democratisation in Asia (WFDA) entitled "Sustaining Democratization in Asia: Challenges of Economic and Social Justice" which was held a week ago in Seoul, South Korea. Human rights activist Mr Seelan Palay also attended the conference. Tweet
Esther Teo, Straits Times
A new study has identified a whopping US$1.1 billion (S$1.6 billion) in potential infocomm technology (ICT) projects around the world being funded by global bodies. And almost all of them are related to e-Government services, an area where Singapore is a recognised leader. Tweet
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times
Comparing the prices of public flats today with those of years ago is 'not meaningful', National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan said on Thursday. 'If we did that, we'd be comparing many things that we did 20 years ago, do we want to go back 20 years?' he said. Tweet
Victoria Vaughan, Straits Times
Singapore's first river relocation project is set to make quite a scene at Bishan Park. The concrete of Kallang drainage canal will be torn up and the water way will be brought into the park as a meandering river with gentle slopes and plant covered banks. Tweet
Dennis Chan, Straits Times
Businessman Oei Hong Leong and Citigroup have reached an out-of-court settlement over claims that he was misled by the bank into losing some $1 billion from foreign exchange and US Treasury bond transactions. Tweet
Straits Times
StarHub, which lost out to Singapore Telecommunications in the bid for the exclusive rights to broadcast the Barclays Premier League (BPL) for the next three seasons, said on Thursday it will review its sports package in 2010. Tweet
Channel NewsAsia
Employees working for the government are happier than those in the private sector. This is according to an online survey conducted by JobsCentral, one of Singapore's largest job portals. Tweet
Leong Sze Hian , The Online Citizen Tweet
Hetty Musfirah, Channel NewsAsia
A second earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 rocked Sumatra Island Thursday morning, sending another round of shockwaves to Singapore. Tweet
Tony Sagami, HoweStreet.com Tweet
Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp
Mr Lim has asked his MP for help, and was rejected. If the MP has no say in the running of the town council, why have elected officials head them? Tweet
Callan Tham, Trapper's Swamp Tweet
Jesicca Cheam, Straits Times
National development minister Mah Bow Tan said on Thursday that the board will ramp up its supply of build-to-order (BTO) flats from 8,000 to 9,000 units this year, and will make available 2,132 completed flats across the island for sale with immediate effect. Tweet
Patrick Winters
One of the reasons why Singapore has grown is because it already was a large financial center in its own right. Unlike smaller tax havens and dependencies of other countries which have been accused of ''inventing'' laws to benefit from capital flight, Singapore is a long-standing trading hub and center of international financial settlements. Tweet
Dee Kay Dot As Gee Tweet
James Chan, Master Of The Obvious
The Singapore market is too small to allow for an inefficient auction-style system to dominate.
Don't worry. In a few years time, cable television will be obsolete, and you will buy content directly from the content provder directly, and you will pay whatever the content provider wants to charge you. :) On a more serious note, one should remember the rule of the game is set by the content owner, not SingTel nor Starhub, and definitely not MDA or the Singapore government. Tweet
Kay Poh Chee
It’s telling the world that anyone can come to Singapore and compete for jobs here. It’s a free pass. Tweet
Salma Khalik, Straits Times
An ambitious project to capture and record every health episode of each individual from birth to death, the EHR is expected to go live by November next year. Tweet
Goh Chin Lian, Straits Times
UNION leaders, concerned about uncertain economic prospects in the coming months, hope the Jobs Credit scheme will be withdrawn gradually instead of at one go. Tweet
The Temasek Review
Besides clinic assistants, foreigners are also taking up jobs that can otherwise be filled by Singaporeans such as tele-marketeers, administrators, IT engineers and even coffeeshop assistants. Tweet
Straits Times
Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) has won exclusive rights to the Barclays Premier League for three years from 2010, it announced on Thursday. These include rights for mio TV, as well as the Internet and mobile. It has also secured exclusive broadcast rights to seven sports channels from ESPN STAR Sports. Tweet
Damon Yeo, The Temasek Review
What is unacceptable is the lack of disclosure from the authorities on what went wrong and an updated schedule as to this new Sports Hub can be completed. Tweet
The Grand Moofti Speaks
While some may viewed it as a threat others see it as a 'balancing' factor in a society where the state owns and regulates all traditional media. Tweet
Murali Sharma, Straits Times
In the name of progress, we may lose another feature of Singapore life. We have enough air-conditioning as it is, in malls, bus terminals and even whole areas such as Bugis. These little oases of non-air-conditioned native chic could have been spared for posterity. Tweet
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