Singapore Media Watch

Singapore arrests opposition members over protest

2008-03-15T22:07:00.000+08:00

Several Singapore opposition party members were arrested on Saturday after a rare protest outside the city-state's parliament house led to a tense standoff with police.

About 20 protesters wearing red T-shirts that said "Tak Boleh Tahan" - which means "cannot take it" in Bahasa Malay - gathered outside parliament house, holding placards and shouting slogans decrying the rising cost of living in Singapore.

Protests in Singapore are rare and an assembly of five or more people requires a permit from the police.

Chee Soon Juan, leader of the Singapore Democratic Party, and several protesters were arrested outside a nearby shopping mall as they attempted to stage a rally walk from parliament house.

"We want to draw attention to these unbearable price hikes," said Chee in front of the parliament house. "Our objective is to continue to encourage Singaporeans to speak up."

Singapore's annual inflation rate hit a 25-year high of 6.6 percent in January with food prices rising 5.8 percent in that month from a year earlier.

The police could not immediately confirm how many people were arrested on Saturday or what they were charged with.

According to a Reuters witness, about 10 plain clothes police surrounded the protesters outside a shopping mall and arrested them after a tense 15-minute standoff that drew crowds of curious onlookers and tourists.

Singapore defends its strict laws on public assembly citing the need for public order and safety.

Source: Reuters

Singapore given 'severe lesson' in complacency

2008-03-14T13:27:00.000+08:00

By Seth Mydans

Published: March 13, 2008

SINGAPORE: Lock up your bicycles. There is a dangerous terrorist on the loose.
Mas Selamat Kastari, alleged to be the leader of a terrorist group here, escaped from a high-security prison two weeks ago in a major embarrassment for this efficient, tightly battened city-state.

In a furious response, the government put the entire country on alert, setting up checkpoints, sealing its borders, patrolling its parks and its shores, even urging people to keep an eye on their bicycles in case the wanted man decides to pedal to freedom.

With each new empty-handed day the embarrassment deepens as Singapore confronts its Tora Bora moment, its most-wanted terrorist suspect melting into the urban terrain just as Osama bin Laden evaded U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

For some people here this noisy, flailing search - even more than the escape itself - has cast Singapore in an unfamiliar light of haplessness.

"We had all bought into the image of a well-organized government machinery," wrote Alex Au, author of a popular political Web site called Yawning Bread. "Suddenly, our picture of Singapore as a kind of big brother state is, well, full of holes." All around the city, police officers are on patrol and their checkpoints have delayed traffic for as much as 15 hours in some places, according to newspaper reports.

Security officers on boats and jet skis are patrolling the coastline and the police have removed keys from the ignitions of unattended motor boats.

In what one newspaper called "extensive land, sea and air searches," military patrols in jungle fatigues and Nepalese Gurkha paramilitary forces have scoured the city for the runaway inmate.

Wanted posters are everywhere, mug shots have been transmitted to millions of cellphones and the entire nation of four million people has been deputized to look out for a round-faced man who is 1.58 meters tall, or 5 feet 2 inches, weighs 63 kilograms, or 140 pounds, and walks - or at least runs - with a limp.

Newspapers here say it is the biggest manhunt in Singapore's history.

Mas Selamat, 47, who is said be the head of operations in Singapore for the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network, is accused of being the mastermind behind foiled plots to set off bombs in Singapore or crash an airplane into its airport.

He has been in detention here since 2006 under the Internal Security Act, which allows suspects to be held without trial and his escape was a shock to terrorism experts in the region.

"Everyone thought Singapore had the tightest security system of anyone around," said Sidney Jones, the Asia director for the International Crisis Group.

As a nation, Singapore is as lean and mean and flexible as the rapid-response military the Pentagon dreams of, and it reacted with impressive speed and agility to recent Asian outbreaks of bird flu and SARS.

But for the moment it seems to have met its match in Mas Selamat.
His disappearance challenges its basic promise to its citizens that the government will keep them safe and comfortable.

The authorities have released little information about his escape on Feb. 27, but they say that he acted alone and on the spur of the moment and that he is probably still in Singapore.

The official account is that the prisoner asked to go to the toilet while waiting for family members to visit, then simply disappeared from the Whitley Road Detention Center.

If this is true, said Lee Kin Mun, a leading political blogger who calls himself Mr. Brown, the government should "take a leaf from school exams, where security seems to be tighter" and where students must be escorted to the bathroom.

The country's founder, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, boiled the whole debacle down to one word: complacency.

He used the incident to strike again with his frequent warning that Singaporeans must work hard to protect the modern but fragile country he created from a social or economic explosion.
"It shows that it is a fallacy, it is stupid, to believe we are infallible," he said. "We are not infallible. One mistake and we've got a big explosive in our midst. So let's not take this lightly. I think it's a very severe lesson on complacency."

His son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, said: "It is definitely a setback, and it should never have happened." And then, echoing his father: "It's the danger of complacency, of thinking that everything is all right."

In Singapore, words like that amount to marching orders, and government agencies seem to be rushing to demonstrate that whatever else they are, they are anything but complacent.

Source: International Herald Tribune

Singapore faces blogging ire over militant escape

2008-03-06T23:45:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's state-controlled media and government have come under fire from critics and Internet bloggers for failing to give the public important answers on the escape of a suspected Islamic militant.

With a cynical eye cast on local newspapers such as the pro-government daily, the Straits Times, critics say media coverage has skirted key issues and so more people were turning to alternatives such as blogs for a differing viewpoint.

"The mainstream media did its job of trying to play down the most shameful part of the incident. It is a blow to Singapore's image as being efficient," Seah Chiang Nee, a political commentator and former Singapore newspaper editor, told Reuters.

"The more Internet savvy would not depend on the mainstream media for news of what's happening in the country, they would go to the Internet," said Seah.
Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the alleged leader of the Singapore cell of al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah, a group blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, escaped on Wednesday last week from the toilet of a detention centre.

Security experts said the escape was embarrassing for a country that prides itself on tight security. The escape sparked an unprecedented manhunt in the small island and a rare apology from the government, who blamed a "security lapse". But few further details of his escape have since been released.

Cherian George, an ex-Straits Times journalist and media lecturer, wrote on the Internet that the Singapore media had not answered the "immediate" question of how Kastari escaped.

"The question is so natural and so obvious that you'd think anyone barely paying attention would ask it. Unless, apparently, one worked for the national news media," George wrote.

Read rest of article here

Singapore reels over a missing fugitive

2008-03-06T13:35:00.000+08:00

The Island Republic’s fugitive terrorist runs circles around authorities

Did you ever hear the story of Long John Dean,A bold bank robber from Bowling Green,Sent to the jailhouse yesterday,Late last night he made his getaway.

Missing 170 hours … and counting. If this were the US TV series Without a Trace, the FBI sleuths would long ago have been sacked and replaced over the astonishing disappearance of Mas Selamat Kastari, the putative jihadi terrorist.

But this is the hermetically sealed island of Singapore, where leaders take much credit and little blame and where no one likes to question official versions of events – which as in other closed systems causes people to harbour inner doubts about the truth of anything they are told.

A full week after Kastari limped out at 4 pm from its most closely guarded prison, the Whitley Road Detention Center via a toilet window during a family visit, he is still at large.

Is he hiding out among accomplices in Singapore itself? Has he made it across the strait to Indonesia and the safety of fellow Jemaah Islamiyah activists?

Or across the Causeway, evading the dogs and dragnets the Malaysians set for him? Could it be that despite his limp he managed to swim the Johor Strait?

Although the Whitley center is replete with cameras recording every movement inside and out, there is no explanation of how Kastari could have escaped from under the noses of the Gurkha guards during a brief toilet visit, and then got hastily away from the jail.

It is not in teeming downtown Singapore, where even a Malay with a limp might vanish into the crowds. Even that seems unlikely, since Malays make up only 13 percent of the Singaporean population, and they are not exactly hard to spot among the majority Chinese.

Was this a stunning solo effort worthy of Houdini himself?

Or did the impoverished JI, which had only a few thousand dollars for the Bali bombing in 2002, have enough cash to bribe squeaky-clean Singaporeans or the Gurkha protectors of their top leaders and prisoners?

Or maybe he is not hiding out anywhere but dead already, having been encouraged to escape into the hands of persons unknown who were only too happy to see him “disappeared.”

Or could he have been dispatched to Guantanamo for further processing at the hands of the experts at waterboarding and other forms of non-torture?

Or been “rendered” to some other jurisdiction – though who would want him, given that he is a Singaporean citizen and thus the city-state’s ultimate responsibility and not known to have committed crimes elsewhere?

Or maybe he was a US agent all along and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who visited Indonesia last week, decided he had served his purpose and he could be returned to society with a new identity.

Or maybe the Singaporeans have taken a leaf out of the British book when they were dealing with communist insurgency in the 1950s.

Did he sing enough about his JI pals that he has earned his release, a new identity and a fat bank account to start a new life, as did some former communist terrorists who acquired new names and became respected, wealthy businessmen?

Or was he allowed to escape so that he could rejoin his JI colleagues with the promise that he would be a mole inside the organization – assuming anyone believed his escape story.

Or maybe he is The Man Who Never Was, a bogeyman dreamed up by Singaporean intelligence to frighten the population into believing that JI plots were all around.

There have been enough other invented plots to give some plausibility to such creations. But in that case, why the public “escape,” which has caused such loss of face, rather than letting the mirage die a natural death?

In the absence of facts, any number of theories, conspiratorial or not, is being bandied about in an amazing outpouring on the Internet, which the authorities appear powerless to stem.

But the most common sentiment appears to be not that lives are in danger because a dangerous terrorist has escaped and may yet manage to blow up Singaporean buildings.

It is growing derision at the sheer apparent incompetence of authorities usually so keen to praise their own efficiency, particularly in matters of security.

“Toilet Break, based on a true story starring Mas Selamat Kastari,” read one weblog in reference to another US TV drama, Prison Break.

Another satirical blog, Talkingcock, had a hilarious set of 13 photographs of Kastari taken from a wanted poster and showing the fugitive in a variety of disguises including a massive 1960s-style Afro, various mustaches, sunglasses and a blonde-female wig.

Other bloggers poured scorn on the competence of the world’s highest-salaried ministers and senior bureaucrats.

Whatever else can be said about Singapore, its government has long regarded itself as the most grimly efficient and accomplished in Asia, and it does not brook any nonsense.

Kastari’s escape and the subsequent inability of authorities to find him have called that into question.

Singapore’s most prized asset is competence and the willingness to pay for it with taxpayer funds. Ministers and civil servants, already by far the highest-paid public servants in the world, received a round of pay raises starting on January 1 ranging from 4 percent to 21 percent, driving Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s salary to S$3.7 million (US$2.55 million), more than six times that of US President George W. Bush. Cabinet ministers, including Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, apologizing while under intense fire for Kastari’s escape, receive S$1.9 million (US$1.37 million).

Its civil servants are among the highest paid in the world. The government has long taken the stance that public officials should receive pay commensurate with the top of the country’s business elite, both to attract top talent and to forestall any temptation toward corruption.

Thus the ability of a crippled ethnic Malay to walk away from the most securely guarded prison on an island of only 700 square kilometers, and to remain on the loose since February 27, has not only generated a huge amount of controversy, but a growing amount of ridicule of the government, which is being recycled endlessly in cyberspace, often in the form of jokes.

This is not something a government as humorless as Singapore’s is finding funny.

Whatever the truth about the escape of Mat Selamat Kastari, whether or not he is recaptured alive, this saga has all the signs of a Black Swan event – that totally unpredictable occurrence that makes nonsense of rational predictions and in the process destroys a myth.

This time the myth is competence.

Source: Asia Sentinel

Singapore gov't butt of jokes after prison escape

2008-03-04T13:32:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Terrorism is usually no laughing matter, especially not in security-conscious Singapore, but the escape from custody of a limping Islamist extremist suspect has led to scorn on the Internet.

Barbed jokes and irreverent spoofs have sprouted up on websites five days after Mas Selamat bin Kastari, the alleged Singapore chief of regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, escaped with apparent ease from a detention centre.

"Toilet Break, based on a true story starring Mas Selamat Kastari," read a mock post on one wesbite by a blogger inspired by the hit US television drama "Prison Break".

Blogger Philip Chua wrote: "Singapore has now dropped the ball big time and really is an international laughing stock."

"You don't see prisoners escaping from terrorist detention centres in the West or Guantanamo. More so a leader of the terrorist network in the country next to you!"

Kastari, who was arrested in neighbouring Indonesia in 2006 and turned over to Singapore, remained at large Monday and officials said he was likely to be still hiding in this multiracial island republic of 4.7 million people.

Accused of plotting to hijack a plane in order to crash it into Singapore's Changi airport in 2001, Kastari managed to escape after asking to go to the toilet during a family visit, security officials said.

Direct criticism of the government is rare in the mainstream media, forcing dissatisfied Singaporeans to resort to the Internet to express their views.

Teoh Khengze, a Singapore-based author and journalist, wrote on his blog that the circumstances of what he called "The Great Singapore Escape" were "as incredulous as the escape is audacious."
Talkingcock.com, a popular satirical site, said Kastari's escape underlined the need to give cabinet ministers another salary hike even though they were already among the highest-paid in the world.

"We need to equip our Mini-stars with everything they can to deal with this crisis... and as we know in Singapore, public service and legislative influence are all not sufficient incentives," it said.

"Only the highest salaries in the world will do," the humour site said.

It showed 13 doctored photographs of Kastari in various possible disguises -- in a blonde woman's wig, a 1960s-style Afro hairdo and aviator sunglasses, a handlebar moustache and a beard and turban in Osama bin Laden style.

A popular Singaporean blogger who has previously irked the government with attacks on high living costs said the city-state need not worry about losing cabinet ministers.

"They won't be asked to resign or even take a pay cut," wrote the blogger known as Mr. Brown.
"We are not like those free-wheeling and chaotic governments from Western democracies that make their leaders accountable for every little thing."

Source: AFP

Singaporeans question escape of alleged militant leader

2008-03-03T13:58:00.000+08:00

SINGAPORE'S government has come under stinging public criticism after the escape of an alleged militant leader from custody dented the country's reputation for airtight security.

Letters to the editor and Internet blogs by Singaporeans took officials to task for the escape on Wednesday of Mas Selamat bin Kastari, alleged leader of the Singapore wing of the militant Islamic group Jemaah Islamiyah.

Open criticism of the government is rare in tightly ruled Singapore, but the apparent ease with which Kastari managed to slip out of a detention centre raised questions about the authorities' anti-terrorist measures.

Since his escape, security forces including paramilitary Nepalese Gurkhas employed by the police have been combing the island and keeping a tight watch on its borders with Malaysia and Indonesia.

Kastari was accused of plotting to hijack a plane in order to crash it into Singapore's busy Changi Airport in 2001, but never charged in court. He was being held under an internal security law which allows for detention without trial.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said Kastari escaped after he was permitted to use the toilet during a visit by family members.

'I am sure Singaporeans would like to know the details of the escape - what happened from the time the terrorist left for the restroom while his family members were waiting for him,' said a letter from reader Rosemary Chwee published on Saturday by Singapore's leading daily, The Straits Times.

'Such a slip is professionally unforgivable... As a citizen, I am deeply concerned, especially if Mas Selamat continues to be on the loose,' she wrote.

Police flyers seeking public help in recapturing the 47-year-old Kastari say he is 'not known to be armed' and walks with a limp.

'What puzzles me is how a middle-aged man who has difficulty walking can leave the detention centre with such ease,' wrote another reader, Siow Jia Rui.

Another letter writer, Lee Beng Hai, suspected Kastari could have been helped by 'sleepers and sympathisers'.

Internet blog sites - the usual refuge of Singapore government critics who are denied space in the mainstream media - were full of chatter and conspiracy theories on the escape.

Even the Straits Times, which is closely identified with the government, said in an editorial that the authorities had to confront the question of whether Kastari had help.

'It stretches credulity to imagine this was an opportunistic solo effort... The escape was too easy, too neat,' it said.

If he had help, it would mean 'terror cells are still morphing and sympathisers are being drawn into the network', the newspaper said.

If he acted alone, 'the system breakdown was egregious', it added.

'Security incidents like this one... will shake confidence in the anti-terror system.'

The editorial said complacency may have set in because Singapore has been spared from terrorist violence so far.

Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, Singapore has implemented tough security measures and rounded up suspected militants and sympathisers of the Jemaah Islamiyah.

The group has been blamed for a series of attacks including the 2002 bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali which killed 202 people, mostly tourists.

Kastari, a Singaporean citizen of Indonesian ancestry, was handed over by Indonesian officials after his second arrest there in 2006.

Singapore is a predominantly ethnic Chinese city-state which has a Malay Muslim minority and hosts hundreds of thousands of foreign workers, many of them Malaysians and Indonesians. -- AFP

Source: AFP

Shame on the State Media's coverage of the JI militant's escape

2008-03-01T15:39:00.001+08:00

The escape of a limping terrorist, Mas Selamat, who is the most dangerous man in Southeast Asia from a high-security detention centre this Thursday had dealt a major blow to the reputation of the Singapore Police Force and made us a laughing stock amongst our neighbors.

This was the biggest screw-up by the Singapore government since independence with serious ramifications for both Singapore and the region. It is not merely a security lapse, but a failure, an abject failure of the entire security apparatus in Singapore akin to the FBI's failure to pre-empt the 911 terrorist attack.

In other first world democracies, one would expect the Minister in charge to resign immediately to assume responsibility for such a disastrous mistake; the government to form an independent inquiry panel swiftly to investigate the matter and the media to provide a balanced, unbiased and even critical coverage of the entire hiatus.

Not so in Singapore where Mas Selamat's escape was revealed by the media only 3 hours (or maybe longer than that) after it took place almost in an nonchalant, business-like manner. The Home Affairs Minister, Mr Wong Kan Seng was half-grinning when he "apologize" for the "security lapse" in Parliament the next day and to further ameliorate the gravity of the situation, he proceed to assure the public that Selamat is not known to be a "public threat" as he was unarmed.

And this is a man who received training from the Jihadists in Afghanistans in the craft of bomb-making and guerilla warfare; who had plotted to bomb the American Embassy and to hijack a plane to crash into Changi Airport, a hardcore terrorist who will not hesitate to jeopardize the lives of innocent parties to achieve his goals. All of sudden, based on one word from our minister, the threat posed by him is completely neutralized.

The Straits Times' coverage of this matter has been completely shamelessly biased, one-sided and favored to the government which will certainly guranteed a further drop from its latest 141st ranking on Reporters Without Borders' ranking of the world's press freedom.

Let's take a look at the ST articles today:

1. Search for JI man goes to the grassroots: frontpage.

2. Community leaders help with search: home 6

3. Prank caller claims to be escaped terrorist: home 6

4. Police search leaves no stone unturned: home 7.

5. Illegal immigrant hiding in coach arrested: home 7.

6. Whitley Road area back to normal: home 7.

7. Posters and leaflets of fugitive helpful, say S'poreans: home 7.

8. Unlikely he's left coutnry, say security experts: home 7.

With a little spin, a massive catastrophe was turned into another publicity gimmick for the police force - illustrating how hard the security forces are working overtime to apprehend the fugitive, the situation being under control by the police, the return of normalcy, the support given by the community and most dangerously, the continued underestimation of the threat posted by Selamat.

Does the Straits Times editors serve the interests of the public or the government ? They have failed miserably in their role as an institution to reflect the sentiments of the people and to serve as a check on abuse of power by the executive arm of the government.

Without an independent media to expose mistakes in the administration, the government's self-proclaimed calls of transparency and accountability will forever be founded on shaky and hollow grounds. Do you trust the government to self-monitor and regulate itself ? Can we be sure that mistakes are not covered up and important leaders protected ?

In spite of the mounting criticism and calls for him to resign in cyberspace, Minister Wong should emerge from this boo-boo unscathed with the state media on his side and phoney opposition MPs in Parliament inflicted with a greater limp than Selamat himself who will never dare to even question him let alone ask for his resignation. We can be assured that the state media will continue to protray the Police Force in a positive manner with more letters from ghost writers pledging their support to appear in the ST Forum (there is already one today written by a 18-year old Indian lady titled "We should unite, rather than cast blame").

In the meantime Singaporeans should pray that Mas Selamat is caught sooner or later and if he was never to be found, to hope that either he drowned in the Straits of Singapore or somehow after all the "re-education" he received from the ISD, he had a change of heart and renounced violence forever.

A Jihadi limps from a Singapore Jail

2008-02-29T17:00:00.001+08:00

In the murky world of counter-terrorism, things are often not as they seem. So the reported escape from Singaporean custody of the alleged local leader of Jemaah Islamiyah raises some questions that may be hard to answer any time soon.

On the face of it, tightly-run Singapore has egg on its face for allowing Mas Salamat Kastari to escape from the infamous Whitley Road Detention center, apparently walking away from a toilet – or limping, since government releases describe him as walking with an impaired gait. He is still on the run despite what is described as a “massive manhunt” that includes Gurkhas, police and Special Operations Command Forces.

The Singapore government took the unusual step of apologizing for the lax security and began an investigation. According to media reports, all sourced from the government, Mas is likely to head for Indonesia, where it would be easier to hide than in small, mostly Chinese, Singapore, although hiding might be difficult anywhere because of his limp.

A Singapore citizen, Mas was arrested in Indonesia and sent back to Singapore, allegedly for plotting in 2001 to bomb the US Embassy, the American Club and Singapore government buildings. He was not put on trial but detained indefinitely under the Internal Security Act (ISA) so the details and credibility of these charges has never been tested in open court.

What astonished students of Singapore security operations is that he could have escaped at all. There appears to be no record of anyone previously escaping from the Whitley Road center, which is not guarded by ordinary jailers or bored national servicemen but by the ultra-tough, non-political Nepalese Gurkha soldiers whom Singapore retains to protect key personnel and institutions.

While no one doubts the existence of actual or would-be terror groups in Southeast Asia, Singapore’s role in the counter-terrorism business has long been viewed with some suspicion by its neighbors. First, it cooperates very closely with the US, even “rendering” suspects for detention in Guantanamo and elsewhere. It also has a history of playing up Malay/Muslim threats for domestic political purposes and to emphasize its position as a non-Muslim nation in an Islamic sea.

Some conspiracy theorists think they see a link between the timing of Mas Salamat’s escape and the visit to Indonesia of US Defense Secretary Gates.

Previous incidents involving Singapore and alleged Muslim terrorists have prompted questions that are likely to remain unanswered but are relevant given Singapore’s record of using the ISA against critics of all kinds, who usually “confess” to conspiracies as a condition of release. In the past the technique was used against “Chinese chauvinists” and “Marxists” – the latter in some cases being Catholic activists who confessed to having sent books to China, which logically could have been considered a laudable attempt to turn communists into capitalists.

The most recent round of Muslim arrests included that of a 28-year-old Singaporean Malay law student who was rendered to Singapore from an unnamed Middle East country where he allegedly had gone to study Arabic and to embark on a jihadist career. The student, a former rock singer named Abdul Basheer, is described by Singaporean authorities as a “self-radicalized” terror suspect. He was arrested in February 2007 and is held without trial under the ISA.

Doubts about whether Basheer did anything more than look at a few jihadist websites were strengthened by the announcement at almost the same time that five persons earlier arrested as JI activists had been released. The government claimed huge success for its rehabilitation program and so the five were said to “no longer pose a security threat.” Not only did that appear an extraordinarily rapid conversion but for a nation which executes people for drug trafficking offences an extraordinarily light punishment for terrorist activity.

The large counterterrorism industry thrives on rumor and speculation as well as fact. One example was in 2002 at the height of post-9/11 hysteria when Malaysia was being accused of being an al-Qaeda base. Considerable international coverage was given to a huge story, supported by documents and other “evidence” in Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper, about an Indonesian terror network. Indonesia’s Tempo, a publication long noted for its independence and investigative credentials, looked at the allegations in detail and found that key names and places in the Straits Times story were fictitious.

So although Mas’s escape may be simply a matter of incompetence, the history of arrests, releases, confessions, renderings and imprisonment without trial in Guantanamo as well as Singapore, inevitably raises doubts about whether the story so far is the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Source: Asia Sentinel

Singapore: Terror suspect fled toilet

2008-02-28T21:52:00.000+08:00

(CNN) -- A suspected terror leader has fled from a detention center in Singapore after asking to use the toilet, Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Sen has admitted.

"This should never have happened," Wong told lawmakers on Thursday. "I am sorry that it had."

Thousands of security forces fanned out across Singapore in an island-wide hunt for the suspect who is accused of plotting to crash a plane into the country's airport.

Mas Selamat Kastari, suspected leader of the Islamist militant group Jemaah Islamiyah's Singapore arm, escaped from the detention center on Wednesday afternoon.

"Mas Selamat was the leader of the Singapore (Jemaah Islamiyah) network. He walks with a limp and is presently at large," the Home Affairs Ministry in a statement according to The Associated Press.

Police set up roadblocks across the country, checking cars and choking traffic, local media reported. Paramilitary forces in trucks were deployed on city streets.

Jemaah Islamiyah is thought to have links to al Qaeda and is suspected of being behind the 2002 nightclub bombings in the Indonesian island of Bali that killed more than 200 mostly Western tourists.

Singapore is a strong U.S. ally and one of the world's most prosperous countries with strong international trading links.

Mas Selamet fled the southeast Asian country in 2001 after authorities cracked down on Jemaah Islamiyah and arrested dozens of its members.

To retaliate, Mas Selamet plotted to hijack a plane and crash it into Singapore's main airport, Changi, the Home Affairs Ministry said. The plot was never carried out.

He is also suspected of being behind plans to attacks the U.S. Embassy and a government building.

Indonesian authorities arrested Mas Selamet on immigration violation charges in 2003. Three years later, he was deported to Singapore, the Home Affairs ministry said.

He was being held under Singapore's Internal Security Act, which allows authorities to indefinitely detain someone without trial.

Source: CNN

Detained Islamic militant escapes in Singapore

2008-02-27T23:48:00.000+08:00

Reuters
26 February 2008

He was wanted by Singapore police for involvement in planned attacks on the Southeast Asian city-state's Changi airport. (Reporting by Koh Gui Qing and Vivek Prakash; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

SINGAPORE, Feb 27 - The accused leader of the Singapore wing of the Islamic militant network Jemaah Islamiah escaped on Wednesday from a detention centre on the island, the government said.

Mas Selamat bin Kastari escaped from Whitley Road Detention Centre on Wednesday afternoon and he is not known to be armed, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.

"He walks with a limp and is presently at large," the ministry said. "Extensive police resources have been deployed to track him down."

Four red-coloured police vans and about two dozen riot police and soldiers were seen lining a road as they surveyed traffic and pedestrians in central Singapore on Wednesday night.

The JI has been blamed for several deadly bombing attacks in Southeast Asia, including the 2002 bombings that killed more than 200 people on Indonesia's resort island of Bali.

Singapore, a strong U.S. ally and a major base for Western businesses, sees itself as a prime terrorist target in the region after it foiled JI plots in 2001 to attack its airport and various Western-linked sites, including the U.S. embassy.

Kastari was arrested by the Indonesian police on the Indonesian island of Bintan in January 2006 before he was sent to Singapore.

He was wanted by Singapore police for involvement in planned attacks on the Southeast Asian city-state's Changi airport.

(Reporting by Koh Gui Qing and Vivek Prakash; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

Source: Reuters

Myanmar opposition calls for boycott of Beijing Olympics

2008-02-27T11:02:00.000+08:00

International Herald Tribune

25 February 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand: Pro-democracy activists in Myanmar called Monday for the world to boycott this year's Beijing Olympics over what they said was China's continuing support of Myanmar's military dictatorship.

The 88 Generation Students group, which was instrumental in last year's pro-democracy demonstrations in Myanmar, urged "citizens around the world ... to boycott the 2008 Beijing Olympics in response to China's bankrolling of the military junta that rules our country of Burma with guns and threats." Myanmar is also known as Burma.

The 88 Generation Students joined a growing group of critics urging an Olympic boycott over complaints ranging from Beijing's human rights record to its failure to more actively press Sudan — where China is a major oil buyer — to end violence in the Darfur region.

Hollywood director Steven Spielberg quit earlier this month as an artistic adviser for the Beijing Olympics, saying China was not doing enough about Darfur.

The 88 Generation Students accused China — one of Myanmar's key trading partners — of arming their country's junta and failing to facilitate a meaningful dialogue between it and detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party.

"Our constructive outreach to China has been met with silence and more weapons shipments," the group said in a statement.

A Myanmar government spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962 and has not had a constitution since 1988, when the army violently suppressed pro-democracy protests and the current junta took power.

In September the junta crushed peaceful protests that were triggered by rising food prices but expanded to include demands for democratic reforms. The U.N. estimates the crackdown killed at least 31 people, and thousands more were detained.

Under intense international pressure, the junta announced plans this month for a referendum in May on a proposed new constitution written under military guidance, to be followed by general elections in 2010.

The junta's domestic and international critics, however, say the plans are undemocratic because they do not involve open debate and bar Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, from taking part in the elections.

During a visit to Singapore on Monday, U.N. special envoy for Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari and Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo hailed the planned referendum and election, but agreed that "for national reconciliation to be achieved, the referendum and elections had to be credible and inclusive," the Foreign Ministry said, without elaborating.

Gambari said Friday he was frustrated with Myanmar's slow progress toward democracy. He expects to visit Myanmar in the first week of March to resume talks with the country's military rulers.

Suu Kyi's party won the last elections in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power. She has been in prison or under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

Source: The International Herald Tribune

Buck up or lose Voltri deal, Merlo tells PSA-Sinport

2008-02-27T09:32:00.001+08:00

By John McLaughlin in Genoa - Tuesday 26 February 2008

GENOA’S new port president Luigi Merlo warned PSA-Sinport chief executive Eddie Teh at a meeting on Monday that the Singaporean company may lose the concession at the port’s flagship Voltri terminal if it did not take immediate steps to improve its performance.

Interviewed at the port authority’s Palazzo San Giorgio headquarters, where he took over earlier this month, Mr Merlo said PSA subsidiary VTE had consistently failed to meet the volume targets established under the terms of its operating concession at Voltri.

Though it had finally hit target last year, exceeding 1m teu in throughput for the first time, 2008 had begun disastrously. The terminal was already under severe pressure from a combination of local transport strikes, surging volumes, and a slowdown by customs workers when it made the ill-advised decision to introduce a new Cosmos terminal management system.

The result was several weeks of near-chaos, with Voltri forced to call a halt to all container exports and furious agents and forwarders initiating legal action over loss of earnings. The port authority will take a similar course, Mr Merlo confirmed that a port committee meeting tomorrow is likely to approve a claim for lost revenues and damage to the image of the port.

Mr Merlo’s hard line with VTE is the culmination of years of disgruntlement within local shipping circles at the terminal operator’s poor performance, with poor communication and lack of consistent investment in the terminal cited as critical weaknesses.

But it is also indicative of Mr Merlo’s desire to give new impetus to a port that has been adrift for years, its market share slipping away inexorably as its leading lights bickered, and in the absence of a long-term development plan worthy of the name.

He said Mr Teh had agreed to discuss specific measures to improve Voltri’s performance at an upcoming PSA board meeting. He added that “they have six months to put things right. But their volume target this year is 1,163,000 teu and they have already had two poor months. And this is a terminal that should be able to handle 2m teu.”

Voltri’s woes come at a dark time for the port, with Giovanni Novi, Mr Merlo’s predecessor charged with fraud, extortion and interfering with a public bidding process in relation to the apportioning of space at the port’s multipurpose terminal and a range of other Genoese notables under investigation.

Yet Mr Merlo insisted that the calamitous start to the year also provided an opportunity for a thorough house-cleaning. He said he was in the process of analysing the various concession contracts for the multipurpose terminal, and that where terminal operators were not meeting expectations he would move to ensure they did on pain of eviction, seeking special powers from Rome if necessary.

Though the fate of the multipurpose terminal, and specifically a decision on whether to press ahead with a new concession bidding process, must await legal developments, he said that his preference was for a single concession. The current system, with the terminal split into small slices run by a number of discrete operators, “is the wrong way to run a port. ”

Genoa’s terminal operators will only have a future if they join together,” he said, adding that while he hoped to set the port of Genoa on the right course “without trauma or explosions,” tough measures might well be unavoidable.

As for the port’s long-term development, he said he still hoped to secure acceptance for the construction of a new box terminal at the site of the former steel works at Cornigliano. He also said he would work with Genoa’s mayor, Marta Vincenzi, on integrated development plans for both port and city, the better to resolve disagreements early and speed the process.

Source: Lloyd's List

Income gap tears at Singapore social fabric - Reuters

2006-12-18T18:23:00.000+08:00

Monday December 18, 3:04 PM Reuters

By Geert De Clercq

SINGAPORE, Dec 18 (Reuters) - When Wee Shu Min, the teenage daughter of a Singapore member of parliament stumbled across the blog of a Singaporean who wrote that he was worried about losing his job, she thought she'd give him a piece of her mind.
She called him "one of many wretched, undermotivated, overassuming leeches in our country" on her own blog and signed off with "please, get out of my elite uncaring face".

Wee was flamed by hundreds of fellow bloggers, but when her father Wee Siew Kim -- an MP in Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's constituency -- told a Singapore newspaper that "her basic point is reasonable", the row moved well beyond the blogosphere.

The episode highlighted a deep rift in Singapore society and was an embarrassment for the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) and prime minister Lee, who has made the reduction of the income gap one of the priorities of his new government.

"Coming from an MP in the prime minister's constituency, these comments really were political dynamite," political commentator Seah Chiang Nee told Reuters."If the political arrogance and elitism get any worse, the PAP will lose more electoral ground," he added.

Singapore is Asia's second-richest country after Japan with a gross domestic product per capita of about $27,000, ranking between EU member Italy and Spain. But in terms of income disparity, Singapore is in altogether different company.

Singapore's Gini index -- which measures inequality of income distribution among households -- of 42.5 puts it between Burundi and Kenya, the UN Human Development Report 2006 shows.
"Yes, the gini coefficient is very high. Through housing, health care and education, we have tried to narrow the income gap, but not through wages," National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan told Reuters in an interview last month.

"WELFARE AS A DIRTY WORD"

Singapore pays no employment benefits, no pensions and has no legal minimum wage, but education is cheap and excellent, health care is subsidised and the government gives subsidies to first-time buyers of government-built flats.

Last month, Singapore's first parliament session since the May 6 poll was dominated by the inequality theme. PM Lee ruled out the introduction of old-age pensions, a minimum wage or European-style welfare.

"We have treated welfare as a dirty word. The opposition, I think the Workers' Party, has called for a 'permanent unconditional needs-based welfare system'. I think that is an even dirtier five words," he said in a speech on Nov. 13.

But he acknowledged that since the Asian financial crisis in 1997, the income gap had widened, and said that his government plans to "tilt the balance in favour of the lower-income groups".
While Lee's ruling PAP is in no danger of losing its stranglehold on parliament -- where it has 82 out of 84 elected seats -- the growing income disparity has hurt its credibility.

In the May 6 poll, the Workers' Party scored its best result in years, with chairwoman Sylvia Lim winning 44 percent of the votes in a multi-seat ward. Lee lost 34 percent in his ward to a group of unknown candidates in their early thirties.

"They (the PAP) are concerned about the fallout if they don't do anything about the income gap," Lim, who entered parliament as a non-voting MP under a best-loser provision, told Reuters.

In parliament, Lee said he plans to improve healthcare and boost housing subsidies for low-income families. He added that he wants more "workfare" schemes, under which the state tops up low-income workers' pay.

On May 1 -- five days before the election -- the government paid out S$150 million to about 330,000 low-income workers, and Lee promised a similar package for next year. Details would be released in the 2007 budget on February 15.

"MARIE ANTOINETTES"

Critics say that much of the outrage about the teenage blogger's comments is due to a perception that Singapore is ruled by a privileged elite that's out of touch with the people.
The road to a top job in the Singapore government or civil service leads through elite junior colleges and prestigious government scholarships for university studies abroad.

While access to these schools and scholarships is open to all and based on academic grades, critics say the children of the elite are well represented. Wee Shu Min attends a top school, Raffles Junior College, as did her father, an MP and a top executive at state-owned arms maker ST Engineering.

In a report about "elite envy", the Straits Times daily quoted official data showing that in the last five years, one in three students on government scholarships came from families with incomes of more than $$10,000 ($6,500) a month, while such families make up just 13 per cent of all Singapore households.

Students from households on incomes of less than $2,000 made up only 7 per cent of scholarship winners, the paper added. Colin Goh, founder of satirical website TalkingCock.com, said that while the first generation of post-independence PAP leaders was seen as close to the people, this is no longer the case.

"The source for much invective in the Wee Shu Min case is that there is a real sense the PAP is composed of people in ivory towers; that they are a bunch of Marie Antoinettes," he said.

Singapore's troubled Shin Corp deal - Asia Times 13 December 2006

2006-12-15T00:39:00.000+08:00

By Thitinan Pongsudhirak

No other country's ruling family does it quite like the Lees of Singapore. National founder Lee Kuan Yew built a gleaming metropolis out of a swampy island in four quick decades of rapid economic growth.

His son, current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has made a priority of carrying Singapore's economic-development miracle forward through diversifying its investment in the region.

The younger Lee's wife, Ho Ching, and brother, Lee Hsien Yang, spearhead Singapore's interlocking state-owned investment vehicles, which are fortified and facilitated by a web of often-opaque cross-share holdings.

Despite pockets of opposition disenchantment, few outsiders would dispute that Singapore is a place where things get done because of an enlightened consensus among its political elites, underpinned by the country's geographically and historically peculiar strengths.

But Singapore's state-engineered, elite-driven economic success at home has recently been embroiled in controversy and alleged scandal when venturing abroad. The most glaring example involves state-run Temasek Holdings' purchase last January of Thailand's Shin Corp, a communications conglomerate founded by recently deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and majority-owned by his family.

This year, Temasek's US$1.9 billion buyout of the Shinawatra family's 49.3% stake in Shin Corp added fuel to the fire of the popular protests that climaxed in the September 19 military coup that upended Thaksin's government.

The controversial transaction apparently surpassed legal limits on foreign ownership of crucial national infrastructure, including telecommunications frequencies, which Shin Corp operated through a government concession. (Read more...)

Will Temasek CEO do likewise to avoid possible conflict of interest?

2006-12-15T00:28:00.000+08:00

I read with concern the article in The Straits Times of 7 Dec 2006, "NCSS concerned over possible conflict of interest".

This is followed by Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society's (THKMS) revelation of its CEO's $7,100 pay package, "Charity tells why CEO gets salary of only $7,100" (ST, 13 Dec).

A reason cited for NCSS' concern was "the highest-ranking paid staff members are related to their boss..." - hence the "concerns over conflict-of-interest issues".

While I am glad that the NCSS and the Commissioner of Charities have taken precautionary measures to prevent such conflict-of-interest issues from potential abuse, will the government at the very top do likewise in another widely reported similar "reporting' structure (where "the highest-ranking paid staff member (is) related to (her) boss...") in Temasek's case where its CEO's boss is her husband, the Prime Minister?

I applaud the CEO of Food From The Heart (FFTH, another NCSS member identified in the article), Mrs Christine Laimer's stepping down after receiving the NCSS letter, "even though she firmly believes there is no conflict of interest at the charity". I believe this is the right move in order to totally avoid even any perceived conflict-of-interest. The challenge is for the CEO of Temasek to do likewise even though she too may firmly believe there is no conflict-of-interest.

As an aside, now that the salary package of the CEO of THKMS is made public (at $7,100 per month), will FFTH do likewise too in making public its CEO's pay? I note their operating cost came up to some $450,000 last year with a staff strength of six.

KAYE POH

Opposition marchers demand greater political freedom in Singapore - AFP

2006-12-13T00:42:00.000+08:00

11 Dec 06

Supporters of a jailed opposition leader staged a protest march Sunday in Singapore's busy shopping district to press for greater political freedom in the city-state. The rare demonstration marking international Human Rights Day was staged by followers and relatives of Chee Soon Juan, who is serving a five-week jail term for defying the city-state's restrictions on free speech.

"We're going to celebrate what little rights we have, freedom to question and criticise the government," marcher John Tan, who described himself as a lecturer in psychology, told reporters.Because any public protest involving five or more persons requires a police permit, the demonstrators held the march in relays of four persons each.

Plainclothes men were seen trailing the protestors across town after they started off from a park in the banking district.Chee's wife Huang Chih Mei marched with their three young children along the Orchard Road shopping belt, which was packed with Christmas shoppers.Some passers-by accepted protest leaflets handed out by the marchers, while others declined.

The demonstrators wore yellow t-shirts saying "Free to Walk" and "Free to Speak."Chee Siok Chin, sister of the detained politician, said the protest was "a symbol that one of our colleagues, one of our fellow activists is still in prison ... for exercising his rights that are guaranteed under the Singapore constitution."

The march was scheduled to end at the Queenstown Remand Prison, where Chee Soon Juan, secretary general of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), was jailed for five weeks on November 23 after refusing to pay a fine of 5,000 Singapore dollars (3,200 US).

Two opposition colleagues charged in the same case served shorter prison stints, also for refusing to pay their fines.The penalties were imposed after they were convicted for speaking in public without a police permit ahead of the May general elections won overwhelmingly by the conservative People's Action Party (PAP).US-based rights group Human Rights Watch said Thursday that Chee "is being arbitrarily detained for exercising his right to free expression and should be immediately and unconditionally released."

Your Views: HDB's reply a red herring? - ST (8 Dec 2006) - Ltr from HDB: HDB consistently incurs losses selling new flats

2006-12-13T00:15:00.000+08:00

I attach below HDB's reply in the ST dated 8 Dec 2006.

While HDB's may not be technically misleading the public (as far as land cost is concerned), I feel the government is.

If one looks at the whole issue of "subsidised" (or what I call "market-rate discounted") HDB flats, HDB may be running deficits if the land is purchased from the SLA at market rates. Therefore, HDB may not misleading the public.

But, many of these state lands were compulsorily acquired during the early days of independence for a song. I know because my ancestors' land was compulsorily acquired back in the late 60s/early 70s for something like 10 cents per sq feet - all in the name of national development!

Now what happens to these vast tracts of government land? They are sold to HDB at market rates - hence the deficits in HDB's books but the surpluses are booked under the entity selling the land to HDB - whether SLA or the old Land Office or whatever.

The trick is that the profits are shown in the government's books (either through the SLA or the URA or even JTC?) because the land was acquired for only 10 cents psf (before the government started paying "market" rates for land compulsorily acquired only some 10 years or so ago when prices sky-rocketed). So, for the majority of state land under the government's books (in SLA/URA/JTC) which were acquired way before the "market rate" era 10 years or so ago (compare 10c cost vs the current market rate of $400-5000 psf), the profits are humongous.

Therefore, while the HDB might not have not misled the public in its land cost claim, the government certainly did when its "silence" (or through HDB's red herring reply) gave the impression that the government (through HDB alone) was "subsidising" public flats.

What I would like is for the government (either the "profitable" entities like SLA or URA) to come clean and let the public know how much profits are stashed away in their books or transferred to the government as capital gains since Day One. We do not want to hear HDB's deficit; rather, we'd like to hear the SLA's or URA's surpluses.

Didn't the government make use of these surpluses from land sales to use it towards funding the Progress Package of $2.6b prior to the General Elections in May 2006?

The public deserves a wholistic picture of the government's land ownership and surpluses/deficits rather than the often-heard exhortation by the HDB that they have been running deficits through its subsidised HDB flats.

Can the relevant authorities (SLA and/or URA?) please reply?

KAYE POH

Fearing collapse, ITV asks for leniency - The Nation

2006-12-09T17:33:00.000+08:00

The Nation
9 December 2006

The defence team for iTV yesterday pleaded for leniency, saying the station could collapse and its workers become unemployed if the high court ruled to confirm the whopping fine of almost Bt100 billion.

The Supreme Administrative Court has scheduled its appellate ruling on the case for Wednesday.

"This court's primary duty is to dispense justice and disputed parties should not try to sway the ruling or make hasty criticism in advance," judge Charan Hatthakam said in the final session of the appellate review.

At the centre of the litigation is a contractual clause - Article 5, paragraph 4 - that empowers the station to seek mediation by a board of three arbitrators to revise its concession fees if authorities allowed advertising to be broadcast on cable television.

Based on this clause, the arbitration ruling allowed the station to pay reduced fees and revise programming to favour entertainment at the expense of news coverage. (Read more...)

Your Views: Potential Guiness World Record - 2nd MRT death in 4 days and 4th in less than 2 months!

2006-12-05T17:46:00.000+08:00

Singapore is famous for its many world records according to the Guiness World Records - fastest text messager, etc...

With sympathies to the victims' loved ones, we can probably add the highest per capita deaths in MRTs/MRT stations (or subways) within the shortest time (2 deaths in 4 days and 4 deaths in less than 2 months, or 2-in-4 days and 4-in-2 months?).

(The first occurred in late October 2006: the case of Mr Tan Jee Suan - TNP (21 Oct 2006) - "MRT death case: Dad gives $10 to son, says last words to him", link
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,115969-1161467940,00.html?
while the 2nd happened at Clementi MRT shortly thereafter.)

Can the relevant authorities find out the true cause of the problems in these deaths before more happen? Is it the hardware (the design of the MRT system) or is it the software (the despair, desperation and hopelessness some of these victims went through) or both?

If the probelm is the software side of the equation, merely putting up additional safety structures will not solve the problem.

KAYE POH

Your Views: NNI to include unrealised loss (eg Shin Corp?) - Straits Times (29 Nov 2006) - Govt hasn't decided if GST hike will be in phases

2006-11-30T00:15:00.000+08:00

The above quotes are taken from The Straits Times of 29 Nov 2006, "Govt hasn't decided if GST hike will be in phases".

While well intended to give the incumbent government more options to dip into the reserves, a poorly-defined change to the Constitution to allow only realised capital gains from past reserves can be a double-edged sword.

Let me illustrate: Take the example of the government's investments in Shin Corp via Temasek Holdings. If the government takes a prudent approach to mark-to-market the unrealised loss on the investment (probably in the billions now), such a conservative approach will give a better picture of the true "Net" Capital gain/loss position (including unrealised loss) of its investments.

However, if the government chose to take only the realised gains into the equation, this will mask the "true" net position since theoretically, the incumbent government can (and will) defer divesting the loss-making investments in order to dip into the reserves.

Therefore, to prevent a situation where a "rogue" government in the future can take full advantage of the above scenario in order to circumvent the loopholes, may I suggest any redefinition of "Net Investment Income" to include mark-to-market unrealised loss on investments in addition to realised capital gains.

(Note: It is ironic that the incumbent government is trying to tweek the Constitution to allow it to have wider scope to dip into the reserves (the people's money) by redefining the Net Investment Income while at the same time, it does not allow the citizens (CPF members) to dip into the capital gains on their CPF investments for withdrawal - they can't touch their very own money!!!)

As an aside, I find SM Goh's comments "We don't try to mislead the people" amusing. Wouldn't it have been even more upfront if this initiative to help the lower-income group (the justification for the GST hike) were part of the PAP's manifesto and was made an election issue? Surely such a noble gesture would have gone down well with the electorate? No?

KAYE POH

Your Views: How will GIC/Temasek/CPF members' returns compare with Google shares 10 - 20 years from today, 28 Nov 2006?

2006-11-29T00:00:00.000+08:00

Recently, Temasek claimed they achieved annualised returns of some 18% p.a over 30 years while GIC claimed returns of some 8 - 9% p.a. over 25 years. However, CPF members' funds have been getting a paltry 1 to 2% p.a.and are now earning 2.5% p.a. on the Ordinary Account.

To illustrate how bad the returns are, I shall venture into buying Google shares today (28 Nov 2006) at the price of about US$485 per share.

With S$100,000, I will get 133 Google shares.

(I would have bought another 133 Google shares (amounting to S$100,000 of my CPF funds tied up with the CPF Board) if this were allowed, but unfortunately, this is not to be even if it is my very own money!)

Nonetheless, I have used cash to purchase the shares and we'll see how it will perform over the next 10 - 20 years since my investment horizon is long term, just like our very own GIC and/or Temasek.

I shall keep track of my investment and provide yearly updates to compare this investment with the 2.5% p.a. (or whatever the CPF Board pays periodically) to see how poorly CPF members are getting in returns on their investments.

If you look at Google, there are many similarities with Singapore:

1. Both aim to attract the best brains around;

2. Both are dealing with US$ billions of shareholder/stakeholder money: Google's valuation is in hundreds of billions US$, as is S'pore's reserves.

The major similarities may end here but there are major differences too:

a. Google's revenue base is global while Singapore's is still primarily local;

b. Google's potential shareholder base is in the billions while S'pore's is only 4m;

c. Google is the future while S'pore's old school.

d. Google's staff strength is lean but value-added (many PhDs) while S'pore's full of fat

e. Google's scholars and staff are enpowered, hence a thriving innovative culture (necessary in this rapidly changing world) while Singapore's system stifles innovation and creativity, turning its scholars into good administrators but lousy innovators.

...and the list goes on.....

Now you understand why I place my bet on Google?

Let's see where we are in 10 or even 20 years' time!

KAYE POH

Editorial Review: GST Petitions losing momentum. Was it expected ?

2006-11-27T23:17:00.000+08:00

A 2 week online drive to petition against the rise of GST failed to generate any public awareness or impact as expected. As of today, the two petitions GSThike.com and petitiononline.com have garnered a combined total of only 3,100 votes.

When the GST hike was first announced by PM Lee Hsien Loong, it caused a furore amongst the online community of Singapore. Many netizens condemn the government's decision and were quick to voice their disapproval and unhappiness on internet forums.

An online petition was started to galvanize Singaporeans into action in the hope that a strong reaction from the populace will deter the government from implementing the unpopular hike. Many were optimistic that this marked the beginning of a grassroots movement to counter the establisment.

The petition received over 2000 signatures in a short week, still it lacked far behind the 30,000 gathered in 3 days in support of Mr T T Durai's resignation from the NKF 2 years ago in the aftermath of the NKF scandal.

What exactly went wrong ? Can internet grumblings ever be translated into political will and affirmative action in real life? Two crucial elements are seriously lacking here which will prove to be a stumbling block for similar drives in the future: a credible leader and support of the press.

Though the internet is dominated by vocal anti-government critics, these remain only a visible minority amongst Singapore netizens. A survey published by the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA), the survey showed half of all teens between 15 and 19 are on the Internet, blogging or podcasting. It meant about 120,000 of these teens take part in web activities. The miserly support for the online petitions showed that the silent majority are either not supportive or are unwilling to be involved out of fear of the authorities.

Without a credible leader of a certain stature to rally the netizens whom are mostly nameless nicks whose identities are a mystery to one another, this collective outpouring of grievances and frustrations will always be a mere cathartic release serving no useful purpose.

The mainstream media has also been cautious to shine away from reporting on anti-government sentiments prevalent on the internet, choosing instead to report on trivial matters unrelated to public governance. Even if the press did report the online petitions, it is doubtful if older, conservative Singaporeans who are alien to the internet, will jump into the fray.

Therefore it is perhaps premature to overestimate the political significance of the internet. While it is true that the internet has the potential to promote and increase the political awareness of Singaporeans, it still lacks a leader and an organization to harness its energy.

Taiwan has Shi Ming Teh, Malaysia has Tian Chua, Thailand has Sondhi Limthongkul and Myanmar has Aung San Suu Kyi. Who does Singapore have?

Maybe that is why the government has seen no need to engage the internet so far, for it has already been dismissed and vilified by the media as lacking credibility and truth. On the contrary, it may even serve their agenda by providing a small space for disgruntled citizens to express their bottled-up frustrations in peaceful and controlled manner without disrupting the rest of society.

Your Views: Why are billions of vehicle taxes collected not used to improve S'pore's public transport system?

2006-11-27T23:10:00.000+08:00

I fully agree with the letter writer (ST 27 Nov, "Much to learn from HK public transport system" - see attached) as I have been to Hong Kong myself, so I am in a position to compare the public transport systems of both countries.

I am particularly impressed by the frequency of the trains there (very short waiting time when compared to our MRT/NEL trains) and the useful computerised information on destinations/next stops etc as highlighted in the letter.

Singapore's system is capable of matching HK's efficient system but my conclusion is that the government is not willing or prepared to spend the millions to upgrade them. As a motorist, we pay the highest taxes (PARF, COE, road tax, ERP, etc.) in the world, enabling the government to generate billions of taxes every year.

Where are these taxes and how are they used to improve the public transport systems, including the buses and MRT system, not just the roads?If the public transport is not up to scratch, why should motorists be made to pay such high taxes?

KAYE POH

Contrasting voices: The Internet and old media speak in conflicting languages, neither of them credibly yet.

2006-11-27T00:48:00.000+08:00

Seah Chiang Nee

Nov 26, 2006

IN the real world, the economy is humming strongly, more jobs are being created than at anytime in the last 10 years, the stock market is near record high and so are high-end properties.The Singapore dollar has strengthened to around S$1.55 to the US dollar on speculation that economic growth would quicken, thus encouraging investors to put more funds in the city-state.

The sanguine mood is reflected on the streets. With the school holidays on, the crowds are out in force. At night, it is virtually impossible to get a cab in the city centre without prior booking.
Restaurants and shopping malls are full, and people are spending ahead of a hike in Goods and Services Tax from 5% to 7% next April.

Year-end festivals are a month away but a fairyland of lights already covers the kilometres stretching from Orchard Road and Bras Basah Road to Marina Bay.

While the mood is upbeat, the Internet world, however, is painting a very different picture. Here, the talk is of continued weakness, rising unemployment and people committing suicide. (Read more...)

Singapore ranked 84th on The Economist's Democracy Index

2006-11-25T19:37:00.000+08:00

The Economist(UK) ranks Singapore 84th among 167 countries in a new Democracy Index. The index was developed by The Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Singapore listed as hybrid regime (mixture of authoritarian and democratic elements) and ranks well below Finland(6), Malaysia(81) , Hong Kong(75), Taiwan(32), Indonesia(65) .

The index looks at 60 indicators across the five categories of electoral process and pluralism, civil liberties, the functioning of government, political participation, and political culture .

Overall, The Economist considers having free and fair competitive elections, and satisfying related aspects of political freedom as a basic requirement for its definition of Democracy.

Click here for the full report by The Economist.

Your Views: Are there more Durais and Matthew Tans ?

2006-11-25T10:13:00.000+08:00

I note with sadness of another CBT case involving a prominent Singapore with a position of trust. This follows the infamous NKF case involving another person of trust.

There are 2 major issues of concern to Singaporeans:

1. I hope it is not endemic in how things are run at public institutions (including GLCs and charities etc..) which are helmed by "people of trust" when checks and balances are compromised because of these "prominent people of trust" running the show.

Of more concern are the entities entrusted with Singaporeans' hard-earned reserves like Temasek and GIC. Are there sufficient checks and balances in place to prevent such incidents, especially since transparency and accountability issues are frequently brought up in these entities?

2. I note the significance of the year 2003 in Mr Mathew Tan's case: he started his crime in February 2003 and he also joined the Teck Ghee CCC in 2003 (see attached article in the Today newspaper of 22 Nov below).

Questions:

a. What were his motivations for joining the CCC (even choosing the Prime Minister's constituency, no less)? Was he "invited" to join or did he volunteer himself? (This had wider implications on how these volunteers are recruited by the CCCs).

b. Do the CCCs have a screening process sophisticated enough to ensure those volunteering their services are doing it for truly altruistic reasons?c. I understand the People's Association has annual budgets in excess of $100 million (taxpayers' money). Correct me if I am wrong but do these CCCs' fundings come from the multi-million PA funds?

Are there sufficient checks and balances in how these CCCs are run?At the end of the day, Singaporeans will like to be assued that there are no more Durais and Mathew Tans within these public entities managing taxpayers' money.

KAYE POH

Temasek fallout: Singapore hopes relations will heal - The Nation

2006-11-22T10:59:00.000+08:00

The Nation
22 November 2006

Executive expresses surprise Shin Corp deal damaged city-state's image

Amid rising tension between Singapore and Thailand over Temasek Holdings' buying into Shin Corp, an informed financial source from a large Singaporean institution still hopes that both sides can clear up "these misunderstandings" to restore public friendship.

However, the institutional investor believes that Thai politics is the risk for foreign investors in the short-to-medium term.

The executive with a major institutional investor told The Nation last week he was surprised the Temasek-Shin deal had damaged Singapore's image in Thailand.

His company has a long history of relationships with both the private and public sector in Thailand. However, it is a low-profile portfolio investor and is unlikely to take a controlling or even too concentrated a stake in any Thai equity.

"We were actively involved in cooperating with both the banks and the government in helping Thailand in our own small way to recover from the last Asian financial crisis," said the source, who asked not to be named. (Read more...)

Workers' Party: Storm in a teacup

2006-11-21T21:38:00.000+08:00

Its newcomers can't escape this lesson: Politics is about staying the course for years, however tough.

By Seah Chiang Nee.Nov 19, 2006

IN the past 40 years, Singapore has produced a good number of bankers, engineers and scholars, etc, but fewer career politicians than other developed nations.

With few exceptions, representatives of the People’s Action Party (PAP) are co-opted from outside the party rather than the best being allowed to come from the ranks.

The politician in most of them somehow never quite emerged from their years of Parliament experience; most remain technocrats and problem solvers.

The fledgling opposition parties are no different. Only a few leaders are battle-hardened, the rest being newcomers who move straight from the professions or business to stand in elections.
As a result, the majority of Singapore’s politicians lack campaign or debating skills or political acumen.

That’s the way politics was designed here. Lee Kuan Yew had long steered the country away from “debate” politics either in or out of Parliament.

There’s another reason. Few citizens are interested in entering – or even discussing – politics, and those who join parties nowadays are mostly young, inexperienced people with questionable staying power.

Recently, the lack of experience has told on the largest opposition party, Workers Party (WP), at a time when its fortunes are looking up after years of struggle. (Read more...)

Your views: NS stint may hinder job prospects for S'poreans

2006-11-20T18:53:00.000+08:00

I understand the frustration of the letter writer, Sylvester Lim Teck Hee, in today's Straits Times, "NS stint may hinder job prospects for S'poreans" (ST, 20 Nov). I
can fully empathise with him as I have relatives and friends or their sons facing similar predicament.

Increasingly, citizens are facing stiff competition for jobs locally with globalization but
ironically, they are disadvantaged if they are males with reservist obligations.

Correct me if I am wrong, but if they happen to work overseas, they will not be subject
to the yearly in-camp training. However, in their country of birth, instead of "home ground" advantage (in soccer lingo), they are instead disadvantaged when compared to foreigners/PRs without such yearly reservist obligations that are becoming "disruptive" in the eyes of employers, like Mr Sylvester Lim himself.

First, these male citizens will "lose" 2 years of their most productive lives undergoing national service (NS), but that's not all as highlighted by Mr Lim's letter.

Is it any wonder then why nearly all of these NS-eligible males are against serving NS (with the possible exceptions of "white horses"?). The letter writer highlights one aspect of NSmen's obligations many overlook: the years of reservist training after their 2-year full-time NS obligations.

Many Singaporean males will face the same problems Mr Lim highlights - foreginers/PRs have the edge when compared to the reservist-obliged: no disruption/loss of productivity, lower pay, etc.., resourcefulness and hard work being equal. Any practical businessman/employer will have no problem whom to employ, Mr Lim notwithstanding.

Perhaps we can look at some of the other countries\' NS models we can adapt? I know of young Frenchmen doing their so-called "national service" by being posted here as trainees in the French bank Societe Generale\'s ("SG") branch here. I am not sure what salaries/packages they were entitled but one thing I am sure is that they did not get the miserly S$300 per month salary as a recruit in the Singapore Armed Forces, whether he is a graduate or not.

At least, these French national servicemen ended up with some very valuable experience while doing their NS. What about our very own NSmen? They are more like slaves, or maids in present Singapore who earn more than these NSmen, if you ask my opinion.

At least these maids can pick up some valuable experience or savings when they finish their 2-year contract and put them to good use when they return to their homeland. NSmen? Nothing to crow about but what's worse, more "slavery" years doing reservist training.

Not only do they not earn valuable experience relevant to the working world, their reservist obligations are actually hampering their careers!! It is high time the government reviews Singapore's NS Act to ensure it keeps up with the times.

Possible considerations include:

1. Shorten the 2-year full time NS?

2. Shorten the reservist cycle?

3. Or even a professional army? I am sure there is no shortage of takers from China and or India with promise of PRs /citizenship, even if the pay is low by Singapore's standards but high or acceptable for them? Or even our own citizens if the pay is commensurate with the private sector?

4. Revise salaries to be commensurate with the private sector (eg Poly grads to be paid salaries their female cohorts earn?) with "additional" budget from the increased salaries to be partly funded by a progressive "security tax" where the rich and better off residents pay higher tax since they have vested interest that Singapore remains safe and secure, such security provided by our NSmen? (Credit to suggestions taken from Mr Wang and other forummers in Sammyboy Coffee Shop Talk).

Alternatively, a combination of the above may result in shorter NS cycles for the citizens (perhaps the 6 months for basic training like Malaysia's model) or whatever.

KAYE POH

Is internal split within Workers' Party more important than Temasek's problems in Thailand?

2006-11-19T08:37:00.000+08:00

We are astonished that The Straits Times has published 3 articles on the recent political infighting in The Workers' Party (WP) in the span of 5 days:

Sunday Times November 12 Sunday

What's the story ? The Workers' Party was recently hit by the resignation of two senior members. Does it hint of trouble in the party? Peh Shing Huei and Ken Kwek investigate.

Straits Times November 10 Friday

Workers' Party hit by another resignation Rising star opposed to new party curbs on Internet postings Straits Times By Peh Shing Huei and Ken Kwek

Straits Times November 8 Wednesday

Senior WP member quits over Net fracas By Peh Shing Huei and Ken Kwek

When did the WP become the darling of the Singapore Media? With all due respect to WP, it is only a small political party with 2 seats in Parliament and does not deserve the disproportionate time and space allocated to it by the Straits times.

To make it more puzzling, Straits Times actually dedicated 2 prominent journalists in Ken Kwek and Peh Shing Huei to cover the WP debacle. We don't see them "investigating" with zeal the Temasek-Shin corp deal or the Wee Shu Kim saga.

As an institution and pillar of Singapore, the media has a responsibility to keep citizens well informed and updated about the nation's affairs instead of persistently avoiding important sensitive issues and diverting attention to an opposition party's internal affairs.

Singapore and Thailand face showdown after Temasek deal - IHT

2006-11-18T09:49:00.000+08:00

16 November 2006

By Wayne Arnold
International Herald Tribune

Bangkok insists phone deal broke law

SINGAPORE: They have been careful to appear cordial, but in the polite language of Asian diplomacy, a stubborn standoff has emerged between Thailand and Singapore over how to handle Singapore's purchase of the communications assets of the deposed prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and a legal confrontation between them is looming.

The trouble between the two Southeast Asian neighbors began in January, when Singapore's investment arm, Temasek Holdings, purchased a controlling stake in Thailand's dominant phone company, Shin, for $1.9 billion. That stoked public protests in Thailand over foreign ownership of a national champion and the Thaksin family's tax- free windfall - adding to complaints alleging corruption that culminated in the September coup.

With Thaksin in exile, both governments have emphasized that their relations are on track. Yet the two are now at loggerheads over Shin. (Read more...)

Your views: 2 China-born Singapore government scholarship holders with history of conviction given PRs

2006-11-18T09:16:00.000+08:00

17 Nov 2006

I read with much concern about the conviction of the 2 China-born Singapore Permanent Residents (PRs) on government (MOE) scholarships for beating up a fellow student last year. ("Campus jealousy: Two fined $1,000 for beating up fellow student", ST 17, Nov).

The facts as presented are:

1. Both are China-born nationals with S'pore government scholarships.

2. The incident happened in April 2005.

3. They received their PRs in 2006.4. One is now an engineer and the other an entrepreneur.

The questions I'd like the government to answer are:a. How did they manage to get their PRs this year when they already had a criminal record for the crime commited in April last year? -

Has our Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) lowered their standards that even criminals are now given PRs? - What are the criteria when granting PRs? - How many PRs out there with criminal records? - Are there checks in place to ensure those given PRs and citizenships are of good standing without any criminal records?b. How are government scholarships awarded?

The case shows even foreigners of dubious character are given scholarships, at the expense of citizens. This is ridiculous!.

The report does not indicate if these scholarship holders are bonded to the MOE (it doesn't seem so in the case of the entrepreneur). - Does this mean the scholarships are unconditional? - Is the engineer working in MOE or another stat board/GLC? - If so, how did he land that job when he has a criminal record?(Note: I assume the government has a central database linking the various ministries, stat boards, GLCs, so effectively, these 2 PRs' criminal records are available for access at these government bodies).

KAYE POH

Your views: To PM Lee: The needy will hold you to it to re-distribute some $1.6b yearly from GST hike

2006-11-17T08:25:00.000+08:00

Attached is copy of news article of 13 Nov 2006 taken from CNA on the primary justification for the GST to be increased from 5% to 7%.

(Read )

I note the noble efforts of the PAP government to "help the lower income group".

However, I sincerely hope that it is not just NATO ("No Action Talk Only") in the government's sincerity to help this lot.

To show its sincerity in walking the talk, I would expect to see the following in the coming years (actually, should be annually as a matter of fact) on how these lower income group are to be helped:

1. First, project how much will be generated with the GST increase - eg the 2% rise will generate an increase of some $1.6 billion to be distributed to this lower income group that needs help (assuming annual GST of $4b before the increase?);

2. Next, identify who are these citizens who need help (eg. those earning below $1000 per month or households having total income less than $2000 per month?);

3. How many of these are there? (eg if the bottom 20% households earn less than $2000 pm, then there should be about 200,000 eligible households that qualify if there are some 1,000,000 households in total);

4. Based on the above, a simplistic calculation will mean each household will receive some $8,000 per year ($1,600,000,000 divided by 200,000 households).

(Note: These figures are for illustration only as the government is in a better position to come up with the exact figures on how the resultant 2% GST increase will be distributed back to the needy.)

Remember, the government must be transparent on how the increased GST is to be spent to help the lower income group (as its justification for the increase) as I believe most of the affected Singaporeans have no problem in extending help to the needy.

And remember that this must be an on-going annual exercise unless the GST is reduced back to 5% in the future (which I honestly believe will not happen).

KAYE POH

Thailand sets up special panel to prove Temasek-Shin deal - AFP

2006-11-17T08:22:00.000+08:00

16 November 2006

Thai police have said a special panel will next week begin looking at possible violations of foreign ownership laws in the purchase of Thai telecom Shin Corp by Singapore's Temasek Holdings.

The new police panel will examine a Commerce Ministry review of the purchase, which found that Temasek may have violated rules that limit foreign companies to holding 49 percent of telecoms."

The team will have its first meeting next week to see what information we have received and who was involved in the case," said police Major General Vichien Singpreecha, who heads the panel."

Our officials are looking at the details of the allegations without any (political) pressure," he told AFP.The case could force Temasek to shed some of its stake in company, and is loaded with political and economic consequences for Thailand.

Shin Corp was founded by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a bloodless coup on September 19. (Read more...)

Your Views: Calling all Singaporeans for more suggestions on the proposed GST hike and more help for the needy

2006-11-15T11:59:00.000+08:00

The Prime Minister announced in Parliament on 13 November that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) may be increased to 7 percent, up from 5 percent presently. Mr Lee said the hike is necessary to finance the enhanced social safety nets, which are needed to help the lower income group.

There are plans to increase the grant to the needy to buy their first home, as well as to give them more "workfare" bonuses as an incentive to stay employed, and it will come with a package which will more than offset its impact on the poor.

Since May, there has been increases in chronological order, electricity, taxi fares, electronic road pricing (ERP), food and beverage prices due to the higher rentals of upgraded food centres, university fees, development charge for non-landed residential sites, bus and MRT fares, HDB 1-room and 2-room rentals, etc.

GST is a regressive tax because it generally affects the lower-income more than the higher-income. As income tax rates have been reduced gradually since the introduction of GST, the higher-income has also in a sense benefited more on a relative basis.

Instead of just increasing GST, I would like to suggest that we explore the possibility of taxing the higher-income more, as well as other cost-cutting measures like reducing the number of scholarships for foreigners. We could also consider waiving GST for basic necessities like food, utilities, public transport, medical fees, etc, like some other countries.

Past experience indicates that most businesses may just pass on the GST increase to consumers, often times disproportionately more than the actual increase.
"A package which will more than offset its impact on the poor" may lead to those who are marginally above the poverty level to be in a way "squeezed more" in relative terms.

Our experience with the New Singapore Shares (NSS), Economic Restructuring Shares (ERS), etc, has shown us that there may be leakages in the system in that tens of thousands may not get the help that was designed to help them most, because they failed to register by the datelines imposed.

Increasing GST may also affect Singapore's competitiveness internationally, as our current costs are already much higher that our neighbouring countries.

I suggest that a comprehensive study and review be conducted to examine the extent to which GST and its increases, may have contributed to the widening income gap. In so doing, we may avoid the fine balance of increasing the probable cause of the problem which we are trying to address, which may further aggravate the problem.

This is reflected in the Department of Statistics' (DOS) General Household Survey 2005 (GHS) that about 40 per cent of households had declining incomes (inclusive of the bottom 10 per cent of households which had no income from work, presumably most of which are retiree households) after adjusting for inflation from 2000 to 2005, and the DOS Household Expenditure Survey 2003's (HES) data that about 40 per cent of households had a deficit in their monthly income-expenditure.

We could also try to explore other resources that Singapore has to help the poor, such as our US$132 (S$205) billion foreign reserves which has been ranked number one in the world on a per capita basis. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Economic Outlook Database September 2006, Singapore is ranked number one in the world for current account balance in percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio. Singapore's ratio of 28.5 in 2006, is more than double the second ranked country, Switzerland's ratio of 13.3.

I believe the additional revenue from the two per cent GST increase is estimated to be less than $2 billion. This year, Temasek's paper losses in Shin Corp is already estimated to be over $1 billion and SingTel's SingTel Optus estimated expected write-down is about $8 billion. We could try to re-examine how our Government-linked Companies (GLCs) invest, particularly overseas, with a view to learning from the experience and the lessons, so that in future,we do not in just one year, have a paper loss that may be more than four times the annual increase in revenue from the GST increase.

The Government Investment Corporation (GIC) had returns of 8.2 per cent per annum for the last 25 years, and Temasek had returns of 18 per cent per annum for the last 32 years. With about $205 billion of foreign reserves, if just one per cent of the GIC and temasek's average annual returns is used to help the needy, there may be no need to increase GST, or a lower increase.

As to "plans to increase the grant to the needy to buy their first home", the lower-income may generally have a higher probability of encountering financial difficulty at some point in a typical 30-year mortgage, and thus risk losing their homes and CPF.

Some of the measures to help the needy, may unintentionally end up creating other problems for them.

Leong Sze Hian

Collation of all online petitions on GST hike

2006-11-15T00:31:00.000+08:00

To all Singaporeans,

The Singapore Media Watch has posted 2 petition links on our blog on the right hand column

Please email us if there are any more new petitions set up.

As URLs posted on internet forums are not easily visible and may disappeared from view as days pass by, we believe collating the links on one central website will make public viewing easier.

Please forward our blog to your friends and email us your views on the GST hike. We will publish it asap as long it contains no vulgarities or personal attacks against anybody.

THE EDITORIAL TEAM

Online petition: Say NO to GST Hike

2006-11-14T20:47:00.000+08:00

Contrary of what reported on the media, the proposed GST hike from the current 5% to 7% (read: here) was vehemently opposed by the online community in Singapore.

Far from being muted and restrained, Singaporeans from all walks of life have registered their unhappiness on internet forums.

A petition was set up by an anonymous netizen to protest against the hike:

http://www.gsthike.com/index.php

Tell us what you think about the proposed GST hikes here.

Temasek in Thailand: Stumbling from one mishap to another - Bangkok Post

2006-11-14T08:21:00.000+08:00

Thitinan Pongsudhirak
Bangkok Post
13 Nov 06

In view of their scandalous dealings with deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family, senior Singaporean officials are remarkably defiant.

Instead of owning up to their complicity in hastening Mr Thaksin's demise and contributing to Thailand's long and costly political crisis, both Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew remain adamant that Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government-owned holding company that purchased the Shinawatras' 49.3% stake in Shin Corp last January to the tune of 73.3 billion baht, is a run-of-the-mill business enterprise that made a sound investment decision.

Never mind that Temasek's decision to let Mr Thaksin and his family cash out of Shin Corp sparked protracted protests in Bangkok that culminated with the military coup and Mr Thaksin's ouster on Sept 19.

Never mind that the executive director and CEO of Temasek is Prime Minister Lee's wife, Madam Ho Ching, who has more or less kept out of the limelight in favour of her husband and father-in-law.

As if to heap insult on top of injury, Prime Minister Lee stated in a speech to the Asian-European Editors Forum on Oct 6 that the Thai putsch was a setback for the country's democratic system.

Justifying his view on Mr Thaksin's electoral prowess, Mr Lee completely missed the essence of the Thai crisis. It was Mr Thaksin's erosion of legitimacy on a long trail of constitutional violations, corruption and abuse of power that led to his downfall.

Elections without accountability and checks-and-balances under Mr Thaksin's Thailand were necessary but not sufficient for acceptable democratic rule.Minister Mentor Lee followed his son's remark with the insistence that the Temasek-Shin Corp transaction was completely above board.

Both father and son did what Mr Thaksin would have done. They insisted on what is legal on paper but illegitimate and possibly illegal in practice. On the one hand, Temasek is ostensibly an independent company that bought Shin Corp, nominally owned by the Shinawatra children, not Mr Thaksin himself.

On the other, Temasek is owned by the Singaporean government and directed by the prime minister's spouse, and Shin Corp was ultimately owned and governed by Mr Thaksin, despite the absence of his signature on paper.

To finalise the deal, Temasek set up a front operation through Kularbkaew, a nominally majority Thai-owned company that bought Shin Corp with loans from Temasek, a circumvention of local foreign business law and its foreign shareholding limit of 49%.

Such legalistic manoeuvres were Thaksinesque, manipulating the spirit of the law, rules and regulations. Temasek's actions have caused ripples through the foreign investor community in Thailand, and have posed a conundrum for Thai policy makers, who have long been lenient with the enforcement of the Foreign Business Act.

Official investigations on nominee shareholding have opened a can of worms that could prove detrimental both to foreign investment and to the Thai economy unless an acceptable compromise that imposes punitive measures on Shin Corp without adversely affecting foreign companies across the board can be found.

To be sure, Shin Corp comprises tainted assets based on state concessions Mr Thaksin carved out unscrupulously, ranging from a mobile phone service and a television station to a satellite operation. That Shin Corp's paper wealth more than trebled during Mr Thaksin's rule was critical in laying the basis for the anti-Thaksin demonstrations.

His political power increased his commercial wealth with the benefit of blatant conflicts of interest.The political fallout from Temasek's Shin Corp investment decision has been profound. It led indirectly to the fall of a Thai government.

For the Lee family to feign ignorance and maintain their self-righteous high ground is disingenuous. It does a disservice to Temasek's intention to navigate a way out of the commercial quagmire. The company has belatedly established an office in Bangkok, presumably to undertake a public relations drive and mount a legal rearguard action to protect its interests.

Without Mr Thaksin at the top, Shin Corp's share price has gone into a tailspin. The prospects of Shin Corp companies are utterly murky.More importantly, the Temasek affair has put Thai-Singaporean relations at risk.

Despite his setback remark on Thai democracy and his insistence of Temasek's innocence, PM Lee has seen fit to raise the issue with Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont in their personal meeting. Gen Surayud rightly assigned the Temasek-Shin Corp case to the Thai judicial process.

Without assistance from the Surayud government, Thai law will have the final say.Thai-Singaporean relations at the government level, of course, will continue unimpeded by the Shin Corp scandal. What is at stake for Singapore is the general sentiment among the Thai people towards the island state.

If Singapore's leaders want to repair the damage caused by Temasek's misadventure, they should begin by owning up to how the Shin Corp deal impacted the Thai body politic. However reluctant, words of regret are needed to mend relations and restore Singapore's reputation in local eyes.

Indeed, if the Temasek-Shin Corp deal was completely above board, as PM Lee maintains, Singapore officials would not have to repeatedly insist that it was completely above board.

The writer is director of the Institute of Security and International Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.

Surayud to Singapore amid Shin saga - Bangkok Post

2006-11-11T17:35:00.000+08:00

11 November 2006

(dpa) - Thailand's military-appointed prime minister departed Thursday for a one-day visit to Brunei and Singapore, with the latter expected to be the tenser of the two whistle-stops. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont was scheduled to meet Thursday morning with Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah before flying on to Singapore where he will meet with President SR Nathan, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

While the stopovers are in keeping with regional diplomatic etiquette - newly appointed leaders of member countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) try to prioritise state visits to the grouping - Surayud's Singapore swing promises to be more than just a pleasantry.

It comes at a time of rising Thai-Singapore tensions over the January 23, 2006, purchase of Shin Corp - the business conglomerate of the family of former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra - by Temasek Holdings of Singapore.

The $1.9 billion sale raised serious questions about Thaksin's legitimacy as a national leader and accusations of "policy corruption," if not outright cheating on taxes. (Read more...)

Singapore to tighten curbs on free speech - Financial Times

2006-11-11T15:30:00.000+08:00

By John Burton in Singapore
Published: November 10 2006 01:19 Last updated: November 10 2006 01:19

Singapore is proposing to tighten laws governing the internet and public gatherings as part of an overhaul of the city-state’s penal code.

The changes would give the government broader statutory authority to prosecute offenders and to punish them with higher fines, in spite of promises by Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister, to promote an “open society”.

Singapore has some of the world’s toughest restrictions on free speech and assembly. The issue received international attention during the recent International Monetary Fund/World Bank annual meeting. Singapore banned outdoor protests and some accredited representatives of non-governmental organisations were barred from entering.

Reporters Without Borders recently ranked Singapore 146th out of 167 countries surveyed for press freedom. (Read more...)

Forum review: what's hot and what's not

2006-11-09T22:17:00.000+08:00

Young PAP Forum

Are some Singaporeans ungratefu about what the PAP....

With the furore over the Wee Siew Min saga abating, a forumer started a thread on whether Singaporeans have forgotten the contributions the PAP has made to Singapore over the past 4 decades. This has garnered 132 replies so far

http://www.youngpap.org.sg/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=11682

Sammyboy Delphi Forum

Latest: Goh Meng Seng resigns from WP

An online squabble between forumers and WP (Workers' Party) members claimed its first casualty when Mr Goh Meng Seng took responsibility for the fracas and resigned from the WP.

In an interview with Straits Times on 8 November, Mr Goh said he has quitted the party to be accountable for Internet postings he said had tarnished the WP's reputation.

Not surprisingly, his resignation sparked off a thread in the Sammyboyforum where the alleged postings were made, garnering 228 replies so far.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=sammyboymod&msg=123131.1

Roundup of regional news - 9 November 2006

2006-11-09T22:09:00.000+08:00

International Herald Tribune

Time 'right' for change, Bush says

WASHINGTON: Faced with the collapse of his Republican majority in Congress, President Bush responded swiftly Wednesday by announcing the departure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and vowing to work with Democrats "to find common ground" on the war in Iraq and domestic issues.

With Democrats having recaptured the House and control of the Senate hinging on the outcome of a single unsettled contest in Virginia, Bush, sounding alternately testy and conciliatory at a White House news conference, said he was "obviously disappointed." He portrayed the results as a cumulative "thumpin' " of Republicans, and conceded that as head of the party, he bore some responsibility. (Read more...)

Reuters

Two Thai mobile firms fight to cut payments

BANGKOK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Thailand's number two and three mobile phone firms said on Thursday they had joined forces to seek change in the way they pay revenues to state firms that made them less competitive than rival Advanced Info Service .

Second-ranked Total Access Communication (TAC) and number three True Move PCL told a joint news conference AIS, which has more than 50 percent of the mobile phone market, had lower operating costs than them.

"It's time for both of us to raise our voice," TAC chief executive Sigve Brekke said. "We are pointing out that AIS has enjoyed a lot of advantages."

They have filed a letter of complaint to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) regulator and asked the Information, Communications and Technology Ministry to investigate and help create fair competition. (Read more...)

In Focus: Objective Journalism and its role in society (Final)

2006-11-09T14:51:00.000+08:00

How objective journalism can fail to reveal the truth
Kirk Caraway, kcaraway@nevadaappeal.com February 20, 2005

When President George W. Bush came out with his 2006 budget recently, it received a lot of attention in the press. Too bad that most of it missed the most obvious problem with it.

While stating the budget was in line with his commitment to cut the deficit in half by 2009, Bush failed to mention the three items that weren't in the budget.

First, there is the cost the war in Iraq. Next up, we have the $1 trillion (at least) price tag to privatize Social Security.

And lastly, there is the continuation of the tax cuts, which are set to expire, but that Bush said he wants to make permanent.

In other words, this budget isn't very truthful. In fact, deceptive is about the nicest description you can use for it. (Read more...)

Temasek's folly: Alarm over AIS 'bonus' of Bt80 bn - The Nation

2006-11-09T01:39:00.000+08:00

Questions raised as to why TOT cut revenue repayment of Shin's cash-cow

Temasek Holdings of Singapore will suffer a further setback to its inroads here if the Assets Examination Committee takes on leading cellular firm Advanced Info Service Plc (AIS) for allegedly benefiting from policy corruption by the state-owned TOT Plc that could cost Thailand more than Bt80 billion.

Korn Chatikavanij, deputy secretary-general of the Democrat Party, and Chienchuang Kalayanamit, executive director of Stern Stewart (Thailand) Co, have separately assessed the loss to TOT which it would sustain through to 2015 when the concession to AIS ends.

AIS is the money-spinner in the Shin Group, founded by ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family.

On Tuesday, Chienchuang submitted a statement to Kaewsan Atibodhi, secretary of the Assets Examination Committee (AEC), asking for a full investigation into the AIS concession, as revised under the Thaksin government. The appeal claimed that the relaxed payment terms would cost TOT more than Bt80 billion in lost revenue. (Read more...)

Your Views: Parliament to convene Commission of Inquiry on Shin purchase?

2006-11-08T12:31:00.000+08:00

8 Nov 2006

I would like to ask if it is appropriate for the Parliament to convene a Commission of Inquiry into the whole Shin Corp transaction to get to the bottom of it all, and if so, how can such be initiated? Can the public initiate it or must it be initiated by MPs/NCMP?

Since this Temasek transaction involves both huge potential losses of citizens' hard-earned money (in billions) and newspapers' allegations of breaches and so on, shouldn't it be equally important for such citizens' concerns be cleared through the democratic Parliamentary process?

If it can only be initiated by MPs, then I would urge the Opposition MPs/NCMP to initiate one since I would not expect the PAP MPs to do it.

If it can be done, I would like Temasek's Chairman and ex-minister/MP, Mr S Dhanabalan, its CEO, Mdm Ho Ching (wife of PM Lee), and the then MD of Temasek involved in the transaction, Mr S Iswaran (now promoted to Minister of State and MP) to be called in for cross examination.

Thank you for your kind consideration.

KAYE POH

Your views: Gencos making all the profits ?

2006-11-08T00:13:00.000+08:00

7 Nov 2006

I refer to the letter in today's Straits Times, "Singapore Power's tariffs don't reflect market forces".Through one of the greatest accounting acts of the government, it has claimed that HDB has been generating deficits in its books due to the subsidies given to purchasers under its Home Ownership scheme.

But if you look at the whole value chain, the profits are actually accounted for in the Land authority's (ie. government's) books (SLA) - the government acquires the land cheaply and then "sells" it to HDB at the market rate, hence the subsidy from HDB when they are eventually sold to homeowners at a price of "market price less subsidy".

Left hand (HDB) makes loss while Right hand (SLA) makes profit. The net results is probably a tidy profit for the government as the land was probably compulsorily acquired on the cheap during the early years of national development.

As in the case of HDB and the SLA, Singapore Power (SP) works in the same "Left-hand-right-hand" principle: Left hand (SP) reputedly "subsidizing" the citizens while the Right hand (the power generating companies - gencos - like Power Seraya etc) making the profits, obscene profits, in preparation for their eventual IPOs.

The moral of the story: look at the whole value chain and not only SP in isolation. Therefore, how much profits are the gencos making every year? How do they pass on the savings when energy prices drop?

KAYE POH

'Enemies of the internet named' - BBC

2006-11-07T22:21:00.000+08:00

BBC News 7 November 2006

A list of 13 "enemies of the internet" has been released by human rights group Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

For the first time, Egypt has been added to the list while Nepal, Libya and the Maldives have all been removed.

The list consists of countries that RSF believes are suppressing freedom of expression on the internet.

The civil liberties pressure group has organised a 24-hour protest, inviting web users to vote for the worst offending countries. (Read more...)

Singapore defends financial secrecy - Financial Times

2006-11-07T19:37:00.000+08:00

By John Burton in Singapore
Published: November 6 2006 01:25

Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's elder statesman, has defended the secrecy of the government's powerful investment agencies in spite of demands that they become more accountable in the wake of Temasek Holdings' troubled takeover of Shin Corp, the Thai telecoms group.

“To the outside world, curious to know the inner workings of Temasek, of the Government Investment Corporation of Singapore, it's unnecessary secrecy. But we have reasons for that. Some we're prepared to disclose, some we're not,” he said.

Temasek and GIC are estimated to control more than $200bn (€157bn, £105bn) in assets and they have emerged among the biggest investors in Asia. (Read more...)

Govt to seek iTV fine of Bt 94bn - The Nation

2006-11-07T14:43:00.000+08:00

PM's Office to submit all documentation to attorney-general within two weeks

The Prime Minister's Office will submit to the attorney-general within two weeks documentation of its dispute with iTV Plc. It seeks more than Bt94 billion from the broadcaster.

PM's Office permanent secretary Julayuth Hiranyawisit said yesterday a panel overseeing the concession contract calculated total fines, plus interest, were now Bt94.06 billion.

"It has been nearly six months since the Attorney General's Office advised us to file for compensation. Now, we will submit documents to that office and to PM's Office Minister Khunying Dhipavadee Meksawan for acknowledgement," Julayuth said. (Read more...)

5th least corrupt country - TODAY

2006-11-07T11:08:00.000+08:00

5th least corrupt country

Singapore is the fifth least corrupt country in the world, according to Transparency International's 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index.

It measures perceived levels of public sector corruption in 163 countries.

On a scale of 0 to 10, Singapore's score was 9.4, compared to 9.6 for Finland and Iceland, the two countries perceived to be the least corrupt. — 938LIVE http://www.todayonline.com/articles/153083.asp

Ranked 12th in Bribe Payers Index

However, in another ranking conducted by Transparency International, Singapore did not fare that well.

Here's the review:

"In Asia, strong domestic anti-corruption measures at home are not consistently translating into responsible business practices abroad, especially for Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. They are assessed significantly worse by respondents from non-OECD countries – the same divide is evident for the United Arab Emirates – indicating a sharp double standard in business practices. "

(Read more...)

Roundup of regional news - 6 November 2006

2006-11-07T00:03:00.000+08:00

International Herald Tribune

Helping a city keep spic and spam

'Garbage bin! Garbage bin!" The men with shotguns tumbled from the Land Rover in a crouch and trotted along beside it like marines taking cover behind a Humvee.

"Don't let them see your gun, they know about guns!" whispered the leader, Dennis Lim, a 20-year veteran of this kind of thing. (Read more...)

Taipei Times

Chen apologizes, skirts explanation

Although apologizing for harming the nation's image, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) refused to concede ground to his critics, but he offered few new insights into an alleged corruption scandal involving him, his wife and three top aides.

In a televised address carried live on the nation's news stations, the president gave a lengthy speech in which he defended his conduct, saying he had done nothing wrong.

The scandal rocked the political establishment when first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) and three presidential aides were indicted on Friday for various charges related to corruption, with prosecutors saying they had also collected enough evidence to bring charges against Chen. However, the president enjoys legal immunity to prosecution while in office. (Read more...)

A hospital stay and a glimpse of Singapore - Littlespeck.com

2006-11-06T11:04:00.000+08:00

It tells a lot about people's pain and stoicism, family bond and society's changes

By Seah Chiang Nee
Nov 5, 2006

Every stay I have had in a hospital here – believe me, there have been quite a few in the past 25 years – has been a lesson for me about life.

It's like opening the window to a changing society and allows me to catch a glimpse of Singaporeans’ pain and stoicism, as well as family ties, ethnic bonds and human care.

Recently, I spent three days at the Singapore General Hospital for a colonoscopy and treatment for a colon infection, and the experience was no difference.

(For the uninitiated Malaysian, the SGH is the largest hospital here where, sooner or later, every Singaporean or a friend or relative – and quite a few foreigners, too – will spend time in.)

As I lay on my bed in ‘C’ ward, I had another opportunity to watch, in-between my antibiotic drips, some of my fellow patients and the scores of visitors who came to see them.

When you're staring at the ceiling for most of the day, you have a lot of time to watch, listen and reflect about the ordinary folks around you.

As with scores of previous stays, I have accumulated an impression about the changes in our society. (Read more...)

This was published in The Sunday Star on Nov 5, 2006
Mr Seah Chiang Nee is a veteran journalist and owner of the award-winning political website "Littlespeck.com"

Roundup of regional news - 5 November 2006

2006-11-05T13:26:00.000+08:00

Taipei Times

DPP legislators silent on indictment

Weighed down by the indictment of first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) for alleged corruption, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) headquarters and caucus yesterday remained quiet and appeared to be in low spirits.

When approached by the press in the Legislature yesterday morning, DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) left his office without giving his opinions.

Former DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), known for his outspokenness, said in a phone interview that a consensus was reached in a Friday night meeting that DPP members would not accept media interviews on the matter.

DPP Legislator Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) also refused to comment on the indictment or on details of the meeting when quizzed by members of the press over the telephone. (Read more...)

The Star

Giant step to boost growth

JOHOR BARU: More than RM17bil is expected to be initially pumped into the 2,217sq km project, which is 2.5 times the size of Singapore and 48 times that of Putrajaya.
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said it was Malaysia’s vision to make the region the new international address for business, investment, leisure and culture and to showcase all that the nation could be.

“Not only will this ambitious effort benefit the people of Johor, it will also bring great returns to all Malaysians,” he said in his speech at the launch of the SJER by Johor's Sultan Iskandar Ibni Almarhum Sultan Ismail. (Read more...)

In Focus: Objective Journalism and its role in society (Part 3)

2006-11-05T13:20:00.000+08:00

Rethinking Objective Journalism

By Brent Cunningham, Columbia Journalism Review. Posted July 9, 2003.

In his Mar. 6 press conference, in which he laid out his reasons for the coming war, President Bush mentioned al Qaeda or the attacks of Sept. 11 fourteen times in fifty-two minutes. No one challenged him on it, despite the fact that the CIA had questioned the Iraq-al Qaeda connection, and that there has never been solid evidence marshaled to support the idea that Iraq was involved in the attacks of 9/11.

When Bush proposed his $726 billion tax cut in January, his sales pitch on the plan's centerpiece -- undoing the "double-taxation" on dividend earnings -- was that "It's unfair to tax money twice." Over the next two months, the tax plan was picked over in hundreds of articles and broadcasts, yet a Nexis database search turned up few news stories (notably, one by Donald Barlett and James Steele in Time on Jan. 27, and another by Daniel Altman in the business section of The New York Times on Jan. 21) that explained in detail what was misleading about the president's pitch: in fact, there is plenty of income that is doubly, triply, or even quadruply taxed; and these other taxes affect many more people than the sliver who would benefit from the dividend tax cut.

Before the fighting started in Iraq, in the dozens of articles and broadcasts that addressed the potential aftermath of a war, much was written and said about the maneuverings of the Iraqi exile community, the shape of a postwar government, and the cost and duration and troop numbers. Important subjects all. But few of those stories, dating from late last summer, delved deeply into the numerous and plausible complications of the aftermath. (Read more...)

Roundup of regional news - 3 November 2006

2006-11-03T19:10:00.000+08:00

International Herald Tribune

Taiwan's first lady indicted on corruption charges

TAIPEI, Taiwan: Prosecutors in Taiwan said Friday they have enough evidence to indict President Chen Shui-bian on corruption charges in connection with his handling of a secret diplomatic fund, significantly adding to pressures on Chen to resign.

The announcement by Chang Wen-cheng of the Taiwan High Prosecutors' Office came after a monthslong probe of how the presidential office handled the fund, which is used to sustain Taiwanese diplomatic efforts abroad.

Chen's wife, Wu Shu-chen, and three former presidential aides were indicted in connection with the handling of the fund on charges of embezzlement, forgery of documents and perjury, Chang said.

He said that between 2002 and 2006, Wu took possession of 14.8 million New Taiwan dollars (US$450,000; €350,000) in fund expenses not covered by receipts. (Read more...)

Financial Times

Taiwan’s president Chen named graft suspect

Taiwanese prosecutors on Friday declared President Chen Shui-bian a suspect in a corruption case as they said they had indicted his wife, Wu Shu-chen, on charges of graft.

Mr Chen, who has 20 months left on his current term in office and cannot be prosecuted while serving as president, is accused of obtaining “illegal financial gains” through his office, prosecutors told reporters.

The president could face charges once his term ends in 2008 or before then if he is forced out of office. He has been the subject of a vast and persistent protests in recent months calling for him to step down over a string of scandals to hit both his office and his family.

The main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) on Friday called for Mr Chen to step down and security forces were erecting barricades in the streets of Taipei in preparation for possible protests. (Read more...)

Media Watch: A more open house - TODAY

2006-11-02T15:06:00.000+08:00

Lift the Whip more often and let MPs speak from the heart

Wayne Soon

A healthy democracy not only hinges on an active citizenry or a competent and responsive Cabinet, but also on the diversity of voices in Parliament.

In the months after the convening of the 10th Parliament in 2001, Singaporeans saw a livelier Parliament than usual with the then Prime Minister, Mr Goh Chok Tong, promising more opportunities to lift the party Whip on parliamentary Bills and motions, so as to foster more open debates.

This was to dispel the notion of People's Action Party (PAP) MPs as compliant and uncritical party followers, as well as to strengthen the belief that open and constructive debate can improve the formulation and implementation of public policy.

Mr Goh's announcement sent a strong signal that MPs — especially new ones — could speak up freely to question public policies. Backbenchers and junior Ministers, such as Ms Irene Ng, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Dr Amy Khor, Mr Heng Chee How and Mr Tan Soo Khoon among many others, took up the challenge, raising numerous issues and proposing policy alternatives.

Topics tackled ranged from National Service and education reforms, to the tweaking of the Central Provident Fund and the Nominated MP (NMP) scheme. Some of these new, active MPs took advantage of the more open House by sharpening their thinking and rhetorical skills in the debate on policies; a number went on to become ministers and respected backbenchers in their own right.

All things being equal, the knowledge that the Whip will be lifted fosters vibrant debates, even if some feel the conclusion is a foregone one.

Lifting the Whip more frequently would allow the new MPs and ministers to be tested on their ability to forge consensus in the making of public policies. It would aid ministers to be more persuasive in rallying their fellow MPs and, by extension, the public, by sharpening the rationalising of unpopular policies. (Read more...)

Our Review

Based on the author's optimism of the ability of PAP backbenchers to provide meaningful debate on public policies and the many examples he has raised, an outsider may be forgiven for believing that an alternative voice from an oppositioin party is not necessary in Singapore.

After all, what role can 2 miserable opposition MPs in Parliament play when there are so many new, independent and most importantly, critical PAP MPs who are willing to jump into the baptism of fire in politics and speak out openly against their Party?

This article has effectively negate the importance and need of having a strong opposition party in Singapore to provide check and balance and at the same time vindicated the flaws inherent in our Parliament where there are only 2 opposition voices compared to 82 PAP MPs.

Undue emphasis was placed instead on frivolous matters like the lifting of the Party Whip to allow members to "foster debate, even though the conclusion is a foregone one". Isn't parliamentary debate a means to reach a broad consensus on critical national issues concerning the lives of ordinary Singaporeans?

If the government has already decided on a course of action pertaining to a policy, why should a Parliament be convened to "discuss" it at all? Shouldn't the debate taken place among the MPs before putting it to the vote in order to reach a decision?

Party Whip: a whip of necessity or convenience?

In 2oo1, then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong promised to lift the party whip more often to foster active debate in Singapore. Undoubtedly, this was an astute political move to neutralized critics who bemoan the let of policy discussion in Parliament and to assauge partially the wishes of Singaporeans to have more alternative voices in Parliament to pre-empt the PAP from having a "one-way ticket" in drafting and passing of bills.

Mr Goh outlined his "vision" clearly in a Straits Times interview: "I would want to form an alternative policies group in Parliament, comprising 20 PAP MPs. These 20 PAP MPs will be free to vote in accordance with what they think of a particular policy. In other words, the whip for them will be lifted."

However, an astounding reverse was made 2 years later following a strong rebuttal by PM Goh to PAP backbencher Amy Khor's use of the word "betrayal" in decrying the government's refusal to restore the CPF cuts:

"If you sing Jailhouse Rock with your electric guitar when others are playing Beethoven, you are out of order. The whip must be used on you."

Ultimately, there are no strict guidelines governing the use of the party whip and it is entirely dependent on the Prime Minister's discretion. The party whip will be used on important matters where the party's stance overrides all individuals' concernes and misgivings such as the recent decision to allow casinos to be set up in Singapore while it can be lifted for minor issues to be debated so as to "dispel the notion that PAP MPs are compliant and uncritical followers."

Which comes first: the party or constituents?

MPs represent the residents of their constituency. They are expected and required to safeguard their interests and speaking out for them in the Parliament. They are the voice of the common people whose views are seldom sought out or considered in the formulation and implementation of public policies affecting their daily lives.

When there is a conflict in interestbetween the party's stance and the people's wishes, which side will the PAP MP stand on? PAP MPs are required to vote strictly according to the Party's line and not to their own personal preferences. In the end, in spite of the "diversity" of voices present, there can only be one view, one choice and one decision.

With an overwhelming majority in Parliament, there is no check on the ruling party's executive power. Needless to say, PAP MPs who are bound by their party protocol will abide by their party and therefore however "fierce" and "passionate" their intra-party debates may be, it is merely a facade with no real substance or impact.

Self-censorship

Before Parliament convened today, we already have a taste of what to expect from our new PAP MPs. In interviews conducted by the mainstream media on various days, they have given us a hint on what they are likely to say in Parliament.

Ms Denise Phua wants more help from the government for mentally challenged children, Dr Lim Wee Kiat will highlight the "ungraciousness" of Singaporeans and Mr Sam Tan hopes the government will pay more attention to the poor and needy.

All these are important communal local issues that Singaporeans are concerned with, but of more interest are national issues such as the government's handling of the foreign media during the IMF/WB meetings in September and the Temasek-Shin corp saga. Will any of the new PAP MPs bring these sensitive topics up for discussion?

Diversity of voices doesn't mean alternative voices

Is it a misunderstanding that the first sentence in the article on "diversity of voices" has led ironically to the discussion being focused on its replacement by "alternative intra-party voices"?

Diversity of voices can never be the real alternative voices Singaporeans yearn for if there is only one political party calling the shots in Parliament.

Alternative voices that truly foster vibrant debate in policy-making can only be provided by a multitude of political parties, each representing the interests of their electorate.

The PAP is only interested in paying lip-service to the people in order to score political points, as illustrated by SM Goh's words:

"To us, alternative voice doesn't mean alternative voice in Parliament. Therefore alternative voices can be heard and will be heard outside of Parliament. We must do it outside of Parliament, inside of Parliament is only one, two voices at the most."

With only one or two "alternative" voices allowed in Parliament, it is more economical and time-saving not to have any Parliamentary debates altogether.

Your views: MDA's statement misleading and insensitive

2006-11-02T00:59:00.000+08:00

jjI refer to media reports on Starhub Cable Vision being fined by the Media Development Authority (MDA) for showing footage of lesbian sex and bondage on Zone Reality Channel's reality series Cheaters.

I take issue with the callous and misleading language used by the Media Development Authority, an act which would perpetuate discrimination against lesbians, who are already marginalised in Singapore.

This is what the MDA wrote in its press release on the 23rd of October about the programme:

"It contained footages of a woman engaging in lesbian sex acts with another woman. While pixilation was used during the sex scenes, it was still obvious to viewers that the women were naked and engaging in unnatural sex acts.

The programme also showed the woman tied to a bed in a bondage session with two other women. The visuals were deemed to be sexually suggestive and offensive to good taste and decency.

The programme also promotes lesbianism as a lifestyle, which breaches the Programme Code. The woman manages to get her boyfriend to accept her lifestyle and to invite other people to engage in threesomes with them."

I do not condone or condemn the programme in question. But I am appalled by the way the MDA sinisterly equates a "lesbian lifestyle" with having both men and women engaged in mixed-sex threesomes.

It shows a complete lack of understanding on the sexual dynamics of certain heterosexual couples, some of whom identify as heterosexual - not homosexual - but choose to engage in
this alternative sexual arrangement.

More dangerously, it assumes that all lesbians engage in threesomes - with the opposite sex to boot - and this is part of their lifestyle.

This presumption is particularly offensive because many lesbians - just like heterosexual couples - form long-term monogamous unions even though they are not allowed marry under the law.

Bondage is not part of this so-called "lesbian lifestyle"; it is merely a sexual preference that certain people choose to engage in. Someone reading certain local women's magazines would be dazzled by the array of sex acts - including bondage acts - that their readers are being taught to perform on their male partners. Should we then, based on this, say that bondage is part
of the heterosexual lifestyle too?

While the MDA is entitled to police what it deems to be sexually explicit programmes on TV, it owes Singaporeans far greater sensitivity in its use of the language. An inclusive Singapore is a Singapore that is aware of, and sensitive to the needs of all its minorities.

Many lesbian women in Singapore already have a tough time trying to undo years of damage brought on by a society that constantly told them it was wrong to love another woman. It would be a great shame if the Government perpetuates such homophobia by misrepresenting the lifestyles of this sexual minority.

Ms. Eileena Lee Wann Yuen

Regional news roundup - 1 Nov 2006

2006-11-02T00:45:00.000+08:00

Asean hails the benefits of friendship with China

HONG KONG: From the announcements of a $25 billion contract to import liquefied natural gas from Malaysia to a $1 billion investment in a Philippines nickel mine, China this week has been flaunting its growing economic and political might with its near neighbors in Asia.

And Southeast Asian leaders, who gathered in China on Monday and Tuesday to mark 15 years of close relations between their region and its economic giant, have been scrambling to secure investment and trade deals, and to praise Beijing's largesse.

The rhetoric of the 10 leaders of the Association of South East Asian Nations is that China's rise presents a historic economic opportunity rather than a security threat. Chinese and Southeast Asian leaders at the China- Asean Business and Investment Summit spoke effusively of a relationship based on "mutual trust in politics and economic integration." (Read more...)

Outrage sparked by "Wedding of the Year" video

Burma's wedding of the year took place in July, but it's again the talk of the town—following the release of video footage showing the marriage of Senior Gen Than Shwe's daughter with an army major in a ceremony that has angered many because of its over-the-top opulence, according to the Chiangmai-based Irawaddy magazine.

"People were shocked to see the extravagance of the wedding," said a reporter with a Rangoon local journal. "They're asking themselves where the money came from in a country that ranks as one of the world's poorest."

"People are just outraged," said the editor of a business weekly. Viewers were offended not only by the extravagance of the event, where Thandar Shwe and her bridegroom, Maj Zaw Phyo Win, a deputy director at the Ministry of Commerce, were showered with expensive gifts, including luxury cars, houses and jewellery, but also by its crass lack of good taste.

The total value of the wedding gifts was said to be a staggering US$50 million (Bt1.8 billion). Read more...

Updates from the Editorial Team - 31 October 2006

2006-10-31T15:42:00.000+08:00

Thanks for your support!

The Editorial Team will like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to all our readers for their kind feedback.

Your input is highly valued and we take both your suggestions and criticism seriously.

Please continue to support our project and share this blog with your friends.

Let us work together towards building and promoting an active citizenry in Singapore.

Appeal for writers and webmasters

Due to increase in flow of traffic to our blog, we need more resources to maintain and keep it going.

We need writers and webmasters to update this blog daily. With more members on board, we will be able to publish more news analyses and commentaries for you.

Email us at mediawatchsg@gmail.com if you are keen to join the Editorial Team.

Ex-Rafflesians: we want to hear from you !

The recent controversy surrounding Wee Shu Min, a RJC girl has put the Rafflesian community in the spotlight. Are Rafflesians as "elitist" as Miss Wee or are they grossly misunderstood ?

We want to hear from ex-Rafflesians themselves their views on this. Share with us your school life in the old RJC campus at Ghim Moh.

Email us at: mediawatchsg@gmail.com !

Wee Shu Min: Is she devastated ?

2006-10-31T15:38:00.000+08:00

Far from it, ex-classmate says she’s ‘laughing’ at and ‘mocking’ web responses.

"I was a top student from RJC (Raffles Junior College). Just graduated a few years ago. Most people that I know in RJC were just too full of themselves.

They thought that since they are from RJC, they are the smartest in Singapore. Unfortunately, many of my RJC friends have low EQ and common sense.

Most only know how to memorise and practice questions and possess very weak critical thinking skills."

"To follow up on what fellow Rafflesian, Gene, said above, I would like to emphasise that the majority of us from RJC are not like Shu Min.

In fact, few of us sympathise with her current "plight" (not that she is taking it badly, she was in fact laughing and mocking at the responses on various websites).

What had happened also did not surprise us because she is well known in school to have an inflated sense of superiority and low tolerance of the pedestrian and the uncultured.

But please remember that one Wee Shu Min does not make RJC. The rest of us from RJC should not be impeached because of her."

"I'm a classmate of Shu Min in RGS and RJC. Many of us don't know her well because she does move around in her own exclusive circle of the smart and well-connected.

And yes, she is conceited, overbearing and thinks that she and her clique own the world. But, I do think some of the comments here are excessive, even unreasonable.

You can fault her character and her worldview, but is there a need to descend to vulgarity?"

"As a Rafflesian, I am saddened that our good name has been smeared by the poison pen of one elitist female.

The saddest part of this episode is that she reminds me of the remark made by newbie Michael Palmer, "Before I joined the grassroots organisation, I never knew there were poor people in developed countries".

Where does the PAP find such freaks? They are no better than the Hitler Youth, and our country can only be the worse because of them."

Source: http://weikiatblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/looking-back-home.html

The Nation: Court to rule on Shin deal, PM tells Lee

2006-10-31T11:51:00.000+08:00

Surayud rules out govt interference as Singaporean prime minister urges a solution during Asean-China meeting

Prime Minister Sura-yud Chulanont yesterday told his Singapo-rean counterpart the military-backed government would not intervene in the judicial process over the controversial Temasek Holdings takeover of Shin Corp.

This followed a bilateral meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the Asean-China Summit in Nanning, China. It marked Surayud's first international meeting with top regional leaders.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong asked Surayud how Temasek's buy-out of Shin Corp could be amicably resolved.

In a rare move, Lee sought a way out for Temasek, which is the Singapore government's investment arm. He had been quoted as saying on several occasions the takeover of Shin Corp was based on business judgement alone and had nothing to do with the Singaporean government. (Read more...)

Editorial Review: The class divide behind the Wee Shu Min saga (Part 2)

2006-10-31T09:45:00.000+08:00

The "Elite" in Singapore schools and government: a syndrome or system?

In her blog, Miss Wee referred to herself as belonging to the "elite" and was slammed in return for her "elitist" remark. Is there a priviledged class in Singapore and who qualifies to be an "elite"?

Singapore has always pride itself to be a meritocracy where fair and equal opportunities are given to all its citizens to climb up the economic and social ladder regardless of race, religion or family background.

This is largely true in the education system where students are admitted to universities based solely on academic criteria and government agencies where stringent guidelines are in place to appraise and evaluate a civil servant's performance.

The "elite" is an anomaly borned out of the very success of Singapore's meritocracy which is based on the Darwinian principles of "natural selection" and "survival of the fittest".

Singapore students are assessed and categorized as young as 10 into different streams based on academic performance (this system was abandoned recently by the Ministry of Education and a different form of streaming based on aptitude instead will take its place in 2007).

At the end of 6 years of primary school education, students take the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) which will determine the "class" they belong to in the education system for the rest of their lives.

The top of the cohort will be selected to study in the best secondary schools in the country such as Raffles Institution, Raffles Girls School, The Chinese High, Victoria High, Anglo-Chinese School and Dunman High which are usually staffed with highly qualified and motivated teachers.

These students usually proceed to do well at the GCSE "O" levels to continue their pre-tertiary education at prestigious colleges such as Raffles Junior College where Miss Wee is currently pursuing her studies.

Upon graduation from junior college, many of these academic high-flyers will be cherry-picked and awarded scholarships by major government bodies such as PSC (Public Service Commission), EDB (Economic Development Board), SAF (Singapore Armed Forces) and ASTAR (Agency for Science, Technology And Research) where they are groomed and nurtured meticulosly to become future leaders of their respective organizations.

Unless they make a major blunder, scholars are usually guaranteed a rewarding career commanding pay packages littered with attractive perks and incentives comparable to the private sector.

The performance of these scholars in public service will be subjected to strict scrutiny and some are eventually invited to join politics by contesting in the election on the ticket of the ruling PAP (People's Action Party).

Of the 18 members of Singapore's current cabinet, all of them have university degree holders and 11 of them are past President, SAF or Colombo Plan scholars. (source: http://www.parliament.gov.sg/AboutUs/Org-government.htm)

In a most ironic fashion, this unique Singapore "brand" of meritocracy so espoused and applauded by its leaders is in fact the creator and perpetuator of a class of "elite" privy to certain economic and political rights not enjoyed by the rest of the population.

A class divide between the rulers and the ruled

Though the ruling PAP, which had enjoyed absolute monopoly of power in government since 1959, has overseen the transformation of Singapore from Third to First World nation in 4 decades, there is growing vocal opposition against its style of governance especially among young Singaporeans.

One common grouse is that the ruling PAP elite, having been living in an ivory tower throughout their lives where their paths are well mapped out by the system, are unable to understand and empathize with the difficulties encountered by the "man in the street".

The critics are quick to jump onto Mr Wee Siew Kim's remarks that he agreed "with her daughter's basic points" as being arrogant, insensitive and derogatory and on the whole reflects the government's dismissive and unsympathetic stance towards those asking for more assistance from them.

The backlash was particularly evident and disturbing on the internet, where, free from any government meddling or moderation, there were loud calls for Mr Wee to step down from his MP's position as he has lost all "morality" and "credibility". The unwillingness of the mainstream media to publish these articles further add fuel to the dissent and fury of netizens.

Besides Mr Wee, other PAP leaders and MPs have chosen to stay clear from the saga, preferring to regard this as a personal affair of Mr Wee completely unrelated to the government. By pulling a wool over their ears and eyes, they hope this unfortunate isolated episode will soon fade away in Singaporeans' memory.

There is no doubt that Singaporeans will soon forget and even forgive Miss Wee's words and the controversy from which it ensures. However, the real underlying issues that prompt Singaporeans to react en masse in unison remains unanswered.

As the flames sparked off by Mr Wee and her daughter eventually die off, smothering quietly beneath the ash is an increasingly palpable anger towards the government for all woes right or wrong, fair or unfair.

Instead of dismissing them as simply trouble-makers, it is time for the government to start acknowledging and engaging its critics in order to assauge this lingering malaise before further damage is done.

Editorial Review: The class divide behind the Wee Shu Min saga (Part 1)

2006-10-30T17:02:00.000+08:00

A recap of the saga

From anonymity to instant fame in a week. 18 year old Singapore girl "Wee Shu Min" became the third most searched name on Technorati after a blog entry by her made waves in Singapore's cyberspace and beyond.

Miss Wee was writing in her blog (her blog has been shut down, you can still read the original entry here) in response to an unpublished letter by a 35 year old Singaporean Mr Derek Wee (http://www.derekwee.blogspot.com/) on his concerns and fears about his livlihood in Singapore's competitive global job market.

Mr Derek Wee was dismissed as a "crackpot" and a "wretched, undermotivated, overassuming" leech by Miss Wee who ends off with a snide "please, get out of my elite uncaring face".

Her article soon found its way throughout Singapore's internet forums and blogs generating a huge furore amongst netizens with some writing in to the Straits Times to lambast her.

Miss Wee's father, Mr Wee Siew Kim who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ang Mo Kio GRC initially defended her in an interview with the Straits Times, but backed down under mounting pressure from the public and apolgized 2 days later to "those who are offended" by his remarks.

Undercurrent of discontent and disenchantment

For those of you who are not familar with Singapore, such vocal outpouring of public discontent against the personal views of a young lady may appear to be both unwarranted and unexpected.

After all, she is entitled to have her own opinions which are more for personal introspection than for public consumption. The fault ought to be shared by those who intruded her privacy by posting her personal details and pictures onto the internet and making a fuss out of it.

The barrage of criticism levelled at her is unfair, one might argue, since she is definitely not the only person in Singapore who harbors these thoughts and moreover, she did not intend her blog to be read by strangers other than her own inner circle of friends.

While it seems that public anger and discontent was directed at Miss Wee, much of it can be attributed to a simmering resentment against the government's policies which many do not dare to voice out. Miss Wee is just a convenient and timely punching bag for them to vent their frustrations on.

Mr Derek Wee's predicament is one that many Singaporeans can relate to and empathize with. The influx of foreign labor, both skilled and unskilled, in an increasingly competitive global economy has led to many middle-aged Singaporeans fearing and fighting for their rice bowls.

With no independent trade unions to protect workers' interests or legislation to safeguard the jobs of Singaporeans, MNCs can retrench employees at their whims and fancies with minimal penalties.

The apparent lack of support and benefits for retrenched workers, other than re-training and skills upgrading courses provided by various agencies under the umbrella of the Ministry of Manpower, has served to foster further disenchantment with the government which was perceived rightly or unrightly as being unsympathatic and unhelpful to the plight of Singaporeans who are retrenched or facing the threat of being retrenched.

To compound matters, Miss Wee belongs to the creme la crop of young Singaporeans who is guranteed a fast-track successful career in the civil service.

It doesn't help that her father is a MP of the ruling party and hence an embodiment of the establishment and natural target for detractors.

That explains why the usually benign and forgiving Singaporeans are particularly bitter and harsh towards Miss Wee.

In Part 2 of the article, to be published tomorrow, we will analyze how Singapore's meritocracy is in fact responsible for the creation and perpetuation of a class divide of "elite" in Singapore's education and political system

Your views: Was Mr Tongnoi hired on merit?

2006-10-30T15:59:00.000+08:00

I refer to Sunday Times "Thailand's Crown Prince rebukes official" (29 Oct 2006) and
the below article in Thailand's Nation online newspaper.

Was Mr Tongnoi, in his 70s who was earlier appointed as Temasek's advisor before being told he would not be joining Temasek after all, recruited on merit under Singpaore's so-called meritocracy system, as is expected of all GLCs/TLCs since they are handling the Singapore citizens' hard-earned reserves?

Correct me if I am wrong but the newspaper articles (including our very own Sunday Times) suggested that "Mr Tongnoi had abused power for his own benefit" as "he was
assigned to work according to his profession - which means translating and drafting English documents and occasionally writing letters". What value-added roles can his above-mentioned "profession" bring to Temasek as an "advisor" in Thailand?

Or to put it more pointedly, why does Temasek need a "translator" as advisor in running Shin Corp and its subsidiaries, basically a telecommunications group?

KAYE POH

The Nation: A question of misjudgment

2006-10-30T09:50:00.000+08:00

Temasek's attempt to try and peddle influence in Thailand by hiring a former royal employee has backfired

The scandal involving former royal aide MR Tongnoi Tongyai, accused by HRH Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn's Personal Affairs Office of making false claims about his employment status to pursue his own business interests, is worrisome.

The idea that Tongnoi had the temerity to misrepresent himself as a former deputy principal private secretary to His Majesty the King and adviser to the Crown Prince to peddle influence has caused a damaging misunderstanding and public confusion.

On Saturday, the Prince's Personal Affairs Office issued a statement attacking Tongnoi and clarifying that he was no longer in the employ of the Royal Household. The statement described Tongnoi as "a cunning man and personally immoral".

Last Tuesday, Temasek Holdings of Singapore, which faces possible investigation for alleged improper use of nominees in a complex deal to take over Shin Corp from deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family, announced that Tongnoi was to be appointed as chief adviser of the company's planned Thai office.

It was obvious Temasek had been seeking a connection with Tongnoi, believing his high standing and prestigious connections might be able to provide some sort of protection from current investigation by the Thai authorities.

A suit has been filed with the Supreme Administrative Court over whether the Information and Communications Ministry and the PM's Office should revoke the satellite and TV licence held by subsidiaries of Shin Corp as Temasek had breached the 49 per cent foreign ownership limit. (Read more...)

Updates from the Editorial Team - 29 October 2006

2006-10-29T17:36:00.000+08:00

Technical glitch in Blogger

Due to a technical glitch, we are unable to upload our articles to Blogger yesterday. We apologize to our readers who were surfing this newsblog studiously for the latest updates.

Weekly or daily updates?

We have been deliberating on whether to switch publishing on this newsblog from a daily to a weekly basis.

Publishing weekly will give us more time for the collation and writing of articles. What do you think? Feel free to give us your feedback at: mediawatchsg@gmail.com

Regional news roundup - 29 October 2006

2006-10-29T17:31:00.000+08:00

The Nation

TEMASEK DEAL
Prince's office hits out at TongnoiEx-royal aide appointed by S'pore firm slammed as 'cunning, immoral'

The Personal Affairs Office of HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn yesterday issued a strongly worded statement distancing itself from MR Tongnoi Tongyai, who was earlier named by Temasek Holdings of Singapore as its Thailand adviser.

Last Tuesday, Temasek, which has been facing sharp criticism here over its Bt140-billion acquisition of Shin Corp, was reported to have approached Tongnoi, a former royal aide, to be the chief adviser of its planned Thai office.

However, the plan was dropped two days later. According to a statement issued by Jimmy Phoon, a senior managing director of the Singaporean state investment firm, the appointment of Tongnoi had already been withdrawn. (Read more...)

Reuters

Singapore suspends human rights lawyer for a year

SINGAPORE, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Singapore has suspended a prominent opposition and human rights lawyer for a year on disciplinary grounds, according to court documents and media reports on Saturday.

M. Ravi, who has represented prominent opposition leader Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) on several occasions, and has defended two high-profile death penalty cases in the city-state, was suspended from practice for a year by the legal profession's top disciplinary body on Friday.

Ravi was suspended due to rude behaviour to a district judge in October, 2003, according to the local Straits Times newspaper. (Read more...)

In Focus: Objective Journalism and its role in society Part 2

2006-10-29T17:24:00.000+08:00

In our second segment on "Objective Journalism and its role in society", we bring you an abstract of an article by Mr Robert Fulford, a prominent columnist at two U.S dailies - The National Post and The Globe and Mail.

Entitled "'Objective Journalism' There's no such thing", Mr Fulford argued passionately, drawing from his years of experience as a columnist that he has never met an objective journalist in his life and wouldn't want to.

Below is an abstract of his article:

'Objective' journalism? There's no such thing

Robert Fulford

(The National Post, 8 May 2004)

Just before retiring as publisher of the Toronto Star on Wednesday, John Honderich remarked on CBC radio that the Star's coverage of Israel is "fair and objective" -- surely an outlandish claim.

As a careful reader of his paper, and a student of the Middle East, I'm as certain as I am of anything on Earth that the Star routinely gives the benefit of the doubt to Israel's enemies and denounces every flaw it finds in Israel's policy.

Yet Honderich said he had "looked at our coverage" from this perspective and added that "I've had distinguished people like Janice Stein," a University of Toronto political science professor, also examine it. These distinguished people had agreed that the coverage is "in no way biased."

How could they say that? Aside from news stories, which in theory might be discussed on a case-by-case basis, the Star has a leading columnist, Haroon Siddiqui, who almost always expresses hostility to Israel's policies.

Were the Star interested in fairness it would require, at minimum, a columnist of similar stature coming down just as often on Israel's side. The Star has no such writer; it's not conceivable that it could have.

More important, the word "objective," coming from a publisher at this late date, indicates a serious failure of self-knowledge. The principle of objectivity was unmasked long ago as a beguiling fiction. In the U.S., the Society of Professional Journalists eliminated the word "objectivity" from its ethics code in 1996. (Read more...)

Your views: Household income - 60% of Singaporeans may be in debt

2006-10-29T17:13:00.000+08:00

I refer to the household income from 2003 released in Sep 2005: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/ssn/feat/sep2005/pg1-7.pdf

Below is the average household income-expenditure:

Lowest 20% of households average income of S$795 per month(p.m.)average household expenditure of S$1,259.00 p.m.

Next 20% of households average income S$2,059.00 p.m.average household expenditure S$2,100.00 p.m.

Next 20% of households average income S$3,379.00 p.m.average household expenditure S$2,797.00 p.m.

Next 20% of households average income S$5,309.00 p.m.average household expenditure S$3,904.00 p.m.

Next 20% of households average income S$12,792.00 p.m.average household expenditure S$6,160.00 p.m.

Each household is occupied by 3.6 people, and taking the population at calender YE2005 of 4,351,000 citizens/residents, we have 1.2 million households. Every 20% percentile equals 240,000 households.

This means that there are potentially 720,000 families who cannot make ends meet every month (they have nothing left to save for rainy days).

Some have to resort to loans and credit spending. If we put wage cuts for CPF, and add expenditure items like mortgage repayments, GST, COE, ERP, income tax, etc. into consideration, the scenario is even grimer.

I hope the government can so something to solve this bread-and-butter issue instead of hiding it in the closet and get the media to write rosy news reports.

DeArcher

Your views: What can we do to try to prevent another Singaporean from being driven to desperation because he or she cannot pay bills?

2006-10-29T14:53:00.000+08:00

Mr Tan Jee Suan, a 46 year-old Singaporean odd-job labourer with two young children, committed suicide by jumping on to the MRT track at Chinese Garden station on October 18.

According to media reports, he had been receiving financial assistance from South-West Community Development Council of $120 a month from September 2003 to November 2004, $375 a month from November 2004 to June 2005, and was rejected twice last year and this year applying for financial assistance, because his household monthly income was $1,400.

On his third attempt to apply for financial assistance in February, he was advised to apply for the Pay-As-You-Use (PAYU) meter to pay for utilities, but he found it too complicated and gave up.

He had a history of not having a steady job, and after being unemployed for the last four months, owed over $1,000 in utilities for more than four months, HDB payments, school fees for a year, etc.

Of late, they were having difficulty putting three meals on the table, and were surviving mostly on instant noodles. When Mr Tan was found, he had only $16 in his wallet.

His last act on the day he died was to tell his wife that he would find some money to give to her and gave nine dollars to his youngest son for the family's dinner and transport fares, and told him that he was going to work and asked him to look after his mother.

Despite being a person with a polio disability, his wife was working in a factory earning about $500 a month. She pays about $50 a month for her medical fees.

Her husband had complained of body aches, but refused to seek medical treatment because he said he could not afford to.

She did not even have the bus fare to go to see her husband’s body, and the policeman who informed her of her husband’s death gave her five dollars.

They still have 15 years' left of their housing loan to settle and Mrs Tan said that she has to pay more than $300 a month from her CPF for the three-room flat... So far, Singaporeans have donated about $500,000 to the family.

The utilities company in a letter to the media on October 25, said that it has "on many occasions, referred families in dire financial straits to the Community Development Council". Hence, Mr Tan lost his will to live, despite being referred by the utilities company to the CDC.

I would like to suggest that schools can also send an alert when a student has not been able to pay school fees for say more than six months, so that no Singaporean will ever be driven to desperation again, without anyone knowing about their plight.

According to HDB’s annual report, it gave financial assistance to 28,386 flat owners for the financial year ended March, a drop of 26 per cent from the previous year.

According to the Department of Statistics General Household Survey 2005, there were 113,646 households with monthly income below $1,500, and 106,384 households with no income from work – presumably most of which are retirees.

According to the article "Mortgage sales of HDB flats on the rise: But trend is to be expected as banks' portfolios mature, say industry watchers" by Siow Li Sen (Business Times, Oct 20), and a New Paper report on October 20, just four property auction companies have had increasing HDB bank loan foreclosures of about 38 flats a month (456 a year), which is an annual increase of about 690 per cent (456 divided by 190 divided by 3) over the 190 flats foreclosed in the first three years after bank loans started for HDB flats on January 1, 2003.

All the banks offering HDB loans declined to reveal figures on their foreclosures. After three years and nine months, the default rate of about one per cent is quite high as there are already about 700 foreclosures out of a total of about 70,000 HDB flats with bank loans.

On October 13, HDB announced a new procedure that from January 1 next year, those who want to apply for a housing loan will first need to obtain a loan eligibility letter before they can commit to buying a new flat. How many Singaporeans have to lose their homes and CPF, before we re-think the policy change of giving the first charge on property to banks?"

The utilities company in a letter to the media on October 25, said that it has "on many occasions, referred families in dire financial straits to the Community Development Council". Hence, Mr Tan lost his will to live, despite being referred by the utilities company to the CDC.

According to HDB’s annual report, it gave financial assistance to 28,386 flat owners for the financial year ended March, a drop of 26 per cent from the previous year.

How many Singaporeans have to lose their homes and CPF, before we re-think the policy change of giving the first charge on property to banks?

Singapore Power’s profits increased by 53 per cent last year. SBS's profit after taxation rose 5.1 and 158.6 per cent, for 2005 and 2004 respectively. SMRT's profit after taxation has risen from 56.8 million in 2002 to 103.6 million in 2006.

Now, before the expected increase in revenue and profits from the fares hike effective October 1, SMRT has reported a 13 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit to $31.5 million for the second quarter ended September 2006. I would like to suggest that there be a review of whether and to what extent basic essentials like utilities and transport should continue to be profit-making when they are in essence monopolies?

Leong Sze Hian

Health bites: Allergic rhinitis Part 3

2006-10-28T16:01:00.000+08:00

It can be difficult to avoid the things that cause allergic rhinitis. In fact, many people do not know the exact cause of their own allergy.

However, here are a few tips that may help:

1. Encase mattress, pillows and bolsters with special mite-proof covers. Pillows filled with Dacron or other synthetic materials that can be washed weekly are preferred. Mattress or pillow protectors should also be encased within covers and the encasings washed at least three-monthly.

2. Wash bedding frequently in hot water (above 55C). House dust mites are not killed by detergents.

3. Reduce house dust by damp dusting or mopping rather than sweeping.

4. Try to minimize the number of carpets, rugs and curtains in your house.

5. Avoid contact with animals which trigger your symptoms. Cats' fur is the most common cause of animal-related allergy.

6. Always take your medication according to your doctor's instructions.

7. Consult your doctor if you need advice or more information about your medication.

For more information, please visit www.theallergyreport.com

The writer is a Family Physician in private practice. He prefers to remain anonymous. You can ask him questions by leaving a comment here.

DISCLAIMER

The consumer health information on this website is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions. You should promptly seek professional medical care if you have any concern about your health, and you should always consult your physician before starting a fitness regimen.

Regional news roundup - 27 October 2006

2006-10-27T20:06:00.000+08:00

The Star

PM regrets Dr M didn't wait for explanation

KEPALA BATAS: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is deeply grieved by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s renewed attacks against him, which the Prime Minister likened to “stronger doses of venom.”

Breaking his silence over their meeting last Sunday when Dr Mahathir spoke for two hours on what he thought was wrong with the present administration, Abdullah said he was saddened that the former premier had continued with his criticisms in the media.

“I feel sad because he has told me all that he wanted to say. I will need time to respond. But he repeated (his criticisms) with stronger doses of venom. (Read more...)

The Nation

Sonthi told Thaksin he would stage a coup

For the first time, general reveals the inside story of how the regime was toppled. At last, the story behind that unique part of the "first announcement" by the September 19 coup leaders - "We are sorry for the inconvenience"- can be told.

Aside from the need to pacify a stunned public, it owed as much to one of General Sonthi Boonyaratglin's personal habits. "It's in my nature to apologise to people - my tennis partners, even my subordinates - for even tiny little things," the head of the Council for National Security told Nation Group editors. (Read more...)

Your views: Sinful spending of people's hard-earned monies

2006-10-27T12:47:00.000+08:00

Despite all the reported hype, the Innovation Exhibition at Singapore Expo to celebrate Singapore's 25 years of infocomm achievements was a most disappointing let-down.

Nothing much of substance but a maze-like display of many flat-screen TVs and large wall panels with many words to read.

I saw many students on school visits but few adults. How many "couch-potato" adult Singaporeans actually visited the 5-day exhibition? The Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) had expected a 30,000 turn-out.\

After all, Channel News Asia's documentaries have already covered these achievements in a cost-effective way and to a much wider audience.

Why then was it necessary to spend $11 million on the exhibition --- with $6 million from the IDA (i.e. taxpayers' money) and balance $5 million from industry partners?

Our taxpayer-citizens will recall the 2002 IDA "Honest Mistake" Fiasco involving non-recovery by IDA of an erroneous over-payment to SingTel of $388 million of the people's hard-earned monies. And the 2005 spending of $400,000 of public funds by the Urban Renewal Authority to "re-brand" Marina Bay as..... Marina Bay !!!

The IDA must be transparent and accountable in providing a detailed public explanation. Was the exhibition contract awarded in accordance with laid-down Government procurement procedures? If so, disclose the full list of contractors and tendered sums, with the name of the successful contractor.

The simple message to all our Government agencies --- Spend public funds prudently, whether in good or bad economic times. Return any surplus funds to the people or use them to lower your fees to the public and business community.

The simple logic --- If it does not cost so much to run our tiny island, the Government can afford to collect less taxes and dues from the people.

The people will then have more money in their pockets to, say, start their own businesses.

Or, to have more children and so alleviate our Procreation Problem.

Or, to pay for family holidays to foster closer family ties.

David See Leong Kit

Updates from the Editorial Team - 26 October 2006

2006-10-26T23:29:00.000+08:00

Moderation of posts by readers

We apologize to all our readers for moderating their comments from 20 October to 25 October 2006 which result in them not being posted immediately. Most of these comments are now published in their original transcripts without any editing.

We appreciate all feedback and criticism willingly and we will accept whatever you said of us even if it may not sound pleasant.

Unfortunately for the past few days, we have been receiving a few comments containing vulgar words and nicknames which may be mistaken for politicians in real life. This prompted us to monitor this blog more stridently.

We accept "impersonation" of public figures is common and aplenty in cyberspace and most netizens will not treat it seriously. There is absolutely nothing wrong if done within certain limits as it adds much fun and color into an otherwise dry and boring discussion.

However, in view of the recent incident in which Mr Perry Tong of the Workers' Party made a Police report over a forumer using the nickname "Perry_Tong" in a local forum, it is our responsibility as owners of this blog to protect our readers from being implicated in another repeat episode.

We have lifted the moderation and you can now post freely. We trust our readers to to be mature enough to post sensibly. Freedom of speech comes with greater responsibility.

Appeal for writers and webmasters

Due to increase in flow of traffic to our blog, we need more resources to maintain and keep it going.

We need writers and webmasters to update this blog daily. With more members on board, we will be able to publish more news analyses and commentaries for you.

Email us at mediawatchsg@gmail.com if you are keen to join the Editorial Team.

Regional news roundup - 26 October 2006

2006-10-26T23:00:00.000+08:00

The Australian

New kick in the Shin for Thaksin

OF the slew of actions now afoot over the sale of Thailand's Shin Corp to Temasek Holdings, the one that could most hurt the already bruised Singaporeans is an action initiated by a junior academic at Bangkok's Rangsit University.

The Central Administrative Court has agreed to try an action by Sattra Toa-on, a 28-year-old law lecturer, against state regulators over their alleged failure to enforce rules that would have prevented then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's family from selling control of the Shin Corp communications group for 73.2 billion baht ($2.6 billion) to the Singapore government investment company.

After initially buying 49.6 per cent of Thailand's biggest telecoms group from Thaksin's children and relatives in January, the Temasek-led consortium now owns 96 per cent of Shin Corp equity. Temasek itself claims an "economic interest" in 76 per cent of the group. (Read more...)

The Nation

Tongnoi will not be advisor of Temasek's Bangkok office

Temasek Holdings announced Thursday that MR Tongnoi Tongyai would not become the advisor for the company's local office in Thailand.

"After thorough consideration, MR Tongnoi Tongyai and Temasek Holdings unanimously agree that MR Tongnoi would not be the advisor for Temasek's office which will be established in Thailand," said Jimmy Phoon, senior managing director of the Singapore investment arm, in a press statement.

The announcement ends speculation that Temasek tried to quash criticisms on the morality of its investment in Thailand, with the appointment of Tongnoi who is a deputy principle private secretary of HRH Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn. (Read more...)

Your views: Singapore should surely but swiftly shift out of its US$ holdings in reserves and diversify

2006-10-26T16:27:00.000+08:00

With each passing day, we are constantly reminded of the vulnerability of the US$ (the US' ballooning deficits, etc) and countries and individuals with substantial holdings of the currency may well be better off taking many experts' advice of diversifying its investment portfolio and possibly shifting out of the currency altogether before the Doomsday (the collapse of the US$) happens, if it ever happens.

With the above worst case scenario, I hope the Singapore government has taken all possible scenarios into consideration in case the worst happens as it involves the citizens' hard-earned money in the reserves which the government is entrusted with.

I sincerely hope the government will not be caught off-guard should such an eventuality occur lest citizens direct their accusations of "I told you so!".

Like MM Lee' advice to the Americans on adopting the "multi-lateral" approach to dealing with terrorism, countries intent on bringing the US down may also adopt this "multi-lateral" approach by withdrawing their US$ holdings collectively, by which time, the "herd" instinct will prevail when everyone scrambles to get out. And if Singapore waits till then to act, I'm afraid it will be too little too late.

Imagine China (with a trillion US$ in reserves), Russia (long-time foe of the US but now with new found wealth in their rich oil and gar reserves), Japan, the Middle Eastern countries and the Europeans acting in concert?? Scary thought right? Will not happen? You bet!

Rgds

KAYE POH

Updates from Editorial Team - 25 October 2006

2006-10-25T23:26:00.000+08:00

Thanks for your support!

The Editorial Team will like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to all our readers for their kind feedback.

Your input is highly valued and we take both your suggestions and criticism seriously.

Please continue to support our project and share this blog with your friends.

Let us work together towards building and promoting an active citizenry in Singapore.

More articles to come

We will be bringing you more review articles on objective journalism and internet regulation in the next few days to come, so stay tuned to our blog!

In focus: Objective journalism and its role in society

2006-10-25T21:53:00.000+08:00

In a private email exchange with Mr Seah Chiang Nee, a veteran journalist and writer of the renowned Littlespeck political website, Mr Seah shared us the importance of adopting an objective, balanced line of reporting in journalism.

The objective of our blog is not to "bash" SPH or the government blindly. We understand the need to be circumspective and to give credit to the government when it is due.

It is precisely because the mainstream media is largely slanted towards the government that we see the need to provide a counter to balance things.

The media may not espouse support for the government openly and directly, but through the clever and selective use of certain words and sentences and via innuendoes, they help influence perceptions subtlely.

Most Singaporeans will simply browse through the papers with little thorough analysis. Our hectic schedules do not permit us to read carefully in between the lines and this causes us to sway under the influence of the media if we are not mindful enough.

Our aim is to correct this inherent bias by revealing the hidden meaning and agenda behind the news reports.

Take for example the report in Sunday Times on 15 October 2006 of Mr Yaacob's comments on Ms Sylvia Lim's being "opportunistic" in her call for the government to do more to solve the haze problem.

Many of our readers were initially led to believe that the Workers' Party is indeed "opportunistic" till they read our review.

Is "objective journalism" possible in reality and in Singapore? Subjectivity is an innate failing of human beings, an ubiquitous trait of human nature.

No matter how hard we try, the way we think and write is largely influenced by pre-conceived ideas, thoughts and impressions.

Objectivity can best be achieved through having a plurality of diversive views from various writers so that their inherent prejudices will cancel each other out.

Are Singaporeans ready for "objective journalism?" After years of "programming" by the state media, a majority of Singaporeans have become so accustomed to what was reported in local news that they do not question it anymore.

To them, the pro-government stance of the mainstream media is the yardstick they hold for "objectivity" and therefore any diversive views will naturally be interpreted as anti-government, biased and without an iota of truth.

A second group which is growing fast in recent years comprise mainly of young educated internet-savvy Singaporeans who no longer finds any credibility in the mainstream media. They are sceptical about whatever is reported even if it is true.

To quote an example the daily updates of PSI indexes. Most Singaporeans on internet forums believe that the actual PSI is higher than that reported by ST and CNA even though they have no proof to support their hypothesis.

These Singaporeans will always be critical of the government regardless of what you write and are unlikely to accept any pro-government news as true.

In view of the above 2 scenarios, how much an impact will "objective journalism" in providing balanced views from both sides of the story have on Singaporeans?

The objective truth may ironically be interpreted as untrue by Singaporeans with different mindsets and beliefs. What are your views on objective journalism? Which group of Singaporeans do you belong to?

Should we from the EDITORIAL TEAM be more vocal or circumspect?

Please share with us your views here.

Workers' Party netiquette comes under fire - TODAY 25 October 2006

2006-10-25T13:28:00.000+08:00

By Tor Ching Li

Some Workers' Party members have recently become entangled in an Internet forum "brawl" with mudslinging and name-calling aplenty - to the extent of sparking a thread on the Young People's Action Party online forum entitled "WP members being complained (sic) on internet forums." This has garnered more than 80 posts since Oct 14. (Read more...)

Our review

We find it incredulous that a "respected" paper like TODAY which claimed to be ranked "No 2 in readership" in a media survey last week chose to report on such a trivial matter like internet flaming by a few anonymous forumers who are purported to be members of an opposition party.
Flaming, mudslinging and impersonation of public figures are aplenty and common in local forums found even in the highly-regulated Young PAP forum. In the wireless world of the internet under the cover of anonymity, anybody can pose as anybody in an open forum where there are few restrictions to what one can post.

While it was true that a thread was started on the Young PAP forum on the WP saga, it was not mentioned that there are at least 5 threads on the same forum dedicated to AMK MP Mr Wee Siew Kim's reply to the Straits Times yesterday on her daughter's blog which had caused a furore in internet forums, attracting widespread criticism and condemnation from netizens.

With all due respect to Mr Goh who was on the losing team in the last General Election, Mr Wee is an elected Member of Parliament which makes him a more prominent public figure than Mr Goh and therefore we are baffled by the wide discrepancy in media coverage on the backlash in internet forums towards both of them.

Internet postings by "WP members" and even the complaint letter itself can only be taken with a pinch of salt and we are surprised the writer chose to report in such a way to give the impression that the following there were strong grounds in the allegations.

1. The heading of the article: "Workers' Party netiquette comes under fire" has already come to the conclusion that WP members did indeed "misbehave" on internet forums before any thorough analysis or investigation is conducted.

2. This conjecture was further lend support and credibility by the first sentence: "Some Workers' Party members have recently become entangled in an Internet forum "brawl" with mudslinging and name-calling aplenty" from which one can draw a reasonable inference that the persona involved are indeed WP members though there is no obvious evidence to pointing to it.

3. The contents of the "complaint letter" which can be at best traced to an anonymous person whose identity remains to be confirmed contains the following words in red detrimental to Mr Goh's reputation: "...was narrow-minded to have called a forum participant "scheming" and "lacking in integrity" after "losing an argument".

He also thought Mr Goh had threatened to sue another forum participant for implying that Mr Goh visited the www.sggirls.com forum."

Readers who don't know Mr Goh in person may be led to think his character is indeed as protrayed by the writer of the letter. The hidden message within is this: If Mr Goh is not even capable of handling a few anonymous forumers on an internet forum leading to a complaint against him, how can he be expected to serve in public office in the future with greater demands and responsibilities?

4. Lastly, the writer seeks to give readers the impression that WP members are generally disliked and unwelcomed by netizens even though there is only one person making the allegations in the complaint letter: In general, WP members were accused of being "argumentative", attempting to "sow discord" between various party supporters and even of taking the guise of online "clones" — or posting replies under alternative usernames — to "influence perception".

The article gave an overall impression that WP members are petty, ungentlemanly and crude. Though Ms Sylvia Lim has clarified that WP members participate in internet forums on their accord and what they say there do not represent the Party's stance, readers will naturally draw an association between the two.

Besides dismissing WP members as a bickering lot, the writer spared no efforts in lavishing generous accolades on the "foresight" of the PAP MPs in not engaging netizens directly and subtlely promoting the Young PAP forum at the expense of Sammyboy forum.

We found this comparison with Young PAP forums and the P65 blog unwarranted and irrelevant. It unwittingly gave PAP the moral high ground and a convenient excuse on why PAP MPs did not interact with citizens directly. This has been the subject of criticism by netizens for a long time and the records are now set right based on one single "fumble" by WP politicians.

Prof Ho's comments on serious blogs and forums making outlandish ones irrelevant is a jibe at Sammyboy Forum from which the controversy first began. Readers who are new to internet forums will invariably be led or misled to believe that Sammyboy lacks credibility compared to more established and regulated serious ones like Young PAP and P65. This ringing endorsement of the ruling party's cyberprojects will drive more curious netizens to embrace it.

WP is one of the more promising opposition parties to emerge after the recent GE. Its brand of moderate and constructive opposition led by a team mixed with experienced old guard and flamboyant youth won the hearts and imagination of many young Singaporeans who flock en masse to attend its rallies.

As the WP is finding renewed vigor and hope for the future, it is dealt an untimely blow to its fresh, crisp image by the media. Instead of reporting on WP's regular activities such as its walkabouts and outreach programmes found on its website (www.wp.org.sg), it is deplorable the media chose to focus on a trivial matter on internet forums which protray WP members in a negative manner.

This may have a detrimental impact on the party's recruitment drive in the near future as Singaporeans are generally averse to mudslinging and personal attacks in politics. However, with the next election still 5 years away, the party has ample time to reflect and learn from its mistakes and rebuild its reputation again.

Your views: Open letter to Ang Mo Kio MP Mr Wee Siew Kim

2006-10-25T13:26:00.000+08:00

Dear Mr Wee,

There is no doubt in my mind that until now, both you father and daughter have no idea what the fuss is all about.

The strong language is one issue, (and that may be forgivable), but the underlying message of the blog posting and your subsequent reply shows that you simply have no concern about the struggles of the commoners, even those who're educated.

Is this your job as a MP? Is your job not suppose to speak for your people? Instead, you trash them for being unable to face the "challenges of life".

I am deeply ashamed to see someone as pretentious as you sitting on a parliament seat. Why do I say pretentious?

If this is how you daughter and father think in private with your elitism views of the society, I cannot even fathom why you should continue being an MP.

Surely, how can someone like you begin to imagine what it is like to be near bankrupt because of a business failure? How it is to be debt ridden? How it feels like to be at your prime age of 40 and yet feel insecure about holding on to your job?

Where is your compassion and understanding of the unfortunate ones who are only venting their frustruation through a virtual medium?

It sickens me to see that sort of remarks coming from a minister.You and your daughter's remarks serves to only disconnect yourselves from the people you are supposed to be serving.

This is not the kind of leadership that Singaporeans deserve, nor is what most of them want to see.

If this reflects the mindset of the people who sits together on the pedestral you have stepped on, I fear for the future of the less fortunate, less educated Singaporeans.

Regretfully,

Teoh Tian Jing

To know more about the author, please visit his blog at: http://ripperstrife.livejournal.com/

Editorial Review: More safety nets for retrenched workers

2006-10-25T10:23:00.000+08:00

Singaporeans were shocked by the suicide of a middle-aged Chinese man on Wednesday night. Apparently, he was driven to desperation by poverty and mounting debts.

46-year-old Tan Jee Suan had died after falling off the platform at the Chinese Garden station on Tuesday.

Members of the public had been coming to Mr Tan's wake since Wednesday and many were seen offering financial assistance to Mr Tan's wife and children.

The funeral operator is also offering his services for free. Mr Tan had been an odd job labourer, while his wife works in an electronics factory earning only $500 a month.

The children's schools and the Member of Parliament of the constituency where the family lives have assured the family that they will receive whatever assistance they need.

While we applaud Singaporeans for their compassion and generosity, questions must be raised on why this tragedy is allowed to happen. Are there many other undiscovered Singaporeans in dire straits like Mr Tan out there?

According to newspaper reports, Mr Tan was retrenched a few months ago and had difficulties finding a job. He has no money to pay his household expenses, see a doctor when he is ill and has mounting utility bills amounting to SS$1000.

It is debatable if another person in Mr Tan's shoes would have done the same thing as him. Mr Tan may be suffering from depression which can cause one to harbor suicide tendencies.

Had Mr Tan seen a doctor earlier, his condition may be detected and appropriate treatment would be started which could have prevented an unnecessary death.

Globalization and the influx of foreign workers had hit the hardest at the lower-income group. Bereft of a higher education or special skills, they are in a precarious situation in an unstable job market where employers can recruit or sack any worker at will without paying any penalty.

CPF was meant to be a form of social security for Singaporeans in old age. Part of our CPF is channeled towards Medisave which we can tap on for hospitalization bills. However, none of this can be used in the event of a retrenchment and medisave cannot be utilized to pay for outpatient consultations other than chronic medical conditions like diabetes.

According to financial consultants, we need to keep a minimum of six months' salary in the bank to guard ourselves against any potentially economic disruptive events in life such as retrenchment and illness.

How many Singaporeans are aware of this? Prevention is better than cure. The government should pre-empt this by providing free financial counseling to all Singaporeans to be spearheaded by their employers.

This should include teaching them to spend within their means, to save regularly for rainy days and the avenues available for them to seek help should they be retrenched or encounter any financial difficulties.

Madam Ho Geok Choo, MP of West Coast GRC where the deceased man had lived, told reporters that the CDCs and RCs have many schemes to help those in financially distress and Mr Tan would have received some needy help had he sought these agencies earlier.

Do Singaporeans really know where to turn to for help or are they not willing to do so? The government should conduct a comprehensive study to assess public awareness and perception of their help schemes.

There are Singaporeans who are completely ignorant of the presence of government agencies where they can seek help from and there are others who are sceptical of receiving any sort of financial assistance from the government.

These misconceptions must be addressed urgently. The idea of setting up a retrenchment fund for retrenched Singaporeans was mooted previously by Mr Chiam See Tong of the Singapore Democratic Alliance.

Now that Singapore's economy has recovered and unemployment has fallen to the lowest in 5 years, the government should keep good a promise made in 2001 to restore the CPF cuts.

The current CPF contribution from the employer is 13% compared to the employee's contribution of 20%.

Instead of restoring the 7% CPF cut for all Singaporeans, this 7% can be set aside as a retrenchment fund for the low-incomed workers with equal contribution from the government and the employer. In addition, a central fund can be set up to cover any insufficiencies in the worker's own retrenchment fund.

A one-stop agency incorporating both retrenchment assistance and employment centers should be set up to serve the needs of retrenched and unemployed workers exclusively.

When a worker is retrenched, he will immediately be referred by his company to this agency. A comprehensive multi-disciplinary preliminary assessment is done on the worker's current financial status taking into account the number of dependents he have, his monthly CPF contributions to his housing mortage, and other miscellaneous expenses such as medical bills which may not be entirely taken care of by Medisave.

Based on the above, a monthly "retrenchment allowance" is calculated to help the worker tide over this difficult period for 6 months.

At the same time, the employment center will actively help to find another job for the worker. The retrenchment fund is absorbed back into the CPF when the worker finds a new job.

If the worker is still jobless after 6 months or if the worker's own retrenchment fund is used up, another review should be conducted to assess other ways the worker can be helped.

In this way, no retrenched Singaporeans will be left in the lurch to fend for themselves. It is the sacred duty of an elected government by the people to provide and care for all its citizens without any discrimination.

We believe more can be done to help the lower-income groups in our nation without breeding a dependency mentality.

As we continue to win international accolades such as the world's most globalized nation, let us not forget those Singaporeans who are left behind in process of globalization.

THE EDITORIAL TEAM

SINGAPORE MEDIA WATCH

Updates from the Editorial Team - 24 October 2006

2006-10-24T21:40:00.000+08:00

Appeal for writers and webmasters

Due to increase in flow of traffic to our blog, we need more resources to maintain and keep it going.

We need writers and webmasters to update this blog daily. With more members on board, we will be able to publish more news analyses and commentaries for you.

Email us at mediawatchsg@gmail.com if you are keen to join the Editorial Team.

Singapore is ranked 146th in 2006 World Press Freedom Index

Singapore has dipped 6 ranks down to 146th from 140th last year in terms of press freedom. This put us in the league of Third World countries with repressive regimes such as Iran, Burma, Uzbekistan and Nepal.

Read the full ranking here: http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639

Editorial Review: More safety nets for Singaporeans

The editorial team takes a look at how we can prevent more tragedies like Mr Tan's suicide from happening tomorrow. It doesn't reflect well on a First World country like Singapore to have its citizens committing suicide due to economic hardship. Check it out at our blog tomorrow!

Forum review: What's hot and what's not

2006-10-24T21:22:00.000+08:00

The No 1 discussion topic in Singapore forums today continues to be the furore over RJC student Wee Shu Min's comments on her blog on an unpublished ST Forum letter by Mr Derek Wee. It now boils over to the "apology" made by her MP father Mr Wee Siew Kim published on the Straits Times today.

Many forumers lambasted Mr Wee for "condoning" her daughter's "basic point" and the language he used which reflects his insensitivity and insincerity over the alleged offensive remarks.

Young PAP forum: Open letter to AMK MP Wee Siew Kim

http://www.youngpap.org.sg/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=11531

Wee Siew Kim - apology for language used

http://forums.delphiforums.com/sammyboymod/messages/?msg=121662.1

Health bites: Allergic rhinitis Part 2

2006-10-24T17:38:00.000+08:00

Who to treat ?

The modality of treatment depends on the severity and frequency of bothersome symptoms. While a family physician can manage most mild to moderate cases, severe allergic rhinitis consisting of daily intractable symptoms affecting quality of life for many years are usually referred to a ENT surgeon for further management.

Modalities of treatment

1. Allergen avoidance: avoid common allergens like dust-mites, pollen, a skin-prick test may be necessary to determine the exact allergen for recurrent symptoms.

2. Medical treatment: nasal sprays, anti-histamines.

3. Surgical treatment: radiofrequency ablation, septoplasty and inferior turbinectomy.

Skin prick test

The skin prick test is a common method of determining whether a person is sensitive to various allergens.

It can also determine the person's degree of sensitivity to the allergens. The test takes about 20 to 30 minutes to do anad the results are immediate.

The concept is to introduce small quantities of different allergens to the patient's skin (usually arm or back), to see which allergens cause swelling.

Swelling, and the degree of swelling, indicates an allergy to the substance, and gives an indication of the degree of sensitivity to the substance.

A week before the test, the patient must not take any anti-histamines (common in medicines for flu or colds), as these will bias the results.

For more information, please visit www.theallergyreport.com

The writer is a Family Physician in private practice. He prefers to remain anonymous. You can ask him questions by leaving a comment here.

DISCLAIMER

The consumer health information on this website is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions. You should promptly seek professional medical care if you have any concern about your health, and you should always consult your physician before starting a fitness regimen.

Editorial Review: Into The Den Of Tigers: An Insight Into PAP Thought And Principles (Part 2)

2006-10-24T15:00:00.000+08:00

Continued from Part 1 published yesterday:

"What do you think of the new PM (Lee Hsien Loong)?" I finally broke my silence. A slight pause. "He's bright….. very sharp and bright. But no one can ever replace Lee Kuan Yew.

In fact, we're already pondering Life After Lee Hsien Loong, and how we can ever cope once such great talents leave us!"

"Yes, I think political succession after the Lees is going to present a serious problem to you." A fellow guest added. It appeared she was on the headman's side already.

"Do you think the scholar system is still relevant today?" I went on."We have many bright, young people taking up the scholarships. But I'm telling you- they must earn their way up.

Many of them have an`entitlement mentality', thinking that everything's laid out for them regardless of effort put in."

At least we could agree on one thing, but not enough. I thought he would suggest ideas for the system's revamp, but his stance was for retention of the scheme and scholars 'personal initiative to appreciate.

"What about all those old, destitute people collecting cardboards and drink cans? Has enough been done for them?" Was my final poser. A brief, unwieldy stammer. "I….I really pity these people……But you know what?

Many of them are just doing it to pass time. There's this old lady I know why picks cardboard boxes nearby…. She lives in private property given by her children! We should be proud of these people- they exemplify the unceasing industrial spirit of this country!"

"Wow…" sighed a companion, "To continue working till old age. How admirable."After the MP was finished with his work, we assembled around him inhis office, where I gave a short debrief and some casual chat.

Under normal circumstances, appeals would be looked into. For more ludicrous cases, the standard procedure was to send the MP's appeal letteranyway, but state that the ludicrous claims were what the appellant told the MP, and urge the addressee to investigate.

My friend told me some time ago that addressees could tell if the MP's letter was serious in its appeal, based on effort put into its phrasing andlength. If it was shabbily written, everyone knew the case was not to be taken seriously and chucked.

I was also told that for half of all cases, the appellants had the means to solve their own problems, but saw the MP as an easy way out. For instance, neighbours settling their own disputes instead of cominghere.

Fundamentally, it seemed to cheapen the strength of an MP'sword- if anyone who came got an appeal letter, the leverage of an MP was diluted.

We were more familiar with the idea, owing mostly to TV dramas, that going to MPs involved truly desperate cases which needed immense support.

This dilution of bargaining power was already was already evident inthe good proportion of MP appeals turned down by the relevant parties.Yes, not everyone who appeals to the MP gets their wishes granted- myown appeal was futile. (In fact, I was actually rebuked and got into asmall argument at my own CDC for raising my issue. Unfortunately more details risk my identity, and that's just a moot point anyway.)

Thus, processing appeals became a mechanical procedure which only heldslightly more strength than making the appeal personally.This would lead us to my second apprehension.

Even on successfu lappeals, the cases were never resolved- only having their penalties stretched. For instance, if a poor man had trouble paying a fine, an MP's appeal would allow him to pay the fine in instalments- but never revoke it regardless of his circumstances.

The impoverished student might get a loan to settle his school fees, to which he must repaywhen he finally graduates. Above the myriad of cogs and wheels in this complex matrix of systems,most have overlooked the fundamental problem of mandatory assistance,like welfare or pension plans.

At present, troubled souls were aidedcase-by-case, whereby the meet-the-people system would introduce themajority of parties deserving aid. A mandatory aid system onpre-determined criteria would take a lot of load off meet-the-peoplesessions, so that only the most serious cases would be forced to seekout the MP.

Further, a case-by-case aid system allows discrimination against thosethe CDC views as troublemakers. Ie: "We can choose not to help if youvoted for the Opposition in this district."

Are votes traceable? ManyPAP critics suggest so. More importantly, some residents believed itand theoretically they would vote for the PAP in fear of rejection ofaid in bad times.Back to my account.

After the MP's debrief, a small group of usyounglings went off to supper with the MP at a nearby coffeeshop- yes,a rising Minister eating at a neighbourhood coffee shop.

It was the time for more dialogue and involvement, and us guests were offeredseats next to the VIP. I wasn't too motivated for chat at this point,but continued to hear my friend expound the virtues of membership.

"We have a big network of important people, many of them MDs and CEOsof companies. You can get a good job easily through here.""If you prove yourself, you will be picked to attend one of the manyYouth PAP forums.

These forums are vital events, because many policies are discussed here among us youth before final amendments andformalisation. And if you stand out in these forums….. you may even beinvited into politics!"

Anyone who previously believed that CDCs were none-partisan would change their minds upon this point. Even in conversation, volunteers would refer to the CDC and the local PAP branch as the same entity,using the same term `we' or `the government' to denote both under on eentity.

When supper was done and the MP left, my friend asked us about joiningagain, while insisting there was no obligation. Throughout the nightand in many days before, she would highlight the absence of membershippressure to have us observe the session. But obviously by now, mycompanions wished to continue their involvement. I gave a non-committal answer.

You may be led to believe that my companions were mindless sheep who appeared so easily enamoured by an evening of good treatment and sweetwords. They were anything but mindless automatons.

All of us were talented students who excelled in disciplines like political science,sociology and the like- Conceptually, the last type of persons to betaken in. But they believed, nonetheless. Perhaps the only thing separating me from the rest was my age and experience in real society.(I was 3-4 years their senior with some business experience) And truth be told, the allure of membership was seductive.

I was taken in for some time, and only after deep thought I was able to look upon it witha clear mind. Prospective recruits were given the impression of importance- to feel a sense of achievement by just the invitation. Remember the remarkabout this arrangement only meant for PSC Scholars? And the all-round VIP treatment, coupled with the realisation that other invitees wereall top students.

Once recruits enrolled, the new inductees usually felt a great sense of duty and importance from helping troubled residents, as if they were part of a noble cadre fighting the ills of society.

Due to the synonymous association of CDCs with the PAP, any good done by members would equate to deeds in the name of the party,thereby inculcating a sense of association with it. Add that to characters like the `headman' who, I bet, regular skipped around to dispense praise of his party and their accolades.

In sum, the casual observer would sense an omnipresent `feel-good' vibe about all volunteers- the sort you experience when you witnessreligious gatherings. In essence, the nature of their beliefs holds many parallels to faith-based groups. And as with the latter, anyone who speaks out of line, questions the greatness of their idols orreveals fallacies in their doctrines, will witness the true colours ofthese zealous tigers.

After the benefits of pause and reflection, I was convinced of permanent non-participation in all CDC activities.

The author is a guest contributor who is known by the pseudonym "Angry_One" in local forums. He prefers to remain anoynmous. Any comments to his article can be corresponded directly to him here.

Singapore ranked 146th in Press Freedom by Reporters without borders

2006-10-24T11:56:00.000+08:00

Singapore - Annual report 2006

More than a year after coming to power, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, son of the country’s strong man, Lee Kuan Yew, had not begun any liberalisation of the media. Despite statements in support of an “open” society, the ruling party still does not brook any criticism.

Questioned by the international press about Singapore’s position in the 2005 World Press Freedom Index (140th out of 167), senior minister Goh Chok Tong called it a “subjective measure computed through the prism of western liberals”. He also defended the Singapore model for controlling the media, saying that a press that was too free was “not necessarily good for the entire country”.

Relatively independent for regional and international news, when it comes to domestic politics Singapore’s press, still controlled by associates of Lee Kuan Yew, is in the grip of a rigorous self-censorship. The government threatens journalists, foreign media and opposition with defamation suits seeking dizzying amounts in damages. (Read more...)

Your views: The tragic death of Mr Tan

2006-10-24T10:06:00.000+08:00

I cannot believe how stupid the MP, Madam Ho Geok Choo, 50, (West Coast GRC), is. In her interview conducted by Andre Yeo of THE ELECTRIC NEWPAPER, Madam Ho talked about her own life of poverty.

We are talking about a dead man, we are not interested about Madam Ho's personal life. That in itself, is a mean-spirited attack on the family. You ask me how? I will tell u. "Oh poor me, I sufferred too, but I survived..."

Madam Ho mentioned the ComCare fund for the needy, workfare bonus for low-wage workers, and a $2.6 billion progress package, 'We must look into how else we can reach out to these people.'-said Madam Ho.

You start with your own boss first, Madam Ho...and work upwards. There needs to be a financial aid coverage for the desperate and the poor, to get them up and going to even begin to look for a job.

You need to have a financial parachute, first... then these poor Singaporeans can get up from the ground, stand up, and begin to walk. Not wait for a job, and starve? That is what your programs are all about.

You have to help the poor feed their families first. Before anything can be done. The poor need financial bridging first and foremost. Don't let these poor Singaporeans down. You, the Singapore govt can help.

If you can help, why not pass a law that will assist the poor n needy? If it is the right thing to do, why not do it? The gratification and payback will be huge, Singapore Govt. When your own people need your help, don't turn your back on them.

Do the right thing. It is within your control, such tragedies do not have to happen. If we can save one family, we can save almost all the poor families, they just need 'a financial help' from you, Singapore Govt, to tie them over?

In addtion, my question is do these agencies really work for the poor and needy? What do the poor and needy do in the meantime with no funds in their bank to support a family? Mr Jonathan Siew, 36, counsellor from the Care Corner Counselling Centre mentioned about govt employment agencies, again, do they work?

If they do work, then this poor man died in vain, and if they don't, we sure do not hear about these programs? How many poor people know about them, and where do these people to go and get help?

Bear in mind, that many poor Singaporeans may not be educated??? Has the Singapore MP madam Ho done anything to enlighten her constituents , get to know their situations who need help, about these programs?

Are these programs known to the the general public of Singaporeans that live in the heartlands? Shame to all the govt officials who let this man die, did he slip thru' the singapore system which caters to the wealthy?

Shame on MP Ho, who should know about all of her constituents' plights n needs. What kind of JOB are you doing Madam Ho?

Shame on all of the Singapore Govt officials who DO ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for the poor of Singapore. They are all million dollar ministers, with big fat bank accounts, and have lost touch with the average Singaporean's needs.

Who is raising money for this family of two sons and a widow of 50? The Singaporeans, organized, by a kind hawker. And now the Singapore officials are bitching about the amount of money collected for the Tan Family.

Are they envious that the collection money for this family is going to be a huge amount? "Is this Singaporean tragedy going to be the new Singaporean Toto?"

I hope they collect a large amount of money, that will enable those 2 boys to go to school, get a good education, become hugely successful in their lives and careers, and any sum of money is never enough to bring back their father.

It is one thing to pass laws, and stupid programs, and another, to wait for the desperate, poor or old to die. It is also a fact that Singapore has one suicide a day.

What does that say about the government officials of Singapore who make well over US$1,000,00 a year.

The poor need financial aid first. Not more rules and programs. Their bellies need to be fed first. Shame on you lot who rule and pass the law.

May Chu Harding (A Singaporean)

Health bites: Allergic rhinitis Part 1

2006-10-23T23:13:00.000+08:00

What is allergic rhinitis?

Your nose is blocked or runny with clear, watery mucus. You may sneeze and your eyes itch and water.

What causes it?

Allergic rhinitis is caused by an allergic reaction to airborne particles. The actual cause depends on the individual allergic response of the sufferer.

Your body produces antibodies to ward off infection and other diseases. When your immune system mis-identifies a normally harmless substance, it begins building antibodies toward that specific substance.

These antibodies in your body trigger allergic symptoms when you are re-exposed to that substance.

What triggers the symptoms?

The symptoms of allergic rhinitis are triggered when things like pollen or dust come into contact with the eyes, nose and lungs of the sufferer.

Special cells in these areas over-react to the allergens by releasing substances which cause allergic reactions such as blocked nose, sneezing, runny and itchy nose.

For more information, please visit www.theallergyreport.com

The writer is a Family Physician in private practice. He prefers to remain anonymous. You can ask him questions by leaving a comment here.

DISCLAIMER

The consumer health information on this website is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for any medical conditions. You should promptly seek professional medical care if you have any concern about your health, and you should always consult your physician before starting a fitness regimen.

Updates from Editorial Team - 23 October 2006

2006-10-23T22:47:00.000+08:00

Thanks for your support!

The Editorial Team will like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to all our readers for their kind feedback.

Your input is highly valued and we take both your suggestions and criticism seriously.

Please continue to support our project and share this blog with your friends.

Let us work together towards building and promoting an active citizenry in Singapore.

Editorial Review

We will be kicking off our Editorial Review section with an analysis into PAP thought and principles by our guest contributor. Part 1 was published today. Watch for the Part 2 tomorrow.

Your views

Thanks to all our readers for their kind contributions. Please check your mailbox a few hours after you send us your article as we usually need to seek your opinions regarding publishing your real name or editing parts of the article if required.

Lastly, we wish all our muslim readers a HAPPY HARI RAYA PUASA !

Roundup of regional news - 23 October 2006

2006-10-23T19:31:00.000+08:00

The Star

I'm satisfied, says Mahathir

PUTRAJAYA: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he was satisfied with the private meeting he had with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yesterday because he was able to have his say.

Dr Mahathir said he fulfilled his intention to pour out what was in his heart over issues he had raised against Abdullah in recent months.

However, the former Prime Minister said he would continue to criticise the current administration if he felt “anything done is not good for the country.”

Dr Mahathir said he had raised various matters, including the crooked bridge, the Approved Permits issue, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz and Proton. (Read more...)

China Daily

Blog real name system undecided

NANCHANG -- With widespread online rumor saying China will implement a blog real name system, the Internet Society of China (ISC) has clarified that so far the Ministry of Information Industry has not officially made any related policies.

However, a real name system will be an unavoidable choice if China wants to standardize and develop its blog industry, Huang Chengqing, ISC secretary general, told Xinhua on Sunday.

An official with the ISC confirmed on Thursday that the society is working on a real name system for Chinese bloggers, which attested to netizens' longtime guess about it and triggered a hot controversy. (Read more...)

Editorial Review: Into The Den Of Tigers: An Insight Into PAP Thought And Principles (Part 1)

2006-10-23T19:06:00.000+08:00

Under the cloak of anonymity at online forum meanderings, I have always presented myself as a vigourous critic of the PAP regime.Because of my success in hiding the truth of my sentiments, I was offered a rare chance by a friend to witness a meet-the-people session, and observe how the backstage of such events operated.

Here I post my accounts. I have opted to suspend most judgements toward statements and views I heard during my jaunt, so that you can formulate your own.`Know thy enemy'- objection is pointless if you know not what youobject to.

These nuggets of wisdom compelled me to saddle forth andtry to understand the inner workings of CDCs, and ascertain their purported link to the ruling party. I agreed to my friend's invitation, fully cognizant that it was her attempt to recruit me into her district's CDC.

The PAP was always onthe lookout to herd bright, young people into its wings, and peer recruitment was one of its many channels. In accordance with its paradigm of elitism, channels tended to dilute as one moved down the education ladder- local undergraduates had frequent access, while opportunities for involvement were rarer for polytechnic/ITE students,unless the students went on to university where they'd finally be acquainted with such bodies.

As a polytechnic student who made local university, the world of youth political involvement was alien to me until my degree years. NUS had a formal Political Society (although their involvement was obviously partisan toward the PAP); and my friend, a long-time CDC volunteer, became earnestly involved in inviting ministers for talks on campus via a link between the two tributaries.

Within 1-2 years she was regarded as a de-facto link to Singapore politics and politicians, and who else but she would be on active hunt to fill the ranks of her cadres. (I don't know about the strength of politically-linked organisations with NTU and SMU) The meet-the-people sessions were conducted at night in kindergartens located at void decks, with room set aside for waiting, personal interviews and offices for volunteers.

They were conducted every Wednesday, with one Wednesday per month administered by young volunteers. Naturally, residents were more hesitant to attend sessions run by na飗e little tots, and attendance was higher at normal sessions run by veterans.

The term `meet-the-people' appears neutral and carries no unusual connotations, but anyone who's seen them once will depart with the imprint of beggary and desperation. Basically, local residentsgathered and poured their problems out to their Member of Parliament, whose job was to write letters in appeal to relevant organizations,usually for aid.

Most problems fell in the range of financial woes,neighbourly disputes, or appeals on petty legal penalties. Thus,`meeting the people' had nothing to do with small talk or asking how people are- it is all about grievances and appeals.

At this particular constituency, a very prominent up-and-coming minister held court; and according to my friend, all volunteers enjoyed working for him because of his candour and affable persona.

When I arrived, I realized that there were 3 other students from my university invited by my friend for the same purpose. Soon each of us was paired with a volunteer, and asked to sit beside him while head ministered resident grievances.

Initially, I thought that attendees would take turns to see the MP directly when their turn came, but itwas not the case. Instead, they were filtered into 3-4 separate tables where interviewers wrote down their cases on dictation. Then, they met the MP and repeated everything they'd spoken over again.

I never understood how this was efficient, compared to seeing the MP directly and having a separate person write the grievances down while the resident spoke to his MP. Later, I read critics suggest that this allowed `prank cases' to be screened, to avoid wasting the MP's timeon ridiculous appeals. So I was assigned to sit with my friend at one of the `filtering' tables, where we took our share of writing down the appeals of 5-6parties for the night.

"You guys are lucky!" remarked the friend, whowas referring to his 4 guests, "Such exposure arrangements are usually reserved for PSC Scholars to prepare them for political careers."Halfway through our work another volunteer came, with 2 cups of herbal tea, in full-embroidery china teacups with holding saucers and covers, no less.

"Ah, that's nice." I thought, "Tea for the troubled appellants? before seeing the tea laid out in front on us, the administrators! After my friend documented for the first 3 appellants, he turned andasked if I wanted a go. "I thought I was just an observer?" I asked, to which he suggested that getting involved would be a good`experience' for me.

To avoid scorning his hospitality, I obliged andtook the next case. At the end of the night I couldn't avoid feelingpity for the attendees, many of whom were wretched cases- like elderlycouples who couldn't work and were denied financial aid by private funds because there were worse cases; or single children with only one parent left, who happened to suffer from dilapidating illnesses and school fees posed problems.

I was glad I played a small hand in the process of helping them out. Ah, but this was the essence of shrewd recruitment, was it not? By allowing the guests personal involvement, the CDC handed them a subtle sense of ownership and psychological stake.

Now that we guests felt good about our involvement in helping the destitute, we were more likely to return and repeat the good deed.This was all fine and well, for who would accuse charity of being criminal?

Unfortunately, my apprehensions were ignited by the matters communicated to me after the session, and the implications of joining up. Soon the 4 of us `guests' found ourselves sat in a corner, conversing with an old volunteer of the CDC. He identified himself as the head administrator of the branch, and was so experienced that he had been involved in such work since the days of the founding fathers.(1960s-70s)

The CDC had pulled out its heavy artillery to convince us of the nobility of its cause.Of course, we never had the impression of being hassled to agree toanything; and the new host was most friendly, treating us as honouredguests. Throughout our `visit' everyone was accommodating andpleasant; our only awkwardness on their disproportionately-good hospitality toward virtual strangers.

Soon the new host launched into a tirade on domestic politics, always giving his guests room to express their opinions, and perhaps silently gauging the quality of their thoughts. My companions seemed enthused about their involvement thus far, and spoke earnestly, while the jaded one adopted a listening role.

Inevitably, the `headman' didn't wait long to make his own views known. I had counterpoints tomany of his assertions, of course, but it was unwise to throw stone sat the tigers in the tigers' den."I think this government has done a fantastic job. I was around since the old days when we had nothing- look at us today! And in such a short time, too! Lee Kuan Yew is a man of remarkable vision. And GohKeng Swee was a brilliant economist.

In the beginning, Tuas only consisted of swampland; he took one look and visualized the Jurong Industrial Park.""You youngsters have no idea how lucky you are. My son- he's a liberal arts graduate who went to the West to study, and stayed overseas for awhile. He's come back, of course, and tells me often, `I've seen i tall, and I know we really have things good here.' ""I don't understand why that fellow Chee Soon Juan wants to stir up somuch trouble.

Everyone's living in peace and stability, and there he is always rocking the boat!" he continued, "What's worse, he is collaborating with foreign organisations to attack Singapore'sreputation! Why is a Singaporean doing this? That' why we have been wise to deal harshly with him.""Fighting an election is like fighting a battle. We need tactics andstrategies like in real war. For instance, I am friends with many hawkers and shopkeepers in this neighbourhood. They will inform me immediately if the Opposition drops by to hand out flyers or promote themselves."

One of my companions responded in admiration, "Wow, you guys arereally close-knit and serious about your stake in the residents.""The problem with this government is image. We deliver but don't knowhow to look good, and the international press misunderstands us. Too bad, because charisma is always a hard issue for smart people who are perpetually engrossed in real work.""Yes!" exclaimed another companion in keen concurrence, "How often do you get a government who delivers? Image is secondary, so we should beappreciative for the PAP's work instead."

The indoctrination was working only too well, but not before I fired a few cautious salvos.

Part 2 of the article to be continued tomorrow.

The author is a guest contributor who is known by the pseudonym "Angry_One" in local forums. He prefers to remain anoynmous. Any comments to his article can be corresponded directly to him here.

Your views: The govt can proactively help the poor and unemployed

2006-10-22T22:58:00.000+08:00

I refer to the articles in The New Paper the last few days on the tragic death of Mr Tan Jee Suan as a result of his financial condition.

Instead of waiting for such unfortunate incidents to happen before extending help to others in the same predicament, there is something the government can do proactively:

Presumably, the government has access to data on citizens who are unemployed (eg. no CPF contributions for say, 3 months?). When this happens, it can mobilise the MPs and CDCs concerned to follow up on these cases to ascertain if financial and/or employment assistance are required.

It all boils down to whether the government wants to take the proactive route or the reactive route.

The only reason the government may be reluctant to do so is the sheer size of the unemployed citizens (hundreds of thousands perhaps as this data is not publicly available), thus creating an administrative nightmare.

But then again, that's why all those grassroots organisations and personnel are there for, aren't they?

KAYE POH

Updates from the Editorial Team - 22 October 2006

2006-10-22T22:22:00.000+08:00

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Roundup of regional news - 22 October 2006

2006-10-22T17:54:00.000+08:00

The Star

Stuffing the prudish image

OVER the past decade, a social change has been taking place in prim and proper Singapore – a steady loosening of sexual mores, especially among men over 50.

The younger political leaders are themselves taking a number of baby steps to move away from the old “nanny” days of strict control on what people can or cannot do with their love lives.

This is partly in response to a changed generation, which is more fun-loving and adventurous about sex, unlike their parents who regarded it as a taboo subject.

The official change is gradual and managed, but that of the people is much less so. (Read more...)

The Nation

Politicians' asset figures a big slap in the face to all Thais.

Things seem to be moving so fast, yet there have not been any fundamental changes to ensure that the country can rid itself of gutter politics.

What's more, former Thai Rak Thai Party members are talking about forming a new party to retake control of the government through elections.

These movements do not bode well for public expectations that the military coup will usher us towards a better platform for democratic development so there will not be any need for another change of government by force. (Read more...)

Your views: Increase in Transport Fares

2006-10-22T13:10:00.000+08:00

I refer to the Ministry of Transport’s (MOT) press release on the transport operators’ earnings.

The MOT said that "SBS Transit earned $ 32 million but has $ 500 million of assets, so its return on assets (ROA) was 6.5 per cent, SMRT earned $ 100 million but has $ 1.1 billion of assets yielding a return of 9.1 per cent.

These returns are healthy but not excessive, compared to companies with similar industry structures and risk profiles".

The ROA should not be the only, or a very appropriate measure because in the case of the Singapore transport operators, a fair share of the assets were built-up from the retained earnings of ever increasing profits over the years.

Thus, in a sense, it was a self-perpetuating system under which the people of Singapore, in a way, paid for the bulk of the accumulated assets.

Other measures like the transport operators' ever increasing profits, return on equity (ROE) and dividend yield relative to other listed companies, could also be used in determining whether "returns are healthy but not excessive".

According to the PTC's web site, "It monitors affordability for the general public by tracking the percentage of monthly household income spent on public transport by a characteristic family in the second quintile (21st to 40th percentage) household income group which is considered representative of the average transport commuter as recommended by the Committee on the Fare Review Mechanism (FRMC) in 2005.

The public transport affordability indicator has been on a down-trend from 2003 (7.0%), to 2004 (6.8%) and 2005 (6.6%)".

According to the Department of Statistics' General Household Survey 2005, (GHS), household incomes for the 11th to 20th percentile and 21st to 30th percentile fell 4.3 and 0.5 per cent respectively per annum from 2000 to 2005.

The 31st to 40th percentile rose by just 0.3 per cent, and was actually negative after adjusting for inflation.

Since fares were increased in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2005, according to PTC's web site, and the Public Transport Affordability Index (PTAI) is Monthly Expenditure on Public Transport divided by Monthly Household Income, I am somewhat puzzled as to how the PTAI can be improving over the years when income was generally declining and fares were increasing ?

I refer to media reports that SBS/SMRT will give $ 1 million of $ 20 vouchers, and NTUC will give $ 30 ez-link top-up vouchers to 20,000 low-income union members.

This means that the total from NTUC is $ 0.6 million. Between last July and June this year, the CCC ComCare Fund has helped about 12,500 cases and given out $ 1.95 million.

Therefore, the total public transport assistance for the needy is estimated to be about $ 3.55 million (SBS/SMRT + NTUC + CCC ComCare). This means that the number of needy getting $ 20 each is about 177,500 persons.

According to the PTC, "among commuters who have to make a transfer (1 in 4 commuters), most require one transfer, say from a bus to the MRT or to another trunk bus. The majority of such journeys will see a fare increase of 3 to 4 cents".

If one makes two such journeys a day, the increase per year is $ 21.90 to $ 29.20.

It the average commuter affected by the fare hikes pays five cents more a day, assuming 2 bus/MRT transfer trips a day, the increase per year is $ 18.25.

This is based on a conservative assumption that one only makes two trips a day, that is travelling from home to only one destination, without going anywhere else.

According to the GHS, there were 113,646 households with monthly income below $ 1,500, and 106,384 households with no working persons and thus no income from work.

If the average household has four persons, the total number of persons from "below $ 1,500" households is 454,584.

Similarly, the total from "no income" households is 212,768, if we assume two persons per household.

Since the $ 20 transport assistance will be given to about 177,500 persons, are the rest of the 489,857 (454,589 + 212,768 - 177,500) needy Singaporeans getting $ 20 transport vouchers too ?

The needy whose incomes are declining should be given transport vouchers as a matter of course, and not only when fares go up.

Leong Sze Hian

Updates by the Editorial Team - 21 October 2006

2006-10-21T19:28:00.000+08:00

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Let us work together towards building and promoting an active citizenry in Singapore.

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Roundup of regional news - 21 October 2006

2006-10-21T19:06:00.000+08:00

Financial Times

Burma draws ire after activist dies in prison

The latest death of a political prisoner in Burma has provoked worldwide condemnation.

It comes as the United Nations Security Council is taking an increasing interest in the deadlocked political situation there, and as Ibrahim Gambari, under-secretary General, prepares to make a second visit. (Read more...)

China Daily

Prudence key to resolving nuclear issue

China is willing to work jointly with all parties to handle the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula in a cool-headed and prudent way to prevent the situation from deteriorating or spinning out of control, President Hu Jintao told visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday.

Hu also called for efforts to "actively create conditions" for an early resumption of the Six-Party Talks aimed at making the peninsula nuclear free. (Read more...)

Taipei Times

Scientists working on `Cloak of Invisibility'

Scientists are boldly going where only fiction has gone before -- to develop a "Cloak of Invisibility."

It is not quite ready to hide a Romulan space ship from Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek or to disguise Harry Potter. But it is a significant start and could show the way to more sophisticated designs. (Read more...)

What's hot on Blogosphere

2006-10-21T18:32:00.000+08:00

RJC girl Wee Shu Min gets slammed by netizens

RJC girl Ms Wee Shu Min (Centre) was forced to shut down her blog after nasty comments from netizens.

Users in at least 3 of the top singaporean forums (EDMW, SGForums, Sammyboyforum) have slammed 18 year old RJC student Ms Wee Shu Min, daughter of Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Wee Siew Kim, for her response to a blog posting by Mr Derek Wee which was put up as a result of his frustration of not being able to have his views aired on the Straits Times Forum Page. (Read more...)

Co-opting, Singapore style

I was recently asked this question: Do I foresee a time when the People's Action Party (PAP) government would co-opt a gay person into its ranks? I said I couldn't rule it out.

But that question got me thinking about this phenomenon called "co-opting". It seems to me that we in Singapore are doing it in a way that is quite different from the major liberal democracies in the West.

We speak of co-opting with reference to the roping in of people, whereas elsewhere it's the stealing of ideas. (Read more...)

Be a citizen journalist on Stomp's new 'scene' - Straits Times

2006-10-21T14:24:00.000+08:00

Straits Times
21 October 2006

By Tessa Wong

Abstract

New section Singapore Seen will carry news, photos sent by readers

Total citizen journalism hits Singapore on Monday.

Singapore Seen, a new section on The Straits Times' media portal Stomp, will let readers know what the talk of the town is in one seamless interactive experience.

"With Singapore Seen, readers can read and respond to a story on the same page, in the same section," explained Stomp executive content producer Chew V Ming.

Each news tip-off sent in by a reader, whether a photo, video or an email, will have its own space. Stompers can respond with comments, give the item a rating and take part in a poll.

According to Stomp's editor, Ms Jennifer Lewis, the Stomp team is "brimming with lots of great ideas, and Singapore Seen is just one of them".

Our review

Citizen journalism or internet conquest by SPH?

"Youthlink", "STOMP", "Citizen journalism" and now "Singapore Seen". The traditional no-nonsense print media in Singapore was galvanized lately by a string of ground-breaking new features that surprised even its detractors.

It appears that the bigwits in SPH (Singapore Press Holdings) are eager and all too yearning to embrace the new media in order to reach out to the young, a generation that is increasingly falling out of the gambit of the mainstream media in favor of a new media dominated by online news, blogs and forums.

In today's IT age where a blog can be created within a minute with no cost at anywhere in the world, anybody can publish anything on the web for public viewing by an international audience.
Journalism, which used to be a profession belonging to a priviledged few and controlled by a major political or commercial entity, suddenly found its monopoly on information being fast eroded by these up and coming new players in the market.

In Singapore where the sole print media, SPH, has intricate links with the ruling party (the current Chairman of SPH is Mr Tony Tan, a former deputy Prime minister and member of the PAP), this "strategic" move to reach out to the new media harbors vested political interests to streamline and manage the vast flow and exchange of information available on the internet.

It is not surprising that the love affair with the new media began only this year and gathered pace especially after the General Election in May 2006 which had sent strong signals to the authorities of the potential and danger posed by the new media.

Citizen journalism in GE 2006

1. The recent Singapore General Elections in 2006 had been a watershed in the emergence and advent of true citizen journalism in Singapore. Blogs covering the election such as the Singapore Election Watch, SG rallies, Littlespeck, Mr Brown and Yawning bread were popular and widely read by Singapore's netizens who are hungry for alternative views other than those reported in the local media.

2. The pro-government stance of the mainstream media and the lack of coverage of the opposition parties' rallies has led to many ordinary citizens turning to the new media for more balanced and objective news. Photos of the ruling party's rallies were splashed all over on the front page of the Straits Times while not a single page was allocated for photos of the Workers' Party's rallies which attracted a far bigger turnout. The huge discrepancy between what was reported and the actual reality itself led to many disgruntled citizens making their own efforts to take and post pictures of WP's rallies on the internet which further damages the credibility of local media.

3. In past elections, political discussion and debates are largely limited to public rallies and the media with little participation from citizens. This election has generated a tremendous interest never seen before in the populace with blogs and forums brimming with high traffic flow. With no restriction on speech, any issue can be discussed about openly under the sun by everybody. The print media has lost its unique role as the indisputable source and moderator of information in the public domain.

Awakening to a new threat posted by the new media

It has not taken long for the government to realize the impending threat posed by the new media to its stranglehold on information control and dissemination. During a post-mortem on the General Election organized by the NUSS (National University of Singapore Society), one of the speakers, Ms Denise Lim, a PAP MP, remarked at the need to "manage" the internet by the government after being taken surprised by the prevalence of"anti-establishment" sentiments commonly seen on the internet.

Shortly after the election, Mr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts commented in an interview that the government will adopt a "light touch" on the internet. So far, no bloggers or forumers have hauled up in courts for making defamatory remarks on the political leaders and system in Singapore.

Rather than confronting and ostracizing the new media using its usual hardball tactics, the government has been "magnaminous" in extending a warm welcome to a potential rival with the ignoble aim of subduing and incorporating it gradually into its dominion.

Managing the internet in a "light" way:

1. 14 June 2006: STOMP (Straits Times Online Mobile Print) was launched by SPH's flagship newspaper, The Straits Times, amidst much funfare to "connect, engage and interact with its readers. " An estimated S$ 2 million dollars was pumped into the initial setting up of the project.
The Straits Times Editor Han Fook Kwang sent a chilling message to the online community with his explanation on STOMP's creation: “In the new media environment, newspapers have to be more than just passive providers of news. They have to engage their readers in areas which appeal to them. We have to provide readers with new avenues to express themselves, to enable them to interact with us, and among themselves.”

The gist of this message is that the government and mainstream media have made its presence felt in the new media by providing an official alternative avenue (other than the "Wild Wild West" of cyberspace such as Sammyboy forum, a hotbed for opposition activists) for those who are desperate to express themselves. While they will allow limited forms of "interaction", ultimately they are the ones who will delineate the rules of engagement clearly.

http://www.sph.com.sg/news/latest/press_060614_001.html

2. 30 September 2006: Singapore Press Holdings Limited announced "its acquisition of Hardware Zone Pte Ltd and its subsidiaries (“HWZ”). The total investment to purchase HWZ is S$7.1 million." Many netizens are sceptical of its motives and remain unconvinced it is purely a commercial decision. There were grouses that this unprecedented move by SPH into web publishing marks the the spread of the government's influence in cyberspace, previously a forbidden zone to them and exclusive only to the opposition camp.

http://www.sph.com.sg/news/latest/press_060929_001.html

3. Blogging by ministers and MPs: Even the usual dour and solemn PAP MPs and ministers have joined in the fun to "click" with the young Singaporeans. A group of MPs calling themselves the "P65 MPs" (or post-65ers Singaporeans born after the nation's independence) has a blog dedicated to "sharing" minute intimate details of their daily lives with fellow citizens. Foreign Minister George Yeo had also started blogging on the blog of a Young PAP member Ephraim Loy.

As one MP put in succinctly "I hope that you will get a better idea of the person that I am. Get to know me as a person and as an MP. See what I have been doing and want to do for you." Not surprisingly, these half-hearted superficial attempts were slammed by cynics as nothing useful or constructive, a mere "facade" to win support from the would-be young voters in the next GE.

Will the last bastion of free speech be conquered?

A journalist commented “the Internet remains the last bastion of free speech and here come the MPs to invade it”. Whether it was intended or not, a significant proportion of netizens are less than enthusiastic of the government's recent forays into cyberspace.

With the vast resources and network it has at its disposal, SPH certainly has the capacity to completely dominate cyberspace, wooing youth over with freebies, free publicity and monetary rewards.

Judging from the weekly ranking of Singapore blogs by Singaporeblog.net, political blogs still lag far behind in popularity compared to "mundane" blogs on jobs, stocks, women and personal lives.

The authorities shouldn't be too worried as politically active netizens and bloggers still constitute only a minority of young Singaporeans and they will have little impact on the political landscape of Singapore in spite of its increasing popularity.

SPH may never understand why "citizen journalism" can only flourish spontaneously from "bottoms-up" without any restriction or fear instead of a "top-down" approach to control and moderate information flow and dissemination.

As STOMP widens its net to entice more young Singaporeans into its fold, a minority will continue to remain unmoved, guarding jealously the very last bastion of free speech bequeathed to them behind the borderless confines of cyberspace.

What are your views of the ST's "citizen journalism"? Please share with us your views here!

Temasek to "ditch Pong, Boonklee" - The Nation

2006-10-21T14:13:00.000+08:00

The Nation 21 October 2006

Crown Prince's private secretary has been invited to join the board

Temasek Holdings of Singapore plans to shore up the image of Shin Corp by removing chairman Pong Sarasin, while CEO Boonklee Plangsiri may also lose his job in a management reshuffle, industry sources said yesterday.

Temasek has invited MR Tongnoi Tongyai, the private secretary of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, to join the board of Shin Corp and in due time he would replace Pong.

However, Temasek came out to deny a news report that it was unhappy with Pong's performance, or that it was going to shake up Shin's board.

This follows allegations that the Singaporean government's investment arm had relied on nominees in violation of the Foreign Business Act in its takeover of Shin. (Read more...)