Owner: Singapore Sundry URL:http://singaporesundry.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:19:25 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Singapore Politics, Current Affairs, Social Issues, Human Rights. Site statistics:Click here
Culture Is Destiny; A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew 2007-09-19 06:08:00 "We have focused on basics in Singapore. We used the family to push economic growth, factoring the ambitions of a person and his family into our planning. We have tried, for example, to improve the lot of children through education. The government can create a setting in which people can live happily and succeed and express themselves, but finally it is what people do with their lives that determines economic success or failure. Again, we were fortunate we had this cultural backdrop, the belief in thrift, hard work, filial piety and loyalty in the extended family, and, most of all, the respect for scholarship and learning." - Lee Kuan Yew, 1994I've found an interesting article on Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew's views on Asian culture. In the article, he compared the asian culture with the western version. He also mentioned it's our unique culture in Singapore that created the economic success in our little nation Read more:Destiny
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Rare Article in Newspaper on Opposition 2007-09-17 04:18:00 In the weekend edition of the Today newspaper on 15 Sep 2007, there was this article titled "50 years on.. What keeps Workers' Party going?". When I read the headlines, I thought that it might be another article to highlight the strengths of the PAP and weaknesses of the opposition parties in general. But I was wrong. Although in the first paragraph the journalist praised the ruling party for creating an economic miracle, the following paragraphs totally caught me by surprise. The rest of the paragraphs described the history of Workers’ Party throughout the short history of Singapore. Few items caught my eye: The title -"50 years on.. What keeps Workers' Party going?" seem to suggest that the party is able to withstand the constant onslaught from the PAP and being 50-year old, it is a party which is wise, experienced and still popular among Singaporeans. “One exception was the WP's call for a "caring society" in the 1980s, which offered Singaporeans an alternative policy. Read more:Opposition
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Real Actions Taken Only After Tragedy Happened 2007-09-15 20:02:00 It is very common to see provision shop owners displaying their goods outside their shops. If you go to places like Toa Payoh for example, you would see lots of goods along the corridors such that any passer-by would find it difficult to move to the other side of the row of shophouse. Isn't this a potential fire hazard as well? If a fire were to break out during a busy Sunday, a chaotic situation might happen when the passers-by along the corridor try to run for their lives. Someone might seriously get hurt or even get killed in a stampede or by the falling goods. Maybe I'm just being too imaginative. The Hougang fire tragedy photo was obtained from a fellow blogger's blog at http://maestoso-amore.com/ Read more:Tragedy
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What Will They Tax Next? 2007-09-14 06:20:00 An interesting short video from UK - Campaigning against their wasteful burden of tax. Imagine if this happens to us here in Singapore...
SBS and SMRT - Money Not Enough? 2007-09-11 13:56:00 Read the Straits Times and you'll know that the time of the year has come - Transport Hike. Or may be you would prefer to have a nicer sounding name -Transport Adjustments. You might agree with their justifications like the rising cost of petrol and how much they have invested in providing us with a better service but before you decide to believe their side of the story, check out the financial statements on SMRT's website and SBS Transit's website and you will be appalled to see huge, ever-increasing profits made over the last few years. Let me just make some basic analysis on the summarised financial statements on (http://www.smrt.com.sg/investors/financial_highlights.html). It takes no effort to see that their PATMI have been increasing steadily over recent years to such extent that FY 2007's figure is now almost twice that of the figure 5 years ago. And looking at their financial ratios - you have good profitability ratios, good rates of return and a fal Read more:Money
, Enough
Nothing Wrong with Being Gay 2007-09-10 09:11:00 I notice there has been many cases of confrontations with the authorities and MOE, like Mr Alfian Sa’at’s relief teaching case, police confronting a group of runners during Pink Run, and now this case of a RI teacher, Mr Otto Fong apparently being told to delete his blogpost on his ‘coming out’ by the school or maybe the MOE. This incident has become a fiasco on the blogosphere. You can read some of the articles on theonlinecitizen The issue with homosexuality is always a sensitive one but in my opinion, all homosexuals should not be stopped from doing anything that is lawful. In Mr Otto Fong’s situation, if he is a good teacher, what’s wrong with declaring himself as a gay if he does not perform lewd acts in front of the students? I do know of ‘normal’ friends who are teachers and like to go clubbing with their skimpily dressed female clubbing friends. If Mr Otto Fong gets dismissed because of this blogpost, all heterosexual male teachers should be dismissed too by Read more:Wrong
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Some Problems with Foreign Talent Policy 2007-09-10 03:46:00 There seemed to be too many foreigners living and working in Singapore these days. A decade ago, when you walked down the streets, you would probably hear familiar languages and dialects such as English, Chinese, Malay, Tamil, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese etc. What do we have now? People speaking unheard of Chinese dialects, Myanmarese, and other very strange sounding languages which I have never heard of in my entire life. They bring along with them different cultures, habits and behaviour, many of which are pretty different from the typical Singaporean. It is even more contrasting if you compare them with our younger generation who are more westernized in terms of thinking and behaviour. Opening the door more widely to foreign nationals who work with their special technologies, skills and knowledge will certainly cause both short-term and long-term social problems. “Movement of people” essentially differs from “movement of goods” , the reason being that the former may cau Read more:Talent
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Now You See It, Now You Don't! 2007-09-07 04:50:00 "The most potent impact that the new media will have on politics is that, politicians will find it impossible to lie in the future. The truth will always be out there, because somewhere, someone has the facts, or has seen something, and will publish it. Fortunately for us in Singapore , we have run a clean system, and hence have nothing to hide." - Dr Vivian Balakrishnan (Source: Ministry of Information, Communication and Arts)And if you read mrbrown's website, you would have seen the proof of the YoungPAP removing their cycling events off their website sometime after Prof Ho Peng Kee rejected Workers' Party's application to hold a cycling event along East Coast Park quoting“It is an open area where there is potential for breach of peace, public disorder, and unruly behaviour.”and“You may be well behaving, but there may be other people whom you come across when you cycle who may stop you, may want to debate with you and that may attract a crowd, therefore will result in proble
Pavarotti - A Great Star Has Fallen 2007-09-07 00:16:00 "I think a life in music is a life beautifully spent and this is what I have devoted my life to" - Pavarotti
.I have all along been a classical music fanatic and especially interested in choral sacred music, oratorios and operas. Pavarotti, being one of the world most famous tenors alongside with Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo, has passed away recently. His demise is certainly going to be felt by a lot of people interested in classical music. I personally love his very spirited, emotional and flawless voice. Two of my favourite pieces by him, Nessun Dorma from the opera Turandot(top) by Puccini and Ave Maria(bottom) by Schubert could be heard on Youtube below: Read more:Great
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Merkel tops 'powerful women' list 2007-09-01 10:30:00 German Chancellor Angela Merkel
has topped a list of the most powerful women in the world for the second year. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is fourth in the Forbes magazine list, which is assessed using a mix of media "reach", influence and economic impact. The Queen - among only three UK women listed - rose 23 places to 23, partly because of the length of her reign and her "increasing media favourability". Businesswomen have performed strongly, taking five of the top 10 places. Ho Ching, head of Singapore's Temasek Holdings was at number three while Pepsi's chief executive Indra Nooyi was fifth in the list of 100 women. TEN MOST POWERFUL WOMEN 1. Angela Merkel (German chancellor) 2. Wu Yi (Chinese vice-premier) 3. Ho Ching (Temasek Holdings) 4. Condo
More money leads to greater happiness? 2007-08-30 07:04:00 I would believe everyone has heard of the phrase “Money is the root of all evil”. Money has been known to be the medium to cause greatness in society and massive economic growth but on the other hand, it has also caused families to break up, bankruptcies, suicides, etc. What is money? So what is money? From what I’ve read, in a laissez-faire society, not crippled by government bureaucrats, money is a symbol of man's unspent production that has yet to be consumed. Money is a tool of exchange that allows men to trade goods and services that they have produced in a market economy. When money has been earned (as opposed to looted, stolen, and begged), it is a sign of material and spiritual greatness. (quoted from www.capitalism.org). Singapore contextI have noticed over the years people seemed to be more and more materialistic, putting more emphasis on gaining material wealth. It is true people are earning more and are able to afford more luxury goods these days. Nowadays, you Read more:greater
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Newcomer to the Blogosphere 2007-08-28 03:42:00 Over the past year, I am deeply concerned over the state of affairs in my beloved country. Although we may seem to be living in a first-world country with a per capita GDP of S$46, 832 (Source: www.singstat.gov.sg), there are still many socio-political problems such as the following:the ever-widening income gap between the elites and the common Singaporeansthe lack of substantial consultations with the public before the implementation of any new government policythe reluctance of the ruling party to engage in public debates with members from the opposition and certain non-governmental groupsthe recent disproportionate price hikes even though there is only a 2% increase in GSTthe proposed compulsory Annuity policy to tackle the problems of an ageing populationthe over-emphasis on material wealth in our societythe over-emphasis on attracting foreigners to take up citizenships resulting in some social problemsI would express my views on the above problems on a regular basis and I wel Read more:Blogosphere
Burma Junta's Hired Thugs Target Peaceful Protest 2007-09-28 03:06:00 Since August 19, 88 Generation and others have been protesting peacefully, yet bravely across Burma
in response to the "massive rise in fuel and transportation fees". The junta has been using hired thugs instead of the army to crack down on dissent, even recruiting children, "On August 25 in Shan State, near the town of Muse, five young Kachin school boys aged 14, 15, and 16, were "recruited" with the use of force by the Burmese army. " "The military junta then emptied jails in anticipation of arresting dissenters and mobilized the USDA and Swan Aah Shin, a group essentially of junta-backed thugs. Arrests of activists, including 88 Generation students and dissidents, began on Aug. 22." Reuters has said "paid gangs" are preventing journalists from covering the protest. The junta annouced 88 Generation protesters would be prosecuted and and face up to 20 years in prison. A small group of protesters "eluded several junta thugs" and marched in Kyaukse, Than Shwe's home town. Arrest ar Read more:Junta
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News By Burmese Bloggers 2007-09-27 08:09:00 I chance upon this website which specialises in Burma-related news and multimedia. It has a picture gallery which is worth having a look at.http://www.mizzima.com/
Burma, Saffron Revolution, and ASEAN 2007-09-26 23:10:00 BBC did a report on the clumsy show of force by the military government during their confrontations with the monks and civilians. You can read the report on BBC’s website. Though there has been few deaths since the start of the anti-government protest sometime last week, I was disgusted by the way the junta treated the citizens, in particular the monks, who are highly reputed in the Buddhist nation. The people were severely beaten with rifle butts by the soldiers but despite the use of force on them, the Burmeses seemed resolute to fight for democracy this time round and to free their democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi (They were brutally crushed by the junta in 1988 and many thousands died). The political event has resulted in US and European Union calling for economic sanctions but these were rejected by Burma
’s ally, China, stating the sanctions would not be helpful. In my opinion, Singapore Government, the current Chairman of the ASEAN
, sho Read more:Saffron
Myanmar's (Burma) Secret War 2007-09-26 10:00:00 After reading the latest developments on the major news providers like Reuters and CNN, I became more interested in what happened in this secret state in Southeast Asia. So I went Youtube and found this documentary. The totalitarian rulers are really ruthless to do anything just to stay in power. Read more:Burma
See How Creative Singaporeans Can Be 2007-09-25 22:45:00 We have been complaining how uncreative Singaporeans are and how they are spoon-fed by teachers at school. The following illustrated how creative Singaporeans can be in making their dissatisfactions known: Attack of the Eight Elephants Eight paper cut-outs of white elephants were put up outside Buangkok MRT Station in August 2005 by some Raffles Girls’ School students to show their silent protest against its non-opening. Very innovative indeed. The ruling party may have got the ‘hint’ and perhaps forced SBS Transit to announce the opening 5 months later before it turned into a political issue against them during the General Elections 2006. Online Petition - NKF Also in 2005, there was an unprecedented massive online petition which involved some 43,000 netizens against the old management of NKF, in particular Mr T T Durai, who was the Number 1 target after the public found out about his extravagant spendings on public money like the ‘Golden Tap issue’. The government, in
Fast Detection Method of Bird Flu (H5N1) Found 2007-09-24 02:17:00 Researchers in Singapore have created a handheld device that can detect the H5N1 bird flu virus from throat swab samples in under 30 minutes, raising hopes it will lead to rapid detection and containment of the virus. Conventional laboratory tests take around 4 hours, and require machines to first isolate and amplify the virus before it is tested. Writing in the latest issue of Nature Medicine, the scientists said the new device would allow decentralized testing of the H5N1 virus, especially in countries that lack basic public health resources. H5N1, a disease found mostly in birds, is endemic in many parts of Asia and experts have warned for years that it could spark a pandemic, killing millions of people, if it learns to jump from person to person. "The World Health Organisation containment plan aims to stop an epidemic locally in order to prevent a global disaster," the scientists said. "In the event of a flu epidemic, its rapid containment would depend on the promp Read more:Detection
Citizen Paparazzi on Stomp 2007-09-23 03:10:00 Citizen paparazzi is not a new concept to this modern world of ours. In Singapore, we now have Stomp, a citizen journalism platform created by Singapore Press Holdings, possibly with the hope of getting more Singaporeans to get more involved in Singapore’s current affairs. However, it seemed that it has deviated from its original aim. One look on the webpages of Stomp, you will notice they are full of colours and juicy news. Perhaps this is one way of getting more traffic into their website and generating more advertisement revenue while letting netizens to engage in some form of active journalism. In my view, getting more citizens to get involved in current affairs of our nation is not the same as allowing a platform for more paparazzi style of journalism where day-in-day-out, you see people uploading photos of interesting happenings in Singapore, describing crime scenes in great details, or maybe talking about girls. Can this really help the society to progress? I think not. Read more:Citizen
You've Got A Problem With Gays and Lesbians? 2007-09-21 01:23:00 7 out of 10 Singaporeans have a problem with homosexuals. That was what I read in yesterday’s Straits Times report. It was based on a NTU SCI survey out of 1000 people. This high percentage of non-acceptance of homosexuals really baffled me. Who did they survey on? Could it be a coincidence that the surveyed ones are generally less receptive of the ‘social deviant’? From the people I know, friends, family members and relatives, who are all between the age of 10 and 62, I found out that more than half of them do not really mind having homosexuals around them. To them, homosexuality is created by nature and is not of a choice in life, so there should not be any discrimination against this group of people. I agree with this logic. So I am curious. Is it just the people around me who are more liberal in thinking and does the Singaporean society generally find homosexuals disgusting? I did my little ‘survey’ from a few popular Singapore blogs and websites and was pretty surpris Read more:Problem
Burmese Regime Is More Brutal Than Marcos 2007-10-03 10:41:00 In 1986, religious leaders -- bishops, clergy members and nuns -- played a significant role in the non-violent struggle during the EDSA revolution to restore democracy in the Philippines. Historical images of priests and nuns in tears carrying rosaries and flowers remind me of how Buddhist monks in Burma have taken similar action by peacefully demonstrating on the streets of their country.The recent crackdown in Burma, however, leads me to conclude that the Burmese military regime is even more brutal than that of Ferdinand Marcos
. In Burma, the military's use of brute force -- killings, abductions, torture and illegal detention -- is their only means to react to dissent.If Marcos's loyal military and police generals could defect, which eventually prevented the massive crowd of protestors from being attacked during the EDSA People Power revolution, the Burmese generals and their followers in the field apparently cannot. They shot and killed protestors, including Buddhist monks, who we
International Day of Non-Violence 2007-10-02 01:18:00 The International
Day of Non-Violence
is observed on 2 October, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi. This day is referred to in India as Gandhi Jayanti.On 15 June 2007 the United Nations General Assembly voted to establish 2 October as the International Day of Non-Violence. The resolution by the General Assembly asks all members of the UN system to commemorate 2 October in "an appropriate manner and disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness."For more information on Mahatma Gandhi's life and works, please refer to Wikipedia.org
Web Of Cash, Power and Cronies 2007-10-01 10:08:00 SINGAPORE isn't just skilled at mandatory executions of drug traffickers, running an excellent airport and selling cameras on Orchard Road. It also does a useful trade keeping Burma's military rulers and their cronies afloat.Much attention is placed on China and its coming hosting of the Olympic Games as a diplomatic pressure point on the rampant Burmese junta. But there is a group of government businessmen-technocrats in Singapore who will also be closely monitoring the brutality in Rangoon. And, were they so inclined, their influence could go a long way to limiting the misery being inflicted on Burma's 54 million people.Collectively known as "Singapore Inc", they gather around the $A150 billion state-owned investment house Temasek Holdings, controlled by a member of the ruling Lee family.With an estimated $A3 billion staked in the country (and a more than $20 billion stake in Australia),Singapore Inc companies have been some of the biggest investors in and supporters of Burma's m
Free Burma! International Bloggers To Support Freedom For Burma On Oct 4th 2007-09-30 07:49:00 Reproduced from the blog, Beautiful To Behold: International
bloggers are preparing an action to support the peaceful revolution in Burma
. They want to set a sign for freedom and show their sympathy for these people who are fighting their cruel regime without weapons. These Bloggers are planning to refrain from posting to their blogs on 4th October but just put up one Banner, underlined with the words “Free Burma!”. Preferred Action: Choose a graphic from http://www.flickr.com/groups/479791@N25/pool/ or http://flickr.com/photos/tags/freeburma/ with the text “Free Burma” so we can sync our global voice. Use the tag “Free Burma” with: For Bloggers: “One blogpost for Burma” For website owners: “One text for Burma” For commenters: “One Keystroke for Burma” Link: You can keep up with the changes by pointing your feedreader to http://freeburma.stots.de/feed.php When This event will take place on October, 4th 2007. Name The name of the event will be “Free Burma” Read more:Support
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Burma in ASEAN 2007-09-29 06:37:00 Burma has been with ASEAN
for a full ten years. How much has this repressive state contributed to the common good of ASEAN? The nation has been under repression for the past 40 years under the first generation of military dictators. When ASEAN opened the door for Burma in 1997, its members did not specifically hope to act as "agents of change" in the Burmese political stalemate. Logically speaking, ASEAN itself was vulnerable and plagued by slow progress, with more "don'ts" than "do's," with its notorious non-interference principle, and questions of legitimacy of each member government. While piggybacking Burma and with no real will to push for political change in Burma, ASEAN kept turning a blind eye to the worsening situation there. ASEAN members' private interests ruled over efforts to bring transformation to Yangon. For Burma, ASEAN has been a fancy dress to put on so it could look normal. In reality, conditions in Burma do not seem good, with an ongoing civil war, a power Read more:Burma
Bank Secrecy Law, Money Laundering and Tax Evasions 2007-10-13 14:04:00 One of the greatest advantages of having an offshore bank account in Singapore is its bank secrecy law because the chance of anyone knowing you have got a huge sum of money which you really want to hide for any reason is pretty low. And I am not saying Singapore is definitely a money laundering centre but who is to say that Singapore will not become one in the future?According to the Bloomberg article on the rapid growth of Asia’s millionaires, it was reported that Asia had 2.3 million millionaires last year, an increase of 8.2%. Singapore millionaires rose 22.4% to 48,500 while in US, a 10% increase to 2.5 million.Naturally, it is not difficult to assume that some of these world’s riches might be dealing in money laundering activities to amass their wealth while some would attempt to avoid massive taxes levied on their assets and earnings. In the case of the latter, if you were a millionaire who does not want to pay extra taxes on your income, what would you do? I would certainly Read more:Money
Protesting Dogs In Burma 2007-10-13 11:27:00 The Burmese authorities have a new enemy to hunt down—dogs which are roaming Rangoon with pictures of Than Shwe and other regime leaders around their necks. A resident of Shwegondine, Bahan Township, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that she saw a group of four dogs with pictures of the regime’s top generals around their necks. Sightings were also reported in four other Rangoon townships—Tharkayta, Dawbon, Hlaing Tharyar and South Okkalapa. Some sources said the canine protest had started at least a week ago, and was keeping the authorities busy trying to catch the offending dogs. “They seem quite good at avoiding arrest,” laughed one resident. Associating anybody with a dog is a very serious insult in Burma
. Spray-painters are also at work, daubing trains with the words “Killer Than Shwe” and other slogans. The above article was reproduced from The Irrawaddy.
Transparency and Good Governance to Satisfy Singaporeans and Retain Talents 2007-10-11 05:09:00 Singapore is already a financial hub in Asia alongside with Hong Kong and Tokyo, but it needs to retain high-valued talents to fill important positions in the private sectors, government-linked companies (GLCs) such as Singapore Technologies and Singapore Airlines (SIA), or even statutory boards such as CPF, HDB and LTA. I applaud Singapore’s “leaving no stones unturned” kind of approach in attracting global and regional activities with the introduction of numerous initiatives throughout the years to enhance our competitiveness in the global market. Two important examples were the recent reduction of the corporate tax rate by 2% from 20% to 18% and the increase in the corporate tax exemption threshold from S$100,000 to S$300,000, both taking effect from Year of Assessment (YA) 2008. There was also an earlier initiative under the Unilateral Tax Credit Scheme for service incomes which allows to cover all service incomes remitted from all non-treaty countries such as the US Read more:Transparency
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