The former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analyst Paul R Pillar asked this question in a recent essay in The National Interest: Why are we seeing so many popular street revolts in democracies?

Speaking specifically of Turkey and Brazil, but posing a question that could be applied to Egypt, Israel, Russia, Chile and the United States, he asks: “The governments being protested against were freely and democratically elected. With the ballot box available, why should there be recourse to the street?”

NOT A BLANK CHEQUE

In Russia, Turkey and today’s Egypt, we have seen mass demonstrations to protest “majoritarianism” — ruling parties that were democratically elected (or “sort of” in Russia’s case) but interpret their elections as a writ to do whatever they want once in office, including ignoring the opposition, choking the news media and otherwise behaving in imperious or corrupt ways — as if democracy were only about the right to vote, not rights in general and especially minority rights.

What the protesters in Turkey, Russia and Egypt all have in common is a powerful sense of “theft”, a sense that the people who got elected are stealing something more than money: The people’s voice and right to participate in governance. Nothing can make a new democrat, someone who just earned the right to vote, angrier.

Here is what the satirist Bassem Youssef, the Jon Stewart of Egypt, wrote in the Egyptian daily Al Shorouk, on the anniversary of the election of President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood’s party: “We have a President who promised that a balanced constituent assembly would work on a constitution that everyone agrees on. We have a President who promised to be representative, but placed members of his Muslim Brotherhood in every position of power. We have a President and a party that broke all their promises, so the people have no choice but to take to the streets.”

MIDDLE CLASS STRESS

A second factor is the way middle-class workers are being squeezed between a shrinking welfare state and a much more demanding job market. For so many years, workers were told that if you just work hard and play by the rules, you will be in the middle class. That is just not true anymore.

In this age of rapid globalisation and automation, you have to work harder, work smarter, bring more innovation to whatever job you do, retool yourself more often — and then you can be in the middle class. There is just so much more stress on people in, or aspiring to be in, the middle class, and many more young people wondering how they will ever do better than their parents.

Too few leaders are levelling with their people about this shift, let alone helping them navigate it. And too many big political parties today are only vehicles for different coalitions to defend themselves against change rather than lead their societies in adapting to it.

Normally, this would create opportunities for opposition parties, but in places like Turkey, Brazil, Russia and Egypt, the formal opposition is feckless. So people take to the streets, forming their own opposition.

In America, the Tea Party began as a protest against Republicans for being soft on deficits, and Occupy Wall Street as a protest against Democrats for being soft on bankers.

In Brazil, a 9-cent increase in bus fares set off mass protests, in part because it seemed so out of balance when the government was spending some US$30 billion (S$38 billion) on stadiums for the Olympics and the World Cup.

Writing in The American Interest, Mr William Waack, an anchorman on Brazil’s Globo, probably spoke for many when he observed: “Brazilians don’t feel like their elected representatives at any level actually represent them, especially at a time when most leaders fear the stigma of making actual decisions (otherwise known as leading) ... It’s not about the 9 cents.”

China is not a democracy, but this story is a sign of the times: In a factory outside Beijing, an Americanbusinessman, Mr Chip Starnes, President of the Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, was held captive for nearly a week by about 100 workers “who were demanding severance packages identical to those offered to 30 recently laid-off employees”, according to Reuters.

The workers feared they would be next as the company moved some production from China to India to reduce costs. (He was released in a deal on Thursday.)

FROM GRIEVANCE TO ACTION

Finally, thanks to the proliferation of smartphones, tablets, Twitter, Facebook and blogging, aggrieved individuals now have much more power to engage in, and require their leaders to engage in, two-way conversations — and they have much greater ability to link up with others who share their views to hold flash protests.

As Mr Leon Aron, Russian historian at the American Enterprise Institute, put it, “the turnaround time” between sense of grievance and action in today’s world is lightning fast and getting faster.

The net result is this: Autocracy is less sustainable than ever. Democracies are more prevalent than ever — but they will also be more volatile than ever. Look for more people in the streets more often over more issues with more independent means to tell their stories at ever-louder decibels.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Thomas L Friedman, an op-ed columnist for The New York Times, has thrice won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

Hello TRS readers :)

My name is Kevin Wee, 19 this year. I hope you will take some time to hear my story. I was from Victoria School(VS) and Raffles Junior College. Growing up, I was taught to work and study hard, for it will give me a secure and good future. I excelled in sports and studies, working extremely hard at both. I never had time for a relationship and spent little time going out with friends. I played badminton for VS in sec 1 and 2, and switched to tennis in sec 3 and 4. I achieved a national ranking, which helped me get into RJC through DSA. In RJC, we won a double gold and I represented Singapore in the ASEAN schools games in 2012. 

I had everything going for me, and just needed to work hard for A levels, get good grades, and get into medicine. Or so I naively thought. 1 month before the A levels, there was construction above my house. I got nervous and agitated, but managed to compromise and study 14 hrs a day for a month. 
First day of As, I was placed at the side of the hall where I never sat before and the aircon was blowing in my face. I have asthma, and I couldn’t breathe properly. I got shifted to a ulu place whr I got distracted by some sounds (prob due to the anxiety) and ""scrwed up"" GP. I went into mild depression and couldn’t concentrate on the following papers (kept worrying where ill sit) I didnt sleep at all before math, and had a complete mental block in both papers, when to the toilet and sat there...handed up 2sheets of paper. Aft that, I wanted to withdraw, but my mum encouraged me and took me to the doc and got medication. I struggled through the rest of the papers...trapped by my thoughts of the future and all kinds of weird sensations that distract me. I barely made it through As and I thought it was going to be fine.

I was wrong. I had death thoughts (of myself getting hanged, getting cut up,etc) and I couldn’t sleep or control them. Aft 4 days of no sleep, I honestly thought without a doubt I was going to die. I was admitted and the doc gave me a sedative. It didn’t work. I lay awake for 4 hrs, and then woke up trembling from head to toe, I called my parents and said ""goodbye"". The doc gave me a stronger sedative and I fell asleep. 

Anyway, I was stuck in depression for 4 months...I was suicidal in January. Some of you may be thinking, exams are a very stupid reason to go into depression like that, but it wasn’t my fault per say. I had dreams, I studied exceedingly hard for so many years. To me, my future was gone to trash, all my hard work over 18 yrs rendered useless. Furthermore, my mind was too spent from all that studying and it shut down because it had reached its limit. Depression is as much a physical as it is mental illness. 

Somehow, I recovered slowly. In late march, with medication, love, support, and letting go of everything. I told myself, I really don’t need a degree to survive, there are other ways to make ends meet.

One day, as I was watching youtube, I decided hey, I could do that, share my story u know, try and inspire people from there. So I did it. In my first video I shared my story and eventually burned my A level cert. You may think its stupid, but its not. That piece of paper almost murdered me, and its worthless to me now, I never want to see it again. The video is long but the first 1hr20mins is the crux. If its too long to tahan, do try and watch it in parts if you can It has 18k views so far and good reviews. After my video, some people with mental illnesses have also come to me for help. It’s tiring helping them, but nonetheless I will never give up, for I was once that person, desperate and yearning for help.

I also made two subsequent videos where I interviews elderly cleaners and gave out masks during the haze periods. I do not understand why in our country when our GDP is one of the highest in the world, elderly cleaners, whose faces are riddled with wrinkles, have to bend over and clean tables.

Also, after I woke up from the nightmare, I begin to see clearly the shortcomings of the education system. It is cruely competitive and places too much emphasis on grades. From a young age, some parents bombard their children with two preschools, piano classes, tuition, sports classes, you name it. Children should be able to enjoy their childhood and slowly find their dreams, not having them forced on them. Because parents want “the best” for their child’s future, they may unknowingly put too much stress on kids from a young age. I remember clearly during my PSLE results, a boy was crying over the phone in the toilet, saying “Mummy, sorry, I got below 200, how?” No child at the age of 12 should feel that their life is over because of a stupid piece of paper.

In secondary schools, many “neighbourhood” school kids are struggling to keep up with the content of the O levels with 6-8 subjects, and face tremendous stress. Some simply give up, and worse still develop mental illness. These claims are not made into jest. For my upcoming videos, I’ve interviewed “neighbourhood school” kids and this is what they tell me. So too do taxi driver uncles (about their sons) whom I talk to. 

Of course, when grades are held in high regard, there are other perils and implications on society like elitism and social stratification, which are also serious problems.

Also, though my interactions with my new friends, I realised I was very sheltered, and I finally see the neglected side of society-namely people with disabilities, mental illnesses, learning disabilities and the elderly.

Coming out of depression, I have a clearer dream and conviction; That is to inspire a more inclusive, loving Singapore, where we look out for those falling through the cracks, for those crushed under the weight of a fast paced society, for those who are underprivileged and in need of help. I hope you can give my channel on youtube a chance and help to achieve that dream together as Singaporeans :)

Kevin Wee

TRS Contributor

Mr Han specifies that Singaporeans only deserves the current salary (as we all know S'poreans' salary is subpar while greatly aggravated by recent high cost of living).

Let's compare an apple with an apple. Condemning the average S'porean workers, not being any better than Germans or Japanese. Is it fair that Singapore (being a nation less than 50 years) being weigh on a scale against countries close to 150 years of history or maybe more.

Employers can endlessly criticize about the S'pore's weak workforce but do not want to groom and retain any local talents as HR are known to prefer foreigners. Is highlighting the issue here going to solve our nation's "problem"? The mentioned lacking quality does not come overnight to much of employers' craving.

It is like a catch 22 situation - Complaining about locals lacking experience yet employers prefer to hire foreigners. If you do not get the job, how are you going to get that experience and vice versa.

It's no longer about asking for "premium" wages, it's about making a simple decent living. Why is it even mentioned about converting SGD to some other currencies. We are living in Singapore, not some neighbouring countries. Do you buy food overseas and postage it over to Singapore in order to enjoy the conversion rate? The ans is no - so why are we even talking about it - a facade on our strong currency?

We should start suggesting solutions instead of "problem highlighting" that we are so used to, in the first instance. We can start corroborating the workforce rather than using perpetual paradoxical subterfuge.

Do you agree with Mr Han, Managing Editor of Straits times?

Politics Comics

One day, there was an article about Singaporeans queuing up and buying many masks at one go. When asked why they were buying so many, most said that they were buying them for their friends and family members, and that they did not know when the haze would end.

And, on another day, there was an article about a Singaporean who could not afford a mask, has to cycle to send her children to school every day and sell curry puff in the haze. She could not even afford to switch on the fan, for she wanted to save on the PUB bill.

And in case you're wondering, yes, both articles are in the same national newspaper, not some online news site.

What is the first thought that comes to you?

Singapore is often recognized as one of the richest countries in the world. In other words, if Singapore were a household, you could compare Singapore as a condo in Orchard Road—no doubt from the surface, we have high GDP, our location is excellent and our infrastructure is almost futuristic. But deep within, with these two articles, you can see that while it looks perfect, there are apparently hidden cracks.

One Singaporean can buy ten masks just to keep at home. One Singaporean cannot even afford to buy one.

One Singaporean can buy two McDonald's meals and throw them away, because she wants the Hello Kitty. One Singaporean loitered around coffeeshops for discarded food.

One Singaporean can earn $8,000 a month working 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. One Singaporean can earn $800 a month working 6.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m.

I would argue that if you're reading this, you belong to the group that does not need to struggle for food on the table. The reason is simple—you have a computer or a smartphone.

But what is disturbing is this: Some of us have lived in a sheltered area for so freaking long that we forgot about these cracks in society. One of my friends, a young lady who studied in a prestigious secondary school, told me this before: "When I have kids, I'll send them to neighbourhood schools to see the real world." She said she was surprised in that in her school, there were still people who believed in this:

No money to buy mask? No such thing in Singapore lah. 

No money to buy food? This is Singapore leh.

No money to go university? Excuses lah; must be bad results.

Therefore, I suggest that wherever you are—be it in the affluent circle or middle-class circle—to go out and see the real world. See the cracks, and if you want to, do something about it. Appreciate and acknowledge instead of mere saying "no such thing lah", because there is such thing lah.

Read one of my novels, Journey (available in all bookstores now), here:www.goodybooks.com/journey.htm

Low Kay Hwa

*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/lowkayhwa/posts/10151496326311088

[This is a satire article from Newnation.sg]

Singaporean men from all walks of life who have served National Service are worried that PAP MPs Janil Puthucheary and Zainudin Nordin are feeling left out.

This is because these two PAP MPs did not serve NS and today is SAF Day, a day where men who have served NS feel somewhat proud that they did and share photos of themselves on Facebook.

One proud Singaporean son who spent two years of his life wearing leaves and eating combat ration, Kee Zho Peng, said: “I scared the two MPs feel left out. Because without serving National Service, you wouldn’t feel like a real man.”

And to help tide the two MPs over this period of feeling excluded from the world where real men inhabit, there are other Singaporean sons who have volunteered to help them feel included.

Ki Chiong Sua, a seller of NS equipment at Beach Road army market, said: “Should make them wear No. 4 and camo-cream the whole of SAF Day. I can donate.”

Others, however, were quick to point out that Janil Puthucheary and Zainudin Nordin are inspirational figures.

Bian Zho Peng, a Singaporean youth trying to evade NS, said: “Wah, never do NS can still be MP ah? Steady…”

*Article first appeared on http://newnation.sg/2013/07/ns-men-worried-mps-janil-puthucheary-zainudin-nordin-feel-left-out-on-saf-day/

2 July 2013

Oil spill following collision between Oriental Pioneer and the Atlantic Hero

At about 0530hrs on 2 July 2013 (Singapore time), the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) received a report that a South Korean-registered bulk carrier, Oriental Pioneer, and a Bahamas-registered bulk carrier, Atlantic Hero, had collided at about 6.6km south-west of Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. One of the Oriental Pioneer's bunker tank was damaged and approximately 100 metric tonnes of fuel oil was spilled.

Upon notification, MPA immediately dispatched its patrol craft to deal with the oil spill. Oil spill response companies were also activated to augment the patrol craft. A total of 10 patrol and anti-pollution craft have been deployed to clean up the spilled oil. Work is currently continuing and MPA is co-ordinating the clean up with other government agencies and the ship owners.

The two vessels involved in the collision are currently safely anchored in the Eastern Bunkering Anchorages. MPA has issued navigational broadcasts to ships to navigate with caution when in the vicinity of the incident site. There is no report of injury and port operations remain unaffected.

Traffic in the port and the Strait of Singapore is unaffected.

MPA is investigating the cause of the collision.

For media enquiries, please call MPA's media hotline at 8366 2293.

Source: http://www.mpa.gov.sg

PRs must be grouped with foreign workers/FTs or be a stand-alone statistics & NOT be grouped under Locals/Singaporeans. Call a spade a spade!

Economic migrants are fluid and will flow with the breeze and go where there are ‘meals’.

We are not against foreign workers/FTs but they must not replace and displace Singaporeans like a house of cards, minus the NS/reservists obligations. Some policies are failures and misplaced. They must be corrected before Singaporeans become ‘foreigners in their own home’.

Anyone who challenges that “Singapore must be open and remain open for foreign workers/FTs” – allow me to share this with you. There are more than 200m unemployed globally and if you/we remain liberal with immigration and imported labors, we will sink. Foreign workers/FTs, go home and tell your Govt to be equally, if not more, liberal.

There are some jobs that locals avoid or we simply haven’t had enough to fill. Go ahead and import them. But, care & share: Singaporeans must get priority, say whatever you like.

P

What the fish (WTF) is the minister Hen thinking of when he announced plans to set up a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) surveillance task force to "track cyber trends"? Euphemistically code named "Cyber Defence Operations Hub", the SAF unit will use its arsenal of surveillance equipment to "monitor cyber threats around the clock and beef up its networks against virtual threats." Is he taking the nefarious Internet Brigade, who troll non-PC blog sites and "convey messages" about libellous posts, to the next level?

The world is already polarised after Snowden exposed the plethora of classified intelligence snooping in place, including the interception of US and European telephone metadata and the PRISM and Tempora Internet surveillance programs. There are many who stay away from Google mail because they use bots to read your communications about promote products and services mentioned in the emails to plug the appropriate advertisements. Now we know even Microsoft, Yahoo! and FVacebook are selling you out to the US government. 49 percent of Americans polled thinks Snowden's disclosures the public interest while 44 percent thought it harms it. The rest of planet earth probably thinks votes along the similar lines.

In Singapore, more are likely to share Snowden's perspective that leaks were an effort "to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them." Especially when the dodgy ministers in charge can't even be transparent about simple things like PSI information. If it weren't for leaks, how else would we know that our anointed Minister for Muslim Affairs "has a more open-minded interpretation of the Koran"?

Soon, all of us in will need to master Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), the data encryption and decryption  program for signing, encrypting and decrypting texts and e-mails, to keep the invasive buggers out of our private lives. Like the man says, offence is the best form of defence. Time to hit those manuals.

Tattler

*The writer blogs at singaporedesk.blogspot.com

There are many different types of people in this world:
1. Those that are clueless about dots;
2. Those that are informed about dots;
3. Those that are misinformed about dots; and
4. Those that can connect the dots.

Those that are clueless about dots may have good reasons for being disadvantaged. They may have a poor start in life due to poverty or their parent’s ignorance. Or, it could also be due to self inflicted disadvantages as a result of their poor attitude to education and learning. However, this is in the minority, few and far in between.

To be informed about dots is to know about them. But it doesn’t mean you know the full facts about them. To illustrate, if you don’t read the Straits Times you will not get to know about dots. In other words you will not be informed about dots.

On the other hand if you read the Straits Times you will be misinformed about dots. This is a newspaper not in the business of reporting the dots. It is in the business of painting the dots as the ruling party would like the people to see it. Its sole raison d’être is to agree with everything its paymaster put out for public consumption and play the role of cheerleader par excellence.

Those that can connect the dots are a rare breed in Singapore or anywhere else in the world. When you are bombarded daily with self serving propaganda advocating hidden agendas by mainstream media it is difficult not to be influenced to a certain extent even if you have a scholarly Mensa grade intelligence quotient.

I quote Wikipedia in full on the subject of proof by assertion:

Proof by assertion, sometimes informally referred to as proof by repeated assertion, is an informal fallacy in which a proposition is repeatedly restated regardless of contradiction. Sometimes, this may be repeated until challenges dry up, at which point it is asserted as fact due to its not being contradicted (argumentum ad nauseam). In other cases, its repetition may be cited as evidence of its truth, in a variant of the appeal to authority or appeal to belief fallacies.
This fallacy is sometimes used as a form of rhetoric by politicians, or during a debate as a filibuster.

In its extreme form, it can also be a form of brainwashing.

Modern politics contains many examples of proof by assertions. This practice can be observed in the use of political slogans, and the distribution of “talking points”, which are collections of short phrases that are issued to members of modern political parties for recitation to achieve maximum message repetition.

The technique is also sometimes used in advertising. An example is a quote by Lenin:

A Lie told often enough becomes the truth.

To avoid such insidious media influence you must train your mind to watch what people are doing rather than what they are saying. It is easier said than done not least because our education system doesn’t teach us to connect the dots. It may teach us a lot about dots but they are taught in isolation using a compartmentalised pedagogical approach.

For example when we think of an architect, lawyer, doctor, accountant or a professional from any one of the academically rigorous tertiary programmes we tend to hold them in high regards and give them undue respect. There is nothing wrong in respecting the hard work and effort they have endured to master their profession. But it is wrong to give them more credits than they deserved simply by virtue of them belonging to a profession that command a high income.

The important point to note is that they are a trained person. Not an educated person. An educated person is someone who can connect the dots. To do that you need a lifetime of experience. It is not measured in years but in the different experiences you encountered during all these years. Some people claim they have twenty years of experience when they actually meant they have one year of experience repeated twenty times. After the first year they closed their mind to new experiences and new learnings. They just happily cruise along thinking they already know everything there is to know about their job.

There are very few educated people in this world. A polymath like Leonardo Da Vinci is qualified to be classified as one. A Minister moving from one ministry to another and screwing all of them up is anything but.

In Singapore our Ministers voted to connect their salaries to the salaries of all the top earners in the country in various profession and industry and this is their idea of connecting the dots. As if to make such they are well connected to various industry they connect their yearly bonuses to GDP growth. There is nothing more widely connected than GDP which encompasses all activities in the country in one index.

Can the people connect the dots? I am not hopeful. There are too much haze in our society and too many hasty people trying to reach the top of the food chain with those already at the top kicking away the ladders.

Life is like a fish caught in a feeding frenzy: eat or be eaten!

Deep Art Valley

I refer to the Straits Time Insight report on Hougang Constituency published on 24 September 2010.

Mr Eric Low said, “at every wake, he would send a blanket from the town council”. I would like to clarify that blankets and donations to families of deceased residents are given in my personal capacity as MP for Hougang to offer my condolences, not from the town council.

He was further quoted to have invited me for the meeting of HUDC cluster privatisation, to which I have replied, “too busy and didn’t want to come”. Mr Eric Low had brought this up in a conversation when we met at a lunar seventh month dinner. Never had it crossed my mind that a brief casual conversation was actually an official and important invitation to a formal dialogue session and not a grassroots meeting. In any case as I understand it, the dialogue session was organised by the People’s Association (PA) and Mr Eric Low was invited as the Guest-of-Honour. I was not informed nor invited to the meeting by the PA.

Next came the most intriguing point raised in the report, and I quote: “When the opposition lose in PAP wards, where do they go to? Do you see them in the PAP wards?”

These words and the underlying meaning behind them show exactly the kind of political system we have in Singapore.

Let me touch on the first point: “Where do they go to?”

When a PAP candidate loses the election, he is appointed or will remain as “Adviser” to the grassroots organisations. He heads the Community Club (CC) and nominates or endorses members of the Residents’ Committee (RC) whose activities are co-ordinated and routinely administered by the PA which is funded by government budget.

At the party level, he is in charge of the PAP’s branch in the constituency which is closely affiliated to the PAP Community Foundation (PCF). The PAP party office is usually located inside the premises of PCF, which is registered as a charitable organisation and runs pre-education classes for residents in the ward. The PCF premises are granted “concessionary rent” by the HDB.

To summarise, when a PAP candidate loses the election, he goes to the CC under the umbrella of the PA and to his party office under the PCF, where he can conduct meet-the-people sessions in a proper office in air-condition comfort.

Now, when a WP candidate loses the election, he has to, quite simply put it, ‘roam the streets’ if he wishes to continue extending his reach in the ward.

When the WP narrowly lost in the 1997 General Election, the former Secretary-General of the Workers’ Party, JB Jeyaretnam, wanted to continue to meet the residents of Cheng San GRC weekly to hear their concerns. This was held in a coffee shop but the coffee shop was soon branded as a place used for political purposes.

The second point: “do you see them in the ward?” makes a mockery out of our supposedly democratic political system.

We see the PAP’s presence in every ward, be it in their own or in the opposition’s.

Firstly, government initiated programs, such as Lift Upgrading Program and HUDC Estate Privatisation exercise, mandate the “Adviser” to play a central role.

The adviser is to assist in implementing privatisation of HUDC estates by endorsing the Protem Committee members and interacting with residents through dialogue sessions, house-to-house visits, etc. In the case of HDB flat Lift Upgrading, the Adviser is to announce the precinct being selected, preside over the exhibition in the ward and oversee the LUP working committee.

The elected MP has no say!

Secondly, the PA assists the grassroots organisations, which include the RCs, Constituency Sports Club, CC etc to organise social and community events and the Adviser is invited as Guest-of-Honour. This gives a great opportunity to the Adviser to be seen and heard by the people in the ward. The Adviser is also invited to other functions such as lunar seventh month dinner organised by the residents and to functions organised by schools within the constituency.

Thirdly, PCF, the charity arm of the PAP which offers nursery and kindergarten classes to residents, also invites the Adviser as the Guest-of-Honour for their graduation ceremonies. This is usually well attended by parents who live in the constituency.

Finally at the national level, the Adviser is invited to events such as National Day Parade, official ceremony of governmental events or campaigns, as well as, events such as the F1 Race.

As for WP, what options do we have? We have applied to Town Councils and CCs managed by the PAP to hold dialogue sessions and block parties for residents previously but these applications were promptly rejected.

Given such limitations, we can only try to enhance our presence in the various wards through house-to-house visits.

Unlike the PAP candidates who lost in the General Election, our candidates have to rely on our own limited resources amidst the constraints and obstacles hurled upon us.

Therefore, I am surprised to hear such sarcasm from Mr Eric Low “where do they go to?” and “do you see them in the ward?” The PAP puts in overwhelming resources to have their presence felt and is equally determined in quelling the opposition’s presence.

Singapore is supposedly at the crossroads of an era where many good things are happening in our country. We talk about the YOG competitive spirit and fairness. We talk about openness and democracy. We talk about empowering our people.

But are we truly promoting the spirit of competition? Can we truly be open with our views? Are we truly empowered?

Low Thia Khiang

Secretary-General

Worker's Party

Despite having 7 rounds of property financing curbs by the Govt, property prices for both HDB resale flats as well as private properties continue to rise.

In the latest HDB flash estimate of the HDB Resale Price Index (RPI), resale prices were seen to continue to rise, although moderately, by 0.5% in the second quarter of 2013 over the first quarter.

The RPI for the second quarter 2013 is 206.5. In the first quarter 2013, the RPI was 205.5

HDB said it will release the RPI for the full quarter (Q2) later on 26 Jul.

The private residential property prices also continue to rise by 0.8% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2013 over the first. This is based on the flash estimate of the price index for private residential property released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).

The private residential property index rose 1.7 points from 213.2 in 1st quarter 2013 to 214.9 in 2nd quarter.

URA will release the full figures for 2nd quarter by the end of the Jul.

Meanwhile, MAS introduced a fresh round of loan curb on 28 Jun last week. It announced that under the new Total Debt Servicing Ratio (TDSR) framework, financial institutions will now need to consider a person’s total debt obligations, including other mortgages and loans for cars, before granting a new home loan. Banks will not be able to approve a loan if the monthly repayments of a home buyer’s total debt obligations exceed 60% of his gross monthly income.

MAS stated that the rules also apply to borrowers looking to refinance.

Other rules include the naming of borrowers on a mortgage as the owners of the property, and changes to loan-to-valuation rules to prevent borrowers from getting round tougher limits for second and subsequent housing loans.

Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan said on Sunday (30 Jun) that the tougher rules on home loan financing are expected to be permanent and are a “structural measure” to ensure a more stable property market.

“So it’s not really a cooling measure as such, but it’s a measure which will be quite permanent,” said Mr Khaw at a community event. “The current low interest rates are not sustainable, and we worry that people buy beyond their means.”

TR Emeritus

*Article first appeared on www.TREmeritus.com

Dear Minister Lui

I refer to my previous feedback for policymakers to walk the talk i.e. CEOs, directors and senior civil servants should commute by public buses and trains.

I read in The Straits Times (29 June) that Thailand’s Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt has encouraged his senior officials to take public buses at least once a week to personally experience the problems plaguing its public bus service.

This is a step in the right direction which our senior officials must emulate in order to really understand commuters’ issues.  The reason for our worsening public transportation woes is due to MOT/LTA senior officials deluding themselves that they could understand what’s happening on the ground from air-conditioned offices or chauffer driven luxury vehicles.

As a leader, Minister Lui should be exemplary by taking public buses and trains regularly. 

A compulsory weekly ride by all senior officials (not just from your ministry) will ensure there is sufficient and accurate feedback.  Without such feedback, no solution will be in sight.

It is also delusional to assume that current and proposed measures will alleviate overcrowding. Why?

The issue of overcrowding was highlighted some years back when the population figure was below 5 million.  Since the BSEP was announced in February last year, our population has probably increased by about 140,000 to presently 5.42 million (estimated based on historical rate). 

The additional less than 200 (BSEP) buses have not reduced overcrowding because it merely resolves some of the overcrowding issue resulting from a corresponding population  increase.  Many public transport commuters have expressed their frustrations and are fed up with our first world public transportation system.

As have been mentioned in previous feedback, chronic issues such as.bus bunching and severe traffic bottlenecks have yet to be resolved.  The 1001 construction sites (everywhere) and new MRT lines under construction have not only worsened such bottlenecks but have also made our roads dangerous.

(As also mentioned before, construction companies appear to be cutting costs by allowing their workers to use our public buses.  What is the point of spending hundreds of millions to purchase new buses only for commuters to share them with foreign construction workers?  If anyone wants to claim that I am biased, he/she should walk the talk i.e. all senior government officials must offer to share their private vehicles with these workers on a regular basis. The worst timing would be during evening peak hours.  Yesterday, my 13 year old daughter returned from school on a bus that was half filled with construction workers who had just finished work! This is seriously bad/no planning. And commuters are getting really fed up.)

Singaporeans are practically screaming into politicians’ and policymakers’ ears to empathise with our situation because this has been unacceptable for a number of years. 

It also cannot expect citizens to accept its ‘more of the same’ proposed solution. 

The Thai transport minister has been exemplary.  To show sincerity instead of perpetually talking the talk, please take a leaf out of the Thai transport minister’s book.

Thank you and have a nice day.

Phillip Ang

[Article was sent to us by a Syrian News reporter]

Syria – The Vatican has confirmed the cold-blooded murder of the Franciscan priest François Murad (49). He was beheaded in the public by radical Islamic terrorists on Sunday the 23th of June in northern Syria in the region of Gassanieh.

The neck of the pinioned priest was severed with a knife. Afterwards, the head was shown to the roaring crowd. The Catholic priest had sought refuge in the local Christian monastery, which was attacked by the terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra.

This heinous act must bring to mind for every Christian in the world that these so-called rebels in Syria are cold-blooded killers and no freedom fighters and they are certainly not the guardians of Islam. They can shout “Allahu Akbar” while their slaughtering as loud as they want, this has absolutely nothing to do with God.

Anyone who takes the life of a man commits a mortal sin, period!

Every Muslim who does not strongly condemn this brutal murder of a defenseless Catholic priests is making himself complicit.

The Koran forbids this. The murderers and all the people who have watched this and done nothing will end up in the eternal damnation. They are the servants of Satan and they will forever atone for their cowardly act.

The beheading is shown in the following video, which makes father François to a martyr who died only because of his Christian faith.

Warning: the recording is extremely brutal and I only show this because there are people who still deny that such atrocities are committed by the jihadists within Syria.

The first victim’s father François. The second, who was also beheaded, is said to have collaborated with the government of al-Assad. A third person, who`s hands were also tied behind his back and is kneeling on the ground awaits the same fate.

I lack the words to express my outrage about this horrible massacre. Those damned murderers let even children watch this.

Why does the Western media not report about these heinous killings of Christians and about who gives these bands of murderers all the money and weapons to rage in Syria? Namely the worst dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar, as well as Turkey, Jordan and Israel, and the United States and Great Britain.

Where is the condemnation of these atrocities by the governments of the so-called civilized West? Otherwise, they make a huge outcry when it comes to human rights and the protection of human life. Obviously, all means are OK for them as long as they are about the overthrow of al-Assad.

Hereby, I call on all readers of ASR (see link to source below) to send this article with the video to all the members of the government, the governments, media, prosecutors, representatives of the various religions and to all who should know about this.

The support of the terrorists who have invaded Syria and who commit the worst crimes must be stopped immediately and the perpetrators punished.

Source: alles-schallundrauch

I am personally against mandatory conscription and find that our National Service policies are not beneficial to the average Singaporean.

I just want to share a letter from 1917 from someone who was also against the plans to make National Service mandatory in the US back then. How relevant do you think his opinions are 95 years later?

The full letter can be viewed here but here are some relevant extracts:

Is It Democratic?

Most boys at the age of military service are working for their families and helping to support families. Is it as hard on rich men’s sons? It certainly is not.

Is it democratic to force men who opposed this war, and who do not believe in war, to go out and fight?

Conscription will forcibly drive into the trenches boys of unformed minds, boys too young to vote, or draw a will, but yet presumed by this bill to be old enough to decide the awful questions of life and death and international ethics.

 

Is It Physically Beneficial?

The flower of our young men will be taken, and those who are not killed and maimed will be in no need of physical training.

 

Is It Necessary?

Ninety-eight percent of the men in the Union Army, during our Civil War, were volunteers. There were more volunteers for the Spanish American war than we could use.

England raised an army of more than 3 million volunteers, and could have raised a million more. Conscription was a political trick — not a military necessity

Canada has repeatedly rejected conscription, although in the third year of the war.

Australia has rejected conscription, the Australian soldiers in the trenches overwhelmingly against it.

 

What Conscription Does.

Conscription not only drills men’s bodies, but their minds. It makes them obedient to authority, whether right or wrong; takes away their power to think originally; makes them expert with guns, and therefore, eager to use them; and gives them a hatred of independent thought and contempt for human life.

….

Conscription accustoms a whole nation to the thought of war. Men who have had their military training carry the belligerent impulse and the blind respect for authority back to their homes, until the whole nation is permeated with it. It is not only in military affairs that this psychology is fostered, but also in politics, in industry — even in education, as we so clearly see in the social organization of Prussia.

Mike

Contributions

China’s President Xi Jinping may be trying to manipulate the hearts and minds of the ruling Communist Party, or he may just be telling the darn truth about economic growth and human welfare.

Xi delivered a speech to Party leaders over this weekend in which he stressed that “we should no longer evaluate the performance of leaders simply by GDP growth. Instead, we should look at welfare improvement, social development and environmental indicators to evaluate leaders”.

Over the last decade of China’s boom times, average Chinese ditched their bicycles for Buicks. The upper classes liked yachts so much, some bought the Sunseeker Yacht company. But others have fallen behind. Not blessed with living in a high growth city like Shanghai, their incomes have not kept up with the cost of living. Housing prices skyrocketed. A gap between rich and poor widened. The sky’s turned more polluted.  Growth has come with a price.

This weekend’s message by the new President is an important one, meant for the ears of big spending local government leaders who have strong incentives to push up investment under the existing “GDP growth oriented” performance evaluation framework; a framework that the Central Bank and financial regulators no longer have any tolerance for.

The shadow banking system municipal level has run amok.  Investors fear the possibility of a Lehman style banking crisis at the local level in dozens of munis across China.  To grow from now on, China will have to build things that make sense and money, not just build things that create jobs.  If China’s old Happy Meal economy has given way to the new Bridge to Nowhere economy, what comes next is anybody’s guess.  But the real money for the moment — the believers — are betting on more sustainable growth, high end manufacturing in industries like lithium batteries and solar power, and faith that the Chinese consumer, strapped with cash, will save less and spend more.

Since the days of Wen Jiabao, who left office last year and said China’s real GDP growth rate should be around 7%, Beijing’s top leaders are all willing to tolerate slower growth to reduce risks and improve the welfare of an aging population living, largely, without a safety net.

China’s “new attitude” — says Zhiwei Zhang, a senior economist at Nomura Securities in Hong Kong — reinforces the view that there is a 30% chance China’s growth will drop below 7% in either the third or fourth quarters.

China investors should take note, because when that happens the hard landing guys will be on CNBC, Fox Business, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg and all over the internet smiling and reminding us that they told us so (and how we all should have bought their newsletters or read their latest yarn on Amazon).

More in: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/07/01/chinas-pres-xi-gdp-no-longer-the-measure-of-success/

by Yen Feng

Looks like it’s not just the small-time bloggers who are pissed about the new MDA licence scheme. Now, four others have spoken up – and they are anything but small.

Today, Zaobao reported that Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and eBay – have also written to the Minister for Communications and Information to express their reservations over the scheme that says news sites that report on local news and have a reach of 50,000 may be licensed by the Government.

Representing the four Internet giants is the Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), a industry association based in Hong Kong that looks at Internet policy issues in the Asia Pacific region. In a letter sent to Dr Yaacob Ibrahim two weeks ago, the group’s acting director John Ure said that the new regulations would “inadvertently suppress Singapore’s ability to innovate and impede technological advancement”, leading ultimately to a drop in foreign investment.

He added: “We also believe that the scheme’s criteria, and the way it was introduced, will have a negative impact on Singapore’s image as an open, business-friendly nation.”

Mr Ure told the Chinese-language paper that the AIC had been in talks with MDA since early last month. Right after MDA announced the scheme, Mr Ure said: “We were shocked… it made us very worried… Our position has always been, that this type of policy change should first undergo an industry consultation.

“Otherwise, problems will come up very easily.”

And boy, have they.

Ever since the new regulations were announced on May 28, several groups have publicly protested against it for its lack of transparency and clarity.

A group of prominent bloggers have also organised a collective, known as Free My Internet, in hopes that the Government will withdraw or suspend the scheme. A policy brief by the group was made public online yesterday.

Responding to the AIC’s letter, a government spokesman yesterday reiterated the MDA’s position – that the scheme did not represent a fundamental change in its policy approach, and that it welcomed the AIC’s feedback for its upcoming proposal to amend the Broadcasting Act, reported ZB.

MP Baey Yam Keng, a public relations expert, also weighed in. He told ZB that the true impact of the new regulations can only be evaluated after some time.

But the concerns of Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and eBay should also not be treated lightly, he said. “These are all mainstream Internet companies; if we don’t address their worries and questions, it will surely affect our country’s image.”

A previous version of this post said that the AIC had been in talks with MDA as early as six months ago. This is incorrect. ZB reported that the talks started in early June.

*Article first appeared on http://www.breakfastnetwork.sg/?p=5996

[The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) is an industry association formed by eBay, Facebook, Google, Salesforce and Yahoo! Incorporated. The AIC seeks to promote the understanding and resolution of Internet policy issues in Asia Pacific.]

14 June 2013

Dear Minister Yaacob,

Re: Government’s new licensing framework for online news sites could stifle innovation, industry

development and investment in Singapore

The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC) is an industry association formed by eBay, Facebook, Google,

Salesforce and Yahoo! Incorporated. The AIC seeks to promote the understanding and resolution of

Internet policy issues in the Asia Pacific region.

The AIC is very concerned by the recent move by the government to introduce a licensing regime for

online news sites. The Asia Internet Coalition strongly believes in the potential of Internet-enabled

communications to benefit society, the economy and citizens. We continue to believe that we are

well aligned with Singapore in this regard and have welcomed Singapore’s aim to further establish

itself as a cloud computing and data analytics hub in the region. However, this new regulation – and

the regulatory trend that this may be indicative of – could unintentionally hamper Singapore’s ability

to continue to drive innovation, develop key industries in the technology space and attract

investment in this key sector. We also believe that the scope of the regulation and manner in which

it was introduced have negatively impacted Singapore’s global image as an open and business-

friendly country.

We would welcome an opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the government to share our

feedback on the new licensing framework and understand what the evolution of this regime will

encompass. We were surprised with the new licensing regime, as the current content regulatory

framework has been well understood by business, effective and has not proven to be inadequate in

allowing the authorities to address offensive online content. Furthermore, as the MDA has

indicated, it has only invoked its powers and issued a takedown notice once in the past two years.

Hence, we view that it is unwarranted and excessive for the government to extend the class-

licensing framework to individually license (identified) online news sites in order to ensure

regulatory parity. This is an additional layer of regulation, which has also introduced significant

business uncertainty for the industry.

Another key concern is that the newly introduced framework is both ambiguous and onerous, which

could negatively impact start-ups and multinationals operating or seeking to operate in Singapore:

• The current vague and broad terms in the regulation and implementation will hamper innovation and deter industry growth: While ten sites have been identified and thegovernment has clarified that personal blogs and websites will not fall under the purview of this licensing framework, it remains unclear which specific additional websites will eventually be required to have an individual license. Currently, companies will only know upon notification by the MDA.

  The language in the regulation remains vague and broad, and does not reflect the clarifications that the government has made. The government also has not provided clarity on how it would implement the regulation (e.g. when does a website cross the line to become a news site), which companies can reference and adequately assess if the regulation would be applicable to them.

  Additionally, it is unclear whether websites that are required to have an individual license will be liable for user-generated comments on their sites. It is essential that legal regimes do not put intermediaries in the untenable position of proactively policing content or hold them strictly responsible for content generated by users. Online platforms have incentives to address misuse of their services. These market solutions should be allowed to operate and evolve within a light-touch regulatory regime that provides clarity for those regulated. 

  These types of uncertainties have a significant chilling effect on innovation and negatively impact Singapore’s ability to attract investments, both of which are critical to the healthy development of the infocomm and media sector in Singapore. To address this concern we propose that an express statement clarifying that a licensed entity will not be liable for user-generated content on its platform should be included in the regulation.

  
   
• The additional licensing conditions are onerous, regressive and untenable in practice. The 24-hour removal period is too short and fails to take in account the nature of the Internet. The requirement is also particularly difficult for international companies, who will have to negotiate between time zones to comply. Accordingly there remains a serious question about the ability of the online industry to adhere to the license conditions as currently drafted. AIC members do not object to the timely removal of content that does not comply with the Broadcasting Services Act and pursuant Internet Code of Practice. We do however have significant concerns about our ability to make that assessment in reference to content standards in the regulation that are extremely vague and open to broad interpretation and a requirement to take appropriate action within a 24-hour period from notification. We propose that this provision is removed and replaced with a “best endeavors” response  within a reasonable timeframe taking into account all of the circumstances.

  The introduction of a performance bond will hurt startups and smaller organizations, even if this does not necessarily entail cash up front. Startups and smaller firms typically run lean setups and face numerous forms of challenges, such as finding and securing access to financing. The SGD$50,000 performance bond is not a small sum. For successful startups, this bond will serve to be a financial risk, and a burden that they would constantly have to take into account, which could otherwise be an asset.

  The case for having a ‘performance bond’ at all is unclear. It sends a very strong wrong message to the Internet community in and beyond Singapore that these changes could presage a more restrictive attitude to the Internet. It also could also set a precedent for more restrictive regimes around the region.

While we appreciate that the MDA has provided further clarifications following the initial announcement, these clarifications should be incorporated into the implementing regulations and we believe that further stakeholder engagement to refine this is necessary. We would also suggest that the government strongly consider reviewing the new regulation in a year or two to assess if it is necessary.
 

We hope that the government will engage with all relevant stakeholders as it contemplates further Internet-related regulations, such as the plans to amend the Broadcasting Act to cover online news sites that may not be operating in Singapore. 

We would be most willing to work with Singapore on Internet-related issues and provide views where appropriate. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at director@asiainternetcoalition.org if you have queries, or would like further information on the contents of this letter. Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr. John Ure

Executive Director

Asia Internet Coalition

China is much faster to learn and know the “devil” (GDP) will erode the country base ROOT (People)!!!!

Thus, even the PAP pushes and demands the world highest pay to push GDP up and up without looking the spiritual and humanity of its People.

We are forced to get lowest pay (compared to other developed countries) as we need to compete with foreigners and yet all of us are not protected by minimum wages or Singaporean First!!

We just want a JOB more than enough to pay expenses for our families with parents and children and enough for a short trip every year.

Are we asking too much???

We just want to live in Dignity in our own Country and we do not need you to “throw coins” 施舍 on our face by giving us your small change of GST vouchers/Whatever rebates/National Bonus/Incentives.

We are not Beggars!!

We just want to live in Dignity with a job of REASONABLE pay and not be discriminated by foreigners/MNC/GLC/listed companies.

Are we asking for too much??

Why PAP just cannot deliver their promises!!

Too greedy to let go now?? They have the money to send their children or relatives to overseas or even migrate to overseas and WHO CARE ABOUT YOU SINGAPOREANS!!!

If you check and search, you can see all these multi-million Cabinet ministers sending their children overseas to study, while asking us to compete with each other to get a place in local univs!!!!! Worse… allowing 20% for foreigners whose ENGLISH LANGUAGE is worst than our primary school students’!!! PAP just wants the money from foreigners to support their big PAY CHECK!!

WHO CARE ABOUT YOU SINGAPOREANS!!

What kind of world is this!!

Even BIG CHINA realises now GDP is not everything and needs to change it immediately so as not to erode the next 1-2 generations and destroy the country, making it extinct after 3-4 generations!!

What about our PAP?? Do they care???

Jobless Singaporean

One wonders how many Extra Value Meals were wasted in the bid to get hold of this “thing”.

Dear McDonald’s,

Anyway, I intend to have a word with the lil’ pussy about being so free with her affections. But today, let’s talk about you.Congratulations on yet another fantastic marketing campaign. From a marketer’s point of view, the recent Hello Kitty campaign you ran is a fine case study of what it means to use desire to drive sales. We all know – from past Hello Kitty collaborations – it was going to be a success, anyway. For a feline without a mouth, and an oversized head, Hello Kitty is the planet’s most sought after commercial hookup. I cannot think of anything with Hello Kitty that has failed.

I do not care for Hello Kitty. Having worked in an industry known for its practice of using freebies to attract sales, I always saw Hello Kitty collectibles as a convenient way to jack up sales numbers. Why no magazine has put Hello Kitty as its cover model completely escapes me? If anyone from magazines is reading this right now, maybe you should consider launching a series of Hello Kitty covers with the different fashion capitals of the world serving as backdrops. If you ever do that, I expect a fee for the idea.

But yes, back to you, you silly clown.

McDonald’s is the world’s largest toy distributor. Since time immemorial, you’ve always given a toy with your Happy Meals. Sometimes, you launch a series of collectibles where each toy comes free with every Extra Value Meal bought. Fine. It’s all fine. In fact, if this is a business model that works, stick with it. Everyone wants something free whenever they buy something. It’s human nature.

What is not fine is the fact that you had neglected to realise that many people would buy the food just for the toy. And what they did after they got their toy was most abhorrent. Many people – upon receiving their limited edition Hello Kitty – simply dumped their Extra Value Meals at the bins.

That’s perfectly good food wasted. Surely this was something you could have seen coming?

Was it not possible for you to work with a movement like the Chope Food For The Needy? For anyone who wasn’t interested in eating their food, they could sign it away so you could hold those food and then feed some poor needy student or the elderly in the weeks to come?

Please do not tell us that the logistics of executing such a plan is an issue. You just coordinated the biggest, craziest marketing stunt Singapore has seen in recent times. Despite the haze, people were still going to your restaurants to buy Hello Kitty! Yes, let’s not even pretend that people really braved the haze for a Big Mac, shall we?

In 2011, it was revealed that over 458,000 Singaporeans earn less than $1,500 a month. 1 out of 7 citizens in this country earns less than $1,000. These are people for whom paying $8 for a fast-food meal is a luxury. These are people who probably could not afford to take their kids to McDonald’s on a weekly basis.

While you were busy profiting from this phenomenal Hello Kitty campaign, did you pause for a moment to think of how the needy could have benefited from this? Did you pause to consider how “sinful” and “ugly” it would be for people to buy these meals and then throw them away because there really is so many McNuggets and french fries a person can put inside him?

In 2007, Dr Lily Neo spoke up for the poorest segment of the population in Parliament. That year, she explained how the poorest in Singapore had only $5 a day to live on.

Sir, my single constituents told me that they needed to skip one meal a day to live on the $260 per month. And now, MCYS is going to give them $1 more a day. But, Sir, $1 a day will not be able to buy them one meal a day in any hawker centre.” Dr Lily Neo, 2007

Have things improved since Dr Neo’s speech? Well, I’m sure everyone knows the answer.

Yes, even though many Singaporeans have shown that they can spare both the time and the money to collect a series of Hello Kitty dolls, we need to be sensitive to the fact that there live among us, families who can barely afford to have three square meals a day.

Dear McDonald’s, perhaps the next time you launch another campaign for a collection of dolls that for some unknown reason causes grown men to MAKE COMPLETE ARSES of themselves in public, plan to give back to the society by getting people who don’t want the food to sign it away for a good cause. I’m sure there are many of us who would volunteer to move down the snaking queues to get the forms signed for you.

And for those of you who threw away perfectly edible food because you only wanted the toy, I hope you realise just how insensitive and selfish your actions were.

I sincerely hope such foolish waste of food will never happen in Singapore again.

As it is, life is hard enough for many of us. Let’s not rub salt into the wounds of those who can barely feed themselves.

Yours,
Deborah

*Article first appeared on http://materialworldsingapore.com/2013/06/29/dear-mcdonalds-deborah-tan/

Governments can help or hinder innovation. In Silicon Valley, startups and investors would rather that the government meddle less and stick to what they do best: Provide basic infrastructure.

Here in Singapore, things are a little different. Government agencies have their signature on almost every startup investment through co-funding schemes like TIS, and ACE Startups. For the most part, government agencies like SPRING Singapore and IDA, as well as universities like NUS and SUTD have been progressive in their efforts to create an oasis of innovation.

Their approach has drawn praise, and I admire how they’re collecting feedback from startups and investors every step of the way, iterating on their policies as the years went by.

Then it started doing something stupid.

In May this year, the Media Development Authority, a government agency that also happens to have its own startup funding scheme in iJAM, made what appeared to be a unilateral move that bypassed the Singapore Parliament.

It issued a new licensing requirement stating that news websites exceeding 50,000 unique visitors in Singapore will be required to put up a performance bond of SGD 50,000, following the practice by broadcasters here. Ten online news sites, mostly government-related, were ordered by to apply for licenses, with sg.news.yahoo.com being the only non-state-sanctioned site.

The license stipulates that online news sites are expected to comply within 24 hours to MDA’s directions to remove content that is found to be in breach of content standards.

As expected, the online community exploded in a fit of anger. The country’s rag-tag group of socio-political bloggers, often united in disunity, coalesced under the #FreeMyInternetmovement which culminated in a public protest that drew thousands.

Even mainstream newspapers, under tight regulation, have given the fracas a strong public airing.

But while the arguments against licensing have mostly been confined to civil rights and free speech, the business community has mostly been silent. Until now.

Local Chinese daily Zaobao reported that four of the world’s largest tech companies – Facebook, Google, Yahoo! and eBay — have expressed their unhappiness at the new licensing regime through the Asia Internet Coalition. These companies have a strong presence in Singapore. Here are some choice quotes from the missive (full letter at the bottom):

This new regulation – and the regulatory trend that this may be indicative of – could unintentionally hamper Singapore’s ability to continue to drive innovation, develop key industries in the technology space and attract investment in this key sector.

We view that it is unwarranted and excessive for the government to extend the classlicensing framework to individually license (identified) online news sites in order to ensure regulatory parity.

The current vague and broad terms in the regulation and implementation will hamper innovation and deter industry growth: While ten sites have been identified and the government has clarified that personal blogs and websites will not fall under the purview of this licensing framework, it remains unclear which specific additional websites will eventually be required to have an individual license.

While I doubt that the Singapore government truly cares about the perceiving breaching of free speech, I suspect its pragmatic ministers are more concerned about economic impact of its actions.

The letter highlights something I have believed in all along: To build a truly innovative economy driven by creativity and technological advancement, a siloed and inconsistent approach won’t work.

Targeted government policies that pour money into the startup ecosystem is great, but in order for Singapore to rise to the ranks of San Francisco, New York City, or London, the government needs to facilitate wholesale transformation not just within one subset of society.

Culture, education, and politics come as an inseparable package, and I’m sure Banyan Tree Holdings Chairman Ho Kwon Ping agrees.

While the government is laudably trying to reform the education system, increase productivity, and reduce excessive reliance on cheap foreign labor, it has been rather frightened of the civil rights implications that come with opening up.

The state’s response to the letter indicates business as usual, saying that the “scheme did not represent a fundamental change in its policy approach.”

But that’s the problem: The government needs to adapt right now. Sooner or later, it has to let go.

How ironic is it that Facebook, Google, and Yahoo!, three companies accused of violating human rights by spying on behalf of the US government, are the ones that might nudge Singapore towards the right path.

Asia Internet Coalition writes to Singapore’s Minister for Communications and Information

Terence Lee

* Terence writes mainly about technology trends and startups in Asia. He believes in crafting smart content: Not just a regurgitation of text, but well thought-out pieces that serve the reader using a combination of data, design, narratives, analysis, and visual impact. His articles have been published on Venturebeat, Yahoo!, Straits Times, Today, and The Online Citizen. He also co-founded NewNation.sg, a satirical news site covering Singapore affairs. The article first appeared in: http://sgentrepreneurs.com/