#FreeMyInternet is encouraged by the success of our first campaign against the new MDA Licensing Regime, which many media commentators see as the turning point in Singapore’s media regulatory landscape in Singapore.

More than 4,000 signed our online petition (and still counting), more than 150 blogs participated in our online blackout, and an estimated total of 2500* participated this afternoon (8 Jun) in Singapore’s largest blogger-led protest.

But don’t take just our word for it. When Minister for Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin went on national television to explain the Licensing Regime, all we saw was a steady climb of those who think the new regulation would limit online news content, from 50% to a landslide 73.9%.

These are all clear signs that Singaporeans from all walks of life, be they writers or readers of online content, do not believe the explanations offered by the government, are against the MDA Licensing Regime, and are demanding for it to be withdrawn.

The success of the campaign is no mean feat. #FreeMyInternet came together at a few days’ notice, and the three-prong campaign was organised within a week and a half. Given the spontaneous and leaderless nature of the #FreeMyInternet movement, this is a remarkable achievement.

Moving ahead, the #FreeMyInternet movement will continue to call for the withdrawal of the Licensing Regime.

In addition, there is much more public awareness that needs to be done. Because of the manner in which the Licensing Regime was slipped into legislation, there has been very little opportunity to educate the public on why the Licensing Regime is so dangerous.

In the weeks to come, we will roll out material and programmes to educate members of the public and Members of Parliament about why the Licensing Regime needs to be withdrawn.

We do not rule out a dialogue with the government, but this dialogue needs to be a discussion on how the withdrawal of the Licensing Regime will take place, and should be a dialogue about how de-regulating the media environment can best be done to benefit Singaporeans.

The trust that was broken by the hasty introduction of the Licensing Regime can only be restored by the withdrawal of the Licensing Regime. A government that doesn’t trust its people is a government that will lose the trust of its people. We hope our government will keep their faith with all Singaporeans.

About #FreeMyInternet:

The #FreeMyInternet movement is founded by a collective of bloggers who are against the licensing requirements imposed by the Singapore government on 1 June 2013, which requires online news sites to put up a performance bond of $50,000 and comply within 24 hours to remove content that is found to be in breach of content standards. The group believes this to be an attempt at censorship and an infringement on the rights of Singaporeans to access information online. TR Emeritus is a participating member of the movement.

* The total number includes all who came to the event from 4-7 pm.

*Article first appeared on www.TREmeritus.com

Of late, I receive numerous nuisance calls from telemarketers and property agents on my landline. They tell me that they get my number from yellowpages. Yellow pages publishes not just our name but also address on their website, including a map! I wonder who gives them the legal right to publish confidential information of people on the internet.

I called yellow pages and I am told that I need to pay a fee of S$10 a year to have my details hidden. They cannot remove it otherwise.

They then advised me to call my operator which is Singtel to check if they could stop giving my details. Singtel is even worse – they want a one time fee of 20$ and then a quarterly fee of 5$ to stop my number from being printed.

Questions:

1. How can yellow pages publish confidential information without subscribers’ consent? Why should every person’s address be revealed on the internet?

2. Why does subscriber need to pay to get his  details removed? Why should yellow pages and operators make money from subscribers for doing something they should not be doing in the first place?

I understand that the ministry intends to come up with a do not disturb registry from 2014. But why can they not instruct yellow pages and operators from publicizing subscriber details without their consent in the first place?

NG

We all know that that the Singapore education system is rigid, competitive and stressful. It's also good by international standards: We are indeed well-recognised by the world, often described as "world leading" and we were even praised by Michael Grove, the Education Secretary of British.

But I feel that we streamed our young people an age too young. This creates different paths for us all, from the time you take your PSLE, you either go to Express, NA, NT or you retain. For the story of the person who went to RI and the one who goes to a neighbourhood schools, they will hold different life stories, route and experiences. As for those thrown into the Normal Technical, their life's choices is thrown away by the people around them who meant "good" for them, and chances that they will ever climb up to a normal academic is low. We don't acknowledge the fact that there are late bloomers, and personally, I feel that the
age 12 is too young to be judged on ability. People in Singapore might label these late-bloomers as "lazy", "un-concerned", "stupid" and in many ways in order to "persuade" these kids into producing results. We stream because we want to delivered results, not let the children find joy in learning.

Take a step into any Primary school in Singapore and you first want to take notice of how their students scored for PSLE: How many made it to express, how many repeat, how many made it to Normal stream. It has become our culture, that's to delivered good results and not care about the processes of the good results.
The reason why our education system is result-oriented is fairly simple: We have an education minister who has never been a teacher before!

Mr Heng Swee Keat, who works as a civil servant since 1983, had never served a year as a teacher before. Frankly speaking, he's a good leader, for one example is that he served as Managing Director is MAS ( Monetary Authority of Singapore).

That's the problem. He is selected by the PAP because he can deliver results, but not cannot see the importance in the learning processes as he had never been a teacher before. Expected to develop the education system into "the best", he neglected and destroyed the joy of learning by leting examinations even in Primary 1,and allowing an important exam to take place at the age of 12. The parents, the children, the teachers and the school, would instinctively put results before learning, and to the extent of becoming a tuition nation in order to deliver the results. I believe many of the children see no joy in attending tuition, it's an extra load, eats up so much of their time and they simply cannot find the motivation and joy in learning because it had become a chore instead of a gift.

Education itself is a wonderful gift. Examinations at a young age just destroys the joy we once had in learning: Do you remember your first few honeymoon days at schools? It was fun, not a chore and worth looking forward to? Now, it has become a chore for many students, as young as 7 and maybe as old as 16, instead of a gift to developed them intellectually. 

AC

TRS Writer 

Article first appeared at:http://teengirlandpolitics.blogspot.sg/2013/06/why-singapore-education-is-so-result.html

Written by: Goh Meng Seng

I hope that this will be my last article on this little storm in the teacup because it is getting very sickening and stale.

More information has been revealed by both sides as well as supporters from both sides since my last article. The latest "politicking" information revealed is the "grassroot" identity of the Chairman of the Hawkers Association. The above photo is put up by netter.

It is not surprising that we will find out who is PAP member or supporter or grassroot members etc. Similarly, it is not difficult for us to find out who belongs to opposition supporters or members, even when they use anonymous nicks in internet. So most WP people (members, BSBS Brigade, supporters etc) would immediately put on their full gear and attack, putting up conspiracy theories and such. However, Mr. Ng is not the only one who signed the petition against WP AHPeTC. Almost all hawkers signed that petition.

Besides, do we make noise when someone who criticises PAP government is found to be WP member or supporter? If not, why are people so happy to find out that Mr Ng from hawker association is someone with PBM? If we take criticisms from PAP members or supporters as invalid or with agenda that we should ignore totally, then it would mean that any criticisms on PAP by opposition member or supporters should also put on the same rule as well.

The truth is, we should take each criticism and incident as it is, analyze it with its merits and not politicize it. That is why Justice can only be found with eyes blind folded on the individuals' background and looks... just look at the facts.

Both PAP and WP MPs are voted into parliament to SERVE ALL constituents in their wards, not just their supporters. They should also be serving their opponent's supporters as well, without prejudice.

The more interesting information revealed is on why the NEA officer mistaken the scaffolding mentioned by WP AHPeTC. According to NEA website on structures needed to be put up for the market cleaning is a metal scaffolding for putting on the canvas to cover the stalls. This is something similar to those tentage we saw on the street market (Pasar Malam).

Yes, it is called "Scaffolding" in the NEA document here. Thus, we have to piece these information together.

If there is a basic understanding that it is the responsibility of the Town Council to pay for all the cleaning including the ceiling, the NEA officer assumed that the scaffolding the TC staff talked about in his email refers to the hawkers' tentage structure. Thus, it is natural for the NEA officer to reply that the hawkers will take care of their own scaffolding with their contractors.

The strange part is this, what seems to be an misunderstanding on scaffolding ended up with a quotation of the WHOLE HIGH RISE CLEANING by the WP's contractor to the hawkers. The followingdocument is provided by NEA.

How this come about, is still a mystery. But I suspect that what the hawkers have asked for is the pricing for the scaffolding for the canvas cover for their stalls but in the end, ATL has given them the whole cost of High Rise Cleaning.

No matter what, it is totally dishonest for WP's contractor ATL to put up quotation of HIGH RISE CLEANING to the hawkers when they know pretty well that it is their contractual obligations to provide such cleaning. (This is what WP AHPeTC has claimed.) 

Sylvia Lim is totally wrong to disclaim any responsibility over the unprofessional and unethical conduct of AHPeTC's contractor. Especially so when it failed to get the hawkers to pay for High Rise Cleaning, which is effectively double charging for this service when it has already been paid by AHPeTC under contract, it refused to do the cleaning. That is a technical breach of contractual obligations which WP AHPeTC cannot just ignore and brush away.

To draw a parallel, if you have engaged a contractor to provide service to your clients with every services paid for by you, would you tolerate your contractor attempting to charge your clients again by providing additional quotation to them? Obviously the only right thing to do is to take your contractor to task because it is basically destroying your business credibility and relationship!

WP AHPeTC has repeated claimed that it has not asked hawkers to pay extra for services but the fact that it has closed both eyes for its contractor to attempt to charge for services already paid for is totally acceptable. At another incident, hawkers at another hawker centre has also made direct accusation to their WP MP that AHPeTC's employee, the property manager Mr Tai, has told them that the contractor will not clean anything above 2.5m. Thus, this is not just an isolated incident and it is unlikely that two or three hawker centres would conspired and make up lies to accuse WP AHPeTC of such acts.

Since WP MPs and AHPeTC were informed of this fact, it would only be helpful if WP clarifies whether it has carried out any investigations on this matter after these complaints have been made. It is obviously contradictory for WP to claim that its AHPeTC has not asked hawkers to pay for high rise cleaning (this happens to be "consistence" with its contractor's quotation to hawkers) while its property managers were accused of going around to tell hawkers another story altogether.

Consistency in statements on events are important for us to understand who is probably telling the truth and who is not. Unfortunately, NEA's public communication skills is just too bad to give a clearer picture right from the start, even though they might have more complete information at hand. It tries to side step accusation of its staff's reply to AHPeTC instead of explaining it fully with illustrations. It gives people an impression that you have some sinister conspiracy to hide although this may not be the case.

Similarly, WP's AHPeTC has even worst public communication skills. It has completely confused the public whether it is going to pay for all cleaning, including the high rise cleaning TWICE a year. It has been inconsistent in its reasoning and even contradicts itself within the same press statement. Worst of all, it has taken a total irresponsible stance that whatever its contractor does, even if it attempt to double charge the hawkers, it has nothing to do with it. That is the worst kind of stance a political party should take. Where is the Accountability when we need one?

PAP and WP have raised this issue to political bickering with Minister Vivian Balakrishnan coming in to defend his ministry's NEA division after Sylvia Lim accused NEA of "playing politics".

In my opinion, NEA isn't even competent in putting up effective press statements to put a strong punch, I don't think NEA is capable of "playing politics" in any sense. All evidence point to the dishonest attempt of WP's contractor trying to extract extra charges on hawkers and WP's irresponsible disassociation from such act. Although NEA has all the necessary evidence, it failed to provide a coherent picture and illustration on what went wrong.

The Minister is right to state that the hawkers have been giving a consistent account of what happened but it was NEA which failed to put these accounts in clear and simple terms with proper illustrations. Documentation proofs should have been put up right from the start instead of trying to play it like a lawyer which they failed very miserably.

I too believe that the hawkers are telling the truth that they were told to pay extra for high rise cleaning. It is NOT just the scaffolding, but the whole high rise cleaning. The quotation from WP's contractor is one, the subsequent confirmation of other hawker centre's statement that AHPeTC has been going around to tell them contractor will not clean anything above 2.5m is another glaring evidence. 

Ironically, WP cannot just try to play politics in the bid to try to defend its own image while ignoring all these happenings. It is obvious that something is very wrong with its own backyard and it should apologize for the failure of delivery of service to the hawkers and the attempt of its contractor to extract extra/double charges from them. Of course, it will have to clean the ceilings as soon as possible, in the interests of public hygiene.

To sum up, let me put up two comments or remarks by two different people on the internet.

Remark 1: 

我是一名退休人员。我一直关注自己的生意。多年来几乎每个周末，我都会去看望在勿落的姐姐。位 于BLK 511的小贩中心是我们日常的市场。上周，我和姐姐去市场，亲眼看到小贩中心的天花板很脏乱。实在不太体面 。如果这样的问题不得已解决，将会成为公众卫生问题。我用自己的手机拍了照片，虽然不是很清晰，我想也能准 确表达我的意图和我所关心的问题。Sylvia Lim 和WP议员Pritam Singh负责市议会。他们的工作就是确保各个地方的清洁。因此当地小贩才会支付他们费用。承包商已认同合 同内容却是如此。因此，市议会没有强迫他们根据合同履行义务。并非拥护当地中心小贩，反而为何这两位议员却 尽量保护和掩饰承包商，承包商不仅没有完成合同中付款的工作，还试图从较为贫穷的小贩那里抽取额外的费用。 我对这些小商贩的了解已有些时日。他们不想招惹麻烦。他们只想谋生。如果他们解释的太多，他们会很害怕。市 议会令他们的生活雪上加霜。事实上，小贩们很团结，他们发出了寻求帮助的请愿，只是为了表达这一切有些太过 分了，以至于他们无法再容忍下去。正如我所说的，如大多数人一样，我通常只介意我自己的生意，但是这实在是 太过分了。如小贩们一样，我也无法接受Sylvia Lim和 Pritam Singh所给的任何推辞和指责。他们应停止玩弄政治，做好他们份内之事。 

Remark 2: 

This is exactly the reason why the PAP is never really afraid of WP. PAP's biggest enemy is themselves. The reason why PAP is losing support is because it is increasingly successful in pissing off the citizens rather than the opposition is getting better in quality. People are voting for the opposition to tell PAP to wake up their idea and not that our opposition is quality. I shudder to think of the day i hear LTK or Sylvia Lim giving a National Day Rally speech.

I am not a political science student and so i do not follow politics very closely. But from the stuff that i have read so far, it seems to me the only thing our opposition is good at is getting involved in petty quarrels and trying to discredit PAP at every possible opportunity.

My point is do we have to make others look bad in order for us to look good? If you have to make others look bad in order for you to look good, then i guess you don't have much substance either.

If AHPETC had handled the issue in a less than satisfactory way, then apologize, right the wrong and move on. It will reflect well on their maturity and give them a valuable edge over PAP which often than not does not apologize for mistakes.

So if the best our opposition party can do is focus on 5 cents 10 cents issues, then i have doubts over their ability to handle politics in the international arena.

Goh Meng Seng

*Article first appeared on http://singaporealternatives.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/beyond-smokescreen-ii.html

After a second dengue death of a man living in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 was reported on Sunday (9 Jun), NEA immediately stepped up control and preventive measures in Ang Mo Kio. Ang Mo Kio GRC is, of course, PM Lee’s constituency.

Yesterday afternoon (10 Jun), cleaners were seen clearing drains while NEA officers combed the area for potential breeding spots. They inspected drains, flower pots and even plants that could potentially trap water. Their presence was clearly felt by the Ang Mo Kio residents.

The second person who died is a 60-year-old Singaporean living in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3.

He was first admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) on 5 June with fever, shortness of breath, vomiting and rash on his left leg. He was diagnosed with skin inflammation of the left leg and prescribed antibiotics. He was also told to return to the polyclinic for a repeat blood test.

He returned to TTSH on 7 June with continuing fever. He was later tested positive for dengue and was warded the next day (8 Jun). Subsequently, his condition deteriorated and he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit on the same day. He passed away on Sunday (9 Jun).

Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 has not been identified by NEA as a cluster area.

With regard to the second dengue death, TTSH issued a public statement yesterday (10 Jun) explaining what had happened:

TTSH confirms that a 60 year old man with dengue died in the ICU on 9th June 2013 from multi-organ failure and complications associated with abnormal heart rhythm. He had earlier presented to the hospital’s Emergency Department on 5th June after one day of fever, general malaise and infection of the leg and was given antibiotics to manage the infection and advised on dengue management.

However, his symptoms did not improve and he returned to our Emergency Department on the evening of 7th June for persistent fever and a progressive infection and swelling of his left leg. He had also experienced weakness in his lower limbs. Our doctors admitted him for sepsis arising from the infection. The cause of his leg infection was not known and he was started on aggressive treatment for severe infections. Dengue was confirmed during his hospitalisation and we continued with the treatment. His condition kept deteriorating and by the 2nd day of hospitalisation, he had passed away.

Dengue had complicated his infection and his underlying conditions, including diabetes mellitus and hypertension may have contributed to his inability to recover. The hospital expresses its condolences to the patient’s family and seeks privacy for the family to grieve.

Dengue infections in Singapore have reached epidemic levels this year, crossing the 9,000-mark last week.

The biggest dengue clusters remain in Tampines and on the eastern part of the island.

TR Emeritus

*Article first appeared on www.TREmeritus.com

Written by Joseph Tan

I recently met MC a few days ago over a friend’s dinner gathering and we soon started to talk about politics. She was in her early 30s and works as a middle-management in an accounting firm. She was previously a supporter of the ruling party but recently expressed her displeasure at the ruling party. She agreed that could publish the conversation with her on the condition of anonymity.

1) What made you change your mind about the ruling party?

It was sometime early this year when the PAP just lost their seat in the Punggol East by-election. Previously I did not think much of it because of Yaw’s infidelity as well, but the way the by-election was conducted set me thinking about what the PAP really stood for.

As a grassroots helper, I was told by my team leader that this loss was nothing to be afraid of and that it was simply because of a by-election effect. From the way he put it to me, it was like he didn’t believe it personally and the message was some kind of poorly crafted propaganda message from the top.

Less than a few weeks later, the population white paper was passed. From the perspective of someone who has “walked the ground”, I was utterly shocked as there are plenty of constituents who have expressed that they are feeling the impact of immigration through packed transport, costs of living, and job security to name a few.

I felt betrayed and thought about it for a long time. I told my grassroots leader some weeks later that I was leaving the grassroots for good.

2) What do you think most people are thinking?

Most of the younger generation is against PAP for sure, and it is good that they are willing to openly express their displeasure. They know that their choice will have an impact on the future and that they will work to put the ruling party on their toes. They want to make sure that the sacrifices which come with the Singaporean citizenship – such as NS for males – are not wasted by letting new citizens get away with it.

The older generation is slowly aware that the PAP is no longer the party it once was, but they are less technologically savvy and are not sure what the various opposition parties stand for. The vast majority of the middle-class elderly still have tremendous support for some of the older ministers in the cabinet who ran in 2011. Perhaps with their retirement, and the fact that more of the electorate will be from Generation Y, the results of the 2016 general elections will be radically different.

3) What do you think is the biggest grievance that most Singaporeans have?

There is little doubt that this is widespread immigration, since it has a secondary impact on most areas as well. We have been told that these foreign workers are necessary, but there are two bigger problems. First, the infrastructure has not kept up with immigration statistics. For example, HDB built only 3000 new BTOs in 2008 when at least 140,000 new citizens and foreigners were let in. Not surprisingly, the HDB resale index rose by 12-15% in the following years.

In addition, there is no proper control. If businessmen know that the population is increasing, they will invest more in new enterprises such as retail and F&B which require staff that cannot be found at the existing level of population. There is therefore an artificial  “shortage”. When these people finally come in, more workers in supporting industries such as construction will have to be imported. With no floodgates, immigration is but a spiral.

If I may add, most people I spoke to are quite put-off by the attitudes given by the younger generation ministers as well.

4) In terms of Singapore politics, where do you think the future will be headed?

There is still about 3 years before the next general election has to be called, and that is a long time. We have not seen any improvements in that the standard of living that Singaporeans face and most of it is but an illusion. For example,  the HDB resale index shows that HDB prices are actually going up  despite the illusion that more BTO flats are being built!

Furthermore, the younger generation can no longer afford to buy cars with new rules which would be deemed ridiculous in other countries. Unless the PAP can take an effort to give this a change, 2016 will cause them more loss in votes. And this time, I’m quite sure that the opposition juggernaut will be almost irreversible. 

*Article first appeared on https://www.facebook.com/notes/joseph-tan/why-most-singaporeans-are-no-longer-supporting-the-pap/140309126162480

It is almost a month since my last posting. It is a bit hard to explain why I have not written as much as I did in the past. There are no major changes in my life except that I'm getting older. Since I started blogging in 2005, the Internet has enabled Singaporeans to have  deeper understanding of the system they live in. It allowed the underlying causes of problems faced by Singaporeans to be discussed objectively and trade-offs in govt polices to be seen with greater clarity.  This deeper understanding does not help the PAP to maintain its dominant position.

Despite having the whole mainstream media on its side,  the PAP has struggled to explain the benefits of the system it has in place and convince the people that old policies and schemes should remain as they are.  The less democratic aspects of the system of govt is becoming less justifiable and less acceptable to Singaporeans. Even as the aspirations for progress and change builds up, the PAP wants to maintain its dominance making as few changes as possible. To do so,  it has to control the Singaporeans' access to information. The PAP wants control and influence over the online news media that has increased in popularity in the last few years. The new MDA regulations gives the PAP govt broad powers to do this.

Under the code, prohibited content includes "material that is objectionable on the grounds of public interest, public morality, public order, public security, national harmony, or is otherwise prohibited by applicable Singapore laws."

The MDA on Tuesday said websites that have at least 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore every month and publish at least one local news article per week over a period of two months must obtain an annual licence.

The MDA said the licence guidelines will "apply to all content on the news sites, including readers' comments on the news sites".

The maximum penalty for illegal broadcasting under the Broadcasting Act is a fine of $200,000 or three years' jail or both. But for sites that are licensed, failing to comply with conditions could result either in financial penalties or the licence being suspended or revoked.[Link]

What worries me is not just the use of harsh laws to limit the freedom of Singaporeans and disable them from effecting change but what the PAP govt can does under a cloak of secrecy due to absence of laws protecting the privacy and freedom of Singaporeans.  

Singapore has a weak legal regime to protect privacy and has deployed extensive surveillance systems.[Link]

You may have missed the news 2 days ago about a  US NSA (America's agency that does surveillance)  technician leaking information about the NSA's PRISM system that allows the US govt to access all servers of major US infocomm companies including Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yahoo! etc giving the US govt the technical capability to spy on its own citizens. PRISM gives the US govt access to all emails, VoIP,  files and messages of Internet users.

"The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to" , Whistle-blower Edward Snowden[Link]

While the technical capability exists to spy on its citizens, the NSA is bounded by American privacy laws that limits its surveillance activity to "any customers of participating corporations who live outside theUnited States, or American citizens whose communications include web content of people outside the United States."[Link].

According to the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, PRISM cannot be used to intentionally target any Americans or anyone in the United States. [Link].

Unfortunately the laws protecting Singaporeans from such surveillance is weak and there agencies such as the CSIT (Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies) that operate in secrecy and are known to be involved in surveillance activities from the type of equipment it procures. Without a strong regulatory and legal framework in place, there is a big risk that the interests of Singaporeans will be compromised.

Singapore, where authorities keep a close eye on opposition groups and political commentary, some people use encryption programs to avoid surveillance.

"If you are concerned about electronic eavesdropping, you can use pidgin IM - it has an encryption module for instant messaging," said Donaldson Tan, editor of socio-political website New Asia Republic.

"There is also Tor client for online anonymity," he said, referring to two popular free software programs developed by volunteer programmers to guard against network surveillance.

Asked if he was concerned whether the U.S. government would share surveillance information with Singapore authorities, given the friendly ties between the two countries, Tan said: "The U.S. is really hard to read".

A Singapore government spokesman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Several people in the region said the reports of government access to e-mails and phone calls were not surprising.

"This latest revelation, if true, is really no more than putting proof to suspicion," said Howard Lee, a blogger who often writes about political and social issues in Singapore.

"As citizens of democracies, our response should not be fear, but a concerted voice to demand accountability and transparency. I believe this is the current aim of civil society groups in Singapore."[Link]

The existence of secret organisations operating in the absence of regulation that protects the privacy of Singaporeans from surveillance by the state creates fear among those who legitimately oppose the govt because they hold a different point of view.  There is no reason to govern Singapore with such repressive measures that does not exist anywhere else in the developed world except to maintain dominance at a time when there is a growing desire for change.

Lucky Tan

*The writer blogs at http://singaporemind.blogspot.com

No Action Talk only (NATO)

Dear Singaporeans, it’s time to take action. What do I mean by taking action?

Taking action like sharing news (on social media like facebook, twitter, forums, whatsapp, etc), and influence the people around you. We do not much time left, in fact we are racing with time – the 6.9 million white population paper is still in effect and it will continue to dilute our vote every year and it will weaken our power to vote for change. You do not sit in your easy chair and wait negligently thinking you can vote the PAP out in 2016, just by the power of the 40% (no. of oppositions voters last election).

(Number of new citizens per year – from Straits Times)

(This is a simple prediction chart  – 2016 is your last chance as Singaporeans dwindle in numbers)

Just by knowing and keeping the knowledge within yourself is not sufficient, as you should have known by now that your goal post is shifting every year. Every year the PAP is importing foreigners (25k annually) and converting them into new citizens, thus naturally new citizens shall give them their votes in exchange for benefits. At the same time native Singaporeans are declining steadily due to our low fertility rate, aging death rate, and emigration (people are leaving). You need to influence and convert people into supporting the opposition at a faster rate than PAP can convert foreigners into new citizens.

The things you can start doing on an individual level:

• Read and share political news from social media pages with friends on Facebook (pages like Theonlinecitizen, TR Emeritus, The Real Singapore, Publichouse.sg, New Nation, etc)
• Add new friends that you see commenting on such pages (where they seem to argue a lot – becareful check their profile before adding, avoid stalkers or PAP IBs)
• Talk about the problems we are facing now with offline friends, let them know what are the root causes
• Speak out on forums, groups and exchange knowledge & wisdom online
• Attend protest events and ask your friends along, you can meet people with similar orientation and make new friends at Hong Lim Park too

For people who cares more and have skills & creativity:

• Set up blogs and blog your opinions about public affairs
• If you have good artistic ability, you can draw/photoshop satires and submit them to Facebook pages like TRS, TOC, TRE, publichouse.sg, etc. I’m sure they will be welcoming these contributions.
• Join TRS, TOC, TRE, publichouse.sg, etc as editors, writers, researchers, and cartoon artists.

If you want something done, do it yourself, don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. Too many Singaporeans expect others to do the job for them rather than get their own hands dirty.

This is a story about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was a very important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got very angry about that because it was really Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could have easily done it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when really, actually Nobody asked Anybody.

Above Quote from: Limpehft

There are a number of activists already contributing and doing the above behind the scene, you might have come across one which you are unaware of. So start doing the “Right” thing now and you will not have to repent in 2016. Cheers to those who are already an activist and hope to see you do the right thing come 2016!

The Bullshit Politician

*The writer blogs at http://bullshitpolitician.wordpress.com

Are you Singaporean? Are you gripped by the lingering suspicion that, just maybe, you should be able to cab home without skipping lunch for three days? Then welcome to the club. Singaporeans often don’t earn as much as they could, thanks to our bizarre habits and cultural hang-ups. In this article, I look at how many of us hobble through our income streams:

Coping Without Minimum Wage

Singapore has no minimum wage laws.

We use a free market system that, in theory, motivates workers to excel. This is the guiding principle of capitalists, innovators, and people who fling spare change at the homeless to watch them fight for it. Morality aside, I can tell you one thing for sure:

Singapore’s work culture combines horribly with this system. We have cultural norms regarding work, that make the system disadvantageous to employees. Some of these include:

• A high power distance index
• Not seeing employment as a business decision
• We take “low profile” to extremes
• We don’t check the job market often enough

1. A High Power Distance Index

Have you heard about that abused intern from Encore services?

Now that was wrong on so many levels. But ponder why it happened. Why would a well educated 29 year old accept a salary of $500 a month, for three years? And still tolerate punches (albeit sissy girl ones) to the face?

His may be an extreme example, but it summarizes our timidity issues. See, Singapore is a high power distance index (PDI) country. The PDI measures how much employees accept, and respect, the unequal distribution of power.

In a low index country, employees are more likely to tell the boss that “My pay sucks, let’s do something about it.” On the other hand, employees in high index countries probably raise their hands and beg permission to pee, let alone attempt to negotiate salary.

Now look at that list again. Japan, notorious for its rigid work culture, rates a 54. Hah, that must suck, having to…holy crap, Singapore rates a 74. And nearby Malaysia rates a 104.

And therein lies the problem: In a culture bred to revere authority, few employees dare to negotiate salary with their boss. We hate to feel like we’re demanding something, or that we’re initiating a confrontation with superiors. Couple this trait with a “no minimum wage” model, and you’ll see we’re ideal employees…for a slave plantation.

Even worse, our high PDI might explain why we treat our own employees (e.g. domestic helpers, foreign workers) like we bought them at a cattle market. It’s an ugly habit all around, and one we need to break.

2. Not Seeing Employment as a Business Decision

An employment contract should be just that: A contract. An obligation to perform a service in exchange for money. If you forget that, it can mess up your income. This often happens when you work for family, or with friends.

Human Resource Consultant Angeline Seah says:

“Sometimes employees stay on due to a social contract, not an employment contract. Perhaps it’s their close relative’s company. Sometimes a start-up is launched by a group of close friends.

These people may feel that by leaving for higher paying jobs or demanding more pay, they are betraying friends or family. I have seen people give up better career prospects, out of such self-imposed obligations…

…some feel forced to swallow significant pay cuts, when the business goes south. Because for them employment is not a simple working relationship. It has become entangled in social and emotional complexities.”

Loyalty’s admirable, but last I checked it doesn’t pay the mortgage. The best way to handle it?

Think long and hard before working for friends or family. It blurs the boundaries between professional and personal. And if you must ask friends or family for a raise, Angeline suggests you:

“Explain your financial needs, and always set a future date to talk about a raise. Never insist they answer on the spot, as they will treat it as an ultimatum. If they say yes under those circumstances, they often resent you for it later.

But at the same time, set a date when you can talk and expect a decision.”

3. We Take “Low Profile” to Extremes

We tend not to announce our achievements.

The problem is, humility only advances a few types of careers, and the Dalai Lama’s job is taken. In large corporate settings, bosses may not be able to track every subordinate’s accomplishments.

Wait, actually, that’s an understatement. In a multi-national firm, you could be dead for a week before they notice. Small, vital contributions (e.g. coming up witb a  new filing system, being the earliest one in to take calls) can fall through the cracks.

This impacts earnings in two ways:

First, lack of recognition makes it harder to justify raises and bonuses. And don’t forget that useful contributions are not always related to your key performance indicators (KPI).

For example, say you work in the IT department. Your KPI is based on reducing server crashes, providing tech support, etc. But then you develop an inventory system, that’s a major help in the warehouse. That’s grounds for a nice bonus…but don’t assume your boss will notice. It doesn’t show up in your KPI.

Second, you are better braced to negotiate if you know your achievements are noticed. If you’ve been patted on the back once or twice, you’ll be able to ask with greater confidence.

To fix this problem, be a little bold. Do mention your accomplishments when meeting the boss in the corridor. And be sure to file away “thank you” e-mails or letters or acknowledgement.

4. We Don’t Check the Job Market Often Enough

Are you familiar with the Mercer pay scale? Checking your appropriate salary shouldn’t be a one-off thing.

“At least every three years, check out job ads and investigate the average pay in your profession,” Angeline says, “This will give you a sense of the market demand for your skills. If you see you are being underpaid, you might want to talk to your boss about it. 

You should be seriously concerned if you fall into the lowest quartile (bottom 25%) of surveyed incomes for your profession. This sort of pay range is usually for inexperienced employees, those on probation, or those who knowingly accept lower pay to work for start-ups.

Another benefit to monitoring the job market is that it highlights tangential career prospects.

For example, you may be a software tester who happens to know app development. A cursory check will reveal that some companies pay their app developers more than their testers. Knowing such things can be key to a leap in income.”

However, Angeline also cautions against jumping from one job to another too quickly. Job hopping can be hard to explain (although we’re not totally against it at MoneySmart).

*Article first appeared on http://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/why-singaporeans-don-t-earn-160000224.html

A ST editor sensationalised “Thank you, Singapore”, published in the Financial Times on June 7 into “Why Singapore’s health-care system works” (ST, June 9).

Isn’t it delusional to continue listening to foreigners heaping praises on our ‘world class’ (constantly breaking down) public transportation and ‘successful’ (sky-high prices) public housing? 

Gillian Tett,  assistant editor and columnist at the Financial Times (FT), had a positive experience a decade ago when Singapore doctors took a medical gamble on her rare form of meningitis. She survived and lived to tell a happy ending.  But there are thousands of patients who ran out of luck even when doctors had not taken any medical gamble to save their lives. 

Coincidentally on Page 8 (same day), former Indonesian president Megawati’s husband died in a Singapore hospital.  Would it be fair to claim that Singapore’s health-care system does not work as doctors here were not able to save a man who had complaint of exhaustion, nothing as complicated as in Miss Tett’s case?

Gillian Tett then put 2 and 2 together i.e. she had survived, subsequently read, Professor William Haseltine’s (her friend) book on our health-care system which had recently been published on April 30, so therefore our system works! 

Has she read any other books on our health-care system besides her friend’s?  What about accounts from ordinary Singaporeans? Objective journalism?

Below are quotes from Sr Consultant Dr Paul Tambyah:

“As a medical doctor, I come into contact with patients on a regular basis. I hear them tell me that in Singapore, you can afford to die but you cannot afford to get sick”.

“I see people who have to sell their homes and move into rental flats to pay for their medical bills”

“They are Singaporeans just like the Health Minister and his millionaire colleagues. If they need a bypass, they have to pay much more than $8/- in cash”.

Anyway, whether our system works has to be judged by Singaporeans.  Gillian Tett’s one-off experience is totally irrelevant to the thousands who cannot afford to seek medical treatment due to the high cost/lack of insurance.  One swallow doesn’t make a summer.

Glowing tributes paid by rich Indonesians or foreigners do not change the fact that our health-care is out of reach for many.  

I would not want to bore readers with more quotes because they will make you sick. And we have been sick for a long time with our ‘first world’ health-care system.  In Prof Tambyah’s words:

“The problems with our healthcare system are known to you all – mostly they are about money”.

ST seems to have run out of articles to publish or perhaps wanted to assure its political masters that all is well despite years of negative feedback from Singaporeans.

As for Gillian Tett, her lack of awareness of serious shortcomings in our health-care system is evident.  I am sure ST readers are not reading the “right” things.

Phillip Ang
Contributions

A British expatriate was fined S$10,000 in court today (June 13) for spitting on a police officer in a drunken incident last year. He was spared a jail term.

British national Forgan Duncan, 34, pleaded guilty to spitting on the face of officer Walid Jamblatt Abdullah at about 1am on Dec 19, 2012.

Duncan, the editor of Tiger Airways’ inflight magazine Tiger Tales, had been out drinking earlier that night before returning to his residence. He was found lying on the ground along Spottiswoode Park Road.

The police were notified and two officers went to check on him. But Duncan challenged the officers to arrest him and, after he was handcuffed, he turned and spat on officer Walid Jamblatt’s face. One other charge of behaving in a disorderly manner was taken into consideration.

In his mitigation plea, Duncan’s lawyer said his client was “extremely remorseful, unconditionally apologetic and thoroughly ashamed for his conduct”.

The prosecution pressed for a custodial sentence but District Judge Ronald Gwee said a high fine would suffice. Duncan could have been jailed up to four years and fined for spitting on the officer.

Source: CHANNEL NEWSASIA

This is a sequel post to: My Life Story: Ex-SAF Regular now 32, Single and Unemployed

Hi all,

great appreciation to all my fellow countrymen who gave me the encouragements and advices which I badly needed. I had since received a good number of offers privately and openly. Its all I need now, I swear. During my dire plea and state, I saw many kind souls coming forward to offer what they had to help me. Letting me know that I'm not alone after all.

And not to forget its TRS whom helped me to publish my story out so as to give my fellow countrymen be aware of the "Metal Rice Bowl" we used to call it, no longer exists in 21st century.

I was naive and was let to believe that SAF is the job for life time so long you commit yourself to it. But I was proven otherwise.

And I saw some mentioning about studying part time during SAF contract term which was almost impossible , especially for sailor like me which was ship bounded for almost my entire career. We were sailing weekly and also to oversea twice yearly which made it impossible to do part time. I loved my job as a sailor and I still love it now as a reservist.

Some comments were about using what i learned in Navy to apply for the outside world which is also almost in-viable as what I did was all about warfare and my appointment was classified which I cant mention it like forever so long I live on. Only sailor who deal with radar, communication, pilotage and engineering can use those skills they learn to apply for maritime and engineering job outside. So I hope I have debunked this myth about  continuation from inside job to outside corporate world.

And for now, I suddenly got an influx of job opportunities from all dear readers. I feel so overwhelmed by the assistance given and now I know I didnt make the wrong choice revealing my story. This story of mine had been stashed in my mind for way too long. Now, Im breathing better already.

Lastly, thank you all my country mates and I see a whole new world now.

谢谢, Thank you, Terima Kasih and நன்றி!

Porky

Junior TRS editor

Singapore has rapped 20 banks for allowing 133 traders to attempt to manipulate interest rates and foreign exchange benchmarks during a four-year period.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore found no evidence of criminal behavior during a year-long investigation triggered by the Libor rigging scandal, but said the traders had made several attempts to influence prices inappropriately between 2007 and 2011.

The investigation covered Sibor, the Singapore equivalent of Libor -- a collection of rates set by a panel and used as a benchmark for securities worth trillions of dollars globally. It also included a local benchmark for commercial lending and a foreign exchange rate."Although the number of traders involved represents a small proportion of the trading community in Singapore, MAS takes a serious view of the need to uphold high standards of integrity in the industry and expects banks to foster a culture of ethical conduct among all their employees," the central bank said in a statement.

Related: U.K. regulator eyes currency market manipulation

The banks were guilty of failing to supervise their submissions to the panels that set the benchmarks, the MAS said.

Singapore's worst offenders were the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)and UBS (UBS), which have already paid fines of $612 million and $1.5 billion respectively to settle Libor-rigging claims, and Dutch bank ING (ING).

Those three banks have been ordered to increase their reserves on deposit with the central bank by 1 billion to 1.2 billion Singapore dollars ($958 million) at a zero interest rate for a year.

But the investigation -- launched after Barclays (BCS) became the first bank to admit attempted Libor rigging last year, paying out $450 million -- also adds new faces to the rogues' gallery.

Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), BNP Paribas (BNPQF), and the Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation were also ordered to increase their reserves at MAS by 700 million to 800 million Singapore dollars.

The remaining 14 banks, including Barclays, Credit Suisse, (CS) Deutsche Bank (DB),Standard Chartered, (SCBFF) Citibank (C, Fortune 500), HSBC (HBC) andJPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500). came away with smaller penalties.

MAS said about 75% of the traders involved had resigned or been asked to leave their banks, and the remainder would be disciplined by way of transfer to another job, demotion or loss of bonuses.

The Libor scandal and subsequent revelations about attempts to manipulate financial benchmarks, including foreign exchange rates and oil prices, have further undermined confidence in an industry still struggling to come to terms with the fallout of the global financial crisis.

International regulators are working on plans for new global standards governing the setting of benchmarks and are expected to publish draft proposals as early as next month.

*Article first appeared on http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/14/news/companies/singapore-banks-sibor/ind...

Sigh…

I received lots of private negative remarks on this coming event regarding the pleading for mercy for that single mother. I am not going to let those remarks affected me..

They said crucified her, hang her, revive her and hang her again. Said she is a murderer, she deserves to be hang over and over again..

Which mother will kill her own child after taking care for 9 years.

Is not easy to be a caregiver. Some more a single mom with a wheelchair bound son who is sick. With little income of only $1000 from her old mom..

No one helps her.

Heard that initially she wants to kill hersellf..
But thought of who is going to look after her poor sick son when she died.
She muz have deeply suffer from depression and stress.
That’s why we are going to voice out.
Speak mercy for this poor mother and make known to single mothers out there that they are not alone.
Put ourselves in that mom’s shoes.
And we are in no position to judge her too..

To be frank..
I nearly kill my son before too..
I carried him to #12 floor.
I wanna throw him down and then myself..
My son was 2 that time..

To some may think that at that age, dunno what is death.
But at that time my son knows…
He saw me crying and telling him I’m going to throw him down and then myself…
He was so scare…
He cried and plead me..
That feeling.. Is damn pain..

What has caused us to have this thought, there is always a reason behind it..
I Thank God that at that moment I came to my senses.
I dropped on my knees..
I trembled and shivered the scary feeling shit out of me..
Thank God..
I did not make a grave mistake..

Let us pray for these people..
I pray In Jesus’ name, asking for their hearts to be fill with abundance of Wisdom, Mercy and Love…
Amen…

Karyn Lhx

[Source]: https://www.facebook.com/events/528210723881203/

Related Article: THE STORY BEHIND THE MUM WHO KILLED HER 9 YEAR OLD SON

HONG LIM PARK EVENT: PLEAD FOR MERCY FOR SINGLE MOTHER, JUN 15TH, 5-7 PM

<Pic credit: https://www.facebook.com/WeAreSuperWhite>

Lumber 1, Lumber 1, 我的政府 Lumber 1

超级白，超级白，我的政府，超级白

世界第一超级白

引进外劳超级白

老来无钱超级白

Aunty洗碗超级白

Lumber 1, Lumber 1, 我的政府 Lumber 1

没翻新，没翻新，后港PP，没翻新

地铁挤人超级白

孕妇失业超级白

随便关人超级白

内安法令超级白

Lumber 1, Lumber 1, 我的政府 Lumber 1

CPF，CPF，进到棺材看不到

百万组屋超级白

看病花钱超级白

网规五万超级白

自由言论超级白

真的非常超级白！

Joe Tan

Contributions

Editor's Note: Please remember the objective of our website. We are the voices of average Singaporeans, not the voices of elite Lawyers & Doctors. Please do not be shy to submit your articles to us thinking that your english standard is not good enough. We accept article submissions in all 4 official languages :)

Making drugs like Cannabis and MDMA (Ecstasy) illegal is “The worst case of scientific censorship since the Catholic Church banned the works of Copernicus and Galileo.” [1]

Professor David Nutt British psychiatrist and neuropsychopharmacologist specializing in the research of drugs and once worked with for the British’s  Ministry of Defense, Department of Health and the Home Office. In 2009, he was dismissed from government service after he did something radical. He proved the government wrong. Instead of simply agreeing that “all drugs are bad… mmmkay”, he did what any normal scientist do. He researched and classified all the legal and illegal drugs based on SCIENTIFIC analysis. [2]

The classification shows that a lot of the illegal drugs like Cannabis, LSD, MDMA and Magic Mushrooms are scientifically less harmful that the most common legal recreation drug, alcohol. The home office could not accept this scientific finding and fired Professor Nutt from his government position. Since then he had created the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs, dedicated to the research on drugs based on scientific principles instead of the old 1961 war on drugs mentality.

He had published many research papers and books regarding the matter. And in his latest publishing, he stated that the war on drugs is “The worst case of scientific censorship since the Catholic Church banned the works of Copernicus and Galileo.” In short, the war on drugs has created a lot of barriers for scientific research on the drugs, simply because of its illegal status. Scientists and Financers cannot do much research if obtaining a small sample of the plant and compounds could bankrupt the institution and risk the scientist going to jail. But the few already published studies from all around the globe have showed some very promising results. 

The drug MDMA (Ecstasy) has shown to be non-addictive and is extremely useful in treating many psychological conditions like Anxiety, Addiction, Depression, PTSD and eases the transition from life to death in palliative care patients. It was no surprise since Ecstasy was once a favorite medicine for psychiatrist back in the early 1950’s dubbed “Penicillin for the soul.” And of course Cannabis has shown many promising medical values for treating Cancer, Diabetes, Addiction, Arthritis, Glaucoma, Neuropathic pain and many many MANY more. Because of this stupid war on drugs, advancement of medical science into treating these diseases have been halted as much as 50 years back. That is 50 years worth of suffering and death that could be easily avoided if all these drugs were classified scientifically instead of drug fear mongering. As Professor Nutt has said, the global drug policies are more POLITICS than SCIENCE.

Side note: I don’t like it when people just say, “Oh because you can abuse it, that’s why it should be illegal.” That is a very stupid argument. Just because a few people can abuse these drugs justifies letting all the sick patients suffer and die? And besides, Alcohol is one of the most commonly abused drug on earth right now so why don’t we make Tiger Beer and Carlsberg illegal?

-------

[1] http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/the-worst-case-of-scientific-censorship-since-the-catholic-church-banned-the-works-of-galileo-scientists-call-for-drugs-to-be-legalised-to-allow-proper-study-of-their-properties-8654514.html

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Nutt

PS:  I would like to thank the TRS team for their support and all the readers for their viewership.

Mike from Singapore Cannabis Awareness

Contributions

One of my friend KKH is a computer engineer working in a research institute.

He always complain that IT is a sunset industry and always infested with cheap foreigners who flood the market and that his rice bowl is not steady once his institute runs out of funds.

In Israel, studying IT is a robust industry. Many Israelis excel at Mathematics and programming and many IT companies such as Qualcomm are founded in Israel.

In addition, many MNCs such as Motorola, HP, IBM and Google also locate their R&D activities in Israel because they are very good in creating things.

Compared to Singapore, most MNCs will close their offices in Singapore and relocate them to cheaper locations once EDB Singapore withdraws their tax relief and subsidies to them.

Part of the reason is because they find Singaporeans and foreigners in Singapore to be uncreative.

Many bosses in Singapore prefer foreigners because they are cheaper and also more obedient and more willing to be "Yes" Man and just follow orders.

However, in Israel, the bosses there are quite the opposite. I suppose they love their employees to be challenged and are more engaging.

I have the experience of working in a Singapore SME too.

The workplaces have the WSQ Framework to help boost productivity and are also certified People Excellence Awards to ensure that lifelong training is in place. The organisations are also able to claim Productivity Innovation Credit (PIC) due to this.

However, despite all these measures, something is lacking.

Most of the time, these workplaces are still very top-down driven and junior employees hardly have any say or input in the companies' direction or existing problems. With such a rigid hierarchy in place, most workers can't apply what they learnt in WSQ to their job scope.

Recently, I attended some National Conversation dialogues in Education, Housing and Healthcare. The facilitators were from HDB, MOE and MOH. They used diagrams, mind mapping and allowed us to present our views as though we were the centre of attention.

Although they had no concrete solutions to complex problems, I was also quite satisfied that at least I felt respected.

If I were an employee, it would be an honour to work in such an engaging environment. I believe that if this is a company, it can troubleshoot any problem and not rely on cheap foreigners to do the work.

I recommend that government assistance grants such as Productivity Innovation Credit, Corporate Income Tax, Wage Credit, Technology Adoption Grant and Market Assessment Grant incorporate these learning pedagogies as a benchmark for all companies to implement and to claim tax relief.

I also recommend that these companies should consult NIE or NUS or NTU or SMU to help spread these learning pedagogies to their workplace.

Only then can we truly believe in ourselves and do away the notion that being a Yes Man mentality is a good trait in an organisation.

CJ
Contributions 

A tuition teacher, who repeatedly molested a 12-year-old boy for nearly two hours, was sentenced to nine months' jail and three strokes of the cane on Friday (Jun 14).

Benjamin Lee Kee Tat, 24, pleaded guilty to repeatedly hugging the pupil from behind and stroking his private parts at a tuition centre in Woodlands on May 25, 2011.

In sentencing him District Judge Lim Keng Yeow said this was the kind of offence every child in Singapore should be protected from and every would-be predatory sex offender must be warned against. He described Lee's acts against his pupil as "heinous, reprehensible and utterly deplorable''.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok had told the court that the victim's tuition mate was absent when Lee molested him during mathematics tuition that day. Lee's assault was two hours long and he was persistent, he said.

The boy was shocked and very frightened when Lee kept touching and stroking him over his pants. To make him stop, the boy asked Lee how to solve a question. But after answering him, Lee continued molesting him. Subsequently Lee turned the victim's chair to face him and tried to unbutton the victim's pants but the boy pushed him away.

With scant information about the Changi Motorsports Hub project, we'll never know why the $36 million successful bid by a Japanese-led consortium was finally scrapped by the Singapore Sports Council. Project delays and financial difficulties are typical of construction undertakings, but allegations of corruption were never really sufficiently aired.

As a commercial concept, similar plans for a motorsport facility championed by Singaporean billionaire investor Peter Lim at Iskandar in Johore should prove it must have had merits of viability. The strange bit is when proposals were solicited to salvage the doomed racetrack cum retail complex, all seven interested parties asked for government subsidies. Why would tycoons with expensive hobbies like Lamborghinis or Ferraris have need of a help out from taxpayers, some of whom are evicted from their simple abodes because they can't make the mortgage for their HDB flats?

Maybe those fast car aficionados had in mind the F1 Night Race, roaring round the corner again, in September. That particular extravaganza is heavily subsidised, to the tune of 60% of the total bill, or $90 million based on the estimate of $150 million for each mega event. 5 years after the first race was flagged off in 2007, not a single year's report card on the actual finances has been made available to the public. The true cost of the government subsidy is yet to be disclosed.

One of the chief complains about the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system is that the deep pocketed is unfairly favoured. The argument is that the present bidding system allows the rich to marginalise the not-so-rich by bidding a high price to ensure success, comfortable in the assurance that only the lowest successful bidding price would have to be paid. It's only a simple tweak to implement a pay as you bid system to address this ongoing nod to those with fat bank accounts.

One suspects the relevant minister responsible for the Sports Council, F1 Night Race and land transportation, each has his own perception of inequity. Perhaps the Changi Motorsports Hub would have a different fate if a more spendthrift cabinet minister was in charge. Asked if he had any regret about splurging $387 million dollars of taxpayers’ monies to host the most expensive “sports day” for children in the world, Vivian Balakrishnan made dubious claims about YOG “laying a strong foundation for Singapore’s sporting culture, especially in spectatorship, community involvement and volunteer engagement.” Racing fans holding multiple COEs for their private fleet would love that line about "Singapore’s sporting culture, especially in spectatorship, community involvement and volunteer engagement.” Just imagine, $387 million could pay for ten Motorsports Hubs, fully subsidised.

Across the causeway, Malaysia boleh

Tattler

*The writer blogs at singaporedesk.blogspot.com