The Singapore Daily

..the nature of business development in Asia is so different and [the West] fail to understand that in a country where the private sector is nurtured by the state, the business community will be the last people to champion democratic reform.”
Carpediem

“Alternative news source do not simply appear if established ones are doing their job.”
groundnotes

“I cannot take this anymore and I don’t know what I’ll do one day.. I get angry when I see her so how can I don’t hit her?”
Ng Kim Ngweng

“Isn’t it ironic that Mr Lee who prides himself in having brought Singapore up by providing education is now busy trying to create a limitation of the mind in his quest to remove any ressurgance of the people who put him into power all those years ago.”
Tang Li

“I would gladly trade, pardon the pun, GDP growth with the ability to speak my native language (it is neither English nor Mandarin) even if it is the most economically unviable language in the world. For that matter, I would be proud to be a Singaporean even if it is the poorest country there is around. What consolation does it bring, to be able to speak to 1.3 billion Chinese all over China if I cannot even engage in a proper conversation with my own family?”
KJ

This week’s roundup and recommended reads after the break.

Town Council 8 Month Bonuses
- Wayang Party Club: Teo Ho Pin forced by blogosphere to reply to CDC bonuses rumors on CNA: “I DON’T KNOW!”
- Wayang Party Club: Rumoured 8-month Bonus for CDC Staff is ‘In Line with NWC Guidelines’: People’s Association
- Civic Advocator: Dr Teo, don’t worry, we have a solution
- Anonymous_X: Perhaps the two CDC staff might indeed have received bonuses of 8 months?!
- My sketchbook: Teo Ho Pin: Chicken and duck (straight) talk
- Wayang Party Club: Open letter to Mr Tan Boon Huat, Chief Executive Director of People’s Association re: salaries and bonuses of CDC staff
- The Wayang Party: EXPOSED: Two Northwest CDC staff who receive 8 months bonuses are managers in mid to senior positions
- EDMW: Teo Ho Pin: 8 Months Bonus Not Completely Unreasonable
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Look how disconnected they are
- The Lycan Times: Musing: Alleged 8-Month Bonus
- The Singapore Enquirer: CDC Bonuses: Take it Back
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: News articles on North West CDC 8 months bonus disappeared from Mainstream Media?
- SingapuraKini: News Blackout [Thanks Singapura kini]
- Wayang Party: Open letter to Dr Teo Ho Pin re: Creative shares purchased by Holland-Bukit Panjang Town Council and staff bonuses
- My sketchbook: Taxpayers’ money
- Today In Singapore: Bonus For What?!
- Singapore Enquirer: Interview with Jalan Besar residents: Do they think a 8 months bonus given to CDC staff is fair and reasonable?

Recession
- Singapore Social Activist: Don’t Hide Behind Mere Hypothesis
- mrbrown: The Crisis of Credit Visualized video, and Bad Bank episode from This American Life
- My Little Corner: Interesting unemployment stats for December last year
- TOC: Better to help needy than give handouts to fresh grads
- ~eternalhap~: Let’s cut your salary and give it away!
- TOC: protections for the financially vulnerable
- Sgpolitics.net: MAS’ consultation paper on enhanced regulation in the financial industry — key issue of MAS’ own accountability not addressed, amongst other issues
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Creating service jobs in Singapore
- The Itch to Write: After Jobs Credit Scheme was introduced…
- Singapore Social Activist: Risks of Unchecked Export-Driven Growth
- The Kent Ridge Common: Will the ongoing crisis be the catalyst for anarchist views?

GIC, Temasek State Fund Investments
- TOC: GIC losses – foreign media more important than Parliament?
- Blowin’ In The Wind: ‘Life would be easier if MM were not my father’
- TOC: Singapore’s GIC RE unfazed by $360m hit

Singaporeans are fed, up with progress
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: F1 to F9……where are we headed?! [Recommended]

The Gospel of Harry | Dialects are for Stupids
- Desparatebeep: Why Limit Learning? [Recommended]
- TOC: Disadvantageous Mandarin [Recommended]
- Carpe Diem: Searching for Singapore’s soul (Part 2): A losing battle for our dialects
- Desparatebeep: A Dance for All
- Feed Me To The Fish: Dialect Murderer - Fangyi Sha Sou
- Chee Wai’s Random Musings: Suppression of Dialects in Singapore

The Passing of Dr Allan Ooi
- Sam’s Thoughts: Dying to make a point
- Foxy Thoughts: What will you defend?
- Kaffein-nated: I must be a mushroom
- vinyarb: Social Media 1 - 0 Mainstream Media
- the boy who knew too much: End the practise of bonding
- Wayang Party Club: Time for a rethink of Singapore’s scholarship system

The Aftermath of the NTU Passings
- Geekonomics: Setting the records straight
- Singapore Enquirer: NTU Prof dispels rumours
- The boy who knew too much: Where sympathy is a crime
- Sgpolitics.net: NTU Associate Professor Chan Kap Lup attempts to dispel rumours

General Election 2009
- Yaw Shin Leong: Taking It Easy
- The Itch To Write: Main stream media got facts wrong
- TOC: Weakest link in Aljunied GRC? Just move it out, says PAP activist
- A Blog Day’s Work: PAP member’s telling ‘insight’ [Thanks Kian Hwee]
- Wayang Party Club: Opposition’s chance of winning a GRC limited unless they overcome their Achilles Heel
- Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: Don’t fight in a three way cul-de-sac, do it one on one, please.
- Tan Kin Lian: Politician Ratings
- Tan Kin Lian’s Blog: Shin Min Interview - General Election

Hsien and Thein: An Orchid for a Dictator
- Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: Be constructive netizens
- Singapore Dino: Singapore to host and honour Burmese junta gangster
- TOC: Great job, Singapore Botanic Gardens!
- Seelan Palay: Singaporean activists protest against naming of Orchid after Burmese General
- My sketchbook: Orchid named after Myanmar PM-Dendrobium Thein Sein
- Singapore Dino: Singapore’s Botanic Gardens and national flower defiled

Lee vs Rag-and-Bone Man
- Sgpolitics: Protection from harm: One set of rules for political elites and another set of rules for common folk
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: For goodness sake, STOP WASTING TAXPAYERS MONEY!
- Today In Singapore: Would You ‘Hammer’ Her?
- Wayang Party: Phone threats a non-seizable offence: case of double standards?
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Phone threats is a non-seizable offence

Lee vs WSJ
- Chemical Generation Singapore: Another WSJ Opinion, Another Court Case, Another Farce
- Gimme Some Truth: Singapore High Court take on WSJ in legal battle- a Political Miscalculation?
- Singaporean Skeptic: Wall Street Journal Contempt Case Part II

Lee vs Chee
- Jaslyn Go’s Blog: Today I question PW 2 - SI Yeo Kok Leong
- Jaslyn Go’s Blog: Sylvester Lim’s Cross Examination of SI Yeo Kok Leong - TBT Trial
- Singabloodypore: High Court dismisses motion to question police on abuse of power
- Chia Ti Lik’s Blog: Courage, gall, guts and balls - In celebration of all things daringly Singaporean

Lee vs Asia Sentinel
- Sgpolitics.net: Another Day in the Lion City, Almost

We Don’t Need No Regulation
- Sgpolitics.net: The Internet and Opposition Politics
- Singapore Enquirer: Government increasingly forced to respond to anonymous bloggers

If newspapers die..
- Everyday’s Life in a Snapshot: You’ve been warned:if newspapers Die… Companies will see sales slump, citizens will make important decisions in the dark
- Empty Vessel: The death of the Post-Intelligencer [Recommended]
- Kaffein-nated: Sheer genius, or complete dodo

Strangers in a Strange Land
- TOC: 2,000 foreign workers attend Singtel event
- Lianain Films: First World, Third World
- Lianain Films: Seriously Depressing
- Wayang Party Club: Less than 3 in 10 jobs went to citizens: no real figures on citizens given by MOM

Healthcare
- Angry Doctor: Can you catch obesity?
- ~eternalhap~: A look at S’pore’s Healthcare: Part 1
- ~eternalhap~: A look at S’pore’s Healthcare: Part 2
- ~eternalhap~: A look at S’pore’s Healthcare: Part 3

Housing
- TOC: HDB must stop ticking checklists and start reviewing cases
- En Bloc Block Blog: Why does en bloc law matter? [Recommended]

Re education
- The Kent Ridge Common: Suggested changes to the government scholarship policy Part II: A focus on the SAF Overseas Scholarship

Daily Discourse
- The boy who knew too much: Why can’t the PAP find talent? [Recommended]
- Kaffein-nated: Did you leave your brains on your desk, or was it bashed out?
- The Kent Ridge Common: Teaching an old dog new tricks plus our fascination over growth and GDP figures [Recommended]
- Random Thoughts Of A Free Thinker: Should Singapore legalise pornography?
- Mathia Lee: Self-Censorship: How do you say what you need to without getting into trouble?
- TOC: The PAP’s fascination with communists
- Tan Kin Lian: Motor insurance - regulator can play a part
- Information Read by Me: Indirect Sexual Harassment (Female to Female) [Thanks Jaunty Jabber]
- The Void Deck: Just Around the Bend: Car Ownership Costs Go Up
- Singabloodypore: Unnerved by a deathly vibe
- The Singapore Sports Fan Says: Ting Wen breaks national record; Lay Chi qualifies for SEA Games
- groundnotes: Do your job! [Recommended]
- the kent ridge common: Why certain local sports and national development are like oil and water
- Singaporean Skeptic: Times really are tough
- Today In Singapore: Price Of Prawns
- TOC: Domestic violence, whether mild or severe, is not acceptable
- The Singapore Sports Fan Says: Good coverage on Ting Wen today. But please, Sir, can we have some more?
- Chee Wai’s Random Musings: A classic Singaporean reaction to Singaporean streakers
- the kent ridge common: Singapore Education: Why underdogs and late bloomers have the better end of the bargain
- TOC: Undergraduate battles ALL with a smile
- Hard Hitting in the Lion City: The Merlion is Back

Life, the universe and everything
- Carpe Diem: India vs Singapore
- Tribolum.com: Win-Win
- Blowin’ In The Wind: Lee Kuan Yew and Rupert Murdoch
- vinyarb: Tiger Translate 2009
- The Brotherhood: Why Do Elites Die Young?
- Singapore Watch: The Postal Process and Recycling
- eastcoastlife: Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty? - WW
- Delvinlee’s Weblog: Liyuan Opera Gao WenJu at Thian Hock Keng Temple [Thanks Delvin]
- Carpe Diem: Should we be searching for Singapore’s soul? (Part 1) [Recommended]
- Singapore Entrepreneurs: How To Handle Negative Media Coverage [Thanks Bernard]
- Ian On The Red Dot: My One Shorter Than Your One. Actually, No Lah… Same Length
- The fire in my Life: It just does not make sense with Advertlets! [Thanks Joel]
- this lush garden within: $100k donations for NUS student stricken with cancer within days

The Arts, Film and Music
- The FØØL’s Progress: LaMB: World Premier
- Hard Hitting in the Lion City: Review of Watchmen

Infoblogaramous
- nussu the ridge online: Donation Drive Initiated for NUS Student
- Singapore Entrepreneurs: Event: Infocomm Live-Matthias Kunze, Winning Ways Of An Entrepreneur -20 Mar 09
- Fireopal: Free BJ 2009 [Thanks Joel]
- Singapore Entrepreneurs: Event: CocoaHeads Mar Meet-Up - 26 Mar 2009
- Ong Jiin Joo: Registration for NMF 2009 is open