The Singapore Daily

(Picture Credit: Wallpaper Desktop)

December 25th, 2011 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

(Cartoon Credit: Dilbert.com, 25 June 1998)

Peasant’s way or Government’s highway
- Singapore Short Stories: The Building of North-South Expressway & bringing the soul of the Singapore City back
- Publichouse: Saving Old School – how old is old enough?

The Powers of White?
- Sam’s Thoughts: Condemning Jason Neo’s offensive photo caption
- SpotlightOnSingapore: PAP Youth member racist online posting: MSM stumbles again
- Singapore Notes: Managing The New Media
- TOC: Highly racist and offensive caption – YPAP member?
- Yahoo: Young PAP member quits over racially offensive remark
- Today: Young PAP member quits over offensive remarks

Daily Disclosure
- Thoughts of a Cynical Investor: Why are trains overcrowded, but not the port or airport?
- SpotlightOnSingapore: Changi pub-owner fined: sign of a thuggish society?

Strangers in a Strange Land
- TOC: From population replacement to property valuation – how the FT policy lost its way
- Support Site for the Unemployed and Underemployed: Singaporean technician ostracised by Filipino workers who spoke mainly tagalog at work

Truth, Justice, and the Singapore Way
- yawningbread: Crime and ambivalence

Educate Our Youth
- guanyinmiao’s musings: School-Based Community Initiatives: Heighten Reflection Processes And Sustainability

377a
- sgentrepreneurs: After losing all shares in Fridae, gay portal’s co-founder severs domain from company

Infoblogamus
- Singapore Sojourn: General Election 2011 – NZ Style
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Hang He Kway Chup anyone?
- Remember Singapore: A Walk Through The Old Neighbourhood – Tiong Bahru

November 18th, 2011 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Suicide Club
- SpotlightOnSingapore: Bedok Reservoir deaths: media should cease such reports
- TOC: Bedok Reservoir deaths – are we missing the bigger picture?

Daily Disclosure
- guanyinmiao’s musings: Reviewing The Individual Physical Proficiency Test
- Blogging for Myself: Bukit Brown Cemetery and policy options
- RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A FREE THINKER: Why discuss when you already have something in mind, CNA?
- Pritam Singh’s FB: Singapore Parliament Team
- Yahoo: Send best athletes to SEA Games: Ang Peng Siong

A Vote for Change
- Desparatebeep: Shangri-La on Earth?
- Reinventing the Rice Bowl: My response to your comment on gridlock and the understanding of the masses.
- Support Site for the Unemployed & Underemployed: 7 Uniquely-Singapore Shameful Policies

Strangers in a Strange Land
- mrbrown.com: Singaporean renounces citizenship, comes back to work in Singapore as foreign talent
- Support Site for the Unemployed & Underemployed: Supervisor at Hans Cafe resigned due to marginalisation by foreign staff

“People can board the train, it is whether they choose to” - SMRT CEO
- Thoughts of a Cynical Investor: SMRT: CEO stupdity discount?
- ST: Long wait for buses and trains unacceptable
- InSing: SMRT continues to raise netizens’ ire

Infoblogamus
- Tan Chuan-Jin’s FB: Meaning of Sacrifice
- If Only Singaporeans Stopped to Think: Tree Planting Day

November 8th, 2011 | Category: Daily Sg, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Daily Disclosure
- Singapore Peak Oil: Lee Kuan Yew and the Price of Food
- Balderdash: ACS and Rich Kids
- New Asia Republic: “Fat tax” is a recipe for unfairness

Educate Our Youth
- guanyinmiao’s musings: Has Project Work In Junior Colleges Outlived Its Usefulness?

CPF
- Tan Kin Lian: CPF – my views
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: CPF : New Face, New Media, Old Ideas….

A Vote for Change
- Thoughts of a Cynical Investor: Healthcare: Who is subsidising whom?
- CRISIS COMMUNICATIONS IN THE ERA OF SOCIAL MEDIA: Singapore General Elections 2011: Not an Internet Election? Who are you kidding?
- Sgpolitics.net: Why opposition parties should speak up on ISA and human rights issues
- New Nation: Occupy Raffles Place
- Yahoo: ‘Allow sufficient opportunity for opposition’

We are against capital punishment
- Where Bears Roam Free: Anti-Death Penalty Lobbyists, wanna lobby for Tariq Aziz?
- The Kent Ridge Common: Second Chances’ Forum: Rethinking the Death Penalty

Infoblogamus
- Good Morning Yesterday: Project Neighbourhood @ Okto Channel
- New Nation: Circle Line train commuters transported from desert to Arctic and back
- TOC: President Tony Tan: New media must be used constructively

Sketches
- SG-Quitters: Coming Movie on Singapore, “1965″
- Spore Says Political Cartoon: Cannot chat on skype meh..??

Stuff
- Al Jazeera English: The class warfare the rich don’t understand (Thanks Estee)
- Voice of America: Mainland Chinese Drawn to Singapore, Tensions Follow

October 12th, 2011 | Category: Daily Sg, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

A Vote for Change
- Ryan Goh: Life through these eyes: The eyes only see what the mind wants to believe: SFD apologists edition
- Thoughts of a Cynical Investor: TJS: Right attitude, wrong project?
- Sgpolitics.net: SDP sets its sights on Tanjong Pagar GRC
- Publichouse: Prompt action by MP and HDB to bugs problems
- Tan Chuan-Jin’s FB: Running Singapore – Kembangan 1
- Foreign Affairs: Overturning Lee Kuan Yew’s Legacy in Singapore

Catch the Falling Sky!
- Chemical Generation Singapore: The Electricity Tariff Puzzle
- Today: Electricity tariffs to fall

Strangers in a Strange Land
- Singapore Notes: The Trouble With Doctors

Malaysia do, Singapore Follow?
- When the Spin Stops: A Tale of 16 Former Detainees
- Where Bears Roam Free: Exactly what is the (hidden) agenda of these ex-ISA detainees?
- Diary of a Singaporean Mind: ISA : Interesting Video from the past…
- New Asia Republic: 不要把内安法当成一门生意来做

Singapore Inc is happy, Singaporeans however…
- inSing: Local drama mocking Singaporeans?

Daily Disclosure
- Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat: Mini Q&A session with Group CEO of Comfort Delgro
- Small steps for Social PR: How London Weight Management could have turn their advertising disaster into a PR success
- Vicky’s Writings: Money
- Singapore Notes: Drawing The Line For Decency
- Publichouse: Liberated by disasters
- Yahoo: Slimming company defends its controversial ad
- CNNGo: Abercrombie & Fitch is too sexy for Singapore

Infoblogamus
- Wild Shores of Singapore: Shell refinery fire at Bukom: aftermath
- Good Morning Yesterday: Old Gadgets Quiz #3
- Paper Moons and Macarons: My Grandma: Miss Singapore 1960
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Hazy day….
- Alex Lew Yan Liang 刘彦良: Interview with Mr. Leong
- TOC: The launch of Caregivers Connect – Reach Out, Engage, Learn and Share

Tech
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: First Look: Sony Tablet S
- sgentrepreneurs: If Mohammad can’t go to the mountain…

Stuff
- FinanceAsia: Singapore dollars and gold are the only safe havens

Sketches

September 30th, 2011 | Category: Daily Sg, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What Singaporeans are Talking about: Fare Hikes 2011 (Photo by Paul Yeo)

August 1st, 2011 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (1)

What Singaporeans are Talking about: Presidential Election 2011

July 27th, 2011 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments (3)

“These are not reasons to take a life.”
Benjamin Cheah

“Come this friday, we either advance, or we stall. We either realise, or we ignore.”
theinkhorn

“I’m wondering if MM Lee is privately rolling his eyes at Ng’s proposed ideas.”
Aaron Ng

“What I worry about this decision is the tacit admission that we need to look good, better than we really are, and so we will change the rules to achieve that goal.”
Callan Tham

“Point 11 in “Making Singapore a Leading Global City”, on improving Singapore’s culture sector is really strange. There is no mention of people at all.”
twasher

This week’s roundup and recommended reads after the break.
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May 16th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

We are against capital punishment
- Singapore Alternatives: Anti-Mandatory Death Penalty
- Jacob 69er: {Pics} Behind-the-scenes at Vui Kong, We Care

Road to Election
- The Temasek Review: A short chat with Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Secretary-General of Reform Party

Strangers in a Strange Land
- Loh and Behold: Foreign Workers in Serangoon Gardens
- The Temasek Review: NMP Teo Siong Seng: SMEs need to hire more foreign workers

Little Green Dot
- ECO @ COP 15: How old will you be in 2050? [via TOC]
- The Gigamole Diaries: ClimateGate – a small critter’s view

Daily Discourse
- The Temasek Review: Time to make public the KPIs of Singapore ministers
- Today In Singapore: Winning Back The Public Trust
- Seelan Palay’s Blog: The PAP government is illegitimate (My comment to former ISA detainees)

Life, the universe and everything
- The Journey of a Decade: Today…. I Discover Singapore at a Centre.
- The Temasek Review: Gallery: Reform Party Forum on 5 December 2009

Infoblogaramous
- Majulah Singapura: Free coffee!

December 9th, 2009 | Category: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Housing
- TOC: Prices of HDB flats – press censorship?
- Trapper’s Swamp: Rising HDB flat prices due to “unrealistic expectations”?
- The Temasek Review: COVs: Does Mah Bow Tan know what he is talking about?
- The Temasek Review: Mah: “Not meaningful” to compare to prices of flats in the past

Strangers in a Strange Land
- TOC: New citizens outstripping net increase of existing citizens?
- Feed Me To The Fish: Ungrateful Platoon Commander, Insensitive Leeder
- kay poh chee: Any XiaoHua, Anand and Harry can quality to work in Singapore easily

Road to Perdition Election
- TOC: Power, change and leadership succession
- Sam’s thoughts: Singapore Election Fever

Re education
- Mr Wang Says So: Academic Success and Socio-Economic Status in Singapore

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- The Kent Ridge Common: A more serious threat than the so-called alternative media

A new low for Ris
- Singapore Life and Times: Abused Beauty

EPL 1 : Football Fans 0
- Frankly Speaking: So Singtel wins the BPL rights
- Master Of The Obvious: EPL win for Singtel, Loss for Singapore
- Temasek Hedge: EPL broadcast rights: When competition is actually bad for the consumer

Daily Discourse
- TOC: Spillovers of tolerance
- The Kent Ridge Common: Yellow Ribbon campaign within the civil service
- The Temasek Review: MM Lee’s misplaced “optimism” about Russia
- The Temasek Review: Singapore a puzzle hub? Another shoddy reporting by the state media
- Temasek Hedge: S-chips: SGX wins, Singapore loses [Thanks Bink]

Life, the universe and everything
- UniqueFrequency.com: Singapore Writers Festival’s Mistake – Focusing On The Tools, Not The Goals

October 2nd, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Strangers in a Strange Land
- kay poh chee: Singapore PR is given away like candies [Thanks Jon]
- The Temasek Review: Since when do we need “foreign talent” to be clinic assistants?
- Trapper’s Swamp: Beauty pageants are important, so lets import potential beauty queens!
- according2ed: Sg: I’ve never encountered a people who’ve done so much to undo themselves [Thanks Jenel]

Truth, Justice, and the Singapore Way
- The Temasek Review: Town Council took unemployed man to court for S&C arrears
- Singapore Dino: $10m to ‘integrate’ PRs while penniless & disabled citizen in court for $432?!

Housing
- The Temasek Review: Why peg prices of new HDB flats to market rates?

The power to cost the people
- The Anti Neo-Democracy Theorist: Rising of Electricity Prices due to increase in fuel prices?

a comment to the ST article by betweenus777
its truly ironic that one the day that PUB reported that electricity prices will go up in oct – the price of petrol was dropped by 7 cents bec the world oil prices came down to US$65 and remain there since these few days – so we wonder what benchmark does PUB uses – and of course the EMA which is a 100% govt-owned company will simply agree to any price increase by PUB. The main irony still is that 80% of our electricity is generated by natural gas which have always remain low – but the EMA n PUB still pegged their elect generation based on oil as they gave the excuse of “no common benchmark asia price on natural gas”. My questio is this – how the hell does PUB buys its 80% of natural gas in then??? pay for gas price based on oil price – definitely NOT.

A new low for Ris
- The Temasek Review: Straits Times named Ris Low’s photo as “sg-stupid.jpg”
- Dee Kay Dot As Gee: Have we gone too far?
- The boy who knew too much: Could Ris have got any lower?
- The Lycan Times: Commentary – Ris Low
- Singapore Life and Times: Confused Beauty
- The Asia File: The man who called Lee Kuan Yew a dictator to his face [Thanks Ben]

Mainstream vs X-Stream
- The Grand Moofti Speaks: Singapore’s New Media: New for How Long?
- The Civic Advocator: C’mon, we all know the “cyber defenders” are actually new cyber police

Recession
- Temasek Hedge: Why Singapore Industrial REITS are begging shareholders for more money [Thanks Bink]
- Temasek Hedge: Morgan Stanley: Buy ‘quality’ stocks because crap is expensive [Thanks Bink]

ERPains, Trains & Automobiles
- World Through Spider’s Eyes: The 25 Cent Argument [Thanks Kenneth]

The Gospel of Harry
- Singaporean Skeptic: Lee Kuan Yew says the darndest things. Part II [Thanks lary]

Healthcare & Healthcare Providers
- Singapore M.D.: Residency Part III

Daily Discourse
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Japanese Govt Ban “Amakudari”
- Today In Singapore: Buzz In The City
- For Want of a Better Title: Strange Weather we’re having
- SilentAssassin’s Archive: Arms Race or Reverse Psychology?
- Ian On The Red Dot: I Should Be A Politician

Life, the universe and everything
- UniqueFrequency.com: Twitter And The Singapore “Earthquake”
- The Journey of a Decade: A letter to Mediacorp – The so called wedding event of the year [Thanks DK]

The following is an article contributed by Cheong Wing Lee.

Singapore – from 3rd world to 1st world to LOST world.

It has been 50 years since Singapore has been governed by the PAP under the leadership of Lee Kuan Yew.

Is Singapore better off now than it was 50 years ago?

The answer from most baby boomers is that it is worse. Despite all the gains in materialism and wealth in the country, the majority of the aging population is feeling no better than five decades ago. Many are stressed out by the anxieties of the absence of a dignified retirement plan, the affordability of healthcare and the uncertain future for their children.

Fifty years ago, Singapore was a British Colony under British rule. The majority of the population neither liked nor disliked the British. They had no opinion and took it as part of life. During the colonial days, most of the population then were born to accept that the white people were superior. The population then were mostly poor working class, lost without direction and living from day to day.

Fast forward fifty years to present day Singapore and we find the majority of the aging population also neither like nor dislike the PAP and can’t do anything about it. Most of them were born to accept that the “Men in White” are superior. The PAP has over the years designed policies and safe guards to ensure that the party remains in power indefinitely. The indiscriminate use of the ISD, rezoning of constituencies, formation of GRCs, monopoly of the mass media and liberal use of defamation lawsuits against opponents practically destroyed all oppositions. The aging population are generally poor, lost without direction and like the population fifty years ago, living from day to day, praying that their savings will be adequate for a decent retirement.

To PAP’s credit, during the past fifty years,the old guards of the PAP and MM Lee manage to bring Singapore from an improvised third world country to the first world status. I remembered I was then living in a small rented room in a Chinatown shop-house with only one kitchen, one make shift bathroom and one pull out bucket toilet. The shop-house was shared with 4 other families with a total of 22 occupants. Within fifteen years I was able to buy a 5 room HDB apartment and own a car. For that I was grateful to the PAP, especially the old guards.

Back then in the seventies, Singapore was bustling with economic activities brought about by Dr. Goh Keng Swee, then Deputy Prime Minister, who led the Singapore industrial revolution. For the next few decades, Singapore was hailed by the world as an economic miracle . A country without natural resources and yet able to propel itself from 3rd world status to 1st world status with one of the highest per capita in Asia. The country achieved so many “Number Ones”, i.e. No 1 airport, No.1 container port, No.1 airline, etc, etc. that I lost count. We were proud as citizens of Singapore. We were proud of the PAP and we were proud of MM Lee. Many of us would have died for the country and him. MM Lee would have left a great legacy for generations to remember.

Ironically the past two decades had eroded that admiration. The addiction of absolute power has made MM Lee developed a deep craze to perpetuate his control of Singapore. It was no longer our country. Singapore has become his country, his personal property. Our pledge for justice and equality for all is only but an aspiration according to him. To MM Lee, only he and the PAP can effectively govern Singapore. All others outside of PAP with opposing views are treated as Public Enemies. Under the disguise of self renewal and recruiting new blood, the entire group of old guards were retired except for himself. He brought in young bureaucrats, technocrats, and scholars who will obey and above all fear him without questions.

This dream team and MM Lee initiated a series of social engineering. MM Lee’s dream is to create a perfect society based on meritocracy. There will be no room for complacency. He wants Singaporeans to be the best of the best. In the process of social engineering, Singapore becomes a nanny state where the government dictates to its citizens what, how and when to do in every minute aspect of their lives. The ideal dreams of the ordinary citizens turned to nightmares. The citizens are hard pressed to perform to the government’s requirements.

The education system was revamped time and again to filter and segregate the slow learners from the ordinary and the brightest students at a young age. The brightest students are given the best education, priorities and scholarships with promise of top government jobs and top salaries upon completion of their studies. These super students are primed to be future leaders of the country. The slow learners and the ordinary students are thrown to the lower rungs of the food chain.

The numerous new education policies cause panic amongst parents who do not want their children to be labeled as slow learners or mentally challenged. There is a huge surge for private tuition whereby children are forced to endure hours of extra studies to keep up or be one step ahead of the others in their pursuit of academic excellence. The joy and happiness of growing up as children was robbed. There was no time for children to be simply children. The segregation system is based on an unscientific assumption that if students do not perform well in examinations, they will not do well in all aspects of their lives.

Maids are hired by almost every household in order for parents and children to devote more time to studies. The repercussion of the overuse of maids results in a generation of children not knowing how to do simple chores like boiling water, washing dishes, cleaning, hanging a picture frame, change a tyre, etc. Few children learn or do anything outside of textbooks. The children are simply not street smart.

Perhaps the biggest mistake was the “STOP AT TWO” or “Two is Enough” campaign where citizens were encouraged to stop at only having two children by curtailing all medical benefits and educational privileges of the third child. The successful campaign resulted in a sharp drop in birth rate and a mass exodus of emigrants who have more than two children. Even more severe repercussions surfaced two decades later resulting in the present huge influx of more than one million “Foreign Talents”, mainly from China and India.

Just when the local citizens thought that they have met the worst by working as janitors, food courts cleaners and other low paying jobs, they are now challenged by foreign talents from China and India who are prepared to work for less. This challenge now spread to include regular higher paying jobs like engineers, surveyors, healthcare workers, etc. which are traditionally held by local born Singaporeans. Companies are openly advertising and recruiting the new foreign talents in preference to the locals. The reason being that companies need to stay competitive and be more profitable. New immigrants or foreign talents are not burdened by national service and reservist duty which put additional cost to the companies. Furthermore, new immigrants are willing and able to work for less pay and longer hours since most of them come to Singapore by themselves and have no family obligations like the locals.

The entire working environment is working against the local born Singaporeans. All of a sudden they have become strangers in their own land. The country they have sworn to protect has betrayed them. In desperate times like this, when help and reassuring words from the government should be forth coming, instead the local Singaporeans receive advice telling them to lower their expectations. This only add insult to injury. What the dream team and high salaried ministers fail to understand is that the people cannot go lower than low. Just try to survive on a salary of $2,000 a month or less with a family, then maybe they may understand the plight of the average Singaporeans.

For those frustrated Singaporeans who wants to emigrate to other countries to escape their present hopeless predicament, they are walking into another brick wall.

Unknown to most of them, new emigrants to countries like Australia and Canada are also foreign talents who have recently obtained their Singapore citizenship. It must be heart breaking for locals to find out that even the last escape route from their desperate predicament is being challenged by foreign talents who use Singapore as a stepping stone.

There are potential problems looming on the horizon with this huge influx of foreign talents, permanent residents and newly minted Singaporeans. The total number is between 1.6 million to 2 million people under these categories. These people have no allegiance to the country. Their allegiance is to money. If they do not get employment, they will not get the money to send back to their countries to help their families. The local born Singaporeans are largely of the “kaisu and kaisi” non-violent type who only complain but continue to vote in the same government election after election. However, the new immigrants are more vocal and hostile. These people will not be easily intimidated and bullied by the authority. The threat of jail to them is like going to a holiday camp with free food and shelter. They have endured much harsher penalties and hardships in their own countries. They are battle hardened and not afraid of dying.

If these people do go on protest riots, it will be a security nightmare. Logistically, the police does not have enough manpower to cope with such numbers. Singapore has less than 10,000 regular policemen. Each policeman has to deal with 200 violent protesters. No matter how efficient the policemen are, it is an impossible task even if the reservist NS are called in to help. On the assumption that these people are contained, there are simply not enough jails to lock them in. Changi Prison will have to be increased at least one hundred times in size. The government has only one solution and that is to keep them constantly employed to maintain peace.

So when it comes to the question of whether Singapore is better now than it was 50 years ago, should we be surprised at the answer?

Cheong Wing Lee

October 1st, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg, Uncategorized | Comments (4)

Strangers in a Strange Land
- Toward the Green: Is Singapore’s imports of non-residents hurting its economy?
- The Temasek Review: Latest statistics: Citizens constitute only 63 per cent of Singapore’s population
- Big Talk Singapore: Thanks to foreigners, Singapore population is hitting 5 millions
- ErniesUrn’s Xanga: Singapore is overcrowded

Singaporeans are fed, up with progress!
- Yawning Bread: UBS survey shows Singapore slipping in standard of living
- Diary of A Singaporean Mind: Life really got worse in Singapore..
- The Temasek Review: Why Singapore “meritocracy” isn’t meritocracy
- Feed Me To The Fish: F1 and Men in the Street of Singapore

GIC, Temasek State Fund Investments
- TOC: Analysing Temasek Holdings’ Review: Does portfolio value mean anything?
- The Temasek Review: State media tries to cover up GIC’s gigantic S$109 billion loss in two years
- The Grand Moofti Speaks: Singapore: GIC’s Turn Under the Microscope

Housing
- The Temasek Review: A reply to Ms Mabel Tan’s letter: “How family’s fortunes have grown over the years”

Twilight in Paradise. Growing Old In Singapore
- TOC: Parents suing their children?

Re education
- The Kent Ridge Common: Alternative media in the education of our future generation

National Service
- Sam’s thoughts: MinDEF: More action, less talk please, we’re Singaporeans
- Sam’s thoughts: Full-time student doing reservist

A new low for Ris
- Trapper’s Swamp: Spare me the romanticism

In Remembrance: Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam
- Rachel Zeng’s blog: Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam
- UncleYap: candle-light vigil @ Hong Lim Park for Mr JBJ anniversary 30.Sept.2009 [Thanks uncle]

Daily Discourse
- The Useless Tree: William Safire and Singapore and Williams College
- The Temasek Review: Formula One – A Gold Mine or a Gold-digger

September 30th, 2009 | Category: Daily Sg, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Yukie Kawamura (川村ゆきえ) is one of Japan’s most popular Grand Prix G-Girl and bikini model. Yukie was one of the few high school students chosen by Seikore, the annual national modeling audition for high school students that make-or-break Japanese idol careers. Yukie shot to the top of the bikini idol charts in 2003 after the competition and her photo book sold out within the first week of release. In 2006 she started her career as an actress. Pictures from her photobook Lover’s Trip after the break. [PNSFW]

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August 14th, 2009 | Category: Daily ChioBu, Uncategorized | Comments (6)