The Singapore Daily

“That politicians are so craftily selective in their rhetoric is to be expected, but regrettably some of our feted journalists too have adopted for an ethos the immortal words of that Class 90.5FM advertisement: “Only hear the good stuff.””
Spiegel

“We seem to constantly keep foreign workers at a distance and preferably completely out of sight…Yet at the same time, we want them to constantly slog away at machines or construction sites to make the chairs we sit on, the computers we play with, the houses we sleep in, and of course, the malls that constantly sprout out around our country….”
Vanessa Ho

“On the other hand, we could also argue that the info thieves/leakers are at fault for compromising security too. If a thief breaks into your house, do we haul your arse to prison for using the wrong padlocks, or do we haul the thief to prison? What if the info both compromises security and exposes abuses at the same time? “
Mathia Lee

“Our celebrated teaching-learning processes may be efficient in producing cogs for the Singapore socio-economic machinery; yet it stifles creativity and the freedom to explore.”
guanyinmiao

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December 18th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“..the fact that “community leaders” believe that the social problems such as gangsterism and dysfunctional families can be solved by making young people believe in the same gods as they do is a scary thought indeed.”
angry doc

“Perhaps, the prejudice that some are simply unable to study is the root problem of poor student grades in the first place…”
Liau Chuan Yi and Norvin Chan

“I still have to pay for the loan for my flat, what to do?”
Lau

“Why do we have such absurd laws that try to maintain media control in the internet age?”
Au Waipang

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December 11th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“Our boys are out there competing for our nation’s sporting glory. Instead of supporting them in their endeavour, we choose to distract them by complaining about their swimming trunks design?”
Alvin

“I estimate that over 30% of residents earn less than $1,200 (inflation-adjusted) or are unemployed.”
Leong Sze Hian

“To claim that current approaches by the MOE towards moral education are overly antiquated and pedantic would be an understatement.”
guanyinmiao

“Travelling across Malaysia, makes a person realise how much the cost of living has crept up in Singapore over the years.”
Lucky Tan

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December 4th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“We have to question our perpetual insistence on crime-fighting and open our eyes to the socio-political and economic conditions that have coerced individuals, families and groups into “crime” itself.”
Sam Ho

“If you can’t condemn and judge child pornography, Singapore as a society is in big trouble.”
Ghost

“If we can’t effectively increase and improve transport infrastructure, and simply [charge] more whenever congestion gets worse, then what is the incentive to reduce congestion?”
Leong Sze Hian

“..I think a distinction has to be recognised between morality and the political manipulation of the discourse of morality.”
Koh Choon Hwee

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November 27th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“..are the loyalty of these MPs more to their party or the constituents who they serve and represent?”
LCC

“Really, for a country that prides itself on meritocracy and open markets, this level of endorsement is simply shocking..”
Howard Lee

“..the gahmen should stop sticking its head in the ground to some of the associated problems that comes with the influx of foreigners..”
Lycan2046

“Perhaps this tragedy – what I would term as Singapore’s equivalent of the Columbine Shootings because of its senselessness – has a lesson for us as a nation, and one that is better learnt now (sad as it is), than later when we have inadvertantly allowed the chasm between the haves and have-nots become unbridgeable.”
Melvyn

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November 20th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“The mere act of questioning the norm, a tradition, or the status quo, is an act in freeing oneself from the constraints of authoritarianism and paternalism.”
laïcité

“In keeping the media under the purview of the government so as to determine the boundaries of any public discourse in the media, the PAP has shrewdly ensured that Singaporeans end up looking to the government for answers to even the most fundamental aspects of their existence.”
Pritam Singh

“More than just defending Singapore, we need to actively take part in the writing of her next chapter.”
Lucian Teo

“The primary role of the critics and sceptics is not to find better programmes or solutions. We have the various ministries.. and the very efficient civil service, to find those.”
Ravi Philemon

“Have we been too concerned with the appearances of improvements in our profits and losses, not to realize the cracks that have been appearing within our social systems?”
Christopher Ong

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November 13th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Comments (1)

“In the end, we need to realise that although we may not be movers and shakers of society or people of prominence but we are all, in our own way, exceptional. And we should not let other people, no matter how exceptional they may be, tell us otherwise.”
LCC

“Having spent time thinking about the future economic prospects of our country, I am driven to conclude that for the majority of the working middle-class in Singapore, our current lifestyles will almost certainly translate into poverty in old age.”
Gongkia

“Telling the most mobile, talented and arguably, valuable demographic of your nation to suck it up and deal with it is practically laying out the red carpet for us to emigrate.”
mjuse

“How do you expect exceptionality when what is ultimately expected is for students to be moulded into cogs to be fitted perfectly into our economic machinery?”
guanyinmiao

“If the ruling party doesn’t get it (and talk of a military coup if there is a freak election result), and we can’t change the system, isn’t it time for us to be rational abt the value of being S’porean, and “move on”?”
atans1

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November 7th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Comments (1)

“..what does the never ending accumulation of money, and our reserves, mean to ordinary Singaporeans?”
Leong Sze Hian

“It’s just… YPAP members seem to have some sort of mockery lightning rod on them.”
theinkhorn

“There is no place for complacency, and telling that to Singaporeans would be like preaching to the converted, and insinuating that we do otherwise would be an insult, especially to those who are excellent in their own way.”
Tan Qin Shan

“Working till you drop, as the saying goes, seems to be the new economic philosophy of the government.”
Andrew Loh

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October 30th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Comments (1)

“..Singapore is not just for the elitists… Singapore is also made up of the aunties who contributed to our economic success in the past, but collects cardboard boxes and sell them for a living now. It is also for that young aspiring and working adult trying to make living and start or support a family.”
Nabs

“Lee Kuan Yew once declared that the “Chinese want better lives”. He should heed his own advice to the Chinese and deliver this to his own people. Singaporeans want better live..”
InSpir3d

“As a taxpayer-funded agency, HDB should not be trying to set design benchmarks—or worse, boost their profits like private developers do.”
Gerald Giam

“..the next tyrant of Singapore or China may not govern in the manner advocated by their brilliant one-off predecessors. There simply is no guarantee, and people must know this.”
dlzj

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October 23rd, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“If you don’t even acknowledge their existence, how are you even going to start that conversation with kids who are confused (or sure) about their sexuality?”
mjuse

“If the rampant ignorance and prejudicial attitudes concerning the young is anything to go by, the rest that is adult Singapore is in dire need of education.”
Sam Ho

“..you will never find a labor union chief in any other country that will speak out against paying workers a minimum decent living wage.”
Lucky Tan

“By oppressing expression is to breed rebellion, by drawing a line is to invite someone to cross it, by labelling everything either black or white is to lose an entire spectrum of colours.”
the Rudder

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October 16th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Comments (1)

“By championing Singlish the ‘linguistic bourgeoisie’ are ensuring that the ‘linguistic proletariat’ continue to be ignorant of how they and their children are being deprived of these “means of production”.”
LSP

“..in the real world, we will sadly alwasys have a portion of local society that is less skilled. That is the real world. What are we going to do about them?”
Findmuck

“..as long as you draw a line, a society cannot flourish and create institutions dedicated to self-reform.”
Catherine Lim

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October 9th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Comments (4)

“The correct way to see if low income workers are receiving enough help is to look at their quality of life.”
Lucky Tan

“Their corporate communications philosophy is best summed up in three words: Knee Jerk Reactions.”
Ashinigami

“Does GIC stand for ‘Give Information Cannot’?”
Leong Sze Hian

“We have a long way to go yet, and the first step is to acknowledge that democracy is not the last step.”
Yoong Ren Yan

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October 2nd, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“.. both [Standard English and Singish] have value, albeit in different arenas, and most importantly, that both NEED to exist..”
Cordelia Yang

“I have a feeling that education has taught me all about this world, but nothing about myself.”
Liau Chuan Yi and Norvin Chan

“How many choose to have an opinion? How many choose to believe in something? How many are doing what they are doing out of conviction?”
The Truth

“The result? An entire society preferring to tune to foreign media content, our minds shaped by foreign perspectives and values, leading to a weak sense of being Singaporean.”
Au Waipang

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September 25th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“So discontentment builds to pressure-cooker proportions. We become self-hating citizens.”
On Nation and State

“What is not in doubt however, is that an infinitesimal step has been taken in the direction of an Orwellian future.”
Liau Chuan Yi and Norvin Chan

“The university seems to pride itself as a political organ of the state.”
Terence Lee

“..we need a living wage, not just a minimum wage, that enables the recipient to pay for his or her housing needs and feed as well as live a humble but dignified life.”
Tan Kin Lian

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September 18th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“Reading the “mainstream” newspapers nowadays is tantamount to getting a lecture in how to lead your lives or how to think.”
Carlos Abdullah

“The two objectives, Singapore as a business and Singapore as a nation society appear to be on divergent paths.”
Rajiv Chaudhry

“They have just opened a can of worms, and there is precious little that can be done to reverse it.”
Callan Tham

“If staying relevant as a country is so important to our Auntie Killer, then perhaps he should start looking at how to stay relevant as a country.”
The Truth

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September 11th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“Every old person in Singapore who is struggling to survive is one too many.”
Gerald Giam

“Oh smoke from people burning incense bothers me, oh government, ban the burning of incense please!
..Oh flyers at my door bother me, oh government, ban flyer distribution please!
..It’s time we fucking grow up.”
TS Loh

“We need leaders who believe in their own citizens.”
Lucky Tan

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September 4th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“..a more aptly description would be that we were bred to not bother.”
Kenneth Koh

“Is this what we have become? Ruthlessly efficient yet heartless automatons?”
Kirsten

“The government may see it as “Singaporeans want more and more”, but I see it as “Singaporeans deserve better”.”
Sam Ho

“Henceforth all metaphors – as a matter of fact, all words with double, triple, quadruple, etc meanings – are disallowed and barred.”
TS Loh

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August 28th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“Most important of all, law is not there to hand control over us to those more powerful than us, such as governments; it is there to protect us from those who would harm us, and render justice.”
Au Waipang

“Could it be, that having lived under this label all of her 45 years, Singapore has become less human and more commodity to be sold or traded?…It is all business, and everything is for sale.”
Lucian Teo

“The YOG is about [the athletes], not the city of Singapore and it’s time the organizers recognized that.. stop trying to promote Singapore and start promoting the YOG. They are 2 different things.”
Ghost

“..there is one most disturbing with weighty troubling ramifications: That Singaporeans have disowned Singapore, or rather, PAP’s Singapore.”
Liau Chuan Yi and Norvin Chan

“I wish I had a teflon career. With millions of dollars in wages and benefits. Pity. Common mortals like me are so…encumbered…with accountability.”
mjuse

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August 21st, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment

“What exactly are you celebrating?… The day, or the idea behind it?”
theinkhorn

“When the meritocrats are all at sea, it may well be the outliers who will save the day.”
Au Waipang

“Although Singapore should strive to achieve success at any sporting events such as the YOG, it should not be achieved at the expense of the spirit of Olympics. Winning isn’t everything.”
my queenstown

“The imagination of Singapore as a young country dovetails with the Youth Olympic Games, wanting to find somewhere to begin, grow and evolve into a legitimate event.”
Sam Ho

“It is the fact that we are not allowed to talk about it, not allowed to read about it, not allowed to know about it, that is sowing so much doubt, fear and fury in the Singaporean public’s mind.”
Kirsten

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August 14th, 2010 | Category: Weekly Roundup | Leave a comment