TEMASEK Holdings chief executive Ho Ching yesterday dismissed rumours in the market about why CEO-designate Charles ‘Chip’ Goodyear had decided not to take the top post.  ‘I think there has been a lot of speculation,’ she said, in her first public words on the topic since Temasek’s shock announcement last week of Mr Goodyear’s resignation. 

Source: ST

Ms Ho was responding to a question at Wednesday’s annual IPS Corporate Associates Lunch, organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS).  Singapore has been abuzz with speculation over the reasons of Nr Goodyear’s departure.  News agency Reuters reported that Mr Goodyear’s decision was probably made after a board meeting this month at which he suggested proposals and changes that the board did not agree on.

The Wall Street Journal also ran an article citing sources within Temasek who said Mr Goodyear, trying to instil tighter discipline, had fined people for showing up late to internal meetings and had prohibited them from typing messages on their BlackBerrys during meetings.

Temasek had not responded to these rumours and has so far remained tight-lipped on the differences.  In the light of this lack of transparency, one cannot help but be tickled by Miss Ho’s comments:  ‘We look at this speculation sometimes with irritation and sometimes with amusement because all of it is very far away from the truth, including those sources who claimed to be familiar with the situation.’

Miss Ho, why be irritated if you choose to withhold information?  Or do you take delight in our confusion?  Sorry, but we don’t exist for your amusement.

MARINA Bay Sands is having more difficulty than anticipated in filling up its casino positions with Singaporeans. It has filled only 2,000 out of 4,500 gaming positions.  It is holding a recruitment fair this weekend at Suntec Convention Hall 603, as a last ditch effort to get Singaporeans to apply for casino jobs, in particular, dealer positions.

Source: ST

Mr Ken Davie, senior vice-president of casino operations at the Marina Bay integrated resort, said: “We’d expected to fill all the positions by now… But we had not had the response expected because gaming is very new in Singapore. We don’t think Singaporeans understand what the industry is quite about.”

So the benefits of the IR are really less tangible than expected?  And I guess we can expect more foreign talents being employed.  Great, our IR project is creating jobs for the world.

By Tan Kin Lian

It is important for our society to be operated on the principles of honesty and fairness. The minibond crisis has raised many issues of deep concerns to me, and many other people in Singapore.

When I organised the Petition last September, it was very clear that the financial institutions had failed in their conduct as required under the Securities and Futures Act and the Financial Advisers Act. The Petition, signed by more than 1,000 people, asked the authority to carry out an investigation and take appropriate actions under these law.

After a protracted period, which left many investors in deep anguish, the investigation report was published. The punishment meted to the financial institutions was light. Many investors, who lost large sums of money, were not compensated. This raised serious doubts on the question of fairness and justice in our society. It seems that the ordinary people are at the mercy of the powerful people and institutions.

Hong Kong took a different approach. The authority exercised its power and influence to get the financial institutions to make compensation of 60% or more, to the investors. The amount that is being compensated is many times of the compensation in Singapore. The situation is similar, in respect of wrong doings by the financial institutions.

The Hong Kong settlement is scantly covered in our local media, although it is a matter of great importance, not only to the invsetors who are affected and their families, but to the other people who are not affected. It shows two different approaches taken by two states on a similar issue.

This raise another serious issue of honesty and transparency. Why is such an important issue being swept under the carpet and not reported in the mainstream media? People are not blind. They can read the news in the internet and the blog. They have ears and can listen to news in the coffee shops and elsewhere.

I hope that the authority will reflect on this matter and re-approach it on the principles of fairness and honesty. It concerns the future of our country, the people and our children.

IT WAS to have been a speech celebrating graduation, from the valedictorian of the Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) School of Art, Design and Media.But between the time Mr Loo Zihan crafted the first draft and his delivery, the speech was turned into a protest of sorts. On Thursday, when he stepped up to give his speech during NTU’s convocation ceremonies, Mr Loo, 26, said:   ‘The original draft of my speech was composed of words like ‘integrity’ and ‘breaking new boundaries’, but a recent incident put a reality check on what I have to say.’ He then spoke out against ‘censorship’ which he ‘did not understand’.

Source: ST

Mr Loo, who graduated from the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree programme on Thursday with second class upper honours, had been asked to change a poster for a film he made for his final-year project.  It features a half-naked man, body half-turned and looking into the camera. A pair of masculine hands rest on his shoulder and waist, and a mirror in the picture catches the reflection of another man.

His film, Threshold, had homosexual characters, Mr Loo said, but was not solely about homosexuality. He had sought approval to display his poster at the Nanyang Auditorium, where the convocation was to be held.  But last Friday, NTU asked him to change the image, saying it was inappropriate as young children would be attending the convocation ceremonies.

I have 2 personal opinions on this.

(1) I agree that such posters should not have been shown at the auditorium.  I wouldn’t want my children to see them if they are really very suggestive (I have not seen the posters though; does anyone have a picture of it?).

(2) There is a comment in the ST forum:  “More like kamikaze pilot – stupid or brave ?  I wonder if he thought much above his career, which is about to start … since typical employers do not like dissenting views from their subordinates.”  While I do not fully agree that ‘typical’ employers want obedient employees, I do agree on the ‘kamikaze’ bit.  It was certain a brash act.  I think there is a time and place to put forth your dissenting views.  A valedictorian speech is hardly the right medium for it.

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Public Service Commission will award 84 scholarships this year after assessing applications of 2,500 students for the prestigious PSC scholarships.   PSC Chairman Eddie Teo said there is a need to reassure those involved that the selection process is impartial, robust and meritocratic.  So during the selection process, the PSC first and foremost looks for the integrity of the candidate and that is assessed through his behaviour over time.

Source: CNA

The PSC depends on schools and psychologists to give it the first cut of their reading of the candidate’s integrity as it is too complex a trait to be judged through the interview alone.   The second important quality is commitment. Mr Teo stressed that the public service is not looking for conformists and “yes-men” but people who have a personal point of view regardless of current policy.  I think the first criteria of ‘integrity’ deserves some attention.

The Stanford University Encyclopedia of Philosophy states the following:  “Integrity is one of the most important and oft-cited of virtue terms. It is also perhaps the most puzzling. For example, while it is sometimes used virtually synonymously with ‘moral,’ we also at times distinguish acting morally from acting with integrity. Persons of integrity may in fact act immorally-though they would usually not know they are acting immorally. Thus one may acknowledge a person to have integrity even though that person may hold importantly mistaken moral views.

Do we have such scholars who may have integrity but hold mistaken moral views?  Like shipping aged parents to JB?  Changing electoral boundaries at will? 

 Tell us what you think. 
 

SINGAPORE : The police have installed a closed circuit television camera at Hong Lim Park, where protests have been allowed since last September.  This is for “safety and security”, said the police in a statement to Today, and these CCTVs “do not record audio inputs”.  “CCTVs are used to complement police presence on the ground and to project a greater sense of security,” said the reply.

Source: CNA

 Former Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong wondered if the move may feed the perception in some quarters that Singapore is a police state.  “I think it’s pretty ridiculous,” he said.  “Having a camera won’t stop people from gathering or speaking … I wouldn’t be surprised if there might be people who feel they’re being monitored.” said Jack Ho, who helped organise the first Lesbian, Gay. Bisexual and Transgender event at Speaker’s Corner two months ago.

 I think all speakers and attendees WILL be monitored.  Don’t be surprised if footages eventually surface in court as  evidence against activists.  And soon all regular attendees at the corner will be recognised and marked.  Don’t be surprised if your job applications are strangely rejected if you are a frequent visitor to the corner.

KUANTAN, MALAYSIA - A 32-year-old part-time model from Singapore charged with having a beer in a nightclub last year was ordered by the Syariah High Court yesterday to receive six strokes of the rotan.  Kartika Sari Sewi Shu-karno, who pleaded guilty to consuming alcohol in public when she made her first court appearance in December, was also fined RM5,000 (S$2038.50).

Source: Asiaone

“The court reached the judgment after the accused pleaded guilty. We feel the sentence is fair after going through the prosecution’s argument and since the rotan is provided for in the law…  the rotan is aimed at making the accused repent and serves as a lesson to Muslims.”

I reserve my comments on how Muslims punish offenders under their Syriah laws and their treatment of women.  This is something that they need to sort out within their religion and I hope to see more activists like Marina Mahathir.  I do hope that the Singapore government is doing all it can to render assistance to Kartika.  Caning a woman produces not only physical hurt, but also leaves behind emotional and pyschological scars.

“One cannot be certain what will happen years down the road if we have a different government in power and how they will treat their obligations to Singaporeans,” she said.

Source: Today

Stop threatening us, PAP. Do your job instead and take care of Singaporeans’ CPF security in the long run.

We help ourselves. Don’t expect others to help

Tom Wright painted a bleak picture of Singapore’s property sector going forward at The Wall Street Journal. His article ended with the following:
“I’m yet to see the light at the end of the tunnel [for Singapore],” says Mr. Tan, the high-end broker.
We would expect people to continue to dig the dirt and tell it to [...]



Our skin isn’t as thick as it should be

The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) organised a seminar on March 4 to discuss Singapore’s political blogosphere.  Tan Tarn How, Senior Research Fellow and Research Assistant Tan Simin presented their paper on trends observed in the blogosphere.  As reported in the TOC, the researchers identified the following limitations:

The online-offline firewall, while somewhat alleviated by offline [...]



Singapore and Lee Kuan Yew – The answer to the African problem?

Recently, I followed a thread “Democracy and Economic Growth” which started in PoliticsForum.org.   Apparently, members there often question the role of democracy in a developing nation. “During the wave of democratization in Africa during the 90s, many people had renewed hope for the continent, immediately equating newly established democracies to economic growth. Are these democracies [...]



Tell Singapore government: Ask them a question or give a suggestion

We informed people about the “Tell Singapore Government” subsite and have received some interesting reaction at some forums.
See: 3in1 Kopitiam, Sam’s Alfresco Coffee, Singapore Kopitiam, SgForums
Our responses to some of the comments are listed below. If we are not answering some other specific questions, that is because we do not know how.
 

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I don’t know

Our Singapore

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To observe, analyse, present our position, and call for action. Read our articles, give your views, and learn together with us.