PM Lee said: “For the opposition, it’s a change – one scholar or two you think “wow” this is a luminous transformation. Well, it is a significant development … but finally let’s look at the person, not what degrees he has, but what he is able to do for Singapore.  “I can tell you, we interview many scholars and each time we field a few of them. And we interview other people too and we often field people who are not scholars. It is good to see it in perspective.

Source: CNA

PM Lee was responding to a question at the Singapore Perspectives Forum on recent reports about ex-government scholars joining the opposition.  Mr Tony Tan Lay Thiam and his wife, Ms Hazel Poa, both 39, are former government scholarship holders who have become members of the opposition Reform Party. They currently run a chain of tuition centres.

PM also said: “We hope that anybody who enters politics is somebody of not just ability but integrity and commitment. These are young people who have got good records academically and been in the civil service.”

The first sentence is fair, and logical.  But when taken together with the second, it appears to suggest that Tony and Hazel only have good academic records to show for.  Did PM just take an oh-so-subtle dig at the couple?  Could integrity and commitment be wanting in these 2 ex-scholars?  Well, perhaps so from the perspective of the PAP.  The duo left the service (’no commitment’) and perhaps broke a bond (’lack of steadfast adherence to the civil service ethnical and moral codes’).  

 PM goes on to say:  “We wish them well, but we hope Singaporeans will judge individuals like that as rigorously as they would judge individuals who join the PAP side. In other words, it’s not just what degree you have, but what sort of person are you and what can you do.”

Well, we will certainly do that and maybe we can do better than the PAP.  Chances are, they never thought the 2 would leave the service, or even join an opposition party.  To clarify, the duo’s actions do not disqualify from being good politicians.  We should applaud them for doing what they thought was right. 

Now the ball is in their court.  And ours.  We are watching you, Mr Tan and Miss Poa. 

Contributed by one of our readers.   Download the mandarin version here.

The third party Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) service market in Singapore is poised for growth. With outsourcing and privatization trends gaining momentum among establishments and the rising awareness of the need for environment-friendly practices, the market is set to benefit significantly. IFM services market in Singapore earned revenues of US$472.1 million in 2006 and is estimated to reach US$1,011.6 million in 2013

Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Terrance Duncan said, “The Singapore Government has played its part by taking the leading role in boosting such service within the country.”  Clearly, government transparency is boosting the demands for third party IFM services.

The government and other private establishments prefer to outsource non-core activities that involved janitorial, landscaping and certain engineering services. Resistance from in-house management is also expected to fade away as businesses start to pay more attention to only core activities within the organization. This should provide a boost to the third party IFM services market.

Duncan added, “Realizing the full potential of opting for third party IFM services will benefit the entire organization in the long run. Moreover, finding the right partner and carefully negotiating FM contracts will benefit a company’s bottom line.”

Major market segments have joined the bandwagon of adopting IFM services. However, third party service providers will need to aggressively market their products and ensure that all benefits are understood in a competitive market such as Singapore.

Please make a guess what are these so-called ”benefits”. 

The non-core activities which engaged IFM services mainly involved almost all workers from janitorial, landscaping and certain engineering services. These workers who have been working in these government sectors have, overnight, become the third party private establishments who contract their former jobs. However, in the process of this change in organizations, they are no longer the staff of the government.

Consequently, they have forfeited their remunerations such as employers’ central provident funds (CPF), medical insurance, annual leaves, annual bonus and the starting pay. I can understand the benefit of these restructuring if Singapore Government has an annual budget deficit. But, is it necessary to rob the insignificant wages from these lowest level workers when Singapore Government pocketed the remaining amount of S$2 billion from the annual budget?

In the coming election, are you going to cast your sacred vote to Lee Kuan Yew and his son again? If so, it is not them who are uncompassionate and merciless, but you are.

SINGAPOREANS are holding their own against foreigners when it comes to studies.  Although recent examination results have put the spotlight on the achievements of foreigners, principals and others contacted said that Singaporeans are still at the top of the tree in this regard.  Checks by The Straits Times also show that Singaporeans are outperforming their foreign counterparts.

Source: ST

Given that the Straits Times is really the State Times, it’s a habit for most of us to look beneath the iceberg to discern the underlying state propaganda.  Quite a few of my friends agree that this report was to ’sayang’ the population after the rebuke by our founding father (see ‘National Geographic Interviews a Dinosaur’).

The government is playing a delicate balancing act.  While showing off the results of its foreign talent attraction policies, it also has to assuage the fears of locals who think they may be falling behind.  Singaporeans are, by nature, kiasi and kiasu, all thanks to the education system as many would say.  In this case, should parents be worried that a foreigner topped her cohort?  I think not.  Most will worry over their own children’s results and whether they make it to the schools of their choice.  I believe the marking system is fair and without favour - parents know this and understand that anyone else could be the top student.

What the State Times have done is to fan the flames of locals vs foreigners by overcompensating for what they, or the government actually, think are Singaporeans’ concerns that locals are falling behind (exacerbated by Lee Kuan Yew’s lack of ‘empathy’ – “If native Singaporeans are falling behind because “the spurs are not stuck into the hide,” that is their problem“).  Singaporeans will worry if foreigners are taking away slots in schools and of course our jobs.  We aren’t sore losers who worry when a talent out-scores our children.

 

Another contribution by our reader.  Download it here (in mandarin).

Here is a contribution from a reader.  He describes how the government has manipulated HDB selling prices in order to yield high GDP figures.  He posits that it was done in 2 ways.  One, selected HDB estates like Sunset way are priced outrageouly high by HDB valuaers. Two, the private property price is currently being maintained at a high price by releasing very little new development sites for new development.

Download the article here.

It’s finally happened: Stuyvesant Town is in default. So we can kiss our US575 million goodbye (yes, it’s our money, and for those who don’t like to count in USDs, it’s SGD 805,000,000 – even the geniuses at GIC have to concede that the number is equivalent to quite a few GCBs).

Source: Temasek Hedge

Sigh. Our government controlled investment firms are building up a bad track record of trusting others’ track record.

To: lee_hsien_loong@pmo.gov.sg
From: De Souza Jose Socrates
cc: sylvia@wp.sg, voices@mediacorp.com.sg, myp@sph.com.sg, viswa@strategicmoves.com.sg, dcm@singapore.mfa.gov.il

Dear Mr Lee,

I refer to the subject.

I was horrified when I flipped the pages of the Straits Times on 10 Sept 09 to read that one of my fellow Jewish brother was assualted by a muslim at the National Library considering that the attack was unprovoked.

Though a stiff sentence was imposed on the man, we should nevertheless still ask ourselves if it is sufficient and why this happened in the first place when S’pore prides itself to be one of the safest country in the world to live in? Is it because national education and it’s efforts are failing us like it did on attracting and encouraging people to serve society? I have also been a target of scorn by similar group save that I was short of getting assualted. I also feel unsafe and fear as I live among large groups of these people in my neighbourhood.

In view of the seriousness of the nature of this matter, I hope you can affirm Mr Viswa’s 18 Aug 09 parliamentary speech, especially to Jews that we can feel safe practising our religion here as we strive to live in peace and harmony with our fellow S’poreans, Thank you.

AN ONLINE petition has been set up calling on the Romanian government and its embassy here to cooperate with the Singapore authorities to investigate a recent hit-and-run accident which left one man dead. The petition also called for payouts to be made to the families of the three victims of the Dec 15 incident. There were 269 signatures at press time last night. Research engineer William Teo, 31, who was the fifth person to sign the petition, told The Sunday Times: ‘There is a need for the common Singaporean to express outrage at the entire incident to put pressure on parties on both sides. At times, things can get too clinical if we leave it merely to the respective governments.’ The petition, first signed by a Mr Terence Sim, also called for Dr Silviu Ionescu, the charge d’affaires at the Romania Embassy and a suspect in the incident, to be handed over to the authorities here if he is found to be responsible. He is believed to be in Romania.

Source: ST

‘There is a need for the common Singaporean to express outrage at the entire incident to put pressure on parties on both sides. At times, things can get too clinical if we leave it merely to the respective governments.’ Well said. The political and diplomatic courtesies that PAP is indulging in brings the bereaved families no closer to any resolution. We demand accountability NOW. On both governments and also Dr Silviu Ionescu. This petition would have been totally unecessary if the government had demonstrated more urgency in sorting out this affair. If a Singaporean knocked down just 1 pedestrian, he/she would probably be charged in court the next working day.

Sign the petition now. There are already close to 900 signatures.

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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