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.

You can run but you can’t hide. The statement is especially true with the rise of social media. We talk behind the back of the government offline; but these buzz aren’t recorded, aren’t searchable and aren’t amplified. With Facebook, things are very different.

The People’s Action Party (PAP) is the leading political party in Singapore. Despite holding a majority of seats in the Parliament of Singapore, the PAP has been criticized for limiting free speech amongst other issues. These criticisms have been flicked off many times by the PAP, and many disgruntled users have started voicing their opinions on a Facebook page, titled “Vote The PAP Out“. Just a week since its launch date, the page has gathered more than a thousand fans.

Mr Alex Tan, creator of the page took time to list out all the concerns that bother him.
1. Over-influx of foreigners

2. National Service disadvantages

3. Sky-rocketing property prices(average 30 years mortgage loan)

4. High medical costs(CPF’s Medishield cover no shit)

5. Low dispensable income(thanks to CPF)

6. Low CPF’s interest rate(2.5%) leaking value to inflation

7. Inflation due to GST 7%

8. CPF unable to provide retirement(a bulk of the fund is spent servicing a housing loan)

9. Singaporeans unemployment rate not declared(could be higher than gov’s data which is mixed with PRs)

10. No heads rolled when Temasek Holdings and GIC lost billions of our national reserves

11. Heavy shortage of subsidized university places for qualified Singapore students

Source: Pen Olson

More than a thousand members within a week!    That’s much more impressive than “Friends of SDP”, which has been around for a while and to date has only 360 members.  It suggests how the man-on-the-street can play a major role in local political activism.  Further, a “lay person’s” gripe may resonate more with the public than an opposition figure’s manifesto.  An opposition member has inherent political agendas while the man-on-the-street only wants to live.

SINGAPORE: Foreign integration, the AWARE saga and the controversy about not nominating the national table tennis coach for an award were just some issues which topped the list of subjects Singaporeans sent in as feedback to REACH.  Singaporeans had a different view of events, which generated much feedback. One woman in the street, Nurdiyana Irnajaya, said: “The hot topic this year was Ris Low and the controversy and criticism that surrounded her.”  Another Singaporean, Shawn Ho said: “The feeling I get from PM and MM is that we still want to encourage a lot of international students from a diversity of backgrounds to come to Singapore to study.”  Kenny Tan said: “I disagree with the way the AWARE saga was played out. It’s not what they do, but how they do that matters.”   But it was the AWARE saga which topped the list of topics Singaporeans responded to on the REACH website. That subject received 1,904 inputs from Singaporeans.

Source: CNA

Looks like the PAP Times has chosen to ignore netizens’ negative about governance and transparency.  What about the concerns about foreign workers and the social worries they bring to us etc?  Even in its street survey, the PAP reporters chose to only report the humless issues. 

REACH is NOT the barometer of the virtual ground sentiments.  Period.  Take REACH’s statistics against Temasek Review (below, as reported by TR):

Site                                          Global ranking                   Singapore ranking

Temasek Review                   106,549                                        650

REACH                                  667,268                                      2,624

And that’s only for 1 site.  Factor in the others like TheOnlineCitizen and the numerous forums that facilitate freedom of expression and we can see how pathetic REACH is.  Alas, it is merely a facility for PAP to kid itself.

BEIJING — A veteran dissident was sentenced to three years in prison after casting a spotlight on poorly built schools that collapsed and killed thousands of children during China’s massive earthquake last year — an apparent government attempt to squelch such information. Huang Qi, founder of a human rights Web site, had been charged with illegally possessing state secrets, his wife Zeng Li said Monday by telephone. His detention in June 2008 came after several posts on his blog that criticized the government’s response to the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province a month earlier and killed about 90,000 people. Huang, 46, had alleged that state-controlled media provided skewed reports on relief efforts and accused the government of obstructing the work of non-governmental organizations responding to the disaster, according to reports at the time by Paris-based monitoring group Reporters Without Borders.

Source: AP

In a statement, Amnesty International called for Huang’s immediate release, saying he was being punished merely for helping illuminate the tribulations of families whose children died in the earthquake. Amnesty said several supporters who asked to attend the sentencing were turned away and beaten by police who ringed the courthouse. It gave no details, and their identities were not immediately known.

The sentence could give grist to critics of President Barack Obama, who faulted him for not being more outspoken on human rights during his visit to China last week. While Obama raised the topics of universal rights and Internet freedom, he largely avoided the appearance of lecturing his hosts over such issues, something Beijing has responded to in past with indignation.

If the world’s greatest superpower could do nothing, can Singapore do anything? Well, maybe not for China but we could at least take care of our own backyard by speaking out against any injustice, negligence, incompetence or abuse of basic human rights.

A GIANT poster at the Singapore Zoo’s entrance announces the imminent arrival of two panda cubs from China.  Its gift shop is also stocked with plush toys of the endangered animal. The as-yet-unnamed pair – a male and a female – will be on loan to Singapore for 10 years. They will arrive in 2011 and will make their public debut after acclimatising. That will be in 2012, at about the same time as the opening of the $140 million river-themed animal attraction River Safari, where the VIP bears will be housed.

Source: ST

Taipei Zoo:  The giant panda is endemic only to mountain ranges in central China in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces at elevations between 1,400 and 3,500 ft. The mean annual temperature at the giant panda’s natural habitat is 6-17 degrees C, annual rainfall over 1,000 mm, humid monsoon in summer, and chilly wetness in winter with snow season lasting as long as 4-5 months.

Can the Singapore Zoo provide such a habitat so that stress to the animals is minimal? It’s for 10 years, mind you. Even if the animals do not show any signs of distress, creeping stress could set in. I hope the chaps at ACRES will keep a close eye on the pair.

Clinton took a break from her meetings of the Asia-Pacific-Economic Cooperation forum and descended down an escalator from Level 2 with a few aides and bodyguards.  Without fanfare, America’s top diplomat, dressed in a dark blue business suit and sunglasses, settled at one of the tables outside the coffee shop and was joined minutes later by U.S. Congressman Sander Levin, a Democrat from Michigan.  While they chatted, four Diplomatic Security agents took up positions on four sides some distance away. Clinton did not order anything but three of the agents got lattes and cappuccinos for themselves. 

Source: The Canadian Press

If only Dr Chee Soon Juan happened to be in Suntec too. I am sure 10 mins at Starbucks with one of the world’s most powerful women would have been more impactful than travelling around the U.S speaking with talk show hosts.  And cheaper too! 

Of course he’d have get past the agents and their lattes first. 

He may be the bravest student in Iran or an unwitting stooge of the Islamic regime – or both. Either way, Mahmoud Vahidnia has gained instant fame after breaking a taboo by criticising the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to his face.

The 25-year-old maths student has been lauded by opposition websites after reportedly telling Khamenei that he had been turned into a “grand idol” who was above criticism. But in a twist demonstrating the inscrutable nature of Iranian politics, the incident has been used by Khamenei’s supporters to show how he embraces criticism.

Source: The Guardian

Vahidnia, who achieved nationwide recognition two years ago by winning Iran’s annual mathematics Olympiad, made his remarks at a meeting between Khamenei and the country’s scientific elite. They came after the supreme leader asked at the end of a question-and-answer session if anyone else wanted to speak. He chose Vahidnia after seeing him being pushed down by officials when he stood to ask a question.

Referring to the post-election crackdown sanctioned by Khamenei, he asked: “Wouldn’t our system have a better chance of preserving itself if we were using more satisfactory methods and limited the use of violence only to essential circumstances?”

I say well done, Vahidnia!  While Singapore is not a theocratic state like Iran with strict syriah laws to live by, we do have laws that oppress the freedom of free speech and thought.  I say we are just as in need for people like Vahidnia in Singapore as Iran does.

MM Lee had to say what is favorable for his political party and we cannot expect him to admit that something has gone wrong here. For those who have time, I suggest you look up research papers by academics who have looked closely at the problem. I said in my previous posting that globalisation is half the explanation and the other half is our govt policy response to globalisation and the widening income gap. The PAP did not change their old schemes in a big way as the world transformed in the past 20 years. Where did I get this from? Some of it from researchers in LKY School of Public Policy! They took a good look at the problem and concluded that the PAP policy responses were the main cause of the social divide.

Source: Lucky Tan

The income divide in Singapore is real and sad. The senior government officials and Ministers would not nor dare admit it because most of them are looking out only for their own pocket. Once the system is greased through and through, who would want to rock the boat?

To change the situation, it has to start first at the ballot box. However, to make changes at the ballot box, voters must first decide, are we happy with this system? Do we want our children to live in this type of society in the future?

When everything is just money and money and people at the top flush ?? conscience down the drain, then I think this country is doomed.

Arthur

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