TR EMERITUS

This morning I started pondering over what Singapore could have been like, had it become a communist country half a century ago. The following might really have happened: 1) there would be social housing; 2) men would be conscripted for two years or more of their lives as a form of social engineering; trade unions would be controlled... 

Last evening, after listening to the budget broadcast, I went to have an early dinner at the coffee shop near my place. As the dinner crowd has not come in, I had an opportunity to strike up a short conversation with Bo Huat (in his late sixties), who runs my favourite wanton noodle stall with his wife from 7 am to 3 pm and... 

It is shocking that the Government will increase prices for water by 30 percent. This comes at a time when Singaporeans are facing great uncertainty as the economy takes a turn for the worse. Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat justified the hike by pointing out that water prices have not increased in 17 years. He did not provide...