TR EMERITUS

I came across this article and I thought it was very interesting. (http://forum.channelnewsasia.com/viewtopic.php?t=371208) On one hand, we are told of measures that will seek to cool the property market. Yet on the other hand, MND is continuing to allow private developers to get away with crazy bidding which will of course eventually be passed down to us. Whether be the buyer who buys a $1.6m 1ksqft condo or $1m 5rm HDB in Bedok Central. Why $1m and not 500k after the measures? You think Singaporeans really have short memories? When the time is right, the rulings on HDB will again be reversed.   JUSTIN LAU  Read More →

In a stunning reversal, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong appeared to have kowtowed to foreigners by retracting his earlier statement on forcing PRs to take up Singapore citizenships. During a dialogue session with Marine Parade residents, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong admitted quite frankly that the PAP is trying to get more PRs to take up Singapore citizenships. “Moving forward, we are going to approach some of them to take up Singapore citizenship, if they don’t then their PR will not be renewed. That’s a better way,” he was quoted as saying in Channel News Asia. He added that of the 500,000 PRs in Singapore, 'maybe 50,000 can be selected to become Singapore citizens, the rest can be PRs contributing to the economy.' His comments were not welcomed by expats and PRs alike with many of them lampooning the PAP regime for using high-handed means to coerce them to become Singapore citizens. Over at popular expatriate forum ExpatSingapore, a thread was started with the header "Singapore to expel 10 per cent of Permanent Residents". Two days after his public statement was published in the media, SM Goh now backtracked and said that the figure given was for "illustrative purposes" only. In a press statement released yesterday, the press secretary of SM Goh, Mr Ho Tong Yen said: "The figure of 10 per cent which SM gave was only for illustrative purposes. It is not a target, nor is it the case that all PRs who turned down the offer of Singapore citizenship would not have their PR status renewed." Eager to soothe the frayed nerves of Singapore PRs, SM Goh reassured them: "The Government will continue to review and refine its policies to ensure that those who have PR status are an asset to our society, and that those who are given citizenship are, in addition, assessed to be committed in their allegiance to Singapore." When PRs make "noise", SM Goh responded almost immediately. In contrast, when Singaporeans make "noise", SM Goh told them straight in the face "not to complain too much." Seeing the differential treatment meted out to citizens and PRs by the pro-foreigner PAP regime, it is no surprise that most PRs are not keen to take up Singapore citizenship.   Related articles: >> Malaysian Singapore PR: Most of my friends want to retire in Malaysia >> PAP wants more PRs to become citizens to vote in next election     Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →

In the aftermath of the foreign "academic poisons" scandal, NTU has sent an email to all its students warning them not to "create blogs regarding politics and religion" unless they have approval from the universities and a licence from the Media Development Authority (MDA) A blogger from theliberatingtruth.wordpress.com had earlier posted a “blacklist” of 15 NTU foreign students, including their names, photographs, and nationalities attached with a “testimonial” from fellow students from NTU School of Computing Engineering on their work ethics and attitude, sparking massive outcry among Singaporeans. They were accused among other things of leeching on other students in their joint projects, not contributing to the team and stealing credit for work not done by them. The sensational news was first published on the Temasek Review and subsequently picked up by straitstimes.com. According to Terence Lee, a media student from NTU, he received an email from NTU with the following header: "MESSAGE ON EXERCISING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION RESPONSIBLY" The gist of the email is to implore NTU students to express their opinions in a "responsible" manner and to warn them not to create political blogs without permission from the school: "Don't: Creating webpages / blogs containing information regarding politics and religion, unless you have acquired proper licenses from the Media Development Authority AND the written approval of the University." Terence Lee, who blogs about Christianity at irreligiously.blogspot.com wrote on his blog that he would be ignoring the email: "But what is even more interesting is that the University wants all its political and religious student bloggers to seek approval from the administration. This is a demand that will be largely dismissed by yours truly, and a handful of other bloggers who are studying on campus. Just like its rules on attire." [Source: http://irreligiously.blogspot.com/2010/09/students-required-to-register-their.html] In the meantime, the NTU student blogger who published the foreign "academic blacklist" has deleted his blog at theliberatingtruth.wordpress.com. It is not known if he is forced by NTU to close it down or if he has been called up for questioning by the Singapore police which has been monitoring the internet lately. The School of Mass Communications which produce the majority of Singapore journalists is ironically situated in NTU. How can NTU ever hope to become a world class university when its students are not even allowed to express their views on politics? How are we going to evolve into a knowledge-based economy when we are denied the basic human right of freedom of speech? The email by NTU shows how shallow, ignorant and out of touch our university administrators are with the real world outside where university students are often active participants in the political life of their countries and is a sad indictment of the repressive political climate in Singapore which continues to be dominated by the fascist PAP regime.     Related articles: >> NTU refuses to take action against foreign "academic poisons" >> NTU SCE students on three foreign academic poisons >> PRC scholars thinking of breaking bonds before arrival in Singapore >> Blogger published list of academic poisons   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →