TR EMERITUS

After a hiatus of two weeks, PAP strongman and Singapore's self-proclaimed "forecaster extraordinarie" Lee Kuan Yew has made a grand public appearance again to dispense his usual "pearls of wisdom" to his subjects. In an email interview with Straits Times Insight, he reiterated his earlier statement to scrape the retirement age and force Singaporeans to work for as long as they can till they drop dead and die. "As long as people are productive, however old they are, if they have something to do, it is better to semi-retire," he clarified. Lee's previous remarks sparked a massive outroar among Singaporeans who are already peeved off by the PAP regime for witholding their CPF funds, thereby coercing them to continue working well into their twilight years to support themselves financially. He insisted that Singaporeans should accept a lower pay if they continue to work after retirement: "Employment after retirement age has to be for lower pay and lighter work. How much is a matter which has to be decided in accordance with the requirements of the job they are doing and their physical or mental alertness." While Singaporeans have to accept lower pay after retirement age, the 87 year old Lee seems to be exempt from the same rule. Though by his own admission, he is not doing much work lately except "forecasting", he is paid more than $3 million dollars a year on top of a pension amounting to two-thirds of his last drawn salary exclusive only to PAP ministers. "When you reach retirement age, you have to take the job that you can do. I moved from prime minister to senior minister under prime minister Goh Chok Tong. Now I am Minister Mentor under, first, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and, second, Senior Minister Goh. As long as I am fit, if the next prime minister wants to retain me because I am still capable, I am prepared to go down in status," he added. Lee should first practice what he preaches by accepting a pay cut befitting of his "lower status" before he goes on lecturing others to do the same. It is most ridiculous that an octogenarian who is way past the retirement age and somemore occupying an position (without any portfolio) not found anywhere else in the world is being paid more than a full-fledged minister.   Related articles: >> Singaporeans lampooned Lee Kuan Yew for his suggestion to scrap retirement age >> Lee Kuan Yew: No retirement age for Singaporeans   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 →

Deccan Herald, 17 August 2010 A 23-year old Indian national, who molested five girls and women in May this year, has been sentenced to eight years of jail and ordered to be given 12 cane strokes by a local court.  Thangavelu Tamilselvam, an immigrant construction worker in Singapore, pleaded guilty on three charges of molestation and two others considered during his sentencing, 'The Straits Times' reported today. Tamilselvam had molested five women and girls, who wore shorts or skirts and aged between 10 and 30 years, over 19 days in May this year. He would wear a cap covering his top half of the face and prowled on a bicycle spotting his victims in the Woodlands housing estate, closer to his dormitory on northern part of Singapore. He would attack his victims in apartment lifts, hugging and kissing them, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kumaresan Gohulabalan told the court yesterday. Tamilselvam faced a maximum jail sentence of 10 years and caning for outraging modesty and causing wrongful restraint in a lift. The punishment for outraging the modesty is a jail term of up to two years or fine or caning or any combined sentence. Caning is a widely used form of legal corporal punishment in Singapore.   Source: Deccan Herald  Read More →

It is already appalling that the Singapore police is unable to differentiate a simple metaphor from a genuine threat. It now seems that officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs need to attend some basic English lessons as well. In a letter to the Straits Times Forum today, a MHA spokesperson reiterated that YOG critic Mr Abdul Malik was arrested for making public comments which could "incite violence and public" disorder and not for making anti-YOG remarks as suggested by a lop-sided article written by Jeremy Au Yong from Straits Times two days ago. "It is a serious offence to instigate violence or injury against another person. It does not matter if his target is a government minister, a journalist or someone from any other profession," Toh Yong Chuan, a MHA Director wrote. Mr Abdul Malik made the international headlines when he was arrested by the Singapore police for “inciting violence and public disorder” with a comment he posted on Facebook criticizing Dr Vivian Balakrishnan over his handling of the YOG. Below is a snapshot of the original comment posted by Mr Malik who got him into trouble with the police: He was arrested at his workplace by three plain-clothes police officers from Bedok Police Division whose Commander is DAC Teo Chun Ching and Head Investigator is DSP Goh Tat Boon. The controversial case made the international headlines, sparking a huge outcry among Singaporeans who were appalled at the inability of the police to differentiate between a metaphor and a genuine threat. Prominent Singapore blogger Mr Brown wrote sarcastically that anyone with “half a brain” will realize that Mr Malik was not inciting any violence: “Personally, I think his only crime was typing in all caps and the overuse of exclamation marks (I suggest a month’s community service for every unnecessary exclamation mark). You may even take him to task for misspelling the name of our Sports Minister (it’s “Vivian” and not “Vivien”, and he’s a bloke). But I think anyone with half a brain will realize that in the context of what Mr Ghazali wrote, he was not inciting any violence or asking folks to set a minister on fire.” (Read more here) Another netizen Kojakbt asked how a simple metaphor like “burn” can be misconstrued to mean “inciting violence and public disorder”: “Now, you can physically burn a person but how are you supposed to burn a political party? Moving to the next sentence, “Rally together and vote them out!!!”, he was clearly qualifying his previous “burn” remark by asking the citizens to vote PAP out. Hence, reading both sentences together, the meaning of the word “burn” becomes clearer. It’s referring to burning as in the idiom, “burning someone at the stake”. Figuratively, it means “to chastise or denounce someone severely or excessively”  (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/burn+at+the+stake). In short, it’s clear to most people who have passed their GCE ‘O’ level English that Mr Malik was speaking metaphorically when he used the word “burn”. I’m puzzled that the person who reported this to the police cannot understand simple English?” Mr Malik has since apologized to Dr Vivian via an email: “If my words had caused you concerns for your personal safety, I wish to apologize for the discomfort I have caused you. In no way was this a threat or perceived threat meant to endanger your life. I have made that quite clear to the police, but I wish to state it to you formally as well to ensure I have made an effort to clarify matters with you. If nothing else, it is for the sake of ensuring I have a clear conscience," he wrote. Dr Vivian has categorically denied lodging a police report against Mr Malik and claimed he "almost didn't care" about the incident. According to Mr Malik, the report was lodged by the investigating officer from Bedok Police Division himself which raise serious questions on whether there are any procedural lapses in doing so. It remains to be seen if the Attorney-General Chambers will prosecute Mr Malik whose lawyer will have a field day *"grilling" the police officers on their basic English comprehension skills. *The word is used here as a metaphor to mean "intense questioning" and should not be taken literally".   Related articles: >> Transcript of Abdul Malik’s interview with Straits Times >> Abdul Malik apologizes to Vivian Balakrishnan >> Bedok Police Division should explain arrest of YOG critic >> Dissenting is our right >> Former RI boy Abdul Malik turned into "celebrity" overnight >> Abdul Malik: My thoughts on the YOG games >> Dr Vivian: I don’t care about arrest of YOG critic >> Arrest of YOG critic to squash dissent failed miserably >> Character assassination by Straits Times against YOG critic >> Netizens voice support for arrested YOG critic Abdul Malik >> Outcry among Singaporeans at arrest of YOG critic >> Singapore police put YOG on world map >> Did Dr Vivian lodge police report against YOG critic? >> YOG critic arrested by Singapore police >> Participant of “I hate YOG” Facebook arrested by police 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 →