TR EMERITUS

Agence France-Presse, 25 August 2010 A Singaporean man who attacked the ruling party on Facebook and urge people to "burn" a cabinet minister has been arrested on charges of inciting violence, police said Wednesday. In a statement, police said they had arrested a "man in his late 20s" on Tuesday "in connection with investigations into offences related to incitement of violence". The statement did not name the man or give details of the offence, but said that he was released on bail pending further investigation. Local media identified him as Abdul Malik Ghazali, 27, who posted a series of comments on the social networking site critical of how Singapore is hosting the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG). The August 14-26 event, held for competitors aged from 14 to 18, has generated limited public interest, with many events blighted by empty seats and the host country's athletes faring badly. Vivian Balakrishnan, the minister for community development, youth and sports, has come under particular fire from online critics over the games. Abdul Malik's postings on his own Facebook page and on a separate group account called "I hate the Youth Olympic Games Organising Committee" are also critical of Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP). Abdul Malik, who works for a company specialising in wood and flooring, said on his Facebook page that he was arrested "due to my involvement in anti-YOG and anti-PAP Facebook pages". One of his postings highlighted recent floods in Singapore, the escape of detained terror suspect Mas Selamat Kastari, the amount of money spent to host the games and reports of the poor standard of food served for games volunteers. He said it was time to "burn" the sports minister and the PAP. "Rally together and vote them out!!!" he wrote. Abdul Malik said in comments published Wednesday by The New Paper that "the comment is a metaphor". "I did not intend for it to be taken literally. I did not mean for someone to actually burn," he said. --AFP  Read More →

It was recently reported on the 21st August 2010 that jobless numbers are on the rise again and close to 68,100 Singaporeans are unemployed. In reference to http://www.ahp.mohh.com.sg/index.html MOH Holdings (formerly known as Health Corporation of Singapore) provides training and employment services to Singapore's governmental healthcare, such as polyclinics and hospitals. If we take a look at their webpage, it is cleary seen they are trying to attract foreigners to work in our heatlhcare sector. And they will be heading to Australia, Ireland, UK and Taipei to look for more foreign 'talents'. Why are they not reaching out to the 68,100 unemployed Singaporeans? Surely a small percentage, if not all, would be willing to work in the healthcare industry. I do not deny that some of the jobs in healthcare, most Singaporeans would not want to do it as it is considered dirty. But if we take a closer look, some of the jobs offered are Speech/Occupational Therapists, Prosthetics & Orthotists, Physiotherapists and Healthcare Administrators. Is MOH Holdings trying to tell us out of those 68,100 unemployed, not even 1%  are good enough for such jobs? Even on their website banner, they are proud to display testimonials from foreigners who got the jobs in Singapore through MOH Holdings. Do we really need such organisations that blatantly and openly ignore Singaporeans to import foreigners? Why do our own Governement-run stat boards and ministries turn a blind-eye to such an act? Other examples: http://worksingapore.com/ - a site run by Jobsfactory and Jobcentral, which are WDA approved Job Directories. http://www.mom.gov.sg/foreign-manpower/working-in-singapore/Pages/default.aspx - our own Ministry of Manpower touting Singapore to Foreigners, even when our Prime Minister has promised to 'slow down' the number of foreign workers. It is quite unfortunate that the sacrifices of born and bred Singaporeans, continued to be ignored in favour of foreigners in the name of GDP growth and the current ruling party's ridiculous fat salaries and bonuses.     - A Singaporean Patriot  Read More →

The YOG mass food poisoning scandal involving 26 YOG volunteers which has sparked a massive outrage among Singaporeans has now claimed another victim - an online critic who has been speaking up for the volunteers and demanding some sort of basic accountability from the minister in charge Dr Vivian Balakrishnan. [Please sign the petition demanding a public apology from Dr Vivian Balakrishnan for mismanaging the YOG here.] 27 year old project executive Mr Abdul Malik Mohammed Ghazali was arrested by the police from the Bedok Police Division at his workplace yesterday morning for his criticisms of Dr Vivian on the "I hate YOG" Facebook. Malek wrote on Facebook that he was questioned  on the charge of “inciting violence and public disorder” under Section 267 Chapter 244 of the penal code. His laptop was also seized. According to the New Paper, Mr Malik posted a comment written in capital letters saying that the incident showed it was time to “burn” the minister. In the same posting, he also called on the public to “rally together”. "The comment is a metaphor. I did not intend for it to be taken literally.....Also, when I called on people to 'rally together', I meant that they should do something about their opinions instead of just voicing them online. I did not mean for the comment to spark civil disobedience," Mr Malik was quoted as saying in the New Paper. [Source: The New Paper, 25 August 2010] Dr Vivian has come under heavy fire lately for his response to the scandal. Not only did he not call for a press conference to apologize to the victims immediately, the matter was kept under wraps for three days till the news leaked out on the internet. In a comment posted on our site, Mr Malik reiterated that he has done nothing wrong as he never had the intention to "incite violence and public disorder." "Nonetheless, I still state that I have done nothing wrong. It is entirely subjective (the charge, that is) and if it rubbed anyone the wrong way then it’s not my fault. It wasn’t meant to defame anyone personally. It is my own critical opinion of the YOG and the SYOGOC (and related persons). How is this construed as “inciting violence and public disorder” is really beyond me, and I have re-iterated that to the police. I maintain that (to me), I am NOT GUILTY," he added. It is not known if Dr Vivian was the one who lodged the police report since he was mentioned in the comment in question posted by Mr Malik. PAP MPs are well known to make police reports over frivolous matters. In March this year, a 52 year old relief cabby was arrested by the police for reminding his PAP MP Lee Yi-Shyan of the Seng Han Thong incident and was subsequently fined $2,000 for "criminal intimidation". 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 →