TR EMERITUS

An increasing number of Singaporeans have expressed dissatisfaction at the country's education and public transport sectors, according to the "Customer Index for the Transportation and Logistics and Education sectors" study released by the Singapore Management University (SMU) today. Customer satisfaction continue to slide for the education sector with currently-enrolled students giving lower ratings to the three parameters of satisfaction - expectations, perceived quality and perceived value. The tuition fees for Singapore universities have been increasing steadily for the last few days, forcing some undergraduates to take up part-time jobs to support themselves. In the meantime, the government continues to give scholarships to foreigners to study in Singapore. Public buses and trains also receive lower satisfaction scores compared to last year with more locals feeling that they are receiving less benefits for the price they are paying. The figure is likely to rise next year following rising disgruntlement among Singaporeans at the new distance-based fair system introduced lately, prompting PAP MP Dr Teo Ho Pin to comment that it is one of the three key issues which the government must resolve before calling for the election. Transport Minister Raymond Lim has earlier defended the new distance-based fare structure for public buses and MRT trains as a "good concept" that will lead to a fairer system. 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 →

A participant of the popular "I hate YOG" Facebook" Mr Abdul Malik Muhammad Ghazali was arrested by the police yesterday for a comment he posted on Facebook. Malek wrote on Facebook that he was questioned by the police from Bedok Police Division on the charge of "inciting violence and public disorder" under Section 267 Chapter 244 of the penal code. His laptop was also seized. [Source: I hate YOG Facebook] The news was reported in page four of The New Paper today. In an email reply to Temasek Review, Mr Malik said he was arrested over a particular comment he left on the Facebook and was questioned over his involvement with the "I hate YOG" Facebook and his political affiliations: "The official reason given was the particular comment, but they did question about my involvment in the Facebook group as well. Such as, why did I start a Facebook page, what was my problem with the YOG, did I join any political party, etc. Fixating on the specific words is, in my opinion, very shallow of them as they are not reading with understanding, although the meaning is quite clear. On a side note, the reporter did mention to me this morning that the police are uncomfortable with the media inquiries about this case. They do not want to be seen as "heavy-handed". This is because the charge is very subjective and the police do not wish to look bad in the light of the criticisms of the YOG." According to The New Paper article, 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". [Source: The New Paper page 4, 25 August 2010] Mr Malik had earlier posed several difficult questions about the YOG to PAP MP and Young PAP Vice Chairman Mr Zaqy Mohamad on his Facebook which he was unable to answer such as the recent mass food poisoning outbreak involving 21 YOG volunteers: Mr Zaqy subsequently removed Mr Malik as a friend from his Facebook. Started only two weeks ago, the Facebook has garnered more than 2,700 friends so far. The founder of the Facebook Mr Edmund Khor just clarified that he has not been called up for questioning by the police yet. We would like to appeal to readers who are privy to or has information pertaining to this incident to contact us via our online submission form and provide more information so we can follow up. [Please sign the petition demanding a public apology from Dr Vivian Balakrishnan for mismanaging the YOG here.] Addendum: In view of the lack of information at press time, we would like to urge all our readers to exercise caution and refrain from posting on Facebook which appears to be very willing to  provide confidential information (against their own Privacy Policy) to the authorities on any lame grounds for investigation purposes. Unlike Facebook which keeps all their access logs for years (the reason why Police can conveniently round anyone up easilly), our site is clustered on 3 different servers in 3 countries and rotated weekly between 2 main servers (mirror) with the recent deactivated server formatted and reinstalled to ensure that all visitor's data are removed. As a matter of fact, our servers were rotated yesterday according to our schedule. Additionally, all emails sent to us are stored on the servers and not locally which means that neither of our correspondent has a copy of your email or information on his or her desktop (pop3 disabled on all our servers). Simply put, we do not keep visitor's information on our servers for more than a week. We wish to once again assure our readers that we take your privacy very seriously and will never under any circumstances hand over your information to irrelevant person/s including the authorities unless ordered by a court of competent jurisdiction (ie: court with jurisdiction in the country where our servers are located). Additionally, in view of the coming General Election and depending on the amount of donations we received, we have plans to offer a VPN account for all our readers (at 50% off market rate) if our budget permits. Molina Han Section 267C cap.224 of the Penal Code states: Making, printing, etc., document containing incitement to violence, etc. Whoever — (a) makes, prints, possesses, posts, distributes or has under his control any document; or (b) makes or communicates any electronic record, containing any incitement to violence or counselling disobedience to the law or to any lawful order of a public servant or likely to lead to any breach of the peace shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 5 years, or with fine, or with both. 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 →

He had posted a number of comments on Facebook about the Youth Olympic Games (YOG). But Mr Abdul Malik Mohammed Ghazali, 27, may have gone too far with a recent posting on a Facebook group which says it is against the organizing committee of the YOG because of several issues. Unhappy with a series of incidents connected with the Games, Mr Malik allegedly said it was time to hold Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the Minister for Community, Youth and Sports (MCYS), responsible. Mr Malik was arrested by police yesterday and is being investigated for his online postings. Mr Malik, a project executive with a construction company, told The New paper that three plain clothes police officers came to his workplace in Bukit merah at 11am yesterday. He said over the phone: "The police took my statement. They were concerned with a comment I posted online and focused on certain words." He was referring to a posting made last Wednesday. It referred to a recent incident in which 21 YOG staff and volunteers suffered from food poisoning. 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".   By Benson Ang, The New Paper, 25 August 2010 Read rest of article on The New Paper, pages 4 - 5  Read More →