TR EMERITUS

The question that is being asked frequently in the internet is:Are Singaporeans paying for monkeys? By right monkeys deserve to be paid peanuts but how come we are paying millions. The recent occurrences have not given the public the confidence of a government that holds high the concerns of the public. The golden silence of the Minister for Transport and Minister for Home Affairs on the debacle of the security lapse of the SMRT at its Changi depot is a typical example. They were either lofty in their attitude or remiss in their responsibility of the implication of the enormity of the SMRT security lapse. It was ludricuous that this could have escaped the attention of the two ministers. Next is the comical performance of the Minister for Environment in connection with the recent flood in Orchard Road. Whether the public view it as shirking responsibility but his elusive presence was not to be found in the Orchard Road flood area when it was imperative for the flood victims, especially the serious ones, to be given sympathetic succour. He was like an invisible man who appeared after the storm to utter such crass statement that such flood occurred only once in fifty years. Such flippancy can hardly give confidence to the public, especially those in the flood-prone areas, that we have a minister who could tackle the flood situation. Then there is the equally crass statement of the Prime Minister that it is impossible in Singapore to expect the place to be completely free of floods. This is the kind of talk that aims to pre-empt any public wrath to descend on the government should there be any unmanagable devastating flood befalling Singapore in future. In other words, the government is seeking an easy way out. The PUB should have by now identified the flood-prone areas and discovered the cause. In fact their officers are condifent of overcoming, if not minimising, the problem. So what is all this talk by the Prime Minister of not expecting a flood-free Singapore, if not to divert the attention of the public. The trend of ministers, including the Prime Minister, of showing indifference towards occurrences and happenings that the public view as affecting their security and welfare is disquieting, to say the least. There are very considerable criticisms by netizens on the ministers' haughty attitude. It automatically brings up the question that the astronomical salaries that the Prime Minister and his ministers get are really what they deserve and a fair charge on the taxpayers' fund. So the netizens coined the phrase: Are Singaporeans paying for monkeys? Yoong Siew Wah 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 →

Embattled Singapore People Party leader Mr Desmond Lim Bak Chuan has finally broke his silence on the fracas which erupted at his party conference two weeks ago. Mr Lim, who was allegedly at loggerheads with Ms Lina Loh, the wife of opposition MP Mr Chiam See Tong, tried to register 30 new members at the conference to ensure that he was elected into the CEC. Though he was eventually voted into CEC, he was informed via a SMS from Ms Lina Loh that he need not attend the Meet-the-People sessions at Potong Pasir in the future. The public spate between the two has dealt a severe blow to SPP with the state media making use of the opportunity to cast doubts on its credibility. In his press release posted on his Facebook, Mr Lim did not touch on his personal differences with Ms Loh and instead chose to explain why he had objected to the Reform Party joining the Singapore Democratic Alliance, of which he holds the position of the Secretary-General. Mr Lim explained that while is not against the idea of RP joining SDA in principle, he felt that the conditions attached to the "merger" would have been detrimental to SDA's political future. "I continue to hold firmly to the view that the conditions attached to the “merger” with the Reform Party (RP) would have been detrimental to the political future of SDA. The lop-sided conditions do not form an equitable, healthy and fair basis for a relationship between the two political entities. However, I am in principle not against the idea of an alliance with RP," he wrote. The internal politics of SPP has peeved off many netizens who have expressed their disappointment and disgust at the various parties washing their "dirty linen" publicly for all to see. In the meantime, Mr Chiam has announced officially that Ms Lina Loh will contest in Potong Pasir in the next general election and he will be leading a team most likely in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC. Read Mr Lim's full press release here.     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 →

By Guntor Sadali for The Malaysian Insider It is a fact known to all that Malays in Singapore are a minority. However this minority is quite different from other minorities in the world. Similarly, to some, Singapore is just a red dot in this vast Asian region. But it is no ordinary red dot. It is a grave mistake to equate size with ability, just as it is wrong to assume that being small and in the minority is to be weak and insignificant. The recent World Cup proved this. While Spain may be the world champion, it was minnow Switzerland that became the only country in the tournament that was able to defeat Spain. Forty-five years have passed since Singapore left Malaysia, yet every now and then we still hear non-complimentary comments from across the Causeway about the Malay community here. The latest came from former Malaysian prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who casually reminded Malaysian Malays not to become like Singaporean Malays. He did not make it clear what he actually meant, but the comment was made in the context of the possibility of Malaysian Malays losing their power in Malaysia. Again he did not specify what type of power, but it could safely be interpreted as political power. Now, what could have happened to the Malays here in the last four decades? Read rest of article here.  Read More →