TR EMERITUS

In a stunning report in April this year by the Jamaica Observer, it was revealed that a Singapore company is currently helping to repair Jamaica's run-down national stadium in exchange for the country's support for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) to be held in Singapore later in August. "Under a barter agreement between Jamaica and Singapore last December, it was agreed that Intersurface Pte Limited, the Singaporean company that installed the track for the Youth Olympics set for August 14-26 next year in that country, would undertake the work at Jamaica's National Stadium." The Singapore company was chosen over four other companies including German giants Regupol and the United States' Mondo Incorporated because it offered a "better" deal to the Jamaica government. "The Singapore company had to be used because we were getting a better deal and the Singapore entity that is picking up the cost wanted a Singapore company to be used," a government official told the Observer in December. It was not revealed what the terms of the Singaporee offer are. However in exchange, Jamaica has to agree to help Singapore "market" the YOG which may include sending its athletes to attend the event. The news was not reported in the Singapore media desperate to whip up a frenzy among the island state's apathetic citizenry about the event which has attracted little international media attention so far. It was reported in the papers today that the PAP has splurged an astronomical $387 million dollars on the YOG which has surpassed three times its original estimates. No reasons were given for the discrepancy in the initial estimates and amount spent. There is no opposition in the Singapore Parliament to hold the PAP accountable to its spending of taxpayers' monies. As for improverished Jamaica, it must be celebrating the unexpected "windfall" from the YOG held on the other side of the globe. Read the original report on the Jamaica Observer 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 →

A 30 year old Vietnamese engineer and Singapore permanent resident Pham Thai Ha has been accued of molesting a Singapore doctor in June last year. According to the Straits Times, Pham was accused of trying to kiss the doctor and using criminal force on her. The doctor testified that Pham had gone to see her for a rash on his finger. He was told to remove his trousers for examination when he complained of a similar rash on his buttocks as well. Pham had an erection during the examination and tried to pull the doctor towards him. After dressing up, he placed his hands on the doctor's shoulder and said he liked her very much. This is not the first time that a foreigner is being accused of molest In June 2009, a 20 year old Cambodian student Chhuon Ratana was jailed three months for molesting two women at a club. When confronted by the club bouncers, he retorted: "So what? I am a foreigner." PAP leaders have been reassuring Singaporeans that foreign workers are brought in only to take up jobs shunned by Singaporeans. Is there a shortage of Singapore engineers that we have to recruit them from Vietnam and elsewhere? PAP leader strongman Lee Kuan Yew said recently that the PAP will continue to give "priority" to Singaporeans: “We have moderated the inflow of foreign workers and new immigrants, and also widened the differentiation between citizens and non-citizens. However, Singapore – with its low birth rates – needs to attract immigrants to augment our population,” he said. He added that the PAP will only recruit foreigners who are educated, professional and skilled to complement the existing workforce. Perhaps Pham was brought into Singapore for his other "skills" to boost Singapore's flagging birth rates rather than his professional skills as an engineer.     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 →

Dear Straits Times, I refer to the 30 Jun 2010 article on the new Global Liveable Cities Index that was reportedly designed by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and Swiss academics and which puts Swiss cities and Singapore at the top. Imagine designing a list that puts you at the top of the list. How much more shameless can we get? If every city were to design its own list and to place itself at the top of the list, very soon every city will be tops, albeit only on its own list. One key criterion that was obviously missing or not sufficiently highlighted in the index is housing price. You add that and Singapore's ranking will plummet straight away. What is the point of having an index that paints only half the picture? What is the point of sitting pretty on a list of criteria that ignores our own short comings? Are we a nation that focuses on superficial criteria while ignoring the crux of what liveable means? What is liveable if it means a lifetime of servitude and endless housing loan payments? Does liveable mean having to slog all your life for a miserable pigeon hole in the sky? Or can it simply be staying in a kampung and living out an idyllic life? Thank you   Ng Kok Lim  Read More →