TR EMERITUS

City Harvest founder Senior Pastor Kong Hee spoke for the first time yesterday to his congregation in the aftermath of police investigations into alleged misuse of church funds. Pastor Kong was one of the 17 CHC members called up for questioning by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) on 31st May 2010. He has not made a public appearance since then and has stepped down as head of the church ministry. In a 45 minute speech, Pastor Kong thanked his congregation for their unwavering support: "I never thought more about you than in the last 30 days. I couldn't be flying, I couldn't be preaching, and so I've been thinking about everybody. I thank God for your love," he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times. Many church-goers interviewed by the state media have expressed the support for Pastor Kong and believe that he has done nothing wrong. Despite the controversy enshrouding CHC's purchase of a stake in Suntec which raised eyebrows among some Singaporeans, Pastor Kong is adamant that the move will go ahead. He told the 3,000 strong crowd that "nothing has changed" and "it is going to happen." Obviously unfazed by the ongoing police investigations against him and CHC, Pastor Kong declared confidently to his congregation that they will come through it stronger: "You're gonna come through this. You're gonna be stronger. We're family." CHC was founded by Pastor Kong in 1989 and has grown to become the largest church in Singapore with a congregation of more than 33,000. One month has passed and the outcome of the investigation remains unknown.     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 →

Controversial YPAP leader and new citizen from India Sinha Shekhar who made the headlines yesterday for his most outrageous remarks about fellow Singaporeans has remained unapologetic for the hurt and distress he has caused. A speech therapist by training, Mr Sinha Shekhar obtained his Singapore citizenship in 1994 at 25 years of age. He joined the PAP four years later, rising fast high up its rank to become its most prominent face in cyberspace. Though he came to Singapore in his 20s, Mr Sinha Shekhar has not served a single day of National Service unlike other Singapore males born here. Mr Sinha Shekhar sparked a massive outcry in cyberspace lately when he revealed on the REACH Facebook that he owns both a condominium and HDB resale flat which he rented out, prompting one netizen “kojakBT” to write in to HDB questioning if Mr Sinha has contravened any HDB rules in doing so. Though there's nothing wrong in the netizen writing to HDB for queries, an angry Sinha Shekhar threatened to sue him for "slander". “If I want to sue this guy (KojakBT) for slander, will HDB give me his details? They can’t!” he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times. Mr Sinha Shekhar is notorious in Singapore blogosphere for his description of PAP critics as “dogs” on the YPAP Facebook in March this year.  Ironically, he was later given an “Outstanding Contributors’ award” by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in person for the regularity of his contributions on the PAP REACH Forum and Facebook. [Source: YPAP Facebook] This time, his comments were given extensive coverage in the mainstream media. For some strange reasons, YPAP Chairman Teo Ser Luck continued to maintain a "dignified" silence over Mr Sinha Shekhar's remarks which have offended many Singaporeans. When asked by TODAY, Mr Sinha Shekhar is adamant he has said nothing wrong and insists that he has been "misunderstood": "I am more determined to contribute online. I stand by truth, discipline and professionalism.....I can be blunt ... some may not understand." Is Mr Sinha Shekhar implying that his English is too difficult to be comprehended by "lesser mortals" like us? It's time Mr Sinha Shekhar eat the humble pie and apologize publicly to all Singaporeans for his insensitive remarks. Regardless of whether he was provoked, there are no excuses for using such insulting terms on others. Is this the kind of leaders the YPAP is grooming to lead Singapore in the future? Do Singaporeans want to be led by foreigners-turned-citizens who have no qualms humiliating them? Given the notable silence of YPAP leaders Teo Ser Luck and Zaqy Mohamad, it appears that they agree with Mr Sinha Shekhar that Singaporeans who dare to disagree with the PAP's policies are nothing more but "barking DOGS".       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.     Related articles: 1.YPAP leader Sinha Shekhar threatened to sue whistle-blower for slander 2. YPAP leader Sinha Shekhar complains about low rent of his resale HDB flat 3. YPAP leader Sinha Shekhar described PAP critics as “DOGS” 4. YPAP leader Sinha Shekhar urged CDCs to reach out to immigrants 5. Indian new citizen Sinha Shekhar scolds unemployed Singapore NSman  Read More →

Original article in Chinese by Yew Lun Tian from Lianhe Zaobao When the rain had subsided, other than leaving soaked bags, it also leave some interesting questions. What kind of community do we want? One that encounter some problems and blame the government all the time? Or a strong and caring community? There are some jobs to be done at Bukit Timah yesterday morning at 10am. The first thing we do is to check our cellphones. When we read that Customer Executives are doing short briefings, we would laugh a bit : It is raining here, you better come from Tanglin Road, don't come from Bukit Timah Road. When we chatted with a taxi driver. He is 40 now, he once lived at Changi Village, is not surprised about the floods. He said that sometimes it would rain for a few days and it would rise all the way to the roof. He would bring the pigs that he own to higher ground. He and the village members that time worried that the floods would become worse. He also added that if a paper were to be dropped into the water, it would be tored apart but if a leaf drop into the water, it would not be torn apart. If you don't clean it, it would be there forever. Not only it prevents water from flowing, it also breeds mosquitoes. I jokingly asked him if what if he sees leaves or other debris stuck in the canal, will he clean it? He immediately replied "I will". He saw the expression on my face and added "I don't know how many times i had did it but from my experience, it is important to clean canals to prevent it from clogging. I was moved by the actions of this taxi-driver. I told him that if he see any debris or leaves stuck in the drains or canals, he can call the hotline number "1800-PUBONE" to inform PUB to come and clean it. Although it said that they will get more cleaners to clean the drains and canals more often, and if every citizen can do their part by reporting the clogged drains, there would be no more floods. Orchard Road's flood had surprised many. On that day itself, many people took out their handphones to shoot it and named it "Orchard Road is Flooded!" and uploaded it to Facebook or Twitter and became the discussion topic. That day was also the Dragonboat festival, netizens photoshop a dragonboat boat into the picture while some others added a sampan with Thailand people on the boat selling vegetables. These photos did make netizens laughed and think, Orchard Road flooding is not a good thing. If it continues to flood, nobody would think it's a funny matter already. After the Orchard Road floodings, some netizens wanted the authorities to apologise for the floodings. An opposition leader uploaded a video on Youtube which showed the US President took responsibility and apologized for the oil spill at the Gulf of Mexico and ask why not our ministers apologize as well? While Barrack Obama went to the site, our ministers just sit by doing nothing in their offices. Someone told me that even if the authorities rush to the scene, they would be unable to do anything useful too. But political leaders must be seen as "doing something" even if it means putting up a "show". At least it will be able to appease some angry citizens on the ground. What should the authorities do when they are at the scene? Ask the affected shop owners about the situation? I would rather the authorities take concrete action and use the money to help those affected by the floods instead. I hope that the authorities would pity them and prevent this floods from happening again. To put it in another way, if the government believe that a proactive citizenry is beneficial to society, it should give the citizens more freedom to participate in nation-building.  After all, the government cannot expect people to just call PUB all the time to inform them about the clogged drains, but disallow them from expressing their views when things go wrong.   Translated by Shawn Liew Hong Wei  Read More →