TR EMERITUS

22 June 2010 Bangkok Singaporeans for Democracy`s (SFD) will be submitting an independent report on Singapore's electoral system to the UN's Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process set up in 2006 to review member countries' human rights record. Dr. James Gomez informed human rights officer Ms Hannah Wu and several of her colleagues of SFD's plans and secured agreement to the independent submission during a meeting at the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Bangkok on 22 June 2010. During the meeting, SFD's Dr. Gomez outlined the steps of its submission, which will include consultations with opposition political parties and its representatives in a manner that suits them, inputs from lawyers with constitutional experience and a public consultation for which an invitation will be sent to the Elections Department. The UPR is a process by which the UN reviews the human rights records of member countries every four years. Singapore`s human rights record is up for review during the Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review's 11th session in 2011. In order to increase contact with the UN system, SFD will also be making contact with the UN office in Malaysia that covers Singapore. Dr. Gomez will be in Kuala Lumpur next week to meet with UN representatives there. The operational and consultation portion of SFD's report on the electoral system will be managed by Mr. Martyn See. If you want to make a submission or input to SFD's electoral system report, please contact Martyn at (martynsee@yahoo. com).   Singaporeans for Democracy  Read More →

from Saw Kian NEO to BT Kojak date Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 4:57 PM subject REPORT OF A PERSON FLOUTING HDB RULES – KOJAKBT mailed-by hdb.gov.sg hide details 4:57 PM (1 hour ago) HOUSING & DEVELOPMENT BOARD Your Ref : Our Ref : E/HG/8187-0082-6-28 Date : 22 Jun 2010 TEL : 68767406 FAX : 68543228 EMAIL : [email protected] Kojakbt Singapore Dear Mr Jakbt, REPORT OF A PERSON FLOUTING HDB RULES – KOJAKBT We refer to your email of 22 Jun 2010 to our CEO. HDB flats are primarily for home ownership purpose. However, lessees who have fulfilled their requisite occupation period (5 years for flats purchased directly from HDB or from the open market with a CPF Housing Grant; and 3 years for flats purchased from the open market without a CPF Housing Grant) may apply to sublet their whole flats subject to HDB’s written approval and subletting terms and conditions. Lessees who have illegally sublet their whole flat without HDB’s written approval would have infringed our Housing & Development Act. Thorough investigations will be conducted and legal actions will be taken against them. We appreciate feedback from members of the public when there are suspicious cases. This will allow us to investigate and carry out appropriate actions on the lessees where applicable. We thank you for your valuable feedback. For more information on HDB policies, you may go to HDB InfoWEB at http://www.hdb.gov.sg. Should you require clarification, please feel free to contact me at 6876 7406 or email at [email protected]. We will be happy to help. Yours sincerely, NEO SAW KIAN (Ms) EXECUTIVE ESTATES OFFICER HOUGANG BRANCH OFFICE HOUSING ADMINISTRATION DEPARTMENT  Read More →

It has been a week since the flood at Orchard Road and several areas around Singapore. It was the worst flood we have seen in 26 years. It has been two weeks since the Town Council Management Report was released. More than a month since the security lapse at Changi Depot and two months since two National Servicemen were shot in Thailand. Yet, despite all these, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has kept a total silence. One can only wonder why the Prime Minister feels that his leadership is not needed at this time and why he prefers to, as it were, bury his head in the sand. Hear no evil, speak no evil? It is totally unacceptable that as leader of this country he would remove himself from these occurrences. Not a word of reassurance from him when the flood happened. No word of consolation for those affected or admonitions for those who were caught sleeping on the job. Not a whimper about where Singapore goes from here from our Prime Minister. Not a word from him about the security lapse at Changi Depot either. As with his Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Transport, PM Lee has gone missing, perhaps hoping not to involve himself in another security fiasco barely 3 years after the last one. Not a word from him about the finger-pointing fiasco which followed the release of the TCMR report as well. No leading from the front for his party’s MPs who have been roundly criticized for not taking responsibility for the low scores some of them have received. No answers from him or his ministers to Mr Low Thia Khiang’s question which asked how much were PAP town councils given in terms of additional funds for upgrading. And finally, after First-Sergeant Woo Teng Hai, 25, suffered head injuries after being shot by Thai villagers, together with 19-year-old Private J Pritheery Raj, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has nothing to say about it – even though MINDEF had initially said only one soldier was shot. No explanation for this omission. It is ironic that in November 2007, it was PM Lee himself who accused the opposition Workers’ Party (WP) members of going “awol” – absence without official leave. “[The] opposition’s five have scattered like monkeys when the tree fell,” he said, referring to the five WP candidates of Aljunied GRC which the party fielded in the last elections. “One of them has ran (sic) to Sweden,” he continued, “the other has left the WP. They call it their A Team, I say it is A for Awol.” Cheap shots by the PM, of course, as Alex Au explained here. The question Singaporeans now have is: Has the Prime Minister himself gone awol, as far as recent events are concerned? The PM did make an appearance on Sunday – to be the guest-of-honour for Bukit Timah’s 55th anniversary celebration. [Straits Times] He however chose to keep his total silence on recent events. One can only wonder why – especially when Bukit Timah was one of those areas which were badly flooded, not once but twice in the last eight months! In 2009, the PM was reported by the Today newspaper – with regards to Permanent Residents serving National Service (NS). He was against the idea of “first generation” PRs doing NS. The PM said: “If we make it (NS and Reservist for PR) a requirement, we would not get the people we wanted. Secondly, if they did serve NS at 30, 40 and 50 years old. I would not like to be their platoon commander.” [Blogger “Feed Me To The Fish” was aghast at the PM’s remarks. See here: “Ungrateful platoon commander, insensitive leader”.] Would the Prime Minister like to be the commander of a troop of chimpazees which allows a terrorist suspect to escape, for a train depot to be breached, for officials who did not reveal how many soldiers were shot or for his MPs who are shirking responsibility for the state of their own towns? Indeed, the Prime Minister by his absence, could very well be saying, “I would not like to be your commander”! In 2008, when Mas Selamat Kastari escaped from the Whitley Road Detention Centre, it took the Prime Minister a full 11 days before he made his remarks about the incident. If you go missing not once but twice, three times and more, whenever a major incident happens, we too would rather have someone else leading us. Perhaps our mainstream media, praised by the PM himself, should be probing why our PM keeps going missing – the same way the Straits Times so enthusiastically regurgitated, with a full spread, the PM’s accusation of the opposition going “awol”. At the moment, it seems that we are not only paying millions of dollars for monkeys who keep screwing up and who are not willing to take responsibility for these screw-ups, but we’re also paying for monkeys who scatter and go awol when the trees fall.   by Andrew Loh Editor's Note: Andrew Loh is the Chief Editor of TheOnlineCitizen Source: http://theonlinecitizen.com/2010/06/paying-for-monkeys/  Read More →