TR EMERITUS

1 ) Land prices are ever rising. With a 4 room HDB flat at $400,000 now, interest rates and a 20-30 years loan, there is probably nothing left in the CPF come retirement. What kind of price will your children pay for their HDBs 30 years down the road? If you stay in landed properties, you will be sure you can afford a few big bungalows overseas with swimming pools. 2 ) CPF retirement is set to rise from age 62 as the years go by. The board will not be able to support a mass withdrawal of monies from citizens and hence schemes like CPF Life have come up. Come 2013, unless one meets the minimum sum, he would have to wait till retirement age before the monery trickles to him in the hundreds monthly. 3 ) This place will hit a population of 6.5 million population soon. With thousands of PMETs unemployed, jobs are still going to so called "global talents", what's next? Even fresh grads out of the local universities have to compete with their foreign peers who have their tuition fees sponsored; while they have to slog for years before they repay their tuition loans. 4 ) The land is too small for weekend recreation. Those who have stayed in other countries will tell you that their weekends are trips to the mountains, fishing lakes, historical places, scenic train rides etc. Here in Singapore, we have the neighbourhood malls to jalan jalan. 5 ) The education system is too stressful and breeds the kiasu / kiasee mentality. Just take a look at the teacher's workload. If these educators are so stressed up, what more down the line to the students? Performance bonuses are paid to teachers if their students do well, what kind of stress do these teachers (especially from the top schools) put on the children? And as if school isn’t enough, they still have to go for tuition after school to ensure they score the As. 6 ) As long as the government does not change, so will our economic strategy. Attracting foreign MNCs to set up shop, no doubt will provide jobs but we are forever a hunting ground for cheap (albeit skilled) labour. And with the influx of foreigners, the lower and middle income class can expect their salaries to stagnate (with relativity to inflation) for a long time. The environment is such that it is pro MNCs. One good example is the GST: it was raised primarily because the corporate tax was reduced in order to continue making Singapore a competitive place for businesses. The era where passing of skills to locals is now bygone. It's long overdue that an entrepreneurial culture has not been set in place. Children only study and aspire to be ministers, doctors or lawyers. 7 ) A fresh poly grad can earn up to $1500 a month on average 10 years ago, today it is still the same. A fresh university grad can command on average about $2500 a month 10 years ago, today it is about $3000; not much of a change considering that HDB prices have gone up 3 folds. 8 ) A car here easily costs 2 or 3 times those in other countries. While you slog it off and be a slave to your car for the next few years servicing the installments, in other countries it can be paid up in the blink of an eye. Sunny Chow   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 →

作者:冀居·谢 第八波道一个钟头的纪录片 《向吴庆瑞博士致敬》应 该是亚洲新闻台同部纪录片的华语译本。这部纪录片找来总统、前内阁、前高官、前三军总司令、前常任秘书等为吴庆瑞背书，制作过程应该不容易和耗时，不可能 是电视台的急就章。可是这部片子与一般播出的电视节目有异，片尾并没有出现制作群的名单，也不标明版权所属，看来是行动党的政治宣传伎俩。 照说要概括吴庆瑞一生功过，应该用史笔，可惜用的却是“三讳”的歌功颂德招数，使人直觉得是在利用吴老死后的剩余价值。 我看后有四点觉得应该提出来讨论： 【一、与共产党斗争的十年】 影片有一句旁白，说行动党在1959年大选中胜出组自治政府后，并且也开展了“与共产党斗争的十年”。 我觉得这样的说法越来越成为主流。其实当年行动党里面那些留英的峇峇仔虽然有满腔的热情和左翼思维，但是他们回来之后并没有群众基础，所以就找来工会和校 友会的人来组成人民行动党，虽然大家的大目标是赶走英殖民者，但是接下来怎么管理新加坡或者马来亚就起了路线的分歧，于是党内就分成两派，是党内的路线斗 争。可是上台执政不久，这些行动党精英获得英殖民者的撑腰，在1963年利用“冷藏行动”清党，把把大部分的党员逼向激进左翼。现在他们倒果为因，反而说 成是有一个共产党向行动党渗透，良心何在？ 【二、战战兢兢】 影片出现1972年杜进才和吴庆瑞在大选后获胜的感言，两个人都神色凝重，一点没有喜跃的心情。原来是吴庆瑞在1967年推行不受欢迎的国民服役政策，经过五年之后，他们把大选视为选民给他们打分，所以怀着忐忑的心情面对群众。这跟现在就大相径庭，现在的行动党政府很多高官都不是靠选票进入国会的，却大剌剌说 什么他们获得选民的委托、授权去办事的，实在是恬不知耻。 【三、福建兵】 我想这是第一次“福建兵”这个词上了电视。吴庆瑞成立新加坡武装部队后的第一个挫败就是来自社会上的各种人，无法在他设想单语舒适的军队组织里面共同生活，逼于无奈只好接受“福建兵”这样的一个现实。 新加坡武装部队是新加坡第一个英语——单语舒适的环境，吴庆瑞由于本身的出身背景并没有觉得有什么不妥之处。军营里面的军官、管理层、文件、通告都是单语舒适的，所以能获得提拔的当然也是通晓英语的人。但是国民服役是接受各源流教育的人士，巫印且按下不说，当时华语还是属于华校生的专长，所以能够和讲英语的领 导沟通，唯有用回大家的共同方言，就是在这样的情况下出现所谓的“福建兵”。 影片令我最震撼的，莫过于访问前副总理陈庆炎博士，他说：“吴庆瑞发现新加坡过去的教育体系完全失败，有些人读了十年书，竟然连一个字都不识。”其实他这句话应该要说得更明白一点：“有些人读了十年其他源流书，竟然连一个英文字都不识。”——别看他平时温文儒雅，这种歧视其实是根深蒂固的。 【四、教育】 吴庆瑞一生最大的污点，莫过于要为新加坡目前急功躁进、英文至上的教育负责。他从领导武装部队领悟到不能从心所欲的建设一个单语舒适的环境，所以就转向教育制度下手。 关于《吴庆瑞报告书》大家可以参考叶德民的 《对吴庆瑞的一些看法》一文，他说得很好：李光耀政府扼杀了民族教育体系，而刽子手就是吴庆瑞博士。 最主要是他力挺臭名昭著的“分流制”，现在连行动党政府都废除了。底子摆明就是一贯对强者的优惠、对弱者的镇压，功利主义嘴脸想要盖都盖不住。可是影片一句批评都不敢说，还说他对日后的教育制度奠下基础、影响深远喔！ 来源：大马论坛  Read More →

The rights of the accused being investigated for a crime was a subject of debate in Parliament by lawyer MPs who argued for their access to a lawyer. Under current practices, suspects are hauled up for investigations by the police without a counsel by their side. They are also not aware of the fact that they have the right to remain silent so as not to incriminate themselves. As such, the Singapore police has overwhelming powers of investigations which place the onus on the accused to prove their innocence instead of the other way round. MPs suggested that a time limit be set, after which a person being investigated for a crime should be allowed to see a lawyer. Senior Counsel Alvin Yeo said: "I appreciate and support the importance of allowing the police to go about their investigations without the accused playing 'legal games' with them. But there must be some limit to this." His views were shared by NCMP Sylvia Lim who pressed for a statutory time limit after which the accused should be granted access to legal counsel. In other countries like Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, lawyers are permitted to accompany the accused for his/her statement to be taken by the police, but not in Singapore where there is always a possibility that they may be intimidated by the investigation officer into self-incrimination. In a recent case, an elderly woman was charged in court for poisoning her husband. She later said she was intimidated by the investigating officer into saying so in her statement which was nevertheless still admitted as evidence in court. Urgent reforms in the Criminal Procedure Code is needed to prevent possible abuses of power by the Singapore police and to safeguard the rights of the accused who should be innocent until proven otherwise in court.   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 →