TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent The Public Utilities Board (PUB) has replied to an email query from a netizen about a "Water Festival" organized by Bukit Batok grassroots organizations using taxpayers' monies to welcome the New Year for the Thai, Burmese, Laotian and Cambodians living in Singapore: [Snapshot of website of Bukit Batok grassroots organizations, 21 March 2010] A netizen Kojakbt has since written to several government agencies including the Attorney-General Chambers and the Singapore Police Force questioning the legality of organizing such an event. Under the Public Utilities Act (CAP 261) 50(b), any person who wastes water “shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $50,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years or to both and, in the case of a continuing offence, to a further fine not exceeding $1,000 for every day or part thereof during which the offence continues after conviction.” According to an unverified rumor circulating in cyberspace, a similar “Water Festival” held in the 1980s by a group of Thai workers in the Boon Lay area was stopped by the police for wasting water under the Public Utilities Act. Both the AGC and Singapore Police had refused to comment on the matter and “directed” Kojakbt to PUB instead. A staff from PUB's Water Supply Department has replied saying that "water splashing activity" like the "Water Festival" is similar to activities such as charity car wash events which do not require approval from PUB. She added that PUB have since "advised" the organizer that "no hoses or pails of water shall be used for the event and to ensure that water is used frugally." The event has sparked a massive outcry in cyberspace with many netizens lampooning Bukit Batok grassroots organizations for wasting precious public resources and prompting one Singaporean to write in to the Straits Times Forum questioning the discrepancies in messages sent to the people. It has since been "scaled" down to using "water pistols" without the "splashing": [Snapshot of website of Bukit Batok grassroots organizations, 31 March 2010] The funds for the organizing the "Water Festival" is likely to come from the mega $10 million Community Integration Fund unveiled by the pro-foreigner PAP last year to make the foreigners feel welcomed and accepted in Singapore. When asked by a netizen on the objective of the "Water Festival", Senior Minister of State for National Development Ms Grace Fu said that the it is a way of Singaporeans showing their "respect" to foreigners. In other countries, foreigners are expected to integrate into local society. Not only is it the other way round in Singapore, Singaporeans are expected to "bend over" to show our "respect" to foreigners under the constant exhortation of the PAP, or rather FAP (Foreigner Action Party).   EDITORS’ NOTE: Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so as well.   Related articles: >> Unhappy Singaporean writes into ST Forum to complain about “Water Festival” >> Netizen’s queries on “Water Festival” stone-walled by Singapore Police >> PAP MP Grace Fu: organizing “Water Festival” is a way of telling foreigners we respect them >> Netizens protest against “Water Festival” organized by Bukit Batok grassroots organizations >> Singaporean unhappy at grassroots organizations hosting Water Festival for foreigners  Read More →

By Salma Khalik, Health Correspondent from Straits Times AN AUSTRALIAN woman who flew to Singapore for a second liver transplant has died. Ms Claire Murray, 25, underwent a successful transplant last month. But two weeks after she received a part of her aunt's liver, blood clots started to form in her veins. On Wednesday, she underwent further surgery at Mount Elizabeth Hospital to remove the clots. But even as the surgeon, Dr J. Prema Raj, was removing the clots, others were forming. Ms Murray, an unwed mother of two with a history of heroin addiction, became a lightning rod for controversy after her first liver transplant in Australia last September, using an organ from a dead donor, failed. A blockage in a grafted artery which supplies blood to the liver caused the transplant to fail. But detractors in Australia blamed her drug addiction for it, and because of that, she was ruled ineligible for a second liver from a dead donor. Her family rallied around her and were unwilling to give up the fight, however. Read rest of the article here.  Read More →

I refer to Mr Anthony Oei's letter dated 25 Mar 2010.   Mr Oei asserts that the GRC poses no extra burden on the opposition in terms of candidates and resources since the total number of parliamentary seats remains the same whether they are contested individually or as GRCs.  However, the GRC does pose a much steeper hurdle to the opposition which even MM Lee himself has admitted to.  It is simply much more difficult to win a GRC than it is to win a single constituency.  The GRC therefore represents a barrier to entry that entrenches the incumbent while preventing smaller parties from winning seats and gaining strength.  Seen from this perspective, the GRC does pose a burden to the strengthening of the opposition to a level where they can field good candidates in all wards.   Secondly, Mr Oei asserts that no matter what, at the end of the day, the choice still rests with the people and if the people are really so fed up with the PAP they can always vote it out.  That is true provided the people aren't so ignorant and have easy access to unbiased analyses and opinions of PAP policies.  However, all paid newspapers in Singapore are owned by just one company the shares of which are largely owned by GLCs and whose past chairmen have always been important ex-ministers.  So while the choice still rests with the people, the freedom of views and opinions upon which those choices are made is not.   Contrary to what Mr Oei said, the election of 1959 wasn't rough but easy for the PAP because it had the support of the Chinese speaking masses through Lim Chin Siong and Fong Swee Suan who in turn became the martyrs for PAP's victory.  Mr Oei should be careful not to label PAP opponents as communists because it is a charge that has never been unequivocally proven even till this day.   While the verdict of the people may have been terrifying then, one needs to understand that the verdict was for Lim Chin Siong, not Lee Kuan Yew.     Thank you     Ng Kok Lim  Read More →