TR EMERITUS

OPINION When one pay top salaries, one don't expect to get monkeys. The PAP has always boasted that it has the BEST ministers and MPs in the whole world and that's why Singaporeans need to pay them out of the world salaries to "retain" their services. If this is indeed so, then we should be expecting a first world parliament, but this is not the case. In other countries, parliamentary debates are conducted LIVE on TV for the nation to see. MPs pose their questions directly and the ministers are supposed to answer them right on the spot. That is the standard practice everywhere else. In Singapore, our MPs are paid a monthly allowance of $13,000 and even then, they are unable to speak LIVE in Parliament such that all their questions and answers are SCRIPTED. Not only that, some MPs still got the cheek to complain that the pace of Parliament is too "fast" for them or find lame excuses to defend their poor oratory skills like one new MP who claimed that "not everybody can speak as well as Lee Kuan Yew." This is the Parliament we have in Singapore - no LIVE coverage, only segments are shown on the state TV and even then, one Deputy Prime Minister was caught napping when the other was speaking: Let us compare the above with the LIVE parliamentary debates in five countries which have similar parliamentary systems as ours - United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Malaysia and Hong Kong: 1.  United Kingdom: Watch opposition leader David Cameron shred the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown into pieces in one of the spectacular moments of the questioning in the House of Commons on issues of election and inheritance tax in 2007. Cameron would probably be bankrupted or detained under the ISA had he tried to embarrass the Singapore Prime Minister like this.     2. Australia: Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was embarrassed by opposition leader Peter Costello when asked about the income tax thresholds and rates during the PM's question and answer session in 2007   3. Canada: The Canadian House of Commons voted to adopt a recommendation which, if implemented, would make it possible for U.S. Iraq War resisters to obtain Permanent Resident status in Canada during a LIVE parliamentary session in 2008. 4. Malaysia: Opposition parliamentarians walked out of the Dewan Rakyat in protest against Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak's refusal to entertain questions during his winding-up of the Budget 2009 Bill debates. Najib, who told the House that questions would be answered at the end of his speech, did not allow the numerous attempts for clarification. 5. Hong Kong: The Chief Executive's Question and Answer Session on 15 January 2009 which was marked by a protest at the beginning by an opposition lawmaker. Chief Executive Donald Tsang did not evict the troublemaker and gracefully accepted whatever was passed to him. PAP MPs should watch more parliamentary debates from other democratic states to realize what a disgrace they have become. Do they have any sense of shame at all? Instead of speaking up for the people, they frittered their time discussing non-issues like the number of steps on an overhead bridge, food museums, triumph bras, frog tales, hairdos and other nonsense. By conducting such a farce, the PAP is insulting the parliamentary system which Singapore inherited from the British. Parliament is an august chamber for MPs to discuss, debate and deliberate on major national policies and not a tea session or a time to take an afternoon nap. It is a time where the Prime Minister and his cabinet are taken to task, held accountable for their words and actions and grilled by the MPs. This is what parliamentary debates are about! Not a "wayang" to rubber-stamp the decisions already made beforehand by senior leaders of the PAP! In 2006, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that if there were 10 or more opposition MPs in Parliament, he would have to spend all his time "fixing" them. This is not democracy, but tyranny! If the PAP is unable to adhere to simple basic democratic principles of governance, then it might as well cut the pretence and do away with Parliament altogether, outlaw all other political parties and set up a National People Congress like China in place of it. In fact, the Singapore "Parliament" is all but in name only. Like China's NPC, the decisions on major national policies are all already made behind closed doors by the senior leaders and the delegates are there to "ratify" their decisions to add a veneer of legitimacy to them. This is the pathetic state our "Parliament" has become after fifty years of uninterrupted PAP rule. So what if we have a dozen more NCMPs or NMPs in Parliament to provide "alternative" views? Will it make any difference? The key decision-makers still lie in the hands of a few persons or one single person who simply refuse to fade away. No matter how the PAP and the state media tried to window-dress it, the bitter truth is - Singapore has a near totalitarian form of government, not too much different from Nazi Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union or Kim Jong IL's North Korea - they too have their own "Parliaments" filled with powerless MPs who are there to just to make up the numbers.   Read also: 1. Why do we need so many PAP MPs in Parliament? 2. Why PAP MPs are no more but a “wayang” in Parliament 3. 10 most unforgettable quotes by PAP MPs in the recent parliamentary debates 4. PAP MPs complain that recent parliamentary “debates” are too fast   We all know the ending of these fascist states and sad to say, Singapore is heading the same way too.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Amid pledges of support from Singaporeans on her Facebook, artiste Foyce Le Xuan announced that she will put a "closure" to the Jack Neo saga and stopped commenting on it. Foyce was embroiled in a tit-for-tat exchange with disgraced movie director Jack Neo in the media over his alleged sexual harrassment of her six years ago. Jack Neo was rocked by a series a sex scandals lately when his affair with a 22 year old model Wendy Chong was leaked to the press last week. Subsequently, Foyce revealed that he had sent "indecent" SMSes to her when she was with his entertainment group including a proposal to share "private" moments together in a hotel room. Jack denied the allegations and counter-accused Foyce of lying prompting Foyce to lodge a police report against him yesterday at the Tampines Neighborhood Police Post. Channel News Asia reported that Foyce had filed a report with them against Jack Neo and the authorities said they are investigating the matter. In her latest posting on Facebook, Foyce wrote:   The Jack Neo scandal has raised the national profile of Foyce considerably. Though she has won much public sympathy by coming forward with her story, others accused her of leveraging on Jack Neo to gain cheap publicity. There were no immediate comments from Jack Neo who had declined to comment further on the matter.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent The prices of resale HDB flats may rise further as the PR quota is reached in several estates. Under the new Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) quota introduced lately, a cap of 8 percent is set for PR households in each block and 5 percent within each neighborhood to prevent ethnic enclaves from emerging in the HDB heartlands. The HDB's website showed that several HDB estates reached their PR quota such as Admiralty Drive and Canberra Road in Sembawang, Anchorvale Link in Sengkang, Choa Chu Kang Avenue 5, Bukit Batok East Avenue 3, Woodlands Avenue 6 and Jurong West Central 1. However, the quota applies only to HDB flats owned by PRs and not those rented by them and as such it may not be able to tackle the problem it seeks to resolve in the first place. For example, foreigners who live in rented flats are not covered under the new rule and so ethnic enclaves can still form though the PR quotas are kept. Due to the PAP's liberal immigration and pro-foreigner policies, foreigners now make up 36 percent of Singapore's population, up from 14 percent in 1990. Of the remaining 64 percent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas. There are now large number of foreigners living in certain parts of Singapore such as the mainland Chinese in Geylang, Indians in Seng Kang and Burmese in some precincts of Jurong. In fact, Geylang has its own PRC restaurants, shops, KTVs and supermarkets that it resembles more like a county in China than Singapore itself. PRs comprise about 14 per cent of the population in HDB flats, according to 2009 figures. National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan claimed that the number is too "small" to affect the prices of resale flats. Property analysts warn that the quota system might cause an increase in prices unwittingly. PropNex CEO Mohamed Ismail told the Straits Times "that PRs selling HDB flats in neighbourhoods or blocks that have reached their quota will be able to quote a higher price when selling to other PRs." "Assuming PRs can afford it, they might be willing to pay for a flat that might be nearer to good schools or the MRT, or to get a good view. But if the quota is reached they won't be able to buy unless they offer a higher price," he added. Some PRs are flushed with cash and have no qualms paying an above market price for flats in prime estates. An Indonesian PR paid $653,000 for a a 4-room resale flat in Queenstown last year though he could well afford a condominium. Though HDB flats are supposedly public housing, foreigners (PRs) are allowed to purchase resale flats in the open market without any minimum period of residency in Singapore. They can also sell their flats for a hefty profit years later should they decide to leave Singapore and return to their homelands. Despite rising concerns, worries and fears on the ground that HDB flats are getting more and more expensive, Mr Mah continues to insist that HDB flats remain "affordable" to the majority of Singaporeans. In an interview with CNA's Talking Point last Sunday, Mr Mah reportedly said that HDB does not want flat prices to come down in the future. The prices of HDB flats have sky-rocketed in recent years with that of resale flats growing by a record 8.2 percent in 2009 while median COVs doubled from $12,000 to $24,000 during the last quarter alone. Yet the salaries of Singaporeans have declined by 3.2 percent during the same period of time. With no opposition in Parliament to hold Mr Mah accountable to his words or actions and no credible alternative to replace him, young Singaporeans wanting to start a family of their own will have no choice but to either "slug it out" with the PRs in the resale market, wait a few years for BTO flats in far-flung places or continue staying with their parents till they inherit their flats.   Related articles: >> Mah Bow Tan: We do not want flat prices to go down >> Taiwanese PR offers $50k COV for resale flat >> Mah Bow Tan: PRs have minimal impact on resale flat prices >> No empirical evidence to suggest that public housing is affordable in Singapore >> When will Singapore’s property bubble burst? >> Why HDB is unable to reveal break down costs of new flats now >> HDB to consider introducing rules to curb property speculation >> HDB blames Singaporeans for not selecting flats when given the chance >> Singaporeans worried about retirement after depleting CPF to pay for over-priced HDB flats >> Mah Bow Tan acknowledged that rising HDB flat prices has sparked “fresh concerns” >> PM Lee: Govt does not have control over prices of resale flats” >> COVs of resale flats shooting through the roof >> HDB resale price index hit record high in 2009 >> Singaporean wants PRs to live in rented flats instead of buying resale flats >> Singaporeans wants PRs to be banned from selling HDB flats at a profit >> Shanmugam: Singaporeans likely culprits for driving up HDB flat prices >> Mah Bow Tan: HDB flats remain affordable >> Means testing for PRs to buy resale flats >> Immigration and public housing: should the govt or people plan ahead? >> Grace Fu: hard to predict demand for housing >> Indonesian PR bought 4-room flat at $653,000 >> Mah Bow Tan asks home buyers to be realistic >> PAP MP blames young couples who cannot get a flat for not planning ahead >> Home affordability: HDB versus the public >> Demand vs supply: so many applicants, so few flats >> Number of applicants exceed number of flats >> HDB to increase supply of flats >> Mah: don’t compare with prices in the past >> ERA: 40 per cent of HDB flat buyers are PRs  Read More →