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作者：简立欣《旺报》04/03/2010 新加坡有华语，英语，马来语及淡米尔语四种官方语言，其中英语是各民族学生必修且是工作语言，具有“国语”的地位。因此，可想而知新加坡中文教育会遭遇到不少政经，社会，文化等影响，近日“华文乙课程导致学生中文下降”的新闻，更让有心之士担心华语流失，文化不保。 过去新加坡中文教育分为“高级华文”(Higher Chinese) 及“普通华文”，2001年，新加坡中三及高一实施“华文课程乙”，原意是降低华语学习门槛，提高成绩不佳学生的学习意愿，因此“华文B“的授课节数少，教材简单，只注重”学汉字“，”听华语“，而不注重说，读，写。 “华文B”的只有小六毕业考华文成绩不及格，中三华文不及格或中四“○水准会考”（即毕业考，考过可在国际之间升学和就业）华文不及格，以及外籍生，侨生等才能修“华文B”的。 虽然“华文B”的仍要写作文，但是比高级华文及普通华文轻松多了。除了作文以外，试卷只有选择题，根本无须写汉字。 原先的政策美意近年遭滥用，不少成绩没那么差的学生也选读“华文B”的华语能力节节败退。 过去新加坡宣布实施“华文B”的之前，新加坡华文教育教师会顾问杜珠成便痛斥，一旦实施“华文乙”，“未来新加坡学生华文最好的时间，只可能是小学六年级！”何况新加坡小学有分级制，且公民科还用母语教学只有特选学校使用较难的华文教材;其他普通小学的华文都是单科教学，很难提升学习兴趣和程度。 也有学者表示，新加坡华文教育节节败退，最大的原因就是太纵容学生，太为他们“着想”，为了提高学生学习热忱，官方不断退让，导致学生华文程度下滑。 来源：http://news.chinatimes.com  Read More →

With Portsmouth entering administration and facing imminent relegation, the editors have decided to compile a top 8 list of football clubs with the highest amount of debt. The level of debt is by no means a good measure of the club’s sustainability, as shown by Pompey, which went under with about US$100 million worth of debts (much less than any of the clubs listed on this list). The information collated is from Forbes and correct as of April 2009. For comparative purposes all figures are represented in US dollars, at exchange rates correct as of comparative period. We know the data is almost a year old and things might have significantly changed over time, but given the difficulty of data gathering on financial information, we have considered that this data as current. Bear in mind that most of these football clubs are not listed on exchange, thus gathering of information by Forbes would have been tedious. ________________________________________________________________________________________  Ranking Methodology: 100% Statistics _________________________________________________________________________________________ 8 ) Schalke 04 (Debts of US$194 million) The first club on this list is Schalke 04, which is somewhat surprising. This German club is neither the biggest club in Germany nor have they competed in the Champions League regularly. However, this club boosts of the most fervent support in football-crazy Germany and the Board had been way too hungry for success over the years. Over the past few seasons, the club had spent heavily on players like Jefferson Farfan (€10m) andRafinha (€5m), but that has not been translated into success on the pitch as they finished 8th last season (and missed out on European club competition entirely). 7) Newcastle United (US$274m) Much like Schalke, Newcastle is a massive club in England which had not been successful on the pitch recently. Their last major honour was the FA Cup in 1955 and they had not won the league title since 1927. An extended stay in the top flight over the previous decade pushed wages over the top for the club and much of this debt is likely to be a result of that. Since Mike Ashley took over the club in 2007, he is known to have invested heavily to help the club clear its debt, thus a potion of the amount here is likely to be owe to Ashley. Newcastle is now of course a Championship side, but is expected to make a swift return to the top flight. 6) Internazionale (US$285m) Inter may be owned by Massimo Moratti, the Italian oil tycoon, but they have amassed nearly US$300m of debt nonetheless. However, it is worthy to note that the significant portion of this debt is not owed to external banks, but rather to Moratti and his various companies. As mentioned above, this fact puts Inter much less at risk than others. The club has also won the last four Serie A titles and is favourites to win the current campaign as well. 5) Real Madrid (US$311m) In terms of valuation and revenue, Real Madrid is the number one club in 2009 but they have considerable debt as well. This debt is likely to have been accumulated by the club’s lavish expenditure in the transfer market. In the past ten years alone, Real Madrid broke the transfer record four times, as they bought Figo, Zinedine Zidane, Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo on world record fees – this probably explained where the money had been spent on. Interestingly, Real Madrid’s debt-over-value ratio is 23%, the lowest amongst the eight clubs on this list – meaning that the Spanish giant would probably have little problems trying to clear their debt, should their creditors come knocking on the door tomorrow.  Liverpool fans protest 4) Liverpool FC (US$596m) Liverpool’s debt is mainly due to external banks. When co-owners George Gillet and Tom Hicks bought the club in February 2007, they took up a massive loan from various banks and secured it against the assets of the football club. This arrangement was never popular with the fans, as interest payments over time continued to hamper the club’s ambitions in the transfer markets. Last summer, it was widely reported that the club had negotiated with their major creditors to defer some principal repayments, suggesting that the burden of debt is weighing down the club already.   3) Chelsea (US$736m) Much like Inter, most of Chelsea’s debt is owed to their owner Roman Abramovich. Late last year (after this data was compiled), the Russian announced his decision to convert the amounts due to him by the club into equity, leaving Chelsea relatively debt-free. According to most reports, Abramovich is worth about US$13billion, thus Chelsea FC is about 8% of the man’s entire wealth. 2) Manchester United (US$1,010m) Like Liverpool, much of United’s debts had been amassed by their current owners (the Glazer family) who had borrowed heavily when they took over the club back in 2005. Just like the Hicks / Gillet saga at Anfield, United fans had staunchly opposed the Glazer buyout since Day One but all could be done was the staging of protests and chants. United is estimated to pay about S$100m a year to finance the loans, a situation which had almost necessitate the winning of trophies year in year out. 1) Arsenal (US$1,284m) When this set of data is compiled, it appears that Arsenal had the largest debt outstanding of any football club in the world. Also, their debt represented over 100% of the club value, a ratio considered risky by any measure. Arsenal is owned by several different parties and no one party has a simple majority on the ownership. The debt was accumulated over the years, as the club used leverage to finance the entire construction of their Emirates Stadium. However, in a latest financial statement released by the club, it appears that it had managed reduced this debt significantly, showing that the club has healthy cash flow. With that, it is likely to mean that Arsenal is actually in a much better financial position compared to Manchester United and Liverpool on this list. Editors’ Note: It is by no coincidence that the top four clubs here are the “top four” in English football. It sums up the precarious financial situation English clubs are in and Portsmouth’s demise may be the tip of the iceberg. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ The editorial team will like to seek the opinion from all  readers on what you think. Do you agree with the Top 8? Is there anyone that you feel is more worthy to be on the list? Leave a comment! If there is something that you will like us to feature as part of this top 8 series please leave a comment and our team will try to accomodate! If you want to speak to us, do drop us an email - [email protected]  Read More →

By Jerome Cohen from South China Morning Post The most formidable challenge to China's establishment of a credible rule of law is neither the quality of its legislation nor the professional competence of its judges, prosecutors, lawyers and police. Laws and the skills of those who apply them have both witnessed substantial progress in the People's Republic during the past three decades. The real challenge to the administration of justice in China is, rather, the undue intrusion of politics and, even more broadly, of guanxi, the network of interpersonal relations of mutual protection, benefit and dependency that is one of the enduring hallmarks of Chinese society. Courts and judges have much to lose and to fear if they ignore these influences. Such well-known distortions of the legal process as "local protectionism" and corruption are specific manifestations of politics and guanxi. Although Chinese communist leaders do not publicise the party's intervention in important cases, they openly insist on party control of the judiciary. But they cannot be happy about other distortions of judicial decision-making that undermine the nation's laws. Of course, to some extent, politics affects the legal system in every country, and every society consists of informal human interaction and influence. Yet governments that practise the rule of law - not merely proclaim it - seek to limit political and personal interference with the wheels of justice not only by enacting norms that prohibit these universal phenomena but also by promoting values, ethics, policies, institutional changes and customs that support these legal prohibitions. Crucially, the better rule-of-law systems provide their judges with enough financial and professional security to enable them to resist external blandishments. Read rest of article here  Read More →