TR EMERITUS

Jordan is up next for the Lions Jordan VS Singapore: Match Preview By MJ It will not be exaggerating to say that the Lions face the biggest tie in recent history as they resume their AFC Asian Cup 2011 qualifying campaign with Wednesday’s final Group E clash against Jordan in Amman. History beckons the Lions as they bid to become the first Singapore side to qualify for the Asian Cup Finals (we qualified as hosts in 1984). Thailand play group leaders Iran in Tehran on the same day simultaneously and the Lions have to get a better result than Thailand to ensure that they will be in the hat for the main draw. Singapore will be without dead ball specialist Shaiful Esah, midfielder John Wilkinson, forward Khairul Amri, all struck down by injuries. Midfield lynchpin Mustafic Fahrudin will also miss the tie due to a suspension and the Lions skipper Indra Shadan has pulled out of the game citing personal issues. Veteran striker Aleksandar Duric and Indonesia-based Noh Alam Shah will almost certainly be given the task of getting the goals while the midfield will likely be patrolled by young Hariss Harun. The central defence pairing of Precious Emuejeraye and Baihakki Khaizan together with keeper Hassan Sunny will have to be at their best to keep out the Jordan team who must win to stand any chance of qualifying at all. Jordan presents somewhat of an unknown quality. They have a couple of Europe-based players, but none of them are well-known outside of their own clubs and country. Judging by the team’s record in the group thus far, it is probably fair to say that they are a defensive-minded side that is tactically solid at the back. They had only scored twice in five games, but had only conceded three times (two of them against Singapore in the previous meeting). In their last competitive game in Amman, they did beat a strong Iranian side with a late goal, so their quality should not be doubted. The positive thing for the Lions is that Jordan cannot afford to sit back for this game. They have to beat Singapore to have any chance at all of qualification, thus are likely to open up and try to get a goal at every opportunity. For Singapore, this is where we can break and hit them on the counter. Even without Shaiful, our set-pieces will remain a threat with the likes of Duric and Precious in the box. The climate is another factor for the Lions to overcome. Temperature is expected to hover just above 10 degrees Celsius for the game and the air will be dry, presenting very different conditions for our players, all of which are based in the South-east Asian region. However, let us not forget that SAFFC played under very similar weather conditions in China a week ago (in the AFC Champions League) and still managed to play out to a credible goalless draw. Perhaps Raddy Avramovic can take a few pointers from SAFFC coach Richard Bok on how he managed to get his team acclimatised to the conditions in such a short period of time. In the corresponding fixture a little more than a year ago, the Lions won an ill-tempered contest 2-1 at the Singapore National Stadium. Both sides accused the other with rough play and dirty tactics culminating in the Jordanians issuing a warning ‘You come to Jordan, you die!’ to the Singapore side. Raddy and his charges can expect hostilies on the pitch and on the stands. Given this history and the importance of the match, we can be expected to be treated to a cracker of a game. 25,000 Jordanians may fill the Amman International Stadium to back their team, but thanks to support from MediaCorp, millions (hopefully) of Singapore fans can support the team in the front of their television sets.   Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Iran 5 3 1 1 10 2 8 10  Thailand 5 1 3 1 3 2 1 6 Singapore 5 2 0 3 5 13 −8 6  Jordan 5 1 2 2 2 3 −1 5 Singapore will qualify if: Singapore beats Jordan AND Thailand draws or loses in Iran / Singapore draws Jordan AND Thailand loses in Iran (Head-to-head counts first before Goal Difference, hence Thailand will qualify as long as they match Singapore’s result) This match will be telecast live on Channel 5 at 2355hrs on Wednesday 3 March, 2010.  About the author – MJ has watched more S-League games than anyone he knows and hopes to see it blossom into one of the strongest leagues in the region. He is however annoyed by the lack coverage in the mainstream media and hopes to be the alternative voice  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent PAP MP Baey Yam Keng, who just conducted a dialogue session with Tanjong Pagar residents at Queenstown library last Saturday, had promised to raise their concerns in Parliament tomorrow to effect "changes" in the government's policies. The three most important concerns on the minds of residents are low wages of Singapore workers, sky-rocketing HDB flat prices and escalating healthcare costs. Many residents complained to him that HDB flats are getting too expensive and suggested HDB to lengthen the period of residency to 10 years before the flat can be sold. On Ministry of Health allowing Singaporeans to use Medisave to pay for treatments at selected Malaysian hospitals, some residents expressed their worries that this is an indication that MOH has no intention of providing good and affordable healthcare to Singaporeans. Mr Baey claimed he would bring up the issues mentioned in Parliament: "Though it (dialogue) may not solve the problems of the residents, but through it, we had managed to change some existing policies," he was quoted as saying by Shin Min Daily. With due respect to Mr Baey, while he may be genuinely interested in the welfare of his residents, his hands are tied in Parliament because of the Party Whip. Major decisions and policies are usually discussed and implemented behind closed doors with little discussion or debate with the MPs, let alone Singaporeans. More than often not, a decision was already made before the matter was put to Parliament for the MPs to "discuss". For example, PM Lee had already decided to build the two integrated resorts in Singapore way back in 2005, but the issue was still "debated" in Parliament when the end result was clear. The PAP has been governing Singapore for too long without any opposition in Parliament to check on it. While this facilitates the speedy decision-making and implementation of policies, it can also result in terrible blunders like the "stop at two" policy in the 1970s and the present liberal immigration policies. It is quite pointless and senseless to have 82 PAP MPs pretending to "debate" in Parliament" when they all have to vote along party lines in the end. Unless the PAP is denied its traditional two-thirds majority in Parliament, such "wayangs" will continue. Unfortunately for Mr Baey, he is merely a "dummy" in the great PAP "orchestra" conducted by none other than its "Dear Leader" Lee Kuan Yew who said in 2008: “To be the prime minister, you don’t have to know every instrument, but you got to recognise, ah, he’s a good violinist, he’ll be the first violinist, he’ll be the double bass. He will play the viola, he will have the trumpet, he will do the drums. Then you coordinate them and then you have great music. And if you already have a great orchestra, you can put a dummy there and you still got great music.” [Source: Channel News Asia, 5 March 2008]  Read More →

Wall Street Journal, 28 February 2010 Singapore's government took unprecedented actions to shield its economy from the 2008 financial crisis, even tapping its foreign-exchange reserves for the first time in its history. Yet GDP still fell 10% from peak to trough. The experience unfortunately seems to have reinforced policy makers' conviction that government needs to play a bigger role in the economy. That's the message from the budget announced by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam last week. The government aims to double the city-state's productivity growth rate over the next decade; support the creation of more globally competitive companies; and ensure the economic growth trickles down to the needy. These are worthy goals. Mr. Tharman himself acknowledges that free-market principles are the best way to boost productivity: "The government cannot decide which enterprises should succeed or phase out, or say exactly what the corporate landscape should look like 10 years from now. We must rely on the market to achieve this restructuring," he said in his budget speech. But that philosophy isn't borne out by the details, starting with the approach to boosting productivity. The government will create a new entity called the National Productivity and Continuing Education Council to drive the effort. The Council will be headed by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and include "members from the government, business community and labor movement." It is as yet unclear how its members will be chosen. Mr. Teo may release more details when he addresses Parliament this week. One thing is for sure: There will be a lot of taxpayer money involved. The Council will oversee a S$2 billion ($1.4 billion) National Productivity Fund that will "initially" invest in "sectors where there is a potential for large gains in productivity," and the budget cites construction as an example. But the fund could "also be used to develop centers of expertise for a range of industries," leaving the door open for more public monies down the road. There are no details yet on which companies will qualify for funds; how productivity gains will be measured; or how the Fund's managers will be held accountable for their performance. On the promise to create globally competitive companies, here, too, the government will have a heavier hand. To its credit, the budget includes some new tax cuts for private research and development. But it also proposes to add another S$1.5 billion to the National Research Fund for public-sector R&D, and to make the government a "co-investor," alongside private money, in new growth "funds" worth up to S$1.5billion over a decade. Other Singapore government-run funds—Temasek and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation—have historically provided only limited financial disclosure to taxpayers, so perhaps these funds could set a new, and better, standard. The budget also moots the creation of an import-export bank, though it's unclear why Singaporean companies would have trouble accessing ready capital in one of Asia's biggest financial centers. Lastly, the budget describes some S$1.8 billion in transfer payments and contains a new, small levy on foreign workers. Both are populist moves aimed at appealing to voters who will go to polls for general elections within the next two years. Next year's deficit is expected to be around S$3.0 billion, or 1.1% of GDP, compared to a deficit of S$8.5 billion last year. Given the bleeding balance sheets of nations like the United States or Britain, this looks manageable. Mr. Tharman said the government and the private sector tackled the recent economic crisis "together, the Singapore way." If he wants to achieve the kind of laudable goals he outlined, perhaps it's time to rethink that public-private mix. - Wall Street Journal    Read More →