TR EMERITUS

Singapore-Johor Causeway (Pic: Wikipedia) Johor Baru (3 Jul): Singapore’s decision to increase the Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) and Goods Vehicle Permit beginning Aug 1 has not gone down well with some people here, with some even claiming the move could affect bilateral ties. Johor Lorry Operators Association president Antony Tan said that while they found the increase “ridiculous”, his association members had no choice. On Tuesday, Singapore’s Land Transport Authority announced that foreign-registered cars entering Singapore would pay S$35 (RM90) per day, up from S$20 (RM51.44), while goods vehicles will pay S$40 (RM102.88) per month, up from S$10 (RM25.72), beginning Aug 1. Buses, taxis and motorcycles were exempted from any increase. .... Former Malaysian High Commissioner to Singapore Datuk N. Param­eswaran said Malaysia should match Singapore’s unilateral action by imposing a levy similar to the amount increased by Singapore on each Singapore registered car entering Malaysia. .... “I am sure if we impose a levy, we will be able to collect a lot more than what they collect from Malaysian cars,” (Gambir assemblyman M. Asojan) said. State opposition leader Dr Boo Cheng Hau said the fee increase was a subtle message that Singapore is not “welcoming Malaysians”, and added if bilateral relations are good, then all fees should be removed to enable smooth travel both ways. [Read more:  The Star Online]  Read More →

S R Nathan At the birthday party bash of ex-President S R Nathan, which was held at Shangri-La hotel yesterday (3 Jun), PM Lee paid glowing tribute to him. Mr Nathan turned 90 yesterday. PM Lee noted that Mr Nathan took on many roles throughout his distinguished career, including those of a unionist and an ambassador for the country. But perhaps his most important role was that of a "tree planter", PM Lee said at the birthday party. "He built up young, sometimes nascent organisations into mature institutions, for example NTUC, the SID, in the MFA, in the elected presidency. And he mentored promising young officers and helped them fulfil their potential, and I count myself a beneficiary. He helped Singapore to build and to grow into a modern, and prosperous, and stable nation." He said that the former President has lived a long and full life, and has played a significant part in Singapore's nation building. He then pointed to several highlights of Mr Nathan's career, including his stint as Singapore's ambassador to the USA, where he defended Singapore's interests firmly and courteously during the Michael Fay incident. PM Lee also praised Mr Nathan for making "tough decisions" during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, where he gave the Government permission to draw on the reserves for the $20 billion Resilience Package. PM Lee said, "He understood the gravity of the situation, studied the issues carefully, took advice from the Council of Presidential Advisors (CPA), arranged for the CPA to be briefed by the ministries, and to quiz the ministers. And having satisifed himself, he approved the request decisively. As a result, we averted what might have been our worst economic downturn ever. We did so well that many Singaporeans didn't even realise that they had gone through a grave crisis, and emerged - not only survived - but emerged unscathed." Life of ex-President Nathan Mr Nathan was born in 1924. He studied at Victoria School for his secondary school education. At the age of 16, he fell out with his mother and left home to work, before completing his studies [Link]. During the Japanese Occupation of Singapore, he worked for the Japanese Civilian Police as a translator. It was said that at the time, a Japanese military officer "saw the potential in him" [Link]. The Japanese officer told him that he was a bright child and suggested that he learned Japanese. He did, and became a translator-interpreter attached to a top official in the then Japanese military government. Mr Nathan has said that his experiences during the Occupation turned his outlook from pro-British to anti-colonialist. And it was during the Occupation that Mr Nathan first met his wife, as he revealed during a media interview about the launch of his book, "50 Stories From My Life" [Link]. In his book, he wrote about how his gaze first fell on his future wife when he cycled past her two-storey house in Muar. He first saw her standing by the window on the upper level. He was then running errands on his bicycle for the Japanese. He was 18 then and she, 13. "She was very attractive and I was on cloud nine. Umi took a fascination to me," Mr Nathan told the media during the interview. He saw her daily while running errands for the Japanese, he said. After the war, whilst working, he completed his secondary education through self-study, and entered the University of Malaya (then in Singapore) where he graduated in 1954 with a Diploma in Social Studies. At the same interview about his book launch, Mr Nathan choked on his emotions when he spoke of how he could not let down Singapore leaders like Goh Keng Swee and Lee Kuan Yew who entrusted him with key public sector duties, even though he was only a diploma holder. "I could never betray their trust in me," he said. After the independence of Singapore in 1965, Mr Nathan was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1966, and later moved to the Ministry of Defence where he served as Director of the Security and Intelligence Division (SID) between 1971 and 1979. During his tenure as SID Director, he was faced with the hijacking of the Laju ferry in 1974 by the Japanese Red Army (JRA). He was among a group of government officers who volunteered to be held hostage by the JRA to secure the release of civilian hostages. In 1975, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his action to become a volunteer hostage. Upon his retirement from the civil service in 1982, he became the Executive Chairman of the Straits Times Press and later Singapore Press Holdings in 1984. In his book written by Cheong Yip Seng, the former editor-in-chief of the The Straits Times, Mr Cheong revealed that it was Mr Nathan who "found" Patrick Daniel, the present Editor-in-Chief of SPH, for the company [Link]: “When SR Nathan joined us in 1982, he helped us headhunt. He found us Patrick Daniel, then a young administrative officer. I first met Patrick in 1985 when Singapore fell into a recession. He was then an aide to Lee Hsien Loong, who was then tasked to head an economic committee to study how to get us out of the downturn and reshape the economy for the future. Patrick was secretary of the committee…" Nathan's Presidency In July 1999, after President Ong Teng Cheong announced his decision not to seek re-election, Mr Nathan was approached by several senior leaders, including then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew to submit his candidacy for the presidential election. Mr Nathan said he accepted the request "out of a sense of duty" and was elected president on 18 August 1999 as the sole eligible candidate after the application of two other potential candidates were rejected because they could not meet the criteria. On 17 August 2005, Mr Nathan was re-elected for a second term as president and again without contest as there were no other eligible challengers. In July 2011, Nathan announced that he would not seek a third term as president. He was succeeded by Dr Tony Tan Keng Yam who was elected the seventh president of Singapore on 27 August 2011 with only a winning percentage votes of 35.2%. Dr Tan Cheng Bock came in a close second at 34.9%.  Read More →

A PRC shouting at journalists in Beijing during the MH370 incident. -- PHOTO: REUTERS 93 Coffee: July 3, 2014 at 9:32 pm  (Quote) The writer don’t even know how competitive is the global war for foreign talents! Please go other countries see for yourself how many prc talents are working in those countries, before he start write this article! US, HK, London, France, Germany, Australia and NZ, all crowded with China talents! Spore is just only a red dot, we should be happy our govt able attract some prc foreign talents here in face of hot competition from other big wealthy countries! It’s the hard work of our govt, please show grateful! * * * * * * * * * Sydneysider: July 4, 2014 at 8:44 am  (Quote) Uhm, no. There are work visa PRCs working in Australia, but they are far from “talented” or anywhere near the majority. In terms of nationality and based on the last Dept of Immigration quarterly report, PRCs only comprised 6% of all temporary work visas granted. Furthermore if you come from a country where your main language of schooling at secondary level or higher was not English for at least 5 years, you must also show language skills to at least IELTS Level 5 in all four sections. This requirement effectively shuts out non-native English speakers, including PRCs who do not come from an English-rich environment. (I should add, if you are applying for permanent residency, you must have at least IELTS Level 6. Applicants with IELTS Level 7 or 8 will get bonus points on their application, so you’ll even find native English speakers taking the IELTS to get bonus points to strengthen their applications.) * * * * * * * * * Are you sure 93 Coffee?: July 4, 2014 at 9:19 am  (Quote) I guess you are from PRC, No? First, I would to challenge your piece by asking your definition of talent. Many commentators here have asked before – how many PRC imports are truly FT ? The important letter is the upper case “T” – Talent – not fake, cheap masquerades – the small “t”! You can’t compare these imports we have here with those in the West, they usually get the cream, the top notch “T” not the many “t” pretenders we have here. Many of the PRC are here simply because they are cheap not because they are good. Most are average or worst. They came here, only to fulfill a cost reduction role, then bring in their next of kin who then recommend others to come here. They are really cheap labors especially for our SME who are finding property and rent costs impossible to surmount. Hence the easy way out is to save on labor cost. Second, you do not bring in second rate or third rate fakers in droves and throngs. Bound to have social cost. When you have numbers, these foreign communities are not obliged to integrate. Why should they? There is no need. There is comfort in numbers in a foreign land. And the regulators here seemed in a desperate hurry to simply open the gate so where got time to allow for proper integration? Worst many of them bring in their thousand years of bad social and cultural habits with them. Because they are not the first rate, the typical social etiquettes, social behaviors they brought in are hence second rate. Uncouth behavior with scant consideration for the local norms are the common sight. Instead of bringing in higher level of standards, they lower ours instead. Hence the rising complaints here especially in the service lines. No other country, let alone a little island nation can absorb so many in so tiny a space in so little time without paying a social price. In many other places where there are a higher level of social awareness and conscious will to do something to self rectify it, there would be riots and chaos already. Notice Hong Kong. Imagine if Beijing were to have half or more of their population consist of second rate Ft causing the locals to lose their jobs and mess up their social life and norms? But the people here are bottling it up. This internal pressure which is building may result in a self implosion in the near future. It is not good for social cohesiveness on this tiny island. You can’t just force through this number of entries without paying dearly in many other fronts too whether legally, politically, and even economically. Ultimately the cost of bringing in these second rate talents may be way higher than the supposedly benefits they can contribute and their numbers are now way too high to mitigate if we need to, in the near future. Our next generation may likely pay for these foolish policies in the future years to come. And yes, this also include those PRC wise guys here in this forum who came here and settled down with their folks and kids in the earlier years.   * Comments appeared in: It’s difficult to integrate PRCs into Singapore  Read More →