Archive for October, 2009
[FT Jailed for Theft at NUS
October 30th, 2009 • Uncategorized
A VIETNAMESE national was packed off to jail for four weeks on Thursday after he was found guilty of fraudulently having stolen property.
Pham Le Tuan Kiet, 24, was convicted after a trial of having a $150 cellphone and two laptops at National University of Singapore, Kent Ridge Crescent, on Oct 21 last year.
When police arrested him at the university, he could not explain satisfactorily how he got the three items.
Pham, then a final-year chemical engineering student, also pleaded guilty on Thursday to stealing an undergraduate’s polo shirt worth $15 from the corridor of Block 5, Raffles Hall, NUS, on Oct 10 last year.
Pham, who has a theft conviction, had another theft charge considered during his sentencing by District Judge Liew Thiam Leng.
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October 28th, 2009 • Uncategorized
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How nus Prof Eugene Tan feels now tt ministar came out said 154th position is ABSURD??
October 27th, 2009 • Uncategorized
Five countries - Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden - jointly topped the table, while North Korea and Eritrea rounded off the bottom at 174th and 175th.
Assistant Professor Eugene Tan of the Singapore Management University noted that Singapore was still in the bottom 20 percentile but “I don’t think most people will be bothered … does this ranking matter in the end? I don’t think so. What really matters is whether Singaporeans take their media outlets seriously”.
Mr Zaqy Mohamad, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Information, Communications and the Arts, said the improved ranking “underlines that our press remains credible especially in the face of challenges like the new media”.
Low ranking for press freedom here absurd: Shanmugam
LAW Minister K. Shanmugam yesterday said rankings that place Singapore lowly on press freedom “struck him as quite absurd and divorced from reality”.
At the Opening of the seasonal meeting of the New York state bar association International Section, Mr. Shanmugam addressed the perception American newspapers portray of Singapore being “a repressive, state that controls the people’s thoughts” and “unfairly target the press”.
“Our approach on press reporting is simple: The press can criticize us, our policies. We do not seek to condemn that.
He stressed the public right to comment on policies while the goverment will respond to defend policies and ignore comments on intellect.
“Our main selling point is that there will be good value added when they invest here, their investments will be protected, and that we are a stable (more like fake)democracy.”
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2546538 Dirty Harry movie download The Hit release
Minister whines about ranking of local press…
October 27th, 2009 • Uncategorized
Low ranking for press freedom here absurd: Shanmugam
LAW Minister K. Shanmugam yesterday said rankings that place Singapore lowly on press freedom “struck him as quite absurd and divorced from reality”.
At the Opening of the seasonal meeting of the New York state bar association International Section, Mr. Shanmugam addressed the perception American newspapers portray of Singapore being “a repressive, state that controls the people’s thoughts” and “unfairly target the press”.
He referred to the Press Freedom Index compiled by the organization Reporters without Borders - which placed Singapore 144th out of 173 countries on press freedom in 2008 below Ethiopia, Sudan, Kazakhstan, Venezuela, Guinea, Haiti.
This year Singapore was ranked 133rd out of 175 countries below Kenya - which saw riots following a disputed election - and Congo - which continues to struggle with the aftermath of an armed conflict that has claimed more than 5 million lives.
Mr. Shanmugam said that it did not make sense that Singapore is ranked lower than countries trying to progress. “My point is not that we are in any way inherently superior to them - the question is whether a truly objective assessment will give us such a ranking.”
The Singapore government has had tussles and won law suits against with several newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and Far Eastern Economic Review. He said that the press is not used to this anywhere else in the world and “they don’t like it one bit”. “So every Law suit is met with the same reaction - we are out to silence the press. That feeling has been pervasive and has, in my view, coloured the general reporting on Singapore.” “Is it possible to have a modern, successful, open economy if the people are not empowered and educated?”
He added that it is perfectly possible to be deeply critical of government policies without the addition of totally unnecessary remarks on some form of corruption, as he had seen such cases when he was previously in private practice.
(lol sometimes, when it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, we shouldn’t say that it isn’t a duck)
“Our approach on press reporting is simple: The press can criticize us, our policies. We do not seek to condemn that. “But we demand the right of response, to be published in the journal that published the original article. We do not accept that they can decide whether to publish our response.” There will be libel suits if personal factual attacks are made. “Public discourse does not have to descend into the gutter, ” he said.
He went on to emphasize that there is a public right to comment on policies and even if it is “someone is stupid or that policies make no sense and the policies are attacked vigorously you can’t sue.” He stressed the public right to comment on policies while the government will respond to defend policies and ignore comments on intellect.
(i.e. government policies are never wrong, they must ALWAYS be defended; detractors are always talking out of their lower end)
Mr. Shanmugam said that proof of our stability can be seen by the billions of dollars invested in Singapore annually by international organizations.
“Our main selling point is that there will be good value added when they invest here, their investments will be protected, and that we are a stable democracy.”
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20091027-176233.html
ERP rates to increase by 50-100% HAHAHAHAHA VOTE FOR PAP SOMEMORE
October 27th, 2009 • 1 comment Uncategorized
Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates are set to increase by 50-100 per cent, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced on Tuesday.
From 8-8.30am. the ERP rate for the Ayer Rajah Expressway will increase to $1, up from $0.50.
From 6.30-7pm, the rate for two gantries, eastbound ECP (Marina South) and on slip road from Ophir Road, will increase to $3 from $2, an increase of 50 per cent.
The revised rates will take effect next Monday, Nov 2.
The revision comes after the completion of LTA’s quarterly review of traffic conditions on ERP-priced roads and expressways.
The next ERP review will take place in Nov 2009 for the December school holidays.
PR distribution in HDB estates to be monitored
October 26th, 2009 • 1 comment Uncategorized
SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) will consider measures to prevent the congregation of permanent residents, if necessary.
MediaCorp had contacted the statutory board after Member of Parliament Lim Wee Kiak filed a parliamentary question on the total number of PRs who own HDB flats and the distribution of PRs in various public housing estates.
While his question is being held over from last week - it could not be reached within the 90 minutes given for question time - an HDB spokesman said: “It’s important that PRs can integrate into the larger citizen community and to have a good mix of PRs in HDB estates. HDB will monitor the distribution of PRs in HDB estates.”
While it will consider measures, the spokesman added: “The number of PR households owning HDB flats is a small proportion of all HDB households.”
To Dr Lim, who may get the numbers next month when Parliament is in session, “10 to 15 per cent” would be “significant” enough - “as big a group as Indians and Malays” - to warrant introducing a quota system to ensure “even distribution” of PRs across estates, which will help the efforts to integrate and naturalise them.
PRs will otherwise “remain separated”, he said.
PR households are subject to the same HDB rules, including the Ethnic Integration Policy, and can buy any type of resale flat but are not eligible for any housing and mortgage subsidy, which only Singaporeans can receive.
MP Ho Geok Choo cautioned against introducing a quota, however. “The numbers (of foreigners) are not so intimidating or threatening yet,” she said.
“We have to share the need to house these foreign residents among us in Singapore.”
Dr Lim hopes his colleagues will raise more questions when National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan gives his reply in Parliament. The issue should be addressed now, he said, rather than later.
“Eventually, a lot of (PRs) may become Singaporeans and they’ll have a chance to exercise their vote and will become a political voice,” he said.
Foreigners, PRs a more common sight in heartlands
A Singaporean walking around Boon Lay Shopping Centre could be forgiven for thinking he is in a foreign land. It has six minimarts - four Myanmarese, one Thai and one Indian - while seven remittance shops and Internet cafes dot its aisles.
Shop owners estimate that foreigners form about 70 per cent of the patrons there.
At Clementi Avenue 5 and 2, two Myanmarese minimarts are located under HDB blocks, while Chinese nationals enjoy discounted $8 hair cuts at a shop in West Coast. Other patrons pay $12.
Foreign banks and remittance services are sprouting up in estates such as Ang Mo Kio, Woodlands and Marine Parade, too.
The heartland landscape is changing in tandem with the influx of foreigners. Last year, 79,167 took up permanent residency, up from the 63,627 new PRs in 2007.
From their house visits, Members of Parliament attest to the increase in foreigners and PRs moving into their estates.
MP Ho Geok Choo told MediaCorp that in her Boon Lay ward, they sometimes made up half of a floor consisting of 15 to 18 units. Likewise, MP Lim Wee Kiak has come across PRs of different nationalities occupying six out of the eight units in one of his Sembawang blocks.
The presence of the new arrivals in the heartlands has not gone unnoticed by Singaporeans. When retiree Sim Ai Mei attended a recent folk singing class organised by her residents’ committee in Woodlands, she found she was a minority: Of the 20 participants, 12 were Chinese nationals.
Living close to one another, they decided to enrol for the class together, the 64 year old later learnt. “I was surprised,” said Mdm Sim. “I didn’t expect them to turn up as a group.”
Mdm Sim’s friend, who wanted to be known as Mdm Lim, was more direct. She said: “There are just too many (of them). I can’t take their habits sometimes.”
Singaporeans’ complaints range from the smell of alien cuisines wafting through their flats, the noise levels and the hanging of clothes along the common corridors.
The new arrivals also chose to congregate with their fellow countrymen over locals, noted MPs and residents.
Choa Chu Kang resident Chow Zhihong observed that Chinese nationals at his estate have held gatherings at the common areas for their friends on occasions such as the Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day - but did not invite their Singaporean neighbours.
“They tend to stick to themselves,” said Mr Chow, who has lived in the estate for seven years.
The increasing numbers means that immigrants do not need to integrate with locals.
Mr Dong Liquan chose to live close to other Chinese families in Woodlands so that they could accompany his family when he is at work. “Our neighbours don’t understand our accent and some even laugh at us,” he said.
Dr Terence Chong, a sociologist at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, believes that migrants have moved into the heartlands for economic reasons. “A foreigner who moves into the heartlands may not want to integrate by local life. It’s just cheaper,” he said.
Accommodation costs do make a difference - which means the likes of Bishan, for example, would not have the numbers being seen elsewhere.
Compared to 2006, property agent Daniel Koh, who oversees 60 associates, has seen a 20 per cent rise in PRs looking for flats in the Woodlands area. Other estates that new arrivals have been eyeing include Sembawang, Punggol and Sengkang.
Some new arrivals think the economic downturn has accentuated the differences between them and Singaporeans.
“They think we’re out to take over their jobs and their housing,” said PR Liu Zijie.
“It creates an uneasy tension.”
When one Chinese national hung his country’s flag outside his flat, netizens blasted him for being culturally insensitive. In another incident, a group of foreign workers received an invoice with obscenities written in English.
It used to be easier to get along, feels Mr Pyaa Phyo Kyaw, 20, who came here three years ago from Myanmar after his parents obtained PR status.
Then, his Whampoa neighbours used to chat with his family in the evenings at the common corridor. The family shifted last year to Toa Payoh and getting to know their new neighbours has become harder.
“Their doors are always closed,” said Mr Pyaa, who is now a Singaporean.