Chee Soon Juan responds to Lee Hsien Loong’s National Day Rally address
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered his National day rally speech on 29 Aug 10. This is SDP Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan’s respsonse. Dr Chee notes that Mr Lee ignored the problems caused by the flooding of foreigners in Singapore and how this is causing grave social and infrastructural problems for the country.
NSP: Leave No Man Behind
Like many Singaporeans, NSP is shocked to learn that the PAP is only giving due recognition to present NSmen while ignoring those past NSmen who have contributed to the safety and stability of this country.
It is easy for the ruling party to say that it is not just about the money. However, the exclusion of those NSmen in Mindef Reserve from such rewarding system has hurt their feelings more than the mere $9000 in question.
PM Lee’s National Day Rally Speech 2010 — James Bond is in town!
By the Singapore Democrats
30 August 2010
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has mastered the art of talking a lot but not saying much. He did this when he spoke on the hot-button issue of foreigners flooding Singapore, a topic that dominated his National Day (ND) Rally speech on Sunday night.
His first statement already is dubious. Mr Lee says that the GDP for the first half of the year was 18% year-on-year and that this growth created “lots of jobs” and as a result “unemployment has gone down”. Not true.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) reported that the the actual numbers of the jobless increased by nearly 25,000 between March and June this year. Seasonally adjusted figures show that around 68,100 Singapore residents were out of work in June 2010.
The number of unemployed did decrease towards the latter half of 2009. But what good is a ND Rally speech when we cannot depend on the prime minister to use up-to-date information rather than spin us using data that’s more than half-a-year old?
This is why the Democrats advocate retrenchment benefits
By the Singapore Democrats
25 August 2010
The Ministry of Manpower reported that as of June 2010 nearly 70,000 people in Singapore are unemployed. The numbers also reveal that those who are still looking for jobs after six months is on the rise. Add to this is the fact that most of those retrenched are older workers – aged 40 and above.
Behind the numbers are real people who suddenly find themselves out of a job. They have families to feed and bills to pay. They are also the ones who have children in their teens, a time when expenses are the highest.
These are hardworking folks who through no fault of theirs are rudely greeted with a pink slip on day when they show up for work. And while the income stops, the bills continue to pile up. The electricity bill still needs to be paid, the HDB loan still needs to be serviced, and children still need to go to school.
Take care of Singaporeans too
By the Singapore Democrats
19 August 2010
In his zeal to impress foreigners on how efficiently and smoothly he can run the Youth Olympic Games (YOG), Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan has been quite happy to sacrifice the daily necessities of Singaporeans.
Take, for example, the temporary closure of bus-stops. The Land Transport Authority has ordered that buses cannot stop outside the YOG venues such as the one at the Toa Payoh Stadium. Two SBS bus inspectors are stationed at the stop to wave buses on and prevent commuters from getting off. Is such a measure necessary?
Could security concerns be the reason that the LTA is doing this? The answer is no because anyone can walk into the vicinity of the stadium and competition halls. There is no security personnel to check visitors.
Activist Seelan Palay jailed for exercising his rights
By the Singapore Democrats
12 August 2010
Human rights activist Mr Seelan Palay is serving a 12-day prison term for taking part in the Tak Boleh Tahan (Malay for “cannot take it”) protest on 15 Mar 08 outside Parliament House.
Mr Seelan was convicted together with 8 other activists by District Judge Chia Wee Kiat in Mar 2010. All of them have appealed the conviction. The appeal hearing date has yet to be fixed. Some of those convicted, including Ms Chee Siok Chin and Dr Chee Soon Juan, have served their two-week sentences.
Mr Seelan, who produced One Nation Under Lee (ONUL), is facing another charge of participating in an illegal assembly on 9 Aug 08 together with 10 other activists (see here).
When Should One Retire?
By Dr Wong Wee Nam
08 August 2010
“If I’d known that retirement was going to be this good I’d have done it the day after I left school!!!”
— Mickey White
Flowers know when to shrivel and die. Trees know when to shed their leaves. Animals know when they can no longer hunt. Even elephants know when to die.
Do Singaporeans know when to retire? Some of them don’t, many of them just can’t and most just don’t know how to.
Those who don’t are obviously the very well-paid. If you are getting an income of millions of dollars from your company, why would you want to give that up? I asked my long-retired mathematics teacher, aged 77, for his view on this and, with a mind still as sharp as his putt, he replied, “This is pure mathematical logic”.
MM Lee: PAP more likely to get the drainage right (run-up to GE 2006)
Said Mr Lee: “The PAP makes promises they deliver. The Opposition cannot deliver.”
“If you have a flood, just carefully think who is more likely to get the drainage put right and have the flood alleviated as quickly as possible: A PAP candidate with links to the ministers and Prime Minister, or a non-PAP candidate who has become an MP, like in Potong Pasir or Hougang, and who has to manage on his own?”
“That’s a fact of life.”
Source: Today newspaper, “MM Lee explains his tough stance against Opposition, throws a challenge“, 29 April 2006.
SDP’s National Day Message 2010 — The Young Ones
What kind of a society are we building for our young ones? What are their aspirations? Are they going to live in a country that is different from ours, one which is free and democratic? We hear from them in this year’s National Day Message from the SDP.
Chiam’s wife to contest Potong Pasir
Source: ST, 05 Aug 2010
POTONG Pasir MP Chiam See Tong has named his wife Lina as his political successor.
It means that at the next general election, Mrs Chiam, 61, will contest the single-seat constituency her husband has held since 1984.
And Mr Chiam, 75, intends to lead an opposition team to stand in the neighbouring Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, a five-MP constituency he has been eyeing for some time.
Speaking to The Straits Times at his Meet-the-People session last night, Mr Chiam said he chose his wife as she was his ‘natural successor’.
The Youth Olympic Games — why the great apathy?
Written by Ng E-Jay
03 August 2010
Why do so many Singaporeans fail to feel a sense of pride at our nation hosting the Youth Olympic Games, slated to take place from the 14th to the 26th of August this year?
According to an informal poll conducted at the Channel News Asia website, 90% of the respondents indicated that they were not interested at all in the event.
A quick survey of Singapore’s popular internet forums also reveal a general apathy towards the Games, sprinkled with negative comments about how the event has been organized thus far and how far removed the YOG seems from the daily lives and aspirations of ordinary citizens.
The Taming of the Floods
By Dr Wong Wee Nam
02 August 2010
The Contrast
Floods have been China’s sorrow for thousands of years. They have also been Singapore’s talking point for the past few months. In China, people wailed and cried as they lost their loved ones, their properties and the crops to the calamity. Luckily for Singapore, except for those affected, we can still laugh and joke at the excuses made up by people who are supposed to address and solve the problem.
The Legend
Five thousand years ago, the flooding by the Yellow River was so bad that the confederation of chieftains under the leadership of Yao （尧）decided to appoint Gun （鲧） to take charge of the fight against the flood.
Shooting the messenger – PAP’s growing desperation
By Alex Au, for the Asia Times Online
27 July 2010
(This is an abbreviated version of the article. The full article can be accessed here.)
Three recent incidents have brought renewed attention to the repressive nature of Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP)-led government at a time when the island state is bidding to attract more foreign tourists and investment.
A book critical of the way the death penalty is applied in Singapore saw its British author, Alan Shadrake, arrested on July 18. He was interrogated for 39 hours and now faces possible imprisonment for contempt of court.
Singapore People’s Party elects new CEC
Source: CNA, 25 July 2010
SINGAPORE : The opposition Singapore People’s Party (SPP) held its Ordinary Party Conference on Sunday, and elected 14 members to its decision making Central Executive Committee (CEC).
Veteran politician Chiam See Tong remains in the committee.
The new faces include his wife Lina Chiam and member Desmond Lim, who’s reported to have differences in the party over the possible inclusion of the Reform Party into the Singapore Democratic Alliance.
Problem: Overpopulation. Solution? Bring in more people
By the Singapore Democrats
22 July 2010
Rarely do stories dovetail so perfectly to make nonsense of what officialdom spews out, but these two did: What Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said yesterday about the floods in Singapore and what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told Singaporeans about foreign workers.
Lee Sr told his listeners: “There’s a limited amount of space that’s been dug underground, limited amount of space you can run off for canals and if you have an extraordinary rainfall, well you got to prepare for it.” Limited amount of space in Singapore. Now who could have guessed that?
Haven’t we been having that fact beaten into our heads for only, oh, the last half-a-century?
Dr Lim Hock Siew
By Dr Wong Wee Nam
20 July 2010
“You only have power over people so long as you don’t take everything away from them. But when you’ve robbed a man of everything, he’s no longer in your power — he’s free again.”
– Alexander Solzhenitsyn
I first met him at the wake of the late Dr Lee Siew Choh in July 2002. That was 20 years after he was released from an almost 20-year detention. I saw a friend sitting at another table and went up to say “hello” to her. He happened to be sitting at the same table and she introduced us.
That was the first time I saw how he looked like.
I have heard of him when I was a young boy. He was the son of a famous fishmonger in the market where I had lived. The father was famous because he had a clever son. Not a lot of poor people then had children who are doctors.
Our police state is fraying at the edges
Written by Ng E-Jay
20 July 2010
Recent events have shown unequivocally that not only has the PAP Government run the country as a police state, but also that the authorities are now getting panicky and desperate to the point that they are fumbling and making glaring mistakes.
Barely two weeks ago, a member of the National Solidarity Party (NSP) was fined by the National Environment Agency (NEA) for illegal hawking. (See here.) His alleged “offence”: Selling the Party newspaper in a public area.
The NSP has written to NEA seeking a clarification on the matter, based on the fact that it was not engaging in any unhygienic activity, but merely promoting its political cause in a fashion that surely, in any democratic country, is 100% legitimate.
Apparently the authorities must have felt that NSP’s activities are politically unclean and pose a political health concern (to the PAP, that is).
Every flood is a slap in the face for PAP
Saturday’s flooding embarrasses PAP yet again.
Source: ST Online, 17 July 2010
HEAVY rains lashed Singapore early on Saturday morning, uprooting trees and causing flash floods in many area.
The affected areas included Braddell Road, Changi Road and Bukit Timah, where rising floodwaters stranded several drivers in their vehicles.
At the Tessarina Condo in Bukit Timah area, waters rose to knee-high, flooding the basement carpark. Some cars were almost submerged in water, prompting frantic residents to move them out to drier grounds.
Straitstimes.com reader Jerry Chan said the flooding was ‘chaotic’ and it was the third time in seven months, not ‘once in 50 years as suggested’.
Repeated flooding of Singapore shows PAP Govt’s ineptitude
Source: Channel News Asia, 17 July 2010
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Civil Defence Force says the flash floods at all affected areas have receded.
There were flash floods in several low-lying areas in Singapore as a result of heavy rain Saturday morning.
Once in 50-year freak event now occurring on regular basis
“Impossible To Flood” Orchard Road flooded for UMPTEENTH time this year; MEWR lambasted by citizens for making “sweeping statements”.
Source: ST Online, 17 July 2010
AFTER being hit by the worst flooding in 26 years last month, Delfi Orchard was again flooded on Saturday morning.
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SDP's "Let's Talk With Dr Wong Wee Nam"
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The Real Political Change That Singapore Needs
The Spectre of Death
Do We Care?
The Control of Election Campaigning
The Singapore Change - Real or Illusion?
The Need for a Multi-Party System
All That Glitters is Not Gold
The Politics of Madness
Exemplary Leadership: People First
Where Are the Potential Prime Ministers?
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Internet Deregulation
Channel News Asia: SG News- Changes to dual ownership leave some home owners in a bind September 2, 2010
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- Need for foreign workers "strong" in S'pore September 2, 2010
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- OPINION: Singapore’s Useful Peasants - Joseph B. Atkins September 2, 2010
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- Singapore delays cross-carriage pay-TV rules September 2, 2010
- SINGAPORE: New Universities Trust to ensure funding September 2, 2010
- Video: Opposition leader responds to PM Lee's National Day Rally address September 2, 2010
- Singapore ranked as world's 4th largest foreign exchange center September 2, 2010
- Spending On Visa Card Touches S$154 Million During Young Olympic Games September 2, 2010
- Freedom House Report: Singapore ranked 'REPRESSIVE" in workers' rights violations September 1, 2010
- Survey: Singapore's elderly at risk of malnutrition September 1, 2010
- EC probe drives biodiesel trading in Singapore to a halt September 1, 2010
- Vietnamese officials sent to dodgy ‘foreign training courses’ in Singapore September 1, 2010
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- The art of violent metaphors - by Lee Kuan Yew August 29, 2010
- Videos : Pleading for death row prisoners at the Istana August 27, 2010
- Alan Shadrake held in Singapore - Aggregated News (updated 24 Aug) July 21, 2010
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