Singapore

Policy Buzz

October 1, 2009

“We cannot make it so onerous that they will not come – for example, by requiring PRs or new citizens to be fluent in English, when even some existing citizens are not.”

– Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on the issue of English and integration in Singapore.

“You see it sailing across the water beautifully, gracefully, but underneath paddling furiously. That’s what MPs [Members of Parliament] are doing when you don’t know what MPs are doing.”

– Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the behind-the-scenes work that goes into building social harmony in Singapore.

“[The] inability to understand and speak Singapore’s common language, English, makes integration difficult. Our founding fathers understood this and made bilingualism the glue of our nation of different races. It has worked well. So we should require new citizens and permanent residents to understand and speak basic English.”

– Henry Tan, writing in to The Straits Times Forum, adding to the debate on improving the integration of new citizens.

“I asked one of my old English teachers about this problem [of Singapore’s standard of spoken English], and he said, ‘The British left’. I understood what he meant. When the British were around, people who spoke to them were more careful.”

– Book publisher Goh Eck Kheng, chairman of the Speak Good English Movement

“The six-year programme will match sports training and development programmes more closely, and offer student athletes another option in academic pacing and assessment. The longer development runway also allows greater flexibility for them to pursue sporting and academic excellence concurrently.”

– Deborah Tan, principal of the Singapore Sports School, announcing the launch of a six-year programme leading to the International Baccalaureate Diploma for top student athletes.

“Bosses need to decide whether they should insist on short-term returns to productivity at the cost of the long-term stability of Singapore.”

– Associate Professor Pauline Straughan, Nominated Member of Parliament, on the need for family-friendly workplaces to support national measures to boost fertility here, in response to the small impact made by the Baby Bonus scheme launched last year.

“A lot of youth have interesting ideas, but no platform to put them into action. The National Youth Assembly not only provides a platform, but puts youths into the shoes of the government as they do research, take responsibility and defend their own stance.”

– Hozefa Aziz Singapore Wala, Chairman of the National Youth Assembly, which holds mock parliament sessions to pass Bills on sustainability that will eventually be taken to Government ministries to assess their feasibility.

“It is no answer really to say that the law firms may not be in a position to train the pupils. It is not fair to the pupils – which is why we now say we will provide the framework.”

– Law Minister K Shanmugam, passing a law to replace law pupillage with a new Training Contract that will ensure that law trainees have a structured learning programme for six months.

“Institutionally, I don’t think we are very good at organising karaoke sessions. A charity would be able to do that with much more passion and meet the patient’s psychological needs.”

– Ms Yong Ying-I, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health on the plans to ‘twin’ major hospitals with community hospitals to achieve high standards of medical treatment from the former and pastoral care and social activities from the latter.

The ELECTION Crib Sheet

The next Singapore elections are due to be held before 2 February 2012. Need to brush up on some background? Hit these sites to build your election know-how before the big date.

BACKGROUND READING

For the official site, visit www.elections.gov.sg
Know your numbers at www.singapore-elections.com, an archive of national election results
Get the details of government workings at www.parliament.gov.sg

PARTY KNOWLEDGE

National Solidarity Party: www.nsp.sg
People’s Action Party: www.pap.org.sg
Singapore Democratic Party: www.yoursdp.org
Singapore People’s Party: www.spp.org.sg
The Worker’s Party: www.wp.sg