“If the proceedings were chaired by an experienced, legally trained chairman, or if there were present such a person as a member…the proceedings could and indeed would have progressed more expeditiously.”

- The concerns of an unnamed lawyer cited by Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan to illustrate the need for a senior lawyer to chair or be a member of Singapore Medical Council disciplinary tribunals. This will prevent hearings from veering into “frivolous” matters without objection from the doctors on the tribunal.

“While it is inverse cultural insensitiveness to pre-censor a culture’s heritance
for the misconceived appeasement of another, it is at the end of the day, just a cheap toy.”

- Bhaskaran Kunju, commenting in the Temasek Review, on McDonald’s decision to leave out the pig character from its Doraemon toy collection that featured the animals of the Chinese zodiac. The move earned the ire of netizens and Chinese and Muslim customers alike.

 

Rescuing our biracial children from the cracks of our CMIO (Chinese, Malay, Indian and Others) template and giving them a label that properly describes them will accord proper recognition and inculcate nationalist pride that is well deserved.

- Letter writer Liang Kaicheng, in The Straits Times Forum, on the new ruling to allow Singaporeans of mixed heritage to use ‘double-barrelled’ race classifications on their identity cards.

It is one thing to encourage ourselves with the traditional attributes of the zodiac animals. But it is another to cling on to superstitions against children born in the Year of the Tiger.

- Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong admitting concern over the dipping fertility rate which may dip further due to Chinese superstitions over the ‘Tiger year’; previous Tiger years saw births dip by close to 7 per cent.

“With inertia and tensions evident among the superpowers, Singapore can actively rally middlepower nations to exert effective diplomatic pressures accordingly. Greater participation in global climate conferences and forums would also provide platforms for local non-government organisations (NGOs) to gather new ideas, generate more hype, and create more synergy back home.”

- Letter writer Kwan Jin Yao in TODAY on the reorganisation of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Climate Change. The body, headed by government leaders, will hone its focus both on formulating and implementing mitigation measures locally, as well as play a bigger role in international negotiation strategies.

‘Why not adapt the concept for Singapore and have a nature trail in the city centre with butterflies as the main attraction?’

- Margaret Clarkson, an American who was part of a Nature Society of Singapore project to create the 4km-long butterfly trail in the Orchard Road area. The idea stemmed from the 4km-long Freedom Trail in Boston in the United States, that takes visitors to 16 landmarks.

The question is whether a global city like London, New York or Paris can be sketched out on the drawing board. Can the urban buzz so unique to Boston or Madrid be created in a test tube?

- Paul Gilfeather, TODAY’s principal correspondent, in a commentary on the Economic Strategies Committee recommendations and what it takes to be a global city.

There is nothing free about letting a room of people gawk at your breasts.

- Dana Lam, President of the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) on a “Fill my Cups” promotion by the bar OverEasy. Women who had bigger breasts received more drinks. The organisers said the publicity stunt was just in “good fun”, but others took offence, calling it sexist and distasteful.

It is wrong to say ‘not in my backyard’. Where are we going to house the poor who cannot afford to buy an HDB flat?

- Indranee Rajah, Member of Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC, on the outcry by Tampines and Pasir Ris residents over plans to build rental flats near their districts.

The ESC Crib Sheet

The seven-prong map set out by the Economic Strategies Committee (ESC) on 1 February will grow Singapore to become a ‘high-skilled people, innovative economy and distinctive global city’. Here’s what the map entails:

BOOST INNOVATION, DEEPEN SKILLS
To achieve higher levels of annual productivity of 2 to 3 per cent and thereby grow Gross Domestic Product by 3 to 5 percent, the ESC recommends a national drive to ramp up on-job training and enterprise innovation.

ENHANCE SINGAPORE AS A GLOBAL HUB
Drive high-value manufacturing, financial, business and research and development (R&D) services to develop Singapore into a premier and strategic base for Asia and beyond.

DEVELOP A VIBRANT AND DIVERSE CORPORATE ECOSYSTEM
Apart from multinational companies, support and grow a wide mix of large and small firms to build a ‘multiplier effect’ through the networking and partnerships forged in a diverse corporate landscape.

FOCUS ON R&D AND COMMERCIALISATION
Boost investments and capacity in R&D and R&D commercialisation to secure Singapore as ‘Asia’s Innovation Capital’.

DRIVE ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Continue to diversify energy sources so that scarcity does not limit growth while growing energy efficiency by looking into renewables.

BOOST LAND EFFICIENCY
Increase Singapore’s land efficiency – for instance, by developing a new waterfront city at Tanjong Pagar.

BUILD A DISTINCTIVE HOME
Grow, deepen and support the skills, productivity, cultural talents and creativity of Singaporeans, while attracting diverse pools of talent to be part of the nation’s growth and development.

Read more at www.esc.gov.sg

“We have kept the HDB residents in place, so we are sharing the growth of the city with the people who are of that class who built the city. We could have maximised the value by selling it off, and then a condo would have been built. But we didn’t do that.”

- Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on the launch of the Pinnacle@Duxton, a 50-storey high public housing project in the city.

“I am convinced that while it is no fun to be poor, in Singapore we will give a reasonable social safety net which gives you dignity and your children hope for the future.”

- Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports on the continued efforts to improve social security; MCYS spent about $245m to help the needy in the 2009 financial year, compared to $165m in the previous year.

In the area of traditional music, there has been a tremendous surge in research, study and performance in various parts of the world, coupled with renewed vigour and enthusiasm for reform in ethnomusicology … The traditional arts must never be seen as a step backwards. The “zero-sum” mentality that globalisation has seemingly stamped on cultural development can be easily converted into cultural dialogue and new cultural growth by the traditional Asian concepts of respect and inclusiveness.

- Joe Peters, Liaison Officer (Singapore) at UNESCO’s International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM), welcoming plans by the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts to pay special attention to traditional art forms such as Chinese ink painting and Indian dance.

While the commission begins as an intergovernmental body and will not have teeth, it will have a certain moral authority to raise issues and this itself is helpful … If countries are in breach, we can say: ‘Look, you agreed to these things in the Charter, it’s on this basis that we have become a community. Can we please show some respect for what we’ve agreed to?’ So it allows us to put moral pressure on countries that fall short.

- Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo on the impact of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights.

“The new 60 is the old 50 … We’re living longer, people are much healthier, they have the faculties if they want to work; they bring a lot of value to the organisation.”

- Harish Nim, chief executive of IT firm Emerico, commenting on the Employment Assistant Payment (EAP), a proposed one-off payment for older workers that companies do not re-hire beyond the retirement age of 62. The EAP is likely to form part of legislation that will make it mandatory for companies to offer re-employment after the retirement age.

We have succeeded so far because we have been liberal on talent inflow. To continue to succeed, we need to continue with that policy. Businesses invest in Singapore because they know that they will be able to bring in the talent they need. The financial services sector employs several thousands of Singaporeans. It also employs many foreigners. If we told the banks that they cannot bring in foreign employees then we put the jobs of Singaporeans at risk as well.

- Law Minister K Shanmugam on the contribution of foreign talent to Singapore.

The law of defamation is really about balancing the value of free speech and the value of reputation in a democratic society. How this balance is to be struck depends on the political, social and cultural values of each society as reflected in its laws. These values differ from society to society and at different times of their development.

- Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong during his keynote address at the seasonal meeting of the New York State Bar Association International Section in Singapore on the “much misunderstood” subject of defamation and free speech.

For those who follow the ‘Singapore is my country’ route, the identity, perks, and obligations of citizenship are vital. For those who consider Singapore primarily as a city, the freedom to leave, to move on, to see this as one place on a global cosmopolitan continuum, will prevail, whatever passport one carries … We should never forget that Singapore as a city and a country is an anomaly.

- Sociologist Dr Sharon Siddique, commenting on the Government’s moves to ‘calibrate the differences’ between citizens and permanent residents.

The START-UP Crib Sheet

Want to start a business or a charity, stage a play or learn from those that have?

These sites offer access to funds, training, advice and other tidbits for that leg-up in the start-up game.

Funding schemes for all

Your starting point is www.business.gov.sg for funds and information across industries.

Looking to upgrade your business or gain access to some seed funding? www.spring.gov.sg offers both, and more.

The arts and media

For a comprehensive list of arts funds, hit www.mda.gov.sg.

www.nac.gov.sg offers grants for artists and arts organisations.

Find competitions, awards and other resources at www.designsingapore.org.

Social enterprise

Combine social work and business with the ComCare Enterprise Fund from www.mcys.gov.sg.

Business on the web

Web start-ups need look no further than www.garag3.com.

Training, education and support

Looking for advice, a community or inspiration from those who have been there? Get connected at these sites:
www.socialinnovationpark.org
www.socialinnovatorsforum.org
www.nus.edu.sg/start-up
www.nanzchongkomo.com
www.ace.sg
www.e27.sg

“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

BLOGS AND ALTERNATIVE MEDIA

www.mrbrown.com
mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com
www.p65.sg
www.singaporeangle.com
singaporedaily.net
singaporerebel.blogspot.com
www.sgpolitics.net
theonlinecitizen.com
www.yawningbread.org

“This is our way of getting to know the younger leaders. We don’t just sit in the office to talk, but have a meal at the coffee shop.”
– Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew while at lunch with his Singaporean and Malaysian counterparts in Perak when a Singapore delegation of ministers held a ‘Nasi Kandar diplomacy’ session. Nasi Kandar is a Penang speciality of rice, curries and various dishes.

“The change in composition of Parliament will affect the dynamics in the House between the government and the opposition parties. Government MPs have to become sharper at defending their positions.”
– Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on the moves to increase the number of opposition voices in Parliament.

“Leadership is by and large gender-neutral and [has to do with one being] competent and dynamic enough to inspire and lead a group of people.”
– Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, 50, Singapore’s first full woman minister

“Is it appropriate to allow GIC and Temasek to continue investing the way they have done in recent years, make somewhat speculative investments, like the way private wealth is shown to have been managed?”
– MP for Ang Mo Kio GRC Inderjit Singh, calling for a review of the manner in which Temasek Holdings and the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation handle Singapore reserves.

“Something I hope the review commission keeps in mind is whether censorship and filtration is practical in the age of the Internet. I hope they take into consideration the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media’s request that the symbolic ban on the 100 websites be abolished.”
– Choo Zheng Xi, editor at online newspaper The Online Citizen, responding to the upcoming Censorship Review Committee evaluation of media in Singapore.

“We simply believe that these special restrictions for travel, which is the visa, is not conducive to resolve or to prevent this virus from spreading and as always happens, these kind of measures have unintended negative effects that we wish to avoid.”
– Mexican Ambassador to Singapore Juan Jose Gomez objecting to Singapore’s imposition of temporary visa requirements on its nationals as well as the move to automatically quarantine visitors who have been to Mexico. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was a “sanitary precautionary measure”. The visa restrictions were lifted on 12 May.

“In this era, maintenance should be on the basis of need and not of sex.”
– Dr Kanwaljit Soin, social activist, floating the idea that less welloff men should have the right to claim maintenance from their ex-wives; under the Women’s Charter, men do not enjoy this right in Singapore

“Common sense dictates that religious fervour to spread the faith, in our society, must be constrained by sensitivity, tolerance and mutual respect for another’s faith and religious beliefs.”
– Judge Roy Neighbour, in his written judgement against a Christian couple for distributing and possessing anti-Muslim and anti-Catholic tracts; the pair were jailed for eight weeks in the fi rst trial under the Sedition Act here in June.

“The next spouse at least will know what sort of man she’s marrying. She’ll know whether he has discharged his responsibilities and realise that men don’t change their spots, and make an informed decision before they proceed.”
– Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on a proposed ‘matrimonial credit bureau’ to keep records on those who fail to pay maintenance to their ex-wives. The Singapore Council of Women’s  rganisations has also proposed for a state agency to administer the collection and distribution of maintenance money.