By Leong Sze Hian As Parliament shall be debating the AIM Review Report immediately following the Ministerial Statement on the same subject on Monday, 13 May – it may be good to re-visit some of the possible issues or questions: MPs are trustees? Under the Town Councils Act, MPs are trustees. Therefore, they are not permitted to do what they like with money or properties under their charge. Can’t do whateve ...

By Leong Sze Hian I refer to the article “WP adjournment motion on town councils inadmissible” (Singapolitics, May 9). Adjournment motion inadmissible? It states that “Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob has ruled that an adjournment motion on the town council review, filed by Workers’ Party chairman Sylvia Lim, is inadmissible in Parliament when it sits next Monday. The reason: The subject of the motion wi ...

By Ghui As a Singaporean, I greeted the news that Singapore ranked 15th overall in terms of the wellbeing of mothers and children in the 14th “State of the World’s Mothers” report by Children’s aid agency, Save The Children (http://sg.news.yahoo.com/singapore-safest-place-to-be-born-in-asia--report-165347498.html) with pride.  This standing places Singapore ahead of developed countries such as the United St ...

By Leong Sze HianI refer to the articles “AIM deal given all clear: MND review” (Today, May 3) and “MND review: No misuse or loss of public funds in AIM deal with PAP town councils” (Straits Times, May 3).Some of the questions that many Singaporeans have been asking may arguably deserve more details or clarification.Some extracts from the Ministry of National Development (MND) TOWN COUNCIL REVIEW REPORT -Te ...

By Yap ShiwenThe issue of Associate Professor Cherian George's denial of tenure in Nanyang Technological University (NTU)'s Wee Kim Wee School of Communications bears consequences for both the Singapore public, NTU administration and for significant political factions within the Singapore government. This is especially glaring, given NTU's international standing and branding as a global institution of merit ...

Singapore Armchair Critic for The Online Citizen Singapore and Malaysia, as highly developed countries that have clung on to their authoritarian regimes, have long been seen as “anomalies” by political analysts of democratization. But now cracks are appearing in these regimes. Malaysia will see its most closely fought election ever on 5 May where there is a real, albeit slim, possibility of the ruling UMNO ...

By Tan Yin Hoe Language as a tool of cognition and communication is very utilitarian in nature. It is good to the extent which it serves its purposes well. Given that language acquisition is an arduous task that takes time, effort and determination, why would an infant push himself to learn and articulate his discomfort when a whimper serves just as well? It is because, through his interactions with his par ...

By Jen If you find it suffocating lately, it may not be the haze but quite likely it is due to the oppressive tactics by our government to suppress views that are critical of them and their policies. I had been hopeful that the People's Action Party (PAP) -led government would change for the better when I first started my blog post General Elections 2011. Unfortunately, those upbeat sentiments went downhill ...

By: Jeraldine Phneah For those who have watched Les Misérables, you would have witnessed the young people fighting for ideals that are carried on today in modern France - Equality, fraternity, liberal democracy and the spread of secularism. Unlike their international counterparts, Singaporean Youths here are unable to reach their fullest potential in being a changemaker. Community service is popular among m ...

By: Jeraldine Phneah "It is of the highest public importance that a democratically elected governmental body, or indeed any governmental body, should be open to uninhibited public criticism". - Lord Keith. My father have always discouraged me from writing about socio-political issues online. “These days a lot of bloggers are being caught for, you better don’t say anything bad about government ah. Just keep ...