How “public” is S’pore’s public transportation system?

The following was sent to TOC by Mr Alton Tan. It is a reply to PAP MP, Dr Lam Pin Min, on the P65 blog. TOC thanks Mr Tan for allowing us to re-publish it here.

Dear Dr Lam,

I refer to the article, “New formula for public transport fare revision to be out this week” (The Straits Times, 1 July 2008).

More ERP gantries, higher ERP charges. Taxi surcharges have gone up, and taxi companies may be implementing a fuel charge soon. The latest news? Fares on public transport will be increased. I sometimes really wonder how “public” is Singapore’s public transportation system. They are private companies with management who only focus on profits, profits, and more profits.

Let me quote you an example. A few years ago when the North East line (NEL) was officially opened, several bus services going towards the city were terminated from my area. These services were basically from the Serangoon and Hougang depots (e.g. 111, 106, 501, 502 etc), reason being it wasn’t profitable to run these bus services along the same route as the NEL. Why? The NEL is owned by SBS Transit. Read more

Important to build a gracious society

Tan Kin Lian

We may have to re-think some of the policies that have shaped Singapore successfully in past years, but have become disadvantageous today.

Liu I-Chun wrote a letter that was published in the Today paper recently. It was titled, “I will miss this home.” The sub-title said, “In Taipei, hospitality and kindness abound, making it an extremely liveable city”.

Here’s what she wrote in her letter:

I am an expatriate who has been living in Taipei for the past three years, and have grown to like this place

Cultural vibrancy, a convenient public transport system and excellent healthcare system aside, it is the hospitality of the Taiwanese people that I will dearly miss when I leave this city.

People automatically give up their seats on buses and trains to the infirmed and the elderly ….. Read more

Singapore Press - rushing to infernal self-condemnation

TOC thanks Mr Law Sin Ling for allowing us to re-publish the following article. Mr Law is the Secretary General of the National Solidarity Party.

Law Sin Ling

It was not pleasant news for Sunday, or any day. A life was lost through yet-to-be-determined circumstance. Murder was insinuated by the newspaper. The reporter was not obliged to sanctify the incident. He opted instead to let loose a devilish instinct from a more primordial period of human civilisation. He opted to bestialise his upbringing.

Browse the literature freely and one will inevitably experience an uneasy sense of literate discontinuity, like a crudely constructed out-of-place road-hump on the evenly-tarred surface of the information expressway, or a pernicious chasm in the civil humanity continuum. Read more

“Singapore upholds free speech” – MM Lee’s press secretary

Update (July 1): The Singapore Democratic Party has responded to Mdm Yeong’s letter. Click here.

Andrew Loh

“Singapore upholds free speech and the right to disagree, subject to the law”, Minister Mentor’s press secretary, Mdm Yeong Yoon Ying, said in a letter to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

She was responding to the WSJ’s article titled, “Democracy in Singapore”, published in the paper on June 26.

Referring to the recent court case brought against the Singapore Democratic Party, she said that “the case had nothing to do with political freedom”. Instead, “it was for defamation arising from the Chees’ false claims that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Lee Kuan Yew are criminals and corrupt.”

Saying that “Singapore upholds free speech and the right to disagree”, she explained that “many opposition politicians routinely criticize government leaders, but are not sued because they have not uttered slanderous falsehoods.” Read more

Making sense of HDB rejections

Leong Sze Hian

I refer to HDB’s latest BTO, Straits Vista@Marsiling launched on 10 June. (”HDB’s challenge: low-cost housing, condo-like flats” (ST, Jun 11)) (”Marsiling goes BTO :Straits Vista project launched as HDB wins UN award” (Today, Jun 11)).

Why is it that the problem of all applicants rejecting BTO HDB flats offered, resulting in leftover flats, is only a recent phenomena over the last year or so ?

Is it because not only has HDB 4-room flat prices increased by an average of 40 to more than 100 per cent from about two years ago, and the price range has also widened ?

For example, the price range for BTOs at Straits@Marsiling is from $116,000 to $164,000 (3-room) and $184,000 to $257,000 (4-room), and $ 234,000 to $ 305,000 (4-room) for Punggol Sapphire. Read more

Crossing the line into vulgarity

Andrew Loh

I would sincerely like to believe that this is the absolute lowest that the PAP government will go to attempt to destroy its political opposition – crossing the line into vulgarity.

The first time I heard of Dr Chee Soon Juan was way back in 1992, when he first stepped into the political arena. Given the way the People’s Action Party ruled Singapore then – and even now – it was quite inspiring to see one such as Dr Chee stepping right into the cauldron of Singapore’s political minefield.

16 years have passed since then and many things have transpired – both with Dr Chee and Singapore as a whole.

As far as the Government is concerned, sadly, the changes have not been in tandem with the promises made. Singaporeans will still remember how the Government promised a “tolerant society”, a “gracious society”, a “compassionate society”, and even one which would allow space for “political dissidents”,as declared by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and Minister Vivian Balakrishnan. (See here: Protecting the sacred cows behind electric fences) Read more

The Workers’ Party elects new CEC

The party elects 3 new faces, only one minority member in new CEC

The Workers’ Party (WP) elected a new Central Executive Council (CEC) this afternoon at the party’s headquarters in Syed Alwi Road.

The Online Citizen (TOC) understands that three new members were elected into the CEC this time round. The current CEC now has 14 members, one more than the last CEC. The three new members are Koh Choong Yong, who is also the vice president of the Youth Wing, Lilian Lee and Png Eng Huat, whom TOC understands is an active member in the party’s welfare and grassroots activities in Hougang.

The two who have stepped down are Abdul Salim and Lee Wai Leng, both of whom stood in the 2006 general elections as part of the WP’s Ang Mo Kio outfit which went up against Mr Lee Hsien Loong’s PAP team. Read more

Opposition member’s wife arrested for suspected murder

In a Channel NewsAsia report, a 26-year-old female Chinese national, believed to be the wife of National Solidarity Party member Tan Lead Shake, was arrested earlier today.

She is suspected to be involved in the murder of Tan’s brother and is also alleged to have slashed the man’s wife. She will be charged in court on Monday.

Full report on Channel NewsAsia.

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Whose future is “shining”, really?

Andrew Loh

Ministers scheduled to be given a third pay hike this year

If you ask me, the future is really shining for us… We will survive; this is a red dot, which we can make redder and brighter. (MM Lee, 2006)

We are into a period of good economic growth and social development… If there are no wars or oil crises, this golden period can stretch out over many years… (Singapore in a golden period, says MM Lee, 2007),

Mdm Soh (not her real name) is more than 70 years old and has been working as an office cleaner for more than a year. Her daily routine starts at 7am and ends at 5pm, which means she puts in 10 hours of work, including a one hour lunch break. She works five and a half days per week – 55 hours in all.

She is paid $650 per month.

$2.95 per hour. Read more

An impassioned plea from a senior Singaporean

The following is a comment posted by ‘patriot’ in response to Tan Kin Lian’s article, “Give adequate wages to low income workers”. The comments are unedited and republished here in its entirety.

Me dare not say any word before this because I have never work or reside in a foreign land, so, difficult for me to make comparisons.

But, maybe I can relate my past experience. I was born to a poor farming family and helped out in the farms (vegetable/pig/poultry) as young as six year old. Left school before Senior Cambridge Examination, worked as construction worker with mother after been resettled to Public Housing.

Working at constructions in the late sixties to the eighties meant tough, heavy menial works. Running the cement mixer itself is beyond the understanding of any young Singaporeans. Let me describe; two to three workers man the motor driven mixer, one control the mixer and the other two will have to pour troughs of sand and sometimes fine granite chips and cement (each pack 25 kilogram in weight) into the mixer at chest height. The trough of sand and granite weighed average no less than 40 kg, when there was no water hose for water, water would also had to be manually carried from source and poured into the mixer. Read more

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