Daily Archives: December 15, 2008

Opposition leader and lawyer, Lim Tean ridicules the idea promoted by some media outlets that differing receptions for Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong was due to Anwar arriving on a Malaysian Airlines plane, whereas Lee arrived on Hainan Airlines. Mr Lim pointed that reception rules for visiting statesmen are not set in stone, and if a country genuinely likes a guest, it can give them an extravagant reception.

The Law Society of Singapore has imposed a maximum five-year suspension on lawyer M Ravi for improper conduct, citing his lack of respect for key legal institutions and his baseless allegations. Teo Soh Lung voiced her opinion on how the judgment raises concerns about stifling free speech and expression and the overprotection of legal institutions.

On Friday (31 Mar), the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) of Singapore issued a warning to travelers regarding "system slowness" at select passenger clearance...

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for Bangladesh to halt its plan to repatriate Rohingya refugees to Myanmar, citing the risks they would face upon return. A delegation from Myanmar's military regime recently visited Bangladesh to interview potential candidates for return, but HRW warns that any return to Myanmar would put the lives and liberty of refugees "at grave risk" due to the ongoing military junta's massacres around the country.

Huawei's net profit fell almost 69% last year to 35.6 billion yuan ($5.2 billion), due to US sanctions and international economic uncertainty, according to the company. The CFO described the results as a "low point" in the company's history but said the company was moving "back to business as usual" despite US restrictions becoming its "new normal". Huawei has moved to diversify its revenue streams, focusing on consumer tech such as smartwatches and boosting its footprint in the auto sector as a supplier.

Chun Woo-won, the grandson of former South Korean military dictator Chun Doo-hwan, has apologized for a massacre committed in the 1980s, becoming the first member of his family to do so. The crackdown on a democracy uprising killed at least about 200 people. His apology has been hailed as significant and symbolic. Chun Doo-hwan was convicted of treason over the incident in 1996, but his sentence was commuted by a presidential pardon, and he never admitted involvement in or apologized for the killings.

Opinion: Reflection on the loss of multilingualism and cultural diversity in Singapore due to political intervention in favour of Mandarin, Malay and Tamil as "mother tongues.