by Augustine Low She seemed like a nice enough person, humble and straight talking and one among the elite to live in a HDB flat. The chosen one, as far as the establishment was concerned, the one who could be counted on to bond with Singaporeans. So she became President. But she became President in a way that appeared illegitimate …

As  I read the Straits Times report regarding Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ response to Malaysian Prime Minister’s comment on the Singapore-Malaysia water agreement, a Facebook post caught my attention. A netizen wrote, The cold hard facts which many haters hate to see or admit. SG buys untreated river water from MY at 3 sen per 1,000 gallons. SG treats the …

An active voice on the issue of Singapore Police Force (SPF)’s dwindling manpower, Parliamentarian Ms Sylvia Lim has raised questions on the floor of parliament before on the Home Team’s strategies for combatting this growing concern, noting that the SPF should be exploring novel ways to recruit and retain officers. It seems that they’ve taken some of her queries into …

More than S$78,000 worth of drugs were seized and four suspects were arrested in an operation conducted by the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB) during the night of 25 June 2018. In the night of 25 June 2018, CNB mounted an operation and conducted observation on two suspected drug traffickers in the vicinity of Circuit Road. The suspected traffickers – a …

Something in this Straits Times article just doesn’t feel right. Although I always pride myself on making the extra effort to be fair and objective, I cannot help but feel emotional about this. Madam Zarimah, the victim in an industrial accident on Monday, was a breast cancer sufferer and survivor who had to continue working to pay for her medical …

To what extent are the HDB’s policies contributing to ‘housing inequality’ in Singapore? I refer to the article “Commentary: Direct interventions, not just social mixing, needed to narrow housing inequality” (Channel NewsAsia, Jun 23). It states that “Housing inequality is also felt through specific rental housing policies. People who need public rental housing face many hardships. The income ceiling of …

What exactly is the criteria for giving ‘cash’ assistance to very large low-income families? I refer to the article “Raising 7 children on under S$3,000 a month in Singapore” (Channel NewsAsia, Jun 24). It states that “A secondary school teacher for a decade, she quit after her fifth child, Arielle, was born in 2011. Raising their children on just one breadwinner’s …

oBike has announced its decision to cease operation in Singapore as a result of difficulties foreseen to be experienced to fulfill the new requirements and guidelines released by Land Transport Authority (LTA) towards dock-less bike sharing in Singapore. Ina press release on its Facebook account on Monday (25 June), the company stated that though oBike believes and is committed to …

Elected Members of Parliament (MPs) pay S$365 for an annual permit that allows them to park at Housing & Development Board (HDB) car parks when doing constituency work and at Parliament House when on official business. The Ministry of National Development (MND) said on Monday (25 June) that the rate is a proportion of the prevailing HDB season parking rate since MPs …

Chanel News Asia published an article today lamenting that the Great Singapore Sale after 25 years is no longer “great” (‘The Big Read: The not-so-Great Singapore Sale — after 25 years, once-premier shopping event is now left in the dust‘, 26 Jun). In the article, it mentioned, “Vacant shop spaces were also scattered throughout the shopping centres, exposing the deeper …