Community

In a submission to TOC, an alumnus of St Joseph Institution (SJI) has expressed his disappointment towards the anti-activism stance held by the current heads of his alma mater, and their subsequent silence regarding the matter. The alumnus wrote that “many alumni of the school were in shock, and there have been intense debates on closed Facebook groups” regarding Vice-Principal …

by Benjamin Cheah “Our natural state of being is bliss,” Josie Ho declared. Speaking at the Social Innovation and Global Ethics Forum 2018, the Hong Kong singer and actress delivered a presentation on her documentary Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice. Set in Iceland, the 80-minute film covered her journey to find bliss in the land of fire and ice. “Bliss …

The United Nations and its member states must act urgently to investigate and prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes said Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA), Progressive Voice and Women’s Peace Network – Arakan following the release of the full report of the Independent International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar (IIFFMM), today, which …

The Pasir Ris community is galvanising to protect their beloved resident cat. Ginger the cat has apparently been accused by an irate resident of scratching the roof of his car. In response, the Pasir Ris-Punggol Town Council has decided to ‘remove’ the cat –  a decision which many members of the community feel is too heavy handed, especially when no …

In a submission to TOC, a reader has raised his concerns regarding the dubiousness of a particular petition that calls for the retention of Section 377A in the Penal Code – a piece of legislation that criminalises sexual relations between two male adults – which has been a hotly debated subject of late. The reader raised several “serious issues” regarding “this …

In an exclusive interview by reporter David Reddish on Queerty, writer and creator of Sesame Streets’ Bert & Ernie, Mark Saltzman revealed that the iconic puppet duo are in fact modelled on his relationship with his life partner the late Arnold Glassman – the two were partners for over 20 years before Glassman’s passing in 2003. In the interview, Saltzman …

Recently, there have been online controversies over allowing so-called “social enterprise” operators by the government to manage the newly built public hawker centres. Many netizens have pointed out that many of these so-called “social enterprise” operators are nothing more than profit-oriented food court corporations operating under the guise of “fulfilling social responsibility”. Indeed, many of these “social enterprise” operators are …

Starting today (14 Sep), only religious groups with an active contribution to the community and have sustainable means of funding are allowed to bid for Place of Worship (PW) land under the Ministry of National Development (MND)’s new tender framework. Under the new framework, tenderers will be firstly “be assessed on a set of pre-qualification criteria,” and only those who …

Unsurprisingly, churches in Singapore have come out on the side of keeping Section 377A of the Penal Code. That law is in line with their religious beliefs and values after all. In a statement recently, the National Council of Churches in Singapore (NCCS) voiced their opposition to the petition to repeal Section 377A. The statement said that the Council, which …

At the heels of the release of a report by the Penal Code Review Committee, part of which contains recommendations that will potentially remove husbands’ marital immunity against charges of raping their wives, activists and founders of the No To Rape Campaign have raised questions regarding the law’s seemingly slow progress in reflecting the values of society today. In a …