Current Affairs

The government spends about $238 million on scholarships and tuition grants for foreign students in schools and autonomous universities, said Education Minister Ong Ye Kung in Parliament yesterday (5 August). He was responding to questions from WP MP Leon Perera who asked for exact figures on this particular spending. Mr Perera had in fact questioned the minister on this same …

Senior Minister of State for Transport Lam Pin Min said in Parliament on Monday (5 August) that 15 town councils under the People’s Action Party (PAP) will ban individuals from riding personal mobility devices (PMDs) at void decks and common corridors. In a ministerial statement, Dr Lam explained that the ban on PMDs at void decks and common corridors was …

The issue of race is never far from the social/political fabric of our society. Even though our pledge extols the virtues of “regardless of race, language or religion…”, I do think that we have somewhat fallen short. In my opinion, “regardless of race” only rings through if race is of no consequence whatsoever. In other words, we should only see …

After YouTuber Preetipls and her rapper brother Subhas Nair issued a public apology over their vulgarity-laden rap video last Friday (2 August), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has slammed the duo’s statement, saying it contains “a mock, insincere apology”. The Ministry added that the apology was “a spoof of an earlier apology” issued by Havas Worldwide for the E-Pay …

During the official launch of the Progressive Singapore Party (PSP) last Saturday (3 Aug) at Swissotel Merchant Court Hotel, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, founding Secretary-General of PSP, calls for Singaporeans – young and old – to come forward and join him “in making a difference to Singapore”. Dr Tan, a former People’s Action Party (PAP) member of parliament for 26 …

On 1 August (Thursday), the Singapore National Olympic Council (SNOC) announced in a media statement that two-time marathon champion Soh Rui Yong was not selected to be part of the team representing Singapore at the SEA Games in the Philippines, happening later in the year. The 27-year-old marathoner was not listed by SNOC as part of the 858 athletes who …

20 men and one woman were arrested between 29 July and 2 August 2019 for immigration-related offences in a week-long enforcement operation conducted by the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers at various locations in Singapore. The authority announced in the press release that the 20 men and woman, aged between 21 and 55 years old, included Bangladeshi, Nepalese, Sri …

At the launch of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) on Sat (3 Aug), Dr Tan Cheng Bok, who had said that the People’s Action Party (PAP) has lost its way, teared up when he said he re-entered politics “for country, for people”. Recounting the time when Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew invited him to join the PAP, Dr …

While there has been a “slight increase” in the “perception” of racial discrimination at the workplace against minorities in Singapore, there has also been “some improvement” in race relations among Singaporeans overall, said Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam. “Is there racism in Singapore? Of course there is. There is racism in every multi-racial society that we know of. …

In a Facebook post on Sunday (4 August), Emeritus Senior Minister (ESM) Goh Chok Tong revealed that he was saddened to see how his friend of over 60 years Tan Cheng Bock has “lost his way”. The former Prime Minister wrote this Facebook post a day after Dr Tan, his former People’s Action Party (PAP) colleague, officially launched his Progress …