Current Affairs

“It is not clear that the PAP has the ability to come up with practical solutions to the challenges we face in the future,” said Dr Paul Tambyah, Chairman of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in response to the Prime Minister’s National Day Rally 2019 speech. In a video on the SDP Facebook page, Dr Tambyah said, that Singaporeans were …

At the National Day Rally 2019 yesterday (18 Aug), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong talked about the changes to retirement age and re-employment age. He said that retirement age would increase from 62 to 65 while re-employment age from 67 to 70. These will be done progressively from 2022 to 2030. “The Retirement Age will go from 62 – which …

The Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has finally revealed in a joint statement yesterday (17 Aug) that there has been an outbreak of typhoid fever in Singapore. The SFA is a new statutory board that comes under the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources headed by Minister Masagos. As on 13 Aug, 15 typhoid cases …

It was reported that on Thursday (15 Aug), the Etern Medical Group which operates 4 clinics in Sengkang and Punggol published a government circular it had received on its Facebook page. The circular, apparently from Ministry of Health (MOH), revealed that there has been an outbreak in typhoid fever in Singapore recently. As of 13 Aug, MOH has already been …

On Thursday (15 Aug), a member of the public Ivan Goh Sian Lung wrote to ST Forum complaining that despite having billions of dollars in its reserves, NUS continues to increase its tuition fees putting pressure on Singaporeans. “It shocked me to find out that the National University of Singapore (NUS) has been increasing its tuition fees for Singaporean students …

by Daphne ROUSSEAU Watching the Hong Kong protests from afar, Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei fears the worst, warning of a repeat of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. “I don’t think any prediction is too big,” the 61-year-old told AFP in an interview in his Berlin studio. China “is a society which sacrifices anything to maintain its control,” …

by Jerome TAYLOR / Elaine YU Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement faces a major test this weekend as it tries to muster another huge crowd following criticism over an airport protest earlier this week — and as concerns mount over Beijing’s next move. Ten weeks of protests have plunged the international finance hub into crisis, with the communist-ruled mainland taking an …

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has issued a travel advisory to all Singaporeans to defer any non-essential travel to Hong Kong in light of protests that have roiled the city which shows no signs of slowing down. The advisory publish on their website on 16 August said that the large-scale protests that have taken places since June 2019 have …

Over 50 companies have raised their retirement and re-employment ages for workers beyond the statutory requirements, says NTUC Secretary-General Ng Chee Meng in an interview with CNA938 on Thursday (15 August). Mr Ng, who has been urging employers here to go just that, said that this is a “pretty decent” response and added that workers are appreciative of the move. …

Intrigued by the ongoing protests against the extradition Bill in Hong Kong, a 10-year-old Japanese girl went on a field trip to the city to learn firsthand the reasons behind the demonstrations. Shimazu Chika, who is in primary four, travelled to Hong Kong on Wed (14 Aug) with her father to interview the protesters, as she believes that a dialogue …