TR EMERITUS

The majority of netizens are unimpressed with Prime Minister Lee's National Day Rally speech last night which focused on immigration issues. PM Lee paid only lip service to the concerns of Singaporeans and spent more time trying to convince Singaporeans that they will "gain" from the continued inflow of foreigners than to address their genuine concerns. Singapore's present immigration policy is the brainchild of PM Lee who announced his ambitious plan to increase Singapore's population to 6.5 million people via immigration soon after assuming his position in 2003. There were never any debates in Parliament on the issue and neither were a public consultation exercised ever held with the people. Many Singaporeans expressed their disappointment at PM Lee's "excessive" attention on the new arrivals with some wondering if he is the leader of Singaporeans or the foreigners. Jason Pang couldn't hide his disbelief: "I was born in Singapore. When through entire Singapore education, served 2.5 year in the army, when through good and bad times with my country (the many economic crisis, SARS, H1N1, terrorist, etc) and now MY PM is telling me that those foreigners are as important as me. I’m totally disappointed." Kelvin Tay is unconvinced by his speech: "Why is he always asking singaporeans to sacrifice this and do that, to put aside personal interest for the so called greater good? What has he done to true blue Singaporeans besides increasing cost of living, deflating wages, up housing cost, building casinos to further increase revenue? What has the foreigners contribute so far besides increasing cost of housing, public transport cramming, deflating wages and forcing locals to accept to their way of life where they came from?" Susan Ong did not hide her contempt for him: "This guy talks craps and is a shameless creature which I ever Seem on this island ! since his came to power in 2006. What does he do to deserve the millions of salaries which he claim to deserve ??? His skin is as thick as the elephant butt or ass !!!" Jacob Ng felt that his discourse is fundamentally flawed: "Singapore is not his so called Texas and we will never become one. The reason is simple: His discourse is flawed right from the start. I can't imagine he actually have the cheeks to cite examples from microsoft to tsinghua uni which we all ...know these are unparalleled to begin with, well what comes to mind is only creative and nus/ntu/smu at best LOL so gotta be kidding me. C'mon we all know these are all third tiered when put in the intl arena. Hence his myopic little red dot which he is so proud of will only attract second rated "talents" or trash i called it. He's main aim of getting in the influx of foreign trash is just a facade to consolidate votes to ensure he gets to remain in parliament for eternity which I know will never happen and we all know it." Andrew Toh echoed the genuine sentiments of many Singaporeans:  "Our policies and leaders have done well to lead us to this point. But since 5 to 10 years ago, they have started losing touch with the people. They have let greed for money and power take over their ideals and values. It is like a insidious... virus, infecting all who enter the embrace of the PAP - Even once promising young politicians end up as clones in white, losing their voice and independent minds. I believe we are at the turning point. The edge of a dangerous and slippery slope - if Singapore continues as it has for the last few years, a lot Singaporeans will find themselves in dire straits indeed. This country will become a playground for the rich and the elite, supported by a base of foreigners and the "intellectual class" and stepping on and oppressing the shrinking middle-class and growing number of working poor. The damage caused will affect out generation and even the next. If we don't do anything now, many of our children will find themselves growing up as an underclass, slaves to the rich and powerful. We need to vote them out now. Before it's too late." [Comment source: TR main site and Facebook] It appeared from his speech that PM Lee is more interested to "force" his pro-foreigner and ultra-liberation policies right down the throats of Singaporeans whether we like it or not. Without a strong opposition in Parliament to check to hold the PAP accountable to its policies, we can never have a serious in-depth discussion and debate on the present immigration policies. The next general election may be the last window of opportunity for Singaporeans to reclaim the ownership of their country before they are completely swarmed by the immigrants which the PAP is mass-importing at a frightening rate to ensure and perpetuate its political hegemony in Singapore forever.   EDITORS' NOTE: The mainstream media will never reflect your genuine concerns, anxieties and worries. Let us be your uncensored voice to speak up for you in Singapore. You can share your views on PM Lee's National Day Rally speech by posting a comment here or email us a letter to be published under our "forum" section.  Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us  Read More →

I wish to start my letter off by saying that I think the YOG has been an interesting experience for me, as I was a volunteer with the National Olympic Council of Senegal and I had the opportunity to know African friends for the first time in my life. It was also an eye-opening experience for me as I had a glimpse into the Olympic culture, for example the trading of Olympic pins which apparently is quite a big deal among enthusiasts. However, I am also of the opinion that the YOG should not be organised at the expense of the welfare of students of NTU, of which I am one. What I am referring to is the checking-in to the halls of residence in NTU, some of which were used as part of the Youth Olympic Village to house the athletes and officials during the Games. During the holidays before the start of semester, myself and my friends who were staying in one of the halls of the village had to move to another hall. We were notified that for the university-wide one-day checking in activity on the 29th of August, lorries will be provided at 9 am from the temporary hall they were staying in to help in the moving process. (The reason why I'm using "they" instead of "we" is because I did not apply for a room to stay in during the holidays, hence I packed up my stuff and left them with my friends) With that 9 am timing in mind, I went over to my hall at around 8.30 in order to check in, but realised that the block where I'm supposed to stay still contained residents from a certain YOG delegation. Meaning to say, our rooms were still occupied but we can't check in because there were still people there, even though the rest of our things will be arriving shortly after 9 am from the temporary halls. Apparently, most students who were supposed to be moving into the occupied block have been moved - knowingly or unknowingly - to another block which has been vacated. However this block is located on a hill which would necessitate climbing up and down everyday. Though the arrangement could be temporary, I thought that in principle I should not be the one troubled by the YOG's lack of communication with the delegations. After all, school does start tomorrow and I can't be bothered to be moving here and there once the semester has begun. Nevertheless, I was already willing to compromise on the issue and relocate to the alternative block temporarily, but the hall officer found out that the room right next door to the one I was supposed to get is empty. He allowed me to take that room and I was happy and thanked him for it. Unfortunately, the previous residents of that room left at 4 am this morning and hence the housecleaning staff have not had the time to work on it yet (and the room was in fact quite filthy). So I went to the office again and inquired whether or not housecleaning can go there and clean it up for me, and the volunteers who were there told me that they can come within an hour - which did not happen. It was rather urgent as my (and also my roommate's) things have arrived by then and we couldn't put them in the room since it was dirty. Hence, we piled all our stuff along the corridor hoping for the cleaning staff to arrive. When they did not show up I went down to the hall office again and asked when they will come, which is when they told me they could only go at 9 pm after the delegation has left so that they could clean all the rooms at the same time. Needless to say, I was unhappy with this development as school begins in one day, we have only one day to unpack and prepare for class and yet we can't do anything until after 9 pm. One the volunteers responded by saying that I could have chosen to go to the alternative block to save all of us the trouble. I felt at the time that they're not seeing the point at all, and I said that as far as I'm concerned, the YOG ended last week and we shouldn't be compromising up to the point of having it affect our studies. She then requested me to compromise a bit more and accommodate their schedule which I acceded to since the argument wasn't going anywhere. Since there wasn't any hope of getting the room cleaned anytime soon I got back to the room and started moving our things inside, and while doing that to my surprise the cleaning crew arrived. They proceeded immediately to sweep the floor while I waited outside. It was at this time that the hall officer came up to my room and spoke to me, saying that I was causing a scene at the hall office and giving him trouble, and he requested politely to stay put and keep quiet once the room has been cleaned. I happily agreed to his request as having the cleaning crew there was all that I wanted. However, moments later a burly man with slicked-back hair wearing the YOG volunteer uniform came to my room as well, and proceeded to speak at the top of his voice, first to the hall officer and then to me. He yelled that the particular block was still officially under YOG control and not NTU, so technically I was not allowed to be there. Let it be known that the barriers that were set up around the YOV were already removed, and there were no security checkpoints for that block, so there was nothing physically indicating that the block was out of bounds. Essentially, this man, let's call him Martin, failed to see the simple fact that all I wanted was to get into the room and have it cleaned so that I can get out of their hair. So he interrupted the cleaners and asked us all to leave, even though I still had some things left out in the corridor. He was adamant that we leave immediately. "Two minutes," he said, "and I will get you arrested by the police if you don't leave immediately!" He asked me to pack up my things and leave, not even allowing me to get things into my room. Thankfully the hall officer immediately bent down and helped me carry the rest of my things and put them in the room, while asking the cleaners to "stop looking and start helping" and thanks to them I had everything in my room before Martin blew his top. I then grabbed my phone and wallet and just left the room, leaving them behind. And so ends the story that I want to tell, of my personal experience being treated like a second-class resident compared to the YOG delegations. Martin was wearing a YOG volunteer uniform but he certainly did not any exude the qualities that are expected of us. Perhaps it was because I was just a student and not a YOG official. Excellence, Friendship and Respect are the values of the Singapore 2010 YOG, but I felt none of that coming from this YOG "volunteer". He showed no Excellence in dealing with the problem, made no attempt at Friendship, nor did he treat me with Respect. My letter is a long one and I apologise for the length, but it is just because I wish to illustrate clearly and carefully just one point - NTU students should not be unreasonably inconvenienced by the YOG as we do have our studies to get on to, and from what has happened today I believe the residents of that particular block of that particular hall have been unreasonably inconvenienced. As for myself, in particular, I wish nothing more than to be treated with respect and dignity, which was unfortunately not the case when Martin came along.   Thank you for your time.   An NTU student.  Read More →

It has been more than two weeks and there is still no updates so far from the authorities on the mass food poisoning outbreak involving 26 YOG volunteers which had sullied the squeaky clean image of Singapore. Above: "Dog" food given to YOG volunteers On 15 August 2010, 26 YOG volunteers from two different venues came down with diarrhoea and abdominal pain after taking food provided by the official YOG food caterer. However, the public was not informed of the outbreak until three days later when the news leaked on the internet, sparking speculations if there may be a cover-up. Though the case was reported to NEA and MOH, both did not bother to release an official statement to inform Singaporeans of the mass food poisoning outbreak as if it is not a public health concern. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the sports minister did not offer any sympathies or apologies to the victims and said investigations into the outbreak will take "some time".  "In a massive operation like this, from time to time, problems will arise, but we will be completely forthright about it,” he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times. In contrast, the culprit behind the Geylang Serai wet market food poisoning outbreak was apprehended within a week and his licence revoked. Till today, the exact cause of the YOG food poisoning outbreak remains unknown. The scandal caused a massive furore among Singaporeans who were already peeved by the substandard food given to the YOG volunteers. How much time does Dr Vivian need to complete the investigations? Does he need one week, one month or one year? With the YOG having drawn to a close, Dr Vivian must be hoping that the embarrassing scandal will soon fade away from the memories of Singaporeans.   Related articles: >> Open letter to Dr Vivian on YOG mass food poisoning outbreak >> No apologies from Dr Vivian on mass food poisoning outbreak >> Dr Vivian: Probe into YOG food poisoning scandal will take time >> Cover-up of YOG food poisoning scandal? >> NEA, MOH to probe YOG mass food poisoning outbreak   Please join our Facebook page here and invite your friends to do so to create awareness of the current affairs affecting Singaporeans. Please use our online web form to contact us.  Read More →