TR EMERITUS

A massive outcry has erupted over the suspected dual citizenship of Singapore PR Supriya Sule who is incidentally a Member of Parliament (MP) in India. She is also the daughter of feared Indian politician Sharad Pawar. The Bombay High Court ordered the Maharashtra government and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to decide on an application asking why Sule's Indian citizenship should not be cancelled in view of her dual citizenship, the Mumbai Times reported last Saturday. As expected, the sensational news was not reported by the Singapore media. The petitioner is Ms Mrunalini Kakade who lost to Sune in the 2007 Indian general election. In her affidavit, she claimed that Sule is the director of Laguna International Pvt Ltd and a permanent resident of Singapore and as such, Sule ceases to be an Indian citizen and would then be liable to for disqualification as an MP. It was also revealed that Sule owns a property in Singapore. “Under the provisions of law in Singapore, she cannot purchase property unless she is a permanent resident,” Kakade submitted. Though it was not mentioned explicitly what type of property Sule owns, it is likely to be a HDB resale flat as only Singapore PRs can purchase them. Ms Sule is one of the many Indian PRs and new citizens who own HDB flats in Singapore, including YPAP leader Sinha Shekhar who stirred a controversy lately by boasting on the YPAP Facebook that he owns a private property and a HDB flat at the same time which he is renting out for extra income.   News source: Mumbai Mirror   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 →

In the past, the minorities in Singapore often feels marginalized as companies often seek job candidates who are ‘Bilingual’ which, in Singapore, is a colloquial term for ‘Chinese-Speaking’. The suspicion they had about Companies employing based on racial profile have always been dismissed by the ruling party and the general Chinese majority of Singapore. By turning a blind eye, the Chinese majority have possibly given the Ruling Party a tacit approval to continue with polices that allows marginalization a certain portion of its citizens as long as there is economic growth and does not affect their own bread and butter. And now, it has backfired on them as not only the minorities are affected but all born and bred Singaporeans are marginalized too. Let’s revisit the China-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (CSFTA) signed on the 23rd October 2008 (http://www.fta.gov.sg/fta_ceca.asp?hl=6) and quote: "The market access obligation means that a country cannot impose additional market access restrictions for these sectors, both quantitative and qualitative. For instance, restrictions cannot be imposed on: i) the number of service suppliers, service operations or persons employed in a particular service sector; ii) the value of services; or iii) the legal structure used." It can be implied that Singapore cannot impose restrictions on the number of people from China working in Singapore and PRC companies cannot do the same either. However, we are not seeing this happening for Singaporean companies, as it would be very expensive to employ Singaporeans to work in China. They would more likely employ local Chinese due to the low cost factor. Chinese companies setting up shop in Singapore would employ or bring in workers from China because of the tangible cost benefits and the same working culture and language. All of the above may be pure speculation. However in the recent trade policy review with China on the 31st May and 2nd June 2010, in a statement by the Singapore Permanent Representative, Ambassador Karen Tan, it was let slip that close to 3000 companies from China had set up shop in Singapore. So this may answer the recent spike in companies' preference for workers from China. (In ref to: http://app.mfa.gov.sg/pr/read_content.asp?View,15051,) “On the investments front, China continues to be Singapore's top investment destination, with cumulative actual investments of US$41.4 billion as of 2009. In 2009, actual investments into China stood at US$3.6 billion. China too has continued to use Singapore as a platform for their enterprises to "Go Global". By end-2009, close to 3000 Chinese firms have based themselves in Singapore, leveraging on our connectivity, pro-business environment and deep capital market to access international markets. This is a win-win situation that Singapore will continue to facilitate and encourage.” It was mentioned the massive investments Singapore has pumped into China, but yet the returns have never been reported in the mainstream media. Why is this so? Interestingly enough, it was never mentioned, how the investments has benefited Singaporeans as a whole or how many are gainfully employed by the over 3000 Chinese companies. She mentioned that it is a win-win situation that Singapore will continue to facilitate and encourage. But why do the local born and bred feels they are being marginalized?   A Singaporean Patriot  Read More →

作者:冀居·谢 尚书曰：口惠而实不至，怨灾及其人。 【林双吉】 报纸说陆路交通管理局待完成樟宜地铁车厂保安疏漏事件的调查后，将决定是否对负责经营樟宜车厂的SMRT企业施加惩罚。 说明这是个没担待的政府，也不是与民协商的政府，他们单方面一槌定音要恶惩SMRT的保安疏失，不过是为了替自己开罪，连主流媒体问的一个最简单问题都没法回答：如果进去的不是涂鸦客，而是恐怖分子呢？ 【李显龙】 总理先生应该解释的是历史遗留下来的问题。话说1999年有个环境部工程师在乌节下水道竣工的当儿对《新报》记者说：“乌节从此不淹水。”环境与水源部或者总理公署要收回吗？是谁给了我们不切实际的期望？难道李显龙认为行动党政府及其代言人讲的都是屁话，不值得认真？ 此外，一年一度的新加坡热卖季是旅游当局主催的促销活动，现在乌节路的商家因人为的水患不但没赚到钱反而还亏了一大笔，政府期望商家本身和保险公司吃死猫，一点不提国赔，后继的回响应该也要计算一下，别口惠而实不至了。 【李光耀】 最近我接触一份退休华文教师的回忆文件，才悟出战后为何华校会达到空前的盛况。在二战之前，本地华人基本上分为两种，一种是高等的海峡殖民地华人，一种是平民 老百姓华人。由于是阶级的根本不同，所以他们是壁垒分明的。海峡殖民地华人打政府工，口中的“祖家”是指英国，在家里讲的话是华巫掺半的峇峇话。可是日本 来了之后，这些峇峇吃了大苦头了，因为华文和日文勉强还可以相通，他们却大字不识得一个。所以日本去了之后，他们开始自修华文，很多也把子女送入华校或上 夜校。所以那时的华文教师简直是猪笼入水，加班教夜课是赚得盆满钵满。夜间的华校几乎比日校还热闹，熙来攘往的人头攒动，于是强势推动南洋大学（1955 年）的成立，可谓是时势造英雄。所以当李光耀这些峇峇仔从英国学成归来要搞政治的时候，不得不向现实低头，和华校生打起交道来了，讲华语、学福建话和送子 女到华校收买人心。 所以他说：“如果没有华文、没有双语教学，今天新加坡的华人就会很不一样，丢了根了。”根本是黑白讲，如果当年行动党最后是华校生掌权，新加坡或许是中港台之外的第四个华人社会。姑不论这样的结果是好、是坏，该与不该，而是证明他最近的那句话根本是信口胡言。 他说他送子女入华校不是为了经济理由，是故意把话说半道儿；不为经济理由，却是为了自己的政治前途，这在他的回忆录，女儿的八卦文章都有清楚说明，干嘛包装得如此冠冕堂皇，把受众当傻子耍呢？ 来源：大马论坛  Read More →