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In an extensive interview with Straits Times Insight last Saturday, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that Singapore is a "country" and not just a global city. His remarks appeared to contradict that made earlier by his cabinet colleage Law Minister Shanmugam who told a visiting delegation of American lawyers that Singapore is NOT a country in his desperate attempts to defend Singapore's atrocious human rights records. Drawing on arguments by American economist Bryan Caplan in a recent article, he said Singapore was viewed as a deviation from the democratic norm because it was seen primarily as a country. ‘This is where most people make a mistake…I have tried to explain that we are different. We are a city. We are not a country," he said. His comments sparked an outcry in cyberspace with many netizens questioning the real meaning behind Mr Shanmugam's words. Mr Tharman's reply seemed to be carefully crafted to undo the PR "damage" done by Mr Shanmugam's earlier "Freudian slip." He was asked by ST journalist Rachel Chang on his one-third limit on foreigners. "One-third is somewhat lower than what some other global cities have been able to accommodate. If you look at London, New York, it's probably over 40 per cent..... I don't think we can afford to be like them, to have over 40 per cent of our workforce foreign without losing something that defines you as a nation, a basic tenor of society that's still Singaporean.....We felt we are more comfortable with that than thinking we are nothing but a global city. We are also a country," he was quoted as saying in the Straits Times. Mr Tharman obviously hasn't been reading reports from the National Population Secretariat. Singapore's population crossed the 5 million mark last year June, out of which 36 percent are foreigners. Of the remaining 64 percent who are citizens, an increasing number are born overseas. More than one-third of Singapore's population are foreigners. In fact, at the rate the PAP is mass-importing foreigners, native Singaporeans will soon become a minority in their own country.   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 →

By Shi Jiangtao from South China Morning Post Wang Xisheng's home is just a few kilometres off the coast of Lake Tai, China's third-largest freshwater lake, famed for scenic beauty and abundant delicacies. But for him, it is no longer a blessing to live in the suburbs of Wuxi, one of the most affluent cities in Jiangsu. He was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago. And the cause, he and his fellow residents in Xiangyang village believe, is pollution released by the city's largest petrochemical plant, whose chimney is only about 20 metres away from their houses and used to churn out dark clouds of filthy smoke day and night. "I was born in the village and have spent all my life here. We have never seen so much pollution before," said Wang, 64, a retired worker. The factory was built in 1958 during the Great Leap Forward, but it did not turn into a nightmare for thousands of local people until the turn of this century. "My 15-year-old grandson used to swim and catch shrimp in the river when he was five. But the river has turned black in the past decade, giving off a choking, foul odour," he said. Large amounts of untreated waste water were discharged into the river, and some villagers even made money from collecting oil floating on the river that leaked from the factory. "We knew things had gone seriously wrong, but we did not know they could have disastrous consequences for us until we began to see an outbreak of cancer in the villages near the factory, including my own," said Wang. "We've never seen so many cancer patients in the past, and the number of cancer cases is particularly high in villages surrounding the factory." Wang was especially bitter that the factory had moved the smokestack closer to his village after residents of neighbouring Guangfeng village managed to have their grievances printed by state media in late 2003, which caused quite a stir. Thanks to the report by China Consumer News in December that year, Guangfeng gained national fame as another "cancer village" in the country. More than 30 people in Guangfeng died of various forms of cancer between 2000 and 2003, and another 30 villagers were diagnosed with cancer, mostly of the liver, stomach and lungs, the report said. But the media coverage of the Guangfeng villagers' misery failed to prompt the closure of the factory, a request that local residents have made repeatedly but which has been ignored by the government over the years. "That report helped to improve our situation only a little. We had thought the government would have to relocate the factory because of media pressure, but the factory got away with it eventually, and it only agreed to move the chimney a few hundreds metres away from us," Li Qiaodi, a retired primary school teacher in Guangfeng, recalled. "And as national attention ebbed, our plight has simply been forgotten yet again." Guangfeng residents were also keen to talk about their suffering, in strikingly similar terms to the stories told in Xiangyang. Both villages are under the jurisdiction of Guangyi town, a hotbed of small and medium-sized enterprises in Wuxi which have become the driving force of the regional economic takeoff. The villages are also surrounded by dozens of smelting plants and other factories producing chemical fertiliser, paint and sulphuric acid, to name but a few. Read rest of article here.  Read More →

By Albert Wong from South China Morning Post, 7 June 2010 Heckled, abused and accused of selling out the people of Hong Kong, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen yesterday hit back at protesters, saying they were in the minority and should not obstruct the "political reform vessel" from setting sail. On a stage in Shau Kei Wan during his electoral reform package publicity blitz, Tsang urged the crowd to applaud and cheer in support of the government proposal after he failed to quell the shouting protesters. Yesterday's "Act Now" campaign hopes to gather public support for the 2012 electoral reform proposal, but pan-democratic supporters who oppose the ideas took the opportunity to voice their opinions. The government proposal suggests amendments for both the chief executive election and the Legislative Council poll in 2012, but pan-democrats want guarantees on how universal suffrage will be implemented in 2017 and 2020 before they support the package. Ministers split into three teams yesterday, visiting Kowloon, Hong Kong Island and the New Territories in an attempt to distribute leaflets and promote the reform proposal to the public. Despite only disclosing their itinerary at 1pm, students, activists and supporters of various pan-democratic parties gathered at the destinations to welcome ministers with a chorus of heckling and booing. Protesters shouting, "All Wrong" drowned out every chant of "Act Now" by the ministers. "All Wrong" in Chinese characters is similar to those for "Act Now", the official slogan which literally means "weigh anchor", signifying the need to set sail towards universal suffrage. Tsang began at Kornhill Plaza in Quarry Bay at 3pm but was prevented from handing out fliers due to a crush of protesters, journalists and plain-clothes police who formed a tight cordon around the chief. Passers-by were frustrated that the MTR entrance was blocked, and the Jusco department store pulled down its metal shutters during the chaos. Tsang remained for five minutes, with the only words that could be heard coming from protesters chanting for the abolition of the functional constituencies. Tsang's entourage had better luck at the Oi Tung Shopping Centre, Shau Kei Wan, where a pre-arranged carnival was held, which Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong fishing sector lawmaker Wong Yung-kan attended. Tsang spoke on stage, but while invited guests were clearly supporters of the government, protesters chanted from the edge of the cordoned off area and passers-by on escalators voiced their discontent. Visibly agitated, Tsang departed from his prepared speech to accuse his detractors of obstructing reform. "These groups advocating being anchored, we do not fear you ... Today, we have to take the opportunity and raise the anchor on political reform," he said, using imagery to point out that the fishing community understood best the negative effects of being moored forever. When he failed to placate the protesters, he urged supporters to counter their chanting with applause. "Fellow citizens, let us show those who oppose the reform hear us cheer in support," Tsang said, as he walked towards protesters and pointed at them. "These are the minority, and those are the absolute majority. I hope you will stop obstructing this vessel from moving forward." As he left, a protestor appeared to run towards him but was knocked to the ground. As of yesterday, there were 9,161 members of a Facebook group called "All Wrong", which ridicules the government's 2012 reform proposal. Tsang was re-elected as chief executive in 2007 with 649 votes from 796 Election Committee members. Elsewhere, ministers led by Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen, Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah and Secretary for Justice Wong Yan-lung met similar opposition. Tang led a team into shopping malls in Kowloon West - the constituency that saw 60,395 people vote for the League of Social Democrats Wong Yuk-man last month - and was met by protesters who had to be removed from his path. John Tsang stepped out of a van in Sai Kung and strode to meet his first member of the public only to realise too late that he was walking towards a reform package opponent heckling him. Health minister Dr York Chow Yat-ngok, constitutional affairs minister Stephen Lam Sui-lung and education minister Michael Suen Ming-yeung handed out pamphlets while the chief executive and the three secretaries drew most of the attention. Wong said the voices of opposition were to be expected in a city that cherished freedom of expression, but Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-sing said such obstruction was not the proper exercise in freedom of expression and was "worthy of condemnation". Earlier yesterday, executive councillor Ronald Arculli acknowledged ministers were still ill at ease lobbying the public on the streets, but such communication was better than nothing at all. - SCMP  Read More →