TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent The idyllic estate of Kovan is fast becoming the "Geylang" of the Northeast with an increasing number of scantily dressed freelance prostitutes being spotted outside Hotel 81 (Kovan). According to a report in Lianhe Wanbao, the prostitutes often stand in groups outside the hotel and try to "promote" their services to passer-bys. Their nationality was not revealed. A quick check on the sammyboy sex forum revealed that a number of freelance prostitutes "operate" in the Kovan area with Hotel 81 as the "place of transaction". When interviewed by the press, most Kovan residents said they were aware of the presence of the freelance prostitutes in the vicinity and they always tried to avoid them. It is not known why the usually efficient Singapore police has not conducted AV raids on Kovan yet. News source: Lianhe Wanbao  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent City Harvest Church (CHC) has been questioned by the Commissioner of Charities over its $310 million purchase of a stake in Suntec Singapore which it announced two weeks ago, the Straits Times reported today. The Church said earlier that it would use two floors in Suntec to house a 12,000-seat auditorium for worship services and that it would be used exclusively for its services, except for about five times a year to allow for international conferences or events to be held there. The stake raised some eyebrows among Singaporeans who questioned if registered charities should be allowed to go into business and if the income collected by CHC through its Suntec rentals would be taxed. An irate Singaporean Lester Lam wrote to the Straits Times Forum on 11 March 2010 questioning the relevance of giving religious organisations tax-exempt status when many of them own commercial properties and derive rental income from them. "Should the Government continue to let religious organisations own commercial properties and earn income from rent? After all, the revenue these organisations use for the purchase is tax-exempt in the first place. Suntec City was developed for commercial purposes. With the church's purchase of the development and its proposal to convert a section of the exhibition space for church use, is it in breach of the Urban Redevelopment Authority's land-use policy?" he asked. A letter jointly issued by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore explained that "incomes earned by charities are tax-exempt because their main purpose is to provide public benefits through their activities." There are no laws against charities being involved in business activities except that they "must be done in the best interest of the charity and not subject the charity's assets and resources to unacceptable risk." The Straits Times article did not reveal the exact questions asked by the Commissioner of Charities to CHC. Its Senior Pastor, Kong Hee could not be reached for comments.  Read More →

OPINION In a rebuttal to a White Paper released by law firm Amsterdam & Peroff decrying the political repression being promulgated in Singapore by the ruling PAP, the Singapore government quoted the example of Chiam See Tong, Singapore's longest-serving opposition MP to defend itself. Another opposition MP Low Thia Kiang was highlighted by Singapore Law Minister Shanmugam to an audience of about 200 American lawyers two weeks ago to drive home his message that Singapore is a democratic state which allows the political opposition to exist as long they play according to the rules. It appears that both Mr Low and Mr Chiam serve little other purpose other than to be used by the PAP to masquerade Singapore as a "democracy" to the international community. Imagine what excuses they can come up with had there not been a single opposition MP in parliament - Singapore will be a de facto one-party state. With due respect to Mr Low and Mr Chiam, they are credible MPs who have served their constituents with dedication and distinction, but they are largely ineffectual in parliament. The duties of a MP go far beyond that of being a Town Council manager whose position can be filled by anybody. As the people's representative in parliament, the MPs are expected to bring up important national issues which concern the people and to fight in their interests whether in or out of parliament. Two recent issues have hogged the headlines of late and given extensive publicity by several blogs: the relentless influx of immigrants and the rising prices of public housing. The two are closely inter-linked. The opening of the floodgates to new migrants in the last few years without increasing the supply of HDB flats have led to the sky-rocketing of prices. Coupled with inflation and stagnant wages, many young Singaporeans are forced to put off starting their own families thereby exacerbating the problem of Singapore's declining birth rate. Both Mr Low and Mr Chiam have remained muted on the issues so far. They could have harnessed the resources of their party and grassroots support to organize public forums, seminars and even a rally at Hong Lim Park to raise public awareness, but they chose to sit on the sidelines. Is it little wonder that the public has the perception that the opposition only makes a cameo appearance once every five years during the election? What are they doing in between? One may argue that the mainstream media has been keeping the opposition out of the limelight, but this is no longer defensible in the internet age where the new media can easily bypass the information blockade imposed by the print media. The websites of both parties to which the MPs belong are shabbily done and updated only infrequently. Neither bother to even start their own blogs to reach out to the online community. The last time one heard of Mr Chiam was the probability that he may leave Potong Pasir to contest in a GRC in the next election which he is most likely to lose. As for Mr Low, he made a rare protest against HDB choosing to work with the PAP grassroots adviser in the Lift Upgrading Program instead of him which exposed his limitations and redundancy. Mr Low is the Chairman of Hougang Town Council, but his hands are tied because other municipal matters like estate upgrading and maintenance are under the purview of government agencies which usually bypass him. Again, one does not need to be an elected MP to run a Town Council. Mr Low or any MP for that matter can simply engage an experienced administrator to run the estate on their behalf. Mr Low is known to conduct weekly Meet-the-People sessions for Hougang residents who seek his help, but surely a PAP MP with intimate links to the ministers will prove to be of greater assistance? With the "reforms" Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has implemented to increase the number of non-PAP MPs in parliament to twenty, the role and importance of an elected opposition MP has further diminished. The PAP knows that Singaporeans desire more alternative voices in parliament and they are more than happy to help fulfill their desires by having more NCMP and NMPs in parliament who are really no threat to their continued political hegemony. In fact, some of the non-elected MPs like Siew Kum Hong and Steve Chia are more vocal in parliament than the elected opposition MPs themselves. The new scheme is likely to work against the opposition as pragmatic Singaporeans will now be able to reap both benefits of having one PAP MP to manage their constituency and another non-PAP MP in parliament as "best losers". In a healthy and functioning democracy, the opposition is supposed to be a "government-in-waiting", but it is reduced to that of a "flower-vase" in Singapore. Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen once lampooned the Workers' Party as being a "Wayang Party" in 2006. Not only is the term apt for the Workers' Party, it will soon apply to the entire opposition as a whole if current trends are allowed to continue. How can the Workers' Party, Singapore People's Party or any other party attract young Singaporeans of caliber to join their ranks when it is simply contented to stay in the background all the time without participating actively in the political life of the nation? The function of an opposition MP is not to be a Town Council manager, but to hold the ruling party accountable for its actions in parliament. Simply attending the parliamentary sessions and listening to the speeches made by the ministers without dozing off like the PAP MPs is not sufficient. Mr Chiam is going to end his political career soon without building a credible alternative party in Singapore. Mr Low is likely to follow in his footsteps. In the meantime, the PAP remains as secure as ever in power. It can afford to "bestow" 20 seats as gifts to the opposition and still able to run the country with impunity and pass bills as and when they like and wish. Perhaps the only useful purpose that Singapore's increasingly redundant opposition serve is as a shield for the PAP to deflect international criticisms of its authoritarianism and repression. It is little wonder that Mr Chiam and Mr Low are hailed as "exemplary" opposition for others to follow. They rarely make any noise and give the PAP the complete freedom to do as it pleases. As Mr Low once alluded to another opposition leader in a disapprovingly manner, - "the opposition should be a watchdog, not a mad dog." In Singapore politics, the boundary between a "watchdog" and a "lapdog" is becoming increasingly blurred with each passing day.  Read More →