TR EMERITUS

By Hurr Riyahi One of the characteristics of PAP Model is its tendency to start ahead but finish last. This can be seen in the outcomes of most PAP policies. What is funny about this is that about two thirds of Singaporeans (about 66%) only choose to see how PAP model starts ahead. Instead they fear to see how it finishes last. They are also deluded by the initial gains which they naively think will last indefinitely and/or repeat continually. That explains how PAP is able to make the voters believe that its model works and that there is no alternative model superior than its own. EDUCATION If you ask Singaporeans about their education system, majority will boast about how the students start ahead of other students in other countries. The ability to do English comprehension, essays and grammar in primary one is something which many point out to show that in many western education systems, the primary one kids are incompetent in such areas. However the same Singaporeans fail to realize that when those primary one kids reach the age of university graduation, say 21-24 years, the average western kid is far more competent than our average Singaporean kid in English which though starts ahead, finishes last. In the area of mathematics and science, Singaporeans kids start ahead of kids in developed countries in primary school by being far more competent in solving the most difficult questions. Most Singaporean families look at this as a major life achievement and superiority of the PAP educational system. However it is the kids in developed world who lag behind Singaporean kids in primary school in mathematics and science who later achieve big leaps in those two topics and using that be responsible for vast majority of the accomplishments in medicine, health sciences, engineering, information technology, natural sciences, economics, finance etc. On the other hand, close to three quarter of the Singaporean kids who slog and perform the most tedious questions in mathematics and science in primary school do not even attain university education. Those who do attain university education have hardly achieved anything much on the global scale in the sciences. ECONOMY When PAP transformed Singapore from a developing to an industrialised economy, it took only twenty years whereas Europe took two hundred years. Singapore was far ahead of the pace of industrialisation. However till today Singapore has not been accepted into OECD and therefore it remains an industrialised country and not a developed country. Europe took less than twenty years to become developed countries after becoming industrialised. PAP is taking more than thirty years and still it has not been able to get Singapore into OECD as a developed country. Instead it points to IMF or World Bank classifications, which are not benchmarks, and make political statements about Singapore being a developed country. Even amongst the developed countries, Singapore ranks the lowest amongst all of them in so many important areas. However PAP will only pick out fanciful and superficial areas like competitiveness, openness etc and try to show how its ahead of developed economies. Where Singapore needs to demonstrate is in its sustainability. Even recently the PAP leadership has come out to say its high growth strategy wont be sustainable in post crisis and Singaporeans must accept a lower growth path. HOUSING PAP was ahead of many countries in resolving housing problems and achieving home ownership rates. Yet today it has one of the worst housing crisis amongst countries in developed countries. In developed countries where housing prices are high, the people still have viable options of affordable renting. Singapore does not have such options. In terms of affordability Singapore started ahead of others in being able to provide houses which the citizens could deem as affordable. Today only the politicians and foreigners can deem the housing prices as affordable. The average Singapore citizen struggles to buy a simple house. Though in most developed countries, the government do not provide housing solutions, they create opportunities for people to find accomodation in an affordable and sustainable way either through buying or renting. TRANSPORT Being a small island, it was relatively easy to set up a bus, train and road network that is far ahead of any city. PAP achieved it. However today the transport network  in Singapore is one of the most congested, expensive and unpleasant all thanks to its ultra-liberal immigration policy. In many cities of developed countries, the bus and train fares are expensive but people have the option of cheaper car travel. In a land scare Singapore, it is only prudent to make car travel expensive and public transport very cheap. However the public transport companies run by private companies that are wholly owned by government seek perpetual increase in their profits and have driven up public transport costs beyond imagination. Singapore bus drivers also had a good reputation for safety and pleasantness. Today they have been replaced with foreigner drivers who are unable to communicate and who drive buses like trucks and bullock carts. The transportation system in Singapore that started ahead of others will soon be finishing last in ranking within a decade's time. SINGAPORE WILL FINISH LAST In every other area of Singapore one will find the same trend in the outcomes of PAP's policies. The sad reality is that Singapore will finish last in every area within five years time and it will be far too late for Singaporeans to rectify the situation then. About 30% of Singaporeans are being PAP faithfully. Another 40% are not sure but they are afraid of change and they are also not intellectual enough to imagine beyond PAP. Hence they rather dream along the rhetoric put out to them. In fact some of this 40% want change without PAP not voted out of power. However PAP has set up a highly interlinked system where it cannot touch one single area without upsetting other areas. Hence it will only make cosmetic changes. What is required is a major overhaul of the whole system. That reality alarms the 40% also who have no intellectual ability or confidence to see how it can be achieved. The 30% who wants to see change remain too few to see any real reforms becoming possible even though they may be loud. Singapore started ahead to Singaporeans and PAP. But it will also finish last due to Singaporeans and PAP.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Despite the massive media hype surrounding the government-run REACH portal as a feedback channel for Singaporeans on current affairs and policies, its readership and traffic have continued to drop. According to the latest statistics from web traffic company Alexa.com, REACH's traffic has declined by about 40 per cent in the last one month with a concomitant drop in its traffic ranking to over 4,000. During the same period of time, the monthly traffic of Temasek Review has increased by 14 per cent and its ranking has approached 200, making it the most visited alternative news sites in Singapore. At the present moment, the readership of Temasek Review is almost 20 times that of REACH. The state media has been busy promoting REACH to Singaporeans including a two-week long feedback exercise on the Budget to be delivered by Finance Minister Tharman today. In a recently concluded "feedback", REACH claimed that the "majority" of Singaporeans agree with the recommendations put forth by the Economic Strategies Committee. However, with such a low readership, one cannot help but wonder if the polls conducted by REACH are really reflective of public sentiments on the ground. REACH has come under increasing criticisms from the online community that it is nothing more than a "black hole" where feedback, criticisms and proposals frequently end up with no response from the relevant authorities. Some are of the view that REACH is just a "PR exercise" to show that the government "cares" when its real purpose is to serve as an outlet for Singaporeans to vent their frustrations. On average, the Temasek Review receives between 1,200 - 1,500 comments from its readers daily, many of which are dramatically opposite of the "feedback" posted on REACH. Singaporeans who are dead serious on providing honest feedback to the government should make their voices heard at the next general election instead of wasting time lending credibility to REACH.  Read More →

作者： Robert Amsterdam (3-11-2009) 译者：新加坡文献馆译（21-02-2010） 自1959年人民行动党取得新加坡自治政权以来，在每次大选中都持续控制国会。政府在已经近乎完全垄断政治工具的格局上，还要进一步通过立法与强制施行违宪的法规，去妨碍新加坡宪法赋予人民的权力保障。 在一个缺乏独立自主性的屈从司法体系和一个政府控制的沉默新闻媒体，以及不间断诽谤控诉威胁的情况下政治自由受到了压抑。 新近的一项立法是公共秩序4月2009年法令，强化了执政的人民行动党对反对党的进一步管制。 o 在公共秩序法令下，全体人民包括反对党党员和反对党国会议员，在进行公开演说之前，必需事先申请许可准证。异议者鲜少能够获得准证。 o 在公共秩序法令下，任何群众集会都必需在事前先向政府取得批准。反对党的集会很少能够获得政府批准。行政规划否决任何的公众集会，除非是在规范的演说角落举行。 o 在诽谤法令下，政府控诉所有的 – 包括国内外媒体和反对党成员 – 对政策与行动提出批判的言论者。 o 在内部安全法令下，政府可以肆意的逮捕，和无限期拘禁任何被认为会危害治安的人。 o 在新闻印刷出版法令下，政府严禁个人拥有报馆除非事先得到政府同意。 这一种现实状况足以让国际特赦组织，世界银行，自由组织，国际律师公会，亚洲改革与民主联盟，记者保护委员会等等机构去批评政府违反了人权。 徐顺全个案 徐顺全博士在1962年出生。在佐治亚大学获得神经心理学的哲学博士后，回返新加坡到国立新加坡大学任教。 1992年，他加入新加坡民主党，引发了相当的哄动因为他是首位学术人员从国家管辖的大学公然出来挑战政府。在加入新加坡民主党的不久之后，徐博士被控不正当使用研究经费，并且遭系主任解雇。这名系主任是人民行动党的国会议员。 徐博士否认这项罪名，并指出他之所以被解雇是因为有政治动机。为此，他背负诽谤之罪，并被罚款与赔偿共35万美元。除了1993年被大学的系主任指控诽谤之外，徐博士也在随后遭人民行动党的三名总理控诉诽谤。 除此之外，徐博士也遭遇到： o 国会责怪徐顺全在美国时并没有行使他在新加坡无法享有的言论自由权力。 o 徐顺全因为撰写了一篇有关医疗费用的文章而遭受到国会的罚款处分。 o 徐顺全因为在大众场所推销他的著作 – 勇于改革-有关亚洲反对党的奋斗故事 – 而遭受罚款处分。 o 重复多次因为没有获得政府准证情况下在大庭广众场所发表言论。 o 徐顺全因为企图参加一项国际民主论坛而被判入狱。 徐博士正面对多项在进行中的审讯，等待审判的案件和警方的调查。 对徐顺全博士的政治自由的侵犯，吸引了来自大赦国际，人权观察，国际律师协会，人权第一，和律师人权委员会等国际社会的谴责。 来源：http://www.robertamsterdam.com 备注：这是白皮书的主要内容，次要部分省略。全文请上线：http://www.robertamsterdam.com /2009.Nov05.Repression_of_political_freedoms_in_Singapore.CheeSoonJuan.pdf  Read More →