TR EMERITUS

来源：四川日报 在对口就业援助的帮助下，灾区群众依靠自己勤劳的双手，迎来崭新的生活，都江堰姑娘周婷便是其中之一。 经过上海市提供的免费技能培训，周婷已成为一名操作数控机床的技能人才，目前在新加坡一家公司开机床。 “新年好！新加坡 (Singapore) 也放7天假，但公司订单很多，要加班，不过加班也是好事情，既能够学东西，还可以多挣钱。”2月16日晚8时许，电话那头，远在新加坡的都江堰姑娘周婷高兴地对记者说。 在上海免费学数控机床培训   37.2万城镇人员失业、115.2万农业劳动者失去收入来源，我省地震灾区群众的生计牵挂着全国人民的心。国家确定了18个省(市)对我省灾区开展对口就业援助。前年6月29日，上海市在都江堰举行的第一次对口就业援助招聘会上，上海免费开展数控机床培训的张贴告示让周婷心动了。 周婷等一批都江堰青年来到上海现代应用技术培训中心。因成绩优秀，周婷被新加坡工艺教育学院 (ITE)接收为全免国际注册学生。去年9月，她取得了新加坡工艺教育学院“NITEC”国际文凭。 春节之际，记者再次联系周婷时，她已成为新加坡高精锐金属工具私人有限公司一名质检员和数控机床操作工。 在新加坡边学边干 刚到新加坡时，周婷主要从事质量检验的工作，随后又被分配到数控机床岗位。 对周婷来说，到新加坡后面对的第一个难题是语言障碍。“图纸和资料都是英文，不少同事来自印度、马来西亚，用英语交流是常事。”周婷表示，“幸亏在上海学习时一心努力去新加坡，提前温习了外语，现在基本挺了过来。” 周婷说，她以前在国内学的是3轴机床，这里都是6轴的，目前一位印度师傅正在带她。由于印度英语口音重产生的语言障碍，周婷认为自己学得还比较吃力，进步太慢。 从租房处7点起床、步行20分钟到公司，8点30分上班，每天工作8小时，晚上加班回家后自己做饭，忙完这些后就温习英语和业务知识——从去年10月到现在，周婷的日子就这样度过。 因为太忙，新加坡很多地方她都没去逛过。但她不在意。她说自己一直记得，出国前上海一位教授的临别赠言：“边学边干、边干边学”。 春节七天大假休两天 到新加坡后的第一个春节怎么度过呢？周婷告诉记者，只休了大年三十夜和初一，其他时间加班。“既能多学东西，又能多挣钱。”周婷说，连上加班，每月收入折合人民币七八千元，熟练后上万元也是可能的。 她说，因为新加坡华人多，春节还是比较热闹。大年三十公司组织大家吃饭，每人还发了60元新币的红包。每逢佳节倍思亲。周婷在大年三十晚上给父母打了电话，报上平安、送上祝福。 上海现代应用技术培训中心负责人告诉记者，周婷是新加坡工艺教育学院“NITEC”国际文凭获得者，可以申请定居。但周婷表示，没考虑过定居，她想在新加坡多学知识和技能，回国后成为一名优秀的数控技术技能人才。(钟振宇） Source: http://www.chinanews.com.cn/sh/news/2010/02-17/2125127.shtml  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Singapore's self-appointed "forecaster extraordinarie" Lee Kuan Yew who costs Singapore taxpayers about $3 million dollars a year, has made another bold prediction: "Singapore’s future over the next five to 10 years is an "optimistic" one, and and the tourism sector will reflect that," he said during a dinner at Tanjong Pagar yesterday. At 86 years of age, Lee appears to be still calling the shots in the Singapore government though by his own admission, he is not doing much work except "forecasting". Unfortunately, quite a few of his "forecasts" have been quite embarrassingly off target. In 2007, Lee proclaimed rather unshamedly that Singapore will be entering a "golden period" in the next few decades. Less than a year later, Singapore becomes the first Asian country to enter into a recession and is still not quite out of the woods yet. Lee's present "optimism" is based on the earnings of the recently opened Resorts World Sentosa in the first two days: "...."the boss counted S$3.5 million on the first day and S$3.7 million on the second day." He also took a snipe at the punters: "They want to gamble. I don’t understand why they want to lose. You surely will not win." Perhaps Lee should take a look at his own "track record" at GIC before laughing at others. It is expected to lose more than $10 billion dollars when its stake in Swiss bank UBS is converted to shares on 5 March 2010. While the punters gamble using their own money, Lee "invests" with public monies accured from years of budget surpluses. Till today, nobody knows the exact amount of money lost by GIC or the Singapore government in its failed overseas investments like the Suzhou Industrial Park. After all, revealing the truth of the matter will not serve any "strategic purposes" as the entire system in Singapore is based solely on "trust". Since the "forecaster extraordinarie" has spoken, Singaporeans should rest assured that their futures will be "optimistic" for the next five to ten years and forget about the earlier broken promises such as "more good years", "Swiss standard of living" and of course - the "GOLDEN PERIOD".  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent A Singaporean by the name of Lim Kay Soon has written to the Straits Times Forum today expressing his fears about Temasek Holdings' "upward revision of its private fund-raising scope from US$5 billion (S$7 billion) to US$10 billion". "By raising funds via placement of public bonds which Temasek fully and unconditionally guarantees, Temasek is no longer only managing Singapore's surplus funds. It has, in fact, morphed into a semi-private fund management company," he wrote. Set up in 1974 to manage Singapore's strategic "assets", an euphemism for state-owned companies, Temasek Holdings has evolved to become a major international fund under the leadership of Ho Ching, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Under her charge, Temasek bought stakes in many international companies such as Thailand's Shin Corp, Australia's ABC Learning and U.S's Merrill Lynch which were all disastrous flops resulting in loss of billions of dollars. Mr Lim is concerned about Temasek "indirectly leveraging on its triple A status - which comes from Singapore's surplus funds - to access global private funds." "As with all investments, there are two possible outcomes, winning or losing. Should Temasek lose all of Singapore's surplus funds, that would be sad, but Singapore would be able to painfully bear with it. On the other hand, should Temasek also lose with its borrowed money, it will not only hurt Singapore's pockets, but may also shake the world's confidence in Singapore as a top financial centre," he added. Mr Lim's fears have been misplaced. Temasek Holdings is a "commercial entity" or an "Asian investment firm" which is owned solely by the Ministry of Finance. It has nothing to do with Singaporeans or Singapore. Neither does it have to account to anybody for its investments decision. He ended his letter by asking if Temasek should be allowed to trade with Singapore's future: "Singapore's financial strength and stability is a key pillar of its economy. Should Temasek be allowed to leverage on and trade with the nation's future?" Mr Lim should stop wasting time asking questions which will yield any answers from the authorities. He should just accept Finance Minister Tharman's exhortations and "trust" the system. After all, whether Temasek makes money or not is really none of Singaporeans' business since they will never benefit from it in the first place.  Read More →