TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent The People's Association (PA) has given netizens the long-awaited reply on whether there is any conflict of interest between YPAP member Sear Hock Rong's business dealings with various Eunos grassroots organizations where he is currently serving in. Mr Alex Tan had earlier lodged an official complaint to the People's Association about the matter which promised to look into it. In a short reply to Mr Tan, Ms Adlina Jaffar the Head of the Corporate Communications Division of the PA wrote that they have "checked the transactions between Mr Sear Hock Rong's company, R2E Concepts, and the Eunos Grassroots Organisations" and they "observed no impropriety in the transactions." Obviously feeling "insulted" by the reply, Mr Tan shot back with a series of questions for Ms Jaffar: "1) May I ask to access the transaction files of R2E and Eunos Grassroots pertaining to the following clients: Eunos Citizens' Consultative Committee Eunos Zone '1' Residents' Committee, Eunos Zone '3' Residents' Committee, Eunos Zone '5' Residents' Committee, PAP Community Foundation Eunos. 2) Cost of each Tender 3) Name of suppliers who quoted for teach Tender 4) What are the exact services provided by R2E for each transaction? 5) Identity of each member of the Constituency Tender Committee. Questions regarding the People's Association: 1) How many People's Association Grassroots Leaders are PAP members? 2) What exact benefits do Grassroots Leaders have from joining the Grassroot Schemes?" YPAP member, grassroots leader of Eunos  and moderator of the YPAP Facebook Sear Hock Rong sparked a massive outcry in cyberspace lately when it was revealed that his company, set up only in July last year, counts among its clients quite a number of grassroots organizations. His business partner Mr Fong Yoong Keong is the Assistant Secretary of Eunos Zone "3" RC. Despite many requests by netizens to clarify matters, Mr Sear blatantly refused to do so and challenged "anybody who doubts his character" to file an official complaint against him as obliged by Mr Tan. It is not uncommon to see PAP members holding important leadership positions at grassroots organizations, all of which are under the purview of the People's Association, a supposedly statutory board chaired none other by the Prime Minister himself. Singapore's octogenarian leader Lee Kuan Yew admitted recently to the media that "all CCCs, CCs and RCs are part of the PAP." Besides grassroots organizations and civil society, all the other important state institutions are under the direct or indirect control of the PAP including the police, media, judiciary and even the trade unions. Respected International NGO Human Rights Watch released a less than flattering report of the Singapore's government's human rights record, condemning it as a "textbook example of political repression." Below is a statement from Mr Alex Tan on the above matter: This is the standard robotic model answer structure which always comes from government statutory boards whenever anyone probe for an answer. They are the ones breeding apathy and disenchantment among the people. The PAP government on the surface are asking for participation and active citizenry roles, to the point of blaming Singaporeans for being mollycoddled. The truth is: the PAP government is not ready to take the heat of scrutiny and questionings for a satisfactory answer. I say the PAP government is not ready for such responsible citizens. This very unhealthy National Development to the Bottom are already blurring the benefits and roles of Singaporeans and foreigners today. Apathy are still at an all-time high as compared to any first world country. We must Change and Change we must. Singaporeans must Change Singapore into a country which they feel passionate for. Their involvement and ideas must be constantly sought after and feedback to National Policies to facilitate a Majullah Singapura (Forward Singapore) Promise our soldiers and little ones sing everyday and this Change will make Singapore for Singaporeans. I wish to announce that I will be standing in the next General Elections. I have just set up a toothpick "business" to "earn profit" for mine Election Campaign. I will also be having a Speech at Hong Lim Park on the second day of Chinese New Year at 5pm. Thereafter, I will have a weekly speech every Sunday at Hong Lim Park to raise political awareness for Singaporeans. Singapore for Singaporeans Please support Change.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent As of last week, independent socio-political news site The Temasek Review has exceeded Mediacorp's TODAY Online in Singapore readership. According to the latest Alexa.com traffic ranking on 25 January 2010, The Temasek Review is ranked the 329th most visited site in Singapore while TODAY Online is ranked 7 places behind at 336th: Temasek Review:   Today Online: For the first time in the history of the Singapore new media, an alternative news site not run by the government has exceeded the readership of a site belonging to the mainstream media. What this means: 1. Your letters will reach out to more readers than on TODAY Online Voices. Unlike the mainstream media who has a propensity to edit letters from their readers, we respect whatever our readers send us. You can be assured that your letters will be published on our site within a week and with as little editing as possible. Please participate actively in our "Forum" section and ask your friends to join in as well. Right now, it is grossly under-utilized. We are publishing on average only one letter every two days and we want to increase the output to three letters a day eventually. 2. Your ads will reach out to a wider audience than on TODAY Online. Our advertising rates are cheaper compared to what is offered by the mainstream media. As part of our continued efforts to serve fellow Singaporeans, we are offering companies who are recruiting Singaporeans to put up their job ads on our site for a week absolutely free of charge. Our first client, an IT company ShowNearby has found a local to fill its vacancy within five days of putting up its ad on our site. 3. We are in a position to express your genuine concerns, worries, fears, hopes, and aspirations. No longer do you have to put up with the endless propaganda from the mainstream media. Whatever is published here will be read by the MPs and ministers and though they will not reply to us directly, they will respond indirectly through other channels. The Temasek Review would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all our readers for their kind support without which we would not be able to grow at such a phenomenal rate. We are here today only because of you. This site is run by Singaporeans for Singaporeans together with Singaporeans. The people behind Temasek Review are all true born and bred Singaporeans. One reason why we prefer to remain anonymous is that we are established businessmen and professionals in the community and our companies have some dealings with the Singapore government. We thank you for trusting us, especially our donors for their kind donations despite not knowing our identities in real life. We promise that your contributions will be put to good use to assist fellow needy Singaporeans and we will be publishing a monthly statement of account on our site in due course. Our present readership in Singapore is only one sixth of the Straits Times' digital edition and we still have a long way to go before we exceed theirs. However once we have a team to produce original news articles, interviews and video clips, we are quietly confident that we will be able to catch up with the Straits Times one day and only then will we be able to counter their propaganda effectively and promptly. We expect our readership as well as influence to continue growing in the next few months ahead. Our target audience is the young IT-savvy generation who prefer reading news online from their laptops or PCs rather than the older generation who are used to flipping the newspapers during breakfast. They will be the kingmakers in future elections. In terms of critical analyses of Singapore politics and social issues, the mainstream media can never beat us because they have many constraints while we are free to write whatever we wish to.We are a reader-oriented news site and we are constantly feeling the pulse of the nation to decide on the news to publish. Our readers play a critical role in determining our editorial content and slant and we treasure all their feedback including criticisms. The Temasek Review is a writers' paradise and our columnists can attest to that - we will give you the complete freedom to write on any topics and issues you are passionate about and we almost never edit your articles. If you are keen to write for us, just email your resume to us at [email protected] We are just commencing on the next lap of our arduous journey - to exceed The Straits Times' readership, and we hope you will continue to assist and support us by sharing our site with your relatives, colleagues and friends.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent Minister in Prime Minister's Office Lim Swee Say appeared to be stunned by recent calls by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on the need to set new productivity standards. Speaking at an industry forum today, Mr Lim noted that Singapore's target to increase productivity growth by 2 per cent to 3 per cent a year will be "challenging". Due to Singapore's increasing dependence on cheap foreign labor, productivity growth as a share of the GDP has decreased from 44 per cent between 2002 and 2004 to only 14 percent from 2004 to 2007. Mr Lim doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that Singapore's labor productivity has dropped chiefly as a result of the increase in the number of cheap foreign workers in Singapore, as pointed out by many economists as well. Below is a graph illustrating how the decrease in labor productivity has coincided with the increase in the number of foreign workers in Singapore courtesy of the moderator of 3in1kopitiam Kojakbt: Mr Lim pointed out that a "big improvement" is needed to achieve the lofty targets set by his boss, but did not elaborate on how to do so. Instead he come up with a baffling statement: "What if only 50 per cent of the workers, only 50 per cent of the companies, only 50 per cent of unions, only 50 per cent of tripartite partners focus on productivity improvement?  The other half do nothing and achieve a productivity gain of zero per cent, then that half which is working very hard will have to improve their productivity not by 2-3 per cent, but by 4-6 per cent in order to make up for the other half that did not move." According to Mr Lim, what is "new" this time is the "determination" to ensure productivity cuts across all sectors of Singapore's economy. "Because there are still low productivity sectors in Singapore today, there are still low productivity jobs in Singapore today.  And we have to find ways to involve them in this productivity movement, so that on the whole, we can move towards a 2-3 per cent productivity movement in a concerted manner, in an inclusive manner, the uniquely Singapore way," he was quoted saying in Channel News Asia. Mr Lim did not explain which are "low productivity sectors" and "low productivity jobs" in Singapore. Neither did he shed more light on his "uniquely Singapore way". However Mr Lim does indeed have a "unique" mantra which covers all labor matters - "cheaper, faster and better!" Perhaps he should share with Singaporeans on how it will lead to increase productivity. As a Minister without portfolio, Mr Lim took home almost SGD$2 million dollars a year or more than 4 times the annual salary of U.S. President Barack Obama. Judging from the "chim" words he has been sprouting daily which must be incomprehensible to ordinary Singaporeans, one must wonder if he is really worth every single cent of Singapore taxpayers' monies.  Read More →