TR EMERITUS

Written by Our Correspondent The Singapore media has sunk to another low with a blatantly biased, lop-sided and atrocious piece of editorial today to hoodwink and mislead Singaporeans. The Sunday Times published a total of 4 articles on sons of new citizens and PRs who were comissioned as SAF Officers yesterday after completely the 38 week Officer Cadet Course. It chose to highlight and give prominent coverage to 4 officers who are from Russia, China, Malaysia and India. With the exception of one, all parents are Singapore PRs. The report is nothing more than a propaganda to generate the erroneous public impression that sons of PRs are contributing to Singapore by serving National Service. There is rising public resentment and anger towards the ruling party's liberal immigration policies which allow some PRs to take advantage of the lax rules. Their children are often enrolled in Singapore schools and sent overseas to study by the time they reach 18 years of age to avoid being enlisted into the army. The parents will continue working in Singapore before retiring back to their homelands with their children. Some Singaporeans perceive these PRs are "free loafers" who come to Singapore to enjoy all the perks without sacrificing as much as them by spending two years of their lives in the SAF. Stung by growing criticisms, the state media has been spinning half-baked reports as such to placate the locals. Are these 4 officers the only PRs in the cohort of commissioned officers? The Sunday Times should provide some figures in its article to substantiate its claims: 1. The percentage of PRs who send their children overseas to study each year in order to avoid conscription. 2. The percentage of PRs now serving National Service. Without these crucial facts, it will be impossible for anybody to come to a reasonable conclusion that PRs are indeed serving National Service and subjected to the same treatment as Singaporean citizens.  Read More →

Written by Our Correspondent The Sunday Times published two full-page articles on the recent passing out parade of the SAF's Officer Cadet Corp (OCS) which includes sons of four ministers as well as new citizens. No efforts were spared to  promote the sons of new citizens who were commissioned as SAF officers, one of them is China-born Second Lieutenant (2nd Lt) Chen Jin Chao. Mr Chen's father came to Singapore to find work 12 years ago as a construction worker before he became a renovation contractor. He now run a stall in Ang Mo Kio selling noodles with his wife. Both of them are now Singapore citizens.  Not too long ago, MM Lee Kuan Yew reassured Singaporeans that the government is "very strict" with the criteria for citizenship and only the best "talents" are offered Singapore citizenship. He also said that most foreigners are here to work on a short-term basis and will return home after their stint ends. With due respect to Mr Chen, his previous occupation as a construction worker can hardly be considered as a professional or a talent. How he managed to get his Singapore PR and somemore citizenship is anybody's guess. Is Singapore desperate for construction workers and noodle sellers that we have to "import" them from China to become our citizens? Mr Chen's mother was naturally elated when interviewed by the state media yesterday: "Today is a very happy day for us......Jin Chao has proven that he could tough it out and can now start to contribute to Singapore's defence." It will not come as a surprise if Mr Chen's family were to vote for the ruling party in the next election due by 2011 who gave them the opportunity to start life afresh after all. Faced wth dwindling support from locals, the ruling party ha been actively courting the new citizens. A $10-million dollar Community Integration Fund was announced lately by the Minister of Community, Youth and Sports Dr Vivian Balakrishnan to make the new citizens feel "welcomed" in Singapore even when he admited his pet project - the construction of the Singapore Sports Hub would be delayed due to financial constraints. There are currently about 4,500 new citizens serving as grassroots leaders in various estates in Singapore and their numbers are likely to increase in the future. Mr Chen is the kind of new citizen so sought after by the ruling party - he is likely to be hardworking, obedient and most importantly, politically ignorant, apathetic and inactive which will help consolidate and entrench its hegemony in Singapore for the next few decades. Besides construction workers, PRC cleaners and masseurs can also qualify for Singapore PR and possibly citizenship as well.  Read More →

By Damon Yeo From many different perspectives, genuine competition in any industry brings about more benefits to everyone. For the consumers, competition is expected to bring prices down and they can have more choices (even if perceived) to choose from. For the businesses, competition forces them to innovate in order to outdo their rivals and also help them improve on efficiency and productivity. Overall, the society benefits economically. But as the 2010 FIFA World Cup becomes the latest battleground for two local media giants SingTel and Starhub, one has to begin to wonder if this competition is actually benefitting anyone at all. The fight for market share in the pay-TV industry began officially in mid-July 2007, when SingTel launched mioTV, its 24-hours pay-TV service to rival that of Starhub. In the beginning, mioTV struggled for market share. Whilst the channels offered by mioTV provided a change from those by Starhub, the market had been saturated by consumers who already signed up to contracts with Starhub or are only interested in sports content. The tide began to turn slightly in SingTel’s favour when they were awarded rights to the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup 2009-2012[1]. However, because of timing differences (these games were typically played at night in Europe, hence the wee-hours locally), only very enthusiastic football fans will stay up till 5-6 am to watch these games. Still, to enjoy full coverage of football games, one will have to subscribe to both mioTV and Starhub TV. The crown jewel of sports contents locally is live coverage of the Premier League games locally. These games are usually played on weekend afternoons in England. Hundreds of thousands of football fans in Singapore tune in to watch these games. The fact that coffee shops and bars around the city centre are filled to capacity during match nights bears testament to the popularity of English football in Singapore. And when SingTel announced in early October that they had procured the rights to the Premier League for at least the next three years from next August onwards[2], it was when the media war became a full scale battle for market share. For the consumers, the immediate impact of SingTel’s victory appears to be positive. At time of writing, they are offering “early bird” offers to football fans. The $23 per month package offers live coverage of all Premier League matches and most of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League games. This is significantly cheaper than the nearly $50 a month package to watch Premier League with Starhub TV at the present (other basic channels are prerequisite). However, it is believed that the offer from SingTel only lasts one football season. From July 2011 onwards, there is no doubt that SingTel will review its pricing policy and adjust accordingly. From some reports, it is estimated that they had actually splashed out close to US$400m for the rights and will be eager to balance the books on this deal. How SingTel will revise its pricing come mid-2011 is anyone’s guess, but perhaps the lower prices early on is to draw masses to its new set-up boxes. In November, SingTel turned down Starhub’s offer to host SingTel content[3]. A war of words between the CEOs of both companies ensued and it was clear that it will be difficult for both telcos to work together in the immediate future. What it meant for the consumers now is that to enjoy the content of both providers, it will be inevitable to avoid two set-up boxes, more wiring and multiple connections. Public interest is not met when these two media giants cannot see eye to eye. The latest hammer blow to consumers is of course the news that both telcos have yet to nail down a deal with FIFA on broadcasting of the FIFA World Cup next summer. It was cited at time of writing that a price offered to FIFA cannot be reached whilst keeping it affordable for all consumers[4]. It is possible that no live World Cup games will be televised at all in Singapore. This piece of news is shocking and unacceptable for most local football fans. The FIFA World Cup is by far the most important international event on the football calendar and fans have to wait every four years for it to come round. Also, it is hard to understand why the telcos had failed to reach any deal with FIFA. Most nations on the globe had already confirmed their broadcasters with FIFA, including war-torn nations like Congo and Iraq. Furthermore, for most countries, the World Cup will be shown on free-to-air channels, at no additional costs to consumers[5]. Just for the record, free-to-air stations will be broadcasting the World Cup in our neighbours Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. If free-to-air channels worldwide can agree deals with FIFA, it must mean that they are able to recoup the cost of buying the rights with either advertising revenues or other sponsorships, as it can be safely assumed that no TV station will altruistically enter into loss-making business just for the “love of the game”. Unless FIFA is charging the rights to Singapore at an exorbitant price (this is unlikely as Singapore is a very small market compared to elsewhere), it is safe to say that whoever buy the rights to the FIFA World Cup here is likely to recoup the fees if they adopt advertisement pricing / programme models similar to other free-to-air channels. The current situation between SingTel and Starhub makes one wonder if they are trying to outdo each other just to exploit the more well-to-do football fans of our nation. Without live coverage of the World Cup in Singapore, less fervent fans will just give it a miss, more IT-savvy fans will just attempt to watch via live-streaming over the internet (perhaps in a legal grey area) and other fans may have to cross the causeway to catch the big games. By generating such inconvenience, can it be good for public interest? Time is running out - SingTel, Starhub or even MediaCorp need to re-think the situation and come up with a viable solution for all soon. Copyright © The Temasek Review, 2009 References: [1] http://home.SingTel.com/news_centre/news_releases/2008_03_20.asp [2] http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporebusinessnews/view/1008519/1/.html [3] http://www.media.asia/searcharticle/2009_11/StarHub-SingTel-squabble-over-Premier-League-content-proposal/37879 [4] http://www.media.asia/newsarticle/2009_12/SingTel-and-StarHub-negotiate-2010-rights-with-FIFA/38256?src=mostpop [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_FIFA_World_Cup_broadcasting_rights#cite_note-FIFA-0 Other articles by Damon Yeo: >> The minimum wage: pros and cons >> HDB’s 2 billion dollar deficit: More questions than answers >> Singapore v Hong Kong >> DBS and a series of ‘unfortunate events’ >> Sale of Chartered – An Anatomy >> 3rd most competitive nation in the world and what it means to the average worker About the Author: Damon is a proud graduate of Nanyang Technological University in 2004 with a degree in Accountancy. He is currently working in the finance department of a UK Bank. He is also a regular contributor at redsports.sg.  Read More →