TR EMERITUS

EDITORS' NOTE: If two deaths from the same school within a week are not linked, three premature deaths in less than a month from the same school is kind of spooky. We are not suggesting here that there is any correlation between the latest death and the previous 2 suicides which is probably a coincidence. Like the second victim, the third victim, Dr Hu Kunlun was a Chinese National who started work less than a week ago as a research fellow in the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The laboratory in which Dr Hu worked in is not far away from the laboratory S2-B3a-06 of the first two victims - Widjaja and Zhou Zheng: Just when negative publicity emanating from the two earlier suicides was about to abate, another death of a young research fellow shook NTU by storm again. The media has been embarking on a campaign to salvage NTU's battered reputation by publishing a series of articles on its academic achievements in the last 2 weeks. It is unfortunate that another unrelated premature death of a staff from the same division threaten to undo earlier efforts of damage control. For whatever reasons, the mysterious circumstances surrounding Widjaja and Zhou Zheng's deaths which remained unanswered to this very day simply refuse to go away and perhaps it is time to revisit the tragedy which is fast disappearing from public attention. Did Widjaja really attack his professor? Was Zhou Zheng's suicide an isolated incident? After nearly a month, the police had not revealed the results of their investigations. Given the level of public interest in this unfortunate tragedy in both Singapore and Indonesia, NTU should call for a press conference to dispel the lingering doubts and suspicions about the events leading to Widjaja's and Zhou Zheng's deaths once and for all.   Media report: Another death of a person linked to Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has occurred, making it the third in 25 days. Last Friday, Mr Hu Kunlun, 29, a research fellow in the Division of Control and Instrumentation from the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE), was killed when he was hit by a car. According to a report in the Chinese newspaper Lianhe Wanbao, the China national was on his way to work tha t morning. He was believed to have started work less than a year ago. A car hit him when he was crossing Pioneer Road North to catch a bus. He was rushed to the National University Hospital in an ambulance and pronounced dead at 11.20am. His family has been contacted and will arrive in Singapore tomorrow. NTU declined to comment on the incident, telling The Sunday Times that the death is not the same as the two that occurred previously. On March 2, an Indonesian EEE student stabbed his professor before falling to his death. A few days later, a 24-year-old project officer, a China national who was also from EEE, was found hanged in the balcony of his campus apartment. Source: Straits Times  Read More →

Dear readers, As part of our continued efforts to increase the political awareness of ordinary Singaporeans, we will endeavor to bring more socio-political bloggers to the forefront. Socio-political bloggers are most welcome to post the links of their related blog articles on our site which will help to drive traffic to their blogs. Alternatively, we can publish your article on our site with a link to your blog to increase its reach. We hope to bring more socio-political blogs within the top 2,000 in terms of traffic rank. There are only a handful of socio-political blogs in Singapore which are updated on a regular basis and one of them is aligned to and perhaps even controlled by the PAP. We must continue to maintain constant vigilance against their hidden motives. In view of the pothepanda fiasco and its tendency to censor comments deemed offensive to the PAP, we urge all netizens to refrain from posting comments on it. Here's another complaint from a reader "potatohead": "I have been unfairly uncensored by toc when commenting on their latest post by remy choo.   He wrote about how unnamed sources are not inaccurate and journalists should use them. This is in reference to the gct statement on inaccurate source comment on lateef.   So i made 2 comments today. First one was on the use of sources in wayangparty. I asked something to the effect that if wayang[party were to write an article based on unnamed source on remy, then he cannot say it is innaccurate. I also made a comment that gct is scaried bec this has happened before.   Then i noticed my first comment was being moderated (it was a valid qn) while my unvalidated comment that it has happen before was allowed. So TOC commenters whack govt ok but whack them not ok?? I was not even whacking. Think i hit a raw nerve."   THE EDITORIAL TEAM  Read More →

 谢燕燕 内阁改组反应 　　李显龙总理这次改组内阁和更新政治领导层，最引起政治观察家关注的是张志贤 (Teo Chee Hean) 出任副总理，内阁首次出现女部长，以及这次改组只出现一张全新脸孔。 　　对张志贤出任副总理，受访者都表示这是意料中事。对陈惠华 (Lim Hwee Hua) 成为我国首位女部长，大家一致认为是件值得称许的好事，因为内阁中终于有了女性的声音。至于这次改组只出现一张新脸孔，分析家则看法不一。 　　政治观察员陈庆文（38岁）说，这次改组中只出现一张全新脸孔让他有点惊讶，他以为总理会起用更多年轻议员，为政府注入更多新血。这次改组所出现的唯一新脸孔，是受委为政务次长的陈振泉。 　　不过曾担任官委议员的楚其菲却不以为然。他指出，从过去的经验看，后座议员中途接受任命的例子不多，行动党在物色候选人时，通常是一开始便知道哪些人会在政府中出任要职，哪些人只担任国会议员。 　　前国会议员王家园博士同意这一观点，他指出，总理通常是在新一轮大选后，在内阁引进新血，较少在中途做出全新任命。 　　他指出，很多在上一届大选引进的新人，在大选后已经有了任命，这次更多的是一种肯定和擢升，例如颜金勇和陈惠华正式升任为部长，吕德耀出任代部长。 　　王博士认为张志贤出任副总理是最适当不过的人选，虽然这是意料中事。他认为不论从个性上，能力上看，他都很合适，因为他非常稳重。 　　楚其菲说，这次内阁改组，显示政治领导层在自我更新时的三大原则：第一，很多要职是事先部署好的。第二，受委出任某一职位后，最重要是必须有所表现，否则随时会被撤换。第三，新加坡会尽量留住经验丰富的政治领导人，充分利用他们的政治智慧。 他说，总理这次改组内阁，没有什么出人意表的安排，这是因为新加坡向来重视秩序井然和稳健的更替过程。 　　他以张志贤出任副总理一职为例说，这是很早之前便做好的部署，张志贤曾在环境发展部、财政部、教育部、国防部担任要职，显然是为了让他有机会吸取各方面经验，日后好出任更重要的职位。 　　楚其菲指出，没有一份工作是终身制的，今天受委，明天可以被撤换，没有什么是永恒不变的，因此不必对某人出任某职有过多解读。 　　他解释说，出任某个政治职位不是一种犒赏，你必须有所表现，否则随时会被撤换。 　　谈到卸任的副总理贾古玛教授即将出任国务资政，楚其菲认为我国政治领导层很清楚应尽量留住有宝贵经验的领导人，充分利用他们的政治智慧。 　　谈到好些相对新的部长、政务部长、政务次长身兼两个部门的问题，楚其菲认为总理的想法可能是要多考验他们，让他们多吸取各方面的经验，与此同时，让他们熟悉不同部门的运作，加强部门之间的联系。 　　陈庆文发现除了出任市长的张思乐外，所有政治要员都在40岁以上。他说，如果需要15至20年时间来培养一位未来总理，内阁似乎应该引进更多年轻新血。他因此觉得这次改组的范围，没有他想象的大。 　　他发现贸工部除了部长外，还有高级政务部长，政务部长和政务次长，这可能是政府目前很关注经济问题。 　　另一位政治观察者赖涯桥也提出相似观点。他认为这次内阁改组，和新加坡当前所面对的政治、经济和社会问题不无关系。他说，目前的环球性经济问题，严重打击本地出口，制造业大幅度萎缩，就业市场受到影响，裁员在所难免，颜金勇正式升任部长，凸显了政府所要解决的问题。 　　他认为易华仁、李奕贤、陈振泉等人兼任贸工部要职，将能在立足新加坡的当儿放眼世界，学会如何借助世界资源弥补新加坡资源之不足，同时帮助新加坡开拓国外市场。 陈庆文也很高兴看到内阁出现一位女部长，但他希望有朝一日，她能领导自己的一个部门，而不只是担任总理公署部长。 　　女律师林丽珠也对陈惠华的任命感到很鼓舞，她认为身为女性，陈惠华更能了解和体谅女性所面对的问题。根据她观察，陈惠华是一位善用眼睛和耳朵来观察周围事物的人。 　　她相信陈惠华的任命，将能鼓励更多女性站出来，最重要的是，她是凭自己的真才实干出任部长一职。 Source: Zaobao.com  Read More →