Source: Channel News Asia, 27 July 2009

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Council of Women’s Organisations (SCWO) is proposing that a new body be set up to enforce the payment of monthly maintenance sums from an ex-spouse to his or her family.

Statistics show that even with a court-issued maintenance order, 1,700 people – mainly women – had to apply for the orders to be enforced last year.

Nearly half of the 1,700 had to apply at least twice – a process that could take months if ex-spouses keep on defaulting on payments.

[Read more...]

Source: Channel News Asia, 27 July 2009

SINGAPORE: Singapore residents have called for greater transparency over the way town councils’ sinking funds are used.

The issue was discussed at a recent dialogue session on town council financial management aimed at helping the National Development Ministry draft a score card for town councils.

Some of the service and conservancy charges paid by housing estate residents every month go towards improvement works like covered walkways and railings. But the bulk goes into a sinking fund for long-term maintenance projects and to guard against a rainy day.

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Source: Straits Times, 22 June 2009

By Andy Ho, Senior Writer

LAST year, some 3,266 women had to turn to the courts to get their alimony orders enforced. With divorces and annulments rising from 5,825 in 2002 to 7,220 last year, this problem can only get worse.

But why alimony at all? While providing child support and splitting assets acquired during a marriage make obvious sense, lawyers say that there is no coherent theory why the law should burden men with obligations to their ex-wives.

[Read more...]

Source: Channel News Asia, 17 June 2009

SINGAPORE : Singapore continues to face the long-term challenge of low fertility and an ageing population, according to its latest population report.

But the record number of foreign residents in the country has helped grow the total population to 4.84 million in 2008 – an increase of 5.5 per cent over the previous year.

Foreigners now make up about 25 per cent of the total population.

[Read more...]

Source: CNA, 16 June 2009

SINGAPORE: Five years ago, they were a rare sight in Punggol Central. These days, foreigners make up roughly 10 per cent of the estate’s residents, or so Mr Charles Chong reckons going by the number he meets on his door-to-door visits.

The ward’s Member of Parliament reckons they are flocking there for various reasons: It’s a new town, housing is cheaper compared to mature estates, and it is close to the new industrial areas that have sprouted up in the north-east.

While foreigners have added to the constituency’s vibrancy, integrating them has also become a priority. For instance, a Cricket Interest Group was formed to get new citizens involved in community events. Mr Chong suggested this after noticing migrant groups playing the sport in the empty fields across his estate, which has 48,000 residents.

[Read more...]

ST link

Each S’porean must be given space to practise own religion without imposition of others’ views, says Lim Hwee Hua
By Yen Feng

SINGAPOREANS must guard the country’s secular space to ensure that trust, confidence and respect between people of different races and religions will continue to grow.

In making this call yesterday, Second Minister for Finance and Transport Lim Hwee Hua said having a common secular space would allow ‘each Singaporean the personal and private space to practise his own religion without having the views of others imposed upon him’.

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ST link

MOST months, Miss Rethinasamy Rajasvari takes home $500 from her telemarketing job, but spends a quarter of that taking the bus and train to work.

That is not counting the days when it rains and the blind 50-year-old has to take a taxi from her home in Ang Mo Kio to Kim Seng Road.

For the past 10 years, she has been trying to get public transport operators here to subsidise public transport fares for disabled people.

[Read more...]

ST link

THE Ministry of Education (MOE) is making its materials on sexuality education more accessible by publishing them online.

Education Minister Ng Eng Hen said yesterday that parents, from June or July, can have access to the materials and sit in on their children’s sexuality education classes in school. If they are uncomfortable with what is being taught, they can pull their children out of the classes.

MOE’s sexuality education materials have actually been available since 2000.

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ST link

# 2,000 more nursing home beds in five years
# Eldersave, ElderShield, Elderfund being developed
# Manpower expansion and training in health care
By Salma Khalik

IN THE coming decade, Singapore’s health-care system will come under pressure from an ageing population coupled with an increase in mental ailments.

To cope, the Health Ministry will add more than 2,000 nursing home beds over the next five years – with about half devoted to the care of the mentally ill.

[Read more...]

ST link

MANPOWER Minister Gan Kim Yong made a pledge yesterday to do more to make Singapore ‘a home for talent’, both local and foreign. His ministry has lined up several plans to achieve it.

These include developing good employment practices, high standards of workplace safety and health, and a ‘well-managed’ foreign workforce.

In laying them out in an addendum to the President’s address on Monday, he said: ‘We will do more to position Singapore as a home for talent, both local and foreign, with a compelling proposition of fulfilling career opportunities and high quality of life.’

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ST link

Educators should quit beating about the bush and using scare tactics when dealing with sex
By Amanda Tan

WHAT do you make of a bra-wearing lesson for 17-year-old girls, or having to watch five re-runs of abortion documentary The Silent Scream?

Well, if you are a teenager with a lot of burning questions about sexuality on your mind, not much.

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ST link

One arm to keep bad hats out; another to curb harmful social impact
By Lim Wei Chean & Teh Joo Lin

THE job of keeping watch over Singapore’s two casinos will require a delicate balancing act.

On the one hand, there is a need to ensure the gaming tables at Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World at Sentosa, set to open at the end of the year and early 2010 respectively, draw the crowds, so business booms and Singapore benefits from a steady stream of tax income.

Doing this will mean keeping out crime syndicates, including prostitution and money-laundering rings.

[Read more...]