Written by Ng E-Jay
26 Jan 2009

A day after Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam delivered the 2009 Budget Speech in Parliament, the mainstream press was all over the shop heaping praise on the “bold”, “generous” and “decisive” budget that “scores on superlatives”.

The Finance Minister told Parliament that Budget 2009 will deliver a Resilience Package totalling an unprecedented $20.5 billion aimed at helping Singaporeans keep their jobs and developing infrastructure and capabilities for “Singapore’s next phase of growth”.

A closer examination of the budget reveals that it is very business-centric.

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Written by Ng E-Jay
23 Jan 2009

The PAP Government has always been very adamant about using past reserves only as a last resort. In fact, as recent as February 2008, SM Goh Chok Tong told reporters at a charity Lunar New Year lunch: “The reserves are like a golden goose which lays golden eggs. And if you try and dig into the reserves, you’re actually in a sense not feeding the reserves and the goose gets smaller …. …. Produce the wealth first and the surpluses before we talk about sharing and never, never dig into the reserves. That’s like killing the golden goose to get the meat.” (Channel News Asia, “SM Goh says growing the economy is important for the future“, 17 Feb 2008)

SM Goh then did an about-face on 18 Jan 2009 when he revealed that the Government might draw on past reserves to help fund this year’s budget. He also told reporters at a Lunar New Year event at Marine Parade constituency: “The weather is so bad, and we’ve always said the reserves are for a rainy day. If this is not a rainy day, I don’t know what is a rainy day.” (Straits Time Online, “Govt may tap reserves “, 19 Jan 2009)

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Written by Ng E-Jay
23 Jan 2009

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam delivered the 2009 Budget Speech at 3.30pm in Parliament on Thursday, 22 January 2009. He told Parliament that this year’s budget, aimed at helping Singapore through the worst recession since independence, is a significantly expansionary budget that will put us in deficit to the tune of 6% of GDP for fiscal year 2009 (before accounting for Net Investment Returns and transfers to endowments and trust funds).

Mr Tharman said that Budget 2009 will deliver a Resilience Package totalling $20.5 billion this year. One of the most important objectives of this package is to help Singaporeans keep their jobs and retain their ability to support their families. To achieve this, the package will focus on helping businesses retain workers by helping them meet their costs and strengthen their cash-flow, and by enhancing their competitiveness.

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Written by Ng E-Jay
16 Jan 2009

Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, Chairman of the Migrant Workers’ Forum (MWF) at the National Trades Union Congress, has pledged to improve the lot of foreign workers in Singapore by educating them on their rights, such as what to do when problems involving late salary payments or housing issues arise. Mr Yeo Guat Kwang is an MP at Aljunied GRC.

Mr Yeo also urged the Manpower Ministry (MOM) to step up enforcement and not give employers the impression that enforcement is “not thorough enough“.

In recent months, foreign workers have complained about being unpaid, unfed, poorly housed, and in some cases, even abandoned.

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Written by Ng E-Jay
11 January 2009

As my readers probably are aware by now, the Government, in its response to the recommendations made by the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media (AIMS) on addressing the legal and regulatory issues associated with the Internet and New Media, has made it clear that the liberalization of the Films Act should be carried out in stages, and that only certain political films will not be banned. The Government’s detailed response, which was summarized by Dr Lee Boon Yang at a media conference on Fri 09 Jan, is uploaded here.

The philosophy underlying the Bloggers 13 recommendations on the liberalization of online political content is that attempts to prohibit or curtail the manufacture or distribution of online political content is unjustified in principle in the interest of free speech, and that the freewheeling and borderless nature of the Internet has rendered any attempts at Government control of online media ineffective. If rules are unenforceable in practice, they should be abolished. Furthermore, there are already adequate laws governing the areas of racial and religious hate speech and criminal defamation. These laws apply equally to both offline and online content, and hence there is no need for further laws over and above existing ones which give the Government too much administrative leeway to decide what content is permissible or not.

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Written by Ng E-Jay
11 January 2009

The Government has responded to recommendations made by the Advisory Council on the Impact of New Media (AIMS) on addressing the legal and regulatory issues associated with the Internet and New Media. The Government’s response was summarized in a speech made by Dr Lee Boon Yang, Minister for Information, Communication and the Arts (MICA), at a media conference held on the morning of Fri, 09 Jan. The Government’s detailed response is uploaded here.

With regards to the Government’s response on the topic of e-engagement, my first reaction, albeit a little tongue-in-cheek, is: “Has the PAP Internet Brigade lost its teeth?”

I am referring specifically to the Government’s rejection of AIMS’ recommendation that it engage voices outside of Government platforms in explaining its views and defending its policies.

The detailed response released by the Government states: “Firstly, it is not practical or feasible to respond to all blogs or forum postings. Fragmentation on the Internet has made it challenging for Governments to communicate effectively with the masses in the same way as is possible with traditional media … … The Government will require a huge amount of resources to e-engage on a multitude of online platforms. This would not be realistic or efficient.”

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Written by Ng E-Jay
07 Jan 2009

At the opening of the legal year in the Supreme Court last week, Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong, Attorney-General Walter Woon and Law Minister K Shanmugam launched an all-out offensive against civil rights activists campaigning for democratic change in Singapore as well as foreign media which have criticized our judiciary and the rule of law here.

In particular, CJ Chan insinuated that activists in Singapore have attempted to undermine public confidence in the courts by making “false and scandalous allegations“, and AG Woon said that “that there appears to be a campaign by certain people both here and abroad to attack the integrity and independence of the Singapore courts“, that “it is not permissible to undermine the courts and judiciary for political or ideological reasons“, that these “appear to be part of a broader campaign to force a change in our laws by extra-legal means“. (ST link)

K Shanmugam, which is also the Second Minister for Home Affairs, noted that “in the last few years, there have been people who did not like certain laws and the way they showed it was to go out there and protest“, but he countered that “the way to change the law is to get elected politically and argue in Parliament why the law should be changed“. Denouncing civil rights activists who have sought to highlight the unfairness of certain laws and how the Constitution has been violated by selective application of these laws, Shanmugam remarked that “… an aggressive small group of people think they can change those laws by going out there and protesting and the courts have repeatedly emphasized they will apply the law as it is.”

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Written by Ng E-Jay
01 January 2009

The Singapore Democratic Party organized a New Year’s Eve countdown at Hong Lim Park on Wednesday night. The event was attended by around 100 supporters and well-wishers, including prominent personalities such as Sebastian Teo, Steve Chia, Ng Teck Siong, Mohd Jufrie Mahmood, and Tan Kin Lian.

It was another impressive display of solidarity, both within the Opposition camp, as well as with supporters, friends, and other activists.

Dinner consisting of hot dog buns, potato chips of various flavours, and thirst-quenching orange juice began at around 6.30pm, just as people were starting to stream in.

As I wolfed down a hot dog bun and gulped down my orange juice, I joked with Siok Chin about her love for tid-bits, as evidenced by the huge stacks of potato chips of all varieties and flavours which were laid out to satisfy her insatiable appetite for crispy snacks with little nutritional content.

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