Why is there no mention of soft drinks, the manufacture and disposal of which poses the same or even greater environmental risks as bottled water, and which, unlike bottled water, is genuinely unhealthy to the human body?

Also, shouldn’t the campaign be FOR water coolers to be installed all throughout the island and for people to bring their own reusable containers?

Written by Ng E-Jay
15 July 2009

It was reported in the Straits Times article “Bottled water: People should be told the facts” that the Australian town of Bundanoon, south of Sydney, voted to ban bottled water last Wednesday, and that two individuals here are keen on campaigning for a similar move in Singapore. I was nothing short of flabbergasted when I read this.

[Read more...]

Written by Ng E-Jay
14 July 2009

New Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Calvin Cheng has written an atrocious letter to TODAY newspaper betraying not only his absence of a sense of accountability, but also his complete lack of political acumen. I am truly shocked by his letter.

In his online letter entitled “I am curious all the time“, Calvin Cheng attempted to rebut TODAY journalist P.N. Balji’s assertion in a column published on 11 July that he had joined the YPAP in a rather cavalier and whimsical manner in 2006.

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Written by Ng E-Jay
13 July 2009

It was reported recently in Channel News Asia that around 12,000 foetuses are aborted every year in Singapore, with doctors claiming that not enough people are using contraceptives, or are using them incorrectly.

At face value, the number of 12,000 abortions every year must lead some pro-life pundits to claim that our family planning policies have gone astray and perhaps to even question whether our social norms are degrading. Over the years, there have been repeated calls for Singapore’s relatively easy access to abortion to be examined with the view that it should be tightened.

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Written by Ng E-Jay
08 July 2009

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced that it has imposed temporary bans on the sale of structured notes by 10 financial institutions (FIs) which had distributed toxic structured notes linked to the collapsed US financial institution Lehman Brothers.

The bans, which took effect from 01 July 2009, apply to ABN Amro Bank, CIMB-GK Securities, DBS Bank, DMG and Partners Securities, Hong Leong Finance, Kim Eng Securities, Maybank, OCBC Securities, Philip Securities and UOB Kay Hian.

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Written by Ng E-Jay
03 July 2009

In my previous article From stifled dissent to managed dissent, I discussed how the ruling PAP is gradually adapting to an approach of soft authoritarianism, replacing blatantly oppressive tactics like the use of the ISA on political opponents with the subtle managing of dissent through token liberalization of the rules that gives the people a semblance of political space but without actually returning them their full constitutional rights.

The liberalization of Speaker’s Corner for public demonstrations whilst denying Singaporeans the freedom of peaceful assembly via the Public Order Act, the tweaking of the Films Act to give more room for political films whilst denying Singaporeans the freedom of speech through the constant threat of defamation suits, and the new NCMP scheme which gives the opposition a greater voice in Parliament but in no way makes elections free or fair, are prime examples of the way the PAP unconstitutionally maintains its grip on all the key levers of power whilst pretending that there is greater freedom and political rights.

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Written by Ng E-Jay
23 June 2009

In his no-holes-barred masterpiece Requiem for an unbending Singaporean, former President C.V. Devan Nair recounted how, after J.B. Jeyaretnam had won the 1981 Anson by-election, the then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said that he would make him “crawl on his bended knees, and beg for mercy“.

But the former Worker’s Party leader was made of far sterner stuff, and in Devan Nair’s own words, “he never did crawl on bended knees, or ever begged for mercy, and it is to Lee Kuan Yew’s eternal shame that Jeyaretnam will leave the political scene with his head held high, enjoying a martyrdom conferred on him by Lee.”

Today, it still remains to be seen whether the Worker’s Party is able to live up to J.B. Jeyaretnam’s principles and embody the same kind of moral rectitude and courage so consistently displayed by its former stalwart.

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Ng E-Jay / Current Affairs Desk, The Online Citizen
Monday, 22 June 2009

Half of Singapore’s population could consists of foreigners in 11 years time, if the government continues its current plan of attracting foreigners to feed its “growth-at-all-cost” economic model. This, couple with the low birth rate among locals, may result in unprecedented stress on our social fabric.

THE NATIONAL Population Secretariat announced on Wednesday that Singapore’s total population grew to 4.84 million in 2008, with the proportion of foreigners increasing to 25 percent.

Noting the challenges faced by families during the current downturn, the Secretariat reiterated the need to encourage marriage and parenthood, attract foreigners, and foster naturalisation and integration of new immigrants.

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