Author: Rilek1Corner

Israel PM Describes ‘Battle For Future Of Humanity’ During Singapore Visit

In the first visit to Singapore by an Israeli head of state in 30 years, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday issued a call for greater diversity and tolerance.

Netanyahu gave a roughly 10-minute speech to Jewish community members gathered at the tightly guarded Maghain Aboth Synagogue, built in Singapore in the late 1800s.

Netanyahu spoke of his recent visits to Muslim-majority countries Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, noting that he visited a synagogue in the latter.

“Jewish children in Kazakhstan were singing Hebrew songs as they sang here, in a Muslim state and that reflects the kind of world we like to see: a world of tolerance, a world of diversity as opposed to the world that is being challenged today by the forces of barbarism and intolerance,” he said. “This is a battle for the future of humanity.”

Netanyahu added that the relationship between Singapore and Israel had expanded beyond the defence ties which were set in the mid-1960s, when Singapore became independent of Malaysia.

“It’s not only that we’re both innovation nations. It’s not only that we’re small people that have defied the limitations of our size. It is that we’re committed to a better world. A world of diversity, a world that follows the values that we as a people have held for so many years,” he said.

Netanyahu said he had held talks with Singapore’s government earlier in the day and that the talks would continue later. His speech at the synagogue coincided with the reading of Singapore’s budget in Parliament.

Netanyahu’s visit to Singapore comes hard on the heels of the Israeli prime minister’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in the U.S. last week, but that visit went unmentioned.

Netanyahu’s visit to Singapore on Monday was quieter than the last visit of an Israeli head of state to the island-nation.

In 1986, Israel’s then-President Chaim Herzog became the first Israeli head of state to visit Singapore. But when the Israeli embassy in Singapore announced the visit about a month ahead of time, protests erupted across Muslim-majority countries Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, and Singapore faced diplomatic ire and pressure to cancel the visit.

Source: www.cnbc.com

February 22, 2017
Upgrading To Bigger Motorbikes? Maybe Not With Latest Taxation System

He was planning to replace his current five-year-old Ducati 848 with a new Ducati Panigale this year, but Mr Kevin Liew now has to consider cheaper options instead.

The change of plans came after Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced a new tiered tax system for motorcycles while delivering the Budget on Monday (Feb 20) in Parliament.

Under the new system, the 15-per-cent Additional Registration Fee (ARF) will stay for motorcycles with an open market value (OMV) of up to S$5,000. The subsequent S$5,000 of its OMV will incur an ARF of 50 per cent, and the remaining OMV above S$10,000 will come with an ARF of 100 per cent.

The Ducati Panigale that Mr Liew was eyeing was estimated to cost around S$40,000, but with the changes, it would cost “around S$50,000 or S$60,000”, the 27-year-old marketing manager said.

“Bikes are already overpriced in Singapore compared to other countries because of the COE (Certificate of Entitlement),” Mr Liew added. “With this new scheme, they are only going to get even more expensive.”

Mr Heng said that a small but rising number of buyers are getting expensive motorcycles, with OMVs similar to those of small cars. To address this, the tiered ARF would be introduced for motorcycles registered with COEs obtained from the second February bidding exercise onwards.

He added that, going by current registration trends, more than half of new motorcycle buyers would not have to pay more.

Although the new tax scheme is meant to target luxury-bike owners, some owners of “working class” motorcycles said that they would be affected as well. And the bikers community is upset over the move, lamenting that it would cause a spike in motorcycle prices.

Mr Justin Khaw, 25, who rides a Honda Trial Bike and was planning to switch to a Honda Africa Twin, said: “Nowadays, most bikes in the open class 2A category cost close to S$10,000 and above.”

With the new ARF, instead of paying S$32,000 for the Honda Africa Twin, Mr Khaw, an undergraduate, will have to fork out around S$36,000 to S$40,000. He has since decided to look for something cheaper.

Mr Khaw remarked that the move would do little to reduce vehicular traffic. “If Singapore’s goal is to curb congestion on the roads, then perhaps alternative transport such as motorcycles should be considered. So why are the taxes for motorcycles increasing? Shouldn’t it be decreasing instead?”

Given that cars and motorcycles do not contribute to congestion equally, he said, he wondered why bikers are “taxed and subjected to the same vehicle control policies as cars”.

Source: www.todayonline.com

February 22, 2017
Osman Sulaiman: Time For 30% Increase In Singaporeans’ Salaries

For 2017, ensure that your salary increase is at least $130. If not, you will get poorer:

1. electricity tariff. It has risen by an average 5.7%. Going by news report, the average monthly electricity bill for families living in four-room HDB flats will increase by S$4.30. Multiply that by 12 months and you get $51.60

2. water prices. It will be increased by 30% from July. An average monthly water bill of $150 will cost $195 in July. An increase of $45

3. If you stay in one of the 15 PAP town council wards, service and conservancy charges will increase from June and the increase will range from $0.50 to $9 per month. Let’s take $4.50 as an average. This will mean an increase of $31.50 from June till year end.

$51.60 + $45 + $31.50 = $128.10

As what Minister Indranee has mentioned, it boils down to how you can increase your income.

Now go and ask for a raise.

Source: Khan Osman Sulaiman

February 22, 2017
Budget 2017: Price Hikes Affect Poor More Than Rich

Water is a vital resource and a basic human right. Yet, the Government of Singapore sees it fit to use utilitarian or volume based pricing model for the provision of water.

Such a model affects both the rich and poor and some say, the poor are more adversely affected than the rich.

A 30% price hike will be a stretch for the poorer families while the rich has the means the ride the price hike.

If it was the intention of the government to elicit any kind if behavioural change in the consumption of water, we’ll probably see the poor conserve a lot more.

One spokesperson from IPS said that the 30% price hike is to create awareness. It’s a poor choice of words even for a PAP apologist on the IPS payroll. What’s he smoking?

Call a spade a spade a price hike is not a water conservation campaign or an awareness programme.

In an article written by Leong Hze Hian, he said that the water price in Hong Kong is priced 14 times lower. Perhaps they have better technology but whatever the reasons are, it’s definitely merits a discussion in parliament.

The budget seems to benefit the middle class more than the underclass. The 20% tax relief capped at S$500 benefits the middle class for sure.

Perhaps a tax on manual car wash and a closer watch on how water is used is F&B outlets when dishes are washed is much needed.

With the advancement in smart metering technologies, it is possible to have different pricing structures for industrial versus residential users by districts, flat-types and household income.

A different pricing structure definitely adds complexity to the pricing regime but it will definitely have the intended effect of changes in consumption patterns.

Source: www.theindependent.sg

February 22, 2017
Hijab: A Personal Choice

Hijab might have been rarely seen on the streets 20 years ago, but it increasingly gained popularity, especially with the start of the Reform Era in 1998. Today, various types of Islamic headscarves have become common sights on the streets. The rising popularity of hijab has also influenced the development of the fashion industry, as seen in the rising number of hijab retailers and Muslim fashion designers.

Women’s rights activist Neng Dara Affiah said she had worn hijab since she was young. She said it made her feel more confident.

“In the town I grew up we wore hijab because it was tradition and also for our religion,” said the former commissioner with the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).

Devi Asmarani, editor of Magdalene magazine, gave her view on the trend of wearing hijab.

“When I was growing up, not many women were wearing hijab. I remember at school one girl suddenly started wearing a hijab to school and we were shocked,” she said.

She said the scene had been changing so much in the last 10 to 15 years.

“I think Indonesian people aren’t the most critical people, because historically, the most successful parts of the Soeharto years taught us not to question things. A lot of people wear hijab and tell their children to wear it because other people are wearing it.”

“There is a lot more peer pressure and we don’t like to be different, so we also wear hijab,” she said.

While peer pressure to wear hijab does exist, it requires a lot of thought to pull it off. Vita Kartika Cahyarani started to wear hijab one year ago. The 20-year-old woman said she had never been extremely religious but the thought of wearing hijab kept coming to her mind until it was clear to herself that she genuinely wanted to wear hijab.

She said the best way to describe her decision was by quoting writer RM Drake, “Some people try so hard to change but sometimes it doesn’t happen that way; we cannot force it. Sometimes it just happens overnight, like one day it all makes sense and just like that […] you change.”

When she was finally ready to wear it, people in her surroundings were not. They began to question her decision.

“People were shocked and asked me if it was a joke,” she said.

“It was not easy to put on the hijab. I experienced a lot of prejudice. I don’t wear it because it is a trend. I want to be the only one who’s in control of even one single hair strand of mine.” Taking hijab off is not easy either. Arlita, 25, eventually took off her hijab after wearing it for 10 years. At first, she started to wear hijab because she wanted to hide herself; she was uncomfortable with the attention that she got and wanted to seem neutral.

She found that wearing the hijab she never explored relationships and therefore never explored herself. “There was a saying that I heard many times ‘don’t be concerned by the men who will seduce you, but be concerned whether you seduced them,” she said.

Arlita became very lost and decided to take off her hijab to learn about herself.

Aulia Kushardini, 23, took her hijab off three years ago against the wishes of her family. She made the decision when she went to college and explored her identity. She started to think that wearing hijab was not a true representation of who she was.

When she was in Europe, she experimented by taking off her hijab. She has not worn it since. This was not an easy change, especially for her family. She said her mother cried for days and people relentlessly questioned her decision.

“People thought that I did it because I had broken up with my boyfriend and I was stressed out. There were backhanded compliments like ‘you looked prettier with the hijab on’ […] People assumed I had started to live a very liberal life and would ask me very personal sexual questions.”

She said the biggest misunderstanding was that women who took off their hijab just wanted to look pretty.

“It really bothers me because it has nothing to do with beauty. It took courage to do it and if it wasn’t coming from within you, you would not do it,” Aulia said.

The decision to wear or take off hijab should be a personal one. Neng hopes women learn to accept each others’ differences.

“I think that women in Indonesia have to be more tolerant of each other and accept others’ decisions,” she said.

Source: TheJakartaPost

February 21, 2017