Category: Politik

MHA: Foreign Companies Need Permit To Sponsor, Promote Or Participate In Speakers’ Corner Events

Foreign companies will need a permit to sponsor, publicly promote or get its employees to participate in events at the Speakers’ Corner, stated the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Friday afternoon (Oct 21).

For the first time, the ministry made clear what a Singapore entity was: those incorporated or registered in Singapore and controlled by a majority of Singapore citizens.

The entity’s directors must be mostly Singaporean, and the majority of its ownership must be held by Singaporeans or one or more Singapore companies.

Meanwhile, the ministry is loosening rules for local entities organising events at the Speakers’ Corner. From next month, Singapore companies or non-government organisations no longer need permits to hold events at the Speakers’ Corner. Now, only Singapore citizens are exempted.

In its news release on the amendments to the rules, the ministry reiterated that the Speakers’ Corner was set up in 2000 for Singaporeans to express their views on issues that concern them.

“The Government’s position has always been that foreign entities should not interfere in our domestic issues, especially those of a political or controversial nature,” said the MHA. “The amendments reinforce the key principle that the Speakers’ Corner was set up primarily for Singaporeans.”

MHA is also extending the rules to those who participate at Speakers’ Corner events through remote means. So foreign entities will also need a permit if they speak through teleconferecing or pre-recorded messages at the Speakers’ Corner.

These changes come on the back of reviews to Speakers’ Corner rules which the MHA started in June. The ministry had wanted to “make it clear that foreign entities should not fund, support or influence” events held at Speakers’ Corner, such as June 4’s Pink Dot – the annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rally.

This year’s Pink Dot – the eighth such – attracted 18 sponsors including multinational companies such as Google, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Visa and General Electric.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

October 22, 2016
HDB Facade In Circuit Road Falls Off

She heard the loud crash, peered out her window and saw, to her horror, that a piece of her neighbouring block’s building facade had fallen and crashed to the ground below.

“I was shocked to see a missing slab of wall on the block opposite. Luckily, it happened quite early in the morning and no one was hit.

“How can a slab of wall fall off just like that?” the resident, who wanted to be known as Madam Ng, 65, told The New Paper yesterday.

The incident happened at about 6am on Wednesday at Block 51, Circuit Road.

In response to TNP’s queries, a Marine Parade Town Council (MPTC) spokesman said a calcium silicate cladding board had dislodged from the building facade.

The MPTC spokesman said: “Together with the BCA (Building and Construction Authority), HDB and our appointed professional engineer, we are investigating the cause of the incident.”

MPTC has since carried out joint inspections with the BCA and HDB to inspect the entire facade of the affected block, as well as other neighbouring blocks with similar designs.

CORDONED OFF

As a precautionary measure, BCA has directed MPTC to cordon off the affected area under Block 51, Circuit Road, its spokesman said.

Adding that the block’s structural integrity is unaffected, the BCA spokesman said: “The professional engineer will also be required to inspect other blocks within the precinct with similar features.”

The Circuit Road incident comes less than a month after a concrete sunshade outside a fourth-storey Tampines flat fell off and landed on another sunshade on the third floor.

No one was hurt and the cause is being investigated. The affected four-storey building has been found to be structurally safe by HDB engineers.

But Circuit Road resident Gary Lim, 34, a sales manager, pointed out that the dislodged calcium silicate board could have hit someone. “This estate has many elderly residents. They may not be able to walk away fast enough to avoid any falling objects. It’s dangerous,” he said.

Engineer Chong Kee Sentold TNP that the board facade, which is not part of the building structure, could have fallen off due to its age.

“Like all materials, it could have aged with time,” said the former president of the Institution of Engineers.

The board facade is made from calcium silicate, which is fireproof and moisture-proof.

This means that even when exposed to moisture, there is no permanent loss in strength of the material as long as the moisture dries out.

Another possible reason for the dislodged calcium silicate board could be the corrosion of the fasteners that hold the board to the metal frames, Mr Chong added.

Source: The New Paper

October 21, 2016
Ex-SCDF Director Who Was Sentenced To 10 Weeks’ Jail Cleared Of Misappropriating 2 iPads

A former senior civil servant, originally sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail last year after he was found guilty of misappropriating two iPads, walked out of court a free man on Thursday (Oct 20) after he was acquitted of the charges.

Mr Jeganathan Ramasamy, 65, who was director of the technology department at the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), had maintained that the two Apple tablets handed to him by IT vendor NCS in 2011 were personal purchases, for which he had yet to make payment.

He gave one to his daughter and sold the other to SCDF’s then senior director of emergency services for $200. Each iPad 2 was worth $939.

But the prosecution, which brought two charges against him for criminal breach of trust, contended that the two iPads were meant to be used to test mobile apps that NCS was developing for SCDF.

In acquitting Mr Jeganathan on Thursday, Judicial Commissioner See Kee Oon said there were “inconsistencies and gaps” in the evidence of both the prosecution and the defence. He said “ample doubt” had been raised in the case against Mr Jeganathan, making it unsafe for the conviction to stand.

The judicial commissioner noted that the two iPads did not come loaded with any apps, contrary to the prosecution’s case that the devices were meant for testing purposes.

He also noted that it did not make sense for Mr Jeganathan to sell one iPad to a senior officer in the same organisation if he had obtained it through wrongful means.

The judicial commissioner pointed to text message exchanges with NCS’ then group general manager, Mr Wong Soon Nam, in which Mr Jeganathan asked to pay for the devices on at least three occasions.

In a message after he received the devices, Mr Jeganathan said: “Tell me the amount I have to pay.” Mr Wong replied that the iPad 2 “is meant for all the new mobile apps that we are rolling out for SCDF and for you to trial”.

Shortly after this exchange, Mr Wong phoned Mr Jeganathan.

Mr Jeganathan testified that Mr Wong told him over the phone to try out the iPads first and they could talk about the price later. Mr Wong initially testified that he did not communicate further with Mr Jeganathan but when confronted with the call records, said he could not remember the contents of the call.

The judicial commissioner said text messages are a “fertile ground for miscommunication” and that the contents of the call can change the interpretation of the text message exchange.

Approached for comment after he was acquitted, Mr Jeganathan, who was defended by Mr Sanjiv Rajan, said he was “thankful” that “justice prevailed”. He left SCDF in 2012.

Source: The Straits Times

October 21, 2016
Ustaz Abd Al-Halim: Is ARS Just A Mechanism For Asatizahs To Be Controlled By The State?

AsSalaam’alaikum!

I recently attended a seminar on making the Asatizah Recognition Scheme mandatory. It is clear that asatizahs are worried that if they resist the ARS scheme i.e. teach even if they are without ARS, they could be arrested and put to jail. One person actually asked that question during the Q & A. Of course, there is as yet no passing of any laws. There is no police force to watch over the asatizahs for now. But the indications that the speakers gave is that there will be law enforcement. One speaker spoke of levying fines upon asatizahs who do not comply. It is one thing to come up with a questionable policy but entirely another to implement it. I wonder if such enforcement is to be done by the government which is, by the way, secular. If so, will we have a secular non-Muslim government sending police officers out to arrest asatizahs who do not have ARS but are nonetheless qualified to teach given that they have been teaching for years and years and that they have been appointed to teach by ulama before ARS came along?

I spoke to a senior person who is knowledgeable in Islam afterwards. He is not convinced that making ARS mandatory is about stemming “ajaran sesat” (deviant teachings). Instead he, like many others know that this is becoming a draconian mechanism to control the asatizahs. He further quipped that if they are concerned with ajaran sesat, there are many ideas that the religious authorities themselves seem to propagate that can be classified as “ajaran sesat” such as the idea that all religions are the same and that it is ok to praise Lee Kuan Yew who is a non-Muslim (Kafir) in the mosque during Jumaat sermon even though the Jumaat sermon is part and parcel of our ibadah and that the Masjid should not be politicised.

It is glaring that the President of Pergas had to assure the audience that those behind making ARS mandatory are not agents of the government – pointing to the panelists and making the audience repeat after him several times that they are not agents of the government but instead they are Warathatul Anbiyaa’ (Inheritors of the legacy of the Prophets).

I was there and those who were there and reading this can verify or debunk what I say here.

May Allah swt save this ummah from internal and external enemies. Amiin!

Source: Ustaz Abd Al-Halim

October 21, 2016
CAN Singapore: Amos Yee Beaten Up In Changi Prison, Free Him Now

<Credits: Community Action Network – CAN Singapore>

#freeamosyee, interestingly, we have been informed that Amos has been transferred from Changi’s Men’s Prison to Tanah Merah Prison… Amos has said that Tanah Merah Prison has mostly Malay youths.

We have also been informed that he has been threatened, slapped on the back and kicked while he was climbing up the stairs. A complaint has been lodged with the Prison Authorities, who had efficiently replied to say they will look into the matter.

Amos’ mother has put in an urgent request for Amos to be moved to Home Detention.

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

October 20, 2016