Rilek1Corner

Category: Politik

  • TheOnlineCitizen To Register With MDA

    TheOnlineCitizen To Register With MDA

    MEDIA RELEASE

    The Opinion Collaborative Ltd (TOC Ltd) has submitted its registration forms to the Media Development Authority (MDA) on 10 November, as requested by MDA to do so under the Broadcasting (Class Licence) Notification.

    In the interest of transparency, we are publishing with this announcement the blank forms that MDA had requested for TOC Ltd to complete, and also the latest round of correspondence with MDA, detailing some of the areas we have sought clarification on.

    We would also like to express three observations from this registration process.

    Firstly, our working relationship with MDA has been frank but friendly, and we have met amicably as equal parties who are equally interested in Singapore media’s scene, albeit for different reasons.

    Secondly, we echo the concerns made earlier by the FreeMyInternet group: That MDA’s excessive and unwarranted concern with foreign funding has hampered its ability to be an effective media developer. Through this exercise, MDA has exhibited a lack of understanding in how the new media environment in Singapore operates, particularly for a social enterprise that depends on donations for revenue. MDA’s obsession with foreign funding, unfortunately, also hampers our operational effectiveness – as owners of a small business, we cannot possibly afford to spend time filling in forms every month (see image).

    As such, MDA should do away with such a regulatory framework completely. We would like to remind MDA of its stated aim for media regulation: “In supporting the growth of Singapore’s media sector, MDA fosters a conducive business environment through regulatory policies that encourage investment and innovation, while providing more content choices for consumers.” We do not see how this regulatory framework helps it achieve that.

    And thirdly, the completion of this registration effectively means that The Online Citizen (TOC) is registered three times with the need to fulfil three different obligations, under two different identities with two different government agencies.

    The fact that we have complied with all these indicates that fears of foreign sources funding TOC are completely unfounded. As such, we look forward to the Prime Minister’s Office lifting the gazetting requirements on TOC as a “political association”.

    Note:
    Since 4 June 2014, The Online Citizen has been under the ownership and management of The Opinion Collaborative Ltd, a social enterprise registered under the Companies Act. In this arrangement, TOC retains its full editorial independence, while ceding its administrative and management functions, including those of fund-raising and revenue generation, to TOC Ltd. More information is available in an earlier media release.

     

    Source: www.theonlinecitizen.com

  • Indonesians Who Serve NS After Taking Up PR May Lose Indonesia Citizenship

    Indonesians Who Serve NS After Taking Up PR May Lose Indonesia Citizenship

    Jakarta – TNI (Tentara National Indonesia or Indonesian army) is investigating the Indonesian citizens who serve as part of the Singapore army. It was found out that some of Indonesian citizens who take Permanent Residence of Singapore are conscripted into the compulsory National Service (NS).

    TNI headquarters would not want to rush to take action against these citizens but according to the law, a citizen should not serve a foreign troop. This may result in forfeit of their Indonesian citizenship.

    “Everyone has a right to change his nationality but it is just a pity when they join foreign troop while still being a citizen of Indonesia.Whether this concerns nationalism issue, we need to investigate further, “said TNI Commander General Moeldoko during Indo Defence in Kemayoran, Jakarta on Thursday (11/06/2014) as quoted by Detik.

    Indo Defence 2014 is a tri-Service defence expo & forum which is happening from 5 – 8 November 2014 at the Jakarta International Expo.

    Source: Detik.com

     

    Source: www.globalindonesianvoices.com

  • Government To Set Up CPF Advisory Panel In Feedback Exercise

    Government To Set Up CPF Advisory Panel In Feedback Exercise

    The government is setting up a CPF Advisory Panel to ask the public about what they feel about the CPF System.

    In a media release, the Ministry of Manpower explained that they want to hold Focus Groups to gather feedback on four main issues. These issues are:

    How the Minimum Sum should be adjusted after 2015, whether members should be allowed to withdraw a lump sum, how to increase the choices of the amount of cash payouts and how to give members more flexibility to get higher returns.

    The CPF Panel will be holding the discussions over the next few months and members can get more information and sign up at www.cpfpanel.sg.

    It seems that the government is finally listening and taking feedback from the public after much public discussion and dissatisfaction.

    The public have organised their own gatherings, spoken up on many occasions at Hong Lim Park through the monthly CPF protests and one activist, blogger Roy Ngerng, is even being sued by the PM for writing about CPF.

    Why is it that now, the government wants to listen but fails to acknowledge that they have only finally decided to do so after citizens made so much noise about it?

    Is this the way the government “gathers feedback” in Singapore – Ignore the people when they speak up and even try to silence them by revoking permits and issuing legal threats only to turn around and open up public dialogues months later and pretend that it is their idea to listen to the public?

     

    Source: wwww.therealsingapore.com

  • Singaporeans First Party Hold First Walkabout In Tanjong Pagar GRC

    Singaporeans First Party Hold First Walkabout In Tanjong Pagar GRC

    SINGAPORE – More than 20 members and supporters joined Singaporeans First (SingFirst) on Sunday morning as the new political party held its debut walkabout in Tanjong Pagar GRC, a stronghold of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).

    Among them were six of the party’s 10 founding members, including its secretary-general and former presidential candidate Tan Jee Say.

    SingFirst also launched its website, http://singfirst.org, on Saturday as it gears up for the next general elections, which must be held by January 2017.

    Announced in May and officially registered in August, the party has received more than 100 applications from people keen to become members, Mr Tan said at a press conference held after the walkabout.

    He added that the party has plans to contest “maybe four” constituencies, and reiterated its intentions of working together with other parties to avoid splitting the opposition vote.

    “If they have a stronger team, we’ll make way for them,” said Mr Tan, an investment advisor who ran for the 2011 general elections under the Singapore Democratic Party’s banner.

    He added: “The whole idea is to win. We are all in favour of opposition unity. We will respect other parties. The real objective is to defeat the PAP.”

    SingFirst has spoken to the National Solidarity Party and the Democratic Progressive Party, Mr Tan said. The Singapore Democratic Party have waved away the need for a formal introduction, while the Singapore Malay National Organisation and the Singapore Democratic Alliance have said they need to hold internal discussions before agreeing to work together.

    The Reform Party, the Singapore People’s Party and the Workers’ Party – the only opposition party with elected MPs in Parliament – have not responded to SingFirst’s overtures, said Mr Tan.

    But he is not worried: “We still have time. No need to rush. Election is not around the corner so there’s still some time. We’ll work something out.”

    Dressed in royal blue shirts bearing the party’s red-and-white logo, SingFirst’s members and supporters visited areas around the Holland Drive Market and Food Centre for close to two hours, shaking hands and giving out pamphlets explaining the party’s objectives.

    Explaining why the party chose to visit Tanjong Pagar GRC, Mr Tan said residents in the constituency have not had the chance to vote for more than 20 years.

    The constituency has been won by the PAP in walkovers since it was created in 1991. In 2011, a group of independents led by businessman Ng Teck Siong – chairman of the Socialist Front – made a last-minute bid to contest the GRC, but was disqualified after submitting their nomination papers too late.

    SingFirst plans to visit various constituencies in the coming months to drum up awareness about the party – a strategic move as electoral boundaries have not been set in stone, said Mr Tan.

    The party’s chairman Dr Ang Yong Guan also added that SingFirst is hoping to make a shift away from “personality-based politics”, where political parties are associated with certain key people.

    “We want to move away from that and tell Singaporeans that political parties in Singapore need not be linked to any person. It needs to be for all. Anybody interested can come and join,” he said.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Turkey Protecting The Al Aqsa Mosque

    Turkey Protecting The Al Aqsa Mosque

    Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Friday that his country has already made moves to protect Al-Aqsa Mosque, news outlets have reported.

    Davutoğlu said that he has called Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Political Bureau Head Khaled Meshaal to discuss the issue. He pledged to do whatever it takes for Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque. “We have given the required orders; we will launch initiatives everywhere, the UN being the first place in the world for supporting Al-Quds,” he insisted.

    “Al-Quds has been entrusted with us by Hazrat Omar [the second Muslim caliph],” Davutoğlu told the audience at the opening of public facilities in the north-western Anatolian province of Bursa. “Al-Quds has been entrusted to us by Ottoman Sultans Yavuz Sultan Selim and Süleyman the Magnificent. Al-Quds has been entrusted to us by the last soldier of the Ottomans and is our cause today. Even if everybody else forgets, it will continue being our cause for eternity. Nobody can turn to a Turk and say ‘Al-Quds is not your cause’.”

    Defending the whole Middle East, he continued: “No one can say that the Middle East, which includes Al-Quds, Makkah, Madinah, Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, is a swamp. If there are some people who have changed it into a swamp, they are the oppressive regimes and occupiers, at the top of which is the Israeli government.”

    Addressing the Israeli occupation authorities Davutoğlu warned that they should not think that just because Muslims in the region are being suppressed by certain regimes they will not turn against Israel. “You have to know that there are some who defend Syrians and Palestinians, including the Turkish Republic. It will stand beside the oppressed everywhere and every time.”

     

    Source: www.middleeastmonitor.com