I am pleased to announce that SINGAPOREANS FIRST has been successfully registered as a society by the Registry of Societies. Following the registration, we submitted our proposed party symbol for approval. We expect the process to take a few weeks. Until it is approved, we cannot make use of the party logo.
We can now conduct activities of an approved political party. We need members to help us. If you share our beliefs and values (as stated in our Manifesto here), please join us by filling up this SINGAPOREANS FIRST MEMBERSHIP FORM.
In the months ahead, we will be planning a series of activities leading up to the next General Election. We welcome ideas from all Singaporeans. You can approach any of the members of the protem committee listed below :
Chairman : Dr Ang Yong Guan,
Vice chairman : Tan Peng Ann,
Secretary-General : Tan Jee Say,
Assistant-Secretary General : Loke Pak Hoe,
Treasurer : Dr David Foo Ming Jin,
Assistant Treasurer : Fatimah Akhtar,
Members : Michael Chia, Fahmi Rais, Winston Lim, David Tan.
SINGAPORE – In a Facebook status posted today, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised Ms Tin Pei Ling, MP for Marine Parade GRC, for having worked hard to win over the hearts and minds of her residents.
He wrote: “In the last general election, I sent Tin Pei Ling, our youngest candidate, to MacPherson, which has many old residents. I was confident that she could establish rapport with the uncles and aunties, and serve residents well.
“The last three years have proved this so. Pei Ling and her team of activists and volunteers have worked hard. Some were sceptical at first, but she and her team have won over many hearts and minds.”
He gave the example of the refreshed MacPherson Community Club he reopened yesterday as an example of the work of Ms Tin and her team.
“A big thank you to Pei Ling, the GRLs, and volunteers for continuing to build on the good work of former MPs Mr Chua Sian Chin and Mr Matthias Yeo, and the pioneer activists in MacPherson!” he wrote.
At time of publication, the post has since gotten 741 likes and 21 shares. The majority of the comments appeared to agree with PM Lee’s sentiments.
Some of the Facebook comments to Mr Lee’s post:
“I was one of those who were rather sceptical of her post-GE 2011, but I think she has proven that with determination & hard work you can change the mindsets of people. Congrats to Miss Tin & her team.” – Facebook user Leena Kumari
“It is always best not to jump into conclusions of a person, give him or her a chance to prove himself or herself.” – Dolly Tang
“Chris Tan Ms Tin has been doing great work in MacPherson! Although she might have gotten some bad press when she was just elected, I think she has done well on the ground, as evidenced by all the good work with her residents. Jiayou Tin Pei Ling!” – Chris Tan
NIBONG TEBAL, Aug 13 — A Form Five student who was threatened with immolation for allegedly liking an “I love Israel” Facebook page is now under investigation for sedition.
The 17-year-old who sought police aid two days ago was called in for questioning today by the South Seberang Perai police.
“We are investigating him under Section 4 (1) (a) of the Sedition Act,” Penang police chief Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi told reporters at the South Seberang Perai district police headquarters Hari Raya open house here.
“In his statement, he claimed that he had accidentally clicked ‘like’ on the page,” he said, referring to the teen’s recorded statement.
Abdul Rahim added that the police had questioned yesterday a teacher from the same school as the student who had allegedly linked the teen to the “I love Israel” Facebook page.
The sedition law prescribes a maximum fine of RM5,000 or a jail sentence of three years for a convicted first-time offender, or both, and raises the jail term to five years for subsequent offences.
The fifth former filed a police report after a teacher from his school allegedly circulated a screen captured image of the controversial post, which prompted attacks from other Facebook users to cut off ties with the student and to “boycott”.
Another teacher purportedly from the same school, went a step further, leaving on the first teacher’s Facebook page that is accessible only to friends a message that read: “Kita bakor je hahaha [We just burn hahaha]”.
South Seberang Perai district police chief ACP Shafein Mamat said more teachers and students from the boy’s school will be called to give their statements.
“We are investigating both aspects, one of him liking the controversial page and another on the threats against him,” Shafein said.
The student has since deactivated his Facebook account.
Ismail Hussein – The only Muslim chosen as Nominated Member of Parliament 2014
SINGAPORE — A social entrepreneur, an architect and a corporate lawyer diagnosed with peroneal muscular atrophy were among the nine picked to be Nominated Members of Parliament (NMP).
A total of 36 individuals had put themselves up for consideration to chime in with alternative voices in the House, including law don Eugene Tan and businessman R Dhinakaran, who were seeking second terms, but after about two months of deliberation, the Special Select Committee of Parliament went for a slate of fresh faces.
Explaining their decision in a press statement yesterday, Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob, who chaired the committee, said: “We looked for eligible candidates who had distinguished themselves through their contributions to society or to their respective fields, and who could bring their specialised knowledge to add to the depth and breadth of debates in Parliament.”
Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, who is Leader of the House and one of the eight committee members, said the search was for new NMPs “who could add to discussions of issues facing Singapore in this term”.
He listed a raft of issues, including ageing, economic restructuring and a better living environment. “We believe the new NMPs will help Singapore deal with these challenges,” he added.
The NMP nomination process began in April, drawing 14 proposal forms submitted by the seven functional groups invited to nominate NMPs, namely, business and industry; labour; the professions; tertiary education institutions; social service organisations; civic and people sector; and the media, arts and sports organisations; and 22 by members of the public by the time nominations closed a month later.
After informing elected parliamentarians of the list of candidates, the committee, which included Workers’ Party chief Low Thia Khiang, went about its assessments, including meeting some candidates face-to-face and asking MPs for feedback.
After their 12th meeting on July 31, they agreed on the nine, whose term will commence after they are presented the Instruments of Appointment by the President on Aug 26.
One of the newly appointed NMPs, social entrepreneur and co-founder of The Thought Collective, Ms Kuik Shiao-Yin, told TODAY that while plenty of attention had been given to social enterprises, it was important to “broaden the definitions of what social entrepreneurship is and look into the current subsidies available for small and medium enterprises, which social enterprises could also tap”.
Another newly appointed NMP was lawyer and Society for the Physically Disabled president Chia Yong Yong, who has been a wheelchair user for the past 20 years due to peroneal muscular atrophy.
Asked whether her nomination would pave the way for more people with disabilities to enter Parliament, Ms Chia said she hoped it would “encourage persons with different limitations to know they too can serve society and that they have the same opportunities to step up”. “It is also an indication of the Government’s openness to have a wider range of views in Parliament,” she added.
Ms Chia’s appointment — she is the first parliamentarian with physical disabilities in recent years — is a step in the right direction, said political analysts. Former NMP Siew Kum Hong said: “This recognises her accomplishments and also demonstrates that disabled persons are able to participate in public life just as much as able-bodied people.”
Mr Zulkifli Baharudin, also a former NMP, said it showed the committee recognised that Ms Chia could contribute as much as anyone else. He added that the current slate of NMPs is also “reflective of current thinking”, where increased focus would be placed on social issues. “Society is changing and I think the leadership must change to reflect this too.”
However, Mr Siew noted that while the choices all seemed to be established individuals, “they do seem safe”. He was disappointed that there were no appointments from civil society and the arts community — the only candidate was Drama Box artistic director Kok Heng Leun. “The arts community’s process is probably the most bottom-up, transparent and grassroots-driven of all the processes for surfacing nominees. So it’s disappointing that the committee did not select the nominee with probably the most legitimacy in terms of representing a functional constituency.”
When contacted, Mr Kok, 48, expressed disappointment, but said “the advocacy for the arts will not stop”. “We probably have to start thinking about finding and creating more legitimate spaces to talk about arts policies and important arts issues. Maybe, we should start thinking about forming NGOs to look at arts advocacy work,” he said.
Besides Mr Kok, other nominees not selected included Singapore Kindness Movement secretary-general William Wan, Paralympian William Tan and blogger Roy Ngerng.
Meanwhile, other NMPs appointed outlined issues they would raise. Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Thomas Chua, 60, said he would voice the concerns of businesses, in particular SMEs. Veteran unionist and National Trades Union Congress vice-president K Karthikeyan said workers’ welfare and cost-of-living issues the “sandwich” class faced would be his areas of concern. These are also issues close to the heart of banker Mohd Ismail Hussein, who is director of the Association of Muslim Professionals.
SIM University associate professor Randolph Tan said education training and economic productivity would be on his agenda, while Changi Sports Medicine Centre senior consultant Benedict Tan said he would focus on sports “to ensure our society fully leverages on benefits of sports, exercise and physical activity as a whole”.
The other two appointed NMPs, architect Rita Soh and historian Tan Tai Yong, could not be reached for comment at press time.
Malaysia and Indonesia are warning of a fresh terror threat from Islamist militants who have joined the al-Qaeda offshoot that has seized territory in Iraq and Syria.
The appeal of Islamic State, whose gains in Iraq and brutality towards minorities have prompted air strikes from the US, has spread to Southeast Asia, where radicalised Muslims have been inspired by the group’s declaration of an Islamic caliphate.
In Malaysia and Indonesia, followers of Islamic State, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, wanted their governments toppled because the countries’ constitutions were secular and not based on sharia law, warn counter terrorism officials from both countries.
The involvement of Malaysians and Indonesians in the Iraqi and Syrian conflicts had increased the terrorist threat in Southeast Asia, according to analysts and regional police.
Malaysia has arrested at least 19 suspects for links to the terror group in the past seven months.
“During questioning, they [the suspects] admitted one of their main objectives was to attack the government,” Ayub Khan, a senior official for Malaysia’s Special Branch Counter-Terrorism Division, said. “They also discussed planning attacks against a disco, pubs in Kuala Lumpur and a Carlsberg factory in Petaling Jaya.” Petaling Jaya is a suburb outside Kuala Lumpur.
Some 20 Malaysians are known to have gone to Syria to fight with Islamic State. “We believe their real numbers are more than that,” Ayub said.
At least one Malaysian, 26-year-old factory worker Ahmad Tarmimi Maliki, died as a suicide bomber in Iraq in May.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, last week banned support for Islamic State and warned its citizens not to join the group.
National police chief Ronny Sompie said the Indonesian counter-terrorism taskforce, Den88, arrested a man named Afif Abdul Majid on Saturday for allegedly declaring support for the group and for funding a terror training camp in Aceh province in 2010.
Abu Bakar Bashir, the jailed leader of the country’s al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, has expressed support for Islamic State. Jemaah Islamiyah was behind the Bali bombings in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 11 Hong Kong residents.
At least 56 Indonesians have become Islamic State fighters in Syria and Iraq and at least three have died. Those who return would bring back combat skills and global terrorist links, said Indonesian counter-terrorism expert Noor Huda Ismail.
“This is just like veterans from the wars in Afghanistan. Apart from Malaysia and Indonesia, there are also recruits from the Philippines going to Syria,” said Huda, who runs the only private de-radicalisation programme in Indonesia.
Islamic State recruits include experienced militants as well as recently radicalised Muslims, inspired by the group’s rapid advance in the Middle East. “Its appeal lies in its declaration of an Islamic caliphate, which is viewed by some Muslims as the realisation of a prophecy that a new Islamic order will emerge every 100 years,” Huda said.
Islamic State’s core group of fighters learned their skills against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the US when it occupied Iraq. The group has used raids and ransoms to stockpile weapons and cash.
“[Islamic State] is also far richer and better armed than al-Qaeda from taking over banks and weapons in places it has over-run. It can afford to pay each fighter who joins them US$250 every month,” said Huda.
