Category: Singapuraku

  • Debt Collectors Creates Ruckus At Funan Mall Foodcourt

    Debt Collectors Creates Ruckus At Funan Mall Foodcourt

    Debt collectors caused a scene at a foodcourt in Funan Mall two days in a row while trying to collect $21,000 owed by a stall owner.

    The police was called in on at least one of the days, reported The New Paper.

    Dressed in polo shirts with the words “debt recovery unit” on the back, the collectors from Double Ace Associates marched to the Chinese soup stall at about 1.20pm on Jan 15. Witnesses said they pushed the cash register, cooking equipment and utensils on the floor.

    The next day, they returned with a large banner that read “Attention. Debt collection in progress”.

    But Mr Frankie Tan, who heads Double Ace Associates, denied that his collectors caused the mess in the stall.

    He was quoted by The New Paper as saying: “Our main aim was to stop his business from operating, but we did not destroy any property in the stall.”

    He also justified the commotion caused by his employees as necessary to embarrass the debtors.

    “Clients engage us because their debtors are not cooperative, so such confrontations are necessary.”

    The 53-year-old stall owner, who gave his name only as Mr Zhang, settled the debt by signing 24 cheques worth $1,200 each. The cheques will be cashed in monthly, reported Lianhe Wanbao.

    The Chinese newspaper also reported that Mr Zhang was slapped with a $12,000 “collection fee” that was later reduced to $7,000.

    Mr Zhang said the fee was unfair but he would pay it grudgingly as he did not want his problems to affect his family members and the people around him.

    The case has been classified as a case of mischief and police investigations are ongoing.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Duplication Of Health Insurance Coverage A Drain On Elderly CPF

    Duplication Of Health Insurance Coverage A Drain On Elderly CPF

    Many members of the pioneer generation are already covered by private health insurance schemes, such as IncomeShield, and use their Medisave funds to pay the premiums.

    With the launch of the compulsory MediShield Life, they will have to pay an additional premium.

    While pioneers will receive subsidies to offset the higher premium, servicing two policies will drain their Medisave funds, which were set at a lower ceiling in the past when they were still working.

    The pioneer may even have to give up his existing private health plan. This is not prudent, given that the policy may have been in force for decades and include riders to offset other medical and hospitalisation expenses.

    Also, an existing medical condition covered under the private plan will become a pre-existing condition under the new MediShield Life plan, and premium loading is inevitable.

    Can the Ministry of Health explain how the new MediShield Life will address these concerns?

     

    Christopher Tang Wei Ling

    *Letter first appeared in ST Forum, 23 Jan.

     

    Source: www.therealsingapore.com

  • Ciptaan Lagu Kebangsaan Singapura Oleh Allayarham Zubir Said Dianggap Peristiwa Paling Penting Dalam Sejarah Singapura Oleh Masyarakat Melayu

    Ciptaan Lagu Kebangsaan Singapura Oleh Allayarham Zubir Said Dianggap Peristiwa Paling Penting Dalam Sejarah Singapura Oleh Masyarakat Melayu

    Lagi Kebangsaan Singapura, yang dicipta oleh Allahyarham Zubir Said pada 1958 dan dinyanyikan di sekolah dan upacara rasmi lain di sini, dilihat sebagai peristiwa paling penting dalam sejarah Singapura oleh masyarakat Melayu setempat.

    Masyarakat Melayu Singapura juga melihat peristiwa itu sebagai paling penting dalam membentuk generasi akan datang di negara ini.

    Mereka turut meletakkan penciptaan ikrar kebangsaan sebagai antara peristiwa paling utama dalam sejarah Singapura bagi generasi sekarang dan akan datang.

    Demikian antara dapatan tinjauan terbaru oleh Insititut Pengajian Dasar (IPS), Universiti Nasional Singapura (NUS), mengenai Tanggapan terhadap Sejarah Singapura yang dilakukan antara Ogos dengan Oktober tahun lalu.

    Sejumlah 1,516 rakyat Singapura ditinjau mengenai tanggapan mereka terhadap 50 peristiwa penting dalam sejarah moden Singapura – sejak pendaratan Sir Stamford Raffles di negara ini hingga pilihan raya umum pada 2011.

    Soalan-soalan tinjauan telah diberikan dalam empat bahasa rasmi di Singapura – Inggeris, Melayu, Cina dan Tamil.

    “Saya fikir kaum minoriti, secara umumnya, mereka lebih sedar tentang konteks berlakunya insiden-insiden bersejarah. Mereka lebih banyak menumpukan perhatiannya kepada ehwal semasa yang dikaitkan dengan berlakunya peristiwa-peristiwa itu,” kata ketua pengkaji tinjauan tersebut, Dr Leong Chan-Hoong, ketika diminta oleh Berita Harian mengulas dapatan itu.

    Sambil memberi contoh beberapa lagi peristiwa yang tidak mudah dilupakan oleh masyarakat Melayu – termasuk rusuhan Martha Hertogh atau ‘Natrah’ pada 1950-an, komplot pengganasan Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) pada 2002 dan pelolosan Mas Selamat dari tahanan keselamatan – Dr Leong, yang juga Zamil Kajian Kanan IPS, berkata peristiwa yang berkaitan dengan isu perkauman lebih diingati masyarakat yang terjejas.

    “Kedua-dua peristiwa – rusuhan Maria Hertogh pada 1950-an dan isu sekitaran komplot pengganasan JI pada awal 2000 – lebih diingati kaum Melayu berbanding dengan kaum lain,” tegasnya.

    Beberapa peristiwa bersejarah lain, termasuk pembukaan rasmi Lapangan Terbang Changi (1981), pelancaran rasmi khidmat MRT (1988), pembentukan Lembaga Perumahan dan Pembangunan atau HDB (1960) dan peristiwa mantan perdana menteri, Encik Lee Kuan Yew, menangis di televisyen selepas perpisahan antara Singapura dengan Malaysia (1965), juga tidak terhakis daripada ingatan dan dianggap penting oleh masyarakat Melayu.

    Bagi generasi mendatang pula, masyarakat Melayu menanggap peristiwa penciptaan lagu kebangsaan, penularan wabak Sars dan dasar dwibahasa yang diperkenalkan di sekolah pada 1966, sebagai antara peristiwa bersejarah penting yang tidak harus dilupakan mereka.


    “Saya fikir kaum minoriti, secara umumnya, mereka lebih sedar tentang konteks berlakunya insiden-insiden bersejarah. Mereka lebih banyak menumpukan perhatiannya kepada ehwal semasa yang dikaitkan dengan berlakunya peristiwa-peristiwa itu.”

    – Dr Dr Leong Chan-Hoong.


    Tanggapan Melayu Singapura

    10 peristiwa utama dianggap penting oleh masyarakat Melayu

    1. Penciptaan lagu kebangsaan ‘Majulah Singapura’ (1958)

    2. Penciptaan ikrar kebangsaan Singapura (1966)

    3. Pembukaan rasmi Lapangan Terbang Changi (1981)

    4. Pelancaran rasmi khidmat MRT (1988)

    5.Pembentukan Lembaga Perumahan dan Pembangunan atau HDB (1960)

    6. Peristiwa mantan perdana menteri, Encik Lee Kuan Yew, menangis di televisyen selepas perpisahan antara Singapura dengan Malaysia (1965)

    7. Mata wang Singapura diperkenalkan (1967)

    8. Pembentukan Parti Tindakan Rakyat atau PAP (1954)

    9. Cukai barangan dan perkhidmatan (GST) diperkenalkan (1994)

    10. Projek NEWater siap (2000)

    10 peristiwa utama masyarakat Melayu anggap penting bagi generasi mendatang

    1. Penciptaan lagu kebangsaan ‘Majulah Singapura’ (1958)

    2. Penularan wabak Sars (2003)

    3. Pengenalan dasar dwibahasa di sekolah-sekolah (1966)

    4. Penciptaan ikrar kebangsaan Singapura (1966)

    5. Pembukaan rasmi Lapangan Terbang Changi (1981)

    6. Kemasukan kumpulan pertama anggota Perkhidmatan Negara (1967)

    7. Rusuhan kaum (1964)

    8. Pelancaran rasmi khidmat MRT (1988)

    9. Mata wang Singapura diperkenalkan (1967)

    10. Pembentukan Lembaga Perumahan dan Pembangunan atau HDB (1960)

     

    Source: http://beritaharian.sg

  • Dear PM Can You Pass Me Your Minister?

    Dear PM Can You Pass Me Your Minister?

    I wonder which country in the world has a labour movement which writes to the head of Government to ask that he release an office-holder so that the man can vie for office in the…labour movement. But I guess it’s better than the parachuting of an unknown into a big office on someone’s say-so.

    It says much about the symbiotic relationship between the G (or is it the People’s Action Party?) and the NTUC, that no one has said anything about the above “poaching’’ process. One guess is that the concept is so in-grained or well accepted  that nobody talks about it anymore. The vision of the union and the G is aligned, and leaders move in and out. They even maintain offices on both sides of a (non-existent) fence!

    So Mr Chan Chun Sing is the man of the moment. The PM has said okay and Mr Chan has to win the votes of delegates in October to get the top job of secretary-general. We all know that the head of the NTUC has to be politically acceptable. As well as the ability to win the hearts and minds of workers. So both have to go together.

    There is a precedent in the form of Mr Lim Chee Onn, once the flavor of the month and among the front-runners for the premiership. Although he got the top job with the blessings of the political leadership, he was removed as the secretary-general because his leadership style rankled on the rank-and-file. I’m basing this on memory because I’m having a hard time researching the background. I’m not sure if he was removed at a conference or simply told to step aside in favour of someone more palatable, in this case, the late president Ong Teng Cheong.

    I am among those who were surprised at the choice of the NTUC central committee. MSM reports that even unionists were surprised. In fact, I am more surprised that there has been no successor groomed for Mr Lim Swee Say’s job after all these years. Nobody knew that Mr Lim was going to turn 62 soon and has to retire? Its current crop of deputy/assistant sec-gens not good enough?

    As for the choice of Mr Chan, the surprise is that a career civil servant whose only experience has been in one “unique” sector, the military, should have been the choice of the key union leaders. Perhaps, it is because he heads the Ministry of Social and Family Development, which deals with bread-and-butter issues of the less privileged that makes top union leaders think he is a good choice? It cannot only be because he drinks coffee with taxi-drivers; he’s an advisor to the taxi drivers’ unions. Or because he can adopt as folksy a manner as Mr Lim?

    All I can say is that we seem to have an amazing paucity of talent, so much so that established institutions here have to raid each other, like companies poaching in the private sector. Or is there a bigger, long-term objective in sight, such as Mr Chan is being tested for an even bigger job. Much as Mr Lim Chee Onn was. Getting the endorsement of the labour movement, which has nearly one million members, is a big deal. Given that Mr Chan is a first-term MP, you might call this “hot housing’’.

    Okay, I am rambling. Sorry.

    Anyway, I have always liked Mr Lim Swee Say, since the days he was an officer in the Economic Development Board. Power and position hasn’t changed him one bit. I liked him even more in the past few years for what he was doing for the labour movement. For too long, I’ve always thought the NTUC was placing too much focus on the “social’’ aspects of its mission, such as setting up its “finest’’ supermarkets and pre-skools which it can’t spel, instead of the “organising’’ aspects of a trade union. It should be looking at wages, recruitment and workplace practices. I blame the union for not detecting the long stagnation of wages at the lowest levels.

    But I can see more “organizing’’ work done in recent time. It has managed to pry open the two integrated resorts and unionized their workers. It has tried to rectify the low wages of some sectors by combining a wage floor with a productivity ladder. It has pushed for $50 salary raises within the National Wages Council. And it has finally managed to get PMEs under the labour movement’s umbrella. I still think it needs to do a better job of selling the “re-hiring’’ of older workers to the people. That is not about working till you drop dead, but about being able to work beyond a certain age if you want to.

    It has also always been a source of wonder to me that the NTUC does not have its own labour experts in a strategic policy unit who can crunch the numbers on wages and employment. The labour movement should be leading the charge, rather than depend on the statistics and pronouncements of the Manpower ministry.

    If Mr Chan does get the vote in October, I hope that he will carry on the organizing aspects of the movement. After all, he has headed a big organization like the military and is now the PAP organizing secretary. Perhaps, under his charge, the NTUC will be the first thing that comes to the minds of workers who feel they have been short-changed in some way. And that it is not just a place to buy groceries.

    It remains for me to wish Mr Lim and Mr Chan all the best!

     

    Source: https://berthahenson.wordpress.com

  • Lee Hsien Loong Invited To Pink Dot Annual Gay Rights Rally

    Lee Hsien Loong Invited To Pink Dot Annual Gay Rights Rally

    Singapore’s Prime Minister was left fumbling for answers Saturday after agreeing to a live Facebook chat with increasingly strident citizens turning to the Internet to voice dissent in the tightly-controlled city-state.

    Lee Hsien Loong opened the conversation on his personal Facebook page from the social network’s Singapore offices and was inundated with nearly 1,500 comments during a hectic 45-minute session.

    The premier managed to post just 27 replies as foreigners and locals alike lobbed questions ranging from the trivial (“Do you like cats?”) to demands for better protection of gay rights and single mothers.

    Lee provided brief replies to verbose complaints about spiralling healthcare costs, public transport and public housing, but avoided straying into more controversial waters.

    “It’s been a lot of fun this last 45 minutes, reading your questions, answering them, typing furiously and keeping up with the flow,” Lee said in a video post after the chat ended.

    “I am sorry I couldn’t answer all of the questions you have asked,” he added.

    Perhaps predictably Lee failed to respond to a personal invitation to the city-state’s annual “Pink Dot” gay rights rally.

    “My invitation still stands. Send me a PM (personal message),” Facebook user Lim Jialiang wrote to the premier.

    Singapore’s penal code criminalises sex between men, a law first introduced by British colonial administrators in 1938.

    Some small business owners used the session to bemoan the government’s move to cut its reliance on foreign workers, stemming from citizens’ complaints about overcrowding and a tighter job market in a city where 29 percent of “non-residents” — those working, studying or living in the country — are from abroad.

    “Many small-medium enterprises have experienced the same problem as you,” wrote Lee to one Singaporean who said he was finding it difficult to hire locals for “entry-level jobs”.

    “We have tightened on foreign workers, but we have not shut them off,” Lee added.

    Lee, who has nearly 470,000 followers on Facebook, has stepped up his social media engagement in recent years. The Singaporean leader is also active on Twitter and photo-sharing network Instagram.

    Social media has emerged as a key political battleground as the tiny island republic of 5.5 million people transitions from strict political control to a more open democracy.

    Singapore is known for its tough stance on crime and retains the death penalty as punishment for serious offences, as well as caning for crimes such as spraying graffiti.

    With the local mainstream media still widely seen as pro-government, blogs, forums and Facebook have become a magnet for anti-government sentiment.

    Lee’s People’s Action Party, in power since 1959, suffered its worst ever electoral performance in May 2011, garnering an all-time low of 60 percent of the popular vote after the opposition and its supporters relied heavily on social media for campaigning.

     

    Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com

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