Category: Singapuraku

Couple In Viral Toa Payoh Hawker Centre Dispute Charged

A couple involved in a dispute over a table at a hawker centre in Toa Payoh were charged in court on Thursday (June 15).

Chow Chuin Yee, 45, is accused of using criminal force by using his body to forcefully barge against 76-year-old Ng Ai Hua, alias Ivor Ng. He is also alleged to have behaved in a disorderly manner by pushing some bowls and plates off the table onto the ground.

His wife, Tay Puay Leng, 38, was charged with using abusive words on Mr Ng with the intent to cause alarm.

Police arrested them on April 25.

Their lawyer S. Balamurugan asked for time to make representations. The couple will be back in court on July 12.

If convicted, Tay can be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to six months. The maximum penalty for using criminal force is three months’ jail and a $1,500 fine, and for disorderly behaviour, $2,000 and six months’ jail.

Source: www.straitstimes,com

June 15, 2017
Maid Working In Singapore Tells Employers: I Am A Helper, Not Your Slave

<Facebook post by ‎Riyant‎>

i am a helper, not a slave.. please take note.. i feel very sad for the Myanmar helper.. here i Just want to said.. please dont bully us, i knew some helper also. not Good, and some employer also not Good. check on us, by visiting us to our employer house, and have a little time to share.

we are scared if talk on the Phone but we will feel more comfortable by talk Face to face.. even though you are employer..thank u

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

June 15, 2017
Cherian George: Mainstream Media Cannot Be Trusted With Delivering National News

Just wasted an hour of my life watching CNA’s Primetime Asia for news of #HouseOfLee.

Not a word. Granted this is an outward-focused programme. Still, they found time for a Singapore-angled segments about a healthcare-related survey and training dogs. The crawler had a few Singapore items, leading with “SCIENCE PARK ONE VISITORS CAN RENT E-SCOOTERS”. But nothing about the story of the year.

This is reminiscent of the national media’s tongue-tied reaction to Lee Hsien Loong’s health scare during last year’s National Day Rally speech.

This won’t do. If we can’t count on our national media during periods of controversy and confusion, what are they there for? Our mainstream editors go through years of socialisation to understand where the OB markers are. In spite of that, if they are not trusted (or don’t trust themselves) to exercise initiative and provide timely news and analysis at a time like this, what’s the point?

We have heard a lot of warnings about fake news lately. The government and mainstream media should realise that if it doesn’t care to allow real news to circulate, their complaints about fake news will ring hollow.

Source: Cherian George

June 15, 2017
Damanhuri Abas: Lee Family Feud Throws Up Questions Over The State Of Democracy And Power In Singapore

The revelation from the public statement released by both Lee Hsien Yang and Dr Lee Wei Ling vindicated what most opposition parties had tirelessly expounded over the last few years. Some had gone to jail or faced severe fines for having the guts to speak the truth to power.

There is something terribly wrong with our democracy when the ruling party abused the system to benefit and perpetuate their hold on power. Freedom of the press and election process are key essentials of democracy. Instead policies were driven to entrench their position advocating the virtue of one party rule and even ideas such as natural aristocracy became currency when it is clearly against the meritocratic principle we cherish as a nation. Transparency for a long while has gone down the drain of convenient excuses for safeguarding commercial interest when it is really about gross conflicts of interest. Cronyism and nepotism have taken over selections and appointments and not the best for the job based on merits, experience and integrity.

The sad truth is that, over the years with almost absolute control on power with overwhelming majority in parliament, no one can stop them anymore and they can make any changes to policies or even the constitution any way they want. Thus the people’s only hope is for an intervention that comes from within to break the absolute control on information. The last straw being the constitutional amendments to the Elected Presidency and the further changes to remove any powers to the Elected President into the hands of non-elected presidential advisory committee.

What just happened is the culmination of years of suppression that the government had full control of with no check and balance on them. Now the people must respond to this development by not ignoring and merely placing this as a family feud. That may have been the trigger but the statement raised much more profound and pertinent gross concerns on our democracy, abuse of power, conflicts of interest and undermining of public institutions.

The people must know the truth.

Source: Damanhuri Bin Abas

June 15, 2017
Khan Osman Sulaiman: If Lee Hsien Loong Can Do This To His Family, What About Normal Singaporeans?

The dispute between Lee Hsien Loong (LHL) and his siblings is not uncommon. It centered around carrying out their dead father’s wish of demolishing Oxley Rise.

In Islam, we have what we call ‘Amanah.’ Amanah is something placed on the shoulders of someone to carry out certain instructions to the best of our ability and fulfil the wishes of the dead as long as it doesnt transgress our religious doctrines.

I believe we have heard of such incidents many times on the issue of not carrying out the ‘amanah’ someone placed on us. In this instance, it is LHL who is in the spotlight.

The no-confidence vote by both LHL’s siblings is natural. We cannot expect a person who disrespect a dead man’s wish to hold big responsibilities like managing Singapore.

If he cannot act justly in private, what can the people of Singapore expect on a bigger scale like managing a country? We already see how he has no qualms manipulating the system to benefit himself.

The meritocratic society that he espouses is nothing but a facade to give hope to Singaporeans. Singapore crony-capitalism index shows how our meritocratic ideals have taken a back seat. And it is the people who suffer at the hands of an incompetent leader. Add to it, a morally bankrupt one.

Source:Khan Osman Sulaiman

June 15, 2017