Category: Singapuraku

Walid J.Abdullah: Damanhuri Abas Deserves Plaudits For Joining SDP Based On Political Convictions

On joining the wrong party:

Some have suggested that Mr Damanhuri Abas has joined the wrong party: had he joined WP, he would have had a higher chance of getting elected.

(For my friends of different or no faiths who may not understand the significance of this matter, this guy is the real deal. He is someone who has truly been ‘on the ground’ and has been active in many grassroots activities over so many years (real grassroots activities; not merely helping out at the MPS a couple of years before being unveiled as a candidate, and then claiming that ‘i have always wanted to help others’. This man is quite respected in the community.)

The suggestion is perhaps right: WP definitely poses more of a threat to PAP than SDP does. However, one has to ask this question: could Mr Damanhuri have mentioned all those things he did in his first press conference had he been in WP? Could he have been as forthcoming and blunt as he was about discrimination if the careful WP was the conducting the press conference? Probably not.

So the challenge then goes to WP: is it willing to openly champion minority issues as much as SDP does? And perhaps the larger questions are: will WP continue to tread down this conservative, non-committal path on such issues, and if so, what really is the difference between PAP and WP?

On another note, it is highly refreshing to see someone joining a party based on his convictions, rather than on probability of electoral success. We will never have a shortage of people who want to join the ruling party to cause ‘change from within’, and to be honest, the more successful WP becomes, the more it will attract people who wants to try to ‘change from within’. But it is extremely rare, to have capable people – not disgruntled nobodies – who make a huge sacrifice and join a party, just so as to be true to his/her beliefs.

For that, this man deserves a ton of respect.

Source: Walid J. Abdullah

August 29, 2015
K Shanmugam To Lodge Police Report Against Sangeetha Thanapal For “Inaccurate And Seditious” Facebook Post

Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam says he intends to lodge a police report against independent scholar Sangeetha Thanapal on Friday for a Facebook post he called “inaccurate and seditious”.

He said her post – which has since been taken down – had misrepresented remarks he made at a Singapore Press Club talk on Thursday on how regional trends can affect Singapore.

“What Ms Thanapal wrote is inaccurate and seditious, and attributes to me sentiments that I do not hold and have never held,” he said in a Facebook post last night.

“I intend to file a police report about this tomorrow.”

He added: “She unfortunately twisted what I had said and suggested that I was an ‘Islamophobic bigot who thinks Malay-Muslims are a threat’. I had not said anything like that.”

Ms Thanapal, 33, took her post down less than an hour after Mr Shanmugam’s post was put up at around 8pm. She also said she was seeking legal advice.

Mr Shanmugam, responding on her Facebook at about 11.15pm, said he held “no personal animosity” towards her, and said he would be happy to speak to her.

Shortly afterwards, she responded saying: “I am very sorry for all that has happened. The post took on a life of its own, and came out differently from how I intended. Thank you so much for agreeing to speak with me. I will make myself available anytime you wish to do so.”

Mr Shanmugam then asked for a telephone number and said he would contact her today. As at midnight, there was no indication in the exhanges about whether he would still file a police report.

When Mr Shanmugam first posted about Ms Thanapal’s remarks, he said the point he actually made at the event was that the Malaysian education system was not good for integration.

“The Chinese leadership in various local areas in Malaysia want to maintain control over the Chinese population. It suits them to have Chinese students go to Chinese schools instead of mainstream Malaysian schools. And the schools are more Chinese (because they are effectively single race),” he wrote.

“At the same time, many mainstream schools in Malaysia are becoming more Malay (because the students are largely Malay) and Islamic (e.g. through the way some principals and teachers handle matters) which discourages the Chinese from going into those schools. So you end up with having more Malays going to mainstream schools, and more Chinese going to Chinese schools. As a result, the different races are kept apart from a young age.”

Ms Thanapal’s Facebook post appeared to take issue with Mr Shanmugam saying that mainstream schools in Malaysia were “becoming more Malay and Islamic”.

She wrote: “The only reason you would consider this important enough to make statements about, is if you are an Islamaphobic bigot who thinks Malay-Muslims are a threat.”

Source: www.straitstimes.com

August 29, 2015
Another Racist Grabcar “Driver” – Calls Passenger “Malay Pig” And Threatened Passenger After Complaint Lodged

Lets make this guy famous…spread the love people…cause he named us “MALAY PIG!” I booked a grabcar using a promo code. This driver accepted my booking. If you were to see my booking timing, it was at 12.49pm today 28/08/15. However driver did not turn up. He then ended my trip at 1250pm, from my location and reaching to destination within 1min is ridiculous (by doing this grabcar will be paying him $3 cause I used the promo code)

I called him and he answered my call. Asking him for his location, the driver then shouted at me and hung up the phone. I called again twice but he rejected both my calls. Since he did not turn up, ive made another booking but this time ive booked grab taxi instead. And yes a Malay driver turn up.

Later i received an email from grabcar its my E-receipt from this vehicle number SGD6936G which i did not even took his car.

My husband then called this driver to asked him what actually happened and why he did not turn up after accepting my booking yet ended the trip instead of cancelling it which he is not supposed to, he answered rudely to my husband, hung up again and sending rude and racist messages.

You can see for yourself what he said on his messages. He even threatened that he will find us.

Source: www.thelocalsociety.com

August 29, 2015
Rich Woman Cheats On Taxi Fare And Dares Taxi Driver To Make Police Report

Dear Editors,

The women in pictures took a taxi on 13 Aug 2015, taxi fare is $12.70. Arrived at her Caribbean condo she said no cash. Taxi driver allow her to money transfer $12.70 via bank account. Today 27 Aug 2015 (2 weeks already) driver still have not receive his payment.

Driver send her sms that he had made a police report about her non taxi fare payment and she reply looking forward to meet the police officer. And also she give a fake name card to the taxi driver.

SG Taxi Driver
A.S.S. Contributor

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

August 28, 2015
HDB Wants To Increase My Rental By 37% After Elections End?

Dear Editors,

In a sign of skyrocketing costs of living and business after this upcoming polling day, HDB had sent us a letter right after the election was announced warning us that they intend to raise the rental of our HDB rental unit by a whooping mind-boggling 37%! That’s more than one-third of our current rental and more than $700 per month! But that’s not all. It seems like the letter (see the attached) is a standard letter that is sent to all HDB commercial and industrial property tenants, so we are not the only tenant who is affected.

The PAP ministers had repeatedly claimed they wanted to help Singaporean businesses and workers thrive in Singapore. However, their actions speak louder than words. By increasing our rental by 37% and more than $700 per month, we will have no choice but to cut our workers’ salaries, retrench one of them, or increase our product prices to offset our rental increase so that we can stay in business and pay HDB the higher rental.

We are a small setup and we hire strictly Singaporeans only, so our labour costs are already much higher than our competitors who hire foreigners. We value our workers and we do not wish to put them out of job. But if you are in our shoes, faced with a worsening economy, increasing competition, declining business and skyrocketing rental, you will also have no choice but to take one of the above-mentioned courses of action or go out of business. Increasing our product prices will make our products less competitive and result in lower sales, so it is not an option. Cutting our workers’ salaries will lower their morale and they may quit in no time. Retrenching one of our workers is therefore the only option and the remaining workers will just have to share some of the additional workload. This is not an ideal situation but what else can anyone in our shoes do when forced by HDB to cough out more money for them?

As the largest landlord in Singapore, the PAP government, be it HDB, CapitalMall, Temasek Holdings or otherwise, wields the sole power to set our costs of living and business, and by extension, our quality of life. We elected them and pay them multi-million dollar salaries to work and fight for a better standard of life for us, not to make life miserable and worse off for us. As Mr Low Thia Khiang rightly pointed out, we are the owners of this country instead of the government. Why do we have to keep paying HDB, CapitalMall, Temasek Holdings etc. more and more to use our own land to do business or live?

SG50 is not working out well for us so far, so we cannot imagine how much worse SG100 will be.

Mai Kee Chiu
A.S.S. Contributor

Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com

August 28, 2015