Tag: Indians

IDA Says University Of Mumbai Is Reputable University
Yesterday (16 Apr), TRE published a story about an Indian national turned Singaporean, Nisha Padmanabhan, who is employed by IDA (‘IDA defends staff who obtained MBA from degree mill‘).

As it turns out, the MBA that Ms Padmanabhan obtained was from a degree mill, the Southern Pacific University (SPU).

SPU is not accredited and it was closed in Hawaii by a court order. Subsequently, it started operating from Malaysia [Link]. A blogger also alerted that a group of “students” had made a police complaint against SPU for losing RM18,000 each “for the junk” [Link].

Earlier this year, a Vietnamese News also mentioned SPU [Link]:

[Google Translate of relevant paragraphs]:

“It was bought by domestic and overseas buyers by. Fellows get doctorates abroad but do not learn, do not know a word of English double break. After the University of the South Pacific (Southern Pacific University) was uncovered, it was pouring through a PhD Philippines. PhD but is actually traveling, combined with purchase.

If the degree is not worth relating to the appointment, be promoted in the system state agencies, there is no degree trafficking as grocery shopping today.”

Many netizens began to ask IDA if it knew about the matter. After weeks of silence, IDA finally replied.

It said that her Bachelor’s degree is from a reputable university and she was recruited based on the Bachelor degree. Her MBA was “not a relevant certificate for her position in IDA”, it added.

IDA’s full reply on its Facebook page [Link]:

However, netizens are not convinced of IDA’s reply. Many are saying it’s a question of integrity even though she may have been hired based on her bachelor’s degree.

University of Mumbai not in top 500

In its reply, IDA has mentioned that Ms Padmanabhan’s basic degree is from a “reputable university” and she was recruited because of this.

In her LinkedIn information, she said that she had graduated from University of Mumbai with a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunication.

TRE did a check with regard to the world’s ranking of University of Mumbai.

In the Times Higher Education Top 400 World University Rankings 2014-2015 [Link], University of Mumbai was not listed at all.

In fact, only 4 Indian universities were ranked among the World’s top 400:
- 276-300th, Indian Institute of Science
- 276-300th, Panjab University
- 351-400th, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
- 351-400th, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
Singapore, a much smaller country than India, had 2 universities ranked among the World’s top 400:
- 25th, NUS
- 61st, NTU
In the QS World University Rankings, another popular ranking commonly cited, the University of Mumbai is ranked 551st in the world [Link].

NUS on the other hand is ranked 22nd while NTU is 39th.

So, do you think that University of Mumbai is a “reputable university” as stated by IDA?

What do you think?

Source: www.tremeritus.com
April 17, 2015
Lee Hsien Loong: Racial Harmony Here An Unusual And Unnatural State Of Affairs, Need To Be Worked On Continuously

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singaporeans of all races and religions are able to live peacefully side by side despite the fact that the country’s racial and religious harmony is an “unusual and unnatural state of affairs”.

Mr Lee spoke at a Harmony Dinner at the Singapore Expo on Wednesday evening (Apr 15), an event organised by the Taoist Federation to celebrate its Silver Jubilee.

“There are studies of different societies and there was one study called a report on ‘Global Religious Diversity’ looking at how mixed different societies were – and in fact they ranked Singapore as the most religious diverse society out of 232 countries in the world, and we were the most religiously diverse,” said Mr Lee.

“The most different religions, the most intermingled, all the world’s major faiths are present in Singapore and many smaller faiths too. And yet we enjoy racial and religious harmony, and we live peacefully and happily side by side every day,” added the Prime Minister. It is something that should be continually worked on to be preserved, he said.

Mr Lee said building a multi-racial and multi-religious society is a key ideal that Singapore was founded upon.

Quoting the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew, the Prime Minister said Singapore does not belong to any single community, but to everyone. Mr Lee said the Taoist Federation worked hard to foster good relations between the different religious groups in Singapore.

All 10 constituent religions of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO) were also present at the Harmony Dinner, and Mr Lee called on the religious leaders to lead by example.

Said Mr Lee: “Your communities look to you as role models. How you counsel and lead your congregations, your flocks, will shape religious relations in Singapore. So I am very happy that so many of our religious leaders are committed to building trust and friendships with other communities.”

“We also of course need to keep our society open and inclusive. We can be any race, any religion, but we are also – at the same time – all Singaporeans together. And we have learnt to trust and respect our different races and religions, and to live peacefully with one another,” he said.

The IRO said racial and religious harmony is also enhanced by having more dialogues between people of various faiths.

“It is educating everyone as to what another religion has and if you have better understanding of another religion besides your own, that’s when you have a better understanding and that’s where you will have peace and harmony,” said IRO President Gurmit Singh.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

April 16, 2015
AGC Warns Public Comments On Case Of Three Singaporeans Arrested During Thaipusam Is Sub Judice

In the wake of the arrest of three Singaporeans for various offencesallegedly committed during a Thaipusam procession on Feb 3, the Attorney-General’s Chambers on Wednesday (Feb 11) issued a reminder warning against public comments, including on the Internet, as such statements may be sub judice contempt of court.

The accused face various charges, ranging from disorderly conduct to voluntarily causing hurt to a police officer. The three – Ramachandra Chandramohan, 32, Jaya Kumar Krishnasamy, 28, and Gunasegaran Rajendran, 33 – are out on bail and will appear in court again on Mar 6.

Said the AGC in a press release on Wednesday: “As criminal proceedings are currently before the Courts, we would like to remind the public that statements made may be sub judice contempt of court, if the statements are calculated to affect the judicial process and there is a real risk of prejudice being caused to the ongoing proceedings.”

Under sub judice laws, commenting on a case being considered by the court may be considered interference with due process.

“All parties are advised to refrain from making any public comments, or posting any statements on the Internet on these matters which may have that effect, pending final determination of the legal proceedings by the Courts,” the AGC added.

“The Attorney-General’s Chambers takes a serious view of statements made which are calculated to interfere with the integrity of the administration of justice. Anyone who has information on the case should send it to the Police.”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

February 11, 2015
In Solidarity With Singaporean Indians – Make Thaipusam A Public Holiday!

There has been a lot of talk recently about making Thaipusam – an annual Hindu festival event celebrated by the Tamil community here – a public holiday.

We have four races here and though Deepavali is celebrated as a public holiday, Thaipusam which is an important Hindu day in the Tamil community calender is not officially gazetted as a public holiday yet.

In Singapore, every major race is given two days of religious or cultural holiday. The Chinese have Chinese New Year (CNY), which lasts for two days. Malays, who are predominantly Muslim, are given holidays for Hari Raya Haji and Hari Raya Puasa. Indians are given Deepavali and Vesak Day. Hence, Thaipusam could not be made a holiday for Indian Hindu.

Vesak Day which is a Buddhist religion is strangely been gazetted as a Indian holiday though very few Indians celebrate.

17,000 signatures were collected to date to petition online for Thaipusam to be made a public holiday here:-

https://www.change.org/p/mdm-halimah-yacob-make-thaipusam-a-religious-holiday-in-singapore

There is also this recent controversy whereby three Indians were arrested for disorderly behaviour during the recent Thaipusam when the police was called upon to enforce a ancient 1973 law which disallows the use of musical instruments for kavadi carriers.

In response to the arrest, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Law K Shanmugam made an effort to explain why musical instruments were disallowed during the Thaipusam’s foot procession, citing the 1964 riots as the main reason for imposing such an ancient law.

We hope that with the recent arrest, the government will look closely into allowing musical instruments to be played during Thaipusam foot procession under limited conditions.

This event hopes to unite all Singaporeans to support our smallest minority race to petition for Thaipusam to be made a public holiday – as only 9% of the population is make up of Indians.

We agree with the online petition statement that –

Thaipusam should be made a holiday in Singapore from 2016 in the interest of fairness to all races in Singapore.

Let us come together and speak with one voice – though we have 4 races but we are first Singaporeans!

Singaporeans supporting Singaporeans.

Gilbert Goh
Event Organiser

Editor’s note: We will co-operate with NParks and the police to ensure that the event will be carried out smoothly.

Source: Gilbert Goh

February 10, 2015
PAP Members Alleged Indian Man Arrested In Thaipusam Fracas Insulted Islam

Today’s Straits Times report on the arrest of the three Indians involved in the scuffle during Thaipusam stated that one of the Indians “insulted the police officer’s religion, Islam” during the confrontation.

This had been denied by the Indian in his account of what happened. The Indian man said that he just asked the officer why Muslims are allowed to play their kompang drums whereas Hindus cannot play their urumi on Thaipusam.

PAP members online tried to play up this ‘against Islam’ version to try and get netizens to condemn the men who were arrested. They raised the boogeyman of the 1964 race riots and tried to say that the officers had prevented a race riot.

On the FAP page, PAP member Daniel Tan Boon Huat (Woodgrove branch) harassed Indian Singaporeans and asked if they wanted to get arrested too:

Another PAP member, Johari Bin Mohamed Rais who serves in Aljunied GRC with Victor lye further tried to instigate tensions between Hindus and Muslims:

There is an effort to portray the three Indians as people who insulted Islam to prevent sinkies from uniting against the PAP in this Thaipusam incident. Divide and conquer strategy.

Hope sinkies stay united and not fall for this.

Btw, this is PAP member Daniel Tan Boon Huat who harassed local Indians and threatened them with arrest:

Source: www.therealsingapore.com

February 9, 2015