Tag: Singaporeans

Singaporean Man Found Murdered In Malaysia

The body of a 52-year-old Singaporean was found off a highway in Bukit Kayu Hitam, Kedah, on Sunday morning.

At least 13 slash wounds were found on the man’s forehead, the back of his head, and arms.

The slash wounds on the victim’s head were so deep that his skull was visible and his head was almost hacked in half, reported Kwong Wah Daily.

Malaysian police discovered the body at 9.30am in a bushy area off the North-South Expressway near the Malaysia-Thailand border after receiving a tip-off from a member of the public.

The body was sent to Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar, Kedah, for a post-mortem.

Kedah Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief, Assistant Commissioner Mohd Nashir Ya, told the New Straits Times (NST) that the man died from multiple knife wounds.

Police believe that the man, who was wearing a long sleeved shirt and trousers, died between six and 12 hours before he was found, reported NST.

Lianhe Wanbao reported that two police dogs and 30 policemen, including CID and forensics officers, were activated to comb the scene.

A cigarette box was also found at the scene and taken away for investigation. Aside from a mobile phone and a bunch of keys, no personal identification documents were found on the man’s body, reported The Star Online. Through the phone’s contents, police identified the dead man as a Singaporean Chinese, according to Lianhe Wanbao.

A police spokesman told Lianhe Wanbao that the victim’s family had been contacted and they identified the body yesterday afternoon.

Even though the victim is a Singaporean, police said the man had been staying in Hat Yai – a southern Thailand city near the Malaysian border – for many years.

The case is being investigated under the Penal Code for murder and no one has been arrested yet.

Source: www.tnp.sg

September 17, 2015
Two Reasons Why PAP Won So Handsomely In The Recent Elections

Mr Goh,

That is a very good analysis, but you missed two important points.

The first is the external factor, namely all the things that are happening outside Singapore. Over the past year the world has gotten a whole lot more dangerous, politically and financially.

The political paralysis in US, ISIS in the Middle East, the financial and refugees crises in Europe, the China’s economic slowdown that may lead to a world’s recession, Russia’s re-asserting itself, climate change, the gyrating stock markets, and others all add to a sense of an uncertain future. As the saying go, “you do not change horses at mid-stream”.

Many feel that you do not want to leadership in the middle of a crisis, especially when the alternative only brings in more uncertainty.

Which brings me to the second point, the oppositions. It is pointless to blame the ruling party to handing out goodies to get votes. That happens is every democracy, we hear it every time there is an election in the UK.

Yet the government changes hand on a regular basis. For the opposition, it is not enough to offer candidates that are “as good as” the other side and hope that the “throw out the bastard” sentiment will carry the day.

The opposition needs to have someone better. But honestly, are the opposition candidates in this election really significant better than their PAP counterparts? Do they really have a coherent plan of how to govern? Can they provide a compelling vision? Can they help Singapore, a small country, navigate in the choppy uncharted water?

Let’s take your team as an example. In the last four years, how many times have the team walk through Ang Mo Kio talking to the residents and learning about their concerns? What do you really have to offer besides a distaste for the PAP?

Singapore opposition parties need to build themselves up slowly. It may make you feel good to say that every seat is contested. But it is a warning sign to the voters. The PAP members may be a bunch of yahoos.

But many who would cast a protest in order to have more opposition voices in the parliament voted for PAP instead just so that there would not be a fluke and a bunch of unknown and inexperienced yahoos ended up running the country.

So the opposition parties need to reflect and come up with a better strategy. You did some analysis of the percents of swing votes that could have been the result of one action or the other by the ruling party.

Here is another way to look at it. If those constituencies where the PAP won more than 75% (which meant they were PAP strongholds where the opposition parties have no chance) were uncontested, the PAP majority would have been only 67%, meaning that the decision of the opposition to contest every seat actually gave the PAP at least a 2% margin.

Your own slate contributed 0.72% to that 2%. So the delusion of grandeur of the oppositions actually contributed to the PAP landslide.

Thistoo Shallpass

Source: www.transitioning.org

September 17, 2015
PAP Voter: I Did Not Vote PAP Out Of Fear

To the oppies,

I did not vote for PAP out of fear. I voted for PAP because your ideas did not take into account of global trends.

I did not vote for PAP thinking they can resolve the problems of the world, I do expect them to make the transition more painless for Singaporeans.

If Foreign Talent is to get the job, at least allocate enough money for Singaporeans to upgrade their skills so that they can remain competitive.

I did not vote for PAP because I liked them, I voted for PAP because I think for now they can do the job best. The rest just talk (and anyone can do that).

In fact, I feel that Worker’s Party fashion sense seems to be better. At least there are some colours. White shirts easy to get dirty, hard to maintain.

I am aware that our government may have lost some money in some investment, but I think that is part of the game of investment.

As long as the investment is not lost through dishonesty but through inevitable global / market / business trends, I am fine.

I don’t think I deserve to receive any part of the reserves, I am just wondering why do the oppies feel so dignified and justified that they deserve our reserves.

The reserves (through our fixed asset) should be used for the betterment of our country, provide infrastructural framework for our learning, leisure & work.

I feel very amused that the oppies say that the whole country is against 6.9 million white paper, but I am very happy with the white paper.

There are people who say I am happy with the white paper because I am a businessman and will benefit by having more customers in the country.

Actually that is true as well, but what is more true is that with more population, it will drive business cost down, and some business will provide services / products affordably to the less well off segment.

With no big population to support businesses, no businesses can afford to help the poor. The oppies are understanding this so so wrong.

It is true that higher population will drive certain segment’s goods prices up, but it will also drive certain products and services’ prices down as well.

Higher population is good for the poor.

The oppies, think again of those people voting for the white uniformed PAP. It is not because we are upper class and want to maintain our edge over the poorer half of the population.

We are voting for PAP because it will take care of the whole country. The oppies need to polish up their plans.

And don’t get me started on the CPF problem. Yes, it is true that the government is increasing the age to withdraw CPF, and there is a logical reason to it, we are living longer.

Also, as a funding guy, I have seen millions of dollars or hundreds of thousands at one shot. Most people in the working class has never held 100-200k in their hands before, what do you think would happen when they hold that amount of money?

The money would be squandered. Cheated by some younger women / men. The country is doing you a favour by safeguarding for you.

If you know how to handle the finance, the minimum sum of 100+ K is not going to make a difference to your lifestyle. If you do not know how to handle finance, then the 100+ K is better off safeguarded by the government of Singapore.

Thanks.

Yours Loyally,

Source: Raymond Ng

September 17, 2015
Quad Research – We Predicted GE2015 Outcome
This article originally appeared on Vulcan Post.

At the end of a battle when all is won and lost, and some forsaken along the way, there will always be someone who will come out and say, “I told you so.” The battle in question here is the recent General“Swinging Votes” Elections 2015, and the “I told you so” is…the power of research.

I mean, there’s going to be a vast difference between the armchair critic and hard, solid facts obtained by the most honourable and also time-consuming method: actual cold hard field research — somethingQuad Research champions. Regular political pundits were generally unable to pick up on the vote swing and pre-election predictions were all proven wrong with the results. But it was Quad who somehow, from the skirmish, had the evidence to show that this was the expected result of the elections.

Quad Research believes in expanding the space for data-driven discourse, and assisting in better collective decisions for Singapore’s future. According to them, they are a “non-partisan and not-for-profit collective of individuals acting in a personal capacity” who only publish “statistically rigorous findings that are of research interest.”

So between August 5 and August 17 — a good month before election fever began, Quad Research conducted a survey on the upcoming General Elections to measure Singaporeans’ perceptions on the issues that matter to them and how this affects their political choices.

Among their findings in election and party matters, they discovered that:
- Opposition supporters might be likely to vote for other opposition parties if their preferred party was absent
- ‘Best local candidate‘ (in each SMC/GRC) mattered most in candidate choice, especially for opposition supporters
- PAP voters are more concerned with party loyalty and government quality
- PAP supporters’ voting motivations tend to mirror Conservative voters, while Opposition supporters’ motivations tend to mirror Labour voters
Moving on from party talk, Quad also found that while a slight majority of Singaporeans think that Singapore is meritocratic, there may be evidence that social mobility is slowing in the country, especially for those in the lower and middle classes. Interesting.

What else is interesting is that Singaporeans perceive our rate of unemployment to be higher than it actually is. How many of you thought it was at least 20%? Real talk — it’s only 2.6%.

If you’re up for some lunchtime reading, power up with some factual knowledge via Quad Research. You might even find yourself somewhere in the statistics. Happy reading!

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com
September 17, 2015
Elections Department: Lee Li Lian, Dennis Tan And Leon Perera Elected As NCMPs

Ms Lee Li Lian, Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong and Mr Leon Perera from the Workers’ Party have been elected as Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMP), the Elections Department (ELD) announced on Wednesday (Sep 16).

In a statement, ELD said three candidates who received the highest votes among the unelected candidates from Opposition parties will be declared elected as NCMPs, as six opposition MPs were elected to Parliament in the Sep 11 General Election.

Ms Lee, who contested in Punggol East SMC and Mr Dennis Tan, who contested in Fengshan SMC, received the two highest percentages of votes among unelected opposition candidates.

Ms Lee received 48.23 per cent of the vote against the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Charles Chong, while Mr Tan garnered 42.50 per cent of vote against PAP’s Cheryl Chan.

WP’s East Coast GRC team – comprising former NCMP Gerald Giam, Mr Daniel Goh, Mr Mohamed Fairoz and Mr Leon Perera – who ran against PAP’s team anchored by Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, gained 39.27 per cent of the votes. The group informed the Returning Officer on Wednesday of their decision to nominate Mr Leon Perera as NCMP, said ELD.

DANIEL GOH TO TAKE PLACE OF MS LEE AS NCMP IF PARLIAMENT RESOLVES TO FILL SEAT: WP

Ms Lee, who was elected MP for Punggol East following a by-election in 2013, had told the media after the results were announced that she is not inclined to take up a NCMP seat in Parliament if offered.

In a statement released shortly after the ELD announcement, the Workers’ Party said its Central Executive Council (CEC) concurred with Ms Lee’s decision not to accept the NCMP position.

The CEC said should Parliament resolve to fill the vacated NCMP seat left by Ms Lee, that Associate Professor Daniel Goh would fill that seat.

PARLIAMENT NOT OBLIGED TO DECLARE THAT SEAT BE FILLED

According to the law, if an eligible NCMP decides not to take up the position, the seat may not automatically be transferred to the next eligible opposition candidate.

In response to media queries, Parliament is not obliged to declare that seat be filled by the next succeeding candidate.
The ELD said: “The Attorney General is of the view that if any NCMP declared to be elected under Section 52 of the Parliamentary Elections Act fails to take and subscribe before Parliament the Oath of Allegiance under Article 61 of the Constitution at the first or second sitting of Parliament during its first session after the General Election, then Parliament may at its discretion declare that seat vacant. Parliament is not thereafter obliged to declare that seat be filled by the next succeeding candidate.”

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

September 17, 2015