Tag: Singaporeans

Happy Teachers Day! Be True To Yourself When You Vote

By AB

To my fellow 33,000 colleagues in the teaching fraternity, Happy Teacher’s Day! I hope you had a good day of celebrations and that the students were kinder to you today.

Just like you, I am a teacher in one of the schools in Singapore. Busy whole year round not just with the daily classroom management strategies and idiosyncrasies of every child, but also being swarmed with CCA, HDP reports, CP entries, setting exam papers, lesson plans, performance tasks, applied learning, learning journeys, scheme of works, …. just some of the terms we all are just so familiar with.

I would say one of the toughest parts of our jobs is in guiding the child, either through our decisions of positive reinforcement, negative consequences, or as a last resort, punishments. We always hope that in our decision, our judgement is not clouded and that the child will be able to develop the correct traits and values to be future ready for Singapore and contribute back to society.

I am proud of our schools, where there are measures in place to manage bullying. I do believe every teacher would be able to manage a situation in a class where there is bullying, whether it is physical, verbal or just plain taunting.

As an educator, I am proud of this. As much as we are unable to change society overnight, it is our hope that when we start young with our children in schools, they will develop into concerned citizens with the right values, ready to continue bringing Singapore to new heights.

As an adult watching the election unfold, I cannot say I am proud of some of our leaders. I am sure many of you are able to see that there is obvious bullying, intimidation, mud-slinging and even character assassinations. Are these not the exact traits of the very same bullies that we will always be quick to put down or speak up against in correction?

To my fellow 33,000 colleagues in the teaching fraternity, do pardon my English and writing as I am actually a Mathematics teacher. It is just my hope that during this election, we take our vote seriously and ask ourselves if this were the type of traits we want in our leaders, our children, our future.

Please be true to ourself and follow our heart in our vote.

Happy Teacher’s Day! Majulah Singapura.

Source: http://www.theonlinecitizen.com

September 4, 2015
Is SDP’s Damanhuri Abas Anti-LGBT Or Pro-LGBT?

Aiseyman! This elections, the SDP is coming back with a bang siol~ Contesting in 2 GRCs and SMCs, they look set to give the PAP a good run for their money in the West and North-Western parts of Singapore.

But let’s take a closer look at one of their Malay-Muslim candidates running in the Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC – Mr Damanhuri Bin Abas.

Mr Damanhuri is representing a party that believes in the values of democracy, pluralism, diversity. In line with their party values, SDP is also one of the few courageous parties that have come out in support of the repeal of Section 377A that criminalises gay sex because they are against discrimination by race, religion and sexual orientation.

Mr Damanhuri himself has also said that he believes in a society where everyone is treated as equals.

Yet on the other hand, Mr Damanhuri is not a proponent of equal rights for LGBT because he thinks that Section 377A should not be repealed! He even had a hand in drafting the FMSA statement supporting NUS professor Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied when he dehumanised lesbians by describing them as ‘diseases’ and ‘cancers’ of society.

So which is which Mr Damanhuri? You cannot simply make such a big statement to say that you support equality, you will fight against the discrimination of Hijabi Muslimahs and Malay-Muslims in the military, but you yourself discriminate against the LGBT community!

How are you going to reconcile SDP’s efforts in repealing Section 377A with your own beliefs against alternative sexual orientation?

Source: http://www.aiseyman.com

September 4, 2015
Aisha Alqadri: Thank You Damanhuri Abas For Speaking On The Tudung Issue

Thumbs up to ‪#‎YourDamanhuri‬! ??????

A great speech at the rally, especially with regard to the tudung issue, in allowing the nurses to don the tudung as part of their uniform.

“If the Madam Speaker of Parliament and the Malay/Muslim female MPs of PAP are allowed to don the white tudung, why are they still not allowing the nurses to do so? Don’t Mdm Halimah, Dr Intan Azura and Mdm Rahayu look like nurses in their all white outfit and tudung???”
– Mr Damanhuri Abas
Singapore Democratic Party

A good one indeed!!!??????

Why the double standard????
‪#‎GE2015‬ ‪#‎voteforchange‬

Source: Aisha Alqadri

September 4, 2015
SDA Takes To YouTube To Discuss Party’s Manifesto

The Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) on Wednesday (Sep 2) uploaded on YouTube several videos about their party’s manifesto for the Sep 11 General Election (GE).

The seven videos, each between two and six minutes long, touch on issues such as housing, transport and education.

Mr Harminder Pal Singh, who is part of the SDA’s six-member team contesting the Pasir Ris-Punggol Group Representation Constituency (GRC), is featured in all seven videos.

On housing, Mr Singh said the influx of immigrants has pushed up demand for public housing. This has caused prices of public housing to rise, he added.

Another video deals with the issue of employment, with Mr Singh saying that PMET (professional, manager, executive and technician) positions are given to non-locals instead of Singaporeans, even though the candidates have the same qualifications and level of experience.

“SDA advocates a Singaporean-first policy for employment which shall be legislated,” said Mr Singh. “This means that an employer must prove that he cannot find a suitable local for the current vacancy and has exhausted all means of employing a local for the job before approval is granted for the employment of foreigners.”

The party, the first to announce its manifesto for this year’s polls, has pledged to liberalise the use of Medisave, and to sell public flats at 10 per cent “above the raw price” to Singaporeans with lesser means, among other things.

Pushing for a “Singapore for Singaporeans”, the SDA’s manifesto also covers issues such as population, healthcare, public transport, education and the Central Provident Fund (CPF) scheme.

The SDA team for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, which is led by party chief Desmond Lim, also includes Mr Arthero Lim, Mr Sunny Wong, Mr Abu Mohamed and Mr Ong Teik Seng. When contacted by TODAY, Mr Desmond Lim said the videos are a “manifestation” of the party’s goals going forward.

“It is a great way to reach out to the masses at one go,” he added.

Mr Lim said the SDA hopes to get through to voters its messages on issues pertinent to Singaporeans, and “make significant changes”. He also revealed that the party intends to hold three rallies in the run-up to the GE.

Mr Lim and his colleagues will be facing a People’s Action Party team led by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean. In the 2011 GE, a SDA team also contested in the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, garnering 35.21 per cent of the votes.

OPPOSING WITH POSTERS

The party has also stepped away from the conventional political posters featuring candidates’ portraits, choosing instead to have a plain background with short, snappy slogans attacking the policies of the ruling PAP.

One says “55, return CPF”, which is aimed at the payout eligibility age (previously known as the drawdown age) under the Central Provident Fund (CPF) system. Another says “Say no to 6.9”, in reference to the 6.9-million population size projection set out in a hotly debated White Paper in 2013.

Mr Singh said the party went with these slogans because these are the “hottest” issues on the minds of voters. “When we walk the ground every day, these are the two biggest (issues) everyone is talking about. So we don’t want to just talk about our people, we want to talk about what the ground needs in term of change.”

The SDA also has the traditional-looking posters, but there are QR codes beside each portrait to direct voters to each candidate’s account on social media site Facebook.

“People can read about the candidates. They can also read the SDA manifesto and the issues that the candidates are very passionate about,” said Mr Singh.

The SDA also has the traditional-looking posters, but there are QR codes beside each portrait to direct voters to each candidate’s account on social media site Facebook. “People can read about the candidates. They can also read the SDA manifesto and the issues that the candidates are very passionate about,” said Mr Singh.

Although the posters were put up only on Tuesday, Mr Singh said he had started receiving Facebook messages from residents, asking where the party’s rallies would be held, for instance.

The SDA is putting up 2,500 posters around Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, where it is contesting again this election.

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

September 3, 2015
The Most Brilliant Poster Placement In Propaganda War

The knives are out, the words are sharp, the war is well and truly underway – and so too the battle for visibility.

The political parties rushed to put up their political posters soon after Nomination Day was over, with the usual face shots of candidates being hung in all the constituencies.

They were the usual posters, really, which we have seen from past elections – smiling faces, all groomed meticulously to look their best. After all, these will be hung out to dry (literally) on streets and poles.

They are made to look good because, you know what they say about “show face” – it can matter when it comes to the vote.

But one political party has turned the poster war on its head with its brilliant placement decision.

The Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), which is really a very small opposition party, has not gone the way of the rest, and has instead chosen not to have its candidates faces appear on its posters.

Instead, the posters have words and numbers which remind Singaporeans of the ruling party’s plans and failures.

The decision to place these posters is the brilliance of this – they are placed under the posters of that of Lee Hsien Loong, the secretary general of the People’s Action Party (PAP), who is also the Prime Minister.

Mr Lee’s posters are hung all over Singapore, even in constituencies where he is not the candidate. This has led to questions of whether it is against the elections laws.

In such a case, in the SDA’s placements of its posters, the message is unmistakable – to remind voters of what Mr Lee stood for or what his government has in its plans.

And they are not flattering, when the two posters – Mr Lee’s and the SDA’s – are taken together.

One of them has the number “55” on it – a clear reference to the age of 55 when Singaporeans are supposed to have their CPF returned to them, except that the PAP government has refused to do so, despite its own promise.

The other poster has the number “6.9” on it – alluding to the 6.9 million population which the ruling party is using as a “planning parameter”, an issue which has unsettled and angered Singaporeans since it was revealed in the Population White Paper in 2012, one year after the last elections.

Lin Shiyun had who posted the photos on his Facebook page:

Source: www.theonlinecitizen.com

September 3, 2015