The team sends Pei Ling and How Yue our heartiest congratulations on their newborn.
Mother looks radiant and baby (boy) ruddy. Father is, of course, happy.
Lest she is anxious, I passed the message from the Party that she will be fielded in MacPherson in coming GE.
I advised her to rest and not worry about the date of the GE.
She will not be there at the ND Parade but there will be time for her to turn up at Nomination, and campaign thereafter. — gct
Source: MParader
To NSP,
You must be nuts to get a part-time model to be elected as MP.
For heaven’s sake, just look at the way she wears!
Did she think she was going to Zouk to party or attending a serious opposition conference to decide on the outcome of Singapore?
What is the purpose of wearing such a short skirt to the opposition meeting?
See the way she talks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8H-BeVtH4jw
It reminds me of one of those beauty pageant contests where the contestants are interviewed on stage. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had ended her interview with another one of those “world peace” quotes.
NSP, please don’t sabotage opposition chances to get into Parliament.
The opposition die-hards will vote for her even if she walks around Orchard Road naked. But if you are really serious about winning, you have to convince the conservative middle ground voters. Honestly, they are not going to take her seriously.
You know what my mother said when I showed her the miniskirt photo of Kevryn Lim standing on the road, now circulating on social media? My mother asked if it was about a fight outside a KTV (there was a guy standing next to her using the phone)?
NSP, your party reputation is already going down with the exodus of the many reputed members from your party.
Now, you further harm your party and opposition reputation by getting a bimbo worse than Tin Pei Ling to stand for election.
Please lah, NSP!
James
* Contributed by TRE reader
Source: www.tremeritus.com
Singapore turns 50 on Aug. 9, 2015. Is Singapore the most successful society since human history began? Or, to put it differently, did Singapore improve the living standards of its people faster and more comprehensively than any other society?
The only way to answer these questions is with empirical data. The most basic needs of any human being are food, shelter, health, education and employment. Did Singapore improve the delivery of those basic needs faster than any other society?
When Singapore was expelled from Malaysia in 1965 and thrust into an unwanted independence, it was a typical Third World country. Its per capita income of $500 was the same as Ghana’s then. It was not desperately poor, but it had malnutrition. I know this personally as I was put on a special feeding program when I joined school in the first grade, drinking milk from a pail with a ladle shared by other children.
Table 1: Comparison of real GDP per capita 
*Using constant 2005 USD
This malnutrition disappeared quickly. Singapore’s per capita income has shot from $500 to $55,000 today, the largest increase any newly independent nation has enjoyed. This spectacular economic success story of Singapore is clearly amazing. Yet, when I was Singapore’s ambassador to the UN in the 1980s, the then head of UNICEF, the American James Grant, used to chide me for speaking about it.
Table 2: Percent increase in real GDP from year listed to 2014 
*Using constant 2005 USD
He told me that Singapore’s success in another area was even more spectacular. We had reduced our infant mortality faster than any other society, going down from 35 per 1,000 live births in 1965 to 10.90 in 1985. James Grant was right. Babies are the most vulnerable members of any society. When they live instead of dying, they reflect an improving social ecosystem that keeps them alive.
The babies who lived in Singapore went on to enjoy one of the best education systems in the world. The OECD ranked 15-year-old Singaporean children number one in the world in a recent global ranking of “Universal Basic Skills” in mathematics and science. Singapore students also topped the OECD PISA problem solving test in 2012.
There are many other areas where Singapore’s social standards top the charts. From the Singapore with slums that I grew up in, we now have the highest home ownership of any country in the world, with 90 percent of residents living in homes they own. Even amongst households in the lowest 20 percent of incomes, over 80 percent own their own homes. Rapidly rising salaries and strong compulsory saving schemes, through the Central Provident Fund, led to this incredibly high home ownership.
So why did Singapore succeed so comprehensively? The simple answer is exceptional leadership. Many in the world have heard of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, the founding prime minister who passed away in March this year. Far fewer have heard of Dr. Goh Keng Swee, the architect of Singapore’s economic miracle, and Mr. S. Rajaratnam,Singapore’s philosopher par excellence.
Together, they made a great team.
This exceptional team also implemented three exceptional policies: Meritocracy, Pragmatism and Honesty. Indeed, I share this “secret” MPH formula with every foreign student at the Lee Kuan Yew School, and I assure them that if they implement it, their country will succeed as well as Singapore. Meritocracy means a country picks its best citizens, not the relatives of the ruling class, to run a country. Pragmatism means that a country does not try to reinvent the wheel. As Dr. Goh Keng Swee would say to me, “Kishore, no matter what problem Singapore encounters, somebody, somewhere, has solved it. Let us copy the solution and adapt it to Singapore.” Copying best practices is something any country can do. However, implementing “Honesty” is the hardest thing to do. Corruption is the single biggest reason why most Third World countries have failed. The greatest strength of Singapore’s founding fathers was that they were ruthlessly honest. It also helped that they were exceptionally shrewd and cunning.
Still, Singapore has its fair share of detractors. Its political system was widely viewed as being an “enlightened dictatorship,” even though free elections have been held every five years. Its media is widely perceived to be controlled by the government and Singapore is ranked number 153 out of 180 by Reporters Without Borders in 2015 on the Press Freedom Index. Many human rights organizations criticize it. Freedom House ranks Singapore as “partially free.”
Undoubtedly, some of these criticisms have some validity. Yet, the Singapore population is one of the best educated populations and, hence, globally mobile. They could vote with their feet if Singapore were a stifling “un-free” society. Most choose to stay. Equally importantly, some of the most talented people in the world, including Americans and Europeans, are giving up their citizenship to become Singapore citizens. Maybe they have noticed something that the Western media has not noticed: Singapore is one of the best places to be born in and to live in. Quite amazingly, a society destined to fail in 1965 has become one of the world’s greatest success stories.
Source: www.huffingtonpost.com
Blogger Roy Ngerng, who is being sued by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for defamation, is considering standing in the upcoming General Election.
In a blogpost on Tuesday (Aug 4) titled Should I Run for Election, the 34-year-old mulled over reasons he would contest the GE and asked readers to help him decide in a poll.
The activist said that if he were to run for election, it would not be for “fame, power or money”.
“I want nothing of that,” he said. “I want to be able to enter government, to debate about these issues and allow policies to be passed to protect Singaporeans. This is all I want.”
As of Wednesday afternoon 1pm, he had garnered 592 votes, with 79.56 per cent (471 votes) agreeing that he should run.
Mr Ngerng has previously met with Reform Party secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam. He also announced on Facebook and Twitter that he will be joining the Opposition party on a walkabout at Telok Blangah on Wednesday evening.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
Guan Chee HK Roasted Duck has come a long way since moving its stall from Chinatown, where it first set up business in 1980, to Hougang Ave 1 in 1983.
An established name in Singapore, owners Terence Chi, 58, and his wife Conica Lee, 45, now have five Food Republic outlets – after their first at Food Republic Suntec City in 2007 proved to be a good way to make their dishes more readily available to the public. It also helped that it was possible to prepare their traditional charcoal grilled meats on-site as opposed to a central kitchen, he added.
But their most recent food stall at the Food Republic’s latest location at Manulife Centre, which opened for business last week, marks another milestone in their successful run. Called Sumber Ayam Chicken Rice, it is their first Malay food stall in Singapore. (The couple have a standalone eatery in Subang, Malaysia, serving Malay classics such as nasi padang and ayam penyet that was launched early this year.)
Lee added: “We (also) chose to open at Manulife Centre as we know that our dishes will be popular among the crowd in the area — mainly university students and young working adults.”
But a love for Malay cuisine is not the only reason behind their decision to venture into the halal food business. The couple said they have noticed a general dearth of halal-certified stalls at food courts – and those present often proffer similar dishes. They wanted to “change this trend” by offering more options.
“There’s always room for more halal-certified foods; we keep hearing people asking for (roast meats) but because these are not halal-certified, they’re limited in their choices. We feel that more can be done to make previously non-halal (style of cooking) accessible to the Malay community.
“There is a wide range of Chinese food that will be of interest to them, which will also suit their palates,” he continued, adding how they have “many Malay friends who are always asking us to set up a halal food stall”.
The name of the stall reflects their current menu of mainly chicken dishes; Chicken rice, chicken hor fun, chicken dumpling noodles, curry chicken noodles, ayam penyet, wanton noodles (with chicken char siew as opposed to the familiar pork) and even chicken innards. The recipes are their own. For now, the kitchen at Sumber Ayam Chicken Rice is helmed by an experienced and well-versed Chinese chef “who will be working with Malay Muslim assistants in preparing all the dishes”.
But how confident are they that this will take off? “As far we know, there aren’t any similar (roast meats stalls) offering halal-certified options. Even so, we are confident that our dishes should stand out taste-wise, as our cooks have mastered and perfected our offerings,” Lee said, explaining how they also hope to improve their dishes based on customer feedback.
“We are currently in the process of hiring another Malay chef who will helm the kitchen together with the current chef,” she added. “Once we have our Malay chef, we will explore and create new Malay dishes, or even Chinese-Malay fusion dishes, as future offerings.”
“For the authenticity of our dishes, we sent our cooks to our Malaysia outlet to develop and sharpen their skills and techniques,” said Chi. “We wanted our cooks to learn more about preparing halal food, as well as how to refine the dishes in order to better suit the taste buds of the Malay community.
“Basically, the dishes at Sumber Ayam will be prepared in the same tried-and-tested style as those in Guan Chee HK Roasted Duck, but using only halal ingredients.”
Although Chi said it is not difficult to replace these non-halal ingredients, the challenge lies in retaining the original flavour and quality of the food. “Like any other business, there will always be challenges in running a food stall,” he said. “For us, the main challenge lies in understanding halal processes. We have specially engaged consultants who are able to guide us in adopting best practices for preparing halal food.”
Source: www.todayonline.com