[Defending the Lion City] Which Map of Singapore do you look at?

Worthwhile Endeavour, Meaningful Journey, Wonderful People

By YC Choy via FB, Sunday, January 24, 2016

SAF Sharing Session

23 Jan 2016

MAJ Choy Yong Cong

Good afternoon distinguished guests, fellow soldiers, parents, and students, 

First, let me express my gratitude for the privilege to share my experience here today. I’ve heard you are the best students in your cohort. It is rare that you have so much talent, ability, and drive congregated in one room. As I look at all of you, so young, so carefree, with the world at your feet, and the possibilities ahead of you, I wish I were 17 once again. For the parents, I congratulate you (in advance) to have raised such good children… and I’m sure they will remain good to you in the future. Indeed, I am humbled to be in all your company today.

I am humbled because my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. When I was around your age, I had bigger problems than thinking about what to do with my life. My father had left the family, kicking my mum and me out of the house, and leaving us without a home. My mum had to work day and night to make sure we had a place to stay, food on the table, and that I could focus on my studies. All she said was: 不管怎么样, 尽力就好。No matter what happens, always try your best. But I wasn’t always the best student around. I was often late for school, climbing over or under the gate to avoid getting caught. My only saving grace was that I took my mum’s advice – I worked really hard. 

Along the way, I met many kind-hearted people who paved the way for me to be here today. My teachers gave me so many second chances when they could have easily condemned me. Unlike you, I was never a top student or invited to scholarship tea sessions. But when I entered the Army, I met mentors who recognized my ability and potential, and pushed me for a scholarship. Indeed, one of them is here today – his name is Jin Kiat – and he has seen me mature in the past 12 years – hopefully for the better. As the story goes, I was offered the scholarship, I took it, and as they say, the rest is history.

WHAT IS THE SINGAPOREAN WAY OF LIFE?

I share this personal story because people often ask me – what are you defending? What are you protecting? And I say, it is the Singaporean way of life. But what is our way of life? Does it matter if we are the 14th state of Malaysia, the 35th province of Indonesia, or the 51st state of America? What is it? Yes, it is the food we love – the Chicken Rice, the Nasi Lemak, and the Murtabak. It is the places we love – our Marina Bay, our hipster cafes, our homes – the Bukit Timahs and the Ang Mo Kios. It is the people we love – our families, our friends, our girlfriends/boyfriends. But most importantly, I think it is because Singapore is a land of meritocracy, of opportunity, of compassion. It is where my mum could say, I may not be able to fulfil my dreams, but if I sacrifice enough, maybe my children can. It is where someone like me, from a poor background with no connections and no money, can still do well through ability and hard work. It is where you meet teachers, officers, and leaders with a heart of gold, who care for their people more than they care about themselves. This is our way of life – this is what we defend.

THE TWO MAPS OF SINGAPORE

If we believe in that, then the next question becomes, how do we defend Singapore? What do we have to do? A wise man once told me, when it comes to the matters of defence, which map of Singapore do you look at? Do you look at this map of Singapore – a beautiful, sunny island, a city in a garden?

Or this?

A map of Singapore as a little red dot, dependent on the outside world for our livelihood? In a neighbourhood that has always been a little bit unpredictable – now more so with ISIS and the threat of terrorism? And, further afield, where the politics between the big powers – US, China, Japan – are being played out? Which map of Singapore do we look at? 

I spent the last year in the United States Marine Corps, attending a course where representatives from many different countries were present. One fine day during the course, the Malaysian officer, the Indonesian officer, and myself were in the same room, ready to give a briefing to the Americans. When the American officers came in – and these people will eventually become top generals in the US military, or even top politicians – I thought they would come talk to me, because we speak the same language, we watch the same Hollywood films, and we are culturally more alike. But interestingly, many of them gravitated towards the Indonesian officer – even though he did not speak good English, nor did he have common topics to share with the Americans. They all know that Indonesia is a big country they have to partner with, but they do not know much about Singapore. Often, the first question they ask me is, why is it that you speak such good English? But over time, once I prove to the Americans that I was capable and reliable, I became the “trusted partner”. Eventually, I also emerged as one of the top students, which gave more credibility to the brand of Singapore. But the lesson here is an important one. It is the nature of international politics seen at close range – big countries do not have to do anything and others still have to take them seriously, yet small countries like us have to punch above our weight just to stay relevant. This is the unfair reality of our world. 

But even as we stay relevant, small countries like us cannot depend on others for our own defence. Another thing I learnt in the US was, in 1975, the Indonesians invaded East Timor. As you can see here, the Americans recommended a “policy of silence” because they have “considerable interests in Indonesia and none in Timor.” Effectively, the US gave the green light for the invasion. The stories illustrate two simple but essential points for Singapore: we must always strive hard to stay relevant, yet we must have the ability to defend ourselves, and never be reliant on the good faith of foreign powers. 

BRINGING EVERYONE TO THE FINISHING LINE

So what is it like to be a leader in the Army? A few years ago, I was a Commander of Bravo Company in 4th Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regiment. 4SIR for short. These were my soldiers, 120 young boys and citizens from all walks of life, coming together for two years, serving the nation and building lifelong bonds. This photo was taken at the end of our final evaluation exercise in the two years. It was after eight days, seven nights out in the field, going through all types of attack and defence missions, walking over a hundred kilometres, climbing many times the equivalent of Bukit Timah hill. It was a very difficult exercise. But along the way, none of these citizen soldiers gave up. In fact, in my whole Battalion of 500-odd soldiers, none of them gave up. “Sedikit-sedikit jadi bukit, boleh?” One step at a time, they understood why they were doing it, they wanted to do it well, and they gave it their best. And at the end of the exercise, before we took this photo, as my soldiers walked past me one by one, I gave each of them a pat. I told every single one of them that it was over, we have done it, and I was very proud of them. There were tears in our eyes. Partly because we were so tired, and so glad that it was all over. But also knowing we have achieved something together. 

4SIR Bravo Company - for our mission and men

It was then, it struck me. As a leader, achieving the mission is important. But that is not all. It is not about reaching the finishing line first. It is about bringing everyone to the finishing line. That is what a leader does.

LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND

Another story is about brotherhood. I had one soldier, let’s just call him Randy. Randy was a cheerful, playful, and motivated soldier – one of my best. But outside of camp, he mixed with the wrong company. One day, we were informed that he was caught for drug possession, and would be charged and put in the detention barracks. I will never forget the day the police came and put him in handcuffs, in front of my very eyes. But the bonds and brotherhood we make in the Army mean that if something happens to one, it matters to all of us. You leave no man behind. And we didn’t. I knew that Randy had a complicated relationship with his mother, and she was very upset that he did something wrong. But we knew that they love each other deeply. So we took the time and effort to talk to his mother and consoled her. To see both of them reconcile in the end was particularly heartening. 

At the same time, we continued to engage Randy throughout. We asked him why he did what he did, and tried to resolve the root causes. We updated him on the unit’s progress, what his platoon was up to, and gave him an image of the unit where he still belonged, so that he could look forward to being released. He kept asking about how the rest were doing, and said that he was disappointed he could not join the overseas exercise. And on the day of his release, a group of us, both his commanders and his buddies, we picked him up and asked him what he wanted to eat. He chose KFC. So we bought a whole bucket and ate together, like a family. We constantly reminded him not to fall wayward again. He returned to the unit, and did not get into trouble again.

As a leader, these are the bonds you build and experience. The promise that one soldier makes to another – that you leave no man behind, that you will be there for him, and that you will even fight and die for him. 

THE DOORWAY OF OPPORTUNITY

The last story is about making a difference. As a commander we hold these monthly parades, you know where the Sergeant Major walks around to inspect the uniforms and the drills. But we also took the opportunity to recognise the soldiers who have done well. So once a month my Company would have this “Soldier of the Month” award. It is pretty much D-I-Y: we designed the “certificate” on Photoshop, we would go to Popular to buy those certificate paper, add some simple citations, then print and laminate it. It was a very simple gesture. So once we gave it to this soldier, because he had done well in a previous exercise and showed a lot of vigour and commitment. But after the parade, he came up to us, and said, “Sir, thank you so much for this”, in a very sombre tone. And I said, “Why? Don’t worry, it is no big deal, you deserve it.” And his reply is forever seared in my mind. He said, “Sir, you don’t understand. This is the first time that anybody has recognised me for something I have done.”

He was right. We do not understand. You know, all of us in this room are very privileged. Along the way, we either had good families, good teachers, or did very well in a system that we could succeed in. In the Army, I have seen soldiers from all walks of life. Some of them are a lot less fortunate than all of us in this room. For us, we have a huge stack of certificates and we chuck them to one side. To some, it may mean everything. Many of you have your parents with you today, and they are here because they care about you and your future. For some of them, they don’t even have people who care about their lives.

In the Army, there is a chance to make a positive difference in their lives, to make them better men, better sons, better fathers. There is a chance to give them a close-knitted family they might never have before. There is a chance to make them feel good about themselves, and believe in what they can achieve, if they put their heart to it. As once said, when you’ve worked hard, and done well, and walked through that doorway of opportunity, you do not slam it shut behind you. You reach back, and you give others the same chances that helped you succeed. No matter what you end up doing in the future, I hope you will remember our responsibility to the larger society. 

A SENSE OF FULFILMENT 

I’ve spoken to many young people like yourself, and the question I always get is: how do you know if this is what you want to do at the age of 18? I do not have a precise answer, but let me say this. If you listen to the stories and you can feel a sense of purpose and excitement, or you feel your heart beating a little faster, or you feel a little bit touched, then give it some thought. While young, we all want to be successful. But I’ve learnt that success is not about how much money you make or how high the ladder you climb, but the difference you make in society and the people around you. The good officers here – kudos to all of them – will tell you about the benefits and privilege the scholarship brings. But I will also tell you that it is a hard life – you will be challenged mentally, physically, and emotionally. You will be asked to solve intractable issues of our time. In the field, you will be deprived of food, water, and sleep. You will spend time away from family, lead difficult soldiers, and feel helpless as you hear about the broken families and financial hardship of your less fortunate soldiers. But at the end of it all, the sense of fulfilment you get when you see people from all walks of life come together as a band of brothers, when they are united in a single purpose, when they come up to you and say that “Sir/Mdm, thank you for making a difference in my life” – that feeling is priceless. 

Defence is a serious business. “It is not a game of cards, it is your lives, and mine.” It is the umbrella in which all other beautiful things in society – our dreams, our aspirations, our love for others – can happen. But from my experience, in the pursuit of defence, beautiful things happen, too. So I urge you all to walk with us – in this worthwhile endeavour, in this meaningful journey, and with many, many wonderful people. 

Thank you very much.

By YC Choy via FB, Sunday, January 24, 2016

This is how the Workers Party define "Transparency" and "Accountability"

Mr (Peter) Low applied for ACRA’s PMP documents to not be released to the public, to which the court agreed to put in place an interim sealing order, subject to HDB’s submission to unseal the documents.

CNA, 22 Jan 2016

But what did Sylvia Lim say in Parliament in 2009? Are AHTC's actions an example of Public Accountability?

 

Workers Party: "Please disperse....Nothing to see here."

AHTC's lawyer has tried to hide distract persuade the public justify WP's illogical choices of accountants by saying there's "nothing suspicious about the selection process so far" and that this is all "water under the bridge"

wow.. this week has been a really sad bad suay unfortunate week for the Workers Party and its AHPETC accounts saga.

On 7 Jan'16, WP / AHTC told the court that Business Assurance is "amply qualified to perform the task and has good knowledge of the town council's financial management issues having carried out audits for the town council following the Auditor-General's report that highlighted lapses in its books. It said appointing Business Assurance would also be cost-effective and provide continuity and efficiency."

Then on 22 Jan'16, WP / AHTC told the court that Business Assurance had pulled out citing “intense media scrutiny”, calls from concerned clients and lead accountant Alex Chai’s reluctance to publicise a review by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA).

Better yet, did you realize that AHTC's lawyer Mr Peter Low had applied for ACRA’s PMP documents to not be released to the public?

Why is there a need to do this? Is this information such a big secret? Where's the transparency that WP keeps on harping on about?

In any case, the Courts gave AHTC until 22 Jan'16 to settle the appointment of an Accountant.

CJ Menon concluded his session saying: “If by (Friday) the matter has not been resolved by agreement, we will make a final decision on whether to receive the evidence of the ACRA representative as well as on the appointment of a suitable firm of accountants.”

Guess what happened on Friday (22 Jan'16)'s hearing. AHTC put forward their choice of Accountants as "Ardent Accounting" with Mr Kelvin Thio and Mr Terence Ng to undertake the work required.

Mr (Peter) Low said Mr Thio and Mr Ng were both chartered accountants, have forensic experience in accounting and litigation support, have acted as expert witnesses, are members of Chartered Certified Accountants and also have law degrees.

Sounds good right?

But then it turns out that Mr Thio and Mr Ng do not have licences to conduct regulatory audit. This is what AHTC's lawyer said:

“The licences of Mr Thio and Mr Ng are not for regulatory audit - they do not conduct audits and are not subject to PMP so that’s their position,” explained Mr Low. “My submission is this is up to HDB’s consent, if they don’t, it’s unreasonable.”

Why the heck on earth does AHTC want to appoint Accountants that DO NOT CONDUCT AUDITS ??  HOW IS THAT REASONABLE??

This whole sage is all about Accounts that cannot be verified; Transactions that cannot be validated or backed up with paperwork.  And then AHTC wants people who are not qualified with regulatory audit to do the work?!?

Common sense will tell you that this is a damn stupid move on AHTC's part. As HDB's lawyer Aurill Kam puts it:

Ms Kam also questioned AHTC’s desire to appoint “the most suited and qualified person for the job”, asking: “Why have we spent two weeks looking for nominees that appear not to have met standards? 

“This all shows a lack of proper process and due care in selecting accountants; a lack of judgment and if that is their approach then one has to ask what process did they follow even in putting up this third set of nominees,” 

Ms Kam continued. “They say the choice of accountants lies with them. But… we submit there is no assurance there were proper checks carried out in relation to the latest nomination of Ardent.”

I guess even the Judge must have had enough of this time-wasting nonsense from WP. This was what was concluded on 22 Jan'16 by the Court.

In his closing judgment, Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon noted that “the task to be undertaken by the accountants appointed should not be underestimated” and that “members of the team of the third nomination do not have licenses of public accountants”.

“HDB contends that they need more time to assess the team,” he said. “But this being a matter of public interest, and public funds should not be delayed further, and a process which has been without success cannot continue indefinitely... the concern should be to appoint an accountant who manifestly has the ability, experience and resources to complete the task.”

Concluded CJ Menon: “We direct the town council to appoint a team of qualified accountants from one of the ‘Big 4’ accounting firms – namely Pricewaterhousecoopers, Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young – within two weeks, in order to undertake the identified tasks.”

In closing, Mr Low applied for ACRA’s PMP documents to not be released to the public, to which the court agreed to put in place an interim sealing order, subject to HDB’s submission to unseal the documents.

Questions that needs answering

• Why does AHTC's Lawyer wants to prevent the ACRA's PMP documents from being released to the public?

• Why does AHTC insists on using relatively unknown and unsuitably qualified Accountants such as their latest choice of Ardent Accounting instead of the Big Four to audit its accounts?

• Why does AHTC keep avoiding using one of the Big Four when HDC has already offered to bear any additional cost of appointing one of the Big Four?

• Why did AHTC's original choice Business Assurance not only withdrew from this new audit task but also ended all engagements with WP, and gave their reasons as "in part due to "intense media scrutiny" and calls from concerned clients as well as Mr Alex Chai - lead accountant at Business Assurance - receiving “a certain rating” by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and not wanting “to make it public”.

• Why did  MRI Moores Rowland, appointed on 11 Jan'16, chose to withdraw at such late notice on 19 Jan'16 on the eve of the Court session on 20 Jan'16 WITHOUT providing any explanation in such a high profile case?

Notes:

The Practice Monitoring Programme (PMP) review is a regulatory instrument used by the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (Acra) to ensure that certain qualities and standards are met by auditors.

References:

• CNA (7 Jan'16): HDB raises concerns about AHTC's choice of accountant

• CNA (20 Jan'16): WP's choices of accountants for AHTC withdraw from consideration

• CNA  (22 Jan'16): WP, HDB back in court for ‘final decision’ on AHTC accountants

• CNA: (22 Jan'16): Court orders AHTC to appoint 'Big 4' accounting firm

Have you ever wondered about our little Red Book?

Some of you may remember a time when our Passport Number was the same as our NRIC number - which made filling out those awfully small immigration cards so much less painful.

Have you ever wondered why that practice was discontinued, and all of our Passports now have a unique number?

Well, I never thought too much about it until I read this article.

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The story of a passport redesign to make Singapore safer

Ron Noble, 20 Jan 2016, via Straits Times

The writer was secretary-general of Interpol, the network of police forces from 190 countries, from 2000 to 2014


Just last week, news channel CNN published a story titled Why Singapore Has The Smartest Kids In The World, in which one expert succinctly described the cause of Singapore's economic success, saying: "They did it largely with education and training."

In the wake of the Paris-like terrorist attacks in neighbouring Jakarta, Indonesia, last week, and the arrest last Friday of a terror suspect in Malaysia who was planning a suicide bomb attack in Kuala Lumpur, I would add that it is not just in the economic realm where Singapore's dedication to education yields results, but also in the realm of security.

I speak from my experience as secretary-general of Interpol from 2000 to 2014, where I witnessed first-hand how Singapore emphasised education in the realm of security, devoting substantial resources to educating and training its intelligence, police, immigration and other law-enforcement officers.

As a result, Singapore has the well-earned reputation of being one of the safest places in the world.

In 2006, I was invited by the country's Ministry of Home Affairs to address the Home Team at a gathering of almost 1,000 law- enforcement officers.

I used this occasion to describe how, in 2003, Milorad Ulemek used a stolen Croatian passport to cross borders to plan, prepare and perpetrate the assassination of then Serbian President Zoran Djindjic. The assassin Ulemek's stolen passport received law enforcement's official stamp of approval at 26 European border crossings - and once, at the border crossing, to enter Singapore.

I recall the surprise and shock expressed by the Singapore media, who asked how it was possible for Singapore to have left such a gaping hole in its security. My revelation even made front-page news in The Straits Times the next day.

Fortunately, for Singapore's law-enforcement agencies, they could say that, back in 2003, the international database of stolen or fake passports that would have exposed Ulemek's passport as stolen, did not exist.

However, I also announced that since then, Interpol had created the world's only database of stolen and lost passports, and Switzerland had already proven that it could be implemented efficiently by any country that is willing to do so.

Singapore analysed the issue, and discovered that doing so would be expensive, complicated and time consuming. Why?

Singaporean identification documents were conceived with efficiency in mind, not security, with the same unchanging national identification number of each person used for many different identity documents. As a result, a Singaporean who reported his passport stolen and got a replacement passport issued risked being detained or arrested when travelling abroad because the new passport number and the stolen passport number were the same.

Singapore could have responded to media inquiries by stating that my proposal was not practical for Singapore to implement, as it would put Singaporeans at risk of being falsely detained or arrested.

However, Singapore could boast of not just some of the smartest, best educated kids in the world, but also some of the smartest, best educated law-enforcement officers, civil servants and technology experts in the world. 

Together, they redesigned Singapore's entire system for the issuance of identity documents, creating an entirely new ID document numbering system that would prevent Singaporeans from being falsely detained or arrested if their own passports were stolen, and that would allow Singapore to follow Switzerland's lead.

Singapore educated and trained its police and immigration officers on how best to use Interpol's databases and technology to detect stolen passports and yet avoid long queues at entry checkpoints.

It then began to systematically screen the passports of all those crossing its borders, preventing those with stolen passports from entering.

As a result, Singapore now ranks No. 3 in the world, in terms of passport screening, after only the United States and Britain - countries with populations 12 to 60 times larger than Singapore's.

Unfortunately, today, fewer than 15 of the world's almost 200 countries systematically screen the passports of those crossing their borders against global databases like Singapore does, thereby placing far too many people at risk of falling victim to terrorists and other dangerous persons who use stolen passports to cross borders.

It is too soon to know today whether Jakarta's terrorist attacks were facilitated by the use of stolen or fake passports, as was the case with the recent attacks in Paris and Bangkok. We do know, though, that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria provides stolen and fake passports to its members.

Last month, Turkey arrested criminals possessing almost 150 authentic stolen European passports. Just last week, a passenger used a fake passport to board a British Airways flight to London, and was caught only because staff noticed her unusually nervous behaviour. Tellingly, fake passports are openly advertised on the Internet, accessible via a simple Google search.

In November last year, after the Paris terror attacks, the European Union's Justice and Home Affairs ministers made a common decision that, by March this year, passport screening against Interpol's stolen passport database would be implemented at all of the EU's external borders.

Singapore made this same decision, not because of a terrorist attack on its soil, but because its law-enforcement officers studied the experiences of other countries, learnt the lessons, and applied them to the real-world threat.

I am, therefore, confident that as Singapore celebrates the success of its children in school, its law- enforcement officers will be studying what happened in Jakarta, and the other examples of terrorist attacks around the world, to see what lessons can be learnt.

Their commitment to keep educating themselves and keep learning, in order to better protect their citizens, economy and guests, is never-ending.

The more countries that follow Singapore's example, the safer we all will be from the threat of terrorists and dangerous criminals.


Article source:
http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/the-story-of-a-passport-redesign-to-make-singapore-safer?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#xtor=CS1-10


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And while we are on the topic of security and passports, here's a great little article by Sunrise Odyssey about the 7 reasons why it’s so awesome to travel as a Singaporean

1. We get to travel to almost anywhere in the world with our powerful passport
Due to our good relationship with many countries, our Singapore’s passport (ranked 6th in the world) allows us to travel to 167 countries without applying for a visa. 

Some of these countries include exotic destinations like Kyrgyzstan, Zimbawe, Tanzania, Iceland, Morocco, Fiji and many more! For most of the other countries where a visa is needed, our Singapore passport allows us to obtain it at a lower fee as compared to other nationalities. For example when applying for a visa to Iran, we only needed to pay 50€ (inclusive of administration fees) as compared to the exorbitant fee of 150€ for citizens of China.

Read the rest here: http://sunriseodyssey.com/awesome-travel-singaporean

Chee Soon Juan & SDP attempt to mislead with out-of-context quotes

So Chee Soon Juan must be running out of material these days for him to have to resort to the lousy tricks employed by the usual opposition mouthpieces like STR.

In a FB post, Chee says " Don't they discuss these things during cabinet meetings before speaking in public?"

Well, the question I would like to pose to Chee is , "Do you even know the context of each of the Mininsters' statements?"

Afterall, as a "Dr" and as a leader of a political party who aspires to lead Singapore, Chee must know that selectively quoting words can be easily mangle its meaning and make the original statement have another meaning that is totally out of context.

Minister Khaw's statement, as quoted by Chee, was made in the context of how Singaporeans can still be successful, even without having a degree. (See full ST Report here) . Khaw was speaking to an audience in Singapore.

"Singaporeans do not need to be university graduates to be successful,"  said National Development Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday. 

What is more important is that they get good jobs after leaving school, Mr Khaw told some 160 students and young adults in an Our Singapore Conversation dialogue. 

"If they cannot find jobs, what is the point? You own a degree, but so what? That you can't eat it. If that cannot give you a good life, a good job, it is meaningless," he added. 

Mr Khaw was responding to a participant who said the Government should set aside more university places for Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and polytechnic graduates. 

Said Mr Khaw: "Can you have a whole country where 100 per cent are graduates? I am not so sure. What you do not want is to create huge graduate unemployment."

Then Chee's post very mischievously and misleadingly quotes from Vivian Balakrishnan who made the following remarks in Jakarta, Indonesia. (See full CNA report here)

JAKARTA: Singapore and Indonesia have expressed interest to enhance cooperation in areas such as manpower development, and this includes a scheme to help companies from Singapore recruit talent in Indonesia. 

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Singapore's Foreign Minister, said this during a meeting in Jakarta with his counterpart Ms Retno Marsudi.

"We believe Indonesian universities and technical institutes will produce many graduates with digital skills and we are thinking of launching a scheme, in which Singapore companies - which are looking for talent - will be able to recruit talent here, deploy them here, and provide services for the rest of the world," he said.

Min. Balakrishnan's words were made in Jakarta. The "here" that Minister was referring to, is in fact in Indonesia. He was simply saying that Singapore companies who wished to set up business in Indonesia, could find qualified graduates and deploy them in INDONESIA.  Who said anything about deploying them to Singapore?

So Chee tries to be devious and makes use of the seemingly discordant statements from the two ministers and implies that the Govt is going to bring over Indonesian graduates to Singapore and employ them in Singapore.

See what I mean when I say Chee seems to be running out of material? 

Such devious tactics of selectively quoting without giving a context to the words were are the domain of Hate & Lie-generating sites like ASS, STR and the former TRS.

But then again, that's nothing new coming from Chee. He already has a long history of lying and misquoting out of context to mislead his supporters.

After all, if Chee can justify that he is still on a hunger strike while drinking glucose water, then anything is possible.

References:

CNA: Singapore, Indonesia express interest in manpower development cooperation
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/singapore-indonesia/2419520.html

ST: University degree 'not vital for success': Khaw Boon Wan
http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/university-degree-not-vital-for-success-khaw-boon-wan

WP - Such hypocrites

Image: Singapore Matters

By Singapore Matters

Have the lawyers in Workers' Party failed Ms Lee Li Lian? Did lawyer Sylvia Lim not try to persuade Ms Lee Li Lian to take up the appointment as elected NCMP?

Whatever happened to having not enough good women - mothers, daughters, wives, equal citizens - in politics?

One of the reasons Ms Lee gave for not taking up the NCMP appointment is that she wanted more time with her family.

Now there is really nothing wrong in wanting to spend more time with one's family. But if that is the driving reason, then why did Ms Lee bother to stand for election in the first place?

After all, the commitment of an MP is much higher than that of a NCMP.

In addition to attending Parliament, an MP also has to conduct MPS and take care of her residents and estate.

As an NCMP, Ms Lee has no constituency to look after and no need to meet residents.

Does it mean that if she had been elected as MP, she would be willing to sacrifice family time for residents?

So what makes the difference between being an MP and a NCMP?

She also said that unlike an MP it is not possible to be a full-time NCMP.

Does it even make sense to speak of a full-time NCMP?

The duties of a NCMP is like that of a NMP. The only difference between them is that one enters parliament through being one of 3 biggest losers in the election while the other is nominated.

We don't speak of full-time NMPs, do we? So what is a full-time NCMP?

She also said, "It will not be fair to my future employer to take leave from work every month." If that is a valid reason, is she expecting Daniel Goh to be unfair to his employer by preferring him to be the NCMP?

Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Grace Fu said on Monday (18 Jan) that Ms Lee Li Lian’s decision not to take up a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat should not be taken lightly.

She was referring to Ms Lee's absence at the opening of Parliament.

Said Ms Fu: “Like many of her constituents, I learnt first from the media and later from her absence from the opening of Parliament that she is not intending to assume the NCMP seat, despite having campaigned hard to persuade voters to elect her to a seat in Parliament.”

About 15,800 voters in Punggol East had cast their ballots for her.

“Taking up the NCMP seat would have enabled her to participate fully in parliamentary debates, raise motions, and ask questions in Parliament,” said Ms Fu.

She added that in the event that Ms Lee is indeed declining the role and WP would like to propose an alternative candidate, they have to put it to Parliament for a decision by “moving a Motion at a sitting of this Parliament”.


TODAY - Li Lian’s rejection of NCMP seat ‘not to be taken lightly’
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Is it a case of personal pride for LLL that she NOT take up the NCMP seat since she had lost the election?

Perhaps LLL felt that the title of "Member of Parliament (MP)" is much more superior to "Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP)"

If LLL's intention was to speak up and represent the voters who support her, then does it really matter if she is a MP or NCMP?

After all, both roles entitle her to participate in parliamentary debates.

WP - Broken promises - broken party.

Alex Tan / STR / ASS twists NUS Economist's words

The amazing liar Alex Tan Zhixiang has yet again done what he is best at: twisting other people's words out of context.

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From Fabrications About The PAP: 

Joe Augustine interviewed Prof Chia Ngee Choon on the misrepresentation of her lecture on CPF by StatesTimesReview & A.S.S. :

Something didn't smell right about this extensively shared article, so I tracked down the economist referred to in this article - to clarify if this was indeed what has been opined. And guess what? As far as she's concerned it is a complete misrepresentation - not only taken out of context, but placed into a new wholly made-up context.

In response, she wrote, "Just want to place on record that I did not slam, lash out and criticise as the article suggested". In fact, the gist of her presentation is completely the OPPOSITE of what is portrayed here. (The word "SLAM" was used in another headline to promote this story on the A.S.S. and their FB page - which was quoting this article).

This is what she DID say. "Young entrant workers they can look forward to achieving an income replacement rate (an indicator of retirement adequacy) that is comparable to OECD countries as long as they work consistently and made prudent choice on housing purchase ie buying a home within their means."

Also, she said that she "highlighted that the CPF has tried to enhance adequacy of older workers by increasing contribution rates for workers age 50 and above and giving higher return - 6 percent for the first 30k of CPF monies for those age 55 and above."

"Then I presented a simulation study on the viability and fiscal sustainability of giving basic pension support to the bottom 20 to 30 percent of the elderly, subject to means testing. The results show that having a robust economic growth is key to sustain such a system."

I don't know if you find it necessary to share THIS post with your friends - but I DO hope more people will take a moment before they become inadvertent propagators of untruths.