Billions of dollars is invested in Singapore annually so we can't be ranked so low on press freedom

Law Minister K. Shanmugam said rankings that place Singapore lowly on press freedom "struck him as quite absurd and divorced from reality".

"Our approach on press reporting is simple: The press can criticize us, our policies. We do not seek to condemn that.

But we demand the right of response, to be published in the journal that published the original article. We do not accept that they can decide whether to publish our response."

-- K. Shanmugam, Law Minister

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The thin line between education and propaganda

If the new immigrants are happy with a 30 minutes late bus, what's Singaporeans' problem?

It will be sad if people vented their frustrations on other new Singaporeans who are here to find a better life. As a politician, I can stand the heat. When you ask Singaporean residents for feedback, they will complain that they have to wait more than 15 minutes for the bus. But when you ask new immigrants, they are happy that the bus comes in under 30 minutes.

-- Charles Chong, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP

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PAP MP Charles Chong hides behind K. Shanmugam’s pants

It's not that civil servants are inflexible, but the people are more demanding

MP Mr Teo Ser Luck said he has gotten feedback that there are bureaucratic people in his two ministries.

"And with so many civil servants around, it is inevitable that there will be some people who are less flexible. Also, as society's standards get higher and education levels improve, the people will demand more of government departments."

-- Teo Ser Luck, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports

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Call on YPAP Teo Ser Luck and Zaqy Mohamad to apologize to netizens over the”Eric How” fiasco

Foolish to advocate the learning of dialects

To keep a language alive, it has to be used regularly. Using one language more frequently means less time for other languages. Hence, the more languages a person learns, the greater the difficulties of retaining them at a high level of fluency.

This is why we have discouraged the use of dialects. It interferes with the learning of Mandarin and English.

-- Chee Hong Tat, Principal Private Secretary to the Minister Mentor

Singaporeans should just send the elderly to nursing homes in JB

Singaporeans could consider living in nursing homes in neighbouring Johor Baru. It would be cheaper, yet be near enough to Singapore for family members to visit and for residents to return for medical care if necessary.

-- Khaw Boon Wan, Health Minister

Since you are not producing babies, no Saturday offs for you!

We should accept that as a people our procreation talent is not our forte - nothing to crow about. I urge the Government to take steps to determine whether our productivity and competitiveness have been affected by the five-day week and to review the policy, if necessary.

I have nothing against our young Singaporeans having fun and partying. But I hope they will work as hard as they play.

-- Loo Choon Yong, Nominated MP

The internet is not an effective self-regulated regime

Contrary to what some may feel, Mr Lui Tuck Yew has said the internet is not an effective self-regulated regime. Mr Lui added that the internet community had not done enough to rebut some of the unhelpful comments delivered by fellow netizens.

He said bloggers and website proprietors need to maintain credibility, while netizens should do more to establish and enforce the norms of acceptable online behaviour.

"It is a squandered opportunity for a higher degree of self-regulation. It would have been an example of the genesis of the first step towards a more responsible, a greater self-regulatory regime. But many of those responses were not rebutted nor answered. And I think it is not healthy for some of those to remain on the net unchallenged, unquestioned, and unanswered."

-- Lui Tuck Yew, Senior Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts

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Singapore media and Alexa rankings

The lesser mortals get envious when MPs brag about their luxury lives

Maybe it made lesser mortals envious and they thought maybe he was a little bit boastful...would people have taken offence if his wife (a senior investment counsellor at a bank) had paid for everything?

-- Charles Chong, Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP

More readings on Charles Chong
PAP MP Charles Chong hides behind K. Shanmugam’s pants

Cooking Up The Holiday Spirit with just S$45,000

"We found out that Le Cordon Bleu Paris runs intensive courses in culinary and patisserie from mid-November to December. These are the regular three-month classes they run but compressed into five weeks, with no loss in content.

To my surprise and theirs, I told them I would sign up for the course with them. (Taking five weeks’ leave from work is not as difficult as one thinks. Most times, when you are at the top, you think you are indispensable. But if you are a good leader who has built up a good team, it is possible to go away for five weeks or even longer.)

It would be quality family time for the three of us. My daughter Yanying, 23, would join us in Paris in our last week, since she could not take such long leave because she had just started working."

-- Tan Yong Soon, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Water Resources

The Intensive Cuisine Certificate Programme:
Basic: 7,750 euros (S$15,500)
Intermediate: 7,600 euros
Superior: 7,700 euros