Now they suddenly realised there are shady real estate agents in Singapore!

"Since this is the first time we are regulating in a formal way, I would expect a lot of pent-up demand for such an avenue for them to vent their complaints ... I would expect this to taper off over time."

- National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who was not surprised by the deluge of complaints on real estate agents. Within five weeks of operations, the nCouncil for Estate Agencies (CEA) launched to regulate the real estate industry has already received about 150 complaints.

The question then is, what took them so long to set up the regulator?

Nevermind the rest of the world, we'll still get 2.5 months of bonus for doing nothing!

Labour Chief Lim Swee Say said he would not be pushing for every company to match the two—and—a—half months year—end bonus for civil servants. He explained performances across different industries would be different.

Well, of course. Just listen to what Lim Der Shing, CEO of JobsCentral.com.sg was saying.

"There are still many economic trouble-spots around the world and there's always a danger of pullback for Singapore. Even in Singapore, not all sectors have rebounded evenly, and I suspect some SMEs and industries may have difficulty giving good bonuses even this year."

And apparently it must have sounded perfectly logical and seemed totally fair for these buggers to receive 2.5 months of bonus for doing nothing. Oh wait. I must apologise for not being fair there. To be fair, we should pay them for the effort in screwing up YOG and keeping the flood water in Orchard.

If Singapore is attacked by terrorists, you know who to blame

"Singapore boasts one of the lowest drug abuse rates in the world, and its streets are 'now safer than they ever have been'.

And despite its status as a 'prized trophy target for terrorists', Singapore has yet to be hit by such an attack."

-- Law Minister K. Shanmugam


We can understand it is human to carry your predecessor's balls when he hand over the burning torch to you, especially when he has done quite a job in keeping the fire burning.

But saying publicly that Singapore is a 'prized trophy target for terrorists' that is yet to be hit by any attack is like announcing in a hacker forum that your company's security system is unbreakable.

Only at 75% best? He must be talking about statboards

“There are not that many people in Singapore who really want to be extremely good at what they are doing.

We are always in danger in Singapore of mistaking excellence for competence. Most people in Singapore are happy to be competent, above average than exceptional,” he added.

I half suspect that once we get to 75 per cent of that level — which is quite good — you think that’s good enough, you’re already better than the rest in Singapore.”

-- Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Finance Minister


Our minister must be looking at his department when he made this comment, as we all know how statboard workers will make 100% effort to taichi their jobs to the guy next table/door/department so that they only have to do 75% of their work.

Someone please take this minister to a field visit to the nearest factory/MNC office/SME office to have a feel of what it's like to be working at 110% effort. Can Mr PM please sign the approval slip for him to go out of the office?

The only thing we want to hear about the YOG are positive comments

"Even the newspaper report, I didn't even know about it until I read about it in the papers. It shows that I almost didn't care. I had more important things to do, I had good feedback and good suggestions from so many people, and I focused on that. I didn't lose sleep about that."
-- Vivian Balakrishnan, a Minister

"More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them."
-- Harold J. Smith, a Canadian Mohawk Indian actor

Oh how highly we have positioned ourselves in the name of YOG!

"I think this is not a trifling amount. But it is an amount that will give us value for money in terms of positioning ourselves, in terms of marketing ourselves, in terms of making sure we are on everyone’s radar screen the next time they make an investment decision."
-- Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan


So let's see where are we positioning ourselves and find our spot on the world's radar screen...

• YOG food poisoning - 21 volunteers, 16 from East Coast Park and five from the Singapore Indoor Stadium, were hit by food poisoning after consuming their meals while on duty.


• Food fit-for-maids for YOG volunteers - Change in caterer for meals provided to Youth Olympic Games (YOG) volunteers after a volunteer took a picture of the meal he was served and posted it on his Facebook page, igniting a furore. The meal, served in a plastic box, comprised a mound of rice, a meat fillet and six pieces of long bean.


• Half-empty YOG venues with tickets sold out - Organisers were forced to correct a ticketing problem that has seen scores of empty seats at the Games although tickets have been sold out.


• YOG blackout - A circuit trip at the Toa Payoh Swimming Complex during an evening saw the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) boys’ 10m platform finals delayed for close to 15 minutes. The incident happened while China’s Qiu Bo jumped off the platform in his fourth round dive. While those who were at the venue managed to catch his dive live, TV viewers at home could only see the floodlights going black in the background of their screens when Qiu made his dive.


• Dumb and Dumber YOG commentators - Over at the forum of reputed gymnast magazine “International Gymnast“, angry and bemused fans took turns to take pot shots at the two commentators for the gymnastics events. Even former national gymnast champion Mr Alex Liang had to let it out on her Facebook page.


• Adidas and Nike not allowed in YOG venues - MOE issued an advisory to schools that students going to watch the Games should not bring water bottles with the Nike or adidas logo, only to back off after much complaints from the Internet.


• Arrested for hating YOG - 27 year old project executive Mr Abdul Malik Mohammed Ghazali was arrested by the police for his criticisms of the PAP minister in charge of the YOG Dr Vivian Balakrishnan on the “I hate YOG” Facebook. He had written that it was time to “burn the sports minister and the PAP” and to “rally together and vote them out”.

So Mr Minister, are we in the correct position now?

The people were never blaming the athletes and volunteers

"I wish the cynics would just focus their negative energy on me, and let the athletes and volunteers have the time of their lives."
-- Community Development, Youth and Sports Minister Vivian Balakrishnan

Hang on.

Mr Minister, let's just step aback and take a look at what the people have been unhappy about...

• How the government now expects to spend S$387 million on the inaugural Youth Olympic Games (YOG) - a three-fold increase from initial estimate of S$122 million in 2008, when the republic won the bid to host the Games.


• How the volunteers were fed sub-standard food, and worse, even escalated to food poisoning.


• How school children are warned not to bring any branded water bottle to the venues, particularly from Nike and Adidas.


• Ho the parents of Daryl Tan, Singapore's first YOG medalist, missed his parents at the match because they could not get any ticket, when the venue turned up half-empty because many of the empty seats were tickets that were allocated to schools.


• How the government suggested and insulted Singaporeans that they are not gracious enough to give way to YOG vehicles, and thus a fine has to be in place.

Seriously, the list could go on, and none of the criticism was ever vaguely related to the athletes and volunteers.

No sir, it is the authority that the people are unhappy with. Not the athletes and volunteers.

The YOG venue may be half-empty, but sorry, tickets sold out!

When asked about the situation of the embarrassing YOG ticket sales, this is what Senior Parliamentary Secretary for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Teo Ser Luck had to say...

"I wouldn’t say we are disappointed, I think we are quite happy with the ticket sales so far but I also hope more Singaporeans will also support the games and Team Singapore."

But when Singaporeans decided to be supportive, all tickets to the half-empty venues are sold out.

'Toughest fight of my life'
Daryl is Singapore's bronze-medal hero
Source: Todayonline.com

SINGAPORE - Daryl Tan thrilled a nation when he secured Singapore's first medal yesterday in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.

The taekwondo exponent reached the semi-finals of the 55kg division and was guaranteed a medal, with no play-off for third place.

His bout in the last four against Iran's world junior champion Kaveh Rezaei was watched by many VIPs, among them Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan.

But not his mum and dad, Amy Yeoh and Raymond Tan, who were unable to get tickets.

It was a shame, especially when Hall 401 at the International Convention Centre at Suntec City, which holds a capacity of 840, was half-empty when Daryl took on the Iranian star. According to a source close to the event, many of the empty seats were tickets that were allocated to schools.

The schoolchildren missed out on a special occasion for Singapore.

If this is not a number game, I don't know what is.

We must robustly defend the integrity of our institutions of justice and law enforcement. Start by finding it.

"We must robustly defend the integrity of our institutions of justice and law enforcement when anyone maliciously attacks and undermines the public confidence and trust which have been earned over the years."

-- Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng


And that is with the assumption that the integrity of our institutions of justice and law enforcement is indeed sound and effective. But is it? Let's check...

Former MOM officer jailed six months for corruption
Source: TodayOnline.com

SINGAPORE - A former senior investigation officer with the Ministry of Manpower was sentenced to six months' jail yesterday for corruption.

Gordon Tan Hock Lye, 34, who pleaded guilty, was also ordered to pay a penalty of $1,000.

In January 2006, Tan told a female Chinese national who had been caught by the police for working at a massage parlour that he could help close the case for $3,000.

On Jan 23, 2006, he contacted Ms Wu Huixia and arranged to meet her at a coffee shop along Joo Chiat Road for the money.

Ms Wu said she only had $1,000. When the two met at the coffeeshop, Ms Wu passed Tan the cash. He kept the money and was arrested by Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) officers soon after.

Unknown to Tan, Ms Wu had approached the CPIB the previous day to lodge a complaint.

Yesterday, District Judge Jill Tan asked the prosecution why there was a delay in bringing the case to court.

The prosecution said investigations were ongoing all the time and cited Justice V K Rajah's comments that the CPIB had taken four to five years to complete investigations in an appeal case that was heard before him in June.

DJ Tan said later in her judgement: "Given that you (Tan) were caught red-handed, I'm unable to see why this case has taken so long to come to the court."

Tan had previously been charged with computer misuse for allegedly helping two Chinese masseuses modify the renewal of their special passes in 2005.

The court agreed to the prosecution's application for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for the two charges. It was not explained why this was agreed upon.

A former MOM senior investigation officer told a female Chinese national who had been caught by the police for working at a massage parlour that he could help close the case for $3,000. Enough said about his integrity as a member of our institutions of justice and law enforcement.

But hang on... the offense was committed in January 2006, yet the CPIB had taken four to five years to complete investigations on a man that is caught red-handed. That illustrates the efficiency of our institutions of justice and law enforcement. They certainly need to get better and betterer.

And here's the best part. This former MOM senior investigation officer is not new to breaking the law. He had previously been charged with computer misuse for allegedly helping two Chinese masseuses modify the renewal of their special passes in 2005. One may really wonder, how did someone with such record stayed on as a senior investigation officer?

Letting 100,000 extra foreigners conquering Singapore is a good sign

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that more than 100,000 extra foreigners are set to enter the workforce this year.

Commenting on this, labour chief Lim Swee Say said: 'It's a good sign, because it shows that at a time when many countries are having a shortage of jobs, we are having a shortage of workers.'


Regardless how many locals are going to lose their job opportunities to the cheaper foreigners.

Regardless how much the cheap labor is going to drive the country's average wage further down.

Regardless how much more overcrowded the public transport is going to get.

Regardless how much more difficult it is going to be for the locals to get housing, or even places in schools for their children.

So how is this a good sign? I suppose Mr Lim is clueless.

Do you want cleaners going into your household to do the cleaning?

"When we have a littering problem and we have a cleanliness problem, the conservancy costs will go up because the workers will have to come in more regularly.

That would increase the cost because from a normal cleaning situation where you just clean the common corridors and the lift lobbies, now you have to go into the individual households to try and clean it.

This is unnecessary for the residents because the higher the cost, it will be transferred to the residents. We do not want that to happen.

We want them to try and minimise the need for them to pay extra just because of irresponsible behaviour. At this point in time, we have not raised the conservancy charges at all because we have been able to manage, but I think we can continue to contain it even better if residents take responsibility.

The chances of increasing costs will be there if we do not contain this, because the idea is to look at the natural situation where previously you will not need workers to go into individual households."

-- Dr Maliki Osman, Parliamentary Secretary for National Development


Workers to go into individual households to clean? I have read the passage over and over again and still got no idea what he is trying to say. To stop high-rise littering, cleaners will go into the individual households to try and clean it? If high-rise littering were to continue, the rubbish will still end up at the foot of the blocks, which is already been cleaned by the cleaners. So where is this "going into individual households" coming from? My guess? Dr Osman has no idea what he is talking as well because most probably he don't stay in a HDB flat.

And is raising the service and conservancy charges the way to deter high-rise littering? Are we getting to the root of the problem? Is it fair to make the rest pay for the littering few? This is exactly why chewing gum is banned in Singapore. Because of the irresponsible minority.

All will benefit from distance-based fare system. Eventually.

"There would be a group who currently, the ones who are travelling single trips and shorter trips who are not benefiting, but we hope that if they review it say on a weekly travel pattern basis instead of looking at it on a per-trip basis ... look at it as a weekly travel pattern and sometimes also in terms of what is to come later on, more choices ... in due course, I am sure they will benefit as well."
-- Lim Hwee Hua, Second Minister for Transport and Finance


Apparently the public has mistaken the goodwill of the authorities again. Apparently they must benefit from the new distance-based fare system. As advised by Ms Lim, if not per trip, then daily, or weekly, or monthly, or even yearly. If they still don't see their savings in one year, they should look at it in a long term perspective, like 10 years. Somewhere down the years, they must benefit. That is how far ahead the transport authority has looked and planned.

Still not convinced? Then take and swallow the second reason from Ms Lim. They are paying ahead for what is to come later, like more choices of trains and buses. So they will benefit. Eventually. Really.

Singaporeans who don't support foreign-born athletes are small-minded, unfair and very very selfish

When asked about his views on the need to engage foreign talent in local sports, particularly that from China, Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan said: "I believe that the survival and prosperity of Singapore depend on our remaining an open society - a society able to attract and absorb and integrate talent of all shapes, sizes, races, languages, religions, countries. In other words, do not judge people simply on where they are born."

Dr Balakrishnan went on to refer to those who view Singapore's foreign-born athletes as 'less of a Singaporean, or less of a champion', as 'small-minded', 'unfair' and 'very, very selfish'.

"To deny them the right to call themselves Singaporean is very, very selfish. It's very unsportsmanlike... They have made great sacrifices to be here," he added.


How touching. Rather than investing on developing local sportsmen, Singapore has taken the short cut by buying sportsmen off the market. And sure these foreigners did make great sacrifices. Like sacrificing their little pay and no fame in their countries to come all the way here to make big bucks and be famous. And of course they will stay in Singapore and contribute to the country after they have achieved fame and money, right? Er... right?

Orchard Road flood is another freak event that occurs once in 50 years?

In November 2009, heavy rain submerged parts of Bukit Timah and Minister for the Environment & Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said it was a 'freak' event that occurs once in 50 years.

"What happened was very unusual. The intensity was tremendous.", he said.


Fast-forward to 2010, not 2059. In fact, less than one year later on 16 June 2010, Orchard Road becomes Orchard River.




Interestingly, even earlier in 1999, the Ministry of Environment said that for a flood to hit anywhere in Singapore, it takes a combination of high tides and about 100mm of rainfall within an hour. And Orchard Road is protected by its mighty rain drain - the Stamford Canal.

Why Orchard Road will never flood…

Less is the new more for Singapore Arts Festival

When closing the Singapore Arts Festival, Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew noting that there was a growing interest in the arts, even though fewer people are attending ticketed productions.

Attendance for this year's 29 ticketed productions had not matched last year's 'exceptional' numbers, but about the same amount of revenue was collected from this year's ticketed shows. Meaning, the fewer people who still have vast interest in arts are made to pay more.

So... more expensive tickets -> fewer attendees -> more successful?

Which means next year we should have even more expensive tickets for the Singapore Arts Festival so that we are even more successful?

Interesting elite logic.

Singaporeans should vote for PAP because they know which direction they want to take Singapore to?

“People should decide what kind of government they want for the next five years and not just base their votes on seasonal topics. We have a tried and tested short- and long-term plan, and know which direction we want to take Singapore to.”

-- Michael Palmer, Member of Parliament (MP) for Pasir Ris-Punggol


Let's look at the recent example of a mistake made in a tried and tested short-term plan:

After Education Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen spoke to Singaporeans nonchalantly that "high weighting given to mother tongue languages in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is now under review and could be reduced", the minister accidentally triggered public rage and a gathering of two thousands over people (including some big shots in the Chinese society) at the Speakers' Corner to sign a petition. Finally the Prime Minister had to come out to cover the mess he made and assure the people that what Dr Ng said was not true.

Finally, Dr Ng gave a typical half-hearted bureaucratic reply: "But I should have chosen my words more carefully and apologise for creating that wrong impression."


And not forgetting a rare example of a mistake made in a tried and tested long-term plan, by the honorable flawless MM Lee:

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said his insistence on bilingualism in the early days of education policy was “wrong” which caused many students to give up learning the Chinese language.

"We started the wrong way. We insisted on ting xie (listening), mo xie (dictation) – madness! We had teachers who were teaching in completely-Chinese schools. And they did not want to use any English to teach English-speaking children Chinese and that turned them off completely."


Coincidentally, both tried and tested short- and long-term mistakes impacted the education of our young. The future generation of Singaporeans.

Why should Singaporeans vote for the PAP again?

Sure you can pay the elderly cleaner $300 a month!

"We don't have a minimum wage for Singapore, whether local workers or migrant workers."

-- MOM permanent secretary Loh Khum Yean, when migrant welfare group Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) asked for a minimum wage for domestic workers.


And how poorly paid are low wage workers in Singapore? Find out the truth from the mouth of an ex-CEO of NTUC.

It is just novelty factor at play and the IRs are not turning Singaporeans into gamblers

It is reported that Singapore's two casino operators have collected about $70 million in entry levies as of May 10. While it may be apparent that many of the casinos' patrons so far seem to be Singaporeans, and that more Singaporeans are becoming gamblers, Mr Iswaran responded that the "novelty factor" was at play and may not accurately reflect the situation one or two years down the road.

"The agencies are monitoring the situation closely, and once we have a better sense of the patterns and trends, then I think we'll know how the measures (against problem gambling) we've put in place are working,"

-- Minister of State (Trade and Industry) S Iswaran


We should see.

But on the other hand, at least we know the casinos are not gonna lose money, like what some western press predicted, because hey, we've got enough Singaporean gamblers to support them!

Dummy is the new Layman

“If I was calling them idiots, I would have used ‘idiots'"

-- Philip Yeo Liat Kok, chairman of Spring Singapore and Special Advisor for Economic Development in the Prime Minister's office, who definitely has problem in the English language. He explained that in his remarks about people who buy applications for Apple products, he used the word “dummies” to mean “laymen, which is the major market” and not as an insult.

According to Dictionary.com:

Dummy –noun Informal . a stupid person; dolt.

Idiot –noun an utterly foolish or senseless person.

Apple applications are for dummies

"So there is where people buy 99 cents, 1 dollar, all kinds of useless applications but they like it. You know, you need gullible customers to make money... I always tell my daughter, try to make a product to sell to the dummies, because there are 99% dummies, maybe 1 or 2% genius."

-- Philip Yeo Liat Kok, chairman of Spring Singapore and Special Advisor for Economic Development in the Prime Minister's office, who obviously has problem in grammar and.. oh, counting.

No funding for you if you're criticising instead of praising the Government

"We will not fund projects which are incompatible with the core values promoted by the Government and society or disparage the Government."

-- NAC arts development director Elaine Ng,
when asked why local theatre company Wild Rice has had its annual grant from the National Arts Council cut by $20,000.

More raids with more prostitutes nabbed, but don't worry

Member of Parliament Christopher de Souza (Holland-Bukit Timah), who previously raised the issue in Parliament of the rising number of arrests of women soliciting, told MediaCorp that recent raids are more of a "deterrent" than anything else.

The cat-and-mouse game of vice crackdowns
Source: TodayOnline.com


... There have been no less than 10 raids on different days reported in Today and The Straits Times, in operations carried out between January and April by law enforcement agencies. These include landmark anti-vice operations online.

In contrast, there was just one raid reported on during the same period last year.

Even as the crackdowns have taken on a higher profile this year, the number of foreign women nabbed for vice has been climbing since 2006, when 4,310 were arrested. In 2008, the figure was 5,047 and last year, it was 7,614...

... Joo Chiat's Mr Chee believes "our social visit pass process is too liberal". "It was set out with the objective of driving up tourist numbers, but it has also served as an open though unintended invitation to women who ply the trade," he said.

During a recent raid at Orchard Towers, one woman who was not arrested told MediaCorp: "Yes, there are a lot of raids now, so we have to be careful. But a lot of girls still prefer to come to Singapore ... Places like Hong Kong turn us away at immigration."

Best quote of the year - "Why am I here?"

"Why Am I Here?"
-- President SR Nathan


If you run a company and your million dollars worker asks you "Why am I here?", and upon hearing that you didn't fire him... you must be a Saint.

But seriously, since last two President elections were walkovers with absolutely nobody else in the whole country who is more suitable for the position (as you see, talent is scare in Singapore, that's why we need to bring in more new immigrants), I believe quite a number of Singaporeans are eager for the answer too.

You must pay for the quality of the person you want

"Our attitude is: you must pay for the quality of the person you want, and pay for the responsibility of the job which you want the person to do.

And what can be more responsible than running a central bank or running an economy or running an education system, where you're not only dealing with billions of dollars but where you make a mistake, the livelihoods and the futures of millions of people will be at stake.

You want the best person and you want him to be properly motivated and focused on his job and not based on a revolving door."

-- The Prime Minister, when asked about the high salaries paid to top government officials in Singapore.

Not true that employers prefer foreigners over Singaporeans though the government is hiring big time in Taiwan

Investigations by a tripartite panel that looks at work discrimination issues found that the accusations that employers prefer to hire foreigners over Singaporeans were invariably unfounded.

"In the cases we have intercepted, employers say this is based on the qualifications of the person and not nationalities."

-- Madam Halimah Yacob, MP of Jurong GRC, also co-chairman of the Tripartite Alliance for Fair Employment Practices (Tafep)


It is not easy to keep a straight and innocent face and convince the locals that employers really prefer them over foreigners, when on the same day the Taiwan press decided to report that Singapore is employing big time in Taiwan and willing to pay thrice what the Taiwanese are getting to lure them over.

Will Singapore adopt new political attitude? Yes, our teachers lacked confidence

Responding to a student who asked if Singapore would adopt a new political attitude or stick to its Asian values stance, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said: 'We need to be more self-confident.'

He related how when he became education minister in 1997, he was surprised to find that teachers lacked confidence in themselves, even though they were doing a great job.

'Everybody was telling them that they were doing the wrong things,' he said. 'I said: How can this be? People are coming to learn from us, see how we teach, why we are successful. Yet our teachers don't have self-confidence.'

-- Teo Chee Hean, Deputy Prime Minister


What? You don't get him? Come on! You just have to use a bit of imagination and relate very indirectly his good old lim-peh-used-to-be story to the question! Don't be daft!

Don't develop irrational fears towards those who steal your job!

Singaporeans' concern over immigration issues is understandable but they must avoid developing irrational fears toward new immigrants, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Lim Hwee Hua said.

She said Singaporeans ought to prepare for, rather than resist, an increased willingness among people worldwide to travel and relocate.

-- Lim Hwee Hua, Second Minister for Transport


It is easy for her to say that when her job is not threatened by cheaper (and not necessary better) foreign professionals, her kids don't have to compete with other foreigners' kids just to get into schools, she doesn't have to try to out-bid the foreigners in HDB resale flats and she doesn't have to take the public transport with whole lot of other foreigners.

I think obsoleting long haul buses is a great idea, even though I don't take buses myself

"We will not introduce new cross-country services, because those are really legacies of the past. But we will review every (existing) one to see whether they need to be sustained."

Mrs Lim pointed out that as a bus journey gets longer, it becomes harder to accurately predict its arrival time. Small delays at each bus stop can snowball and lengthen the overall waiting time for passengers.

-- Lim Hwee Hua, Second Minister for Transport


This announcement came at the time when human congestion on MRT trains could not get worse. Interesting that Mrs Lim also pointed out that it is difficult to predict buses arrival time when the journey gets too long, though other countries have no such problem with their even longer haul cross-country services. One might wonder, when was the last time that she has taken public transport.

He might have hit on a 16-year-old, but let us support him because he is funny

Life is a long and often difficult journey, and what Jack and his family are going through is what he might have presented in his own movie, except that this time it is about himself.

We are used to having Jack make us laugh, bring cheer to our daily lives, explain our trials and make them easier to bear. Let us rally around Jack, his wife and his children at this time.

-- George Yeo, Foreign Minister

You're a jerk, Jack
Source: Straitstimes.com

Maelle Meurzec, now 21, told The New Paper in an interview at her Upper East Coast road home on Tuesday night, that the 50-year-old movie director hit on her while she was acting in his movie I Do I Do in Nov 2004. She was then 16.

At least 10 more women are reported to have been linked to Neo since his affair with 22-year-old Wendy Chong first broke last weekend when the freelance model showed up at his Pasir Ris semi-detached house last Friday, demanding to see his wife, Madam Irene Kng, 46.

More readings on George Yeo
George Yeo forced to apologize to molest victim for curt reply on Facebook after TR leaked the story

Make it compulsory for new immigrants to apply for the PAssion card

PERHAPS applying for the PAssion card, the People's Association's membership card, should be made compulsory for new arrivals. This could get more permanent residents and new citizens to participate in community activities

-- Dr Teo Ho Pin (Bukit Panjang)

More readings on Dr Teo Ho Ping
Dr Teo Ho Pin, where is our money?

Forget about Facebook, Blogger, Twitter and eBay, let's do WikiMe!

I propose the we create another map, which I call 'WikiMe', where the govt create the infrastructure (like Wireless@SG) and templates, while people upload their own content, offering info about themselves, exchange triumphs and tribulations, and even offering a hand for free or for a fee

-- Penny Low, MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC

More readings on Penny Low
Rubbish? Look who’s talking

Oops, we forgot there should not be foreigner in the militray in the first place

Mr Koo Tsai Kee claimed that SAF has been "practising productivity all this while” because “there are no foreign workers or foreign talent in the SAF, which is made up entirely of Singapore soldiers."

"The SAF, despite its manpower constraints, has been able to face up to a widening range of security threats in recent years under Defence Minister Teo….And I am not saying this because he’s my boss."

-- Koo Tsai Kee, Minister of State for Defence

More readings on Koo Tsai Kee
What are Singaporeans saying about Koo Tsai Kee on forums?

We are deaf to your criticism and please do our job instead of giving us problems

"All except one frog who did reach the top. And when asked afterwards why he ignored the crowd, the frog said: 'I'm deaf. I can't hear them.'

We never give up. We are like the little frog. We are deaf to all these criticisms. So instead of telling us that low-wage workers are having problems, why not be part of the solution?"

With this tale, labour chief Lim Swee Say responded to opposition MP Low Thia Khiang (Hougang), who repeated his criticism of a day earlier that low- wage workers continue to languish, and that the labour movement ought to do better and work harder.

More readings on Lim Swee Say
“Cheaper, better, faster” may just break the camel’s back

Two years of NS for Singaporeans, a short 30-day holiday camp for new immigrants

NS was a 'sore and critical milestone for many' and Mr Seah Kian Peng wondered if men who become new citizens should be called up for NSmen duties.

"This could be in the form of a short 30-day induction to Basic Military Training in the Singapore Armed Forces, he said.

We teach them to use rifles, fire weapons, basic physical fitness, or we put them into civil defence training where they could learn rescue techniques."

-- Seah Kian Peng (Marine Parade GRC)

Avoid falling sick on Mondays and Tuesdays

Avoid Mondays and Tuesdays if you want to get a bed fast in a public hospital.

The reason: These are the days when bed occupancy rates are at their highest, when the number of people needing beds exceeds that available.

However, the quality of care is not compromised while patients wait for their assigned wards.

-- Khaw Boon Wan, Health Minister

Please call them new Singaporeans, not the rude title of new immigrants!

"First, we need to make sure that they are called new Singaporeans rather than new migrants. They are not even new migrants - they are an old hand at migrating, and want a new life. They want to settle down and to make Singapore a new home"

-- Seah Kian Peng, Marine Parade GRC MP

With 20,000 migrants becoming new citizens each year, Mr Seah also suggested rewarding such parents with some form of baby bonus when they have a new Singapore baby.

We don't want to send wrong signal to our precious foreign investors and talents

Although the rise in the levy is graduated over three years, there is concern expressed by some business leaders that this may impede the ability of companies to leverage upon and capture the opportunities of the recovery, as their capacity will be impacted.

And if the increase is not calibrated, it may send the wrong signal to companies looking to invest in Singapore or to foreign talent that Singapore is not as open as it used to be.

-- Jessica Tan, East Coast GRC

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Can't afford HDB flats? You deserve it if you're poor

We don't want local workers who are old, we want young foreign workers

I know of one family who complain the cleaners in their precinct are lazy and too old. They don't want local workers who are old, they want young foreign workers. To satisfy the demand, i changed the local workers to foreign workers. Foreign workers are not a burden to us. Their presence here is not negative. Without foreign workers, things will be worse.

-- Ong Ah Heng (Nee Soon Central)

Nevermind about feeding the poor, start a food museum first

Singapore should consider setting up a food museum, as part of national effort to preserve its rich cultural heritage. Food is an important part of our rich cultural heritage - one which has been and will always been an attraction to locals and foreigners alike. The history of our food variety will highlight our links to the world.

-- Baey Yam Keng (Tanjong Pagar GRC)

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PAP now says hiding behind pseudonyms to post online is ok?