Josephine Teo: Sex and babies in the Lion City

You don't need much space to have sex: Josephine Teo on ‘no flat, no child’ belief
By Janice Tai, The Straits Times, 12 Oct 2016

You do not need much space to have sex.

That was the feisty rejoinder from Senior Minister of State Josephine Teo, who oversees the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD), to a question on whether young people are not getting their flats early enough to have children.

The suggestion was that this could be a chicken-and-egg problem. To qualify for the Parenthood Priority Scheme, which gives first- time married couples first dibs on getting a flat, they must be expecting or have a citizen child below 16.

But to have a child, some say they need to have a flat first.

With a straight face, Mrs Teo declared: "You need a very small space to have sex."



Known for her candid blog posts on dating and marriage, Mrs Teo does not mince her words - think "menstruation" and "cysts" - when it comes to urging young people to look for love and settle down early.

In an interview on marriage and parenthood issues last week, the mother of three teenage children tackled issues ranging from infertility to why the Government should not be "too kaypoh" (Hokkien for busybody).

She noted that the Singaporean love story has a different arc from that of countries in the West. "In our case, man meets woman, man falls in love with woman, man proposes to woman, they then plan the wedding and do the house," she said.

"In France, in the UK, in the Nordic countries, man meets woman, tonight they can make a baby already. They love each other. Both of them partly have their own family, so it is a matter of living in yours or living in mine, and they also don't have to worry about marriage - that comes later," she added.



So how about having a couple declare that they wish to have a child in two years and get the flat first?

"What if they can't conceive? Take back the flat from them? How do you know they really tried to conceive? Can we check whether they use contraceptives? Cannot, right?" she replied, amused.

Instead of having the Government poke its nose into the bedroom, Mrs Teo relied instead on persuasion. She urged women to have babies early as they would not know if they are fertile or not.

"You never really know that you're not fertile until you try. Unfortunately, it is one of those things. There is no fertility indicator. As a woman you will know, if you have regular menstruation, okay, (there is a) likelihood. But maybe you have a major cyst and how would you know until you attempt to conceive, only to realise that you can't?"

Government ready to act if Singapore goes into recession in 2016

Ministers also outline plans for job creation, help for workers to upskill, take on new jobs
By Olivia Ho, The Straits Times, 11 Oct 2016

Singapore is not expected to go into a recession, but should the economy turn negative, the Government stands ready to respond, Minister for Trade and Industry (Trade) Lim Hng Kiang told Parliament yesterday.

"Depending on the nature and severity of the downturn, the Government is prepared to consider introducing a range of contingency measures, which could include broad-based as well as sector-specific measures," he said, without giving details of specific steps.



The economy is expected to grow between 1 per cent and 2 per cent this year, but there is widespread concern on the ground over rising unemployment and a weak global economic outlook.

A total of 15 MPs had filed 16 questions about the weak economic indicators of recent months for yesterday's one-day sitting, and some asked what was being done to help workers and create new jobs amid challenging conditions.

Mr Lim pointed to some bright spots of growth in the economy, citing tourism, information and communications, education, health and social services.

Two other ministers, Minister for Trade and Industry (Industry) S. Iswaran and Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say, told the House that government agencies will help job seekers and workers pick up the right skills to take on new jobs that are being created in these and other growth sectors.

Mr Iswaran noted that the Economic Development Board expects investment commitments to create 20,000 to 22,000 jobs this year, compared with 16,800 last year and 18,600 in 2014, and ongoing efforts will help support the creation of sustainable jobs in both new and existing industries.

"Many of these jobs, and others in sectors like education and healthcare, are suitable not just for new entrants... but also for mature workers seeking a new career," he said.

Mr Lim Swee Say announced plans by his ministry to transform the National Jobs Bank that has helped local job seekers access more jobs. A new "online marketplace" will serve as a round-the- clock job fair, matching job seekers to openings. It will also help structure careers for the unemployed and workers in sunset industries.

The Manpower Ministry is also increasing the number of Professional Conversion Programmes, which help mid-career workers switch jobs, from 22 at the beginning of this year to more than 50 by year end.

Its minister urged businesses and workers to focus on productivity gains through innovation as "that is the most sustainable way for us to sustain our growth in the long term without becoming overly dependent on foreign manpower".

He also stressed the need to ensure that the current low growth of 1 per cent to 2 per cent is but a transition, not the new normal. "Our future norm should be 2 per cent to 3 per cent of quality growth."

Temasek Rice: Singapore rice seeds set for 'doomsday vault'

By Adrian Lim, The Straits Times, 11 Oct 2016

OSLO • Singapore will soon make its first deposit into the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, the world's largest secure seed storage facility.

The seeds of a Singapore-developed rice variety - called Temasek rice - will be deposited next Tuesday into the "doomsday vault", which currently contains the seeds of more than 4,000 plant species, including crops such as beans, wheat and rice.

Temasek rice is naturally bred to be hardy and is able to withstand extreme weather conditions such as floods and drought.

Seeds are stored in the facility to regenerate food supplies in the event of catastrophes such as natural disasters, and as a backup for other seed banks.



The vault is situated on Spitsbergen island in the remote Svalbard Archipelago, located halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, where geological stability and low humidity provide an ideal storage environment.

Yesterday, a seed deposit ceremony was held at the Natural History Museum's Botanical Garden in Oslo and was attended by Norway's Queen Sonja and Mrs Mary Tan, wife of President Tony Tan Keng Yam, who is in Norway on a state visit.

The contribution is part of an agreement between Singapore's Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory (TLL) and the Nordic Genetic Resource Centre.

TLL chief operating officer Peter Chia handed over the seeds of seven unique rice varieties to Norway's Minister of Agriculture and Food, Mr Jon Georg Dale.

Singapore rolls out high-level cyber security strategy

More funds to be set aside for defending critical systems from attacks; new Bill also in the works
By Irene Tham, Tech Editor, The Straits Times, 11 Oct 2016

The Government is taking decisive steps to tackle cyber threats - including almost doubling the proportion of its technology budget dedicated to plugging security gaps in critical infrastructure.

The matter, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday, is one of "national importance" as the country becomes more connected in its mission to become a smart nation.

At the opening of the inaugural Singapore International Cyber Week, he announced a high-level national strategy that includes strengthening international partnerships.

One key prong will be to direct more funds into defence against attacks. These have ranged from malware infection to the defacing of government websites.

About 8 per cent of the infocomm technology (ICT) budget will now be set aside for cyber security spending, up from about 5 per cent before. In fiscal 2014, Singapore spent $408.6 million on cyber security.

The new proportion is similar to what other countries spend; Israel stipulates that 8 per cent of its total government IT budget must go to cyber security, while South Korea channels as much as 10 per cent.



"We are investing more to strengthen government systems and networks, especially those that handle sensitive data, and protect them from cyber attacks," said Mr Lee.

"Singapore aspires to be a smart nation. But to be one, we must also be a safe nation," he told more than 3,000 public servants and technology professionals from 30 countries who were also attending the 25th GovernmentWare Conference.

Singapore's cyber security strategy is developed by the Cyber Security Agency (CSA).

Central to the strategy is the introduction of a new Cybersecurity Act in the middle of next year after public consultations, expected to be held after the draft legislation is tabled in Parliament next year.

Shorter wait for BTO flats on the horizon; Plan to mitigate 'lottery effect' of downtown flats: Lawrence Wong

Waiting time will be down to 2-3 years from 3-4 years now but not for all flats: Minister
By Yeo Sam Jo, The Straits Times, 10 Oct 2016

Young couples will soon be able to move into their new homes quicker, as the Government is looking to shorten the wait for public housing.

When implemented, the move will see the waiting period for Build-To-Order (BTO) flats dip to two to three years, from the current three to four years, said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong last week.

He was speaking to The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao in his first sit-down interview since taking over the portfolio a year ago.



Referring to young couples who are buying flats for the first time, Mr Wong said: "We would like to see how we can help them settle down and get their flat faster."

He noted that some couples who urgently need their own flat currently opt for provisional housing or balance flats not sold in previous launches. Such balance flats are closer to completion, but are subject to balloting as well. "The demand for moving in is always there, that's why balance flats are always more popular... People want to move in as soon as possible," he said.

The shorter wait will be achieved by bringing forward construction and building ahead of BTO launches. But this will not apply across the entire housing stock, Mr Wong said. "It's not possible because you just can't construct all the flats within such a short period."

Doing so would risk building too much ahead of demand and ending up with a redundant housing inventory, he added.

To be meaningful, the waiting time has to be shortened by one to two years, Mr Wong said.

"There will be a range of BTO flats with different waiting times... so people can pick and choose," he said, adding that this spells more options for more home buyers.

China state-run newspapers mock US presidential election

The Sunday Times, 9 Oct 2016

BEIJING • Two of China's main state-run newspapers heaped scorn yesterday on the US presidential election, saying the endless stream of scandals surrounding both main candidates showed the United States had no right to lecture others on democracy.

While Beijing has largely avoided commenting on the election, the state-run media has been given more leeway.

China often takes umbrage at foreign criticism of its one- party political system, particularly from the US, and says no country has the right to try and force it to change a system it says best suits its situation.

In a commentary, the Communist Party's official People's Daily described the US election "chaos", pointing to tax-related issues for "big mouth" Republican Donald Trump and the dispute over his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's use of a private e-mail server.

The commentary was published under the pen name "Zhong Sheng", or "Voice of China", often used to give views on foreign policy.

"For a long time, the United States has boasted about how its extremely lively election is a sign of the superiority of its system, and has even used this to wilfully criticise the vast majority of developing countries," it said. "This extreme self-belief and arrogance by the 'preacher of democracy' should be reined in."



The Global Times, in an editorial in its Chinese and English-language editions, said the scandals showed that there was no superiority in Western democracy.

"Western countries have a legal system in place to secure social stability in the face of such chaos, but many developing countries which hastily learn from them only incur social instability," it said.

Globalisation has been 'a huge plus for humanity': Tharman

Tharman points to failures in domestic policy in countering inequality in some countries
By Jeremy Au Yong, US Bureau Chief In Washington, The Sunday Times, 9 Oct 2016

Globalisation has been a big plus for many countries, said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, countering critics who have made it fashionable to divert attention from failures in domestic policies by hitting out at globalisation.

Speaking at a seminar on inequality on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meetings, Mr Tharman, who is also Coordinating Minister for Economic and Social Policies, stressed that globalisation has been a positive force in the world even though it has recently become the "new fashion" to blame it for all manner of ills.

"It (globalisation) has been a huge plus for humanity. It has been the way in which a large group of people living in emerging countries have begun to converge on the achievements of advanced countries and that process is still continuing," he said.

"Far too much is being made of the impact of globalisation on equality, on social cohesion, on a variety of things, and not enough has been made about domestic policy failure."

At #IMFonInequality seminar, panelists discuss the importance of policies to reduce inequality. Read the article https://t.co/IazDBM9Xzx pic.twitter.com/LEuu1IATqT

— IMF (@IMFNews) October 9, 2016

He noted, for instance, that different countries have had vastly differing experiences with globalisation.

While a recent study showed that two-thirds of workers in 25 developed countries have seen their wages stagnate over the past decade, he said there were many examples of countries that were coping far better.

"There is a difference between the ways Switzerland, the Nordic countries, Australia and the Singapores of the world have dealt with globalisation and with technological change."

DPM Tharman noted that Sweden, for instance, was one of the countries which have fared better in gaining public acceptance of the benefits of globalisation, adding: "It has had significant income growth for the median as well as the lower income groups over the last 15 years.

"If you look at it within Asia, some of us have sustained median income growth and others haven't. If you look at it among the developing countries, China has been an exception; not many countries have begun the convergence path.

"So there are big differences between countries, and it's got nothing to do with globalisation or technological change. It's about the use and misuse of domestic policy."

SkillsFuture Mid-Career Enhanced Subsidy: Over 52,000 get help to upgrade skills

SkillsFuture subsidy aids those aged 40 and above to improve skills in mid-career
By Olivia Ho, The Sunday Times, 9 Oct 2016

Mr Zulkifli Baba, 48, has been a senior technician for more than 15 years, but at the back of his mind was always the worry that the rapidly changing economy would render him no longer relevant.

"Technology keeps changing, skills keep getting higher," he said. "I knew I needed to remain an asset to my company to keep my job."

When the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Enhanced Subsidy was rolled out in October last year, he leapt at the chance to upgrade himself for a lower cost.

The scheme gives mid-career Singaporean workers aged 40 and above higher subsidies when they take courses to upgrade their job skills. They will have fees subsidised by up to 90 per cent for over 8,000 courses approved by SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG), the agency overseeing the national movement to promote lifelong learning.

More than 52,000 Singaporeans have used the subsidy since it was rolled out a year ago, said SSG chief executive Ng Cher Pong.

Speaking to reporters yesterday at a SkillsFuture roadshow at Waterway Point mall in Punggol, he said the scheme has become ever more relevant during this period because of the labour market slowdown.

He said: "As the economy restructures and businesses face uncertain times, it is even more pressing for individuals to be equipped with the right skills - not just for their current jobs, but for jobs in the future."

The recent labour market report for the second quarter shows that the overall unemployment rate rose from 1.9 per cent in March to 2.1 per cent in June.

There is also a lower rate of re-entry into employment, while the number of job seekers have exceeded the number of vacancies for the first time since June 2012.

Mr Zulkifli spent about $300 on a leadership and people management skills course by Mendaki Sense, the training arm of self-help group Mendaki. Without subsidies from SSG and Mendaki, he would have had to pay $4,032.

"If there was no subsidy, I would have had to think twice," said the father of four. "I'm the only person working in my family and money would be tight."

Living with dignity hard for many with mental issues

7 in 10 say they are stigmatised, over half have problems joining community events: Survey
By Janice Tai and Melody Zaccheus, The Sunday Times, 9 Oct 2016

Seven in 10 people with mental illness believe they are stigmatised by society, while slightly more than half have problems joining community events.

These are some of the key findings of the first government survey on the well-being of those with mental health issues.

Describing the findings as worrying, social workers are calling for more to be done to raise awareness of the problem.

The National Council of Social Service (NCSS) - a statutory board that oversees more than 450 social service organisations here - polled 477 people recovering from mental health issues such as mood and anxiety disorders or schizophrenia last year.



The study, whose results were released to The Sunday Times yesterday, found that 55 per cent had problems joining communal activities, including public festivities and communal sporting events.

Seven in 10 said they had problems "living with dignity" because of the attitudes and actions of others, meaning they do not feel accepted by society or that they can contribute meaningfully to it.

Ms Tan Li Li, executive director of the Singapore Association for Mental Health, said the findings are of concern as the respondents were using mental health social services in the community.

This means that they were likely to have less severe mental health issues and were able to hold jobs.

"So, knowing that 70 per cent have problems due to the attitudes of others may be cause for us to think about what we are lacking as a society," she said.

More than one in 10 people here will have a mental health condition in their lifetime, according to a 2010 Singapore mental health study.

The most common condition is major depressive disorder, which affected more than 5 per cent of adults in the 2010 survey, or more than 57,000 men and twice as many adult women.

After the terror, winning the psychological war

For every physical casualty of a terrorist attack there are many more victims of psychological trauma. They need their own 'first aid' too
By Chong Siow Ann, Published The Straits Times, 8 Oct 2016

The recent arrest of six Indonesians allegedly plotting to attack Singapore with a rocket to be launched from Batam has once again raised the spectre of a terrorist attack. The bleak sentiment voiced in some quarters, repeated to the point of becoming cliched, is that an attack is not a matter of whether, but when.

This time, death and mayhem did not rain from the sky, and that initial queasy feeling soon passed, with most of us resuming our complacent ways. But had we been savaged with mass destruction and loss of lives, our sense of the reassuring ordinariness of life would have been profoundly shaken. It would have - in the words of the American novelist Don DeLillo, writing after the attacks on the twin towers in 2001 - "changed the grain of the most routine moment", including "where we live, how we travel, what we think about when we look at our children".

Amid the rubble, we would have lost our innocence.

And so the Government has been urging Singaporeans to be vigilant and to sign up for emergency preparedness programmes where, among other things, participants learn basic first-aid skills and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The goal, according to Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam, is to equip at least one member from each of a million households with these skills that could be potentially life-saving, since civilians and bystanders could be the first responders in the wake of any terrorist attack.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FIRST AID

But there is another form of first aid that has not been emphasised and is perhaps just as important - what is known as psychological first aid, and which is also the theme of this year's World Mental Health Day which falls on Monday.

The effects of a terrorist act reverberate beyond the epicentre of the actual physical attack, with far-reaching emotional and psychological aftershocks. For every physical casualty of a terrorist attack, it is estimated that there are between four and 50 times the number of victims of acute stress and psychological trauma, such as post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

GovTech: New agency to lead tech push in public sector

GovTech aims to harness latest technology to make life easier for residents
By Irene Tham, Tech Editor, The Straits Times, 8 Oct 2016

Next year, bank customers may no longer have to print and fill in physical documents. Instead, a digital vault of their personal data will do all the tedious work for them.

Also on the cards is a self-driving wheelchair which, if developed successfully, will help manpower- strapped hospitals channel resources elsewhere. These are part of the cutting-edge plans of a new government agency, which aims to harness the latest technology to make life easier for residents.

The Government Technology Agency, or GovTech, was launched yesterday. Its brain bank includes 1,800 data scientists, technologists and engineers. Said Minister for Communications and Information Yaacob Ibrahim: "Singapore must remain forward-looking and embrace technological change to realise our vision of becoming a smart nation."

The self-driving wheelchair, for instance, will be among the first of its kind in the world. It follows a pre-mapped route to take patients safely from one part of a hospital to another. Another project is a smart walking stick that can send an alert to the caregiver if the user falls.

GovTech was formed after the official merger of the Infocomm Development Authority and the Media Development Authority. It will drive change mainly in the public sector; the merged entity - the Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) launched last Friday - will work mainly with the private sector on the digital front.

GovTech will focus on six key areas: application development, data science, government infrastructure, geospatial technology, cyber security and smart sensors.

8 in 10 Singaporeans Support Death Penalty: REACH survey

Randomly selected respondents in phone poll support it for violent crimes
By Rahimah Rashith, The Straits Times, 7 Oct 2016

An overwhelming majority of people here support the death penalty and do not want it to be done away with, a survey by government feedback unit REACH found.

They also see it as an important deterrent against serious crimes.

These findings come amid ongoing global debate on whether the death penalty should be abolished.

Last month, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan pushed back against calls for all countries to do away with capital punishment on the sidelines of a United Nations General Assembly meeting.



In a statement yesterday, REACH said eight in 10 Singapore residents polled in the telephone survey said the death penalty should be retained.

One in 10 said they wanted the punishment to be abolished, while the remaining respondents did not give a definitive answer or did not wish to answer.

The survey, done between June 13 and 17, also found that graduates were more likely to support the death penalty than those with below secondary education.

"There was greater support for the death penalty among the higher educated," said REACH.

Respondents were also asked if they support or oppose the death penalty "in general".

The survey of 1,160 randomly selected respondents found that 80 per cent "generally supported" the death penalty.

Among them, more than half said they supported it outright, while 23 per cent said "it depends".

Another 13 per cent said they were opposed to it.

A majority, or 82 per cent of those polled, also said they agreed or strongly agreed that the death penalty is an important deterrent that has helped to keep Singapore safe from serious crimes.