Tan Chuan-Jin urges Singaporeans to keep "open mind"

Channel NewsAsia, 23 Sep 2012

Singapore's Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin has urged Singaporeans to keep an open mind as the country engages in a national conversation about its future.

Posting on the Our SG Conversation Facebook page, Mr Tan, who is also part of the committee facilitating the conversation, noted the different reactions among Singaporeans over the process.

He said some are dismayed that certain topics have not been surfaced.

Some felt that there are obvious issues to grapple with and that Singapore should not waste time with this process, while others said they have gone through such an exercise before.

Mr Tan said if such comments were scoped, then "the criticism would be about not coming in, with an open mind."

He pointed out that some Singaporeans may have taken part in previous reviews but many others have not.

He called on citizens to respect the space of those who have not been engaged, and to let this group "discuss and speak".

Nine in 10 polled say intolerance is growing: REACH survey on National Day Rally 2012

But over 80% say society is harmonious, in survey by govt feedback unit REACH

By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 23 Sep 2012

Almost nine in 10 citizens in a recent government poll agreed that there are "some troubling signs" of Singaporeans becoming less tolerant.

Seven in 10 also thought it a concern that Singaporeans have been "expressing nasty views on foreigners". But more than eight in 10 still felt that Singapore society today was harmonious.

These were some of the findings of a telephone poll of 813 citizens - aged 18 to 79 - by government feedback unit REACH on issues raised by the Prime Minister in his National Day Rally speech. The poll was conducted from Aug 29 to Sept 3, a few days after the rally on Aug 26.



Almost all of those polled agreed with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's call for Singaporeans to have bigger hearts, as well as the other rally themes of offering hope for the future and making Singapore the "best home".



There was also support for specific policies, both potential and actual. Almost eight in 10 thought singles should be allowed to buy flats directly from the Housing Board, which PM Lee said the Government was looking into.

Currently, singles can buy flats only on the resale market.

Post-Rally forum focuses on values of the young

Participants also worry about declining use of Mandarin among younger Singaporeans

By Janice Heng, The Straits Times, 23 Sep 2012

Concerns about civic and moral values and fluency in the Chinese language dominated a Mandarin dialogue on the National Day Rally yesterday.

But the two ministers chairing the session gently reminded the audience that the Government cannot tackle such issues alone.

In his Rally speech last month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hoped that Singapore could have a "bigger heart". In his Mandarin speech, he also emphasised the need to preserve traditions, including Chinese culture.

These themes resurfaced during yesterday's 90-minute dialogue, organised by government feedback unit Reach and Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao. The 200 participants included Lianhe Zaobao readers and Reach contributors.

Of the 23 speakers, four asked if the right values were being taught to the young, with one Mandarin teacher lamenting that "many parents themselves don't seem to know what moral values are".

Others worried that younger Singaporeans no longer spoke Mandarin and were at risk of becoming monolingual.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong and Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Chan Chun Sing acknowledged the concerns, but noted that they are not the sole responsibilities of either the Government or schools.

Elders should set good examples for the young, said Mr Gan. "Our values, for most of us, came from our parents."

Similarly, the Government cannot mandate the use of Mandarin at home, for instance. What it can do is create more opportunities for speaking the language. In this, the community and the media can help by organising Mandarin activities, he added.

Five more years for F1 Night Race

Lengthy negotiations end with a new deal to keep Formula One here until 2017 at least

By Terrence Voon, The Straits Times, 23 Sep 2012

After months of gridlock, Singapore has finally signed a new Formula One (F1) deal that will give the country more bang for its buck.

The sport's only true night race will carry on until at least 2017 as part of a new five-year contract that was sealed yesterday.

The fate of the Singapore Grand Prix had been hanging in the balance for nearly a year as the Government and race promoters Singapore GP haggled over the reported $50 million licence fee they pay rights holder Formula One Administration (FOA) each edition.

The contract terms remain confidential. "A gentleman should never speak about money and last night!" declared Mr Bernie Ecclestone, the British billionaire who runs F1.

The cost of organising each race has been about $150 million, with the Government co-funding 60 per cent of approved costs.

But Second Minister for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran made it clear that the cost will go down by around 15 to 20 per cent. This will be done by making the most of existing infrastructure, fine-tuning the way the race is organised and after "revised terms" were agreed with Singapore GP and FOA.

"The negotiations have taken some time because all parties had very specific objectives and wanted to arrive at a mutually beneficial outcome," said Mr Iswaran at a joint press conference with Mr Ecclestone yesterday. "Our view is that F1 has been good for Singapore... Equally, we believe that Singapore has also been good for F1."

Figures may not have been given, but it was clear that Singapore drove a much harder bargain this year.

"The most important thing I was trying to explain to the minister is that we don't race for free," quipped Mr Ecclestone. Mr Iswaran responded: "Which, as you can imagine, I found hard to accept."

PM Lee: Make every school a good school

23 Sep 2012

At a Mid-Autumn festival celebration hosted by the Kebun-Bahru division. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that it is important for school kids to not just excel in the academic arena but also in areas such as the arts and music. He says that the government will help schools develop their very own "special strengths" to ensure that students get a holistic education.

Keep the Singapore Dream alive

Scrapping PSLE won't help. Try sending best teachers to under-performing schools instead

By Han Fook Kwang, The Straits Times, 23 Sep 2012

Education is said to be the great leveller in Singapore. Study hard, get top grades at school and university, and it doesn't matter if you come from a three-room Housing Board flat. You could land a better job than someone who lives in District 10, move up the economic ladder and transform your life and that of your family.

It's the Singapore Dream, and one that we know has come true for many people.

But, increasingly, critics say, it is getting harder because how well you do depends more on your family background than it ever did in the past.

These days, the students who ace the examinations in school, including those who win prestigious scholarships, are more likely to come from homes where the parents are university graduates, live in bigger houses, and move around in their own social circles. Fewer of them come from those three-room flats.

Education is no longer the leveller it used to be because the better off have more resources to provide for their children - they get expensive tuition lessons, go for enrichment classes and enjoy a more stable and richer home environment.

In the top schools such as Raffles Institution (RI) and Hwa Chong Institution, a much higher proportion of students have fathers who are university graduates than those from neighbourhood schools.

Former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew was quoted in a report last year citing schools such as RI, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) and Nanyang Girls' High as having more than half of their students with fathers who were university graduates. In contrast, of the four neighbourhood schools he had obtained data on, the highest percentage was only 13.1 per cent, at Chai Chee Secondary.

The Government itself recognises this problem, that it is more difficult today for those from the lower-income group to move up.

When tuition was optional

Something's not right when kids today must have tuition for what is taught in school

By Lee Wei Ling, Published The Straits Times, 23 Sep 2012

A topic that has been debated heatedly recently is whether tuition is good or even necessary for school children. I will relate my own experience with tuition before discussing its pros and cons.

My two brothers and I began our school life at Nanyang Kindergarten before moving on to Nanyang Primary. We all had Chinese tuition from very early in life, even before we entered primary school.

Our parents believed languages were best learnt young, when the brain is most plastic. We had plenty of time to play in childhood, but we were given a strong grounding in languages.

I vaguely recall my brother Hsien Loong - who is now Prime Minister - had an old man we called "teacher Shung" even after he started primary school. His task was to give Hsien Loong's Mandarin an extra polish.

All three of us had Malay tuition three times a week, an hour each session, in primary school. This was because our school did not teach Malay and our parents wanted us to be conversant and literate in Malay. Hsien Loong's Malay remains excellent.

Top scorers succeed despite tough childhood: Anugerah MENDAKI 2012

By Jennani Durai, The Straits Times, 23 Sep 2012

They were both raised by single mothers and had faced difficulties in school.

But yesterday, 18-year-old Muhammad Asyraf Chumino (left in photo) and 26-year-old Muhammad Kamal Jauhari Zaini were singled out from a group of 400 high achievers in the Muslim community for their resilience in the face of challenges.

They were the only recipients of the Special Achievement Award at this year's Anugerah Mendaki awards, organised by the Muslim self-help group.

The awards ceremony to recognise Muslim students who are among the top 10 per cent of their academic cohorts was held yesterday at Nanyang Polytechnic.

Senior Minister of State for Education, and Information, Communications and the Arts Lawrence Wong, who was the guest of honour, gave out the awards to top scorers in the Primary School Leaving Examination, the N levels, the O levels, the A levels and the International Baccalaureate diploma.

Students who topped madrasah, polytechnic, university or Institute of Technical Education courses were also honoured.

Mr Asyraf, who topped his cohort in Northlight School last year with a grade point average of 3.85 out of 4, had dropped out of school when he was 10 years old to take care of his mother after his father died.

The soft-spoken young man said his mother had sunk into depression. "After observing how she acted for a while, I realised she couldn't cope on her own, so I decided to stay at home with her," he said.

His teachers from primary school would routinely bring him homework and books for him to keep studying at home. Things remained that way for four years, until his mother got back on her feet. He then enrolled himself in Mendaki's Max Out programme, which gives out-of-school young people another chance at education. After two years there, he joined Northlight.

Last year, he was one of two recipients of the Lee Hsien Loong Award for Special Achievement.

The youngest of three children said his family and teachers had played a big role in his success.

The world according to two old friends: Lee Kuan Yew and Helmut Schmidt

Ex-West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt and ex-PM Lee Kuan Yew discuss China's rise, Europe's crisis and key issues in the East and West
Interview led by Matthias Nass, Published The Straits Times, 22 Sep 2012

ONCE again, one last time the old friends wanted to speak to one another. At the beginning of May, Mr Helmut Schmidt and Mr Lee Kuan Yew met for three days in Singapore. The former chancellor, 93, and "Harry Lee", 89, the longstanding former prime minister and founding father of modern Singapore, had agreed to meet for a broad survey of world politics.

China's claim to power, America's self-doubts, Europe's crisis - these were the topics of a discussion in which both took stock of a total of 60 years of foreign policy.

The talks took place at the Shangri-La Hotel and always started at 2.30pm with a break after 11/2 hours. Mr Schmidt would then smoke a cigarette, Mr Lee would have a rest in his hotel room. After that, another hour of talk.

During dinner in a bigger circle, Mr Schmidt and Mr Lee led the discussion. The others would quietly speak to their neighbours.

They are friends and they once were powerful, each in their own way. Now, they take stock of their political career.

Total's advisers honour Lee Kuan Yew

Group, of which Mr Lee is a member, meets in Singapore for the first time

By Robin Chan, The Straits Times, 22 Sep 2012

THE 10 high-powered members of Total's international advisory committee usually meet in Paris.

But this year, they gathered in Singapore for the first time - to honour Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Singapore's founding prime minister, who turned 89 last Sunday, has been a member of the French oil and gas giant's international advisory board for the last 19 years.

Flanked by four Cabinet ministers and several corporate titans, Mr Lee hosted a dinner for the Total board at the Istana last night.

He then announced that this would be his last meeting with them.

"Next year I'll be 90. You'll be having a meeting in September. If you had not said it is in Paris, it makes my job easier to say: 'Thank you, this is my last session'."

But in an unexpected twist, Total chairman Christophe de Margerie said he refused Mr Lee's resignation.

"I refuse his dismissal, your resignation. If you don't mind, you will stay as a member of our advisory board, which means you can come whenever you wish. It will be always our pleasure," Mr Margarie said.

He paid tribute to Mr Lee's involvement in the company and said he was to "stay as long as you wish to be part of it".

Government launches websites to bust myths

By Rachel Chang, The Straits Times, 22 Sep 2012

IN A bid to cut through the swirl of rumour and distortion online, the Government has quietly launched a few "myth busting" initiatives.

The first is a new section on its www.gov.sg website called "Factually". Since May, it has collected a series of primers on hot topics like the national reserves, certificates of entitlement and procurement processes.

They aim to give bite-sized answers to questions that have arisen over controversial decisions, such as the one in March to give $1.1 billion to bus operators to ramp up services.

Taking things one step further, the Housing Board (HDB) two weeks ago started a new website known as HDB Speaks.

A first for government agencies here, its sole purpose is to address topics of controversy, like the affordability of resale HDB flats. One was recently been sold for more than $1 million.

Replete with bright graphics and written in a conversational style, it is a far cry from HDB's more sober main website, and aims to be a place where people can "get the facts on the myths about HDB" - its tagline.

Both initiatives are works-in- progress, said the agencies in charge.

World faces 3 critical risks: PM

By Jeremy Au Yong & Goh Chin Lian, The Straits Times, 22 Sep 2012

- Economic troubles in the West

- Rising nationalism

- Shift in strategic balance

PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday identified economic woes in Europe and the US, rising nationalism, and the shift in the strategic balance from the West to the East as the three "critical risks" facing the world today.

That meant Singapore had to prepare itself for the future, one in which constant change and the rise of Asia will play a big part.

"Global and Asian forces are constantly at play here," he said. "Our survival depends on our living the Global-Asia story - connecting Asia to the world, and vice versa."

Mr Lee was speaking at a dinner for the inaugural Singapore Summit, gathering over 300 advisers and friends of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Economic Development Board, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and Temasek.

Held at the Shangri-La Hotel, the three-day conference is themed "Global-Asia Confluence" and is chaired by former Cabinet minister George Yeo. Speakers lined up include former Australian prime minister John Howard and World Trade Organisation (WTO) director-general Pascal Lamy.

In his speech, PM Lee took a broad look at the state of global affairs and what it means for Singapore. While the past two decades have seen change, excitement and opportunities, the road ahead might not be as smooth, he said.

"It is tempting to assume that all this will just continue, and the future will be a linear extrapolation of the past. But history is never so predictable. The world and Asia are now at a crossroads."