Singapore disputes Johor official's cloud seeding claims

The Sunday Times, 26 Jul 2015

JOHOR BARU - Singapore has disputed a Malaysian official's claims that it refused to let Johor carry out cloud seeding above two dams due to territorial concerns.

Water levels at the dams have dipped below critical marks in the Malaysian state.

State public works, rural and regional development chairman Hasni Mohammad reportedly said Singapore would not allow cloud seeding at the Sungai Lebam dam in Kota Tinggi and the Layang dam in Pasir Gudang as it would encroach into its territory. As a result, Johor would have to find alternatives, said Datuk Hasni, according to The Star in a report on Thursday.

In a statement issued the following day, the Consulate-General of Singapore in Johor Baru expressed surprise at the claims which it dismissed as "baseless".

"On the contrary, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) has always coordinated closely with Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) to facilitate various flight activities," it said.

"However, Singapore has not been approached recently on cloud-seeding operations, whether by DCA or any other Malaysian agencies. If Datuk Hasni has information indicating otherwise, he should share it with Singapore so that we can look into the matter."

The Consulate-General stressed that Singapore fully supports cloud-seeding efforts in Johor and has previously offered to assist in such efforts to fight forest fires.

It added that Singapore's national water agency PUB also cooperates closely with its Malaysian and Johor counterparts. Singapore and Malaysia have been working together on projects such as the Johor River Barrage to increase water resources in Johor, it noted.

Three Old Guard leaders to be honoured at National Day Parade 2015

By Jermyn Chow, Defence Correspondent, The Sunday Times, 26 Jul 2015

Three surviving Old Guard leaders who signed the official document that marked the independence of Singapore 50 years ago will be honoured at the National Day Parade (NDP) on Aug 9.

People's Action Party stalwarts Ong Pang Boon, Jek Yeun Thong and Othman Wok were among the 10 leaders who signed the Independence of Singapore Agreement, which was declared on Aug 9, 1965.

At the NDP, they will emerge onto the VIP grandstand with Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong and sit next to a seat that will be kept empty in honour of their Old Guard colleague, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

The founding Prime Minister, who had attended every NDP since the first one in 1966, died on March 23, aged 91. He was also one of the 10 men who inked the agreement.

For the first time in 50 years, we will be honouring 3 of the 10 Ministers who signed the “Independence of Singapore...
Posted by Singapore50 on Thursday, August 6, 2015

The other signatories were former deputy prime minister Toh Chin Chye, former finance minister Goh Keng Swee, former law minister E.W. Barker, former culture minister S. Rajaratnam, former health minister Yong Nyuk Lin and former national development minister Lim Kim San. Mr Othman, 90, was then the social affairs minister, while Mr Ong, 86, was the education minister, and Mr Jek, 85, was the labour minister.

Mr Jek told The Sunday Times yesterday: "From the moment I signed the agreement, I knew that the road ahead would be challenging. The initial years of our nation-building were not easy but everyone believed in a single cause: to make Singapore a better home for ourselves and our children. Through sheer grit and determination, we came to where we are today."

Mr Othman said he is honoured to sit next to Mr Lee's empty seat. "He is the man who brought Singapore to what it is today. He is truly an inspiration for all Singaporeans."

The tribute to the Old Guard will be part of events to mark Singapore's Golden Jubilee. Singaporeans will hear, for the first time, the country's Proclamation of Independence read by the late Mr Lee, who drummed up support for Singapore's merger with Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak in the early 1960s and, barely two years later, broke down as he spoke of its expulsion from the federation. At 9am on Aug 9, a recording of the Proclamation will play on TV and radio channels, and at grassroots-led National Day observance ceremonies.

The Lee Kuan Yew factor in winning over voters

The 'LKY dividend' may pay off only in the coming GE but the great man's shadow will loom over many more to come
By Rachel Chang, Assistant Political Editor, The Sunday Times, 26 Jul 2015

In an interview last month, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen described founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's passing in March as "his last gift to us".

This was in the form of a national unity that emerged through the celebration of his life and mourning of his death, a unity all the more notable for how rare it has become.

It's surprising nowadays to find consensus on any one thing, and even where consensus exists, for it to be so viscerally and deeply felt.

In mourning the man who singularly defined this nation's first independence-era act, Singaporeans felt a new appreciation for how far the nation had travelled, with him leading the way.

But the unity also stemmed from a shared national anxiety.

The goals and priorities of LKY-era Singapore have been achieved in most ways. Now, the people want something more - but there is little consensus on what.

With this post-LKY, post-affluence second act still tentative and undefined, we clung to one another.

As this coming general election will show, Singaporeans may also cling anew to the People's Action Party (PAP), the only organisation in the short history of this country that has been able to inspire, and channel national consensus into national greatness.

In that sense, Mr Lee's death was actually a final gift to his political party, one he was devoted to but also cajoled, corralled and crafted to his image.

For Mr Lee's strengths are the PAP's strengths, and his weaknesses, the party's too.

Throughout the week-long national mourning, those strengths - forward, big-picture thinking, a steely preference for the tough over the popular, an integrity that bordered on uncompassion - seemed re-validated through the lens of the future the party brought about.

Like in a long marriage, qualities that had become tiresome with familiarity were jolted through loss into the foundation, once again, of love and devotion.

The examination of his life, bringing alive scenes of an orphaned, unruly Singapore that was poised on the brink of extinction, triggered a process of "self-discovery" in both the old and young, as Dr Ng put it.

What was discovered, it seems, is something the party itself has always repeated: that this government is not so bad at all.

Elections Fair Play: Whose criteria and who decides?

Election season tends to spark debate over the fairness of decisions, including those related to the electoral boundaries report released yesterday. But what is fair?
By Willie Cheng, Published The Straits Times, 25 Jul 2015

Now that the report of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee has been made public, debate over when the general election is likely to be held and whether the Government will be fair to the opposition and electorate, will gain momentum.

In most discourses, "fairness" is a subject that is both fairly common and complicated. What is fair often depends on one's perspective.

To illustrate the difficulties, my wife and I, in our ministry with engaged couples, often pose the following situation: Suppose a newly married couple, A and B, agree to contribute part of their salaries towards a joint bank account. A earns $1,000 a month and will contribute $500 to the pool. What is the "fair" amount for B, who earns $2,000 a month, to contribute?

One of three answers can be justified for B's contribution: $500 (same amount contribution), $1,000 (same percentage contribution), or $1,500 (same amount of $500 retained for personal expenditure by A and B each).

The point is that agreeing on what is fair is not straightforward even between two people who love each other and agree to be fair to each other. Imagine the scale of difficulty between participants with a more distant relationship and, especially, between Government and citizens.

Electoral Boundaries Report 2015: 16 GRCs, 13 single seats to pick 89 MPs in coming GE

Boundaries committee cuts average size of GRCs to below 5; one more single seat added; fewer voters to face changes in their wards
By Zakir Hussain, Deputy Political Editor, The Straits Times, 25 Jul 2015

Eagerly anticipated changes to electoral boundaries have been announced, raising expectations that the next general election will be called soon, possibly in September.

But the traditional redrawing of constituency boundaries ahead of every election proved to be milder than some had expected this time around.

They also continue reforms to the system Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had initiated ahead of the 2011 General Election, to reduce the average size of a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) and have more Single-Member Constituencies (SMCs).

Some one in five voters, or 19 per cent of voters, will find themselves in a new constituency. This figure is fewer than the 30 per cent of voters affected by boundary changes ahead of the 2011 election.

Two more seats are also up for contest. The Electoral Boundaries Review Committee, in its report released yesterday, recommended a rise in the number of elected Members of Parliament from 87 to 89.

They will come from 16 GRCs, up from 15, and 13 SMCs, up from 12.

Prime Minister Lee said in a Facebook post: "To make smaller GRCs and more SMCs, some boundaries have had to be changed."

The changes also take into account new housing estates. The report said: "The committee reviewed all the existing electoral divisions, taking into account their current configurations, population shifts and housing developments since the last boundary delineation exercise."

Taken as a whole, analysts said, they keep the playing field level, although several areas that saw close contests from the opposition Workers' Party (WP) in 2011 - Joo Chiat SMC and parts of Moulmein-Kallang GRC - have been absorbed into nearby constituencies.

In keeping with recent practice, the boundaries of opposition-held seats have remained unchanged: Aljunied GRC, as well as Hougang and Punggol East SMCs.

Political scientist Lam Peng Er of the National University of Singapore's East Asian Institute said of the report overall: "By and large, it's a very modest shift, nothing too radical."

But WP council member, Non-Constituency MP Gerald Giam, said many of the areas the party contested had been split up.

"We have to study the report very carefully to decide which one we want to contest in," he added.

There will now be six four-member GRCs, up from two, and eight five-member GRCs, down from 11.

Ang Mo Kio GRC and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, helmed respectively by PM Lee and Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, remain the only two six-member GRCs.

But five-MP East Coast GRC, which saw the closest fight in 2011 from a WP team, will now have four MPs, with Fengshan SMC hived off.

Four-MP Moulmein-Kallang GRC is no more, as Jalan Besar GRC makes a comeback, taking in Whampoa SMC and parts of Tanjong Pagar GRC.

Most of Moulmein ward, under Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, has been split up between four surrounding GRCs.

A new four-MP Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC has also been formed in the north-west, from parts of Chua Chu Kang GRC and Sembawang GRC that have seen significant population growth of late.

Parts of the sprawling Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC have been moved westwards to Ang Mo Kio GRC, with changes also being made to Nee Soon GRC and Sembawang GRC.

As for the SMCs, 10 of the 12 existing single seats remain on the map.

Two more former SMCs make a return: Bukit Batok has been carved out of Jurong GRC, and MacPherson from Marine Parade GRC.

In the days ahead, People's Action Party (PAP) activists and opposition members will meet their teams to step up preparations for the election.

The next stage is for Parliament to be dissolved and the writ of election issued.

Nomination Day, the start of the traditional nine-day campaign period, is expected to take place from a minimum of five days after the writ.

"Wherever the boundaries may be drawn, MPs should serve the residents they represent to the best of their ability," PM Lee said yesterday.

"And voters should support the candidates or teams who will best represent their interests, both in the constituency and as the Government of Singapore.

PM Lee Hsien Loong interview with TIME magazine, July 2015

PM Lee sees Singapore moving forward confidently after 50
He talks to TIME magazine about getting economy to next level and future challenges the country faces
By Wong Siew Ying, The Straits Times, 24 Jul 2015

Although founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's influence on Singapore runs deep, he made sure he prepared the country to move on and not "be stuck in the Lee Kuan Yew mode" of governance, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.

There was a tremendous outpouring of grief when Mr Lee died in March this year, but confidence in Singapore was not shaken.

On the contrary, it was strengthened, PM Lee noted in an interview with TIME magazine, a transcript of which was released to Singapore media yesterday.

"The stock market didn't crash, investors didn't panic, confidence was maintained. In fact, at the end of that, I think confidence was strengthened. I think we're not in a bad spot," he said.


PM Lee also disclosed that his father had a great deal of influence on his own thinking on politics, culture, world affairs and life itself.

But he noted Mr Lee was very good at giving his successors "room to do things their way and pursue policies as they felt necessary".

"Only very rarely did he assert a strong view and ask us to please rethink something... Otherwise, he allowed an evolution to take place so that Singapore would carry on beyond him," PM Lee said.

Mr Lee, who died this year at age 91, stepped down as prime minister in 1990 and left the Cabinet in 2011.

In the interview, PM Lee noted that as independent Singapore turns 50, the country has kept its mission "substantially intact". That, he said, is "quite an achievement".

Singapore, however, needs to get its economy to the next level as other Asian countries snap at its heels.

"If we don't, then we will have malaise and the angst, and even disillusionment, which you see in many developed countries."

Strong SAF needed for Singapore: PM Lee Hsien Loong

He says full commitment from all servicemen needed as armed forces mark 50th year
By Jermyn Chow, Defence Correspondent, The Straits Times, 25 Jul 2015

Singapore cannot count on being "lucky enough" to avoid problems that may come its way, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

While Singapore has enjoyed 50 years of peace, nobody can be sure there will be no tensions and conflict in Asia, he said last night at a dinner to mark the 50th anniversary of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). Singaporeans "must be ready to defend ourselves if problems come our way", he said, adding that there is a need for a strong SAF which expects full commitment from all its servicemen.

These include citizen soldiers who are willing to serve the nation, as well as career soldiers who take pride in their uniform.



Since Singapore became independent in 1965, the Republic's ability and resolve to defend itself were "never in doubt", said Mr Lee, thanks to the pioneer soldiers, regulars and operationally-ready national servicemen.

At the dinner, Mr Lee thanked members of the public for supporting national service and parents who have "sent their sons and daughters to serve the nation". He also paid tribute to the pioneer soldiers, saying "their values of courage and self-sacrifice, of service to the nation, must be handed down from generation to generation".

About 1,000 guests attended the dinner at Pasir Laba Camp, including Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Second Minister for Defence Lui Tuck Yew, as well as past defence chiefs like Mr Desmond Kuek.

They also included 230 pioneers, such as retired navy officer William Wee, who patrolled Singapore's coastline during Konfrontasi, the period of hostilities with Indonesia in the 1960s.

The dinner venue was significant as it was the original site where SAF trained its first leaders, noted Mr Lee, who served in the SAF for 13 years and was a brigadier-general before he joined politics.

Last night, Mr Lee also launched a book, Giving Strength To Our Nation: The SAF And Its People, to mark the SAF's Golden Jubilee.

Chief of Defence Force Ng Chee Meng told reporters that the drive and commitment of SAF servicemen originated not just from a desire to succeed. He said it was also about a sense of duty to the country and to Singaporeans, to ensure that each generation of Singaporeans can chase their dreams in a peaceful environment.

DPM Tharman: 'Constant evolution' vital for Singapore

Being able to 'change course soon enough' is key to economic strength: Tharman
By Marissa Lee, The Straits Times, 24 Jul 2015

Constant evolution is key to economic strength and must remain so as Singapore moves towards an "innovation-driven economy", said Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam yesterday.

Mr Tharman told about 350 staff and veterans at the EDB (Economic Development Board) Society's 25th anniversary gala dinner: "Successful economic development is not about avoiding errors or strategies that fail to pay off, but about changing course soon enough.

"Most countries that have failed or stagnated have done so not because they made errors, but because they failed to change course when conditions changed, and failed to recognise the writing on the wall. We have avoided that so far, and must continue to stay alert to a changing environment."

Speaking at EDB Society’s 25th Anniversary Gala Dinner yesterday, DPM Tharman stressed the three dimensions in Singapore...
Posted by Ministry of Finance (Singapore) on Friday, July 24, 2015

Mr Tharman, who is also Finance Minister, noted at the Fullerton Hotel function that Singapore has advanced "not by getting everything right in the first instance, but by constantly evolving our economic strategies, decade by decade".

When Singapore became independent, the country set a strategy for job creation by focusing on manufacturing.

In the late 1970s, the focus turned to wage growth through higher-value-added production. In the 2000s, the search for various growth engines set diversification as a new strategy, he said.

Mr Tharman emphasised that Singapore has embarked on a "new phase" in its economic development that involves a shift "from value-adding to value creation" and "mastery of skills in every vocation". He added that SkillsFuture, a national programme still in the works that "aims to give every Singaporean a fulfilling career", is key to preparing the workforce for the new "innovation-driven economy".

But SkillsFuture requires a "concerted effort" from government agencies, industry and individuals themselves, he noted.

Why a safe job is risky business for Singapore

By Devadas Krishnadas, Published The Straits Times, 24 Jul 2015

The young woman sitting across me was being interviewed to join my firm as a consultant. Well-travelled, highly qualified and poised, she spoke eloquently on why she wanted to join the firm - indigenous, small but growing.

Having gone through several stages of recruitment, we were finalising her appointment. She suddenly said she wanted a much higher compensation than the range discussed.

When prompted as to why, she replied that it was a great risk to work for a small local firm. I asked her to expand on her logic. She said her best option was to work for the civil service or a multinational company and that she was, in effect, doing the firm a favour by joining, and thus merited a market premium.

This attitude towards risk is disappointing individually, but troubling when we expand it to the national scale. It suggests that the young generation value the payoff for their education in terms of occupational safety. While at one level rational, such an attitude may help explain why small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have great difficulty engaging the best talent. There is a deeper reasoning than a simple matter of market economics. It lies in the relative emphasis between creating value and accessing value.

Creating value means taking risk. The entrepreneur takes business risk to start, drive and support his idea commercially. Employees of entrepreneurial businesses take employment risk to work for a fledgling firm.

This economic value is what growth is all about. It is of special significance when that risk is taken by local entrepreneurs and workers, because the economic value-add is created and captured locally - as are the skills, knowledge and experience gained.

Accessing value is about the exchange typified by the mindset of the young applicant. Here, she is perceiving that the civil service and multinational brands represent safe employment value - because there is job security, good compensation and the psychological benefit of being associated with a recognisable brand. She is choosing to access value rather than to create it.

However, when small businesses cannot access top talent, who prefer to seek "safe" employment, we cannot expect to create world-beating firms, generate many new ideas and restructure our economy to have more indigenous commercial success.

Police to try out videotaping interviews with suspects

Pilot programme likely to start next year also involves CNB; lawyers hail move
By Danson Cheong, The Straits Times, 23 Jul 2015

In a move hailed as "enlightened" by criminal lawyers, the police will test the feasibility of video-recording interviews with suspects.

The pilot programme, which also involves the Central Narcotics Bureau (CNB), is likely to begin in the first quarter of next year, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) revealed yesterday. It will "involve a limited set of offences and allow for an assessment of the impact on investigations, its effectiveness in different situations and the resources required", before a decision is made on its broader implementation.

Video Recording Pilot _________________On Wednesday, it was announced that a pilot project for video recording of...
Posted by K Shanmugam Sc on Saturday, July 25, 2015

Videos in the pilot programme would "allow the courts to take the interviewee's demeanour into account in determining the admissibility or weight to be accorded to the interviewee's statement", said MHA in the statement.

For years, criminal lawyers have been asking for police interviews of suspects to be filmed.

Veteran criminal lawyer Amolat Singh said statements, which are not audio-taped and are generally taken without a lawyer present, play a pivotal role in most criminal cases here. The accused would at times reject the statement, claiming it was not made voluntarily or he was misunderstood, he said.

"Now, judges can just look at the videos," said Mr Singh. "It strengthens the whole system rather than leave things up to guesswork."

Signs for political party names, election terms

The Straits Times, 23 Jul 2015

The sign language videos uploaded on the YouTube channel SADeafSG by the Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf) range from two seconds to six seconds long.

As of Tuesday, the playlist of 109 videos had had a total of 1,278 views.

Apart from signs for the different political parties, SADeaf included signs for words like "integrity", "corrupt" and "propaganda" along with other common political terms.

Some signs, such as for "freedom", "democracy/democratic" and "liberal", involve similar hand movements.

The sign for "vote" includes the action of marking the voting slip with an "X" and slipping it into the ballot box.

SgSL, the sign language used in the videos, has evolved organically over time from people in the deaf community here, SADeaf deputy director Alvan Yap said.

"The signs used in the videos have been long accepted by the local deaf community," he added.

Robots take up the slack in Changi General Hospital's labour crunch

Such assistive technology for hospital needs can become mainstream in next few years
By Salma Khalik, Senior Health Correspondent, The Straits Times, 24 Jul 2015

With Singapore's rapidly ageing population, there will be more seniors needing care in future, but not enough carers to do the job.

This is why hospitals are turning to robots and other assistive technology to ease the burden on the manpower-strapped sector.

Instead of a nurse checking every 15 minutes for six hours to see if a patient who has had a catheter inserted is bleeding, a special blood-sensitive "bandage" can do the job, freeing the nurse for six hours of more fulfilling work.

A robot, not a therapist, can help recovering stroke patients exercise; another can keep early-stage dementia patients occupied and alert them to take their medicine, or to call for a helper when it senses that they are struggling to get up.

Call it Changi General Hospital's (CGH) answer to the labour crunch. This technology can become mainstream within the next few years.

Dr Chionh Chang Yin, who heads renal medicine at CGH, plans to trial the blood-sensitive bandages designed by the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) later this year.

If it works as well as expected, it can be used for not only dialysis patients, but also heart patients who have had a stent put in, or had to do an angiogram to check the heart.

Bleeding from the puncture hole is rare, said Dr Chionh, but should it happen, a patient can bleed to death if not treated immediately.

The SUTD device can tell blood from other fluids, and will set off an alarm if it senses one millilitre of blood.

The idea for the Centre for Healthcare Assistive and Robotics Technology (CHART), started early last year and launched by President Tony Tan Keng Yam yesterday, was triggered by the visit of a team from Japan in 2012 wanting to know if there was a market for such products.