The Workers’ Party should be honest about its intention behind filling the third Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seat, Mr K Shanmugam said on Sunday (Jan 31).

Speaking on the sidelines of a community event on Sunday, Mr Shanmugam said the starting point for democracy must be honesty.

"On the NCMP scheme, we all know what the truth is. The Workers’ Party should just come out and say: ‘Look, we would prefer a direct choice being given to the voters between the PAP and the Workers' Party, or some other opposition. But we don’t like the people being given an additional choice, which is you vote for the PAP and you still get an opposition candidate. Nevertheless, we benefit from it and therefore we want to fill the third seat,'" Mr Shanmugam said.

“They want to fill in this third seat because it benefits them."

Mr Shanmugam said that for Singapore's democracy to succeed, two factors are necessary: Honesty in Parliament and financial integrity – making reference to the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council case where the Auditor-General found lapses in its books.

"Go read what the High Court had to say about the Workers’ Party’s chairman suppressing the truth in Parliament and misleading Parliament. Go see what the Court of Appeal, just a couple of weeks ago, had to say about their Town Council Chairman, putting in half-truths on affidavits and trying to mislead," he said.

- CNA/cy

Don't underestimate need for strong military

  

It is unfortunate that those who have very little knowledge of military history and defence matters have made general comments on Singapore's defence policy ("Open debate needed on defence policy" by Dr Paul Tambyah of the Singapore Democratic Party; yesterday).

Singapore veterans who have been through World War II and Konfrontasi would remember their experiences during those difficult periods.

The former period, in 1942, showed how unprepared the armed forces were to face the onslaught of the Japanese troops.

However, the latter period proved that, with a strong military that included modern naval, air force and army assets, the British and Commonwealth forces could successfully defend Malaysia and Singapore, and deter then Indonesian President Sukarno from carrying out his expansionist plans.

A strong military is a strong deterrent, which is important for Singapore's defence.

We should never be so naive as to think that all will be well in the region in future years.

Jealousies and aggressive policies could develop.

But such adversaries would be deterred by our strong and modern military that can not only protect, but also reach out to targets in potential enemy territories.

There are some who think that the years spent in national service should be further reduced, but this is unhealthy thinking.

As our population dwindles in numbers, we also need to train our military with the most advanced military technology to ensure an active and robust deterrent force.

This priority includes the possible purchase of the F-35 jets or whatever advanced aircraft is finally chosen for the Republic of Singapore Air Force.

We have our defence experts and scientists to make the necessary assessments wisely for future needs.

It is important not to believe in hearsay.

It is naive to think that the situation could not change in neighbouring countries, and that we will always have peace in the region.

The number of terrorism hot spots and the threat from militant groups in neighbouring countries have increased.

We can ensure the well-being of our citizens as well as foreign investors only when their interests are secure.

This guarantee can be ensured if we continue to have a strong defence policy encompassing a strong, high-tech military deterrent force.

Adrian Villanueva

The Straits Times Forum, January 30, 2016

Changes to NCMP Scheme: NCMP to have the same voting rights as an MP

PM Lee Hsien Loong intends to amend the Constitution during this term to give NCMPs the same voting rights as MPs.

"NCMPs will be equal in powers, though not responsibility and scope, to constituency MPs"

The minimum number of opposition MPs including NCMPs in parliament will be increased from 9 to 12 by the next election.

With 12 opposition and 9 NMPs, there'll be at least 21 non-ruling party MPs in parliament.

And with NCMPs being given voting rights there is no reason to perceive them as second class.

The Fight Against Terrorism Is An Ideological War

Terrorism is closer to home that we think and every Singaporean has a role to play in the fight against terrorism, Dr Maliki Osman said in Parliament today.

Last October, two Singaporean teenagers were arrested and detained for being involved in terrorism-related activities.

Two Singaporean families have joined the Islamic State since 2014.

"The fight against violent extremism will not be a quick or easy one. It is an ideological war against terrorists whose goal is social destruction through fear and mistrust, and not only physical destruction," Dr Maliki warned.

He called on Muslims to reject any forms of violence in the name of Islam.

The outgoing Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore told him that family members and fellow villagers of one of the killed terrorists in the recent Jakarta attacks refused to have his body buried in the village. They "totally rejected and disassociated themselves from the terrorists", he said.

He also highlighted the need for scholars and leaders to address misconceptions when it happens.

A Love Story Witnessed: Lee Kuan Yew And Kwa Geoh Choo

Not many people have had the chance to meet Mr Lee Kuan Yew. And definitely not Mdm Kwa. But I had the privilege of bumping into them once.

I remembered being a young 21 year old events executive then. It was the launch of the Water Wally at the PUB event, held at the Asian Civilization Museum. I was tasked to stand near at the front of the museum, to provide directions should any dignitaries appear.

It was a warm day. And I was restless. Very few dignitaries came through that entrance because most of them entered through another entrance which would guide them to the event faster instead. There was hardly anyone in the museum as well. An hour passed, and all of a sudden, a nice old white Mercedes rolled up at the front of the museum.

4 security guards then came around the car. And I saw something I never thought I would in my lifetime.

Mr Lee Kuan Yew (possibly then 81 years old) came out of the car, and walked to the other side. The guard helped opened the door, and a nurse wheeled a wheel chair out where the guards helped to carry Mdm Kwa onto the chair.

The nurse then wheeled Mdm Kwa into the museum with Mr Lee slowly walking in front. Someone from the museum came to shake their hands, and offered to bring them around. They stopped at the first painting which was about 50 meters from where I was standing. And at this moment, Mr Lee did something I never expected many old men who was struggling with old age do.

He requested to push his wife. And even in his weakness and old age at that point in time, I saw him struggle to push his wife in her wheel chair. They stopped at almost every painting (I followed them behind, keeping my distance and pretending to look at those paintings too). And at every painting, he would bend down and asked her gently for her thoughts. They would share a quiet moment of discussion, and sometimes laughed together. It felt like no one else was around, and they felt very much still in love.

They left the museum in 30 minutes. And he wheeled his wife till someone else had to carry her into the car. And they left.

It has been 10 years. And I still remember this sight very vividly in my head. I never thought someone of Mr Lee’s stature and position, would embrace love in this manner. It was respectful and beyond all, dignified.

For a man to love his wife and for a man with such power to respect a monogamous long lasting relationship, I saw a sight of Mr Lee that many could not. And that warmed my heart till this date.

http://mustsharenews.com/12637/lky-reader-encounter/

No Enmity With Dr Lee Siew Choh

I fought the communists with all the strength and wit I could muster. But I respected their leaders for their idealism, their convictions and their self-sacrifice to achieve their ambitions.

I had nothing personal against Lim Chin Siong, Fong Swee Suan, or the Plen. We maintained correct and cordial personal relations throughout the fight. The clash was completely impersonal - one of beliefs and objectives, but all the more bitter because it was a clash of abiding convictions.

I had vigorous, even heated exchanges in Parliament and the media with Dr Lee Siew Choh, Barisan Sosialis leader.

He was a quick-tempered man - not wicked, just politically naive. He came back to Parliament in 1988 as a Non-Constituency MP.

For my last official visit to China in October 1990, I invited him to accompany me. He and his wife were part of my party for the two-week visit. There was no personal animosity between us.

- Interview with ST, 2003

Phey Yew Kok Pleads Guilty

Former NTUC president and ex-MP Phey Yew Kok, 81, pleaded guilty to 12 charges on Friday (Jan 22).

These included committing 10 counts of criminal breach of trust, one count of abetting the fabrication of false evidence to a public servant and one count of failing to attend court when ordered to by a judicial officer.

Silver-haired Phey Yew Kok, 81, arrived alone in court this morning to face charges.

Phey had been on the run for 35 years before he turned himself in at the Singapore Embassy in Bangkok on June 22 last year. He was brought back to Singapore the following day.

He faces a total of 34 charges, mostly related to criminal breach of trust, involving more than $450,000. The charges also include fabricating evidence and absconding while on bail.

After being first charged in December 1979, he was expected to return to court on Jan 7, 1980. But on New Year's Eve, he took a train to Kuala Lumpur and went to Bangkok, evading attempts to track him down. By leaving Singapore, Phey caused his two bailors to forfeit $95,000 of the $100,000 they put up.

Read more about it here:

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/courts-crime/ex-ntuc-president-and-mp-phey-yew-kok-charged-after-35-years-on-the-run-all

The Re-designing Of The Singapore Passport

Singapore could boast of not just some of the smartest, best educated kids in the world, but also some of the smartest, best educated law-enforcement officers, civil servants and technology experts in the world.

Together, they redesigned Singapore's entire system for the issuance of identity documents, creating an entirely new ID document numbering system that would prevent Singaporeans from being falsely detained or arrested if their own passports were stolen, and that would allow Singapore to follow Switzerland's lead.

Singapore educated and trained its police and immigration officers on how best to use Interpol's databases and technology to detect stolen passports and yet avoid long queues at entry checkpoints.

It then began to systematically screen the passports of all those crossing its borders, preventing those with stolen passports from entering.

As a result, Singapore now ranks No. 3 in the world, in terms of passport screening, after only the United States and Britain - countries with populations 12 to 60 times larger than Singapore's.
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In November last year, after the Paris terror attacks, the European Union's Justice and Home Affairs ministers made a common decision that, by March this year, passport screening against Interpol's stolen passport database would be implemented at all of the EU's external borders.

Singapore made this same decision, not because of a terrorist attack on its soil, but because its law-enforcement officers studied the experiences of other countries, learnt the lessons, and applied them to the real-world threat.

By Ronald K. Noble

The writer was Interpol Secretary General from 2000-2014 and is also the founder of RKN Global, a security solutions provider.

bit.ly/1UbKpYC

27 Bangladeshi Nationals Arrested

All 27 Bangladeshi nationals arrested for terror links worked in the construction industry.

All but one have been repatriated to Bangladesh, with the last set to be repatriated after serving a jail term for attempting to illegally leave Singapore.

Of those arrested, 26 were members of a closed religious study group that supported the armed jihad ideology of terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, said the MHA. The 26 subscribed to extremist beliefs and teachings of radical ideologues like Anwar al-Awlaki, the ministry added, referring to an Al Qaeda-linked extremist teacher who was killed in Yemen in 2011.

The remaining Bangladeshi national was not a member of the group, but was found to be in the process of becoming radicalised and was supportive of extremist preachers, and also possessed jihadi-related material, the MHA said.

"The group members took measures to avoid detection by the authorities. They shared jihadi-related material discreetly among themselves, and held weekly meetings and gatherings where they discussed armed jihad and conflicts that involved Muslims. They also carefully targeted the recruitment of other Bangladeshi nationals to grow their membership," said the ministry in its press release, which listed the names of all 27.

A significant quantity of radical and jihadi-related material including books and videos, as well as footage of children undergoing training in what appeared to be terrorist military camps, were recovered from the possession of the group, said the ministry.

Several members also had a shared document containing graphic images and instruction details on how to conduct “silent killings” using different methods and weapons. For example, a copy of one of the documents, seen by Channel NewsAsia, bore the title “Techniques of Silent Killing” in English, and contained a step-by-step illustrated guide on how to stab a seated man.

President Tony Tan's Opening Address To The 13th Parliament, 15 January 2016

Meet our riggers from PRC, Pasir Ris Camp.

These are some of our Pasir Ris Camp or PRC riggers.

Their motto is "I WILL ALWAYS BE SURE".

Do you know that to drive home their motto, EVERY RIGGER MUST MAKE A JUMP WITH A PARACHUTE SHE PACKS HERSELF?

The Basic Riggers Course lasts 10 weeks - but it takes FIVE YEARS for a regular to attain the Class 1 Advanced Rigger qualification, which comes with the added responsibility of inspecting the parachutes packed by junior riggers.

Aside from parachuting in countries such as Australia, Thailand and the United States, some riggers have even completed the Military Freefall Course usually reserved for male-only elite units, where jumpers learn to exit an aircraft at heights of 3km or more, opening their parachutes manually as they approach the ground.

By their 10th year in service, many of these women will be decorated with enough wings on their uniforms to rival a Commando.

However, the achievement that the riggers cherish most is their unblemished safety record.

Since the unit's establishment in 1974, the riggers have packed more than 1.75 million static-line, free-fall, tandem and reserve parachutes, without a single one failing to open during a jump.

Such relentless pursuit of perfection keeps the riggers on their toes.

"We feel special," says MSG Wong, "because lives depend on us. We are the women behind the successful men."

Read it here:

http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/rigger-no-room-error-packing-parachutes

Our PRC Riggerss. Our what? Did you say PRC?

 

Going by the number of misleading headlines that come out of The Independent in recent days, Kenneth Jeyaratnam probably hammered the nail right on its head when he described Leon Perera's The Independent, the new proxy for WP, as a 'gutter tabloid'.

The latest from The Independent is the sensational headline:
SAF outsources rigger job to contractors from PRC

A netizen had posted on his facebook his concern about the packing of parachutes being outsourced to PRC contractors.

Instead of checking to verify the accuracy of the post, The Independent very quickly published it, eager for the opportunity to stir some anti-foreigner sentiment against the government. They even spelled out PRC as "People's Republic of China".

But what exactly is PRC?

It's Pasir Ris Camp.

That's right. PRC is Pasir Ris Camp.

Pasir Ris Camp consists of the following unit:

HQ 10th Singapore Infantry Brigade (HQ 10 SIB)
Commando Training Institute (Cdo TI)
Special Operations Training Centre (SOTC)
Special Operations Tactics Centre (SOTAC)
Special Operations Tactical Support Centre (SOTSC)

And the packing of parachutes is done by the Special Operations Tactical Support Centre (SOTSC).

And where is this Special Operations Tactical Support Centre (SOTSC) ?

That's right. It's at Pasir Ris Camp.

Hence the packing of parachutes is done at PRC - Pasir Ris Camp.

Wonder what The Independent's founder, Leon Perera has to say?

Charles Chong - Punggol East's new champion

MPs should speak out and not just toe the party line when the interests of residents have not been met, said Mr Charles Chong.

Well-known for his outspokenness, he said: "It is impossible to make perfect laws and regulations. There could be people who fall through the cracks. MPs should speak out about these instances with conviction and work for the policy to be changed or get exceptions to be made in these particular cases."

The veteran politician – he entered Parliament in 1988 - prefers to first try to resolve the issue behind closed doors. "If that doesn't work, I've no hesitation in bringing it up in Parliament or speaking up in public. I've a commitment to my voters," he said.

Mr Chong, 62, has walked the talk. Between 2003 and 2006, the then Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC MP headed a campaign to get Buangkok MRT station opened. He recalled: "They did not open the station because it was not financially feasible. You can’t think of feasibility; the interests of the residents take precedence."

David Marshall: PAP Government deserves the highest praise

In 1984, the National Archives of Singapore conducted an in-depth oral history interview with David Marshall, Singapore's first elected Chief Minister (1955).

On his own limitations and what the PAP has achieved, he said:

"I don't think I had leadership qualities.. for me a leader is a great administrator, organizer... I've been a vivid personality. But that doesn't mean I have leadership quality. I had the fire of anger, the excitement of great ideas, emotional approach almost uninhibited, but not the intellectual organizational approach of great leaders. That I didn't have, and don't... frankly, I don't think I would have been equal to the ramifications of running the country. Watching now from outside, the activities of the [Singapore government], all in all they deserve the highest praise: with no background, no real aid from outside to guide their infant steps, to have achieved so much stability, international respect and economic growth."

Note:

David Marshall resigned from the Legislative Assembly and from the Labour Front in April 1957. He founded the Workers' Party on 7 November 1957 and won the Anson by-election on 15 July 1961. Played out by his own party members, Marshall resigned from the Workers' Party on 19 January 1963. The disappointed Marshall withdrew from politics after losing the September 1963 election where he stood as an independent in the Anson ward. He later even refused J. B. Jeyaretnam's request in 1968 to rejoin the Workers' Party.

http://www.nas.gov.sg/archivesonline/article/david-marshall-first-chief-minister

Jubilee Bridge: Brainchild of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew

It connects Merlion Park to the waterfront promenade in front of Esplanade.

Mr Lee had observed during a site visit in 2004 that pedestrians had to negotiate steps up the narrow walkways along the Esplanade Bridge. 

$2 billion in housing grants given out

 

HDB has given out nearly $2 billion in two major public housing grants since the schemes were started.

A Place To Call Their Own

Last March, Madam Selvaranee Kanakasabai, 38, and her two teenage children finally moved into a home of their own, after years of living in rented rooms and sharing interim flats with others.

The 38-year-old single parent applied for a new two-room flat in Senja Road in 2014, under a Sale of Balance Flats exercise.

Madam Selvaranee Kanakasabai works as an administrative assistant earning $1,500 a month.

Her income qualified her for the maximum Additional CPF Housing Grant of $40,000 and the maximum Special Housing Grant of $20,000.

This effectively halved the cost of her flat which was $130,000.

"I didn't fork out any cash because it was covered by my CPF," she said.

The family collected the keys early last year, and moved into the new flat in March.

On this 2nd January 1971...

On this day in 1971, Dr Benjamin Sheares became the President of Singapore.

He remained a humble man and was president for 10 years before he passed away.