Much happened since the turn of the year - a new president was inaugurated in the USA, the global economy has not recovered despite the trillions of dollars that have been poured into it, and Singaporeans are gearing up for the biggest challenge to their living standards in recent memory.
Many people have already been laid [...]
Why elections this year?
Saying no to madness
After last week’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, I sent a sms text message to a friend in the city asking about the situation. Her one-word reply summed it up: “Madness.”
Terrorists cause mayhem in the largest possible scale to send a message about their cause. They know no boundaries, and merely shrug their shoulders when “collateral [...]
Not always a great way to fly
Given the challenging times that lie ahead, you would expect carriers to do all they can to keep their customers happy. Unfortunately, as my recent experience with Singapore Airlines shows, that is not always the case.
Let me say first, though, that I really do like SIA. They normally have great service, their connectivity out of [...]
For all of us
As a young boy growing up in Singapore in the 1980s, I looked up to the United States of America. It was the land of innovation, epitomised at that time through the McDonalds Big Mac and Michael Jackson’s Thriller album. It was the country of ideals, which stood firm and stared down the “evil” communist [...]
Malaysian Flip-Flops
Can Malaysia please get on with it?
First, Kuala Lumpur announced that the Eurocopter EC725 Cougar would replace the country’s ageing Sikorsky S-61 “Nuri” fleets. Now, after opposition politicians and Eurocopter’s competitors cried foul, saying that the selection was made without proper trials and checks, Kuala Lumpur has decided to “postpone” the deal.
On the surface, Prime [...]
Meeting JBJ
Almost 10 years ago to the month, the National University of Singapore’s newspaper, The Ridge, published an interview with the late Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam. At that time, he was the Workers’ Party secretary-general and in Parliament as a non-constituency MP. This may be 10 years old, but some of the issues that he touched on [...]
The Lion of Singapore
My first memory of Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam is of him selling the Workers’ Party newspaper, The Hammer, at a neighbourhood market in Ang Mo Kio in the early 1980s. With his distinctive loud British-accented voice, looking like a serious man on an important mission, the then Workers’ Party secretary-general would call out: “The Hammer! Buy [...]
Waiting for nothing
Japan has finally confirmed what everyone figured would happen anyway - it has delayed its fighter jet competition in order to continue lobbying the USA for information on the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor.
It is silly, though. The Japan Air Self Defense Force’s capability will keep dropping, and there is no guarantee that Washington would allow [...]
Money matters
Have you ever signed on the dotted line at a bank for an investment plan that you did not really understand? Or bought an insurance policy without thinking much about what it covers?
Many of us end up like 62-year-old Mrs Ong, whose story appeared in The New Paper over the weekend. She put $50,000 into [...]
Foreign Attitudes
Emotions usually run high when Singaporeans discuss foreigners, but irrationality has reared its silly head in the ongoing debate involving the Serangoon Gardens housing estate.
Many residents are against a plan to house foreign workers at a disused school, which will be converted into a dormitory, in the estate. Given that I live nearby and have [...]
Crowded House
Why in the world does India want to manufacture regional jets, when it already has so much on its plate?
An Indian Regional Jet will join a crowded field in which newcomers from Japan, China and Russia will also be competing with the incumbents, Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier, for market share. Analysts say that one [...]
What price glory?
So the Beijing Olympics will end with Singapore having a solitary silver, the first medal of any hue since the 1960 Rome Games when this was not even an independent country.
Identifying Singapore
Just a week after Singapore celebrated National Day the country’s table-tennis players reached the final of the women’s team competition at the Beijing Olympics. Despite guaranteeing Singapore’s first Olympic medal since 1960, the country is not yet in the grip of Olympic excitement.
Many families have been here for two or three generations, enough to reinforce [...]