If Singaporeans will not or cannot defend Singapore, there is no backstop: Ng Eng Hen
Defence is a long term business, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen said in Parliament (28 Feb 2024) during the Committee of Supply debate. You cannot decide that you are going to have your defences up. “Steady long-term defence spending enables platforms and capabilities to mature over the necessary timelines to enhance synergy and reap efficiencies,” […]
Singapore to join Operation Prosperity Guardian to ensure maritime security in the Red Sea: Ng Eng Hen
In Parliament (9 Jan 2024), Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen announced that Singapore would participate in a multinational operation to ensure maritime security in the Red Sea. The Red Sea, which connects the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, is the shortest sea route linking Asia and Europe. It is a major Sea Line […]
Lee Kuan Yew: We have to keep our house clean. No one else will do it for us.
No political system in any country is immune from corruption. Can Singapore always remain clean? In 2005, at the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute’s World Ethics and Integrity Forum, Mr Lee Kuan Yew said that corruption is incipient in every society. It eats into any system, regardless of the philosophy or ideology. Corruption must be continuously […]
Does a single poverty line help you to identify who are the poor who really need help?
The Workers’ Party Jamus Lim renewed his party call for an official poverty line. He called for the establishment of a committee of government representatives, civil society leaders and academic experts to decide what the poverty line should be, and for all government assistance and policies to then be pegged to this threshold. Back in […]
A widened definition of success, a meritocracy where everyone is best possible version of themselves: Lawrence Wong
Success means different things to different people, in different places. Yet somehow, as a society, we tend to converge the definition of success around material possessions such as the size of the paycheck, or the property we own, says DPM Lawrence Wong in Parliament (17 April 2023). DPM Wong suggests that we should shift our […]
NTUC Calls Out Errant Practices of Local Security Company
Egregious, unethical, and indespicable. These are the words fitting of what a local security agency has done to game the Progressive Wage Model (PWM), lower their operating cost, all at the expense of the livelihoods of their workers. The PWM was first mooted by National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) to ensure that our workers, especially those […]
Without active strikes in Singapore, are unions still relevant today?
Traditionally, unions are known to organise strikes to fight for better pay, better welfare, and better work prospects for workers. But with the number of strikes in Singapore today being close to zero, why do we still need unions? At the Institute of Policy Studies’ (IPS) flagship Singapore Perspectives 2023 conference on 9 January, labour chief […]
It is no surprise that Mr Ng Chee Meng is co-opted into the PAP CEC. Here is why.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. National Trades Union Congress Secretary-General (NTUC Sec-Gen) Ng Chee Meng is not a Minister of Parliament but is co-opted into the 37th People’s Association Party’s Central Elective Committee (PAP CEC) on Saturday, 26 November 2022. Is this possible? Yes, let me explain why. PAP and NTUC have a Symbiotic […]
A poisonous shrimp. Lee Kuan Yew: “We are what we are because we can stand for ourselves. If we can’t, we’ve had it.”
“Big fish eat small fish. Small fish eat shrimps.” From time memorial, this has been the order of nature, said Mr Lee Kuan Yew in a speech on big and small fishes in Asian waters. But shrimps have developed defence mechanisms to stay alive. Some shrimps are poisonous. They sting. If you eat them, you […]
Dilemma of a Food Delivery Rider
With the outbreak of COVID-19, businesses are scrambling to maintain a semblance of business continuity which enabled work-from-home arrangements as part of the new normal. As a result, gig workers like 23-year-old Mohd Rifqy become a crucial lifeline, delivering food and other supplies to people. Rifqy, who recently completed his national service, shared that working […]